Definitely Getting: Fallout 3
Christmas List: The Last Remnant
Potential Late Pickups: Banjo Kazooie 3, Dead Space, Tales of Vesperia
2009 Buys: Star Ocean 4, Final Fantasy 13
PS3 Purchase: Pencilled in for 24 April 2009

Currently Reading: Opening the Xbox – Dean Takahashi
Next Read: The Naming Of The Dead - Ian Rankin

Yes most posts go on and on and on, but there are times when I’m typing them up that they keep me sane, and… I’m old… I’m allowed to ramble on and on, my blog… my rules.

• 6Oct 08

  What Happened Was... Part 6

  So... following one of the worst days in my working life I felt it time to restart Infinite Undiscovery, I figured the day couldn't get any worse so I slid the disk into the tray and settled down to start again.

  It didn't get any worse, but it did confirm that I'm still a novice when it comes to Japanese Role Playing Games.

  With limited time available I decided just to attempt the escape from the prison at the start of the game, which shouldn't be too much of a problem as there aren't any boss battles, as such, nothing overly complicated as its basically the training or introductory level of the game.

  Hell, I'd even watched some muppet attempt the same part on YouTube to picks up any tips, and besides that I'd already completed the whole damn game, its not as if the thing could through something at me I hadn't seen before.

  It's all very pedestrian at the start, you fight a couple of times, not against any great number of enemies, the basics of fighting and connecting are explained and at the crucial moment, when the game starts to take on a bit of urgency a tutorial pops up telling you how to "Flee" and enemy attack.

  Big clue there really, the game is telling you to "Run Away" and how best to do it.

  First time around I'd died a couple of times trying to escape the prison, on both those occasions I had chosen to fight my way out, killing all the soldiers that manned the stairs on the way, and I'd perished as a result... not as many times as some sad act who stopped playing the game because he couldn't get past this early section of the game, but I still failed miserably to get out of the first location.

  This time I ran like my life depended on it, and reached the top of the stairs without having to resort of any potions to revive either myself or anyone else for that matter... it did make the final scene a little more difficult as the soldiers I'd ignored earlier now came along to stop me connecting with Aya long enough to fire a single arrow and blow up the barrels as required but nothing major.

  Once completed my ignorance became clear... you don't have to leave the prison right away... you can go back down and open that chest you rushed past earlier, there are no more guards coming, the ogre has been despatched (for now) and won't start chasing you again, you have all the time in the world.

  Using this extra time I raced down the stairs and into the ogre's room to discover a chest which I never knew, or suspected even existed, I opened the chest I'd passed earlier and, with time being irrelevant, exploded all the barrels on the way back up, thus collecting 15 achievement points for "hitting all exploding barrels in the prison" and made sure that every barrier on the stairs was destroyed to grab the situation bonus and a top up of both HP and MP.

  At this point I called it a day, but a quick scan through the next part of the walkthrough I'd printed, and have since discarded, showed once again that I can miss hints and tips so blatantly given to me that its untrue.

  Early doors in the next section, a woodland area lit only by flaming torches, you are shown that its possible to use Aya's bow to knock apples off trees so that they can be collected, what I failed to register first time through is that there might just be more than the two apples you do at the start to collect later on... and there is, another 4 or 5 chances to collect foodstuffs just passed me by.

  It's here that I'll try and put a stop to all this going-over-old-stuff malarkey, it's clear enough that while I may have completed the game first time around that there is a lot of stuff that passed me by, either through not taking the hints given or by rushing forward too quickly that I missed something as equally as obvious.

  Regular readers will know that my usual use of walkthroughs is to try and see as much of a game as humanly possible, the achievements are generally a bonus, as I know my abilities, certainly in the realm of Role Playing Games, is limited... I'll take the old fashioned grinding method of merely smashing my way through it for starters, before playing through it again with a guide to point me in the right direction.

  Except on Lost Odyssey when it became woefully clear very early on that I had bitten off way more than I could chew and I was forced into seeking help at a very early stage.

  Infinite Undiscovery, having more or less a simultaneous worldwide release, meant that I had very little choice in the matter, there were simply no walkthroughs available online and the Prima guide wasn't scheduled for release until 2 or 3 weeks after the game.

  I'd managed to get a few early parts off IGN's website, and eventually a complete run through from another, I have now unearthed one written by the same mentalist who penned the Lost Odyssey guide (which stretched to over 120 pages when finally complete) and have tentatively started using his... as yet it doesn't include any of the side quest details (next update) but as I'm just doing the occasional level now and then I'm not exactly in a rush... if I have to keep the game a little longer than I'd planned before trading it in then fair enough... although I can foresee a couple of long sessions kicking in at weekends should that chance arise.

  It's the existence of walkthroughs that has rekindled my interest in Tales of Vesperia (still down as a "Spring 2009" release in the UK sadly) which was much needed after getting to grips with one of the most annoying demos I've ever played.

  With the game already out in the US there's been plenty of time for a full walkthrough to be knocked up by now and I downloaded a PDF'd edition which I'm going to have to try and transfer somehow to my home machine (my works machine doesn't like my memory stick, I had contemplated e-mail until I just twigged that I could just as easily download it on my home PC when I get home... and I wonder how come I miss obvious solutions in games) at some point.

  So I checked the guide out to see where about the demo stage is in the full game, roughly 17 pages in, not that far advanced, but its when you check the boss battle tips and you see the phrase "This could probably be one of the toughest battles you'll have" hits you straight away... just ripe then for inclusion in a demo, a demo which gives you maybe 5 or 6 minutes to wander around and see everything before you trigger the battle, keeping in mind that any tutorials about using weapons and spells will have been displayed long before you'll hit this battle in the full game and thus... won't be in the demo.

  This 10 minute demo (including the 3 or 4 minutes you battle the boss before you all die) had single-handedly put me off the game, if this is a demo boss then what the hell would the others be like, surely demo's are meant to try and grab your attention, to make you want to play the game more... Bioshock's demo (the first part of the first level give or take a few tweaks for item and plasmid availability) was perfect, sure I wanted the game anyway but I wanted it more after the demo, the Deus Ex: Invisible War demo made me buy a game I'd normally have never given a second glance... the Tales of Vesperia demo left me feeling empty and broken.

  At the weekend getting any further into Infinite Undiscovery had to take a back seat, the walkthrough I have covers just the main quest, something I've already played through, and doesn't touch on any of the side quests which is most of what I want it for... so, I was forced into trying something else.

  So, four weeks after it was bought Devil May Cry 4 was given a whirl, and first impressions are that this is really something I should have gotten round to earlier, whether these impressions last is another thing, but right now I'm impressed.

  I've not bothered with Devil May Cry since the original game way back on the PS2, and back then I only played it through the once, being hopeless at games it helped that when you were exploring a building your map only showed where you'd been, what you hadn't seen didn't show up on the map, so exploring was made easier as I just roamed around looking to fill in the gaps on the map and I usually stumbled across the next checkpoint soon enough... when I came to play it through again the map was complete and my navigation was shot to hell.

  I had no real interest in the sequel because of that, and by the time the third game was released I'd already left the PS2 behind and was battling Sith hordes in Knights of the Old Republic on the Xbox.

  I hadn't really been that bothered about the new game either, I'd played the demo but it didn't blow me away, and to be honest, the only real interest I had in the game was to laugh at the sad acts who were so incensed by Capcom's decision to go multi-format that they started a petition, which was soon sabotaged and contained more people either laughing at the petition's authors, or making crude and occasionally hilarious references to shagging kangaroo's.

  It was only the low price and that small matter that I wasn't going to be paying for it myself that I finally found the game amongst my collection, and even then I was more bothered with winning the Portugese League than battling demonic hordes.

  It's nicely put together, the gameplay can be as simple or as complicated as you want it to be, you can either chose to blast away with just one or two moves that'll get the job done or take the uber-styIish option of using as many flash moves as you can fit in... I'm mixing the two dependant on what I'm battling.

  As you'd expect it's all pretty linear, certain areas can't be accessed until other areas have been completed, there's a boss battle every couple of levels and the tutorial is suitably tailored for even the most ham fisted of player to get through without too much difficulty... proof being that I managed, therefore anyone else can.

  On the achievement front Capcom seem to have gotten a fairly decent grip on the idea, they aren't handed out like sweets for doing the simplest of tasks (getting off the boat in Grand Theft Auto springs to mind) but they aren't impossible either, and early doors I picked up my 500th individual achievement for collecting 10,000 red orbs, closely followed by my 501st for finishing a mission with an S rating.

  I've adopted my usual approach to action games, the first play through of any level is a teaching aid, a chance to get to know the level or set up, and if it takes 45 minutes to find my way out then fine... before I move onto the next mission however, I'll replay the last one making use of everything I learnt first time around... this also doubles up as making the game longer.

  I don't have a problem with repeated bosses, the first game made use of it... I'm sure the sequels probably did as well, and I haven't got a problem with replaying or backtracking through old levels, its almost a staple of the genre, so I can't see myself abandoning the game because of that... I may give up on it if it becomes too much of a drag, too much of a button pressing frenzy, or just plain dull... I need to be asked to think about what I'm doing more than a lot of action games like, I guess that's why I'm playing through more Role Playing Games than I ever used to.

  • Posted Oct 6, 2008 5:51 am PT
  • Category: Games
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• 2Oct 08

  Bad Karma

  Apologies for posting yet another overly long piece so soon, and apologies also as this one is entirely non-game related. To me Gamespot is for games, not talking about how your latest date went, or how your schooling is going, to me this whole blog thingy is a way of escaping the mundane trapping of school or work.

  I may get wound up by certain games, fanboys for whom the word "retarded" would be a compliment, Sony's failing to turn the PS3 into a "must have" piece of kit and countless other things... but I try and leave work out of it, a passing reference here and there but nothing of any real substance... until now.

  I guess I really should have seen it coming; I've been around long enough, yet still I failed to miss the very obvious signals.

  The Credit Crunch really came on strong yesterday as at a staff meeting first thing yesterday, not all staff mind... just those at a certain level of seniority or qualification, were told that the partners believe that the amount of work coming into the office currently being handled by 21 people could, theoretically, be done by just 16.

  As which the staff meeting became an "At Risk" meeting to inform us that potentially all our jobs were at risk, and that this was a formal meeting to tell us just that, it was also to lay out the process that this "cull" will be made.

  First step is to ascertain whether there were any among us who would take voluntary redundancy, or had been planning to leave soon anyway for something nearer to home (we have people not just from my own city but a few surrounding ones who commute each day) and if the numbers wouldn't reduce that way, they'd implement a scoring system with which to select those people who would be forced into redundancy.

  Needless to say when they asked for any questions the room was somewhat quiet.

  We were all handed an "At Risk" letter basically putting into writing what we'd been told and sent back to our desks, with another meeting to be held next Monday to discuss it further.

  At least its better than what they used to do when it came to laying people off, which was simply calling people into the partners office and handing them a letter telling them they didn't need to sit down and do any work today, or indeed tomorrow or the day after, and that they had been laid off and there was no need to work their notice period... they also used to do this in December.

  On one occasion, as we all packed our stuff at the end of the day one girl was called into the bosses office last thing in the day and when we came back we were all called in to be told that she wasn't coming back... all very out of the blue.

  Its not really a surprise that its happened, at the start of September, the traditional time when all the new starters and graduates arrive, there was just 1 new junior.

  At the same time what you could refer to as "natural wastage" hasn't been happening, previously when each new wave of graduate passed their final exams a few would depart, head hunted by other more well known firms and any over staffing at this level would sort itself out... that hasn't happened for the last couple of times, and my own section currently comprises 9 members of staff, 7 of whom are seniors or qualifieds, think I can see one area where there is some severe over staffing.

  This is going to drag on as well, no real decision can be made either way until one of the 21 returns from holiday on the 13th just in case he feels that he should throw himself on his sword or declare that he was planning on leaving anyway.

  I'm also fairly sure I can't be the only one in the office who has secretly made there own list of the 5 they think will bite the bullet and depart, I'm not stupid enough to write them down, but I've made my pick.

  In a fine show of gallows humour a new phone list was passed around the day after which has been likened to a lottery ticket, you cross out your 5 selections and the jackpot prize is keeping your job.

  My first reaction was to hit the internet and Google search for job vacancies, seems to be plenty out there should the worst happen, one or two looking better than the one I'm in at the minute, my next thought was to then go and see one of the partners involved in the whole process.

  Just to add to the mix I cannot talk to the partner of my particular section, as he has to remain independent of the whole process so he can have an untainted viewpoint should anyone choose to appeal against any decision made further down the line.

  I had a choice of two, the cigar smoking, moustachioed tax partner who's only been with our firm a couple of years and seems a decent enough bloke, or the cold training partner I've not really had any contact with since I passed my exams in 1998 and who frankly scares me.

  Not the hardest choice ever.

  We talked for a good 15 minutes, partly over my fears (I'm the last remaining part of a now defunct section who's partner was forced out the firm when he pleaded guilty in a court of law to "False Accounting" and was summarily disbarred by his governing body for three years) and partly over things that I can't really divulge until the whole process is down with, not through any clause of confidentiality, but because another of the 21 uses Gamespot.

  • Posted Oct 2, 2008 5:29 am PT
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• 30Sep 08

  What Happened Was... Part 5

  Its been an exceptionally quiet gaming time recently, partly due to the cooling down period following the completion of two games in a week, partly due to actually being able to get onto our home PC now my daughter has got her own laptop.

  When I have been bothered to play I've gone back to an old football management game where I'm slowly harvesting the achievement points by cheating... well, not actually cheating, just taking a couple of shortcuts.

  With previous editions of the game I've played away happily building a team up from non-league obscurity to the top flight, before abandoning them when a big club comes calling, where upon I transform the big club into one of the giants of the game and dominate the league and major cup competitions... I started out trying to do the same thing, but was annoyed to find that there was no achievement for winning the non-league title, or for winning a non-league team full league status, or for winning Division 3, Division 2 or the Championship.

  Nope, the achievements are for winning the big stuff, the major cup competitions and all the major European leagues... so I've taken a few shortcuts.

  The game allows you to start at whatever level you want, if you want to build a small team up from nothing then you can, but if you want to jump straight into the job at the countries biggest club you can do that as well.

  So, I merely choose to start the game with the biggest club in various different leagues, and set out to play for a whole one season in each purely to win the trophies and collect some Gamerpoints, as such I took over Inter Milan in Italy, Real Madrid in Spain, Benfica in Portugal, Celtic in Scotland and Chelsea in England.

  Careful use of saves ensured that should I hit a major injury problem or lose a key game and ruin my chances of winning everything I could just reload and try something different.

  All worked well until I hit the Dutch league, not as clear cut as some of the others, there were plenty of big teams to choose from as the game seems to believe that this league is a pretty close thing between around half a dozen teams... and I seem to have picked the wrong one.

  Not only did I pick the wrong team, but my usual flurry of activity in the transfer market hasn't yielded the same results as before, I've cleared out a lot of the dead wood, but the players I've brought in just haven't done the job as well as in the past, consequentially I've had to reload a lot more than in previous games and a week later I'm only half way through the season and only just top of the league.

  I will persist, I may have a heavy supply of patience when it comes to ensuring I get the correct result in certain games, but that doesn't extend to playing another season to collect everything on offer.

  This morning, whilst waiting for the gasman to arrive (life in the fast lane or what? It's a thrill a minute when you own your own home kids), I managed to finish the season off. A couple of careful acquisitions in the transfer window and suddenly the team that struggled to beat even the poorest side suddenly starts scoring for fun, the season over I can put the game to one side again for a while and move onto something else.

  I can now restart the mess that was Infinite Undiscovery, only this time with a walkthrough on hand to utilise when needed, first time through I was exceptionally lax when it came to using spells and enchantments, barely connected with other characters at all, and made very little use of the team order option in battles... all things I intend to put right second time through, and I also intend to try and add substantially to the meagre 250 points I've collected from the game so far (checking my achievement score I noticed that I only managed to scramble 345 from Blue Dragon, and more annoyingly, a couple of demo's I played over a year ago still show up on my achievements record with big fat 0's next to them... thought stuff like that wasn't supposed to happen anymore).

  The aim is to try and finish the game, and complete the Seraphic Tower/Gate by the end of October so it can be traded in towards Fallout 3, if I can do that then chances are my financial payout to get Fallout 3 will be minimal (also intend to trade in Grand Theft Auto 4, King Kong and Brian Lara's Cricket as I've not touched any of them since completing them, and frankly I'm not fussed about downloadable content on Grand Theft... if it had arrived a month ago it may have been different) so I may take a first day punt on The Last Remnant and store it away until the Christmas holidays when I'll be off work for a couple of weeks.

  I had thought about picking up a copy of Fallout 2 on the PC to try and find out why so many people seem upset that the new game is looking to be of similar ilk to Oblivion... all thoughts of that left my mind when I saw a couple of screens.

  Lets face facts, Fallout 2 is now a very dated piece of software, forced isometric 3D graphics which would be slated were they ever to appear on the original PlayStation, a little text box in the middle of a large status block at the bottom of the screen... now surely all those people up in arms about the new game can't possibly want the new game to look like this.

  Gaming technology has come on in leaps and bounds since the release of Fallout 2, and you can't possibly believe that had the current technology have existed back then, the developers would have still produced something as archaic? Developers strive to produce the best product they can, even the ones that produce stinking turds of games, set out with good intentions, games move on with the advance of technology, hence the huge change in graphical presentation between Resident Evil 3 and Resident Evil 4... why would they even consider producing a game which has a fixed camera and switches from set background to set background when the machine they are developing for is so much more powerful and capable of so much more?

  So what if the new game is easy to pick up, surely that's the point? If you continue to produce the same old drivel time after time after time you'll end up selling fewer and fewer copies as people drift away from the stale old format and out dated concepts (unless we're talking about FIFA or Need For Speed games in which case the halfwit masses will buy it just for the new picture on the front of the box.)

  Oblivion sold so many copies because it was so easy to pick up, and I'm willing to bet that upwards of 90% of those who bought it will happily rush out and buy any sequel, the expansion packs shifted tens of thousands of units, a whole new game will sell like hot cakes.

  I can see the same thing happening with Fallout, thousands of new players buying into the game, partly because of its ease of use, partly because they were massive fans of Oblivion... me, just the concept of the game was enough to get me interested, that it may or may not look and play like Oblivion is a bonus, but only a fool would think that it'll play exactly like Oblivion.

  Mind you, I'm going to look a bit of an arse if Fallout 3 turns out to be flop of the year, I can't see it happening, but we've all seen just how hit and miss the Gamespot reviews have been this last year or so.

  • Posted Sep 30, 2008 3:10 pm PT
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