Roderick

I am, for all intents and purposes, done with Etrian Odessey 3. I had a good time with it while it lasted (13 hours in, sufficient enough that I can say I gave to a fair shake), but I just started to realize more and more that there was nothing more to the game, no greater point, than the grind. Killing monsters for the sake of killing monsters. That works [for me] in games where the basic interactions are enjoyable in and of themselves (e.g. Diablo), but EO consists only of static fighting screens and menus. I will put up with that if there's a bigger pay-off beyond, but not when it's its own end. Thus, goodbye EO. I had fun, but this is just not for me. I need a story, I need a real sense of exploration. (You could make a point that EO is all about exploration, but I found it more like the rote mapping of a random maze, rather than delving into a believable, inhabited world. There's no sense of history to it, it's a facsimile of a fantasy world, rather than a convincingly authentic one. As such, my keen exploration senses were never triggered.) I don't bear the game a grudge, I can see that it's the best thing if this is your cup of tea.

Good luck with the apartment! Oh hi toblix On other news: a bit of a bummer. [N]Gamer died after a ten year run of being the only Nintendo only gaming mag in the Dutchlands. With that a big part of my journalism (and related income!) falls away, so that's really sad. Unfortunately, market realities (read: no one pays for journalism anymore) made it inevitable. I'm sad to see the mag go, it was a fun and eccentric little thing that developed a real culture of its own, lots of injokes, you know the drill. What with my new job I don't even know if I'll have the time to work for a replacement publication, but I'm keeping the option open. I just... really like the idea of being affiliated with a mag. Ah well, at least I've got AniWay, though that's about Japanese culture (also games) and unpaid. Still, not dead in the water yet!

Yesterday I watched a relatively new episode of Freeman's Mind and it was pretty fun. Wish this series would have a better release schedule and get to the end already, but hey. Why on earth are you named Lu?, by the way? What is happening? I don't post on these forums for a while as intensely as before, because I'm now working as a proper member of society, and suddenly shit just collapses into insanity.

I am going to play AC3 regardless, but only after another year or so when it's relatively cheap and part 4 has been out for a while. Thrik, you're right that AC has a murderour release schedule, but the kinda sheer lunacy of the new setting is enough to treat it like a different game. Maybe. Could be I want this thing to be way more different from what came before than it actually will be, in which case welcome to disappointment alley. Old man Blackbeard

I heard that. I just don't understand why they're shying away from that in the big games that get all the publicity. At first sight of the trailer I thought: hey cool, I get to play as old man Blackbeard, who was actually an assassin! NOPE, you're another cleanshaven cipher.

I don't know why my mind filled in a '2' there. It's just Strange Journey. I would love love love to see more western style dungeon crawlers on the 3DS. Where's my goddamn Lands of Lore port? It so perfect for the system. Focus more on exploring beautiful and intricately built worlds (environments, story, choice) and less on systemic combat (grinding, spreadsheets), and you've got me hooked!

This could be a departure, but maybe it'll be surpringly frank. I think Frenetic Pony might be right: Ubi just had this great idea for a pirate game and shoehorned AC in. I'm up for that! I like pirates, I like islands, I like that setting, so let's do this. The one thing that really had me groaning was that the main character is AGAIN an almost nondescript male guy dude. Come the fuck on, when are we finally going to have a female assassin in one of the main games? At this point it just seems mercenary. I loved Revelations for letting me play with an old man, that was so cool. I want more diversity.

I played Strange Journey 2. That game is not for me. EO is about the most 'JRPG' I can stand in my dungeon crawler, so when SMT drags in a whole Pokemon system that you have to explore (god, these people are more obsessed with their complex systems than Microsoft is with Excel), that's just a way too high barrier. I played Strange Journey 2 on the Game+ of a friend, so I didn't have to bother with it and just enjoy the pretty nice environments and mazes and story. That was fun enough! But even with Game+ I couldn't defeat the final boss, so that's both way too JRPG and way too grindy for my tastes. The best dungeon crawler I played on the DS was Orcs & Elves. Yup, good old Carmack's Orcs & Elves. A game less concerned with ingenious systems and more with straight-up delving atmosphere and world building. I think I like them much better that way.

The more I think about it, the more I really really enjoy the time I had with Dog Days.

Haven't played the demo yet, but I've just started played the third game, The Drowned City. I didn't take to the first game, but I was decided to give this one a proper chance. And ten hours in, it turns out I'm really enjoying it! So, there's that. I might grow to like this series after all.

Oh no you di'n't!

Oh, so pleasant! Thanks for posting.

I happened to recently replay Force Unleashed after it first coming out, and the experience was the same: at first a sense of 'what the hell is this', then an appreciation of the great sense of freedom and power, then a gradual frustration with unresponsive controls and annoying boss encounters. But storywise it's a great Star Wars yarn, deserving of being included into canon.

That might actually be a big part of it! But I also just really really love the Escape films. I generally adore John Carpenter films (Dark Star!), but this one just seemed like a big bowl of schtick to me. Could be the same character flaw that prevented me from appreciating Buckaroo Banzai.

I'm not surprised you haven't heard of me, I'm not exactly in the video game making industry. On the positive side; I'm not in the video game making industry! I have a real, authentic chance at having a life of balanced work/leisure!

You know, I didn't really take to BTiLC - let's fucking do this

Yeah, that's the only thing that's pretty shit at the moment. They should go full Steam and have a cloud-based account that just keeps track of this stuff. Still, copying down the serial number and hitching it up to your account can't hurt.

Downloading demos right now. Those are some fine offerings. I keep being amazed by the impressive jump in quality and desirability that the 3DS accomplished in the last year. Really good stuff. I just coupled my nintendo club account to my 3DS to ensure that I can retrieve all my downloaded games, should I lose or break my machine. That's how it works, right? By linking them up, I read, you have a good chance of Nintendo helping you retrieve all the things from your account. Now, I can't seem to see any of that account online, but I'm hoping it works out. It's not quite transparent.

This last week I've been enjoying myself silly with what is surely another 3DS pearl that got no real attention in these parts: Theathrythm Final Fantasy. That's not a sexy franchise to affiliate oneself with around here, and let me be the first to point to my well-established love-hate relationship with anything FF. One thing that stands above criticism, however, is its magnificent musical offering. Theatrhythm is all about exploiting that aspect. At its heart is a very simple Elite Beat Agents-esque formula where you tap along with songs on the touch screen, with three varieties of interactions (tapping, stroking and holding). Simple enough, and coupled with the strong library of music, already sufficient for a success. Where the game really shines is in its lush details and atypical use of silly humor. The cartoon styling of all the characters and monsters is good, but it's the little touches that make the game shine. Before every song, the four people that make up your party each add to a composite yell that is randomly generated. The most insane shit: "Off we go, stridently with great love ...I don't care." It's full of that. The humor is really refreshing. Even the credits are a treat. Don't mistake this for some filler title - it's a really fun, loving celebration of some of the best video game music around. I wish they made this with every franchise.

Kurt Russell only starred in two films: Escape from New York and Escape from LA get with the program

I didn't know France connected to the Scandinavian peninsula!

The abridged version is pretty good at filling me in on a good two hours of Bob Loblaw. At E3 LOL [ADDED] From the Gameological article: If that is what he actually said, then fuck David Perry.

The Playstation commercials are either horrible of genius. The dual lives one is really cool. As for the Time and Eternity trailer though; the voice over is basically saying all the stuff that is in Japanese trailers out loud, that usually gets written with double exclamation points. Wow, does that ever not work as a trailer VO. It reminded me of Remo's 'smoky sax' interludes in the ODST episode. Video... games? Salacious Crumb...!!

That's just the way Snake Plissken rolls, guys and girls.

Le Grand Restaurant, the comedy classic from 1966 starring Louis de Funès. Assez dit. I recommend it, it has some terrific non sequitur outbursts - though the climax foregoes the restaurant setting and thus feels a little off considering the thing is called 'the great restaurant'. Still, this is Funès at his best and funnier than most of the Gendarmes films.