Original video located here. Accessed 22nd May 2019
Anyone else getting a Game of Thrones vibe out of this?
It must be the cello.
Wednesday, May 22, 2019
Or else!
The intro for Elsweyr:
Anyone else getting a Game of Thrones vibe out of this?
It must be the cello.
Anyone else getting a Game of Thrones vibe out of this?
It must be the cello.
Wednesday, May 8, 2019
Secret of the Silver Blades
And for the first time this year i have the satisfaction of casting a game from my Hall of Shame: Goodbye Lunar: the Silver Star!
When I was a kid I wanted a Mega CD. I didn't know of it's failings at the time (and had I known, I would've thought twice about having one) but it was the idea that appealed to me. Having this big thing to plonk in front of my lounge room TV that had all this power behind it.
However in the decades since, I have come to regard the Mega CD as an anomaly. On one hand history has written it off as a failure being too expensive, too unwieldy, plagued with shoddy FMV games and being a major misstep that signaled the beginning of the end of Sega. But on the other hand, it was something of a pioneer for CD-based consoles and, as it's defenders maintain, there are decent games if one is prepared to look. After all, there is a reason why said games go for hundreds of dollars on eBay.
And in my research, the Lunar games tend to appear at the top of the heap.
It is interesting to view this game twenty six years on and without any nostalgia goggles. The first thing that strikes me is that this game does indeed have some perosnality behind it. The art direction is impressive and the use of anime-esque cutscenes are equally superb. The famous translation from Working Designs works a treat and, even if it is well-removed from the original script, has some genuinely laugh-out loud moments. The music is also great - unsurprisingly for a Mega CD game - with the first Overworld theme and the final dungeon themes being particular favorites.
It's just as well that this game does have that personality because I found this game to be quite short. I'm used to playing long RPGs, both on the console and the computer, so Lunar, by comparison comes across as being a rather short game. Which then brings me to the next problem this game has: the encounter rate is ridiculous. Often i would be fighting one battle immediately after another. Oh sure a high encounter rate would be handy to build up money and XP, but eventually, my party so so powerful that the random battles became flat out annoying. Also problematic was the economy in this game: The best weapons are monstrously expensive and it takes a lot of grinding to get anywhere near the money required of them. Matters aren't helped with the money drop rate being low and the selling of previous powerful weapons yielding diminishing returns.
It is likely that the high encounter rate and the economy were both to compensate for a short game but who can tell for sure.
Still, I did find a lot to like about this game - after all, if it got revamped for the PS1, Saturn and GBA among others then it must've done something right. And, for a game on a system with a notorious reputation of housing some stinkers, this is indeed a diamond in the rough.
Now about the sequel.....
Original image located here. Accessed 17th May 2019
When I was a kid I wanted a Mega CD. I didn't know of it's failings at the time (and had I known, I would've thought twice about having one) but it was the idea that appealed to me. Having this big thing to plonk in front of my lounge room TV that had all this power behind it.
However in the decades since, I have come to regard the Mega CD as an anomaly. On one hand history has written it off as a failure being too expensive, too unwieldy, plagued with shoddy FMV games and being a major misstep that signaled the beginning of the end of Sega. But on the other hand, it was something of a pioneer for CD-based consoles and, as it's defenders maintain, there are decent games if one is prepared to look. After all, there is a reason why said games go for hundreds of dollars on eBay.
And in my research, the Lunar games tend to appear at the top of the heap.
It is interesting to view this game twenty six years on and without any nostalgia goggles. The first thing that strikes me is that this game does indeed have some perosnality behind it. The art direction is impressive and the use of anime-esque cutscenes are equally superb. The famous translation from Working Designs works a treat and, even if it is well-removed from the original script, has some genuinely laugh-out loud moments. The music is also great - unsurprisingly for a Mega CD game - with the first Overworld theme and the final dungeon themes being particular favorites.
It's just as well that this game does have that personality because I found this game to be quite short. I'm used to playing long RPGs, both on the console and the computer, so Lunar, by comparison comes across as being a rather short game. Which then brings me to the next problem this game has: the encounter rate is ridiculous. Often i would be fighting one battle immediately after another. Oh sure a high encounter rate would be handy to build up money and XP, but eventually, my party so so powerful that the random battles became flat out annoying. Also problematic was the economy in this game: The best weapons are monstrously expensive and it takes a lot of grinding to get anywhere near the money required of them. Matters aren't helped with the money drop rate being low and the selling of previous powerful weapons yielding diminishing returns.
It is likely that the high encounter rate and the economy were both to compensate for a short game but who can tell for sure.
Still, I did find a lot to like about this game - after all, if it got revamped for the PS1, Saturn and GBA among others then it must've done something right. And, for a game on a system with a notorious reputation of housing some stinkers, this is indeed a diamond in the rough.
Now about the sequel.....
Friday, April 26, 2019
The journey of a thousand miles...
Nearly there...
Interestingly enough, this is may not be the most time I have spent on a game (I swear i have spent longer on other games) but it is the only evidence that i have spent (nearly) a thousand hours on a game. Amazingly still, this may not be an accurate representation of the time I have spent on ESO: It only tallies the number of time spent running it off of Steam - thus when considering the time spent playing ESO before attaching it to my Steam account, the number of hours would be much larger.
A scary thought indeed....
Interestingly enough, this is may not be the most time I have spent on a game (I swear i have spent longer on other games) but it is the only evidence that i have spent (nearly) a thousand hours on a game. Amazingly still, this may not be an accurate representation of the time I have spent on ESO: It only tallies the number of time spent running it off of Steam - thus when considering the time spent playing ESO before attaching it to my Steam account, the number of hours would be much larger.
A scary thought indeed....
Monday, April 22, 2019
A slice of Raspberry Pie
A recent acquisition:
Well considering my interest in retro-gaming of course I would have a Raspberry Pi.
Well considering my interest in retro-gaming of course I would have a Raspberry Pi.
Monday, April 8, 2019
Doomed to stay in line
So this came to my attention recently. A mod for Doom that reduces to the game to linear state.
Original video located here. Accessed 8th April 2019
Clearly this is joke mod and I have to admit: there is some amusement value in seeing those mazes reduced to singe never-ending corridor.
Of course now I'm imagining the Doom marine being confronted with this stupidly long corridor that he eventually gives up in disgust
Friday, April 5, 2019
From Genesis to Revelation
So The Megadrive Mini is now ready for pre-order. Which is a surprise to me as I'd thought it had already been released.
Perhaps my indifference is due to dreading seeing the same collection of games in yet another iteration of Genesis/Megadrive nostalgia. But so far, things look promising with Shining Force 1 and Castlevania Bloodlines but of course, this is only the beginning....
Perhaps my indifference is due to dreading seeing the same collection of games in yet another iteration of Genesis/Megadrive nostalgia. But so far, things look promising with Shining Force 1 and Castlevania Bloodlines but of course, this is only the beginning....
Friday, March 29, 2019
The Blizzard cometh
I don't believe it. GoG have cut a deal with Blizzard. Thus we have not only Diablo but both Warcraft 1 and 2 now available on GoG.
Blizzard have certainly built up an impressive body of work over the years but their use of it has been frustrating. On one hand they officially release Lost Vikings and Black-throne onto Battle.net but on the other hand, whatever goodwill they may have built up is inexplicably ditched.
Personally, I don't know what kind of deal GoG brokered but it's one I'm grateful for.
So does this mean that more Blizzard titles may be available in future?
Blizzard have certainly built up an impressive body of work over the years but their use of it has been frustrating. On one hand they officially release Lost Vikings and Black-throne onto Battle.net but on the other hand, whatever goodwill they may have built up is inexplicably ditched.
Personally, I don't know what kind of deal GoG brokered but it's one I'm grateful for.
So does this mean that more Blizzard titles may be available in future?
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