Sharing is Caring - inFamous: Second Son

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One of the core tenants of the PS4 when it was shown off in-depth was the Share button, to be utilized by we the players to, well, share screenshots and videos from our game playing.  Not only was this a godsend to people like me who -want- to use our own screenshots for things like a blog or what have you (at least in theory), but it's just plain -cool- for the opportunities that it opens up.  I can't tell you how many times I've been playing a PS3 game and went "Goddamnit, I wish I could screenshot that" because there's just so much cool shit that happens to everyone while they play a game, and it's usually only when you're playing with buddies present that you can point and go "Holy shit, look at that" when something awesome is happening.  Now, with the Share button, you're closer to being able to replicate that to your friends who might not actually be sitting right there on your couch or whatever with you.

inFamous: Second Son takes this a step further, in that they added a Photo Mode to the game in the latest patch that released sometime last month.  This allows you to pause the game, adjust the screen for your perfect screenshot by controlling the camera (to a degree), adding color filters and adjusting the focus of it before hitting that Share button to actually do the deed.

It works.  It works pretty nicely.  Being that I didn't really have a lot to talk about today, I figured I could show off some of the screenshots I took of the game.  Of course, then I realized that I hadn't taken too many because I'm just not used to it yet, so then I went and -made- some, and I gotta say, I think they turned out well.

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It's not perfect - I would prefer a Flickr app like what's on Vita, even over USB transfer (because I can't find my goddamn flash drive and I spent about an hour looking for the damn thing) but you take what you can get, I suppose.  For now, it's plenty serviceable and the pictures still look damn nice even though the quality isn't -exactly- on par with how they are on the PS4 itself.

It's still much, -much- better than not having the option at all.

Evil Delsin just seems so much more photogenic than Good Delsin, because the red is much more striking, also red is awesome

PS4 News Ahoy!

So, the other night while I was relaxing and recuperating from nonsense, the Spike TV PS4 Launch Event was taking place and there were a few things announced that...you know have some bearing and importance on folks.  From what I heard, it was nigh-unbearable to watch or, if you went in with low-expectations because Spike TV, it was merely trying to watch when it wasn't just...announcements or trailers.  Which was a lot of the time!  As usual, the correct choice proved to be simply sitting by the wayside and allowing the news to come to me, rather than going after it and wading through the dreck associated with it.  Still, it did afford us -some- things that were rather interesting, so I should get into them a bit before we forget the event took place at all and move on with our lives.

Above is the teaser for the much-expected, but still appreciated Uncharted game for the Playstation 4, simply referred to as "Uncharted" at this point in time.  Some are taking that as the end-all be-all title and insisting it's a reboot or something from a different character's perspective (since the voice-over is done by a different character) and to be fair, there could be something there.  However, common sense just states that it will simply be revealed (likely at the Spike VGAs....or VGXs?  They're changing the name for some reason) as Uncharted 4: Subtitle goes here and be that.  Given the context of the teaser, I have my own little pet theories about what's going to go on in the game and what it's going to be called, but I'll keep them to myself for now because it's a bit early to be going off on wild tangents about what it could be from a minute or so of voice-work.

That's pretty much all we get of Uncharted 4.  Just that clip.  For now.  Again, hopefully come December we'll get a shiny new trailer like we usually do during the VGAXs along with a proper name instead of the "Working Title: Uncharted" that we've got, but that -is- rather close....so perhaps not.

There was an announcement for some PS3 news in the form of The Last of Us Story DLC, called "Left Behind".  It's one of the pieces of DLC included in the Season Pass if you bought that, like I did because I am a whore.  I, uh...I didn't look into it beyond that.  Because I still haven't played The Last of Us yet.

....stop looking at me like that.  Stop judging me.  I know TLoU is going to attack my feels and I need to build up a tolerance to that, especially with how down I was for those months.  You know which ones.

Another note of import is that inFamous:  Second Son has a really real official release date of March 21st, 2014, rather than the date in February, whatever that was.  This news was accompanied by the above trailer which shows off Delsin's Photokinesis in-depth...while confounding me on how it's actually supposed to be Photokinesis.  It looks a lot like it's just their take on electricity alongside some (admittedly beautiful) neon effects and advanced maneuverability benefits.  Which is fine by me!  I'm honestly not complaining, I just didn't figure they would be able to make Photokinesis an actual offensive power, since it's just the control over light (in this case, neon lights), which I thought would be like a blinding flash type deal, meant to be used in conjunction with another power.  Of course, I really don't know how power switching is going to work, so I guess it's best that it has offensive capabilities!

Everything in that trailer just reminds me that I am super happy that I pre-ordered the Limited Edition and that I'm going to get a PS4 for that game.  I am -trying- with all my might to resist getting one before January because I just don't -need- one before then because I've literally got like 15 PS3 games I haven't even -started-, but the PS4 is so goddamn shiny and Remote Play sounds amazing and hnnnng.  Still, they should be easier to come by in January/February, hopefully, and perhaps a patch will be out by then that fixes some of these annoying early problems people have been facing.  I say all this because I pretend it makes me feel like I can resist the temptation.  Like if the store I went to today actually had PS4s out and visible, I would've went "Heh, see you in January~" 

The rest of the news was basically that TowerFall Ascension is coming to the PS4 as soon as its Ouya exclusivity expires (I think), Destiny's Beta launches on PS3 and PS4 first, and Metal Gear Solid 5:  Ground Zeroes is getting exclusive Nostalgia-based DLC on PS3 and PS4.  All of those points, I could probably expound upon some, but I don't know a damn thing about TowerFall Ascension and I don't need to look into -another- PS4 indie at this point, I don't care about Destiny and I'm still very irked about the situation of the PS4 (and XBone) version of Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes.  Since it means I will probably not be playing Ground Zeroes, which annoys me greatly.  Still, that was all the news that came out and, well, it's not bad.  Could've been a few more 'ground-breaking' things, but as it stands, nothing here is just 'eh', even if I don't particularly care about half of it.

I would have just straight-up bought a PS4 if I saw one, is what I was getting at

Split Your Lungs with Blood and Thunder

Continuing my Halloween/Horror-themed game playing to be season-appropriate that started with Sleeping Dogs' Nightmare in North Point, I put my PS3 to the test yesterday and found out whether or not it could just...you know, download the 3.1 Gig download that is inFamous 2:  Festival of Blood, which I had purchased last year for a cheap Halloween sale but couldn't play because reasons.  Reasons that include not being able to leave my old PS3 on for the fifteen hours that was required   Reasons that have since been resolved and thankfully so, because I honestly didn't know what I was missing from my life by not having played Festival of Blood and now that I have fixed that little error, things seem that much better.  Brighter and sunnier, even.  Just nicer all around.

Much like Sleeping Dogs, inFamous 2 was just an absolute joy to play and that still holds true to this day, having gone back into it for the first time in months and picking it all back up rather easily and happily.  That means that inFamous 2's fluidity and enjoyment translate well into FoB at base, not even counting the fun little bits that FoB adds, and does it ever add a doozy.  And much like Nightmare in North Point, Festival of Blood changes things aesthetically for the most part, but leaves the bulk of the main gameplay in standard.  Your amp is replaced with a cross from a coffin that still has a bit of pointy wood left on it and that does change the animations - to finish vampires, you need to stake them with the pointy wood, obviously, and it is satisfying.  But the bulk of Cole's moves are still in play here, or at least the main suite of them - Zapping, repulsing, grenades, rockets and gliding are all present and accounted for and they're your bread and butter powers anyway.

The funny thing is that inFamous 2 got a lot of praise (from me, at least) for having the best system for freedom of movement I've played, and that's up to current standards, but Festival of Blood even manages to one-up it there.  Admittedly, it cheats a little to do this, however.  One of the first vampire powers you get (if not -the- first) is the Bat Swarm ability which allows you to turn into....well, a swam of bats and actually fly.  No gliding, no hovering or anything like that - actual sustained flight.  It's fast flight too!  You zip around the city pretty wildly with it....which is why there's a fairly drastic timer set on it.  You see, in addition to your Electricity Gauge, you have a 'blood pool' or what have you, which fuel your Vampire Powers, obviously.  Flight drains it rather quickly and you only have so much to start with, though you can collect upgrades (think blast shards, but in the form of blood jars) that extend your maximum blood pool which gives you more flight time.  It is definitely worth it to track them down (100 of 'em) once you're able to, and it's made trivial if you find glyphs that unlock your Advanced Vampire Sense, since that will point them out on the map while you're in bat form.

The only issue that I have with Festival of Blood is that...it is rather short, unfortunately.  I started it sometime around 2:30 PM this afternoon and had nearly 100% completed it in under six hours.  All I have left to do for all the trophies is completing some User Generated Content missions which will unlock what I imagine is the final power that I don't have, triggering both trophy unlocks in a single stroke.  (One for doing the required amount of UGCs, one for getting all the powers)  It was a hell of a ride while it lasted, and granted, the game is still just fun to toy around with, flying about (literally now) and such, but I only have so much time for games and far too many games for that little bit of time, so I'm afraid I'll have to be moving along as soon as I mop up the last little bit here.  I can't help but feel as if there's a little disproportionate return on it as, while I got it for cheap (I think it was honestly $3 when I bought it) it still took more than two times the length of time to download it as I'm going to put into it play-wise...which is my ISP's fault and not the fault of the game, of course.

Aside from that, one more night in inFamous 2's New Marais was an enjoyable experience all told.  I'd definitely recommend Festival of Blood if you dug inFamous 2, and if you didn't dig inFamous 2 then you just hate fun, so I don't know what to tell you.  If you're interested, it's currently $3.99 for Playstation Plus users (and will probably stay that way til November 5th, 2013) and it's definitely worth that, no questions asked.  I do however feel like I'm kind of the last person who played inFamous 2 but not Festival of Blood at this point, so it might be a bit moot anyway, but it's still always nice to put a recommendation out there.  Never know who's going to check things out, after all.  And with something as good as Festival of Blood was, you're gonna wanna make sure it's known universally.

I was just so happy when I thought of the Blood and Thunder thing, you don't even know

This is Why I've Held Off Pre-Ordering inFamous: Second Son

I've been thinking about it here lately, and I said to myself, "Self, why don't you have inFamous:  Second Son pre-ordered?  It is literally the game you're buying a PS4 for, and it would probably be cool if you...you know....got on that."  My answer had more or less, to this point, been "Oh, I keep forgetting."  Much like I kept forgetting to pre-order the Ys: Memories of Celceta Limited Edition and the 'Grand Wizard' Edition of South Park: The Stick of Truth, both of which have been rectified.  Who knew that, in that same vein, all I was doing was biding my time for a Collector's Edition?  I, uh, didn't, even though I damn well should've considering the amount of worrying I did over getting an inFamous 2: Hero Edition after I stupidly forgot to pre-order one.  Now that this has been announced, however, I know what I'm doing Tuesday when I buy Hometown Story.  Aside from also buying Pokemon X.  And...possibly Valhalla Knights 3 because XSEED.

With all the Collector's Editions that I buy, I try to rationalize just why I am actually buying them and some are far easier than others.  inFamous 2's Hero Edition was rationalized because of the badass statue (which is, of course, badass) and the utilitarian purpose of the Messenger Bag that came with it.  (I have never used it because I worry it'll break or something.)  I rationalized REVENGEANCE's Collector's edition because swordlamp is the light (no pun intended) and it ended up working well because, even though I haven't even plugged in the lamp, it still looks badass and REVENGEANCE was fucking amazing, please go buy it.  Or wait for the PC version and buy it there.  Muramasa's was delightful if just for the little pouch that I'm not using currently, but I definitely -could- be and will at some point, not to mention that Muramasa itself was pretty good.  And so on and so on and so forth.

This one?  I'm essentially paying extra $20 (retail $79.99 for the Collector's Edition) for a Beanie that I'm never going to wear, decals that I'm never going to place, pins that I'm simply going to display and a patch that I will similarly simply display.

All of that will, of course, come with inFamous:  Second Son.

So basically what I'm saying is worth it.

February is a brutal wait, but goddamn if I don't have a ton of fucking games in the meanwhile

Oh My God You Guys inFamous: Second Son

It was hard doing other things with my night tonight.  It was hard to write something other than this.  It's just that after I saw this trailer, I knew there was absolutely nothing I could want more than to talk about this game other than actually playing this game.  Hopefully I will be able to make up cognizant instead of the mindless blathering of approval that I could just type up here.  Because you all know, I could just type a whole bunch of worthless, filler words of praise just to make this exorbitantly long in an attempt to make up with quantity what I can't concisely say with quality.  You know this.

First off, let's go with the obvious in this trailer, yes?  Fetch is Laura Bailey.  I....pretty much just need to say that.  It's awesome, and needs no further explanation.

Secondly, I really do enjoy the way that they show off what appears to be Delsin's main "Default" power, Typhokinesis, the power over Smoke.  (Yes, that is apparently a thing, no, I don't know, yes, I googled it, no, I still don't know)  Delsin's power, obviously, is his Chameleon ability which allows him to absorb other powers and use them, but he's been shown primarily utilizing his smoke powers not only to blast things, but to explore so that kind of sets the theme for it.  It feels fairly similar to Cole's Electric Powers which is a good thing, but there's a clear difference to them as well that I'm sure will become more and more obvious as we see it all in action more and more.  Certainly the shadow jump or whatever you want to call it is a big deal right off, and will likely set the schism for them to expand from that.

And obviously, I really do enjoy them showing off the Chameleon ability in an interesting way.  The power that Delsin receives from Fetch is apparently Photokinesis, which is the ability to control and manipulate light.  Which...makes sense, what with the Neon signs and such.  It stands to wonder just -how many- sets of powers we're going to be looking at in the game proper.  Conduits in the first two inFamous games were common, even if they were more or less grouped by power (with the important people also being different in the power category) but to be able to have shifted to their powers at any point in the game would have been huge, which is....on Second Son's platter, I assume.  The DUP don't seem to be inclined to power, but the game isn't going to be -full- of power-less enemies I would hope, so being able to leech someone in battle is...hopefully a thing.  Something that I hadn't even considered.

Goddamnit, now I want this game even more.

is it wrong to hope that there will be an electricity conduit towards the end of the game that you get to leech and pay homage to Cole with

Sony's E3. Hot. Damn.

• $399 / €399 / £349 This Holiday Season
• Versus 13 is now Final Fantasy XV for PS4
• Kingdom Hearts 3 for PS4
• GTAV PS3 Bundle With Specialty Headset - $299
• The Walking Dead Gets Bundled with Vita Plus DLC
• The Order: 1886 is Announced, PS4 Exclusive From Ready at Dawn
• inFamous: Second Son is PS4 Launch Title Q1 Title (before 3/31/2014)
• Playstation is still the Indie Darling with Transistor, Don't Starve, Mercenary Kings, Secret Ponchos, *Deep Breath* Outlast, Octodad: Dadliest Catch, Galak-Z and Ray's the Dead all announced for PS4
• The Elder Scrolls Online Announced for PS4, Will receive Beta 'First'
• Mad Max announced for PS4 from the guys behind Just Cause 2
• NO USED DRM, NO ONLINE CONNECTION CHECK-IN
• Playstation Plus carries over to PS4 Will include one PS4 Free Game Every Month to start, but is unfortunately required for Online Multi-player
• Playstation Cloud Gaming launches 2014 Will Stream some PS3 games, launches on PS3 and PS4 first, Vita at a later date

So, the presser was pretty much -all- about the PS4 which, as a Vita fan makes me sad sad sad.  Still, we did get Destiny of Spirits announced, and with the Indie Push, I would hope most, if not all, of those indie titles also end up on Vita (as well as some others that are current) and there is still plenty of time to announce things on the showroom floor.  Though, I suppose we might have to wait for TGS to see the likes of Gravity Rush 2 announced.  Also....probably all the other stuff I suggested since most of it is Japan-centric anyway.

Except a new Vita God of War/Uncharted.  Come on.  Give me -something- here.

Regardless, Sony came out swinging with the PS4 and I shouldn't have to point out how.

Hot.  Damn.

Delsin Rowe is a Product of Players Says Second Son Director

So, inFamous:  Second Son is something that I've gone on record as being excited for and I would say it's deservedly so, if only for the pedigree of the franchise and the developers behind it.  Of course, it helps that the actual game looks quite intriguing and quite nice on its own merits, certainly.  Yet, that's sort of the rub is that it -looks- interesting, since there's still not a whole lot of information about it floating around there just yet, or at least there's not a lot of information that I've found about it even if I haven't been exactly looking.  Media blackouts and all that, only half-followed, etc.  To be sure, I haven't decided quite yet if I want to follow the development of the game feverishly, to soak up all the info on a new inFamous game until I can actually get my hands on it, or if I would prefer to go into the experience uneducated so that it springs open to me as only the best type of present does.

However, through all of it, there has been one fairly obvious area of contention:  the main character.  Delsin Rowe caught a lot of flak for a lot of things - well, most things really, including his name - but really, I think the thing that people don't like about him is that he's not our beloved Cole MacGrath.  It's innocuous enough, new game, new platform, new character, right?  Makes sense, is nice and easy, and doesn't have to be more complicated than that.  Yet, Nate Fox, the director of inFamous:  Second Son had a little to say about specifically -why- we have Delsin Rowe and not Cole MacGrath.  And the reasoning, to me is a bit....suspect, to say the least.  I only caught wind of this because Chance posted about it and I made a little comment about my thoughts on it. 

Thing is, the post, by its very nature of explaining what it does, contains major inFamous 2 spoilers and, as you all know, I try my best to keep away from spoilers or at least make it as impossible as possible for you to 'accidentally' stumble across them.  Which is why I'm going to do a post break, something I rarely do, and go a little more in-depth about the whole situation.  So, of course, after the break, there are, again, major inFamous 2 spoilers so....you know.  You've been warned, and such.

inFamous: Second Son, You Say?

So, there was that whole PS4 thing tonight, which was -actually- the announcement of the PS4 as we all thought it would be, but I'm not going to talk about it tonight.  I need time to reflect on it, to digest it, before I actually figure out what I think about it, now that some of the things are more or less set in stone for it.  In the meantime, however, instead of gushing on and on about REVENGEANCE some more (which I could totally do), I am instead going to talk about this one thing that I've picked out from the entire PS4 thing.  The reason for this one is pretty obvious, as I am a man who loves some inFamous, so a new game announced in the series is cause for celebration.  This is the point where I would usually, you know, go "But" or "Except" because I have built it up and then you know, blam, gotta break it down a little.

I'm not going to do that however.  Because I am legitimately happy that another inFamous game is going to come out and, while I might have some reservations about the trailer, it is definitively another inFamous game nonetheless. Sucker Punch's forays into the genre have been fruitful in the past and with the evolution the series took between inFamous and inFamous 2, I can't -not- let my hopes get up, even if just a little bit.  I -know- there's quality here already, since their hands are the ones molding whatever this ends up being, and they've not disappointed in the past, even when, by all means they could have.  So for that, I have my hopes, I have my excitement, and I can grin and enjoy myself knowing that inFamous as a series is going to be something that continues.

My reservations come into play with a few things, however.  First up is with the new character, Delsin Rowe.  The name, of course, means absolutely nothing, not being something of import from the previous games, and there's very little about him to tell beyond what's in the trailer and the little excerpt from the description, which I will share.

Surrounded by a society that fears them, superhumans are ruthlessly hunted down and caged by the Department of Unified Protection. When Delsin Rowe discovers his powers he's forced to run, searching for other superhumans in order to save those he loves from the oppressive D.U.P. now hot on his tail. The choices he makes along the way change the future of everyone around him.

The one thing that is known about him is that he seems to be a Fire-themed Conduit.  Whether that's just one facet of his powers (could be), I have always associated inFamous as a concept with electricity.  Even before I picked up the first game and loved it, let that ingrain into my mind, it was electricity.  Hell, that's part of the reason I was drawn to it - I just like the concept of that as a super-power to be honest, and the myriad of ways inFamous and its sequel used that did nothing but astound me and grow on the affinity that was already there.  While I know on several levels that Fire can be utilized in similarly wonderful ways (as inFamous 2 showed us) it's...well, it's not Electricity.  It's not a deal-breaker for me, but it's something I'm not super-duper excited for either.

The other thing, obviously, is that Delsin is not Cole who was a pretty badass character all-told.  Ever since inFamous 2, it's been weird to consider a third in the series considering the way 2 ended (both endings, no I'm not spoiling anything) because both gave a sort of completeness to Cole's story, even if both also left ways to further expand it.  There was also the wondering of just which ending would be the 'canon' ending, since they were...quite different as opposed to the original.  Even still, with a new character and a new suite of powers, we still have to wonder which ending they'll pick for this continuation...if it's a continuation at all.

I'm not saying the word 'reboot' or 'reimaging', but it's possible that this is just a different world, a different set of circumstances and that Cole MacGrath is a character that never existed in this one.  I...wouldn't actually mind that, actually, if this is just a new tale told on much the same roots, as it were.  Besides, it -does- lend itself to some other shenanigans as well, using a different storyline entirely if they wanted to ramp things up into -real- comic book super-hero territory.  I don't want to say what's going on in my head at the moment, but it's definitely got me going 'hmmmmm' and in a good way.  Still, same universe or new, it's a new inFamous game, one with Sucker Punch at the helm and I have no doubt that it's going to be pretty damn amazing.  I'm curious and excited, if nothing else, which is hard to do these days, despite how it may seem.

And Now, I Rest

Game of the Year posts were hard this year for some reason.  I mean, I know it was a rough (read: great) year in general for games which made it naturally hard to pick out just which was your more favorite out of this this and that, but damn.  Making me pick between a Yakuza game and an inFamous game?  Over an Uncharted game?  What the hell, 2011?  So now that it's officially done and over with, I'm just sitting back and taking a breather, getting ready for the storm that'll come tomorrow.  Not...literal storm, hopefully, just a metaphorical one that may or may not be really really bad.  Unfortunately this is another one of those "I'm warning you about something I'm not telling you about" things but in the end, does it really matter?  It's just a personal matter that likely won't affect things here too bad, so it might not be worth bringing it up.

I've taken this down-time to finally indulge in the inFamous 2 soundtrack that I've long neglected as I literally have a download queue in my Playstation Store list for one of the soundtracks, but never downloaded.  Since that would require downloading it, getting it onto my computer, getting it then onto my iPod which has a battery life of approximately shit and I just don't want to be assed with it.  Still, I've wanted to listen to it and, as usual, youtube is more than willing to let me do that.  The above is one of the nicer pieces I've heard so far, but I haven't heard the full run of the soundtracks just yet, so I'm not able to call it one of my, gasp, favorites from the game or really offer much more judgment than "It sounds pretty nice", so that'll have to do for now.  I'm sure you can draw your own opinions from it anyway.

I kinda feel bad that I just don't have more in me tonight, but I really don't.  It's a bit rough churning out posts one after another like I did the last few nights, and to top that off, I haven't been feeling too great lately.  Nothing that won't pass in time, but still, shit kinda stays with you regardless if just to try and slow you down a bit.  Hopefully after tonight's breather of just sitting back with some good music, I'll be right back to snuff.  And hopefully there'll be something friggin' news-worthy finally, as I've found it fairly rough to think of something to write about were I not doing the GotY posts.  So it's a bit thankful that I had those at least.  Though maybe I can do something about Harvest Moon DS since it's been taking up quite a bit of my time lately.  Hrmm.....we'll see I guess!  Until then, enjoy the music, seek out the rest of it to give a listen to if you haven't already, and keep on keepin' on.

My Games of 2011, The Top Two

As I said before, picking my top two games was harder this year than it's ever been for me simply because the two games in question are games that I love so very much for very different reasons, and to pick which I would consider my favorite was just so daunting that it was almost impossible.  And even though I have both games slotted into numbers, it's honestly just a formality at this point and if it were possible, I would just call it a tie.  The next best thing is simply devoting a post to both games at once rather than just touting my number one pick like last year.  Which, as you can tell, is what I'm doing, though I've been wrestling with whether I should keep the 'format' of the numbers or not.  Seeing as I can't determine an alternative that I'm happy with doing, I'll stick with the list as its been ticked off and not worry about it so much.

2. inFamous 2

I don't think there's ever been a game that I've so frantically searched for a Collector's Edition of as I did inFamous 2, and I'm not quite sure there'll ever be a game that I'll do it for again.  It's not that I dislike them or anything, but I very rarely see the extra value of $40 or so with the little trinkets and soundtracks and such that come with a game to justify it.  LittleBigPlanet 2 was the first game this year to convince me that the extra was worth it and not another game could do so until inFamous 2, and maybe it's because of the drastic way I got one at the very last minute, or maybe it's because I just wanted inFamous 2 that much, or a combination of both but when I got my hands on the Collector's Edition of the game it just....it felt right.  Just having that (rather large) box in my hands told me that I was doing the right thing, the thing I wanted to be doing, and that kind of self-vindication is something you only experience a few times in life, I suspect.

The story of how I came to possess a box is a pretty straight-forward one, but it was a rollercoaster for me assuredly, as I never quite knew how I was going to get one, but I knew that I was going to.  The GameStop that I frequented had stopped taking pre-orders on the Collector's Edition by the time I got into it, and even calling around to the other ones I could possibly, feasibly get to yielded nothing.  All theirs were pre-ordered, so my only chance would be if someone decided they didn't want theirs, so I took that challenge and simply waited, counting away the days before release date came to pass.  Calling all those same GameStops informed me that I wasn't lucky enough for one of them to have gotten an extra, and it was still within the holding period, so I had more or less resigned myself to just getting the regular version of the game before a thought crossed my mind.  

"I wonder if Best Buy has any?"

My distaste (which has since been diluted, but not by this) for Best Buy is known, but the chance at this, at my prize, my goal, was too tempting to pass up so I called 'the' Best Buy I could frequent which was right across the road from the GameStop I go to.  "Hey, I was wondering if you had any of the Hero Editions of inFamous 2?"  "Hmm....let me check."  There was a bit of silence as she walked to the area where everything was before the wonderful news came across the line.  "Yeah, we've got a few right here."  "That's fantastic.  Would you possibly be willing to hold one for me if I was to get there within, oh say, an hour?"  "Sure!  I just need your name..." etc. etc.  True enough, I got there as quickly as possible, went to the customer service desk as instructed and claimed what I had obsessed over for so long.  Victory.

And then I, y'know, played the game and it was just as fantastic as the journey of getting it was and even moreso.  It was the inFamous I'd gotten to know and love, but improved upon so much that it was in an entirely different league.  With the overhaul of the melee system, chaining melee and ranged attacks was actually possible without relying on the Electric Riot Gear method from the original (Polarity Shield + Lightning Blades) so the entire flow of battle shifted dramatically for the better.  The progression of powers really spoke to the theme that the game meant to set; that inFamous 1 was truly an origin story and inFamous 2 was the next evolution of that, into seeing Cole actually coming into real, absolute power.  Beyond mastering his own powers, Cole expanded his versatility by being able to introduce an entirely different element to his repertoire and those powers were certainly crucial to hitting your stride in being a mobile force of overwhelming power.

I can't imagine playing the game without having access to the Ice Launch or the Firebird Strike eventually as both moves became crucial to the fluid movement that inFamous 2 really really mastered.  Getting around wasn't just a breeze, but it was fun just because of all the different ways you could do any given thing.  Really, the whole game was fun for that exact reason, but definitely the movement side of it, if you could single out anything, exemplified that.  While I did have some grumblings with the story, I think it was still handled fairly well, though I'm very much left wondering just how an inFamous 3 could come about.  With any luck, it'll be with as much of a quality jump from 1 to 2, but if we're talking in realistic terms, I should imagine it'll at least keep with the status quo, which I would be just absolutely fine with.

Really, I think inFamous 2's biggest touting point, which is what took it up to the top of my list is that it's a true, honest super hero game that is absolutely fantastic.  People point to Arkham Asylum and City as the best examples of good licensed games we've got, and the license just happens to be a super hero one, but aside from that, what else do we have?  Obviously [Prototype] which came out at the same time as the original inFamous is a super story, though if you were a super villain or merely an anti hero in [Prototype] is quite another question altogether.  Whether [Prototype]'s strength lies within the quality of it's creation or the fun nestled within it's core mechanics is an ever-open debate which leads me to wonder if there are any other super hero, especially original ones, games out there that could be considered 'good' by the general measure?  I'm not sure, which means that inFamous, as a series, certainly scratches an itch that's out there and I'm quite thankful for that.

1. Yakuza 4

That Yakuza 4 is my top game might not be a surprise to anyone, especially after Yakuza 3 took my top spot last time by virtue of being a game I never thought I'd get to play in English.  (Un?)Fortunately, that was almost never an issue for Yakuza 4 as, quite soon after 3 had been released in the West or perhaps even before that, it was already well known that Sega had every intention of giving us the fourth iteration of the series and were, in fact, doing it as opposed to giving us some Sega-quality trolling about it.  It was promised and billed as 'the most complete' localization for the series and followed through with that as well, losing only the minimalist of things in the transition from Japan to America.  Among the cuts were the Question and Answer game in the arcade as it was mostly just Japanese History questions and rather than installing a whole new list of questions, they scrapped it and....not a lot else, I don't think.  Perhaps a couple quests, but certainly not the 20 or so lost in Yakuza 3's localization.

While some might worry that Yakuza 4 made my top spot by virtue of simply being a Yakuza game, I assure this isn't the case, as anyone who kept up with Kupowered after 4's March release knows that I had several, several, several posts talking about my experiences in Kamurocho and the fun that I had with them, going so far as to reviewing the game for the third (and latest) review.  And it was a dangerous thing to do, in a sense, since I was so attached to the game, but it was and still remains my opinion that because I was so engrossed in the game, I was capable of reviewing it well simply because I acknowledged its faults easily, and were able to point them out.  I didn't care about those faults, however, as I had scarce few moments during the game where I wasn't grinning ear to ear from the sheer joy that is the fighting system in it.  It made for awesome stories, both of unparalleled prowess and simple dumb luck that was nothing short of hilarious.

One such story of the latter variety was when I was the man himself, Kazuma Kiryu, taking on one of the many, many groups of street thugs that you'll run across in your travels.  It was fairly routine, I destroyed a couple of them right off so the final two could offer me a little more sport and fun.  After beating on the both of them for a little bit, I decided I was going to kick a bike at one to take him out and then probably drop kick the second, because it's...quite enjoyable. So I kick the bike and it goes flying right through the first guy, knocking him out, but where it gets hilarious is when the bike bounces off a railing and nails the final dude in the back, taking him out as well.  As it was completely unexpected, I couldn't help but let out a loud laugh and a "Yesssssssssssssssssss" of pure enjoyment, excited beyond all else that that had just happened.  That it had been a thing that happened.

In the end, I think it was the multitude of moments like that that Yakuza 4 had to offer me that tipped my opinion in its favor.  That and the fact that I was honestly quite impressed with the battle system, since I had initially worried that with four characters, one of them would assuredly be terrible or at least less fun to play than the others, yet was proven completely wrong.  Not only is every character an island unto himself in terms of quality in his fighting style, that quality translates not only into ability, but the amount of fun you can have with it if you just think about how to best use everybody.  And when I say 'best use everybody', I mean the best way you can, not the way the game wants you to, which is an important distinction to make.  No move in the game is 'great' because the game tells you it is, if it's great, it's because you know how to use it.  And that is a very, very crucial thing.

So in the end, both of my top games of 2011 were ranked so high because of their fighting systems, mostly, and because those fighting systems were damn fun.  Because that's really all we gamers want from our games if fun.  There are times when we get more than that, like a beautiful piece of art that is as it is for being simple with no nonsense tacked on, or a wonderful, emotional story that's actually told quite well, but in the end, we want to have an outlet that makes us smile, makes us laugh, and challenges us to give us something to 'win'.  Sometimes we measure our fun in the victories we've attained, whether it be in sheer numbers or for the quality of those victories themselves, but we're never at a loss for them.  And I think that's been a running theme in my top list here, is that pursuit of victory, which I hadn't even noticed until now.  But in the end, it is pretty obvious as we, for all of our bitching and complaining, truly are among the lucky to have these things, these special experiences of games, come to us and impact us as they do.

And I think that's why we try to rate them, however successfully or not that happens, -because- they have such an effect on us.  At least, I think that's why I do it, even though it's a very obviously trying thing to do, as I described when it came to these two games.  So hats off to you, Sucker Punch, Yakuza Studios, for making these experiences that I quite obviously enjoyed as much as I did.  Here's hoping to more quality and more difficult decisions like this for 2012's Game of the Year!

Game of the Year Time is Going to be a Pain

I didn't used to think about Game of the Year things until a couple years ago when it came around that time on Penny Arcade where He Who Keeps The Logs (I forget his forum name) came around and started taking votes for what everyone thought was game of the year of that year.  The first year, I just short of threw my games in some order that I don't even remember because I barely remember what came out that year specifically.  Last year, well, you all know my Game of the Year List since I made several posts listing them because, well, I wanted to throw my list out there and my reasons for them.  Of course, I plan to do this again come January when the voting's taken once more, so I've been thinking in those terms to be better prepared this time around.

I've mentioned it quite a few times, that I want to make sure I have at least Ten Games from this year to have what I could call a full list, and with any luck I'll end up surpassing that since I have the goal mostly done and there's still quantifiable amounts of time left.  The real problem lies within the actual games that I have played because 2011 has offered quite a few games that could be labeled as 'damn good' that I've played, and even by January I won't have played them all.  Yakuza 4, LittleBigPlanet 2, inFamous 2 and, yes even Uncharted 3 (unfortunately it appears I will be in the minority on this one) are all in my "Likely to be top four" games, but they're just the ones that spring to mind and it's entirely possible that the expansive list of games from this year will hold a game that would force me to reconsider.

All four games have things that make it entirely possible to give them the number one spot just like that.  My problem is figuring out what game I A) -want- to be number one and B) think -should- be number one as a game based on my experiences.  It's a subtle difference, but I am pretty used to dealing with subtleties, as I was just saying to someone else.  I didn't want to get off into a mini-whinge about Uncharted 3, but I guess I will because it's on my mind and I'm thinking about it.  Besides, it'll be something I can look back on in January and use as justification for wherever it ends up.

The problem I can see with a lot of the complaints coming up about Uncharted 3 can be explained away with a very, very simple answer:  subtlety.  Uncharted 3 is a much more subtle game with subtle changes and subtle ideas when compared to Uncharted 2 as everyone is doing.  Comparing the two games isn't a wrong thing to do by any means, but doing so borders on being a fool's errand because they are mired in completely different ideals and themes.  Even at its basest level, its subtitle, Uncharted 3 manages to be more subtle than its predecessor.  Uncharted 2:  Among Thieves may as well read Uncharted 2: Cold Snow or Uncharted 2: Wet Water, because in all three examples, they are saying something so profoundly obvious about the game or reality that they may as well be interchangeable.  Of course you're Among Thieves in Uncharted 2; you're among Thieves in the other two games.  You are a thief.  You're a Thief with Thieves trying to thief things from other Thieves.

It's that very In-Your-Face brand of obvious that fills out the rest of the game, which is not a bad thing of course, but from the very start, where you wake up in a train hanging off a cliff, there is exactly, precisely no room for anything 'subtle'.  It is anti-subtle by its own nature and it's a very different brand of 'awesome' than what real subtlety can do.  The attitude is the main theme of the game and was prevalent anywhere you looked since they focused on showing you all the truly epic moments, like fighting in a building that was dynamically coming down around you or running away from a truck barreling down a narrow alleyway to catch you and smash you as only a truck can do.  While there is substance aside from that, it's safe to say those are the moments crafted purely to be remembered, to be re-discussed in awe-filled tones, and to be shown to any who would disbelieve such a thing was real not only because it was a visual masterpiece, but a technical one as well.

Drake's Deception is the first clue that, perhaps a more subtle under-taking is on the way and while there's still those In-Your-Face moments, they are not on showcase.  They're not intended as being the main focus, simply there to be the things those to provide the Ooos and Aaahs we've all come to expect from the Uncharted franchise thanks to its humble beginnings, where one of the most impressive features talked about was the dynamic wetting of Nathan's clothing based on when, where, and how much of him was exposed to water.  A subtle thing, but a thing that we all had to respect, which is why I would suspect that Uncharted 3 was an attempt to return to the first game's subtleties while still making those who came for 2 and stayed for 3 happy.

That people have, and will continue to, completed Uncharted 3 and wonder why it was subtitled "Drake's Deception" is the proof enough of its subtlety at heart and in my opinion, that's its strength.  Where some would say it's "Too subtle" if they play the game and don't catch that, I would say that if you can play Uncharted 3 from start to finish and then wonder -why- it's called Drake's Deception, I would suggest that you are the one at fault here and not Naughty Dog.  That really, as I said earlier, seems to be the core explanation I can offer for any and all complaints that come out.  "Elena doesn't look right" (I've seen accounts go so far as to say she now looks Half-Asian), well, her appearance has been updated.  Subtly.  "The aiming feels different", well, it was changed to be more useful.  Subtly.  "I don't get (various points of the story or the story itself", well, that's because it's subtle.  Pay attention next time.  There is nothing (outside of an obvious plot hook for another game, potentially even Golden Abyss) that is not explained within the confines of Uncharted 3 any less than anything from the previous two games.

With that out of the way, it is precisely that type of verbosity that will make picking one game out of the four I mentioned to take the top slot a near-impossible task.  Because I could do that with all three of the other possible games and, as they're -my- games of the year, the only person I have to justify -my- reasons to is -myself-, which is as hard a task as you could imagine.  Still, it's one that I'll likely be able to manage and manage properly so that, in years from now, I'll look back and say "Yes, I still feel that way because it's based in my own personal truth, and not just my feelings".  Not that any of us do that, but still, I -could- do it, and that's what matters.

Aside from even that, there's still the task of organizing the -rest- of the games I've played this year which will likely be as arduous as the part I'm fretting over even now.  After all, what does "Best DS Game I've played" (Ghost Trick) -mean- in a list of 10-20 games that I feel similarly as strongly about?  Does its great story, presentation and music mean it ranks 11 or 7 or 9?  Does the fact that I prefer playing (now anyways) another game affect whether or not I thought Ghost Trick was one of the best games of the year or where it -should- place in the ranking?  I don't know.  I really don't know any of these things and as of now, all these games of 2011 are just a swirling nebula of possibilities and greatness waiting January when I will finally pluck them down and put them in their ordained order that will only make sense after proper reflection and remembrance.

And it's going to be hell.

Platinum Get - inFamous 2

I finally did it today.  Dressed as Kessler, I ran Cole through the last levels of inFamous 2 one last time as fast as I could, and finally got that last trophy I needed, "Pain Brings Character", since Sucker Punch didn't realize adding a Difficulty Selector screen at the start of the game would have, oh I don't know, prevented a lot of headaches.  But I don't begrudge them for it; I love inFamous 2, present tense, so playing it again isn't a chore or anything of the sort.  I will say, however, that I'm willing to give up one or two more things I'm not entirely happy with, regarding the game.

We all grumbled at Assassin's Creed doing it five years ago, so I don't really see why inFamous 2 would get a pass here; unskippable cutscenes are dumb.  They always have been dumb, and they always will be dumb.  Of course, inFamous 2's cutscenes aren't very long, so you're only sitting there for a few minutes grumbling about how you're not at the other end of it already to simply play the game, but it's still something complaint-worthy, which is unfortunate.  Well, I should say that the in-engine cutscenes were the unskippable ones; the comic-style ones are entirely skippable, however why you would want to skip those ones, I'm not entirely sure.

My other grumble is that, honestly?  There weren't enough comic-style cutscenes.  I'm glad Sucker Punch go their act together and made the animations 100x better than the first time, and it's nice and all to watch, but there were just so many times in the game where I really would have preferred watching the outcome shown in comic book form, and pretty much all of them are spoilers, so I won't really paint them out.  I'm sure you can think of a few yourselves, anyway.  I guess I will say, since it's a fairly non-spoiler by now, that the part where you get your non-electric powers, that cutscene as a Motion Comic one would've been much better.

But for the positive, I still cannot put fully into words just how much fun it is to get around in this damn game.  Running around and being able to Ice Launch at any given time has provided the most 'freeing' experience in regards to mobility that I've ever encountered.  By the end of the game, I felt like a damn expert at it, with the way I was getting around and taking foes out.  I was nigh-untouchable, and that's not just hubris.  The amount of deaths I got on this last run (for what it's worth, I started from, well, mission 27, I think.  Zeke's Spotlights.  Vague enough so it's not a spoiler, mwahaha.) was far less than I'd gotten in either of my previous plays, which admittedly is logical, but I'm talking to the degree where you, as the person playing, really notice.

It's a great feeling, of course.

And all through this last bit of playing, I couldn't help but yearn for more.  More inFamous, more of this feeling of power, this mobility that you can only get from this series.  It's far too far off to get my hopes up for a threequel to even be announced, much less finished, but I did think of something rather enticing for the meanwhile.  We all know of my love for the Vita, and I've expressed the theory that if an inFamous game were put on it, my time would disintegrate, shatter into nothing but concentrated electric blasts on an OLED screen in the palms of my hands.  And it would, of course.

Doesn't mean I don't want it, though.  Of course, I wouldn't want inFamous 3 on the portable - Sucker Punch is not Sega, and for that we're all grateful.  But I'm sure Sony is itching for some installment on the system and a straight-port might not be the best route.  So my thoughts went to Uncharted: Golden Abyss.  An entirely separate adventure made just for the portable in the classic Uncharted style, and it's not too unfeasible that Sucker Punch could, or would for that matter, do the same.  Sucker Punch does take quite a few cues from Naughty Dog, after all, and good on them for it.

But there is a story yet to be told in the inFamous universe.  Several, actually, but one that is chief among them:  The story of Kessler.  Knowing what we know about him, it's not like the game would be unlike inFamous or inFamous 2, after all.  And as I pointed out quite a few times in my thoughts on inFamous 2's overall story (spoilers!), there are a few things in inFamous 2 that really don't add up, so further extrapolation would be nice, not only because it means more inFamous, but because the first game set such a great story, that it would be nice for it to remain that way.

I'm not exactly holding my breath on an inFamous side-story on the Vita, but it would be nice.  I'm near-positive we'll see something on the handheld, but only time will tell what it is.  It'll be wonderful, whatever it is, I'm sure.

Ding!

If you're like me, who never got a 360 even when they were new and instead waited for (or just went with) a PS3, there's a chance you entered into it in the beforetimes when the above things were not even thought of.  The above things being Trophies, of course.  But now, they're practically a meta-game all their own on the same level as all the equivalents out there (of which, of course, one came first):  Xbox 360 Achievements, Steam Achievements, etc.  And I, like many others, find myself endlessly fighting for more and more to put my mark, so to speak, on a particular game.

At least, that's why I go after them, honestly.  I believe I've covered that fact before....but if I have, I can't pick which article it was in.  That wasn't always my stance, though; I used to be more "I only get trophies in games I like, because it means I like/want to play the game more".  Now, it's more like I said, I just get them when I want to leave a mark, for better or worse.  I'm sure we all remember (or will be reminded when I link it) how I talked about getting a platinum in Dark Void out of spite because I had high hopes for the game that just.....just crashed and burned.  I just wanted to get all the trophies in the game so I would never -have- to play it again.  DLC trophies really don't count for anything, so I have a platinum, it's shelved, I didn't enjoy playing it, so I won't.

Which isn't to say games that I platinum get put up forever, of course.  Just the ones I don't like.  Uncharted 2, for example, has been played at least twice more fully through -after- I got the Platinum for it.  Just because it's an amazing game and fun to play.  Same with inFamous 1; I beat that game probably eight times, four of those after getting all the trophies, simply because I wanted to do different things.  "Good turns evil, Evil reforms, Neutral and 'what would you do'" approaches were all touched on in my plays.  They're a nice little addition, but trophies honestly don't determine how I play my games all the time.

Nor are they a necessity at all when playing games, of course.  There are several well-known, well-liked games out there that just never saw a trophy patch after trophies became mandatory in PS3 games, simply because they were released before the date and their developers are lazy were working on something else and never saw a reason for it.  The above-pictured Valkyria Chronicles, Metal Gear Solid 4 and Resistance:  Fall of Man were all included in this and absolutely nothing convinced their developers to implement it.  Not even a re-release can get trophies in these games.  (For some reason I couldn't find a single article about Resistance not getting trophies in the re-release that I wanted to use)  It's kind of an interesting climate, to say the least.

For me, it's honestly just like a meta side-quest for games as a whole; something I can do or not do at my leisure.  Which I think is the best way about it.  I really hate hearing stories about people starting to hate a game because they have to "grind x hours" to get trophies/achievements so that it really becomes no fun.  So sometimes you just have to know when to know the task at hand is something you don't want.  My former philosophy with trophies being a symbol of my liking of a game didn't mesh well with Yakuza 3, for example, because some of the trophies are just things I do not want to be party to.  The side-games, mostly.

Really, the whole revelation of my new ideal on trophies came about earlier when I was playing inFamous 2, grumbling because I thought the "Extreme Makeover" trophy was bugged, and how much it would annoy me if I'd never get a Platinum trophy in the game because of it.  I had to scour the internet for an idea on why it wasn't unlocking, which pointed to the theory that perhaps all the big objects needed destroyed in the same sitting, and also that different things needed to be taken out:  Not only the verandas in the first island, but the Oil Towers in the second island.  (Gas works.)  After a bit of trying, I eventually got it, and was sated, before I thought about it.  Why did I care?

Because I care about inFamous 2.  I care enough to leave my mark out there as a Platinum trophy.  I came, I saw, I conquered.  And I enjoyed every moment of it.  That's the message I want to pass along with my Platinum, which is wholly based on the game alone, and not some sort of pre-designated notion through a trophy system as a whole or anything.  And that's how my stance changed; because it was never the right one to begin with.  Now I'm very much more comfortable with where I stand on the matter.  And when I have that Platinum trophy (need to go through again on Hard -again-, and make sure to do the Ice side missions), I'll be comfortable with that too.

All in the Cards - My Obsession

I'm going to level with you guys.  Just in case you haven't noticed, I kind of have a thing for Trading Card Games of all shapes, sizes and forms.  And while I haven't played 80% of them (In fact, half of the above pictured), trust me, were the time, money, and ability to do so mine, I would be familiar with all of the TCGs.  I'm not really sure what it is about it, whether it's the strategy involved in deciding your deck structure, collecting better cards, just the way a match plays out, or some other thing.  But there's just something that makes every card out there something I want to at least see if just to try and understand its place in a game.

And while you might have noticed the beast that is my TCG-desire has been temporarily sated, that doesn't mean I'm not constantly thinking about them and how any game out there could be converted to a TCG structure of some sort without too much hassle.  I say some sort, because I have been schooled in the ways of Card Games, and I've learned that they're not always going to be a simple "Here's your field, here's your bench, here's your hand, GO" affair.

This is, of course, because of the above-pictured Metal Gear Ac!d 2.  (I don't know how to do superscript.)  Also the non-pictured Metal Gear Ac!d.  Now, a lot of people don't even know about the two Metal Gear Ac!d games, and I can't honestly blame them, as they simply are not only strange games, but games that weren't really mentioned a lot when they were released, which was several years ago.  But Metal Gear Ac!d (I believe) was one of the two games I got with my PSP and I never regretted it for the sheer amount of fun it ended up affording.

If you're unfamiliar with the gameplay of Metal Gear Ac!d as a series, think of any grid-based Tactics RPG you've played.  Final Fantasy Tactics, Disgaea, Jeanne D'arc, etc. etc.  Every character has a base amount of movement they can do on their turn and they usually get one attack before it's over.  Kind of turn-based, but with strategic movements.  Well, take that and add cards.  Metal Gear Ac!d (henceforth simply referred to Metal Gear Ac!d to cover both games at once) feature a few different types of cards, which, regardless of what you have, fuel everything you do.  To move, you use a card and pay the COST of it, which builds up as you perform actions.  That COST then determines how long you have to wait til your next turn.  (You can usually only play two cards a turn.)

Of course, it's not always that simply or difficult.  Using a normal card usually only affords a few blocks of movement (3 or 4, I think), but there are specific Movement cards that will almost always let you move farther and/or more silently than that.  Another type of card is Equip Cards, which will be your Body Armor and such and also some weapons that, when you have them equipped, might afford you a counter-attack if you're attacked.  (Which then uses up the card or uses the ammo, which you can replenish with another of that card.)  Then you have Use cards which are instant-use and usually encompass the other half of the available weapons, rations, and special abilities.  There are other types, but I'm sure that's confusing enough for one installment.

And if you don't believe I spend my time thinking about this, well, you are quite mistaken!  To prove that, I'm going to use inFamous 2 as an example of a scenario setter where the game could be adapted into a card game.  Now, while it would be fairly simply enough to just do a complete reskin of Metal Gear Ac!d (replace gun Use cards with powers, Use Ration cards with "Recharge Point" cards, etc.), I'm sure we could go about this the extra mile so that, while similar, it would be a different game from MGA.

Imagine a grid-based board like you'd expect from, again, a Tactics RPG or if you're familiar, a Metal Gear Ac!d level.  Fairly easy level; you have a few Militia men on the other side of the board surrounding a Blast Core that is your main goal.  You have, instead of a deck, two half-decks, (Or maybe one deck is smaller than the other, regardless you don't have a single 60 or so card deck like most card games) one stack is powers or actions, the other is your "support" cards; Support characters, special actions, and such.  Each turn, you draw one of each and get to use up to three cards in any combination of what you have, though you can't have more than three of either type of card at one time.

So, the main goal is to get to the other side of the board (which has water hazards, of course) to fight the Militia and recover the blast core.  How you accomplish that is simply up to how you use what cards you've decided to put in your decks to start with.  For instance, there'll be "Good Cole" and "Evil Cole" cards, obviously, which will confer the Karma-specific powers.  For this example, we'll use Good Cole's card set.  We draw three of each card to start the match and end up with an Ice Pillar card and two sticky grenade cards.  The support cards, for this example, don't matter, as our Good Cole is rough and tumbler.  Using the Ice Pillar card from his starting location, Cole is propelled a goodly distance across the board and is in range of the Militia.  (I'm also sort of condensing this for ease of imagining.)

With two more actions, we use the first Sticky Grenade card and target the closest Militia.  The attack goes through and successfully hits, dealing enough damage to defeat him.  The other two Milita aren't close enough to stick one, but we can hit the square between them, so that's where the other sticky grenade goes.  From not being a direct impact, both Militia members survive, but are staggered, which means they lose one action on their turn.  You've used three actions, so you're done.  Enemy turn, the Militia with one or two actions a piece only, vainly attack Cole for a little damage, but nothing too lethal.  Their turn cleared, we draw our Action card (but not a Support, since we still have three.  Or maybe we draw a Support card and have to discard one) and it's Ice Rocket.  The Militia are standing next to one another, so a direct hit freezes them both.  Then using a support card for basic movement, we collect the Blast Core.  Match complete!

So there you go.  Looking back on that, I'm...not too sure why I plotted that all out.  But at least to me, it sounded cool.  Hopefully I didn't go completely out of the box and confuse anyone who might not be as obsessed with card-based games as myself.  And hey, if anyone from Sucker Punch is reading this (hahahahaha) and liked it, I'm more than free to consult on such a project!

LittleBigThings: Squeenix Finally Does Something

Remember waaaaaaaaaay back in the beforetimes of 2008, when both Old Snake and Sephiroth were shown off in LittleBigPlanet to show off third-party support with the game, via costume and level packs?  Remember when Old Snake got his time in LBP, via the first and likely biggest Level/Costume/Tool pack and we all loved it?  Sure you do; it brought us hours of fun with the Paintinator and the ability to dress up like MGS4 Snake to recreate our favorite moments from the game.  Er....just me?  Well...well, alright then.

Remember when Squeenix's pack showed up?  No?  Well, that's because it never did.  Which is only finally being fixed now.  Coming out next week, on July 13th, (which is a day after Catherine's demo is to go up, apparently, maybe it's a special update?  Or maybe someone's got the dates tossed up  Update!:  Actually, it's the blogpost that's tossed up.  I imagine they copied it wholesale from the EU Blog and just changed the currency signs.) is the Final Fantasy 7 Costume pack, including Cloud, Tifa, Aerith, Vincent and of course, Sephiroth for $5.99.  That's right, it's just a costume pack.  It took Squeenix three years to get their costumes done well enough and go through MM's methods to get them in the LittleBigPlanet universe.  Which....well, that's right on target with Squeenix Time.  (Not quite as long as Valve Time, but quality is not assured.)

The Costume pack is part of a line of them ready for the rest of the month that actually started just today with the above inFamous 2 Cole Costume.  (Also available in Evil Cole flavor as well as including some stickers)  Following FF7 is a Killzone 3 pack which will also have two costumes and stickers for the same price as the inFamous 2 pack of $2.99.  After that, sometime, will be the Toy Story pack with costumes -and- levels (and likely stickers as well), to be followed sometime by a Motorstorm Apocalypse pack of some sort.  Not to mention the Playstation Move-themed Pack which will be out sometime....soon-ish?  Yeah, let's go with soon-ish.

I am an absolute whore for LittleBigPlanet themed things, so I'm not too particularly ashamed to admit a good bit of these things will be mine.  (Definitely the FF7 and inFamous 2 things, as well as the original inFamous costumes)  In my defense, I will remind everyone that the costumes will be compatible with the Playstation Vita version of the game as well, which we all know I will be playing the shit out of.

inFamous 2 - My thoughts on the Story and Endings (Spoilers)

I'm going to say it about four times here, this post will be full of inFamous 1 & 2 spoilers.  So if you don't want to be spoiled on inFamous 2, don't read it.  Because there are spoilers.  I've mastered the art of the jump break, even, to make sure you can't be casually spoiled by perusing the main page.  I've taken the utmost care in making this as good for you, the reader, as I can.  So, with that out of the way, click on the link below to read the full article if you've beaten the game on both sides and care to read my ramblings.

Weekly Wrap-Up in Gaming - June 27 - July 3

I've actually got a few games to talk about this week, so hey, here we go!

Clearly, as indicated above, the first game I'm going to discuss here is inFamous 2, which I just beat on my evil karma runthrough last night, meaning I've experienced both sides of the story.  And, aside from a few dead drops, I would say I've experienced the whole of the story, which means I think I'm fairly qualified to talk about it here, in broad strokes of course, to prevent spoilers.  Of course, if you just don't want anything influencing your take and haven't beaten it yet, do go ahead and skip down to the picture of LittleBigPlanet 2 for that section.

First off, the evil ending has actually forced me to amend my statement of "Nothing is wrong with this game" to "Okay, there's a couple things wrong with this game".  I don't know if it's because there wasn't this big, game-changing revelation at the end to mimic the first game, or the 'finality' both endings bring (in their own ways), but it just felt like it was flopped about.  inFamous 1 clearly gave us a game that knew it wasn't going to be the only one of the series, whereas, to me, it felt like inFamous 2 sort of wanted to get everything in and end it, much like some would say other games have done (MGS4 for example), and while I don't agree with that as a blanket statement, I feel like it happened here, and it didn't work.

While I did like the theatrics present in both endings, in all I just didn't like the story those theatrics presented, not only because they gave that sense of finality, but because they gave a bit of finality even though there's obviously still more story to be had here.  There is a fairly obvious hanging thread of story left by the time the game closes, and while it's not a big one, it's big enough to notice and likely big enough to hook into for the next game, should they choose to do one.  (Which they should, given that they're actually not making Sly 4, lazy bums.)  (I'm kidding.)  I guess it does speak for the game, in that they managed to really try and change the tone so it wouldn't be 'more of the same' like most people will complain about in sequels, but maybe they did a bit too much.

And another, quick little complaint I have, is that they still haven't figured out how to properly trigger a goddamn "Hard" mode trophy.  Look, Sucker Punch.  Just because I didn't set it to hard until after the tutorial fight at the beginning doesn't mean I didn't play through the entire goddamn game on Hard, so give me my goddamn trophy.

Still, it's a fantastic game, and I certainly don't regret the money I put into it.  And if inFamous 3 were announced tomorrow, my hype meter would be off-the-charts.

I did put some more time into LittleBigPlanet 2 this week, not only because it's the only thing my Nephews want to watch, but because I'm on the ever-ongoing journey towards acing the entire story.  While I only added a few spades to the badges on my planets, those spades (indicators of Aced levels, if you didn't know) were hard-fought and they indicate that I'm that much closer.  And as I mentioned at the start of the week, I've been dabbling back into the level creation aspects but I don't have much to show for it -just- yet.  As always, once I do, I'll likely be posting it up here first.

It's amazing to me, the depth that LittleBigPlanet 2 offers everyone, simply because I can go into the MM Picks tab or the Cool Levels Tab, pick any level there and be absolutely blown away by what I get there.  The looks of some of the levels, the designs oftentimes leave me wondering just what in the hell they did to make it look so beautiful and how I can do that.  It's a sort of humbleness that isn't exactly harmful, but it's humbling nonetheless and really does sometimes kick you in the gut, because you can make a level, sure, but it's not going to be -that level- that you just played.  Still, if you get your own level good enough, it might just be -that level- for someone else, and that's always the hope.

The only real frustration with LBP and LBP2 for me lies in the collection aspect, if merely because you have some levels that take forever to navigate, with four people, just so you can trigger some thing at the very end of it to get one or two items.  There's a little unbalance with the effort : reward ratio, is basically what I'm getting at, and while it's fun playing with friends, I would more prefer it to be optional; something you don't have to worry about when you just want to gad about in levels with your pals.  Of course, the netcode is a matter of contention as well.  I'm not sure how much improved LBP2's is now, as when I played it online it was merely okay at best, but then again, that was directly after it launched.  Still, just a little complaint in the face of such a light-hearted, fun game.

The last game I can talk about here is Phantasy Star Portable 2, which I sort of fell back into playing thanks to the lack of computer for however long that was.  I've been playing it since and have found that I'm in that rut where the enemies you can defeat give you jack-all for EXP, whereas the enemies who give you a good bit of EXP will knock you flat on your ass with one hit simply because the gear available hasn't caught up to the challenge necessary.  That's probably the only time it's really just not fun to play the game (Same as it was back with Phantasy Star Online) and unfortunately leads to a lot of "Well, I'm done" feelings and falling out.  We'll see how it goes with me, but I don't know.

The prospect of getting to a similar level to my PSO character does seem nice, but at the same time, that's a looooong gap between where I am (83) and where my old character was (somewhere in the 100s, maybe upwards of 120).  Not only numerically, but just in the amount of time each one of those levels will take, barring some better gear.  But I jumped that hump last time, I can do it again!

That's about it for this week's games.  I did play a couple other things, but nothing that I could talk about at length here.  Until next time!  Whenever that may be.