tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24146162319446783932012-07-16T05:59:31.159-07:00Torentsu GamesTorentsuhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17501731825332819613noreply@blogger.comBlogger24125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2414616231944678393.post-55419903637968474912012-06-19T09:15:00.001-07:002012-06-19T09:15:58.625-07:002012-06-19T09:15:58.625-07:00Tekken 3After a long hiatus I'm back at it again and we're firing back up our goal of reviewing all the main series entries of Tekken .<br />
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Tekken 3 isn't necessarily my favorite entry in the series, but nonetheless I do believe it is probably the most important. In the storyline 20 years has passed since Tekken 2. This was essentially Namco's excuse to introduce a new protagonist and make him old enough to fight in a tournament. That protagonist is Jin, the son of previous series protagonist/antagonist Kazuya, and the Tekken 2 newcomer Jun Kazama. Heihachi's Tekken Force uncovers an ancient fighting alien named Ogre who goes around slaughtering worthy fighters (including Jin's mother), so he seeks out Heihachi and together they plan to use the King of Iron Fist 3 to lure Ogre out and defeat him. Of course Heihachi has his own sinister motives, but that's a whole thing altogether.<br />
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Tekken 3 was sort of a "refining" Tekken. Due to the 20 year time jump alot of characters were simply too "old" to fight or just disappeared altogether. Most of the clone characters like Kunimitsu and Wang simply disappeared, and most of the Tekken 2 newcomers save Lei Wulong disappeared as well. Because of this we also see the introduction of what are now series mainstays such as Jin, Hworang, and Bryan Fury.<br />
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The series physics have also undergone a major overhaul as well. The more rigid stiff fighting system of Tekken 1 and 2 has been replaced with a more fluid form of movement, as well as even more potential for juggles and the deeper tactics we see in Tekken today. This sharper system combined with newer slicker graphics drew in the players and made Tekken more mainstream than ever.<br />
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Though still not my favorite Tekken alot has to be said about the Playstation port of the game. It effectively builds on the modes and features of Tekken 2's home port and delivers a very meaty home experience. Along with your standard, arcade, practice, and time attack modes, modes like the beat em up styled Tekken Force, and the addition of a theater mode (that lets you use the Tekken 1 and 2 discs if you have them) for in game movies and music are welcome additions that really give you bang for your buck, espeically if you picked the game up for 15$ like I did. There are also two console exclusive characters, but they are very gimmicky, and haven't returned as playable characters since.<br />
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All in all Tekken 3 is a very solid entry and a very important one in the series. The only real problem I have (besides from my bias at my old favorite Lee being absent in this one) is that it just feels slightly bland, perhaps because Namco has put so much effort into selling Jin as a character. To be fair Tekken really didn't have a protagonist until 3. Kazuya was in 1 till you found out he was evil in 2, and Heihachi won Tekken 2, but he was never really a "good guy," so shoehorning Jin into this thing, and aging all the other characters 20 years to do it was like a chemo treatment to the series. Good in its own way but at the same time it killed some of what classic Tekken was.<br />
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<br /><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/2414616231944678393-5541990363796847491?l=ifhedidnthavethatdaggum.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Torentsuhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17501731825332819613noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2414616231944678393.post-29981869647606478802012-04-23T19:03:00.001-07:002012-04-23T19:13:49.864-07:002012-04-23T19:13:49.864-07:00The Massive Mass Effect FiascoYou knew it was coming. I had to tell you all about just what I thought about Mass Effect 3 and the ending that has seemingly rocked a fan base at its very core. First off for what its worth ME 3 is not a bad game at all. The story is a solid continuation of the narrative from the first two games. Its also worth noting that the gameplay is also very solid. Mass Effect 2 tightened up the gameplay from the first game and made it into more of a narrative based shooter, and Mass Effect 3 took the best of both worlds . Its much easier to run at angles than in ME2 and though sometimes its spotty you can now run over cover without having to sit down the other way and duck first. Despite this addon the cover system seems to have gotten much stickier. Often times while attempting other actions I found myself sticking to cover on the side fire was coming from resulting in a few stupid deaths. Also in the stupid death department is the ability to die after you've been "saved by the cutscene" There were a few instances in the game where I completed an objective just in the nick of time only to find that after it finished playing the game gave me the ole critical mission failure screen.<br />
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Mass Effect 3 also attempts to rectify the whole disdained mining system from two by having you simply ping planets for objects and then gather anything useful that you find. Its an interesting incentive to search the galaxy, as it gives you war assets that determine your final strength for the final push.<br />
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Mass Effect 3 also has a multiplayer mode for the first time in the series. As skeptical as I was to begin with I can honestly say I've spent more time in this mode overall than I have with the main storyline. After finishing the main game and having its ending leave a bad taste in my mouth I've been playing the multiplayer. Its a blast to say the least. Its very simple, you and 3 others against ten waves of enemies, while you try to complete various simple objectives. You can do these games on Bronze, Silver, or Gold and the higher the difficulty the more XP and Credits you'll earn. You can use these credits to buy weapon packs which include weapons, mods, upgrades, and ever new characters. They have also released a free DLC pack called Resurgence, which adds several new weapons and a new character for each class. For the first time we get to actually control the other races in the series and its quite fun. Want to play as a Geth or maybe an Asari? How about classic ME enemy race the Batarians? With the free resurgence pack, you can! <br />
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Now about that ending, no I wasn't on the side of those who actually liked it, but as far as the whole fiasco I'm quite surprised something this catastrophic has happened within the fanbase. Games have been giving us less than satisfactory endings since the dawn of the video game narrative, but I don't think one has ever elicited such a fierce backlash . I won't spoil too much here but the problem I have with is isn't really the route they took with it, but the fact it went so much against the whole your choices matter in the end. I made a point to get nearly 100% of all the war assets and get maximum readiness, but the ending I got was still equally depressing and for the most part the same as the "bad" endings. There are also a few off the wall continuity errors with a certain scene involving your crew as well. <br />
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So yeah. The ending may leave a foul taste in the mouth of some because of a lack of influence and continuity errors, but I'd still say its worth the time of a playthrough. The game has , if anything caused EA To hit the "Bad publicity" spotlight, which may be a positive thing. With all the nickel and diming by EA and other DLC pushers its might be a good wakeup call that the customers can turn things on you if you do something so bad you get enough of them to care. <br />
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<iframe bordercolor="#000000" frameborder="0" height="200" hspace="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="http://ad.doubleclick.net/adi/N7433.148119.BLOGGEREN/B6534889.587;sz=200x200;ord=[timestamp]?;lid=41000000000342669;pid=809494;usg=AFHzDLvw9_9OGG50VmDHVF-rxh3pRe74xQ;adurl=http%253A%252F%252Fwww.kohls.com%252Fupgrade%252Fwebstore%252Fproduct_page.jsp%253FPRODUCT%25253C%25253Eprd_id%253D845524892749316%2526mr%253AtrackingCode%253D447E5B96-5F60-E011-A0C7-001517B188A2%2526mr%253AreferralID%253DNA;pubid=536599;imgsrc=http%3A%2F%2Fmedia.kohls.com.edgesuite.net%2Fis%2Fimage%2Fkohls%2F809494%3Fwid%3D500%26hei%3D500%26op_sharpen%3D1;width=200;height=200" vspace="0" width="200"></iframe><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/2414616231944678393-2998186964760647880?l=ifhedidnthavethatdaggum.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Torentsuhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17501731825332819613noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2414616231944678393.post-70121320310765295762012-04-20T12:59:00.000-07:002012-04-20T14:32:26.913-07:002012-04-20T14:32:26.913-07:00Tekken 2By late 1994 Namco had already managed to get Tekken 2 out there to arcade goers. Of all the games I play Tekken 2 is one of my absolute favorites because its everything a sequel should be and a large source of nostalgia for me.<br />
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Back when dad was in the arcade business Tekken 2 was one of the games he had that i remember playing quite alot when it was in the shop. At that time I had never played Tekken 1 but now that I have I can make the comparison call and talk about what it did that was so special.<br />
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First off the bat if you had played Tekken 1 you will instantly notice the overhaul the graphics received. Though the characters faces are still largely stoic, the character models and faces have all been redone to make everyone look much smoother. Even the CGI cutscenes in the game totally overshadow those of the first game. Though most of the CGI endings are short burst showing the characters doing something like they do each one has a ton more personality than those in Tekken 1. Rather than sticking in those ugly sprite backgrounds into alot of the scenes everything is fully rendered and flows much more fluidly than before, you'll find no more of Michelle's odd knee running in this game.<br />
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Non graphically speaking the gameplay is still the one step per button tap style, but it all feels much more fluid. Whereas Tekken 1 could get almost sticky feeling at times, Tekken 2 handles its movement system much more better. In this entry we also start to see some of the characters signature moves that they have even still in Tekken Tag 2. Heihachi and Kazuya who were near perfect clones in 1 even start to disseminate themselves slightly, a trend that would be solidified in the great clone character slaughter of Tekken 3 and 4.<br />
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All that being said the game manages to bring over all of the original cast, although several of the subbosses got little attention other than being graphically redone. Characters like Kunimitsu, and Ganryu had real potential, but instead they are just mainly clones of their respective rivals, with a few extra moves that they got from the PS1 port of Tekken 1.<br />
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All in All Tekken 2 is a monumental entry to the series, and an important game in the early 3D fighting game scene. I still load it up from time to time to hear those catchy tunes and experience the addicting gameplay.<br />
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<iframe bordercolor="#000000" frameborder="0" height="150" hspace="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="http://ad.doubleclick.net/adi/N7433.148119.BLOGGEREN/B6534889.256;sz=180x150;ord=[timestamp]?;lid=41000000000342669;pid=865789;usg=AFHzDLvJ_ifxu3L3SCvoW2YUDfkjgAKMdw;adurl=http%253A%252F%252Fwww.kohls.com%252Fupgrade%252Fwebstore%252Fproduct_page.jsp%253FPRODUCT%25253C%25253Eprd_id%253D845524892791700%2526mr%253AtrackingCode%253D771ED45B-2BB9-E011-8D66-001517B188A2%2526mr%253AreferralID%253DNA;pubid=536599;price=%2419.98;title=Tekken+6+For+Playstati...;merc=Kohl%27s;imgsrc=http%3A%2F%2Fmedia.kohls.com.edgesuite.net%2Fis%2Fimage%2Fkohls%2F865789%3Fwid%3D500%26hei%3D500%26op_sharpen%3D1;width=85;height=85" vspace="0" width="180"></iframe><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/2414616231944678393-7012132031076529576?l=ifhedidnthavethatdaggum.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Torentsuhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17501731825332819613noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2414616231944678393.post-63072383517998439282012-04-18T13:44:00.001-07:002012-04-18T13:45:59.685-07:002012-04-18T13:45:59.685-07:00Skull GirlsWell because I found yet another subject worthy of review I'm pushing on back the Tekken 2 review to next time I run out of ideas to do. Skull Girls has for me been one of those under the radar games. I first heard about it on Gamefaqs a few months ago and made a mental note to pick it up once it dropped and try it out, as I'm always eager to try out any new fighter that hits the market. Much to my surprise the other day I logged onto the computer to see that it had released the day before. Fortunately I had a few spare points on my XBL account so I dropped them and downloaded the game.<br />
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One major selling point of this game right off the bat for me was that it was not only created in part by Konami, but longtime Castlevania series music composer Michru Yamane had a large hand in the composition of the tunes within.<br />
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Skull Girls may feel a bit skimp when one first turns it on. At launch there are only a handful of characters, and sadly the developers did not put move list into the game meaning you'll have to experiment, or go on the developer's website to find out what they are. Gameplay wise it plays like a good ole 2D fighter with an all female but interesting set of characters. They range from your psychotic abomination out for revenge character to your cartoon character inspired crazy gunner type character.<br />
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Despite solid gameplay there are a few things that might turn away a newcomer to the fighing genre or maybe less hardcore fighting fans. The very first time I played the game I loaded up the story mode and picked a fun looking character to get a feel for how it played. I left the difficulty set on normal, but within seconds the CPU destroyed me. I was paired up against Peacock, a very zoning efficient character who ran to the other side of the screen and mercilessly destroyed me with all sorts of spammed projectiles. Probably just a tough character matchup i thought. I'll try someone else. Well I picked another character and once again had it handed to me within seconds . What Skull Girls considers normal is a Normal Difficulty CPU on level 1 unleashes 10 and 15 hit combos , wall stunning, and overall humiliating you. I had to set the CPU to the easy and next to easiest setting to even get something remotely beginner friendly. I realize alot of the people buying this game won't be for single player yes, but if we ever want to increase the player pool a little bit more care should be taken in creating CPU. I almost feel like for a fighting game a dumber CPU (regardless of the difficulty) say something like in Tekken would be more adequate over one that just destroys you and refuses you practice. <br />
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Despite the flying sunglasses "deal with it" CPU the game does have one beginner friendly mode and that is the tutorial which will walk you through and test you on everything from walking and jumping to chaining advanced level combos together. That being said chaining combos in the game in a big part of the gameplay, and unlike alot of Capcom's latest, getting a big showy combo together really isn't too tough. I applaud the game devs for showing you how the chaining works and giving you some examples to work with to help the newbie get started, if only the CPU wouldn't rape them as soon as they decide to actually try some of this stuff. <br />
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After having seen all this and clearing all the storymodes I decided to check out the online, and sadly I was disappointed. The online ranked match attempts to join you to an impromptu room, but after several minutes all I was able to find in any region were "room no longer available," and could not connects. After I finally did get a match the game paired me up for my first match ever with someone who easily destroyed me in about 3 combos and didn't break a sweat. I realize that this is an arcade title but even early XBL arcade ports of other games have ranked systems that match you to the right skill, or let you choose same skill or below you. You can only learn so much from being destroyed before you waste your time. If you want to get better you need to play players near you level to get a feel for the game's system, as well as see what beats what, what works, what does, etc.<br />
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Bottom line is Skull Girls worth the 1200 MSP price tag? I'd say yes. Fighting game fans will have alot of fun with this new gem into the foray, and with promise of DLC and probably fixes ahead the game might very well fix some of its flaws. If you're new to fighting games Skull Girls might be worth picking up despite its CPU unfriendliness because of the in depth tutorial system and small number of characters means less to learn overall.<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/2414616231944678393-6307238351799843928?l=ifhedidnthavethatdaggum.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Torentsuhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17501731825332819613noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2414616231944678393.post-57256401539918413292012-03-29T12:31:00.001-07:002012-03-29T14:57:42.844-07:002012-03-29T14:57:42.844-07:00Rusty HeartsHey all its your old pal Torentsu. I've been a bit skidish on the blog lately, mainly due to having a lot of stuff going on graduate school wise right now, but I still haven't forgotten this blog or gaming in general.<br />
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I know I said I'd talk about all the Tekkens and then Mass Effect 3, and I still am, but before that I just had to post a blog entry about this new game I found called Rusty Hearts. I have indeed finished Mass Effect 3, and trust me I do have a lot to say about it, but for now here's my ideas on Rusty Hearts.<br />
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Having finished Mass Effect 3(except for the multiplayer), and still waiting on Guild Wars 2 I've been perusing around online trying to find a game (perhaps even an MMORPG) to kill a little bit of extra time while waiting. I tried picking back up Cabal but it was garbage, and then I downloaded 4Story which I am actually enjoying quite well, but then I found this free to play game called Rusty Hearts on steam.<br />
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The game itself plays like a 3D version of Nexon's Dungeon Fighter Online. You go from a hub area into dungeons where you fight through waves of monsters while completing certain objectives. Also like DFO are the choices of characters. Each of the characters is a character with different abilities and their own back-stories. There's your sword vampire guy, your quick shooting pistol girl, your big sword girl etc. As of this writing I've tried out two of the characters, that is the basic vampire guy and the gunslinger girl and I enjoyed playing as both of them, but I'm sticking with the sword guy.<br />
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The game play is a solid beat em up style adventure, and the game throws hordes of foes at you for you to smack around and as the combo meter goes up, so does the fun! I found myself losing track of time going through the same dungeon over and over for a quest, but still having fun smacking all the enemies around.<br />
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As for sound and graphics, I was not disappointed. I have a laptop that is less than equipped for modern gaming, but RH runs like a charm and the characters and backgrounds are all beautifully done. The game uses a Cel shaded style of characters with anime style renderings for characters in menus and conversations. There is also voice acting for the main story, as well several rendered cut scenes that change depending on the dungeon you are in and what your current objective is. Speaking of story the game is almost certainly influenced by Castlevania as you choose to play as one of 4 adventurers who have come to town to uproot the evil count Vlad who has taken over the local castle. The music fits perfectly, and is comprised of faster tunes when needed but often times just right melancholy piano pieces. For any of you that have seen Big 0 you'll find the whole "style" of the music and story very similar. <br />
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Best of all RH is completely free to download and play. As seems to be the popular model nowadays players can choose to spend actual cash to buy items from a cash shop, but the game makers claim that given time you can acquire these items in game . <br />
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One last thing anyone who reads. If you've ever been interested in some of the more extraordinary origins of some of English's most used words I have to make a quick plug for <br />
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http://homewords99.wordpress.com/<br />
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Check it out, you might learn something.<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/2414616231944678393-5725640153991841329?l=ifhedidnthavethatdaggum.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Torentsuhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17501731825332819613noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2414616231944678393.post-24004163172925122752012-03-05T10:06:00.000-08:002012-03-05T10:06:42.348-08:002012-03-05T10:06:42.348-08:00Tekken 1Hey gang. I finally caught a moment to update this silly thing. I know I'm going to be busy with schoolwork, and Mass Effect 3 within a few hours, but inspite of this we're going to take a look at the Tekken series game by game for the next few post. To start things off we're going to talk about what else, but Tekken 1.<br />
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If you introduced anyone to Tekken 1 today, and they had only played today's fighting games, they might be a little less than impressed to say the least. Tekken as an arcade game had 8 playable characters, a cgi intro a few seconds and on the surface that was it. Each character had their own subboss character, but in the arcade version they were all unplayable, and so was series favorite Heihachi, who functioned as the game's last boss. Despite its lackings and sometimes awkward blocky graphics the original Tekken did alot of things right. Tekken was one of the first 3D fighters to incorporate the endless background. If you look at alot of the first successful 3D fighters (things like Virtua Fighter, Fighting Vipers, Last Bronx etc) they all had you stuck in a cage, or in some sort of ring with leaving it either meaning a loss via ring out, or being stuck on the wall. The original Tekken and later entries in the series utilize stages with a scrolling floor that means you never get to the end of the map. It looks semi bizzare in the earlier entries in the series, but it kind works, and you'll be focused more on the action than the ground anyway.<br />
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I won't go into Tekken's sometimes out there storyline too much, but I will say that the first Tekken involves head of the Mishima Financial Group, Heihachi Mishima putting out a tournament who's rules say that whoever wins gets the company. The events of Tekken follow those who have made it to the final. As stated earlier 7 characters, their own nemesisies, and Heihachi himself. This cast ranges from everything from Heihachi's own son Kazuya, to a Bear named Kuma entering the tournament. <br />
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The playstation version uses inferior hardware to its arcade counterpart, but this can easily be forgiven because of all the added content. Not only did they make everyone playable, but sub bosses had their movesets updated to make them worth using in the first place as well. If you hack the arcade game(which I've done) to play as boss characters in the arcade version, you'll find their movesets are quite lacking compared to the playstation version. I can guess this is part of the reason why they were not made unlockable. Also exclusive to the PS version of the game is a complete sound remix, which can be toggled on or off in the options menu. Remixed and Original soundtrack would go on to become a staple of the Playstation Tekken series, and the music in Tekken 1 both remixed and arcade style is excellent to begin with, so you'll likely find yourself mixing it up on occasion to hear both types of tunes. <br />
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Though sometimes quirky and graphically odd the first Tekken is an excellent start to the series. While not too technical in itself Tekken 1 introduced several longstanding traditions into the series, while at the same time cutting a path for itself in the 3D fighting game market.<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/2414616231944678393-2400416317292512275?l=ifhedidnthavethatdaggum.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Torentsuhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17501731825332819613noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2414616231944678393.post-40274369198724278462012-01-10T09:06:00.000-08:002012-01-10T09:06:35.424-08:002012-01-10T09:06:35.424-08:00Doos EksI read an article about this recently, and found it to be true, that there is always that one really big hit of game that you missed playing for whatever reason. I recently came into possession of the entire Deus Ex series, and have found them to be quite enjoyable. I missed the series the first time around, because I just really wasn't ever a PC gamer, and the fact that I have always entertained a PC that was less than gaming worthy in my days. Fortunately with technology constantly doubling it is easier to get a PC that can play more games for less money. My current laptop is nothing to write home about,(especially when compared to my roomate's monster alienware laptop) but it is more than capable of playing alot of the hits of yesteryear via Steam and other online resources. I had always heard good things about Deus Ex so when Steam launched their massive holiday sale I figured even if it didn't run or wasn't good the six dollar price tag for a full game wouldn't kill me. Fortunately I was pleasantly surprised , as the game started up and ran without a hitch, and with no lag or slowdown. Finally I would get to try this game I had heard so many good things about.<br />
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Set in a dystopian future Deus Ex puts you in control of anti terrorist agent JC Denton, as he embarks on a long quest full of guns, conspiracy, and action. The game was praised especially for the myriad of options players had to conquer objectives, and while this is true I felt like the game pushed toward certain ways more than others. For example, players usually can opt to go in gunning, but without at least a little stealth and hiding, more often than not you will find yourself killed very quickly. Either way its only a minor complaint and once you get the skills you want to use in place, and a method of operating your JC down pat the game should move relatively smoothly for you. One more problem I found was there are a few too many situations where you can get insta killed, and many times you have no idea its coming. Also you had better be at least two football fields away from any kind of explosion or you'll be blowing up with whatever it is, or at least taking a ton of damage.<br />
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On a more positive note, the game's story while sometimes confusing, can be influenced by your actions and give you a varied experience each time you play. There are several instances where you can fight and kill a certain character, or just run from them and depending on your actions they may show up later to trouble you again. It makes sense yes, but think of how few games let you run from an encounter and actually give you ramifications for letting that boss live later on. Probably more so now than when Deus Ex first hit shelves, so for the time this was a relatively big deal.<br />
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Within the game you will also find a fair assortment of weapons and gadgets. You've got your hacking tools, your lockpicks, and of course weapons. Weapons are divided up based on weight and usage and you have a different skill level for each. You also may find weapon upgrades that you can buy and put on a certain weapon. This doesn't mean your weapons are set however. You can drop anything in your inventory at almost any time really and never pick it up again.<br />
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There's really just too much crazy stuff to mention here. After playing the game you can be in on certain in community jokes like "what a shame" and "A BOMB?" I'd give this game my recommendation. Its a bit dated now but the game play is still solid and definitely worth the time of going through.<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/2414616231944678393-4027436919872427846?l=ifhedidnthavethatdaggum.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Torentsuhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17501731825332819613noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2414616231944678393.post-65691157779162387522012-01-02T09:43:00.000-08:002012-01-02T09:43:48.418-08:002012-01-02T09:43:48.418-08:00Torentsu Games 2 The ReturnHey gang I'm back after a long absence to bring you the best in gaming. Forgive me for my departure but its been quite the busy Christmas season. I also picked up quite a few new games this holiday season, which I'm sure you'll get to hear me talk about in the upcoming entries. Lets see if I can get the full list from memory here:<br />
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Hydro Thunder Hurricane<br />
Deus Ex<br />
Deux Ex Invisible War<br />
Deus Ex Human Revolution<br />
Star Wars KOTOR<br />
The Legend of Zelda Skyward Sword (technically got in November as a gift from a friend)<br />
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I think that's everything. As you can see, alot of these are from Steam's amazing holiday sale, which is why I picked up all of these that I did. KOTOR was on sale for an unbeatable 2.42$ and I picked up both Deus Ex 1 and 2 for about 12 dollars total. My computer isn't really the caliber for modern day gaming, but thanks to Steam I was able to pick up a ton of old classics at great prices, without having to go through the trouble of hunting them down. Steam does have its problems, but I really have to give it to them for their exceptional library of old and new games that are seemingly almost always on sale at a great price. I remember that the first Steam game I ever picked up was the original Fallout which was about 5$ during the middle of the year. Anyway here is my official welcome back post for the new year. Expect to see me talking about some of the games above really soon. Probably the Deus Ex series which I have recently discovered and gotten into. Its one of those games I missed the boat on the first time around, but am into and ready to discuss now. Also expect commentary on Skyward Sword, and much more. Now with vitamin C and no MSG!<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/2414616231944678393-6569115777916238752?l=ifhedidnthavethatdaggum.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Torentsuhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17501731825332819613noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2414616231944678393.post-62537915237707233572011-11-28T13:17:00.000-08:002011-11-28T13:17:36.862-08:002011-11-28T13:17:36.862-08:00Gaming for the HolidaysHello gang didn't you miss me? I know I didn't. Anyway I'm back here with another blog entry about gaming for these holidays. Its only November, but I already have a ton of gaming related crap to get caught up on (even in Skryim and I've done alot with that already!) My next two gaming conquest will probably be the much anticipated Zelda: Skyward Sword, and Saints Row The Third. I am bound to play a mainstream Zelda console release no matter what, and I just have to see how wacky and all out they went with Saints Row 3 . I was a big fan of SR2 because it was a sandbox game that let you do what everyone wanted to do, and of course that is run around and cause needless chaos in everything from hot dog trucks, to flying saucers. The game also does not take itself seriously, which is a somewhat rarity in the sandbox crime games these days. Oddly enough I already know exactly what to expect with Zelda. ( Running around in dungeons one of which will be fire themed, a forest themed one, and probably a water one among others)yet I'm going to play it anyway, and I will most definitely enjoy it(my face when it overtakes Ocarina of Time (cue trollface.jpg)).<br />
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As an aside now that the semester is winding down and free time will start popping up sporadically I've been getting into several oldschool CPS2 fighters lately, which started with me and my old internet pal in crime Sabin playing some Street Fighter 3 online(which is yes I know a CPS3 game). One CPS2 game I'd love to see get an all new non rehash entry is Darkstalkers, as it seems as of late the only real attention it has gotten was that PSP version a few years ago.<br />
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Either way until I get my hands on Skyward Sword, and Saints Row I'll be hitting up the excellent Skryim and some more Castlevania HD.<br />
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DO YOU VISIT THE CLOUD DISTRICT OFTEN? WHAT AM I SAYING OF COURSE YOU DON'T. <div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/2414616231944678393-6253791523770723357?l=ifhedidnthavethatdaggum.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Torentsuhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17501731825332819613noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2414616231944678393.post-88801441303392104512011-11-15T11:54:00.000-08:002011-11-15T11:54:36.516-08:002011-11-15T11:54:36.516-08:00Skryim First ImpressionsSo in my quest to thwart Microsoft and play Skyrim I had a curious idea to use a friend's xbox to put the game on my hard drive and play it from that. No doubt when I swap the systems back out I'll be greeted with my old pal the E66 screen, but either way this morning gave me a little time to try out Skyrim and see what its like for myself. <br />
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Right away players will notice that the game world feels much much more alive than Oblivion. While Oblivion had a good bit of stuff going on, Skyrim blows it out of the water. Characters look a lot sharper and more refined, a far cry from the pudgy sometimes puppet like characters of Oblivion. Everyone's favorite beast races have also undergone several aesthetic changes, which will make them much more pleasing to the eye, and more fun to play. Now granted I am only 3 hours into this game (and pretty much just on the main quest), but in that time I've done everything from fight dragons and bandits, to see a ram get ambushed by a bear(which promptly turned its sights on me). The gameplay is all there so far, and the mechanics have been improved as well. So far I've been unable to find a hotkey system for spells, which so far is my only complaint. Oh yeah improvements. For one thing the HUD has been minimized to show only what you need at the moment. It really gives more of an epic feel to pop the game into 3rd person and see your character in his armor of choice scaling a mountain on an epic adventure to wherever you want to go! I'm sure I'll have more to say once I get my Xbox situation situated which will hopefully mean a new model in the coming weeks. I almost hate to buy a new one but with the holiday season coming I know they will be on sale SOMEWHERE. This time I'm buying new. Never again will I buy a used console that I don't know the owner of. Its just screwed me too many times. The new gneration of consoles has brought us so much but look at all the pitfalls. Never did I ever have to worry about picking up a new NES or Gameboy and getting home to find my console won't play it. It was just never an issue, but now for all our technology and big business's concern for getting every dollar we quickly might be screwing ourselves out of the gaming of the old days. <br />
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You are Gamerborn! The legend says you can play games and complain about them on the internet!<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/2414616231944678393-8880144130339210451?l=ifhedidnthavethatdaggum.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Torentsuhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17501731825332819613noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2414616231944678393.post-46275685416297411242011-11-13T21:22:00.000-08:002011-11-13T21:22:41.368-08:002011-11-13T21:22:41.368-08:00How Microsoft stole Skyrim.Hello gang its your pal Torentsu here with another tale of disappoint me. So I pretty much have the best girlfriend ever. She got me a copy of Skyrim for my birthday and gave it to me early because she knew how much I wanted to play it. Anyway I got home just a few hours ago and excitedly turned it on to be slapped with the E66 error I had been previously given a few weeks ago. You see my Xbox is used, so whoever had it last obviously had a disk read error and the idiot (probably Microsoft) swapped the disk drive out without flashing it to the correct checksum. Thus when the new disk upgrade update came out I got slapped with an Error 66 and accused of being a software modder/pirate by the smug moron on the other end of the Xbox help line. Thus they refuse to fix my xbox, and I couldn't get online cause of the stupid update.<br />
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Flash foward a few weeks my two roommates and I start messing around with the Xbox hardware. One roomate had an old red ringed xbox so we decided to swap the disk drives and see what would happen. Sure enough I was able to successfully install the update. I'd have left that drive in but for some reason the old one refuses to actually play games, only DVDs. Either way I was back in business. Fast foward several months to the release of Skyrim. If Skyrim is in my Xbox it instantly red rings with E66. I'm not going to bother calling them, I know what they are going to say. Essentially my only option is to get a new Xbox. This may just be what I get for buying used, but at the same time its utter BS. I've been googling around and this same error is happening to some people who are using an out of the box Xbox. Despite this there seems to be no help coming from MS. They are much too worried about combating the small percent of people pirating Xbox games (vs the amount they are losing from used game sales ) . Either way I can safely say Sony will be getting my purchase when the next generation of consoles has come out. I'll most likely pay a bit more down front, but considering al lthe crap I had to get for my xbox, the fees to play online, and the poor poor treatment from customer service I will gladly skip taco bell a few weeks and pick up a PS3 instead.<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/2414616231944678393-4627568541629741124?l=ifhedidnthavethatdaggum.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Torentsuhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17501731825332819613noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2414616231944678393.post-45349549862124018442011-10-31T12:03:00.000-07:002011-10-31T12:03:46.272-07:002011-10-31T12:03:46.272-07:00Some Spooky SuggestionsHey gang, its Halloween and that means its time for some scary gaming suggestions to all of you looking to be actually scared I have to suggest playing the Resident Evil Remake and the prequel Resident Evil Zero, both of which were originally released on the Nintendo Gamecube. These games are challenging, and alot of fun to play, especially the first time through. I've never really been scared while playing a game except for the first time I played through the Remake on Gamecube, granted I was younger then but the game's atmosphere and pacing is just excellent. Couple the never ending supply of hungry monsters with the scarce ammo, and mind stretching puzzles, and you've got quite the experience.<br />
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The prequel Resident Evil Zero can also provide you with a few scares, but you might have to wait till night and play in the dark, as it doesn't quite give you that same feel as the RE Remake does. Add in the sometimes awkward switching system and the even more scarce ammo and you may find yourself a bit more frustrated than scared at times.<br />
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For those a bit more faint of heart who just want a scary good time without actually being scared, I recommend picking up an entry in the Castlevania series and hacking through some classic monsters. Which Castlevania you play however is up to you since the series spans over 20 years worth of titles all in varying genres. If you like a challenging side scroller pick up one of the original NES series and give that a go. Dungeon Crawler fans might like the PS2 games, and of course for those Metroid type gamers any of the new entries or Symphony of the Night on the PS1 might just be the game for you. The price has also dropped on the very new age Castlevania Lords of Shadow which is a new take on the Castlevania universe, and does some interesting new things with some of the classic themes. Finally if you've got friends pick up Castlevania Harmony of Despair on XBL and PSN and go on a hunt for the best items with all your online buddies<br />
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And for someone who wants a more philosophical sort of terrifying I suggest picking up Silent Hill 2 and being terrified that way. The main character's odd yet familiar predicament, as well as the supporting characters, monsters , and storyline twist will leave you more than a bit frightened. Its all the scary of Resident Evil without the sometimes overdone bio weapons dun it plot.<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/2414616231944678393-4534954986212401844?l=ifhedidnthavethatdaggum.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Torentsuhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17501731825332819613noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2414616231944678393.post-53230019040129631932011-10-24T11:27:00.000-07:002011-10-24T11:29:03.520-07:002011-10-24T11:29:03.520-07:00DLC : Greed or Fair Business Model?I got a text from an old friend Saturday, that said he had purchased Castlevania Harmony of Despair and that we should play it together sometime. After playing it a bit I realized that we couldn't use all the same characters together as I had some DLC he didn't have and vice versa. This got me to thinking about the whole DLC conundrum going on nowadays. I always understood that Downloadable Content was something that was released after a game had been out awhile to supplement the already there game features, fix problems in the release, and increase the fun offered by the base product. Now however, it seems like alot of the time you hear about companies (like Capcom in MVC3) putting in content on a disc and then essentially making you pay for "DLC" to unlock the content. Many have cried fowl on the issue saying that you're just making us pay for what's already there, but is it? One could argue that they are just streamlining it so you could get the content faster......but I just don't see it that way. The DLC I like to see is DLC that is made by developers post development and created to address problems/unfinished threads from the original game. Despite part of Skarlet being on the disc I really enjoyed the MK9 DLC. The characters were completely optional to the main game, but they found a way so that those who didn't care to purchase them could still play with those who did.<br />
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But back to the discussion at hand. Is it fair to put stuff on the disc and make people pay for unlock? To be honest game companies have every right to do so, but it just seems bad as far as how you are treating your customers. All the game companies make and sell games to turn a profit I understand this, but what happened to treating the customer right? Don't even get me started on these online "passes" as a way to make people who bought a game used pay for the online. Is it legitimate business? Absolutely. Is it somewhat rotten? Kinda so I think, but it is true that used game sales cost the game companies more than piracy. I only hope that at some point they won't start charging stores to sell used copies of their games and thus revving up those prices for the standard consumer. Games are already expensive and us gamers have picked an expensive hobby (with consoles, games, peripherals replacement controllers after anger fits etc).<br />
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Anyway I hope companies continue to make add on content for their games, but I also hope they keep the customer in mind, and do the right thing. Being that cool company that tosses a free DLC every now and then can cost you initially but I think the return from loyal fans willing to pay for content down the road will more than pay for itself.<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/2414616231944678393-5323001904012963193?l=ifhedidnthavethatdaggum.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Torentsuhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17501731825332819613noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2414616231944678393.post-65622064022924992932011-10-19T13:22:00.000-07:002011-10-19T13:22:55.971-07:002011-10-19T13:22:55.971-07:00The Gaming DroughtHey gang, I've been a bit sparse on the updates, and that's because I don't seem to have alot going on on the gaming front right now. I've still been playing alot of Mortal Kombat and Dungeon Fighter Online lately, but that's about it. I took a quick glance to see what was due out for the rest of this month for the 3 current mainstays, but I really didn't see anything that was of interest to me. I suppose FPS guys might be looking forward to Battlefield 3, but sorry gang I'm just not that much of a fan of the modern day FPS. I can appreciate Halo and Modern Warefare for the decent game they are, but I just can't see how they are "revolutionizing" the FPS genre. The FPS of yesteryear like Perfect Dark will always be my favorite type of FPS.<br />
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My apologies for the short entry. If any readers want to hear about something in particular that's gaming related use your gmail account and drop me a line. There's also trentchaolan@gmail.com<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/2414616231944678393-6562206402292499293?l=ifhedidnthavethatdaggum.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Torentsuhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17501731825332819613noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2414616231944678393.post-35939068433383839762011-10-11T12:02:00.000-07:002011-10-11T12:02:17.456-07:002011-10-11T12:02:17.456-07:00Games I'm looking forward to: SkyrimIt was really late to the latest generation of gaming consoles... well not late but all I had was a Wii. That may seem like a harsh statement but unfortunately all I've really enjoyed on the Wii this generation has been the first party titles. The Wii is a great console and I salute Nintendo for not bowing to the powers that be and wanting to have the most powerful console. Nintendo focused on fun, and all their first party games have all been a blast. Unfortunately developers don't seem to be as on board as most of the big name third party titles these days are coming out for the PS3 and 360. When I finally got my own 360 3 or 4 years ago (probably less actually) I felt like an entire generation of previously unknown games were opened to me. I've become a big fan of games that let you choose your own path (namely Oblivion), and titles such as Oblivion, Fallout 3 and New Vegas, as well as Saints Row 2 and Mass Effect have become a large part of my gaming nowadays. So that I don't get too hyped and waiting becomes torture I've purposefully not looked at much stuff about Skyrim, but its definitely on my list of most looked forward to games. Oblivion was a huge time sink for me, so I can only imagine what Skyrim will do to my free time (and probably some time that I don't have to spend). I'm excited to see the kind of changes they are making to the leveling system, and also interested to see how the new perks system will work. To me it looks like a unique blend of rpg leveling, and Fallout 3's perk system. Although very similar, Fallout and Oblivion had a very different feel. I hope that they maintain that Elder Scrolls feel in Skyrim and that I don't feel like I'm playing medieval Fallout. Atmosphere is something that can easily make or break a game. There are tons of games that have more features than say Zelda Ocarina of Time, but why is it OOT is the only game I've sat down to beat in one night? (As far as games that take a long time to beat). OOT's atmosphere was a product of the game's freshness and innovation at the time, and the game itself. Nothing can really surpass that....not yet anyway. I look forward to the day a new classic can be created. Regardless I feel like this has gotten off topic. The current game I'm waiting on is Skyrim. What's yours?<br />
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Skyrim character idea:<br />
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Argonian warrior named Sucks-at-Spells<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/2414616231944678393-3593906843338383976?l=ifhedidnthavethatdaggum.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Torentsuhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17501731825332819613noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2414616231944678393.post-88729815455965957442011-09-29T19:09:00.000-07:002011-09-29T19:09:05.511-07:002011-09-29T19:09:05.511-07:00The Content Retail ForgotDid you ever watch a DVD and afterwords check out the special features? Among them were probably several deleted scenes. Scenes that contributed to the movie, but were cut from the final for one reason or another. Perhaps they didn't fit the time constraints of the movie, or they just fit in too awkwardly. Either way movies go through a lengthy design and development process including numerous cuts, and revisions, and games are no different. Games through Alpha, and Beta design stages, and just like in movies there is often alot of content that doesn't make the final cut. <br />
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While this should come as no surprise considering the long development schedules games these days go through did you know there is a ton of people out there who study this stuff extensively? You'd be surprised to see what was cut from your favorite game. Even games as old as the 80s carry Beta and Cut content. Did you know for instance, that Centipede has an unused enemy, the grasshopper. You can find the sprite for the grasshopper enemy in the final game by viewing the game's internal test menu. Check the below link. In the bottom right hand corner on the other side of the Scorpion you can see the unused grasshopper enemy's sprite. <br />
http://tcrf.net/images/7/7a/Centipede_grasshopper.gif<br />
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Sites like The Cutting Room Floor http://tcrf.net/The_Cutting_Room_Floor and The Lost Levels discuss not only unreleased content found in games, but games that never got released as well. Thanks to generous collectors, and those dedicated to preserving the work of game devs everywhere even completely unreleased games can still be made available and preserved. I don't want to go on too much about this stuff, because if its interesting you'll read more on your own. Here's some links below to some really popular games that have tons of unused content that are great to read about.<br />
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The Legend of Zelda Ocarina of Time - http://tcrf.net/Ocarina_of_Time<br />
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Goldeneye 64 - http://tcrf.net/Goldeneye_007 <br />
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Banjo- Kazooie -http://tcrf.net/Banjo-Kazooie<br />
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Super Mario World http://tcrf.net/Super_Mario_World<br />
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Grand Theft Auto 3 - http://tcrf.net/Grand_Theft_Auto_III<br />
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Search your favorite game at : http://tcrf.net/ <br />
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One of my old Castlevania Beta articles from Unseen 64 http://www.unseen64.net/articles/castlevania-64-beta-analysis/<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/2414616231944678393-8872981545596595744?l=ifhedidnthavethatdaggum.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Torentsuhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17501731825332819613noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2414616231944678393.post-16419959974768174412011-09-26T12:35:00.000-07:002011-09-26T12:35:40.479-07:002011-09-26T12:35:40.479-07:00America vs Japan : Censorship<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:WordDocument> <w:View>Normal</w:View> <w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:TrackMoves/> <w:TrackFormatting/> <w:PunctuationKerning/> <w:ValidateAgainstSchemas/> <w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:DoNotPromoteQF/> <w:LidThemeOther>EN-US</w:LidThemeOther> <w:LidThemeAsian>JA</w:LidThemeAsian> <w:LidThemeComplexScript>X-NONE</w:LidThemeComplexScript> <w:Compatibility> <w:BreakWrappedTables/> <w:SnapToGridInCell/> <w:WrapTextWithPunct/> <w:UseAsianBreakRules/> <w:DontGrowAutofit/> <w:SplitPgBreakAndParaMark/> <w:DontVertAlignCellWithSp/> <w:DontBreakConstrainedForcedTables/> <w:DontVertAlignInTxbx/> <w:Word11KerningPairs/> <w:CachedColBalance/> <w:UseFELayout/> </w:Compatibility> <w:BrowserLevel>MicrosoftInternetExplorer4</w:BrowserLevel> <m:mathPr> <m:mathFont m:val="Cambria Math"/> <m:brkBin m:val="before"/> <m:brkBinSub m:val="--"/> <m:smallFrac m:val="off"/> <m:dispDef/> <m:lMargin m:val="0"/> <m:rMargin m:val="0"/> <m:defJc m:val="centerGroup"/> <m:wrapIndent m:val="1440"/> <m:intLim m:val="subSup"/> <m:naryLim m:val="undOvr"/> </m:mathPr></w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:LatentStyles DefLockedState="false" DefUnhideWhenUsed="true"
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</style> <![endif]--> Growing up in the 90s I usually took my video games for what they were. We all knew that games were released in other regions, especially Japan, and we for the most part assumed they were all the same just with a different language.<br />
<br />
Enter the internet. Suddenly thousands of semi isolated gamers are able to be in contact with each other and share their knowledge of games they played at home and abroad, and more. Pretty soon it becomes clear that there were more differences with the games they loved at home and abroad than we had originally imagined. I remember going on a site called <a href="http://vgchat.info/vgx/">The Odyessey Of Hyrule</a> and reading about all the Triforce rumors. One I remember specifically was that in the Japanese version of the game you could obtain the triforce and there was a whole new ending where Link really defeated Ganondorf for good and you went to the Temple of Light, or something like that. With what I know now about the game region conversion process I know that doesn't make any sense. Why would they go through all the trouble of programming all that stuff and take it out of the American version (that's not to say stuff like that hasn't happened, but its growing more and more unlikely. ) ? In reality the majority of missed content here in the west is due to censorship. During the 90s we all know about Nintendo's very very strict censorship policies which blocked anything with the slightest hint of sexuality, as well as extreme violence. Why is it then that the Japanese version of so many games has such content that is deleted by the people who port these games? Why do Japanese companies allow it in Japan but not here?<br />
<br />
Its all just cultural differences in my opinion, it seems to me that America's big no- no thing was sexuality, where as in Japan they feel similar (but not exactly the same) about violence. If you look at alot of old Japanese animes they have tons of violence ( Hokuto No Ken), that would rival even American gore classics (say MK2). Despite this the Japanese version of Mortal Kombat 2 has greyed out fatalities and green blood. Ok so no violence for Japan, and no sex for American gamers right? Well its not that simple. If you look at a game like Super Castlevania 4 it had naked statues that got censored in America, but not in Japan, and in the dungeon level the "acid" was actually blood that got turned green for American gamers. Having studied the Japanese culture and its language for almost 5 years now I'm willing to say it has to do with the tastefulness of the violence. Games likes MK put video game violence in the spotlight for a while in the 90s, but all that has seemed to fade. Often times we are seeing western games getting censored for Japan! Anyway as I was saying its about tastefulness in violence. Contradictory huh? We see animes where people get cut in half and blood spews from them, but the violence in say Mortal Kombat or Resident Evil 4 gets censored? Perhaps Japan sees this as just needless. MK was always about violence for violence sake (even though it admittedly doesn't take itself THAT serious). Perhaps the Japanese see some violence as necessary and artistic etc the classic samurai cut in half slash, Hokuto No Ken's exploding but not blood color violence. Games like Mad World, and Mortal Kombat that glorify violence and head choppingoffisms might just seem off color to the Japanese.<br />
<br />
Either way each culture has its interesting quirks. I didn't talk more about sexual censorship in America, because more than likely you already know the story. Both sides are starting to even out now however, and I feel like developers are getting more artistic freedom than ever in their creations.<br />
<br />
- Torentsu<br />
<br />
The ending to this entry originally featured me being sawed in half, but it was censored for the American release to just show me closing the entry instead. <br />
<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/2414616231944678393-1641995997476817441?l=ifhedidnthavethatdaggum.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Torentsuhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17501731825332819613noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2414616231944678393.post-90278656279532475532011-09-21T12:29:00.000-07:002011-09-21T12:29:44.751-07:002011-09-21T12:29:44.751-07:00Numbers Online<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:WordDocument> <w:View>Normal</w:View> <w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:TrackMoves/> <w:TrackFormatting/> <w:PunctuationKerning/> <w:ValidateAgainstSchemas/> <w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:DoNotPromoteQF/> <w:LidThemeOther>EN-US</w:LidThemeOther> <w:LidThemeAsian>JA</w:LidThemeAsian> <w:LidThemeComplexScript>X-NONE</w:LidThemeComplexScript> <w:Compatibility> <w:BreakWrappedTables/> <w:SnapToGridInCell/> <w:WrapTextWithPunct/> <w:UseAsianBreakRules/> <w:DontGrowAutofit/> <w:SplitPgBreakAndParaMark/> <w:DontVertAlignCellWithSp/> <w:DontBreakConstrainedForcedTables/> <w:DontVertAlignInTxbx/> <w:Word11KerningPairs/> <w:CachedColBalance/> <w:UseFELayout/> </w:Compatibility> <w:BrowserLevel>MicrosoftInternetExplorer4</w:BrowserLevel> <m:mathPr> <m:mathFont m:val="Cambria Math"/> <m:brkBin m:val="before"/> <m:brkBinSub m:val="--"/> <m:smallFrac m:val="off"/> <m:dispDef/> <m:lMargin m:val="0"/> <m:rMargin m:val="0"/> <m:defJc m:val="centerGroup"/> <m:wrapIndent m:val="1440"/> <m:intLim m:val="subSup"/> <m:naryLim m:val="undOvr"/> </m:mathPr></w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:LatentStyles DefLockedState="false" DefUnhideWhenUsed="true"
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</style> <![endif]--> I remember 2006 as the year I first had semi frequent access to non dial up internet, and with this a whole new slew of gaming options. The first MMO-ish game I played was a little 3D Shooter by the name of Gunz The Duel . Even with what was a "fast" connection at that time the download still took forever, but that night it finally finished and I found myself connected to thousands of other online users in a duel to the death. Running and gunning each other down, gathering experience points, ever looking for new gear, and levels. Interacting with other plays like this was a new type of gaming for me. Here was constant multiplayer , with an untold myriad of adventures to be had. The feeling was awesome, and I'll never forget those first nights playing Gunz The Duel until early in the morning. Pretty soon though, it was back to dial-up, and it was another few years before I finally had internet worth playing an MMO on again. Not being one to pay for PC games most of my early MMO excursions were F2P(that's free to play) MMOS, and most of them were of the notoriously grindy Korean bunch. The first one I remember spending tons of time in was Acclaim's 9 Dragons. I reached level 40 in this game before pretty much dropping it completely. The first few months were again, amazing. The experience of an online game, competing against other players to be the best, and a big open world was fascinating to me. Unfortunately, the more I played the more a sort of gnawing feeling grew at the back of my head- The feeling that I was simply doing the same thing over and over again. Sure I was gaining a new level here and there, but the quests were all "fetch me x amount of this" or "Go kill X Amount of these." Sure I joined a clan, but what was that besides a few skills identical to all the other clans's skills, and a title by my username? After dropping 9 Dragons I played several other MMOs such as Silkroad, Knight Online, and even some other MMO that was so similar that I can't remember the name. I even remember hearing about Requiem: Bloodymare which was supposed to be the new dark MMO to set the standard.....NOT. It was just a grind fest. It was a bloody grindfest, but a grindfest all the same. Its like every F2P MMO came from a same mold and just added in some sort of new "twist" that was supposed to revolutionize the market. Whether it be a night and days system, martial arts, violence, or a new type of economy system, they are all rather cookie cutter and the same. They all brag about a massive open world, but there's really nothing in it. Sure you can go explore the rolling fields and mountains of 9 Dragons, but there's really nothing there (except maybe some really nasty mobs that will destroy you). I mean I get it you can't place a rare treasure in a cave somewhere because then everyone will just camp it right? MMO mechanics have hurt MMOs I think. I pretty much quit them all together.<br />
<div style="tab-stops: 367.5pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span></div>Then came college, some people down the hall had some WoW installation disk and asked me to try playing it for a bit. Ok I said. WoW is a P2P MMO. Surely the extra cost will be befitting of some new features that will save my dying idea of an MMO! Nah, it was the same thing. Fetch me this, kill this. Oh but there are two sides you can play on! So what they are both doing the same types of quest, and the end games with its glorious “intense raids” are really just all about numbers. Get our stats to this so we can beat this to get gear that makes our numbers go up enough to do this and repeat.<br />
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<div style="text-indent: .5in;">Now I'm not bashing the MMO market. Its a great market for the gaming economy and MMOs can provide several hours of enjoyment, my problem is just isn't there SOME way to do online besides this cookie cutter niche the market has fallen into. There's just go to be some kind of way to make a game fair without having everyone just click n' kill. Amidst the sea of MMOs there are some that I have found to actually do things in a way that makes them different, and a lot of fun. </div><br />
Guild Wars - Probably the most traditional of the MMOs I'll talk about but its just fun to play. GW boasts an epic (and long) story spread out across instance based missions, as well as mini quest you can undertake along the way. With the level cap at 20 players spend time playing the game having fun with missions and better characters, not because they have to grind just to get to the next part of the game.<br />
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Dungeon Fighter Online - This one is of Korean creation, but it is significantly less grindy than its counterparts. DFO harkens back to the arcade beatem up action of yesteryear's arcades. Players choose from a set of characters with abilities that actually have quite significant differences, and set off as "Dungeon Fighters" to battle their way through several different levels. It’s an elegant blend of MMO style leveling and statistics, with a real time movement scheme that will give skillful players an advantage, because of their ability and not just because of the numbers they have put up on the My Stats menu. <br />
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Phantasy Star Online - If you can find a way to play this one (especially on an online server) do it because it’s a blast. There are 2 types of characters (human or android) and they divide up into other sets of classes that divide up into more types of classes. There are story missions, but the real fun is hacking your way through dungeons with a party of your friends. <br />
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</div><div class="MsoNormal">- Torentsu</div><div class="MsoNormal"> </div><div class="MsoNormal"> </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Those darn goblins have attacked the village again! What will we do! You have to help us stop them! Defeat 15 of them that should be enough!</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Defeat 15 Goblin(s)</div><div class="MsoNormal">Accept Decline </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/2414616231944678393-9027865627953247553?l=ifhedidnthavethatdaggum.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Torentsuhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17501731825332819613noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2414616231944678393.post-23964471848625730272011-09-19T12:58:00.000-07:002011-09-19T12:58:09.447-07:002011-09-19T12:58:09.447-07:00Torentsu latelyHey gang I bet you thought this blog was dead didn't you? Well not unfortunately its not and I've returned once more to take my revenge on the gaming community. Lately the only things I've been playing are the new Mortal Kombat and Dungeon Fighter Online. Let me tell you why I think the new Mortal Kombat gets it right.<br />
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Its not that the whole slew of 3D MK games released post MK4 were bad( ok so maybe they kinda were), but they just lacked the MK spirit. Several fans felt that MK4 was as sort of downhill turn, and honestly I can see why. MK4 is what introduced weapons as a serious factor in matches, and when they made the transition to a full 3D fighter MK4's weak weapon system became a large part of the game for 3 iterations. I could forgive Deadly Alliance because it was the first of the new fresh hip hop mad crazy straight up yo dog 3D MK's that were to follow. It did a few things right , but it failed to capture that MK feel, at least to me anyway. Later on, they take the better part of DA and churn out MK Deception, and of all the 3D MKs I'd have to say that Deception is my favorite. Its conquest mode was a great deal of fun (albeit a bit barebones in its execution as a free roam game), and they brought back the characters that MK fans wanted to see, including Liu Kang whom they had just previously oh-by-the-way killed in the opening cut-scene of the previous game (spoilers lol). I really enjoyed Deception despite its flaws (one of which being how the characters looked like they were looking at a forty five degree angle rather than at their opponent). Armageddon is honestly the MK I can't forgive. Despite having every character, a konquest mode, a kart mode, and create a fighter. All of the features are nice, but it feels like they didn't spend much time on any of them. Also to accommodate the large variety of fighters they have to cut fighting styles down to 2 per character . This would be acceptable except that for the most part they just shuffled the fighting styles of previous 3D MK Kharacters into all the other characters, with some characters being left with a random style that really doesn't flow well by itself. Also don't get me started on character endings which are just text with a character doing a kata. These look extremely stupid when you have a giant character like Onaga dancing around like Daniel from the Karate Kid. They also decided to make Blaze(a bonus half done character from DA) the penultimate boss of the current MK Story arc, and as a final blow from the laziness side of the ring they made Blaze nothing more than a reskin of Onaga with a few new moves (including such new and exciting moves as the roll!). He even has the same death animation.<br />
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Well forget all that garbage because the new MK tosses all that out and goes back to 2D in what feels like the true successor to MK3. MK9 is a retelling of the first 3 MK games with the added twist of being in an alternate reality to the first games . 3D MK's rather quickly done Konquest Mode is replaced with a story mode that lets you see exactly how the new 3 tournaments play out. As if that wasn't enough they've even given us classic ladder mode with endings for every character (DLC crew included) . Even with all the features of a next gen MK Game (and more) game play is really what it comes down to, and this MK does not disappoint. The 3D graphics actually translate very well into the old style type of MK game play. Keep in mind when I say old style I'm referring to the 2D nature of the earlier MK games. MK9's gameplay is in 2D but it actually takes what was left of the 3D MK games and puts it to good use. The most basic combo commands work like they did in the newer 3D bunch, but the more advanced combos will force you to think in MK3/MK2 mode. Throws are still streamlined to one button like in the 3D games but it works pretty well actually. The team even took a page from Tekken (a series that Ed Boon is known to be fond of ) and made it so that you can escape throws with a certain combination depending on whether they are a forward throw or a backward throw.<br />
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With mechanics down-pat the team no doubt sought to capture that violent feel of the old series that at the same time didn't take itself too seriously. There's decapitations, blood sprays and survivable blows that should be fatal yes, but babalities and other quirks that gave early MK a sense of humor have also returned. Its always been amazing to me how MK maintained its level of violence and the seriousness of Earth-realm's situation without being losing a certain of humor . Who couldn't love MK favorites like Toasty! , Aww Man (from the dead pool), and "Its official, you suck?"<br />
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I'm purposefully leaving out several features that you'll find in the new MK because you really need to play it to get a feel for it. If you want to play me online and embarrass me add me on XBL as Torentsu2. Torentsu is also me but I don't play on that account anymore. Long story.<br />
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I wrote this with Sheena Easton's 9-5 stuck in my head, and also no I didn't proofread it out of respect for descriptivism.<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/2414616231944678393-2396447184862573027?l=ifhedidnthavethatdaggum.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Torentsuhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17501731825332819613noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2414616231944678393.post-89191536215732451822010-09-12T22:03:00.000-07:002010-09-12T22:03:26.759-07:002010-09-12T22:03:26.759-07:00Wacky Videya Game MusicEver since the technology was possible games had had musical scores to accompany the action. Whether its the catchy tunes of Castlevania or the epic scores of modern games like Mass Effect 2 and the Halo series games nowadays almost always have music. I just had to make a quick post to point out how absolutly abusrd the lyrics in some games can be. Don't get me wrong I loved Sonic Adventure 2, and its soundtrack but look at how absurd this stuff is. . <br />
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Wild Canyon<br />
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TZhyApeu1qs">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TZhyApeu1qs</a><br />
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Pumpkin Hill<br />
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yUyZFVqX5rA">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yUyZFVqX5rA</a> (even has LYRICS)<br />
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YO ITS ME THE GAMING FREAK TORENTSU AND WE'RE AT BLOGGER HILL. YOU READY?<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/2414616231944678393-8919153621573245182?l=ifhedidnthavethatdaggum.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Torentsuhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17501731825332819613noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2414616231944678393.post-27135428548232694692010-08-29T21:39:00.000-07:002010-08-29T21:39:14.912-07:002010-08-29T21:39:14.912-07:00Torentsu's Row 2Whenever a game redefines a genre there will be clones. Every popular game franchise that started a trend can call out a clone. Unlike the days of MK and SF ripoffs where most ripoffs were pure unadulterated garbage alot of times clone makers get it right. The problem now days is genericness. Take a look at Survival Arts. <br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_RiNiFUPtbw0/THsyLu4zwPI/AAAAAAAAABE/kWQV24rohxE/s1600/Survival-Arts.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" ox="true" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_RiNiFUPtbw0/THsyLu4zwPI/AAAAAAAAABE/kWQV24rohxE/s320/Survival-Arts.png" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Words cannot describe how awful a fighting game it is, its a shameless Mortal Kombat ripoff, but it has some orginality to it. If anything when you play Survival Arts you will have fun at just how terrible the game itself is . Fortunatly sometimes modern developers who make clones get it right. Saints Row 2 is a perfect example.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">So go back a year or so. GTA 4 hits the streets and its an instant classic. Gritty realism, a redone liberty city, and a dark noir story fitted with all the perversion we've come to expect from GTA. If you're like me you played through GTAIV and you enjoyed it, but you realized something was missing. GTA 4 is a marvelous game, but in my opinion they put realism before they put the thing that makes games games. Fun. I had heard several people say that SR2 was an amazing game, but I was skeptical that it could be anything other than a GTA clone. How wrong I was. Saints Row 2 took the basic set up of all the GTA games, and made it better. Its essentially like if you took out all the lame stuff in GTA 4 and put in all the fun crazy stuff that you could do in San Andreas and MORE. Saints Row 2 has the lowly bottom of the totem pole gang rising to rule the city story yes, but I dont think its really meant to be the true focus. Saints Row 2 lets you run the crime game setup your way. In fact the following sentence should tell you why its so awesome.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">I set up my gang to dress in ninja garb and drive purple pimp cars around town.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">The level of customization is awesome. You can buy several safe houses all over town and set each one up however you want it. You can customize your cars, (which respawn in your garage if destroyed), you can customize your gang , your appearance, the cars your gang drives, everything. Missions are also all awesome. You know how in every GTA game the first few missions are always a re-enactment of Driving Ms. Daisy? Well in the first mission of Saints Row 2 you break out of jail, steal a boat, shoot down 3 helicopters and crash onto the mainland. If this were GTA 4 you'd be driving your mom to pick up groceries at this point in the game. All the missions and sub-activities are all over the top nonsense , and I loved every minute of it. Sure there's no way any of that could really happen that way but it makes the game fun and that's whats important. Another great thing is the personality of your character (who is very deeply customizable). He's a true wise cracking butt kicker. At lot of times you'll find yourself laughing at the things he does to his enemies, as well as his one liners. You can also change his voice so on replays you can hear it all differently. Saints Row 2 really just has too much to list here. For any fan of the sandbox or crime game genres you must pick this one up. Its been out awhile so you can probably pick it up for 20 dollars or less anywhere where fine gaming appliances are sold. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Torentsu games, climbing in your windows snatchin' your games up since 1975</div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/2414616231944678393-2713542854823269469?l=ifhedidnthavethatdaggum.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Torentsuhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17501731825332819613noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2414616231944678393.post-13026974831941766252010-08-24T22:16:00.000-07:002010-08-24T22:16:10.881-07:002010-08-24T22:16:10.881-07:00Three classics you (may have) never played but shouldIn today's world of FPS wars , WOW and franchise saturation it can be most rewarding to take a look back at games of yesteryear. As mentioned I only got a 360 and became active in the current generation of consoles around 2009. I did have a Wii from launch but sadly its usually only the first party games that interest me for that console. During this semingly endless drought did I just stop playing games? No you silly goose I was playing the classics! Mortal Kombat , Donkey Kong Country , Mario, games you've never heard of , everything! Today I thought I'd name off a few games that are worth playing if you never tried them. <br />
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Dragon Saber -<br />
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If you're a fan of shoot'em ups (and not those scary Cave bullet curtain kind) I suggest looking into Namco's Dragon Saber. Dragon Saber is the direct sequel to a game called Dragon Spirit, which was alot of fun, but really just too hard to play. The story is simple ( and it is told in most humorous Engrish). In the future humans have utterly boned the enviroment and all sorts of strange creatures now rule the world. Suddenly a floaty woman named Arlia gives two youths a saber that transforms them into dragons to take the fight to the enemy. Naturally they fly through 9 levels shooting down everything they see. This shooter is a top down shooter, and makes use of an air and groundfire function. I love shooters that do this because the ones that let you hit ground targets with your airfire always slightly urked me. I understand it was likely a technical limitation or something but it always bothered me. Anyway Dragon Saber , with 9 great levels , awesome music, and loads of original power ups is a great game for any shoot em up fan or a challenge seeker.<br />
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Daraku Tenshi The Fallen Angels-<br />
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After Street Fighter II revolutionized the fighting game genre there were a slew of fighting games to follow in its wake and try an compete. Some of these games like King of Fighters , Dan-Ku-Ga, and Mortal Kombat were all great, however some real stinkers came out. In this sea of fighters some sank and some floated, but some of them that sank didn't deserve to. Daraku Tenshi is an amazing fighter from the folks at Psikyo who are best known for the Gunbird series. In DT an earthquake has severed the city of Esaka Japan from the mainland and caused the city to fall into chaos. Ten years after the earthquake a crime boss known as Carlos rules the city. Everyone from a homeless martial artist to a transvestite bar singer have reason to take him down, so therein lies the game's backdrop. Featuring a dark ruined world and genetic modifcation subtones DT beats out all other fighting games of the time (In my own opinion of course). Sadly the game was never fully finished and lots of endings, character, and other features were cut before the final release. I myself run a forum, and wiki for this game. So google Daraku Tenshi forum if you're interested! <br />
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Kabuki Quantum Fighter<br />
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I don't remember how I came across this gem but I'm glad I did because its an original and challenging platformer for the NES. In Kabuki quantum something is messing around with the world's nuclear weapons systems and the only way to stop it is to digitize a man and send him into the computer to fight the problem on the binary level. Naturally this means he has to run to the left (and sometimes to the right if he's lucky), and defeat a series of enemies and dodge all sorts of traps. The game gives you a new powerup after each level , and has you doing all sorts of tricky acrobatic manuevers to get across the levels. If you're into old school platformers this one is definitly worth your time. It falls in a bit short at only about 8 levels or so, but its pretty challenging and should keep you occupied for at least a few hours. The game does get harder in the last levels but its never unfair just challenging, which is a rare combination to find in platforming games on the NES. <br />
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-Torentsu<br />
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SUDDENLY TORENTSU THE GAME BLOGGER APPEARED FROM SKY TO HUMAN AND TOLD<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/2414616231944678393-1302697483194176625?l=ifhedidnthavethatdaggum.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Torentsuhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17501731825332819613noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2414616231944678393.post-59408411724203660972010-08-23T21:40:00.000-07:002010-08-23T21:40:33.632-07:002010-08-23T21:40:33.632-07:00Castlevania and 3-DSo I was browsing Gamefaqs and I saw where the newest Castlevania entry is going to be hitting the stores in October. October has always been a great month for gaming. I remember last year in October I was waiting for Tekken 6 which came on somewhere around the 20th. <br />
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There's alot of talk about this game finally doing Castlevania in 3D right. Well hold on a minute. I'll say it. The N64 Castlevanias were the best attempt at it thus far. I've heard all kinds of complaints about CV 64. Everything from poor graphics, to not enough enemies. While I will conceed that the camera can be a bit troublesome the game was very close to its 2D counterparts. Think about the old school Castlevania games. You walked from side to side opening doors, whipping enemies and dodging hazards. I found CV64's enemy placement to be spot on with the other games. Castlevania never really had you facing hordes of enemies at one time. They even got the door opening cinemas right. Remember in the old game the door slapping open and you walking across it and seeing it slam shut again? The whole zoom to first person then show the door shut behind you thing was spot on. We also need to think about the level design in CV64. Its a step by step, level by level romp through the castle. That's exactly what the old games were. Look at Castlevania Lament of Innocence and Curse of Darkness. Each one of them had level structure yes , but they more or less just dumped you in an area from a hub or from the last level. Lament of Innocence had you doing the go to each world and beat the boss thing, and Curse of Darkness had one level that was Castlevania. The rest of the levels are pointless dungeon crawling and weapon forging. Now we all enjoy a game of SMT or Persona every now and then, but Castlevania and dungeon crawling are not two things that go well together (Unless you're using a web browser to crawl The Castlevania Dungeon oh ho ho ) . <br />
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Now don't think I'm downing IGA or his games. I enjoyed Lament of Innocence and Curse of Darkness, but they were both rather bland (COD being the most bland of the two). For Castlevania to move foward Konami needs to realize they are never going to be able to capture perfectly the magic of Symphony of the Night. Making metroidvania after metroidvania with a REVOLUTIONARY NEW BATTLE SYSTEM NO REALLY ITS DIFFERENT LOL every time will not do it. Lords of Shadow is a step in the right direction, despite it being KINDA like GOW the game itself is something different. Its not Metroidvania, its not a dungeon crawler, its a new form of Castlevania. I hope the game will re-establish Castlevania as a big name title. Since its a series reboot there is plenty of room for change since I'm sure there will be a sequel. Look at Mass Effect. They started a series one way and the second game cut out alot of fluff and refined the core elements that made everyone love the first game. If Konami does this with Castlevania it will almost surely become a household game name again. Instead of just trying to recreate the feeling of SOTN they need to refine. Metroidvania's a good concept , it really is, but its also a bit dusty. <br />
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- Torentsu<br />
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WHAT IS A BLOG? A MISERABLE LITTLE PILE OF OPINIONS!<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/2414616231944678393-5940841172420366097?l=ifhedidnthavethatdaggum.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Torentsuhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17501731825332819613noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2414616231944678393.post-4095902145242540362010-08-22T23:15:00.000-07:002010-08-22T23:15:39.934-07:002010-08-22T23:15:39.934-07:00Beginnings, and Mass Effect 1 and 2 .For all 13 of the people who will ever read this I bid you welcome to Torentsu's game blog. You may remember me from my antics on youtube, and from my articles for Unseen64. Since its hard to make game reviews during the school season I decided to load up the ole Google account and use the Blogger feature. <br />
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A word about my gaming media.... Its not really that well themed. I'll talk about almost ANY game of ANY type at ANY TIME. If you don't believe me check out my youtube channel. <br />
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http://www.youtube.com/user/Torentsu<br />
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For example, today Im talking about Mass Effect, but tomorrow I could review some awful SNES game.<br />
I'll admit it, I was a bit late to the current generation of gaming, and I only snagged an Xbox 360 around March of 2009. One game that I absolutly HAD to try once I updated was Mass Effect. I had heard alot about this game and how it had supposedly changed gaming , story telling , and the art of making bread, so I decided to mosey on down to the now defunct movie gallery and rent this bad boy. I wasn't disappointed. This was the first Bioware RPG I'd ever played and the dialouge options are really superb. Mass Effect to sum it up is a space soap opera about a military guy (who's background you decide) who finds out about an ancient race of aliens that will soon return to destroy the galaxy as they have done countless times. Mass Effect is planned as a trilogy so naturally the problem won't be solved in the first game, or even the semi new Mass Effect 2, which I have also just finished playing. As Commander Shepard (the previously mentioned military type (who's background you decide) who finds out about an ancient race of aliens that will soon return to destroy the galaxy as they have done countless times) you travel the galaxy searching for leads on a bad guy named Saren (who has become the agent of the evil alien machines known as the Reapers) . Apparently a staple in Bioware RPGS (This is the first one I've played) your characters reputation and personality are determined by you and the choices you make in dialouge. Lots of nice guy actions will open up more nice guy options to get you out of tricky situations, and likewise lots of mean actions will let you intimidate people into giving you what you want. Since Shepard is a Spectre (agents that can do anything they want as long as they get the job done) the dialouge system really lets you play the part. Being the loser goody two shoes that I am I played Mass Effect 1 and 2 the whole game through as a paragon soldier , but I did pick a few of the renegade choices every now and then, usually when it would make Shepard say something awesome. Most of the battle action is over the shoulder shooter stuff, but I like that. There's still LOTS of rpging micro management to do so never fret RPG fans....unless you want to play the second game. <br />
Mass Effect 2 removed alot of the RPG elements (wonderful dialouge system made in back in though thankfully ) . It also revamped the HUD which was workable in ME1 but less modern, and they've also made it easier to heal teammates(who I thought died way too easily in the first game) . You're still going around the galaxy, but this time you must build a team to prepare for a suicide mission . I won't spoil much, but of course its possible to live or die during this mission when you finally get to it. The game plays alot more like a standard modern third person shooter. with elements of RPGs mixed in. Despite the heavy game engine changes you can import your character from ME1 to continue his story, and reap the consequences of your actions in the first game. <br />
Like any game I play I must find SOMETHING to complain about. Both games have what I call sudden death syndrome. That is your character is likely to end up in situations (in most non wimp difficulties) where you drop dead from unknown enemies or reasons. In Mass Effect 1 this is especially frustrating because in order to facilitiate the text selection system you have to watch sometimes long cutscenes over and over again while trying to get past a frustrating part of the game. I recall a section in ME1 on the mission to rescue a kidnapped Asari scientist . After the rescue you must fight a Krogan which are the battlehardened near indestructable alien race of the game. the boss fight is conviently placed after :<br />
1. Converstaion<br />
2. A load time diguised as an elevator ride<br />
3. More conversation<br />
A simple autosave containing all the choices you made the previous time would have sufficed but instead you must watch it all again. Also annoying is the fact that the fight starts out with you wide open and facing two enemies. Eventually I found my way into cover and took out all but the Krogan. After my team mates sat there and let him kill them he decided to run and charge me (because one melee from him will devastate me however point blank shotgun/sniper rifle bullets will not stun at all ) . I activated my character's sprint and made it all the way across the room. , amazingly out of nowhere the Krogan followed me and ended the whole thing with a quick blow to the head. I turned around just in time to see his character model glide across the floor and kill me .WAY TO GO BIOWARE. Also Mass Effect 2's missions quickly fall into the go somewhere find a reason to kill everyone , repeat zone. While this is alot of fun it removes some of the depth the first game had. I recall a mission in ME1 where the whole first half of the mission could be done almost entirely through talking to the right people and saying the right things, ME2 pretty much has you going in knowing there's gonna be someone to shoot. These are both really nitpick things though and shouldn't hinder your enjoyment of the game (especially since the ability to swap difficulty after starting is there) . According to the developers they want more RPGness for ME3 so here's to hoping it'll be the perfect blend of ME1's RPG elements and ME2's focus on solid action combat. <br />
Seriously though its a great game worth playing( they both are really) So try them out.<br />
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-Torentsu<br />
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I'm commander Torentsu and this is my favorite RPG on the Xbox.<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/2414616231944678393-409590214524254036?l=ifhedidnthavethatdaggum.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Torentsuhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17501731825332819613noreply@blogger.com0