Bad/Dumb News Dump

There've been a lot of little bits of news here and there that fit the exact formula for a News Dump post - not enough of a thing that I can go on and on for a full post about it, but significant enough that I have to say -something- about it.  As luck(?) would have it, they also all have a fairly negative connotation to them, whether it's due to being unfortunate in the worst degree, or due to including a massive amount of what is colloquially referred to as 'dumb'.  While I'm admittedly a bit remiss to include the two together, it fits a theme and I like themes.  Everybody likes themes, actually.  So everyone should be fine with me condensing as I'm doing.

The first bit of news is the one that hits me the hardest.  While I'm not directly affected by it, it still hurts because it's a shitty, unfortunate situation and one that doesn't need to exist.  Rune Factory 4, which we've enjoyed in the states for a while now, was slated for a late release in Europe (like most 3DS games) and it was recently announced that it's actually not going to happen.  Without really listing a reason, Marvelous AQL Europe announced that their plans to bring the game to PAL-land have been canceled and they hope you look forward to more announcements on new titles (that may or may not actually see a release and if they do, you probably don't want them).  On just about any platform but the 3DS, this would be regrettable, but not -completely- irredeemable.  However, since the Region Lock thing persists on the 3DS (I'm not sure if it's something that can just be disabled, of course, probably not) it means that Europeans really have no means of playing Rune Factory 4 unless they also import a North American 3DS.

One has to wonder if this has anything to do with the shuttering of Neverland and the shaky future that the Rune Factory series seemed to have because of it.  This is certainly not a welcome follow-up to that case if it's connected (it would almost have to be, I think) and I can't help but just wonder about the future of Rune Factory all over again.  It's basically my favorite version of Harvest Moon now with the absolute abundance of things to do, and I really just want it to continue, since I know there'll apparently -always- be Harvest Moon games regardless.  I want to have both, basically.  Though, I'm sure Europe wants the same as well, and it just remains to be seen how things are going to go in the near future here.

If you've paid attention to the Mobile Games scene for the last few months, or hell, even just watched TV, there's a good chance you've heard of Candy Crush Saga.  It's sort of risen up as the second coming of Angry Birds in that sort of "Why do people actually like this game?" way.  It's essentially a Bejeweled clone with some different mechanics from what I've seen, and from that base, they've branched out into other games genres to spawn other games that make liberal use of the word "saga" (Bubble Witch Saga, Pet Rescue Saga, etc.) which is kind of the problem here.  Or, rather, half of the problem.  You see King, the developer of the Saga games, has decided to file a trademark for the words "Candy" for use on pretty much everything (games, clothing, etc.) and "Saga" for games primarily.  Even stranger is the fact that the application for "Candy" was approved.

Now, a trademark is not a patent, which is the thing people make money off of.  This is a point of contention that seems to be going around the internet, because people seem to think that King did this so they can extort royalties from everything else that dares use "Candy" in its title.  That's most certainly not the case, and even if it were, I'm sure Hasbro would have a very stern something to say to them about that  But it's okay!  King went on record saying that they 'will not enforce against all uses', just the ones that are clearly infringing on their branding and/or game.  Which is fine and all until you realize that they're not allowed to do that.  Trademark law requires that you -fight- to keep your trademark since it's clearly an important part of your business strategy in that case and allowing it to be infringed upon cheapens it and weakens your claim.  So....basically don't expect them to hold it for very long.

Now, about them 'not enforcing against all uses' where "Candy" is concerned, apparently nobody got that memo for "Saga", because they've requested legal action against Stoic for The Banner Saga.  The Banner Saga is a game that was Kickstarted for the PC and Mac, with other platforms in the works potentially (hopefully) including the Playstation Vita.  The Banner Saga is also not a game that has anything to do with King's works in anyway - there's no overlap because King works in the mobile space - and their complaint -solely- rests on the fact that their games entirely end with "Saga" and so does "The Banner Saga".  This is a -classic- Trademark infringement case, harkening back to the Scrolls debacle between Bethesda and Mojang where Bethesda had the absolute gall to actually request recompense as well.  As the 'Saga' trademark has not been approved, it's hard to say what the hell King is thinking at this point, but I can't foresee them getting away with this one.

Finishing up tonight's festivities is another heaping scoop of 'dumb' involving Alienware and the phenomenon known as a "Steam Machine".  Steam Machines are something that are still mostly nebulous in concept for me, in that I'm still hazy on how it proves to be a stand-alone box when a majority of its games (at the start at least) will have to be streamed through your Machine by your PC, thus only really granting the 'Living Room Experience' (take a shot) which can already be achieved with a normal PC and Big Picture mode.  But even I know that the main strength of the Steam Machine is its ability to meld the set specs and development consideration of a Console with the ability to be upgraded and customized as a PC.  I'm pretty sure -everyone- knows that, that that's pretty much the entire point of the machine.

Everyone except Alienware, apparently.  I'm, uh...I'm just going to quote this here.

"Lifecycle wise, consoles update every five, six, seven years. We will be updating our Steam Machines every year," Azor said.

There will be no customization options in Alienware's Steam Machines, Azor continued: "You can't really update it." Customers will have small range of configurations to choose from, such as more memory or a faster CPU, he said. Those who want to beef up their machines on their own are better off with a standard PC, Azor noted – after all, anyone can turn a PC into a Steam Machine by buying a Steam Controller and downloading SteamOS.

"If you actually want to customize your Alienware Steam Machine, maybe change your graphics card out or put in a new CPU, you would be better off with the standard Alienware X51. This particular product is restricted in its upgrade options."

This is honestly a little impressive because this is a scenario I never would have imagined possible.  It's something that shouldn't exist in nature.  You see, there's missing a point entirely, and then there is this, which grossly misinterprets every ideal that a product is supposed to espouse and it manages to appear as the sacrificial lamb to encourage you to simply buy their other products instead.  It's astounding.  It has astounded me.  I am properly astounded.

Yearly refreshes, non-customizable and spoken of as an inferior product by reference.  (Because seriously, 'if you want to mess around with it, just buy a PC' is not saying anything positive for this thing)  That's the triple play right there.  The Triple Play of "Who in the fuck taught you PR?"  I just....don't even know what else to say about that one.

this post was brought to you by the letter 'duuuurrrrrrrrrr'

Because I Don't Talk About KOEI Enough...

I'm gonna be honest and say that I don't -know- how I manage to come up with so many occasions to talk about KOEI games in general, in that I don't actively look for them.  I guess news just...sort of crops up and me being a whore mass consumer of KOEI things in general, I can just extrapolate enough words from what is very simple announcements and turn it into a post or two.  It happens, and I haven't heard any complaining directly, so I assume you folks don't mind all that much.  Which is good!  Because I'm just gonna...keep doing it, I assume, until KOEI milks out every last bit of goodwill that I have towards them which will likely take a while despite my constant bitching criticisms.  Anyway, this post will be chock-full of new and less-new KOEI goodies that I decided to talk on tonight because I can't think otherwise since my back hurts again.

The above is a trailer for Nobunaga's Ambition:  Creation for PS4, which in itself is just a port of the game of the same name for PS3 and PC that was released last year.  I'm sure I could get some information about the game from the internet, but the fact is, it's probably not going to get localized, so I'm not looking too much into it, even though it would be fucking perfect for Remote Play (if not an outright Vita version, but no, that makes too much sense) and that fact alone makes me all the more sad that I'll never play it.  Of course, I -have- reached out to TecmoKOEI USA's official Twitter about it, but I really doubt that I'm going to hear back from them because, well, you know.  KOEI.  The fact that the account went inactive for months and only resurfaced -yesterday- says more than enough for the prospects of it being used as more than a means to congratulate themselves for whatever small accomplishes they make and no, I'm not bitter at all.

I'm not sure why they chose to go with what appears to be the Honnō-ji Incident for the intro cinematic to a Nobunaga's Ambition game either, but....well, that's at least -one- way to show off your pretty graphics, and especially so on an updated piece of hardware.  Reports indicate that Creation will run at 1080p and 60fps on the PS4 which is hardly surprising (unless you don't trust KOEI's technical acuity) but impressive nonetheless.  You'll also be able to command up to 1,000 men at a time (I assume they're not using the traditional 'units' anymore) rather than only 300 which is certainly something that will add quite a bit to the gameplay.  Regardless of anything, it's going to be a smooth entry (re-entry?) into the Nobunaga's Ambition series and I -do- hold out a little hope of seeing it come out in the West, but that's just it - a little hope.  Still enough to speak on, however, as I did.

There's some good news about Samurai Warriors 4, beyond the (old) news that it might (probably will) come here in the Summer.  The news, specifically, is that Create-a-Samurai is making a return in the base game, and not waiting for one of the expansions to introduce it.  Create-a-Samurai (or Create-a-Warrior for a general application in the Warriors games in general) is fairly self-explanatory, but it's a mode that allows you to customize your own character in name, appearance and fighting style to take into battle.  In the original Samurai Warriors, they handled it in a rather cool way, where you went through 'courses' to train specific aspects of your character, shaping their base attributes to contribute to their overall growth.  I'm not sure if there'll be a similar sort of thing in 4, but it sounds like there's -something- beyond "make your character, okay cool, go kill stuff".

The post mentions that officers will pose questions to you, to which your answers will help mold an image of how they see your character, which I'm sure will have an affect on their build.  Unless it's a fame/infamy type deal in which it won't matter in the least and will be another one for the "waste of effort" pile.  There's also a mention of a map where you can pick missions and if that's true, then that's certainly a departure for Samurai Warriors at least, though it brings it a little more in-line with what the Dynasty Warriors games have been doing with Conquest Mode and the like.  Unless it's specifically for Create-a-Warrior mode, which would be really cool, and reminiscent of Destiny Mode from Dynasty Warriors 5: Xtreme Legends.  Also known as "one of the reasons DW5 was fucking awesome".

Destiny Mode was a mode in which your character started out as a grunt in the personal army of an officer of your choice.  When I say a grunt, that's explicitly what I mean - your moveset was a three-hit combo, you had shit for health and were more of a liability than anything else, yet were still expected to power through and destroy officers.  With each victory, you gained skill points to bring your character up to par to an -actual- warrior of the ages (buying the ability to have longer combos, musou attacks, etc.) while also bringing glory to whoever you were pledged to, which you could change at certain points if you felt like it.  However, the person you ended up with at the end of the last mission was the person whose weapon set you took after (I believe), so you needed to make sure to stay the course if you wanted someone in particular.  Still, it was empowering, playing some podunk little soldier that moved up to the big leagues (even giving you jobs such as Base Captain and the like) and I'm amazed that KOEI hasn't used it again.  I doubt that Samurai Warriors 4 will use it, but goddamn, I can hope for that too.

Aside from the (probable) release of Samurai Warriors 4 to us, we still don't really know anything about anything else.  Dynasty Warriors 8: Xtreme Legends is heading this way as we already know, but there's plenty of other games that could get an announcement for Stateside travel as well.  Samurai Warriors 2 HD+XL/Empires, Warriors Orochi 3 Special or whatever the name is, Nobunaga's Ambition, Shin Dynasty Warriors Gundam and I'm sure a few other things I'm forgetting right now.  Hopefully the revival of KOEI's North American Twitter means good things, but in situations where KOEI is concerned, Hope and two quarters'll just get you fifty cents.  Still, I never expected the Vita vesion of DW8+XL to be announced for us (because KOEI would be the ones to be dicks like that) and that's happening, so who knows anymore.  It's a strange, confusing and maybe not all-together terrible world we're living in now.

yes, I know I said hope a lot, I don't care

Rune Factory's Future Looks Troubling

Yesterday was a dark, dark day for everyone, though most people don't even know it.  Neverland, the developer behind the Rune Factory series, announced that it was immediately shutting down and filing for bankruptcy, which...you know, is bad.  It's also completely unexpected because Rune Factory 4, their latest released game, did well enough to greenlight a Rune Factory 5.  It seems that they were simply struggling financially and nothing was helping it, so they're just closing up shop.  It's depressing as hell, because Rune Factory as a series, 2 aside, has pretty much been getting exponentially better with each numbered iteration and would probably continue doing so.  Though, technically, they do still have a chance to do that.

You see, it's simply Neverland, the developer, that's going out.  Marvelous AQL has owned the IP for Rune Factory since the start, I believe, and that's not going to change.  Being that they're the publisher, what it means is just that they need to find a new developer to make future Rune Factory games if that's their choice.  Considering Rune Factory 5 is almost certainly already started and it's a good series that sells well-enough for what it is, it's pretty easy to hope that they will indeed continue making it.  One can simply hope that it won't lose any of its charm with a developer change, if one is indeed going to take into majority effect.  I know, you're just yelling "STOP WITH THE LEAD-INS", but it's as much for my own benefit to assuage my own fears about the situation as anything.

The plot thickened when Yoshifumi Hashimoto, Marvelous AQL producer of the Rune Factory series made a little post on the Rune Factory blog regarding their next project, since things appear up in the air.  If you'll allow me to shamelessly steal Siliconera's translated version of the post...

“Hello, Hashimoto here.

How are you guys enjoying Rune Factory 4?

I’d like to take this occasion to make a comment about the future.

As of now, it’ll still remain a secret as to what kind of title we’ll be releasing next, but I can say that the staff members are still doing great.

I will leave it at that for now, and I thank you for your continued support.

Producer, Yoshifumi Hashimoto”

The part of that message that states "The staff members are still doing great" is what's causing a bit of the rumor mill spinning.  The people in a folding developer are generally not "okay" when the announcement goes out, much less "doing great", so there are two different interpretations of what that actually could mean.  Either he means that the Marvelous AQL staff are okay which is...superfluous to say, or he means Neverland is great as it seems to imply, which would sort of make on think that they're doing great because Marvelous has something to say about it in the matter.  People are speculating that Marvelous might be hiring some, probably not all, of Neverland's staff with the intention on making a new development studio that can continue working on the Rune Factory series.  It might seem a little too good to be true, but it does absolutely no harm to anyone to at least -hope- it's true.  At the worst, we're wrong and Rune Factory 5 will be finished out by a studio unfamiliar with the series (or Marvelous' own in-house studio, but they might be a little busy with the new Harvest Moon at the moment) and at best, we're going to get Rune Factory 5 which is still mostly a Neverland production.  Either way, it still seems like Rune Factory 5 is still a thing that is probably going to happen, and I don't think I'm deluding myself into thinking that.

Still, gotta be honest, when I first heard the news, my reaction was basically this:  (Sorry, Chance, I'm stealing it)

It's good to be optimistic, however.  To hope.  Something something, A New Hope.

I just really want Rune Factory 5 if that wasn't blatantly obvious, and Vita plz if you like, I'll buy both versions

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

The Official Playstation 4 Unboxing Video is Awesome

There's almost very little to actually say about this Unboxing video.  It gets right to it and doesn't pad time with explanations, it doesn't leave you wondering "Oh, but what about this little thing", it just shows off what's in the box with a nice, slick presentation.  A nice, slick presentation that may seem rather familiar, but good nonetheless.

Not too much longer before the front-lines of PS4 buyers will have their console in hand.  I won't be among you, but know that I salute you brave folks who are prepared to weather the craziness of a console launch.  My only launch was the Vita and it was worth it because handheld launches are...you know, lighter than consoles.  And I didn't even really get it -at- launch so much as I got it on launch day or the day after.  The point remains that I simply would not be able to manage, and that's why I'll be letting the chaos die down in the coming months before a PS4 is mine.  It will be all the sweeter from the time of anticipation...or at least that's what I'm telling myself.

anything using Daft Punk as inspiration scores some major points at base, really

Gaming By the Numbers - Rune Factory 4

As I near my natural conclusion with Rune Factory 4 (by which I mean a point where I can comfortably pick up and start Hometown Story) I started looking back on some of the stuff in the game, new stuff, returning stuff because I am honestly thinking of doing a review on it.  Or rather, I already started one, but my words just came out sort of over-the-top kissing the game's ass, so I decided to step back until I could reasonably ground myself.  One way of doing that that helps, as always, is by pushing my sleeves up and rooting around inside the mechanics of certain things.  As we all know by now, I have a fair fondness for crafting systems in games and Rune Factory 4's is by no means no exception.  In fact, for my purposes (see:  breaking the economy in the name of Capitalism) it does very well, especially with some of the improvements to the system 4 added, so I thought it best to do what I do really well.

The video above so helpfully describes the method you need to actually get to a point where you -can- craft in Rune Factory 4 and it is just as simple as the video makes it seem.  You purchase a License for whatever you're attempting to get (Cooking License, Advanced Cooking License, Chemistry, etc.) which gives you a little mini-quiz (where the point is to teach you things by making you guess) and then blam, you can buy the piece of equipment so long as you have the materials.  Then you take it home (or, honestly, wherever the hell you want) and muck about with it so you get items.  Recipes are obtained (again, as per the video) by Recipe Bread or you can just be a jerk and look up the recipes and use them instead.  (Since you can just throw things together without a recipe)  It takes a -little- extra RP depending on your skill level, but what you can and what you cannot craft are fairly easily gauged.

One of the biggest boons of Rune Factory 4's crafting system is that almost everything can be procured for free in some fashion - some items are drops, whereas others are mined objects or fish, or things of that ilk.  The only investments you generally make (beyond the crafting pieces themselves which are a small investment all-told) are the costs of seeds to grow crops for cooking recipes, or flower seeds for pharmacy recipes and those are minimal.  What this means is that profit margins are generally huge.  As in, most all of it.  To counter-balance this, a lot of lower-tier items don't have a very high retail price which means you can't craft 15 Claymores and be rolling in bank...in theory.  This is where the additions of Rune Factory 4 specifically come into play and make things a lot more tantalizing.

Quality levels of crops are nothing new to the series or even to Harvest Moon proper, but the thing is, they didn't generally affect too much beyond the price of the crop itself, and I was never sure just how much.  Since I never bothered with it since it was never a necessity really.  However, in RF4, the quality of your items really friggin' matters and it affects the price in a -huge- way.  For instance, any recipe that calls for an egg will accept any size of egg, which helps because if you take care of your Chicken monsters, they will eventually lay Medium and even Large eggs which, naturally, sell for more and more at base, not even counting the level of quality because the more affection you have with a monster, the better quality the item itself.  The size of the egg -and- the level of quality both directly have an impact on the end-price of the dish or weapon or medicine, etc. that you craft.  It's easier to just explain with an example.

Take the basic Fried Eggs recipe which is literally just an egg in the Frying Pan.  A small egg sells for 280 G at base, and the Fried Eggs dish, at base, sells for 335 G.  However, if you make it with a Level 10 large egg that sells, alone, for 960 G, well, it shoots the sell price of the dish all the way up to 1,005 G.  That's a rather large increase of what is, more or less, an item that doesn't cost you a single G unless you really pedantically add in the cost of the brush, the monster barn and fodder (which you grow multiple harvests out of a single seed -anyway-).  That's a really simple example, obviously, and the hikes only get more and more ridiculous as you go along.  Take a Cake - the recipe is Flour, Butter, Sweet Powder, Strawberry, Milk and an Egg - and just -imagine- how it works with top-of-the-line ingredients.  At base, a cake sells for 4200 G, but if you have Level 10 Butter (900 G versus 300 G), Level 6 Sweet Powder (212 G versus 170 G), Level 10 Large Milk (1000 G versus 260 G for a Small Level 1) and a Level 10 Large Egg, then it goes for 5880 G easily.

It does get even better, however.  While I did whinge a bit about the Shop System (in that it's not really a shop) the fact of the matter is that it's really damn handy.  You sell everything at above-retail price in your Shop (rather, they offer you more than retail) for some reason or another and hand-made things with high-quality ingredients go for a ridiculous mark-up.  Case in point, the 5,880 G Cake I made just got an offer of 8,518 G with absolutely no insistence or extra pushing on my part.  (You can do things to try and push the price of an item up, even, if the mark-up wasn't delicious enough.)  This is how you make your mad bank in Rune Factory 4.  The only item I paid money for in that recipe was Flour which was a paltry 320 G, and the Sweet Powder, were I to buy that (because I often do, I just made a couple to try and bump my Pharmacy up a level) would just be an extra 450 G. 

So, for a full investment of 770 G (which is the -normal- cost, since I generally buy those two items) I make 7,748 G profit and that's just one item.  That Cake costs 108 RP to make at my current level, and I have a max of 1433 RP.  That's 13 cakes for one full RP bar (technically 14 since I can make one more and take an HP hit) which means 100,724 G profit (or 108,472 G) if I wanted to go that route.  Of course, that's assuming all my Cakes sell for 8,518 on the open market and not...you know, more than that.  Even if I just sold them through my shipping bin for regular price, that'd still be 5,110 per Cake, 66,430 per 13 (or 71,540 for 14) per RP bar.  I can, of course, head to the baths and get a full RP refill for 300 G (the first time), 500 G (the second time) and so on and so on.  At no point would it definitively eat into my profits and it simply allows me to continue making madd bank so long as I have the items to make the Cakes in question.  That's not even the most cost-effective recipe, no no no.  I haven't even looked for the most cost-effective recipe yet because I don't have to.

It will not surprise you to know that I have basically run out of things to buy at this point and thus I don't really feel a need to 'grind' out crafted items for a bunch of money since I'm sitting on 150K now that I don't even need.  I mean, technically, I could build up a lot, buy material pieces (if I could find them for sale), build up more money and expand all my things over and over again (get a whole new room and another farm space, for instance) but it's unnecessary.  It's almost unfortunate.  But making a ton of fucking money, even if it's fake money in a video game, is almost always its own reward because it gives you hope that someday, somehow you get to put all this terribly nerdy logic into play in a real-world scenario and make actual mad bank.  One of these days, maybe...

of course, I would be a lot less evil in pricing and such in a real-world scenario....probably

Let's Talk About Shop-Keeping - Rune Factory 4

Back when I was in a froth of excitement for Rune Factory 4 and didn't know what to expect, I came across a list of things that was new to the series or at least this particular iteration of it.  It was all excellent stuff, but one thing stood out to me because of just how I am was the mention of the ability to run your own shop.  This is something I've been excited to do if it hasn't been obvious with my picking apart of Animal Crossing's Re-Tail system and my hopeful babbling for Hometown Story.  Because of my terrible computer, I pretty much can't play any PC game which includes the wonderful Recettear:  An Item Shop's Tale which is basically the only game I want to play as a consequence.  Hometown Story looks as if it will scratch that itch for a real, wonderful storefront simulator, plus it'll have the trappings of a Harvest Moon game that I am constantly seeking as well.

Anyway, to call what you do in Rune Factory 4 "running a shop" is....charitable.  At the very best, you're just running a Garage Sale out of a Castle which I guess lends some weight behind it for reasons, but there's absolutely no management to it.  If you'll refer to the screenshot above, do you see that little booth thing next to the overly elaborate mailbox just off-center of the top of the picture?  That is where you sell things from.  You sell things from a box in which you have placed things you specifically want to sell.  All you do is stand there while people walk up to you at a meandering pace and speak to them when they're near.  They will either say "Oh, I want to buy this for this price" which you can accept or refuse, and I have never once had someone raise their price if I refuse, say "Oh, I dunno..." which allows you to employ your business savvy of saying it's a good item or smiling vapidly (possibly other methods as the skill levels up more) to try and sway them to buy it and/or buy it at a higher price, or say "Just looking", which wastes everyone's time.

That's not to say it's bad, of course - it's not.  In fact, it's a damn fine source of money when it finally unlocks and because of that, it's only more of a reason to delve into raising your skills via crafting, forging and cooking, since you can sell everything that you make at a price that will at -least- be what you'd get for shipping it, but in most cases, more than that even.  Sometimes a lot more.  Of course, sometimes you'll only sell a 200 gold potion for 215 gold, but that's still profit (since you're almost always just gathering the materials for crafting/cooking/forging) and by using the 'Shop', you're increasing your Barter skill.  And even though you only use your Barter skill for the 'shop', it gives you stat bonuses like every other skill, so you always want to raise skills when you can always.

Much like Animal Crossing's Re-Tail, the only thing missing here is depth and that's fine.  Neither Animal Crossing nor Rune Factory 4 were built around shop-keeping and were I not completely infatuated with the concept as it was, I might suggest they veer towards superfluous territory.  Because of that, it's a given that their uses are going to be perfunctory in nature and, as stated, you can still make good use of them but it's not a 'proper' set-up.  That's ultimately what I still crave, of course, is that proper set-up and I should hope for all our sakes that Hometown Story offers that as it appears to.  I won't be done with Rune Factory 4 by next Tuesday which will make it a rather painful day (compounded by the fact that I will be purchasing Pokemon X on the same day with the express intent of playing it "sometime in a month or two") but the pain will immediately be eased by more Rune Factory 4.  Because it's quite good, if I haven't made that known enough by now.

seriously, the booth like, cuts off the top of the character's head, could they have maybe done -something- else?

Rune Factory 4 is Pretty Fantastic

It's not surprising that this game that I've been looking forward to for forever is wonderful and definitely something that I wanted and the like.  It's not surprising that I feel compelled to tell you to pick it up if the Harvest Moon bits of the game tempt you because the Rune Factory bits are better than ever.  It's not surprising that it's got its hooks into me in a way that few games do, pulling me into playing it whenever and however, constantly luring me and calling out to me, pleading with me to play while I'm doing important things like writing a blog post about how it does all these things.  What it is, however, is refreshing.  Vindicating, even.  I hoped - I knew- the game would be exactly what I wanted, and even that level of certainty does grant a little bit of relief when it turns out to be correct.  I can enjoy everything about it while also enjoying the fact that I knew I would enjoy it.

It's hard to really know where to begin, other than the beginning, which is actually easy enough to do.  Every game manages to have the protagonist have amnesia to start with and, as tired of a trope as it is, it's not shoe-horned in and it -does- manage to serve a purpose.  RF4's method is perhaps one of the more spectacular the series has seen and ends up dropping you right into the thick of things in a light-hearted way that the series seems to just ooze.  You're then prompted to introduce yourself to the cast of characters this iteration boasts who are just as crazy and fun as they've been in previous games, making it hard to pick a favorite immediately.  Of course that's not where the end of the cast is, however, as more people (including more Bachelors/Bachelorettes) start appearing as you get more and more into the game for various reasons.  The cast is filled and rounded out well, to put it mildly.

The controls have been refined to such a degree that doing just about anything is fairly easy and intuitive, making it just as enjoyable to play as it's ever been.  The "Magical L Pocket" as it's referred to in-game lets you hit the L button and bring up a menu (that thankfully stops time) to allow you to go through your Weapons, Armor, Tools and holdable Items and manage them right there without jumping into the proper Start menu.  This cuts down on the tedium of switching between the various things that you have to manage to do simple tasks.  Planting and watering seeds, for instance requires you to equip a hoe, use it, equip the seeds, plant them, equip the watering can and then water them.  Imaging doing that in a quick-swap menu (ala Animal Crossing) and it's cumbersome, but just imagine going into the Start menu proper for all that.  It wouldn't be pleasant, which makes me thankful that RF4 had that amount of forethought put into it.

Some people tend to worry that these types of games are slow-starters and that's understandable, especially after Harvest Moon:  A New Beginning.  While generally considered one of the best straight-up Harvest Moon games in a long time, it nonetheless had a first season that I've heard described from anywhere as "a really, really long tutorial" to "a slog" before it really opens up and lets you do things.  Rune Factory 4 is not like that.  It's not like that at all.  On my second day, I walked outside of town, Forte came out and was like "So hey, it's dangerous out here, want me to come along?", I went "Okay", and then we partied up and I proceeded to rail through the entire first dungeon without so much as a "woah, wait, are you sure you wanna do that".  On my second day, I cleared the entire first dungeon, boss-fight and all.  It was a good feeling.  There have been absolutely no barriers since then aside from the one I'm self-imposing because I need to stop stumbling into things until at least Summer if I don't want to beat the game's story before Fall.  And I don't.  I think.

Finally, the translation is absolutely wonderful, but that's hardly a surprise.  There's a good blend of humor spiced into things, of course, but it's not excessive nor is it cringe-worthy (as some tend to worry when 'humor' is mentioned) unless it's in a good way.  Otherwise, it's handled quite professionally and everyone has a cohesive manner of speaking that's individualized enough to give them all their own character.  Dolce talks differently than Forte who talks differently than Amber who talks differently than Nancy and so on and so forth.  Things are just as they should be, I should say, so I can't find fault at all with XSEED's handling of that portion of the game.  If anything, I have to applaud them for it, because the experience has been uniformly great on that front.  Of course, the game is uniformly great on -all- fronts, and it's engrossing as all get out.  In fact, that's mostly all of what I wanted to talk about for the game, so I'm going to get back into it now.  Because it's awesome, you see.

actually I'm going to watch this episode of Attack on Titan first, then play RF4 as the next one pre-loads because oh my god, Attack on Titan

Rune Factory 4 Get!

I finally did manage to get my mitts on Rune Factory 4 and while I'd like to say I spent all night playing it, I did not.  I did, however, spend all night doing other fun stuff, so basically it was a really good day.  Which is good!  I need really good days.  But as a side-effect of the things I was doing tonight to have a good day (Well, also because it was a -long- day) I'm tired and I can't form sentences properly for the most part.  Or at least not where it concerns the Steam Machine, since that's what I was trying to write about tonight.  So instead, I'm going to post Rune Factory 4's lovely anime intro (they kept the Japanese for the American release) and bid you all good night.

So, good night!  Regular posting resumes tomorrow unless something super bad happens or something like that.

shit, I better not have just jinxed myself I will be so maaaad

Rune Factory 4 is So Close, You Guys

Despite the Release Date for Rune Factory 4 being officially set as October 1st, it seems that that might not have made its way into GameStop's computers, meaning it's sort of up in the air as to whether or not it will actually be purchasable tomorrow.  This is a problem since if I'm going to need the sweet, sweet embrace of Rune Factory 4 ever, it's likely going to be tomorrow due to work problems that are problems I don't want to get into because ugh.  Still, even if it's not, deliveries seem to be around Wednesday so it shouldn't be -too much- of a wait one way or another, but my point is that I really really want Rune Factory 4 ASAP.  In fact, I want it so much that I read a list of improvements that it has over Rune Factory 3 and I...kind of wish that I hadn't because it is not making this wait any easier.  So allow me to share the list with you.

• Ability to select a male or female protagonist right at the beginning of the game.
• Use the Prince Points system to arrange or cancel festivals, bring in merchants and peddlers, crafting licenses, farm and castle expansions, wake up calls from certain characters, new shop services in order to attract tourists and many, many more. Reach for the top prince or princess title!
• Return of the traditional farming format in 2x2 squares. More farm land will be available through prince point orders, assuming the player has enough wood and bricks.
• Explorable RF1 style overworld outside of Selfia but waaaay larger than the first installment. Multitudes of dungeons and explorable areas.
• Up to two party members can be taken into combat. Battle AI has improved greatly.
• A lively and memorable cast with a variety of personalities, very rich with character interaction and development. No groups or cliques like the last RF games.
• Multitude and improvement in the request system, no longer tied to the plot. 
• Marriage is independent from the plot.
• Engaging plot that consists of 3 story arcs/parts.
• Variety and improvement in the crafting system.
• Players may now run their own store through the use of a Prince Points order where NPCs, candidates and villagers alike may find something that catches their fancy.
• The baths are now accessible more than once a day but the price is raised each time if the player chooses to bathe more than once in a day. A Nationalization of the Baths Prince Points order is later made accessible, making the baths free of charge.
• 30 Town Sub events, 19 Mini Sub Events, 12 Main Romance Sub Events (one per candidate), 7 Post Marriage Sub Events (5 of them being with offspring), filled with character interaction and tons of depth. 
• Newly improved lovers system, with long, depth and development filled RFF style sub events for each marriage candidate. Over 7 date locations and intimacy options during dates increase the higher LP gets. A player can have multiple lovers but after marriage, the rest go back to being friends. 
• Players can now "plant" dungeons via rare seeds. Fruit trees can now be planted through the use of special seeds. Aside bearing fruit, they can be used for lumber.
• Players can now have access to purchasing multiple articles of various necessities (bookshelves, weapons stand, farm tools stand, wells for farming, storage boxes, ect) providing they have enough wood and bricks (made from hammering stone pieces).
• Furniture feature from RF3 makes a return but this time, they can be placed anywhere in town, similarly to forges, stoves, bookshelves, ect. 
• Sharance Maze makes a return as a Prince Point order after Plot 2 is cleared.

That list is from a forumer on Penny Arcade who cites Fogu as the source, but doesn't actually link it.  Still, it doesn't seem like there's any point in faking the list or anything like that, so I'm taking it at face value if only because there are some ridiculously awesome things upon it.  Specifically the bit about marriage being independent of the plot (the one main flaw with Rune Factory 3, I feel) and the "Player can run their own store" thing which is kind of a theme with me lately, it seems.  With Hometown Story apparently releasing towards the middle of this month, I'm not going to have a shortage of Store-Building elements and games and I am very fine with that.  Still, the complete overhaul that Marriage and Dating has seen seems absolutely amazing, and it may very well inject a brand-new life into the game as a whole. 

I really don't have much else to say beyond that list has a bunch of awesome things on it and I cannot wait to have the game in my hands to see if it's actually true.  Because that will make me -so happy- and that's something I really need right about now.

really curious about this Prince/Princess Point system, though

Rune Factory 4 Has a Release Date - October 1st

Rune Factory 4, the game that literally tipped me into getting a 3DS (even if not immediately) finally has a proper release date with which I will be able to throw money at some unsuspecting GameStop clerk in return for the game and presumably a case to go along with it.  Possibly a bag as well to carry it in.  They are usually nice about bagging things.  As you might be able to tell, I am positively ecstatic for this news because I have been craving a Harvest Moon game for a while, yet it seems that whenever I pick up my 3DS, it's to play Animal Crossing instead of Harvest Moon:  A New Beginning which, unfortunately, has a bit of a slow start into what I'm told is an amazing experience that rivals even the best Harvest Moons.  So it's a bit daunting to actually try to get into, and now I wonder if I should attempt it, given that there's...you know, less than a month between now and when I will have Rune Factory 4 in my hands.

Perhaps if I had a little more than what amounts to one or two hours of free time on a nightly basis (seeing as I still see Animal Crossing as 'mandatory' despite that being terrible and awful for me) and that I chose to spend most of that time watching a Star Wars: The Force Unleashed LP, which I'm going to talk about in another post, so it's kind of 'research', (also, protip: the first video at least was flagged by youtube, but the Vita youtube app cares not for copyright violations) then maybe I would consider playing it.  In fact, I would definitely play it if I hadn't bought and downloaded Dragon Fantasy Book II this past Tuesday, which I'm going to throw my entire Saturday and Sunday into because good lord, I have wanted that game so bad.  Not to mention that I have Killzone Mercenary which I haven't even thrown in to let it patch overnight...it's just really not a good time to be working every single day because it's seriously cutting into my personal time.  Which is totally rude and inconsiderate.  Even if it is funding the rest of my gaming purchases for the rest of the year.

The awkward thing about this all is that I have absolutely no knowledge of what's actually going to be in Rune Factory 4, except a lot of love and effort from XSEED's Brittany Avery who tweeted about the game so much while she was working on it and testing it and it made the wait all that more painful.  Though it'll make the end-product amazing, I'm sure.  It'll have all the trappings of a usual Rune Factory game, assuredly - a skill system to obsessively work on, crafting of all sorts, taming monsters for your farm and relationships - but there's new stuff that I mentioned in the post where I found out about the game that I just don't know if it's even true anymore.  Or in what fashion that it's true.  So it comes down to either obsessively searching the internet for information or going full black-out until I have the game and start playing it so that I simply discover things in it for myself.  Which...really isn't even a choice.

As a result, however, I don't really have a lot to say here other than the game is coming out a couple weeks after Grand Theft Auto V which is the day I get a brand-new PS3 as well to combat the backlog of PS3 games I have and fucking damnit, it would have to be around that time, wouldn't it.  Still, I want Rune Factory 4 so bad, so I'm -going- to play it for sure...it's just going to be a little juggling act going on between that and the PS3 and the Vita and oh my God what the hell is happening?  Suddenly, games!  And it's not going to get any easier with the PS4 launch...Maybe I should just discover a way to function on zero sleep.  That....that would be the easy solution here.  I may inadvertently find out with Rune Factory 4, though.  Wouldn't put it past me.

so many trips to GameStop, so many cashiers hit with money

Upcoming Purchases: July and August 2013

If you have ever seen me type the phrase "Too many games" on this blog before and would not like to see it again (beyond that inclusion) then, by all means, skip this post.  Because in this post I'm going to complain loudly that there are in fact so many games that it borders on too many, even if there technically cannot be too much of a good thing.  Tonight I went to the effort of putting together a list of games that I know for a fact I have pre-ordered or that I have a very real intent of pre-ordering and the fact that it is 13 items long over the course of the year without including PS4 purchases or digital games is nothing short of being outright terrifying.  This is, of course, compounded by all the games I already have and haven't touched, and while it's a simple matter of just saying to myself, "It's really really hard for games to become rare anymore so I don't -have- to get things on the first day or second day" to which I then say "Shut up".  It is...not very productive.

Still, I would like to allow you a slight peak into the insanity that is simply the next two months.

Metal Gear Solid:  The Legacy Collection

July 9th, 2013

The next "Definitive" Collection of Metal Gear Solid games (likely to be preceded by the next next "Definitive" Collection if Kojima actually does find a studio to re-remake Metal Gear Solid 1) is a very, very impressive and alluring box collection if there ever was one to be had.  Every game in the proper Metal Gear Solid series up to 4 and Peace Walker (excluding Portable Ops because I guess nobody liked Portable Ops) is included in some way, shape or form.  Metal Gear and Metal Gear 2 are featured yet again on Metal Gear Solid 3 HD (I imagine), Metal Gear Solid 1 and the VR Missions may or may not come in disk(s?) form (I've seen it stated as such, but I'm wary of believing it), Metal Gear 2, 3 and Peace Walker are all their respective HD versions from the collection that is friggin' impossible to find in the wild and Metal Gear Solid 4 is the Trophy version of the game, meaning the trophy patch that was released for all prior copies is printed right on the disk requiring no update.  This is, of course, leaving out the fact that the two Digital Graphic Novels (?) created by Ashley Wood will appear in this as well, which I don't believe they -were- available in America before.  If so, then it was...very, very limited.

The eternal torment I'm faced with in regards to Metal Gear Solid is that all I want, all I have wanted since the Vita was released, was a version of Peace Walker for the handheld in which Peace Walker dreamed the PSP would be.  (Well, that and a new Ac!d game, but we're talking realistic possibilities here)  The HD Collection for PS3, I had heard, contained a digital code for the PSP version of Peace Walker so that you could do the whole Transfarring thing between the HD and Portable versions, given that it was built entirely around that, yet I over-estimated just how available the HD Collection would be.  By the time I had a space in my calendar for it and began looking, it was nowhere to be found and I've never been able to confirm whether or not I could -get- a digital code from the game.  It is all, of course, just an effort to avoid spending money on buying a game again since I bought Peace Walker on UMD and played the absolute shit out of it to degrees that I never would've envisioned.  And I want to do that again, but I don't $30 (or has it price-dropped yet?) want to do it again.  I very much doubt the Legacy Collection will help me with this venture either, unfortunately.

Regardless, it is a package that is enticing to me as I do not currently have in my possession blu-rays that contain Metal Gear Solid 2, 3 or Peace Walker on them due to my lack of ability in finding the HD Collection without online ordering, which is basically me stating that I'm lazy and I wouldn't play any of them right away anyway.  (As a point of fact, I've had the Vita Collection for....weeks and I haven't put it in aside from checking for an update during the time in which I had barely-there internet)  In a lot of ways, that's solely why I would want to pick up the Legacy Collection, though I do worry because I have not, in fact, remembered to pre-order it which makes me kind of a dumb.  I have a week and I simply don't know if I'll manage it within that timeframe (If I can still pre-order it at all), but I can give it a shot, or take a chance on it just...being in stock.  We'll see.

Shin Megami Tensei IV (Limited Edition Box Set)

July 17, 2013

The PowerUp Rewards site assures me that my copy of Shin Megami Tensei IV for the 3DS is among those that were elevated to the Limited Edition Box Set for the first shipment of the title.  I'm not sure I'm willing to allow myself to believe that I was, in fact, so lucky, but I suppose that's something I'll find out in a couple weeks.  I'm not too fussed about it, personally in the sense that I'm not really buying SMT IV out of the pure excitement for the title, but rather a bit of curiosity and the knowledge that, being an Atlus title, it will quickly become fucking impossible to find at a reasonable price, barring the times when you simply get lucky and the copy of Devil Summoner 2:  Raidou Kuzunoha vs. King Abaddon that you bought for $20 was in fact one that somebody pre-ordered and never picked up and comes with the neat little plastic enclosure and the awesome little Raiho plushie.  For $20.

I've never played a proper SMT title, which is something I'd always hoped to rectify and SMT IV is simply a means to that end.  I've not paid attention to any of the hype, any of the people who played the Japanese version or anything.  I have nothing in my head about what an SMT title is, much less SMT IV specifically, and when I purchase it, I hope I'm still of similar ignorance.  I don't know really what I expect from the game, but I know that I expect something and I don't want that to be colored by anything else.  I want it to be the easiest litmus test as possible about whether or not it's a series that I can enjoy, since I wouldn't be surprised if its continued existence is exclusive to handhelds and I do so enjoy handhelds.  Regardless, it will be a neat experiment, that's for sure.

Dynasty Warriors 8

July 16, 2013

Releasing on the same day as SMT IV and being the game that I am genuinely excited about purchasing on that day is Dynasty Warriors 8, KOEI's latest and greatest iteration of the series where Chinese Warlords, Generals, Officers and Fictional Characters murder beat up people by the thousands at a clip and I am going to love the shit out of it.  Though I do believe I have expressed as much already (after I once again whinged for paragraphs about KOEI's dickery) and largely enough, that all remains the same.  If you'll allow me a sidenote for a moment.

Sidenote:  I still find KOEI's reason of not releasing WO3 on a disk because they were simply staunchly adhering to a Sony guideline stating that no dub = no physical media is absolute horseshit.  Since I definitely just purchased Muramasa Rebirth a few days ago, it is definitely on physical media, and it definitely does not have a fucking dub.  Now, we resume.

In the days since I posted that original article, I have found more reasons to be excited about DW8 - 11 of them to be exact - and they are all new (and in on case, returning) characters.  Caring not for our silly notions of roster balance, they've added three new characters to Shu (plus one from DW7 Empires which was Digital-Only in North America, fucking KOEI), two new characters to Wei (plus the three from Xtreme Legends which had a retail release meaning I fucking bought it), two new characters to Wu, three new characters to Jin and none to the Others with the exception of bringing back Zuo Ci for the first time since DW5.  That brings the total roster up to 77 characters, 21 of them being Shu, 18 being Wei, 18 being Wu, 12 being Jin and 8 being Other.  Lop-sided much?  While there is quite some grumblings I can make about KOEI's choices of new characters this go around, that probably deserves its own post considering how verbose I can be about history.  Just know that More Characters = More Gooder and that makes me more excited to own the game.  (Yes, I know gooder isn't a word, it's a joke)

Dragon's Crown (Vita Version)

August 6th, 2013

Yes, yes, we know.  I have always been firmly in the camp of "Does the game look neat?  Yes?  Okay, Cool" without a single trudging away from that opinion even when that whole thing happened that I'm not even going to link because it doesn't deserve anymore damn coverage.  Dragon's Crown is just a sidescrolling Beat-em-Up with fantasy characters and that's all I want it to be.  That's why I put money down on it, and that's why I'm going to buy it.  It is going to be a neat game, and I don't think I have to quantify it any further than that.  As it gets closer and closer towards release, perhaps I'll have more to say about it (and hopefully neat pictures like this one to link) but for now, that's really all I feel I need to put down as my justification.  It looks neat, it's likely going to be fun considering who's behind it, and I want in on some of that action.

Rune Factory 4

August 13, 2013 (Placeholder Date)

I have been excited for Rune Factory 4 for a very, very long time.  It was one of the three titles that finally made me admit that a 3DS purchase was inevitable for me and is, quite honestly, the one title of the three that did it for me.  The proverbial straw that broke the camel's back.  Few other games could have done it - not even something the likes of Pokemon X&Y - and it's for that reason that I made sure a copy of it was reserved for me weeks before I even had a 3DS XL in my possession.  Absolutely nothing I've seen in the weeks since it was announced as a thing that was being localized has done anything to damper my excitement for the game and, in fact, has only made me that much more giddy as time went on.

It certainly helps that a Production Assistant for XSEED Games who was spear-heading the text localization talked about the game a lot on her Twitter, mentioning exactly how fun it was (note:  it was megatons of fun) and generally being a wonderful person to follow for someone who is very interested in RF4 as a whole.  (It also helps that she is a wonderful person of wonderful taste which I'm not solely stating because of her apparent excitement for Drakengard 3, but it helps) Being that the text turn-in date was fairly recent, I'm hoping that means a release date will actually be announced soon because it will technically mean that I am that much closer to owning the game.  Which I sometimes worry that I appear as if I am simply chomping a little over-eagerly at the bit for, which is subsequently ignored because I just want to play Rune Factory 4.  If the date is not August 13th, I certainly hope it's not too far removed from that.

Killer is Dead

August 27, 2013

It's a little odd to follow up Rune Factory 4 with this one as I am fanatically devoted to Rune Factory 4's release, whereas my primary reason for pre-ordering Killer is Dead is mostly like SMT IV's reason:  I want it because of who is making it and putting time into it.  Killer is Dead was developed by Grasshopper Manufacture which, as you know, have No More Heroes and the fantastic Lollipop Chainsaw under their belt already.  It's honestly that simple as well - they made Lollipop Chainsaw, so I want to throw money at them for making another good-looking action game.  I haven't looked into it too deeply because I don't need to.  I am going to get to cut things up and if Lollipop Chainsaw is any indication, I will have a lot of goddamn fun while doing so.  So there, it is that simple.  Pre-order down.

It should once again be stated that these are only the physical releases since digital-only titles tend to....not have their release date known for some reason.  We know of the big list of indie games planned for PS3/Vita that is only getting longer and longer as the days go on and we know that some of them have a tentative "Summer" release window.  Then we have this tweet from Shahid Ahmad who is at least partly (probably mostly) responsible for courting a good bit of the indies over stating "Lorenzo looked at our Vita line up for July tonight and said “we have too many games coming out”" and you cannot help but cover your wallet's ears.  My personal hope is, of course, Terraria is among those titles given that it has a Summer release date and damnit I just want to play Terraria on my Vita, but there are a lot of tantalizing options that could very well be coming in the month of July alone and they add up rather quick.  So yes, the next two months are going to be rather brutal.

I swear I will never stop harping about that goddamn Warriors Orochi 3 bullshit

So, Okay, PS4 is a Thing

At the Playstation Meeting yesterday, the Playstation 4 was announced as expected and quite a bit about the system was shown off and explained.  Not enough for most people, but, well, most people wouldn't be happy if you sat them down with a console, pointed out every part, explained it and then gave it to them for free.  So you know, internet, opinions, you know the score by now.  Still, overall there was quite a bit of information that was detailed and as such, it's taken me a little while to digest it all.  Even now, I haven't really comprised the bulk of it in my head and that stuff will likely just require a little further clarification.  I don't even really have a 'flow' for the information and will just kind of cover it as it comes since I can't really think of any grouping to put everything in with.  Pretty much everything here is just how I understand things, so it's quite possible I might be incorrect here or there.  That happens.  Every now and then.  Sometimes.

I guess the first thing, naturally, to bring up is that the whole PS3 Streamed BC thing is a thing that will happen, but not necessarily -only- with PS3 games.  The presenter said they would like to get it working with 'everything ever', meaning PS1 and PS2 as well, but it was heavily implied that the PS3 Streaming might not even be in the device right out of the gate, so maybe don't hold out hope that you'll be able to play Grand Theft Auto:  San Andreas on your PS4 the night you un-box it and such.  You probably weren't anyway, but I'm just saying.  It is probably a thing that won't happen.  Also unclear is, well, just how you're expected to -use- this streaming since they didn't really do a whole lot of elaboration on that.  So it really is just the exact same issue prior to announcing it in that we don't know -what- facets it'll cover in regards to digital purchases only, can you use it as just a basic, non-Plus member, who gets access to what and when, etc. etc.  Not too surprising, but I'm just as unenthusiastic about it now as I was.

Gaikai's streaming isn't going to be solely for use in PS4 Backwards compatibility, however, which is the real surprise here.  In a move that is not unlike the whole off-screen play that the Wii U does, Sony is actively trying to make it possible to stream PS4 games to your Vita which is really kind of neat.  My understanding is, however, it's going to use a method much like the current remote play option, meaning it'll be internet dependent which also means that you'll be able to utilize it from greater distances than the Wii U's tablet.  Of course, being internet dependent, it might be kind of laggy, and I don't quite know if it's -solely- for PS4 games, or for anything you're playing on your PS4.  As in, could you theoretically stream a PS2/3 game to your PS4 and -then- stream -that- to your Vita?  The logical brain inside of me says no, but the hopeful part of me inside says "man, that would be so cool".  It'll be a hard thing to do, and I'm not sure if it'll be completely feasible, but the prospect of being able to play inFamous:  Second Son on my Vita whilst not at home is tantalizing and one that I shan't give up without a fight.

As for the PS4 itself, it seems like a powerhorse of a machine, just as early leaks stated.  There's a spec sheet floating around out there, but the main thing to pull away from it is just this:

Main Processor
Single-chip custom processor
CPU : x86-64 AMD "Jaguar", 8 cores
GPU : 1.84 TFLOPS, AMD next-generation Radeon™ based graphics engine
Memory
GDDR5 8GB

I've made my disinclination towards technical aspects of machines well-known by this point so, much like in the past, this is all just numbers and letters to me.  Words without form or function, though I can gleam from the collective that it is fairly impressive.  The RAM especially, because it's quite high-quality RAM and there's quite a lot of it by normal standards, and by console standards, it's a ridiculous amount, basically.  The parts are all pretty much taken straight from PC development as well, meaning there's not really any Sony-branding on anything like there has been with past machines.  What that means, however, is that it's going to be a -lot- easier to develop for, since the only thing to contend with will basically be the PS4's OS and how it actually -uses- those parts.  That it is a lot more PC-Friendly than most means that perhaps some of the more out-of-reach PC exclusives might actually head to the console since it should, in theory, be a very easy port.  More games is only a good thing even if they are filthy PC-exclusives.  (I keed, I keed)

Something that a lot of people have made a big to-do about, and probably rightly so, is that they didn't really show off a box that was, in fact, the PS4.  Given that there's still about 7 months or so before this thing will actually come out, that's not horrible, and I personally wasn't bothered by it.  But at the same time, I probably gave Nintendo shit about it when they showed off just the Wii U Pad and not the console either.  Even though that was different circumstances (Wii U doesn't distinguish it enough if you just show the GamePad since Nintendo has always been accessory-heavy, etc.) Sony could have at least put a box down and said "So, hey, this is a prototype look that we're trying out, might look different when it comes out, but we're pretty happy with this so far." and it probably would have deflected a lot of needless grief away from that particular issue.  Since really, it's less about what it looks like on the outside and more about what it's comprised of on the inside and if that's set, it's fairly simple to gussy it up.

Another thing that people made an issue with is that there was no firm price announced and this one I cannot disagree with vehemently enough.  Sony had -nothing- to gain by announcing a price at this thing unless it was $300 (which isn't fucking happening, let's be honest) and even then, people would bitch.  Or Nintendo would suddenly drop the price of the Wii U $80 so people could go "Damn, $300 is expensive now" and the whole thing becomes another boon for Nintendo.  While I am drawing from the past for humor's sake, that's a very, very real possibility.  Make no mistake about it - the Wii U is struggling for now and even though it's going to hit and hit -hard- when it gets going (because it's a damn Nintendo product, what the hell people calm down about doom), Nintendo is likely in panic mode.  Well, actually, we -know- they're in panic mode.

Doing a sudden price drop would be precisely a move Nintendo would implement since it's a perfect shot.  Sony announces the price for this in February even though it's not coming out til what, October at the earliest? and that gives Nintendo all those months to make the PS4 look that much more expensive compared to their machine.  Sony can't exactly come out at E3 and go, "Hey, you know that price we gave at the Playstation Meeting?  Well, knock $100 off of it, yeah!" since that would have them crucified in the media for not having confidence, etc. etc.  Announcing a price is something you can't take back, so doing it now would just have left them open to give everyone else a shot.  Nintendo gets a lot of free positive buzz, PS4 is kneecapped right out of the gate.  This is to say nothing of Microsoft who has their own console coming out, which is poised to be announced at E3 if not before.

The games are certainly games, that is something to be sure of.  I guess.  I only watched the trailer for inFamous:  Second Son, because it's really the only game announced that I was immediately interested in.  I've never been much of a Killzone fan, unfortunately, beyond the voicework, so the announcement of another game in the series is a bit lost on me for now.  Knack sounds interesting, but I've yet to watch that.  Jonathan Blow and The Witness just makes me laugh because of how much of an anti-console blow-hard he's been and while it's good that they're courting Indie PC Developers, he's probably about the last person I'd honestly care is developing for the thing.  (Phil Fish being the absolute last.)  The rest, I don't quite know about, and I'm more awaiting the next few conventions to find some more announcements that I really care about given that the PS4 (for me) will only be a PS4 machine.

All in all, the PS4 was pretty much what we were told ahead of time that it would be, for better or worse.  Games are going to look pretty on it and that's great, the share stuff (which I didn't talk about, but it looks cool.  Video capture is a godsend) looks really neat and could be great.  But it didn't grab me, it didn't drag me in and worst of all, it didn't really excite me.  That is, admittedly, a harder task these days, but I figured if anyone or anything could do it, it would've been this.  There's still plenty of time, and there were a lot of punches pulled, clearly.  GDC might be a rather fun event this year, and E3 will definitely be a knock-down drag-out, so to speak, which will be quite entertaining to watch.  And this?  The Playstation Meeting?  Well, it wasn't really meant to be a megaton thing.  It's pretty much impossible to make the levels of excitement that people expect with announcing a new console because we work more in the tangible and the expected.  You show them pretty videos and they complain that it's not gameplay.  You show them gameplay and they complain that it's not actually running on the console.  There's absolutely no winning, so that this was what it was was astounding enough.  It's the stuff that comes now that'll be what really means to grab folks, so that's what we're going to need to strap in for.

I Tried to Celebrate The Season Today With Games

Last night, for reasons unbeknownst to my own mind, I went to myself, "Self, you know what you really need to do?  Download the Metal Gear Solid 4 patch." and so it was.  Truthfully, I'd been -wanting- to do just this since it was announced and much more when it was actually released, but I've just never gotten to it.  And while I have other games I -need- to play, I figured it was a good time to catch up, what with REVENGEANCE on the horizon and all.  So I downloaded the patch last night and, since there was other stuff to attend to, I simply turned off the PS3 when it was done.  "Tomorrow is MGS4 day", I said, fully intent on realizing that goal.  I started wondering to myself just how far into the game I was going to make it today, feeling confident in my MGS abilities to kick ass, take names and speed through.  Then I played today, only to find a rather startling revelation that shattered me to my very core.

I was terrible at MGS4.

I didn't use to be.  In fact, I would say that I use to be pretty good at Metal Gear Solid games.  Peace Walker saw me as a pretty formidable foe, I should say, as I would go through entire levels without regard to anything resembling a problem.  I was one with the CQC and the Fulton system and through it, entire armies trembled and wept at my feet before being judged worthy of my ranks.  I have fond memories of Metal Gear Solid 2 and 3 as well; most notably being the accomplishment of sneaking up on The End for his camo.  So, again, I should say that I have been a good Metal Gear Solid player in the past.  Perhaps it's just rust, perhaps it's that I simply don't like the Chapter 1 area, or perhaps I just wasn't feeling it today.  It did get to the point, unfortunately, where I was so frustrated with my lack of cohesive ability that I simply decided to move on to something else.  Perhaps I will try again tomorrow or so, restart and just get a feel for the controls, the style again, hopefully awakening my abilities.

In the meanwhile, I thought "Well, what the hell am I going to do now?", and for a moment I pondered.  Then it struck me.  "Self,"  I said, "Self, you have just the game for this occasion and you've actually been saving it for this time of year!"  Indeed, I had truly forgotten all about it and it was just happenstance that I remembered today, but I did, and I do believe that's the point that matters.

Way back in October, when the Halloween PSN Sale was in full swing, one of the heavily discounted items was Costume Quest, specifically as a full bundle.  This bundle included the original game, but it also had the only DLC pack that came out for the game, titled Grubbins on Ice.  Where Costume Quest as a basic experience was themed towards Halloween (hence its inclusion in the sale), Grubbins on Ice was billed as a more Christmas-themed romp which, having never experienced Costume Quest before I played it, let alone the expansion, seemed just fantastic to me.  I mean, I've said it before, but I -love- Christmas things in games and whenever someone is willing to include them, I'm more than happy to enjoy it.  So even with the tepid response I held towards Costume Quest, which I attributed to a sour mood, I venerated its expansion as a thing that I wouldn't partake in just yet.  A present to myself to be opened at the appropriate date, if you will.

Upon opening that present, I found that I was greeted with the equivalent of socks, possibly basic white, though I suppose they just might have been a fancy black pair.  They were socks, nonetheless, which basically means it was not what I was expecting at all, and...it wasn't very exciting, nor satisfying.  While I can't bring myself to say that Grubbins on Ice was a disappointment, as that feels akin to punching a small child with puppy dog eyes, I'm not going to say I was enthralled, nor could I even muster up a basic interest in it as I played.  Betrayed once again by expectations, I suppose, but in this case, my expectations weren't exactly unfounded, nor were they outrageous, and it's a little disheartening that my meager hopes for the title couldn't have been met.

To say that Grubbins on Ice is a Christmas-themed expansion pack to Costume Quest is to say that a taxi cab is a perfect vehicle for jumping a shark pit.  Depending on the framing of the situation, yes, you are absolutely right, but it violates the very spirit of what you're trying to say, because you know damn well it's entirely too vague to sustain itself.  Grubbins on Ice has snow.  It has a sort of kind of maybe Yeti-themed Christmas-like thing that is barely touched upon.  And it has....uhh....did I mention it has snow?  No lit trees, no wrapped presents, no sleigh, reindeer, or elves.  Nothing you commonly associate with Christmas is present in the expansion, and in fact, it simply relies on the exact same Halloween mechanics from the base game with not even a little bit of deviation.  You don costumes, none of which are Christmas-themed (the expansion adds Pirate, Yeti and Eyeball(?!) costumes) and you trick or treat while performing little quests around town.

Thee hours later, if that, I had beaten Grubbins on Ice and was no richer for the experience.  I believe I can safely say that, for all its charm, Costume Quest was only decent at best, and it squanders all the things it does well against the things it does mediocre.  It's unfortunate, and while I can't say I regret the purchase or the time spent, I can say that there was quite a lot of possibility there and it's a real shame it didn't end up better than it did.  Now that that's conquered, however, I'll have to find a new way to properly celebrate the season, as, well, I really want to.  It's been a good few days and I'm fully in the Christmas spirit with the fuzzies and all, so I want to make the most of it.  It only comes once a year, after all!  Now...what to play that has a Christmas theme...

Way of the Samurai 4 Released Today, I Can't Play It

In the rather beefy PS Store Update today, Way of the Samurai 4 joined the ranks of several other games in appearing in the digital storefront, most of which provide a rather disturbing reminder for me everytime I consider it.  Way of the Samurai 4 is just yet another game that's out there that I -want- to play, and just cannot, since they are relegated behind a wall that is much higher for myself than others, though I am assuredly not alone on this side of it.  As a digital-only title, Way of the Samurai 4 requires only three things to open up to you, the consumer, as a product to be played and experienced:  Enough money in your account to buy it, enough space on your hard drive to store it, and the internet connection that is fast, reliable and unrestricted enough to allow you to download it.  That third bit right there is something that we, as a whole, seem to be wholly disregarding as an idea, though it's a very, very real reality that is simply unreachable for many people like us who enjoy sharing this hobby that we do.

I've lamented it several times before, and will likely continue to do so - My internet connection is entirely too slow for me to even -consider- going digital for more than the odd title here and there, much less going full-digital as 'everyone' assumes is the future.  I might seem as if I'm in the minority in this, but I suspect that is the exact opposite of the case as a standard (since it's not only gaming that assumes everybody has internet to freely do this and that and devil may care on the size) and it's unfortunate since it's only going to get worse from here on out, I'm sure.  And even for those not in my situation, there's the chance for another one entirely, when they have the speed, just not the ability thanks to internet caps designed to hamstring people attempting to enjoy the internet unfettered because infrastructure was never considered properly and it's too difficult to change now.  So while 'internet' as itself is not a finite resource, that which enables it certainly is, which is where these absurd charges, theories and caps come from.

Let's just take today's Playstation Store Update for an example.  It was a very beefy update, as I said, and I could see the same person wanting to get a lot of the items offered.  So let's say they decide to download Metal Gear Solid 3:  Snake Eater HD, Way of the Samurai 4, Metal Gear Solid 3:  Snake Eater HD for Vita, and Gungrave Overdose.  This is being conservative.  All together, the file size for all that is in the neighborhood of 19.5 GB alone.  This is just for PS3 and Vita gaming.  If you are a PC gamer, then boy-oh-boy, are you looking at a large internet usage every month just from obtaining things that you are purchasing.  Imagine, if you will, that you are in one of these awful places where the cap is very low per-month where they give you only so much and no more, charge you ridiculously if you go over, cut the speed when you pass the arbitrary number or do some combination of the three.  Now not only are you unable to get something that you've paid for already, but you might be screwed out of using the internet as a whole for a period of time, or it'll cost you a ridiculous amount.  How does this make sense at any level?

Now, I -get- that the -option- is nice for people who can make effective use of it.  I encourage a digital future so long as it is a companion to physical since it is not as widespread an option as people think, nor will it be in the foreseeable future.  And I get that there are some companies who endeavor to make smaller games that only have a chance of success at digital retail.  The counter-balance to that is that these companies keep their games, as you might think, -small- so as to not need the 5-15 Gigs of space some of these games seem to think they need.  (Seriously, why is Michael Jackson:  The Experience 15 gigs?)  There are things in place to make the digital space as user-friendly as possible, and there is a giant difference involved then between a full retail game going digital and a game being built from the ground-up as digital.  The former becoming the only option is just horrid for everyone involved since it honestly just completely loses sales from people like me who want to buy your game and just can't.

And that's what the case here is.  I want Way of the Samurai 4 for reasons that are well beyond me.  It's not a serious game, nor is it likely a technically amazing one, but it offers a specific scratch for a specific itch, and I want to procure it for said itch.  But like Warriors Orochi 3 before it (and basically every fucking KOEI game to come unless I buy a 360 and they actually release it for that) that's simply not an option unless I go above and beyond my own means instead of doing what I should be able to just do with any other game.  But thanks to this wall that has been established by things well and truly out of our hands for silly reasons, it's just not an option.  With niche games like this and KOEI-fare, you really cannot afford to cut out -any- of your customers, though that's exactly what they're doing.  It's simply worrying because if we can't buy their games, we who normally would, that means they're getting even less than normal and are thus less inclined to continue.  And that's.....well, that's just a real shame.