Coming Soon: When I Don't Feel Like Hell

While it would have been super awesome if I were back 100% from my little sleep schedule debacle, I am not.  It is rather unfortunate since these last couple of days, I have felt nothing but sleepy, unmotivated and grouchy, which doesn't lend itself very well to productivity.  This is a shame, of course, as I have been lacking in that lately because of other issues...also this issue, so a lot of issues and it is bugging me.  Because clearly, I don't want to neglect this, it's just hard to think of something to write about, much less find the will and drive to do so, when you wake up at 2:30 AM, disoriented and wondering what the hell happened to the 'hour long nap' you laid down for at 7 PM.

Even though I couldn't think of something to talk about tonight in a sense (actually, I had an idea, but wasn't really feeling it tonight), I figured something out in that I can kind of give you all a little insight into what I want to get posted up in a relatively soon-ish manner which means it could be between now and...er....the end of April.  We'll go with that to stay conservative because I have no idea what's going to happen between now and then, clearly.  Thankfully, unless there's something I forgot about, there's not a new game in sight that I'm picking up until April 30th when Soul Sacrifice drops, so I can play a little catch-up on my backlog.  Which generally means fun times here.  Since if I am focused on games that I've been simmering on for a while, I can generally form them into coherent words moreso than new games.

As I've stated, I have been playing Deus Ex:  Human Revolution lately and while I'm not quite sure -what- I'm going to write of it, I'm going to write -something- about it, even if it's just a few more collection of "Adam Jensen:  Jerk with Super-Powers" stories, since that post was rather fun and I -did- manage to keep it fairly spoiler-free.  I don't want to say here that I -won't- Review it, because I just might, but every time I've considered doing so thus far, I just...haven't been into it.  I dunno, perhaps it is due to the fact that I have two other games that I want to do things with here (that came out wrong) and I want to get them out of the way first.  Or maybe it's just because I feel like I want to play the game on Normal or Easy before actually trying to make an argument of its values.  We'll see how it unfolds.

No matter what I decide, I -am- going to be talking about the game, as I said, because there are things to be said.  Things that have likely been said millions of times before already since I am a bit late to the party, but things that are still ringing out now after the whole test of time and such has passed.  I..guess.  In any case, a playthrough on Normal or Easy will likely allow me to have fun with the game rather than the current 'almost not-fun' I am in a constant state of while playing it on Hard or "Give Me Deus Ex" difficulty.  Prepare to hear me repeat myself again as I whine and grumble about the merits of making Hard Mode Hard and not Bullshit.  That is a little spoiler alert.

One of the games that I have certainly played quite a bit, yet talked almost zero about is the Tomb Raider reboot that I bought purely on a whim.  I intentionally saved my talking about the game for a review that I haven't yet written because of reasons that -should- be obvious by now.  What with the being in an up-and-down mood and sleep-issues thing going on.  Regardless of whether or not I have been able to do so before now, the intention -is- still to write a review of the game because I think I delved enough into it that I think I can speak on its positives and negatives easily enough.  When I play it a little more to...you know, remind myself of them.

Not because I just want to play the whole damn thing over again.  C...certainly not.

Er, I'm getting rather dangerously close to letting you fine folks know what I thought of the game.  And it would be a sad thing indeed if I let it slip that I think it is a wonderful game and certainly worth a purchase before I actually say that in a review.  Even if the multiplayer is a steaming pile of butts.  And steamed butts are, in fact, the worst butts known to man.  Oh, whoops.  Well, anyways, that's certainly on the agenda for some time in the near-ish future.

While I have been a little bit more vocal about REVENGEANCE, it too was a game that I was looking forward to attempting to review which I simply haven't gotten around to doing.  Of course, I'm...not quite sure on this one.  I might just have to go the Sleeping Dogs route with this and just dedicate a couple of posts to just gushing about it because the damn game is that fun.  Yet, I -do- have my gripes with it and they are well-reasoned ones, so perhaps I will manage to be unbiased enough to present something that I am comfortable with labeling as an actual review.

I will say now, however, that I hope they release they Gray Fox/Fox Blade DLC as a paid option for folks who didn't pre-order the game.  This is because, quite simply, the Fox Blade is Over-powered as shit and also provides me the experience I specifically grumbled about way back when I wasn't sure about this game.  With an upgrade to its special effect, the Fox Blade will slice and dice something fierce.  As in, you cut, things fall apart, no muss, no fuss to it.  This is, of course, game-breakingly powerful since it only -doesn't- work on bosses, but it is also pretty damn fun to mess around with.  As I told a friend:  "Throw on the Gray Fox Outfit, equip the Fox Blade, run around cutting people and yell "Hurt me more!" and you have the Frank Jaeger experience."  It is a pretty fun experience, all told.

As for what is essentially the elephant in the room at this point, I have absolutely no idea just what I'm going to do about God of War:  Ascension.  There are things I can say about the game, things I -want- to say about it, big things, but I usually reserve those big things for at -least- until after I have beaten it.  At that point, I usually know whether or not I'm even going to attempt to try and review it, if not before it.  However, that's sort of the rub:  I -can't- say those things because I -can't- beat God of War:  Ascension.  Or rather, I can, in theory, but I'm not willing to expend the effort in the attempt until I know that the game works.

I hit a rather nasty glitch in which I got to the literal end of a chapter or what have you and, for whatever reason, the doors that are supposed to open will not open.  No matter what I do.  Logically, I know that the thing I -should- attempt to do is replay the chapter to get to that point and it will likely work properly, but the thing is...well....Ascension just is not fun enough to make that a viable option.  Yes, I'm playing on Hard Mode, yes, it's another game that doesn't really get that right, and yes, it's because of those elements that I'm just not happy with the game at all.  It doesn't help that there are other problematic factors mixed in, but those are for another night.  I have the game on my "To Play" stack where it will remain until I have heard that a patch is out that fixes a bunch of the issues people are having with it.  And likely for a time thereafter.  Because I'm really not expecting them to fix re-balance the gameplay with that same patch or any other patch for that matter.

So there you have it.  I -do- have things brewing and these are certainly not all of them.  It's simply a matter of being able to sit down with a clear enough head to translate those things in my brain into words on here.  It is not always an easy task, as I'm sure you're aware, but it's something that I enjoy trying to do, at the very least.  With any luck, I'll get normalized on my sleep at least, and figure out something to do for the burgeoning allergies that will likely follow my normalization.  Since nothing can be easy or let up and just let me be because why would it.  I'm not bitter or anything, of course, why would you ask that.  You're silly.  That's silly.

The Next God of War is "God of War: Ascension"

So yesterday, in the wee hours of the Eastern Time Zone morning, God of War:  Ascension was leaked with a mock-up box art and a teaser trailer.  And quite shortly after, it was officially announced by Sony who I'm sure didn't plan on announcing the game at 1 AM PST.  That alone seems pretty much enough to state, coupled with the above trailer but, as we know, I try not to just plop down a trailer and walk off (Not that there's anything wrong with that) because I like to pretend you guys enjoy my breakdowns of them.  And I kind of like to do them since forcing myself to pick away at a trailer lets me pick out pieces I might not see if I just watched it a couple times and was done with it.  It also just makes me feel like I -did- something instead of just found a trailer for a post.  This is a writing blog, after all, so I like to be writing in it.

Anyways, before I really get into the trailer, there are a few interesting little tidbits to share before we get into the meat of it all.  The first, and likely most important bit is that Todd Papy, former Design Director for God of War 3, has jumped up into the big leagues, apparently, as he seems to be the Director of God of War:  Ascension.  I mean, he said it and everything.  This does mean, of course, that God of War is still in the hands of Sony Santa Monica, despite the trailer lacking said branding.  If you don't want to check the blog post linked above, the direct quote is, "For those of you who haven’t had a chance to check out what the team at Sony Santa Monica Studios has been working on", which is pretty indicative there.  And more news about the game is incoming, as soon as April 30th where a live-stream event will take place, showing off the game and answering select questions from Twitter that are submitted between now and....tomorrow.

Now, the fun bit.  For the trailer itself, it's quite lovely to look at, using the same sort of art style that 3 used a lot of at least (I don't remember currently if the other games had it as prominently) which was quite neat.  Of course, we don't really get a lot from the visuals and thus must then pay attention to what the trailer is saying to get the idea of the next game.  And the idea, in keeping with the name "Ascension" seems to revolve around the time before Kratos became a servant of Ares to begin with, and was but a regular Spartan Soldier (General?) fighting against the armies of Mortals.  Or, at least, part of the game will likely be that, as the Ares part might happen towards the middle rather than towards the end.  Maybe.  This is all kind of conjecture at this point, but really, it seems to hammer in the point of "Before Ares", which means a Human Kratos without the Blades of Chaos.

This presents a sort of schism in the schools of thought going into the game.  Some people think that, since in this, Kratos would be essentially a 'normal' human (overlooking that even as a Human, he was pretty much King Badass) which might lead to a different kind of gameplay overarching the game.  Really shaking up the formula instead of having it be another foray into the semi-cinematic Action scene.  Others think that it will retain the God of War spirit, but embody that with a different weapon to start, perhaps a normal Xiphos blade, or the classic Spear/Shield combo that we've come to envision as standard fare for Spartans.  Myself, I'm firmly in the latter camp, but I can understand why there is the hope embodied in the first camp, since some people, crazy people, can't allow themselves to get excited for the type of combat that has been prevalent in the God of War series from its inception.  Or, they say they don't want it, but when it comes down to it, they buy it anyway because it's friggin' God of War.

Now, as this has all been purely conjecture more or less, it leaves one wondering just how much of a prequel the game will -actually- be.  Will it contain itself into a single tale that sits before Chains of Olympus?  Or will it have a connection with God of War 3 in a sense that it will eventually place down a hook for the 'eventual' God of War IV that has made the internet rounds so extensively?  With whispers of a Spring 2013 release, as well as the idea that some First Party devs have already gotten their hands on theoretical PS4 dev tools, it could make a lot of sense to throw Ascension down as a piece to keep the God of War brand in peoples minds so that, perhaps in next year's E3, they show off a God of War IV made for the PS4.  With just so many fours, it looks so tantalizing.  Before I get too conspiracy theorist, however, I believe I should stop, since it is a bit off-topic anyways.

The big bullet points here to encapsulate one last time, I suppose, would be:  God of War: Ascension is the next God of War game.  It will be for the PS3, made by Sony Santa Monica with Todd Papy at the director's helm.  Tomorrow at some point, we'll likely have a little more info thanks to the Live Stream event, but for now, we don't have a whole lot to go on.  It -seems- to be a prequel from the teaser trailer, but anything beyond that, even trying to state something as a supposition or 'fact', is purely conjecture.  Personally, I just can't wait to play another God of War game as, unlike the majority of people who see fit to comment on Gaming News Sites, I still have deep deep wells of excitement that I tap in for the franchise exclusively.  So long as the game is as brutal as the last, if not more, I'll be happy!

More Signs Pointing to New God of War

You may remember that, once upon a time ago, there were rumblings of a possible new God of War title in the works, with multiplayer aspects no less, and at the time it seemed so awesome because I let my hype get me all giddy.  Granted, my hype is still high because my hopes have not been the least bit dashed, but it was high then too.  I mean, I've said in the past that I'm not entirely too keen on Multiplayer aspects of wholly single-player games, but should my idea come to pass, I would make an exception.  But that's neither here nor there, and the point here is that there is new news regarding a new GoW title. 

The extent of the news is, basically, that they're looking for a new Concept Artist.  A Senior Staff one, at that; I'm not really sure where the distinction lies, but okay.  I'm guessing the Job listing says "unannounced God of War title" as it's in the Joystiq header, but well, that's not always truth in advertising.  Considering I'm actually typing this while my internet is being the dick of all dicks, I can't actually check it either.  Which is....rather unfortunate I'm sure you can guess.

Anyways, the good thing about this new development is that we get to speculate even more about the new God of War that may or may not be, to consider just what and/or where the series can go now.  Without spoiling too much (though I'm sure the internet's done that much for you), we all know that God of War 3 pretty much closed up that whole era and pantheon, so to insist on keeping with calling a continuation in the series is a bit puzzling unless they're intending on either A) Prequeling the series once more or B) just starting an entirely new series with a new protagonist, but keeping the brand name attached for marketing reasons.  I wouldn't be surprised on either suggestion in all honesty, though I suppose I am sort of inclined more towards the latter.

Alright, I'll level with you:  I really just want to take on the Norse Pantheon.  I want to kick Odin in his missing eye, take out Loki, and climb on some Giants only to stab them repeatedly.  The Multiplayer aspect I discussed in the above linked article about the MP taking place during Ragnarok (Sort of an Assassin's Creed Brotherhood take, I guess, in that you're not playing the Main Character during the MP) would just be icing on the cake.  Sweet, sweet icing.  So hopefully that's what we'll see, or at least something equally entertaining on concept alone.  I'm just pretty sure that we are out of Greek Gods to kill, more or less.

Ragedays

Have you ever had one of those days where you're just perpetually angry?  It ebbs a bit, sure, but then it comes back like it was never gone and all you can do is be pissed?  Especially because that day is the one day where everything decides to fuck with you.  Well, clearly, that is my day today.  It has been a loooooong day.  Not to whinge about everything, but I got really frustrated with Darksiders (seriously, who thinks a GIANT TELEPORTING SPIDER is a good boss?), then got frustrated with Phantasy Star Portable 1 (hey, another boss fight), then I come on the computer and the ISP is fucking with me again, and I can't access Joystiq (well, I can, sometimes) or IGN.  Or like, quite a few other sites.  Yet I can load youtube videos like a motherfucker.

I'm convinced it's a modem issue as, the first time this happened, it had been with another computer that isn't this one (wouldn't get on the goddamn Skype website to download the program, took quite a few tries to load the site, which mimics how I got Joystiq to work), and while I could check once more, I refuse to believe there's something wrong with this computer again because it's inconceivable.  After modem resets, tinkering with the router, a computer restart, etc, I still can't load IGN or the images from it, and I am just beyond caring at this point, since it'll be working tomorrow or my ISP is going to find that one of its buildings has burned to the ground mysteriously.

So, unfortunately, I just can't really muster a lot in the way of content tonight.  Thanks to Siliconera, we know that MGS3 in the MGS Collection is the Subsistence version, thus raising the number of games you get with the collection from three to five (since MGS3:S came with Metal Gear 1 and 2 MSX ports, not to make mention of the two copies of Peace Walker you get, One PS3, one digital PSP) and generally being pretty goddamn cool.  We can only hope that means the version of MGS2 is Substance as well, even though that will likely mean that I have to actually beat Snake Tales this time around.

Also thanks to Siliconera, we have our first glimpse at just how this whole PSP Remaster thing looks with a neat God of War video.  Pretty standard, showing off side-by-side videos, basically to point out that the PS3 version has no jaggies and generally looks a bit better.  Interestingly enough they only used Ghost of Sparta for comparison, which I said way back when it was a rumor that GoS would look just fine as an HD title, if just for the style it carries.  It was always Chains of Olympus I worried about and, well, my fears have not been at all assuaged, despite the shiny video provided.  We'll just see how that works out, of course.

So, even though I didn't mean to, I still ended up providing some content, so that makes me a little happier.  And the rage has ebbed a bit, so I'm going to go try to push it back some more with guilty pleasures.

PSP Remaster Series Inbound

While Chance beat me to the punch on this one, and as much as I hate to do, essentially, the same article he has, I did bring it up first.  All due respect, of course.  Still, while this is pretty much all the proof one would need to expect to be playing the two side-stories of Kratos on the PS3, word hasn't officially been dropped for NA or anywhere that is Japan yet, even though it might not be all that necessary.  With E3 coming up, they just might wait til then to bring it up to the general public, though, since this is kind of a big thing that they can make a big to-do about, even though everyone knows about it already now.  Especially since there was a press release about it.  (When I say general public, I pretty much mean there hasn't been a playstation blog post about it yet.)

Of course, this begs the question, "Why should we care?", and the answers are numerous and simple.  Not only will there be cross-compatibility between both versions, insofar as Game Saves goes (Sort of like how PSOne games work currently.  You can freely transfer your save between PS3 and PSP and continue playing just where you left off on the go), but the PS3 versions will likely see graphical updates and possibly even extra content.  (And I would suspect trophies.(And I would be wrong. Ffffuuu-))  And it could possibly mean a release of certain games we'd never see otherwise because Sega is a company full of assholes and trolls.  Not only that, but if said games are released on PS3, their graphical update might include the lovely style the original had that the two portable titles just can't swing.

So far, the only title confirmed for this treatment is Monster Hunter Portable 3rd, which means it'll be the first game to be on the Wii, PSP and PS3 simultaneously which kind of blows my mind.  Hopefully the release of the PS3 version will mirror the Wii version moreso, as I've heard a few things were cut in transition to the PSP (namely underwater battles) that were new and neat to the series.  But even without those, I'm sure Japan will be happy.  I mean, I'll be happy with what we get, since it'll likely prove to everyone that, hey, the PSP did, in fact, have a ton of good games.  Now, as far as what I really want?  Aside from VC, give me a Metal Gear Ac!d bundle if you really want to impress me.

Chains of Olympus/Ghost of Sparta Possibly PS3-Bound?

That's what Joystiq seems to think, at least.  Apparently, a few sources in China (Which, from what I know, doesn't instantly mean a lot of credibility and, actually, the opposite, but...) say there's a listing coming up for the God of War Portable Collection which would include God of War:  Chains of Olympus and God of War:  Ghost of Sparta on the same disk with up-porting much like the original two God of War titles have received.  At this time, though, anyone who has previously had their hands in the franchise are busy doing other things (Minus the team responsible for the God of War Collection port, or at least, Joystiq makes no mention of them) so that would mean that another port team would have to step in to do it.

What does this mean for everyone?  Well, first off, if true, it just sort of continues the trend of Sony not really comprehending that if you make a portable game, you make it portable so it stays portable.  A lot of people will place the blame of the PSP tanking in Non-Japan (aside from rampant piracy) on the theory that any good PSP game would eventually make it to the PS2, thus negating the need for the lovely portable.  The Grand Theft Auto Stories games especially made this case.

Second off, on a much less critical note, it inevitably means that many more people will get to experience these two great games.  I'm almost of the mind that anyone who doesn't have a PSP and whines at the lack of ability to play the games it has should put up or shut up, but, hey, I'm also of a mind that God of War games are pretty great and the more attention they get, the better.  If only to make my dream of the next big SSM project come true.  I still think of that multiplayer concept and salivate sometimes.

So we'll just have to see about this.  If anything, this one's an E3 revealer.  Especially since Sony will want as many things as possible to distract from the last month.