A Look Ahead - Soul Saga

Now that Soul Saga has been over-funded by three times the original pledge with the Kickstarter closed, I believe it's time to really start talking about it, since this is something you'll want to look forward to.  In the interest of full disclosure, the main reason this game is on my radar is because it will be available on Vita (and PS4, Wii U, PC, Mac and Linux) a year from now when it's finished (barring delays) and it looks really, really neat.  Originally, I'd heard the intention was simply those minus the PS4 and Vita (likely because the former hadn't been formally shown off yet, nor extrapolated on, both of which we saw happen at E3 and thereafter) and none of those play options were open to me.  So, admittedly, I just sort of passed on it which is obviously a bit selfish, but it's simply because there are just so many games, you guys.  I'm sure you realize.

If you're not quite sure what Soul Saga is, because you equally haven't been paying attention prior to this point, then it's a game that bills itself as a JRPG that's been inspired by some of the classics we remember growing up like Breath of Fire, Suikoden and of course, Final Fantasy, though there are some other RPGs that it draws from which I will get into in a bit.  It starts a bit familiarly; the main character, Mithos, is a young man following in the footsteps of his loathsome (from Mithos' perspective, at least) father in becoming a Guild Leader with the ultimate goal of succeeding where his father apparently failed.  Of course, just getting to that point will take some doing as being a Guild Leader obviously isn't a walk in the park.  However, it's through this that a bulk of the rather neat gameplay mechanics come into play, which is why I wanted to point it out beforehand.

I have held off long enough, so I want to get to one of the things that made me -really- excited about the game.  The world of Soul Saga is one made up of Sky Islands that rest upon a reef of clouds, shielding them from the harsh surface world below.  Being that they are -islands- in the -sky-, there's obviously only one way to get around - by airship.  Thanks to some of the stretch goals, the developer is going to be able to implement a Skies of Arcadia-styled Airship Exploration and Airship combat system which is amazing.  I would say that that element was one of the better parts of Skies of Arcadia, but that would be lying because -all- of the parts of SoA were good parts.  The Airship Exploration/Combat is merely something that made SoA stand out from the rest of the JRPG fare at the time and with good reason - not only was it different, but it was so good.  If SS's attempt is even half as good, it's going to be worth the game alone - something that I'm not saying as hyperbole.

Really, all of the stretch goals for the Kickstarter were for love letter-type things like that to older RPGs.  After you got by the basics of funding the game itself, Voice Acting and Wii U/PS4/Vita ports, it begins.  The Airship and combat stuff, I covered as Skies of Arcadia, just now.  The Job Board is something you're all familiar with - side quests to keep you occupied in the form of villager requests and the like, all posted to a central location.  Legendary Weapons is a standard as well, though more celebrated in Final Fantasy than anything I can think of - remember getting the Ultima Weapon for Cloud in FF7, or dodging 200 lightning bolts in FFX for Lulu's best doll weapon?  Yeah, it's like that, only they have their own storylines attached, so it's probably more involved than "Beat big optional boss". 

The Guild Master and Guild Hall areas are where we start delving heavily into Suikoden territory, (Technically Skies of Arcadia as well) in that the former has you scour the land for potential guild members and entice them to join you at your HQ.  The latter then allows you to have these guild members actually -do- things, provided they're not in the party (I assume, if they can even -be- in the party) giving things a sense of life that exists beyond when you're there.  Basically, it enters a bit of management into the game, which just isn't done enough, honestly, and has only met with limited success recently (what comes in my head first is the...questionable attempts by the Assassin's Creed games - send person out, wait, they might win, get reward is hardly exciting or worth bothering with), but can be a genuinely good mechanic.  One of the other stretch goals that was met, Guild Battles, also sounds to scratch the Suikoden itch, sounding to me like the War battles that the series introduced and ran with that were quite different and quite enjoyable.  There's still a few more Stretch goals that I didn't explain, some because they weren't funded (Though Garen's Saga is going to happen even though it didn't reach that total before the funding date) or because I'm just not sure what to think of them (like the Pandora's Boxes, which sound interesting and different), and if you're interested the full list is here with fairly detailed descriptions.

Mechanically, the game just sounds outstanding - a mesh of all the best parts of the best RPGs of the past, which seems to be a popular goal of late and an admirable one to go after.  After all, these neat little parts are -why- those series were beloved, even if it didn't get them the big sales numbers that were just hard to come by back then.  The development cycle of the game is something I'll be looking after with quite a bit of interest, since I can guarantee you that fifteen of my dollars will be going this game's way the moment it becomes purchasable on my Vita.  I am thoroughly sold at this point in time, and if you're not, I seriously have to question why.  Unless...you just don't like JRPGs, which is understandable.  Even still, this is ambitious and while I hope it's ready a year from now, I'll check my expectations here.  When it's done, it's done and if that ends up being more like a year and a half or better, well, so be it.  Just make sure the game is as good as it can be, because we're looking forward to it now, DisasterCake.

please include a giant friggin' Harpoon Gun weapon for your airships please, because that thing was so awesome

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.

I'm Looking Forward to 2013

So, now that we officially know the world isn't going to end in spectacular fashion at a time where many thought that it might and thus we're back to just wondering when it's going to happen, I think it's appropriate to look to the future.  You know, the future that is going to be there definitely for sure unless something happens that -nobody- expected, because I guess that is still a possibility or something.  Regardless, 2013 is going to be a thing, and from what we've seen already, what we know to expect from the year, it's going to be quite something to anticipate.  Here it is, only the end of 2013, and I already know of quite a few big games that will make 2013 a rather big year for everyone, which is saying something to be sure.  Not even just games that I am personally excited about, though there are those, but there are things that are just going to duke it out for GotY - that much is clear already.  If you think about it for a moment that right there in itself is fairly remarkable.

One such game of that caliber will assuredly be the above-pictured The Last of Us from everyone's favorite developers with the magic touch, Naughty Dog.  Boasting some of the best graphics that you'll ever see on a modern console and gameplay to match if the Uncharted games are any indication, TLoU is certainly going to be a ride unlike anything else the year might have to offer.  From what we've seen, it does seem to scratch the same itch that an Uncharted game might do (which is just as well, seeing as we likely won't see an Uncharted title in 2013 unless Bend Studios makes a Golden Abyss follow-up.....which I would adore) but it'll do much much more than that which is enough of a hook right there, personally.  That's no surprise, I'm sure, since you all know of my absolute love of Naughty Dog, but that adoration is well-earned and what I've seen from TLoU promises that my faith, my excitement, is in fact well-placed.

Something else rather tantalizing that the game adds to the mix is a focus on survival that hasn't been absolutely explained just yet, much like a multi-player aspect that is similarly vague.  Parts of me hope that this is, in fact, because they are going to share aspects - specifically that there might be a survival focus on one of the Multi-player modes because that could be really really fun and interesting.  Part of the survival bit is a little crafting system with which you can make some weapons and, presumably, medicine and other helpful things, not just destructive things.  From what I can tell, it's not the most advanced system, but neither does it need to be, and I'm sure it'll be robust enough to play a vital part in the game as a whole.  Really, there's just a lot to like here and I absolutely cannot wait to get my hands on my copy of the game.

Another game that is probably on top of most of the 2013 wish-lists or what have you that are out there is the recently explained Grand Theft Auto V.  Not only because of its pedigree which is quite extensive as we know, but because the scope of the game, as it has been detailed is huge and promises to really change what you might expect from a Grand Theft Auto game.  Whether or not they'll be hugely successful with the execution remains to be seen, as Grand Theft Auto IV was quite ambitious itself and, depending on who you ask, it didn't really live up to the expectations or the franchise in many many ways.  While it is hard to think of a game like Grand Theft Auto V possibly being something even resembling a disappointment, it certainly wouldn't be the first time, nor the most recent time, where a hugely-anticipated game turned out mediocre or otherwise disappointing.

With three different protagonists who all have been suggested to have their own 'lives' when you're not controlling one, the game is really breaking new ground in more ways than one.  It's also the biggest source of possible apprehension that I find with the title since I just have no idea how that's going to affect the overall game.  I believe sources indicated that the three would share assets (somehow) between them, so the reason to switch between them is really only to utilize their individual skill sets.  We don't know what those are just yet, but all three characters will be their own character fully and completely, thus giving you a reason to -want- to play as them, if only in theory.  I assume it will also affect other things, possibly contacts and the like, but the reason -is- there at least.

The part I worry about, however, is how three characters is going to affect the game overall.  The main reason that the three protagonists are like this is...well, actually it's to try and bait you further into the game, playing you against two of the other protagonists to urge you to find a 'favorite' of them to feel more of a connection with the game, ensuring you'll play it longer and more intently.  But the other reason is that three different characters have been created, have been developed and thought out by the teams and they want to make damn sure you play all three of them.  So to that end, I worry about how the story will be - will all three characters get their own 'story' told through a series of missions that end up coinciding at certain points?  Or is it just that you can play any mission as any character, but they're very clearly designed towards one character or another?  It's a hard balance that Rockstar has to draw with this set-up, and I can only hope that works well for them since GTAV has ever opportunity to be pretty fantastic.

Metal Gear Rising:  REVENGEANCE will allow me to cut all most of the things.

...

Yeah, that's it, really.  I mean, yes, there will be the special brand of Kojima crazy to it assuredly, as well as the Platinum crazy on top of that, and the game will be action-packed and wonderful, but I really, really just want to play with the Zan-datsu stuff.  And the rest of the game. 

But mostly the Zan-datsu stuff.

This is really just the tip of the iceberg here as there's all -sorts- of other things to be looking forward to in 2013.  DmC:  Devil May Cry, Ni no Kuni:  Wrath of the White Witch, Dead Space 3, Tearaway, Sly Cooper:  Thieves in Time, God of War:  Ascension, Killzone:  Mercenary, South Park:  The Stick of Truth and Watch Dogs among many, many other games are all slated for the year.  And that's just what we know about.  There's still plenty of time for things to get announced, finished and released before the end of next year, and at least a couple of those will likely be wonderful in their own right.

So while 2012 was a really fantastic year for gaming (if not much else for some of us), 2013 is shaping up to be quite a contender in its own right.  Just when you thought it was safe to bring your wallet out in the light again.

A Look Ahead - ForgeQuest

I guess I've become more entranced with this whole Indie Games thing than I'd ever anticipated since I tend to really not pay attention to such things (as a lot of 'Indie' things at this point are Straight iOS/Cellphone projects which hold no interest with me) yet it seems every few months I'm here talking about another one.  Minecraft, Project Zomboid, the Zeboyd games, etc.  I'm running with the theme that this is, well, a good thing of course, as the Indie philosophy (when unspoiled) is that someone has a creative idea and the drive to see it brought to life which is something to be respected.  All the better when their project actually looks like something that is pretty neat which is what ForgeCraft does; precisely why I felt a bit compelled to write about it after checking it out some.

It's all thanks to Siliconera that I have something to talk about in this project since "A 2D Zelda-Like Project in an Open World" is honestly one of the more eye-catching titles one could hope for, though at first I was a little skeptical that it was truly 'Zelda-like' aside from the isometric scope.  Comparisons could more than suitably be drawn to 3D Dot Game Heroes based on the voxel work the game comprises of, though after thinking about it for a moment, 3D Dot Game Heroes was clearly based on Zelda (and some complained that it was almost -too much- like Zelda) so the comparison became that much easier to reason out and, indeed, accept.  Regardless, it's a very cool look though I'd still have to give it to 3D Dot for being shinier (both literally and figuratively) and would definitely help it to stand out with the other games of its type that have come out.

I say the above because of, well, what the name would imply:  -Forge-Quest does indeed imply forging things, as in forging things together like crafting, much as MineCraft implies that one will, in that game, mine things and craft things, thus drawing a comparison to one another.  Even in a couple of their videos, the style of 'forging' is done in a 3x3 grid which will be instantly recognized from any Minecraft rookie, though to suggest it's unique to Minecraft would be a little short-sighted.  Nonetheless, I expect a lot of that to be thrown around when the game comes out sometime in 2012 which is a shame, but provided the game provides enough different for the players, it likely won't be something harped on.  And from what I've seen, I would certainly suggest that it would provide quite enough, though all things will be known when it actually comes out (or at least goes into Beta).

The other videos on their youtube channel show quite a bit of progression, and welcome progression at that as the combat (and movement for that matter) seemed to be more Diablo-like which is something I don't care for in all honesty.  There's absolutely no reason to require someone to click around ten times just to traverse an expanse of land that covers three screens and clicking on an enemy to enter pre-scripted attack animations that trade off at predetermined speeds is....less than exciting of course.  Many would disagree with me on that, of course, considering how popular Diablo is but, eh, opinions and all.  Still the above shows, besides progression, some pretty solid concepts that are fairly tried-and-true but with a new spin on them which is inspiring at the very least.

There's only two real 'environments' shown in the video; the default nature one and the cave/dungeon area but both look fairly visually interesting enough to offer incentive to explore which is one of the goals of course.  The game is designed to randomly generate (like Minecraft and I believe Terraria does the same as well?) terrain that you traverse that is interesting enough for you to want to traverse more which is a cycle that will give you a gigantic living, breathing world...provided that you breathe a little life into it along the way of course.  And to that credit, I would certainly hope that other types of trerrain will be available in the Beta build at least; desert and snow lands are almost a requirement to give the full range of 'types', though a little pedanticism with terrain (biomes, there I said it.  Biomes are not -just- for Minecraft as well, but the fewer things I say to allude it to something else, the better) would be nice.  Flatlands, hilly regions, valleys, marshlands, etc., there's plenty of ways you can design an area and the more you include, the better for the people playing since it just might spark something.

It is a little hard to gauge just how big, in a vertical sense, the world will be, considering the way you're expected to navigate it in the isometric view, which is something else that is a matter of concern for the growing project.  Since you apparently plop down full buildings rather than designing your own (though there is a door spot and it's open, so I hope that means interiors and, by extension, interior design) would is a bit telling that this might take place on 'layers' in the Diablo sense; you have the overworld that leads down into the cave/dungeon layer which leads into lower layer, but that's mostly conjecture on my part.  As a lot of things I've said here are, but based on what exists (four videos and a few paragraphs on their KickStarter) I'm just doing what I can here.  If nothing else, it can help explain what caught my eye and interest about the game in the first place.

I guess the fact that I've looked into all four of their videos, checked out their KickStarter (linked just above) in-depth, and devoted a post to talking about what is right there and what I'm imagining up means that they're clearly doing something right:  The game, like any game where you can actually model the world to your whims, is clearly designed to inspire creativity and it's done that to me.  If they throw enough toys in the toybox to really let players effectively express their creativity in design (something Terraria has been doing quite well, leaving Minecraft to shame in that department) then they'll really have something here.  So here's hoping they meet their goal on KickStarter!  (Goal is set for January 13th and they're not there quite yet, hint hint.)

A Look Ahead - Lollipop Chainsaw

This is Juliet Sterling.  She's 18, loves pink, school spirit and cheerleading.  She carries around a chainsaw because her school, San Romero High School, has been overrun by zombies.  She also has a disembodied head on her waist because...

....

Anyways.  This was announced today!  Well, actually, it was outed all the way back in February, but somehow a Grasshopper Manufacture project called "Lollipop Chainsaw" went fairly unnoticed.  Games Journalism, everybody.  (I'm kidding, I missed it too.)  And actual screens and artwork went out for it as well.  For the eight screens I saw, only two weren't upskirts, and thus I don't have a lot of link fodder here.  I mean, there's nothing inherently wrong with posting that stuff, and it's not even that I have a personal opinion against it, but, eh.  Just don't feel like posting that here.  Not at this juncture.

For my part, I'm very willing to saw this looks delightfully absurd and outright crazy which, as we know, I quite enjoy.  And honestly, this does more than anything to make me want to go buy Shadows of the Damned if just to get a better chance at this getting localized.  I mean, I want to say this is a shoe-in for getting localized, since it kind of looks made for the west more than anything (And, hell it takes place in the West.  By the way, San Romero High School?  Niiiiiice.), but nothing's certain these days, and I'm sure we all know the things we want sometimes don't always come our way.

Obviously, not a whole lot of information on the game is out just yet, but what we do know is fairly vital; It's a Suda51 game (somewhat.  Enough.  I mean, look at it.), the protagonist is a pink, heart-etched chainsaw wielding cheerleader with a disembodied head hanging at her waist like an accessory, and you're going to kill a lot of zombies in a high school (likely city as well) setting.  I know I may be easy to please with bullet points, but tell me my faith is ill-placed at this point.  I dare you.

Welp, Definitely Getting A 3DS Now

I'd missed it, but apparently Siliconera has made not one, but two updates about Rune Factory 4, which I hadn't even known was a thing, as I'd assumed they were just busy working on Rune Factory: Oceans.  Or...whatever it's called.  But, well, once again, we learn to not assume things, especially when games are concerned, as it's over 50% done.  Not only that, but it, much like previous incarnations of the series, have a lot of new additions that sound really cool, and have succeeded in tantalizing me, making me crave this even though my game with Rune Factory 3 has gone lukewarm.

Only one problem; it's for the 3DS.

Now, I've said it before; I was always going to get a 3DS, as is, likely, everyone, it's just that I figured, "Eh, I'll get it after the first revision when they figure out the battery life and do new thngs", etc. etc. and put no more thought into it.  It's possible, depending on the localization cycle, that I can still put in a real good wait time on this, but Rune Factory 4 has truly, honestly tipped my hand.  And now begins the waiting.  Anything short of a cross-platform port (which, I'm just going to guess isn't going to happen, s'much as I would like it) ensures that a 3DS will be in my hands at some point more than Ocarina of Time 3D and more than MGS 3: Snake Eater 3D can.  Which.....I think means I might have a Harvest Moon problem.

Of the notable additions to the game, the fact that you'll be able to take a more sim-ish approach to it (apparently) by constructing buildings in the town to draw others your town which...I don't know.  Maybe gives you more people to talk to?  Gives you more points to make more buildings?  The buildings themselves offer fairly obvious bonuses (Blacksmith will sell you weapons, I imagine, pharmacy sells you medicines, etc.), so perhaps you're attracting people to work in your town!  I don't know.  We'll just have to see and wait excitedly in the meantime.

And the other, possibly most important new thing to the game, is the addition of the "Sweetheart" system.  Used to be, in Harvest Moon/Rune Factory games, you would build up a relationship with a girl from "Unknown" to "Friend" to "Friend I really want to jump", but nothing would really happen until you proposed.  Because everyone in HM/RF has, I dunno, morals or something.  Prudes.  Anyways, gone are the times of innocence.  Apparently, after a certain point in your relationship with a girl (or boy!  There's a female main character possible now as well.) you can be, I guess, more than friends, but not married.  And you can do this with multiple partners.

Awwwwwwwww yeah.  Debauchery up ins, son.

But no, this is pretty cool.  I'm especially looking forward to it after really getting to like all the characters in RF3 (Well, the datable ones, at least) in different ways, and I kinda wished you could experience being with them without marrying them.  Perhaps I wasn't the only one who felt that way!  I guess the excitement I'm feeling here is indicative that the series really does seem to be evolving as it goes, which honestly, I guess I didn't expect it to.

Here's hoping for better colors of the 3DS by the time this comes out in the states.

Looking forward to Journey? Of course you are.

And sources indicate that you may be able to get a fix next week via a beta trial version of the game being put out in very limited quantities.  Details are as sparse as water in the desert, but we'll all know a little more come Monday when thatgamecompany puts out the word via their facebook page and the playstation blog.  We all know where to look now, and now we just have to wait.  Which, most of us have other things to do, so it won't be all that bad.  But still, just the idea of being able to somehow interact with this strange game that we know, essentially, nothing about...it is tantalizing.  Can you tell that I missed using italics?

As we know from flOw and Flower, thatgamecompany's motto is not the norm among other developers, and while they don't design the most....inspiring or amazing games, in one sense, the games they do create (well, Flower, at least) are different enough to take notice.  With such a different art style, a different approach, they're doing what we all crave, even if we don't like the end product:  Be different.  Everyone goes on and on about how they're sick of all the shooters, yet they sell gangbusters where games that aren't about getting to x, y, and z places to shoot groups a, b, and c of mans underperform.  It's the classic case of the general masses talking from both sides of their mouth, since there's actually nothing inherently wrong with first person or third person shooters.

I could rail on about that subject some more, and in fact I might at some point, but that's not the point of this article.  While we know that Journey is about a wanderer in the desert, that's about all we know about it.  The main character that you play as, apparently has a magical scarf, and it will be somewhat of a platformer at parts, but that's about it.  And you know what?  That's all we need.  thatgamecompany has proven that they're capable of creating something special and by the looks of it, Journey will be just like that.  So all we can do is sit and wait for the sand to run down that hourglass.

A Look Ahead - Project Zomboid

A couple days ago, my attention was brought about to a game that I believe I'd heard of before, but never really looked into it.  I don't quite remember why I didn't, why I wouldn't (because it seems fairly interesting), but all I know of is that this game was put back to the forefront of my mind when a youtube person I'm subscribed to did a little test run of the Alpha Tech Demo he'd gotten.  The game, obviously as it's in the title, is called Project Zomboid, and it's being made by a little indie group appropriately named The Indie Stone.  From what I can tell, they're based in the UK, as is the game itself.

The premise of the game is relatively simple:  There is a zombie outbreak, and the game is telling the story of how you died to it.  Yes, that's right, Project Zomboid is the Tarantino movie of Zombie games, in that you know how it ends, so the important part is how it escalated there.  Admirably, the game attempts a story that gives a goal without restricting you and, from what I can imagine, can branch rather quickly.  At the start your character and his significant other, who is injured, are holed up in yet another in a series of 'safe' houses on the continued journey of survival.  The tutorial then takes place which explains the base game, showing off how you scavenge for food, fight zombies and defend yourself via crafting and barricades.

It also teaches you that you'll encounter other survivors.  And said survivors aren't always friendly, as paulsoaresjr (The youtuber mentioned earlier) eventually learns.






Positive impressions aside, I do have to state that, personally, the interface and the controls seem a bit clunky still (Of course, this is just from what I've seen; I've not actually played it for reasons we all know by now) but with the aggressive (In a good way) patching the developers have shown capable of doing, hopefully they'll be able to clear that up to match the good the overall rest of the game carries.  And hopefully the myriad of problems they've experienced with the game (Discussed on the blog that I've already linked) will clear up soon enough.

One of those problems, being with Google Checkout, has actually stopped them from really selling the game itself, which they've done a little workaround spoken of here that will explain what they're doing.  But in essence, if you buy one of their other games, you get a free, lifetime access pass (whatever you want to call it) to Project Zomboid and all its updates.  (Similar to, say, Minecraft with its account system.)

Even as someone who hasn't personally been all too affected by the apparent 'glut' of Zombie games that others speak of, I'm glad to see a refreshing attempt on the whole idea.  Sure, you shoot zombies, but you'll never actually get them all; you just get enough of them before they catch up to you.  The sense of dread absent in most other zombie titles will be here in spades, given that well, you know they're going to get you.  It's just a matter of when.