The first free MMO I played was called FlyFF or Fly For Fun. This game was a cute cartoon world that, about five minutes into the download, you could tell was Korean. This game had a lot of possibility; true you could only be a boy or a girl of one race, but you had four classes that had two prestige classes each, as well as a fast way to travel the world at level twenty: broomstick.

Izraq was the first to show me this MMO, mainly boasting how good it was solely because it was free. I personally believe that you get what you pay for in most things, sometimes you get more, sometimes you get less, and getting a game for free had me thinking “this might be a virus that will destroy my computer.” Well, aside from minor rage therapy on my keyboard from the grind-a-thon, my computer handles the game fine. The system requirements on this game are low which this makes it great for anyone to use.

Systems Requirements

As I started to play, I realized something this game was grind-tastic. Now, I know I am talking about an MMO, and they all are grind-tastic. MMOs that I have played make you run around an area with twenty monsters that you need to kill, who are all equipped with very low re-spawn times. FlyFF breaks the cycle by sending you to a small area with about fifty of the creatures you need to kill. One side-note is that, other than the fact that slaying  quests are not that frequent, most of the quests require you to pickup quest items. Unfortunately, the way they hook people into the grind is to have very low drop rates .

Like most free MMOs, FlyFF has its own pay shop. This is filled with anything from outfits to transgender transformations. The most notable of the shop items are ones that level up your party; this allows for better loot for a period of time. Others include pets that will pick up items for you, event tickets, EXP boost, and cool boards to fly on, for fun.

I look back into the time I have spent on FlyFF, and I can say that it was an okay MMO. It didn’t give me the immersion that some games give me, but it is definitely a well-made time sink. As MMOs go, I am giving this (first actual rating) a B; it presents itself well, almost any computer can use it, and you can get lost in the daily grind. So if you have some time to kill i would try FlyFF i mean it is free.

You can find more information about the game at:

http://flyff.gpotato.com/community/

or the Wiki

http://flyff-wiki.gpotato.com/index.php/Main_Page

Windows, Linux-32 and 64, and Mac

When you hear the song Still Alive, I bet you probably think about the game Portal that was one of the biggest cult phenomenon games I have noticed within the past 5 years with the exception of Katamari Damacy.  My girlfriend along with all of my friends once you mention Portal go crazy and are like wow that game was amazing!  The unsung heroes of the series I include are the flash version and the fan made mods.  X-Box live had the still alive that had additional mind challenging maps that furthered the series further and further.  ASCIIpOrtal was released by Cymon 2 days ago after weeks of testing and playing around.

How it began

In 2008, there was a de-make competition where many indie game developers were asked to remake their favorite current game and make it as it would look back in the 8-bit era.  The winner was Gang Garrison, which was a de-make of Team Fortress 2 and ,The Orange Box favorite Portal de-make, Portile.  Cymon saw this game and just having got Portal, he decided to play around with some ideas of his to de-make the game in ASCII style.  He got the idea from an older computer game in ASCII style Donkey Kong.

Popularity Growth

Cymon released some videos of what he had of an ASCII Chel shooting portals and going through them as well as the fan favorite companion cube.  The second video of his involved going through the portal with dynamic screen shifting for cool effects as well as being able to see through the portal just like in its big brother.  He also added filters to distinguish between the two portal colors, blue and yellow.  Along the process he showed off the obstacles he had going as well as a companion cube and boulder dispenser.  He asked for beta testers and level designers on the forum in between the 2nd and last video he made.

Gameplay

I am big on the Indie game scene and am sort of biased but, always play these games with an open mind.  I start up the game on my laptop running Linux 32-bit and am amazed by the nice looking title screen.  I looked at the controls and am surprised to see no jump key but later finding out it really isn’t needed.  You have the option of pressing the space bar to alternate between the two portals or using the specific key for that color portal.  He did the game well for all those that are worrying that the original game wasn’t preserved or respected.  It plays like a more puzzle-focused version of the valve game.  He kept the fling just like the original as well as GLADOS taunting and helping you through out the test chambers.  In the first few levels, there is no use for your portal gun as it is just letting you get used to the change from 3-D to 2-D ASCII style.  It teaches you how to use the switches and, how to solve puzzles with the cubes that are all denoted by a heart symbol inside them representing the companion cube.  Then on the 4th level, you learn how to use the portals and how to fling just like in the more advanced version.  The only difference I can really see that makes major notice would be the inability to jump and carry objects.  The game is very difficult so I would not recommend it to those who are easily turned away by challenging puzzles.

Graphics

The least important aspect of the game but people wonder about this for some reason.  The graphics are ASCII so everything looks like a text editor.  It takes a lot of imagination to accept that a blue circle as a blue portal.  Your character isn’t animated when moving like a general ASCII game so no surprises.  It is easy to see what is supposed to be what so no confusions on what can a portal can be put on and what cannot.  As I mentioned before there is no jumping, so how you move to one level above you is done automatically and otherwise well, think with portals.  I would say take the graphics with some imagination and you will be fine.

Final Judgment

This game is done with the best of intents and preserves the Valve culture bomb of the gaming world.  The puzzles make you think with portals so it does its job.  This game is amazingly multi-platform which is very nice.  If you are turned off by ancient graphics and artistic de-makes of popular games stay away because I don’t want angry comments about how it looks like vomit.  Cymon, you made a very good game and I am very happy with the outcome.  I hope you enjoy this game and spend some good time with it.  Now you are thinking with portals!

One of the few products I suggest is the simple cable lock. They work on everything ranging from laptops to towers and monitors. The fact that I am typing on my laptop is proof it the cable locks work. I was on the south-side of Indy and some low life tried to steal my laptop. I had gone to the bathroom for a minute. According to a witness, the guy came up to my stuff within seconds of me entering the bathroom. Picked up my laptop and started to move away with it. He no more than turned around and noticed that a chair was attached to the laptop. The would be thief was described as disgusted when set down that laptop. Then he scuttled off. Why did he not take my laptop? Well people that try and walk out of a Panera Bread with a chair are noticed and a chair is hard to fit in the trunk. Why was he disgusted? It was hard and stealing is a crime of opportunity not intelligence. A few weeks after the attempt on my laptop one was stolen. A woman had a netbook stolen when she got a coffee refill.

What makes a cable lock? First, how does it attach? If it is flimsy or lose the thief will just pry it off. Second what kind of lock is it? Is it integrated, combination, and/ or key? Integration is king. If you can separate the locking mechanism and the lock they will be, though that conversation is an article unto its self. When it comes to combo or key, there is no advantage either way. I have so many combos and passwords to remember I avoid them where I can, yet that is a preference. One holds no advantage over the other. The third and greatest thing is using it. The lady that had here laptop stolen had a cable lock with but did not use it.

In short, crimes are often crimes of opportunities. Why give the opportunities?

Let me start off with saying that, in early 2000, I was a huge Toonami fan, from Gundam Wing to Tenchi. But in the mess of super saiyans and giant robots, I had found a robot anime that was more my style: Zoids New Century Zero.

This anime followed a team of Zoid pilots as they fought up the ranks of a Zoid battle arena. The show was filled with just the right amount of fluff and fighting without getting too much into its own story. It was just harmless fun, like an animal version of Armor Core. I had high hopes for this game.

Getting into this game was, well, slow as molasses in winter. It takes about fifteen minutes of backstory just to get the tutorial, and then you have almost no tutorial before you are thrown into the fight. Then things take a turns for the better, because the battle system is very much like Front Mission. The graphics are okay; they resemble the chaotic century with the Zoid looks, but the slight green tint of the battle field will leave your eyes a little off-kilter. When you actually get into the battle, you realize that it is the same set up time after time, and you just have the same group of Zoids over and over again with little to no customization.

As time has gone by, there have been few Zoids games released to America and Europe. This one was found at the bottom of a sale bin and with the speed I turned it into Gamestop, it might as well been left there until the end of time. I am not one to give out scores to games but for this smoking pile I will: it gets a 3 out of 10 for effort. If you are thinking of picking this game up, I would warn against it.

Gaiman has penned everything from comics to screenplays, children’s books and full-length novels. American Gods is not the least of these.

I first picked up American Gods my senior year of high school. A three-year-long obsession with Terry Pratchett had led me to Good Omens, a novel that he and Gaiman collaborated on. I needed a break from Pratchett, since that was pretty much all I had been reading for three years straight, and I decided to peruse the novels on the opposite shelf from the Discworld author’s display; at that time, there were sitting there three novels: Neverwhere, Anansi Boys, and American Gods; I picked up the last.

The novel follows the story of Shadow, a man who has just been released from prison a few days before his sentence is up; his wife has just been killed in a car accident in his hometown in Indiana. He returns home and gets caught up in the schemes of Mr. Wednesday, a man who knows more about him than is possible, and contracts him to be his bodyguard.

That’s just the superficial plot, though; the novel exists on the premise that the Old Gods, the deities and beings of Old World religions and superstitions, are warring with the New Gods, the deities created by the priorities and the obsessions of the modern world. Shadow gets caught up in this war, and becomes a key player in it, while also being followed by his dead wife, who has been mysteriously reanimated and spends her time being mysterious and saving Shadow’s life out of nowhere.

The novel also features vignettes that illustrate the Old World, the way things used to be, both in other countries and in the initial immigrations to America.

To be completely honest, this is my favorite book of all time. Gaiman is a master craftsman, and he proves it here; the style, the language, and the voice are distinctly different from anything else that he has written; the reader can’t help but lap it up. Perhaps the only things that I could complain about is that his imagery is so vivid that gruesome moments put a distinctly unpleasant taste in your mouth.

I could go point-by-point on everything that Gaiman does right in this, but I won’t, because I really don’t want to take up that sort of space. However, here are some things to consider if there are things that you don’t like in your literature.

1. Profanity. This is in no way a “clean-mouthed” novel; the characters are ex-cons, dead people, and Old and New World gods who have been through the wringer. If you don’t want to deal with the f-bomb, don’t read this.

2. Sexual Content. Let’s be honest, the world is pretty sexually charged, especially ancient mythology. One of the first scenes is an extremely explicit scene between a businessman and a hooker he’s hired – who happens to be an old Egyptian goddess. This alone is enough to say: don’t let your kids read this thing until they’re at least seventeen.

3. Multi-Religious Viewpoints. If you’re one of those people who can’t take the fact that other religions are hailed alongside Christianity in this novel, don’t read it. It will probably offend you.

Aside from those things, American Gods is a stellar example of excellent writing, and I can only hope that they will line this up as the next Gaiman film; Stardust and Coraline were fantastic, don’t get me wrong, but I’m ready for something serious and complex, and if you’re going to do that, you need to do American Gods. At some points you’re pretty sure the man was on some sort of illegal substance while he wrote this thing (actually, he wrote a good portion of it on a plane, I hear, so that may explain a few things). There are parts that are just plain weird, parts that make you feel uncomfortable, parts that you don’t have any idea what’s going on and you’re not sure you want to. The fact of the matter is, though, that it is impossible to put down. Shadow is reticent, but the reader is inexplicably drawn to him. Mr. Wednesday is a raunchy old fart who’s about as trustworthy as a kleptomaniac with a sweet-tooth in a candy store, but the reader is drawn to him, too, although he may not particularly care for him.

This novel requires a pretty high ability of reading comprehension; if you need to work up to it, I would start with Good Omens, then move on to Neverwhere or Anansi Boys, and then on to American Gods.

Now I’m off to sacrifice some small woodland creatures to Mr. Gaiman. Ta!

External Link

• Official Neil Gaiman Website
• Wikipedia Page
• Etc.

Next Week: Forget English-speaking authors for the time being, I feel like talking about Haruki Murakami. Next Saturday is also my birthday, though, so we’ll see whether or not I get that article up between now and then.

You are a “Runner” named Faith, who lives in an unnamed city that is under complete totalitarian government control, including invasive surveillance. Your sister, Kate has been framed for killing a man named Robert Pope, a man who was running for Mayor in order to try and bring change. While trying to prove her innocence, you find out that the plot goes even deeper than a simple set up.First off it is being sold as a “First Person Action-Adventure game” which is a change-up for a lot of gamers in that it is set as a first person shooter, but the point of the game focuses more on stealth, acrobatics and fleeing from enemies rather than how many guns you can carry. There is a combat system in the game which was refreshingly simple: You can jump, slide, kick and disarm.

Given these four options for kicking the crap out of your enemies allows for some freedoms: I personally enjoyed sliding up to an enemy and kicking them in the crotch before slapping them silly and stealing their weapons. The actual act of disarming an enemy takes a little getting used to as you have to remember to stay calm or else get killed. You can only steal a weapon from an enemy once it turns RED. If you try too soon or too late then you will most likely get pistol-whipped and shot at point blank range.

On that note, let’s discuss the challenges: The game starts off simple enough, with a short training run where you learn how to run, jump, slide, wall-run and all the skills you need to know throughout the game. I personally enjoyed the fact that the game tells you 99% of what you need to know at the very start of the game. The only additional thing you will learn is for certain weapons, but other than that, you know everything you need after completion of the training.

The look of the game is absolutely beautiful, though it is very clean and simple. You will spend most of your time on the tops of buildings, running, jumping, sliding and shimmying your way from one obstacle to the next. If you are playing for the first time, I would definitely recommend playing with the “Runner’s vision” turned on, which turns certain objects red and will guide you through the game while still giving you some freedom. Yes there is a path you HAVE to take to progress through the game, but it isn’t like running through a hall. You can choose how you get from Point A to point B.

Though the scenery is simple, it is very immersive and actually made me feel vertigo because of the heights of the buildings. There is no HUD, which is unusual for many gamers (but may be growing in popularity because of this game and Portal). This causes problems because you never really know how much more damage you can take. The lack of the HUD didn’t impede the game-play at all, but rather made it more realistic. For instance, when battling an enemy you never know how many times they can shoot you in the face, or how much damage you can take from a fall. This should help you choose more carefully the path you are going to take.

Overall I thought that Mirror’s Edge was a very strong game, and the only the only thing I disliked was the length, which is noticeably shorter than other current-generation games. This can be a very frustrating game at points, so hopefully you are patient and able to play the same level over many times. The reason I say this is you will by dying. A LOT.

This is a game that should definitely be picked up if you own a Playstation 3, Xbox 360 or PC. If not bought, please rent as this is a must-play.

I give Mirror’s Edge 4 bone-crushing freefalls out of 5.

—

SPOILER ALERT: As of this writing, there is a squeal in the works, as the ending of Mirror’s Edge wraps up the story but does leave the door open for a follow-up storyline.

Reviewer Tip:

One thing I will mention is that YES YOU CAN pick up a fallen enemy’s weapon, even if you didn’t take it from them before you killed them. You don’t pick it up automatically by standing over it, and unless I missed it, the game never tells you how to pick a weapon up off the ground until far later in the game. This is probably purposely done to keep up the challenge level in the game and not give you a shortcut by simply blowing away all the enemies with well-placed shots… but I digress. Press “triangle” while standing over a weapon on the ground to pick it up and have at it. I personally tried to stay away from using weapons unless necessary. There is a trophy that is unlocked called “Test Of Faith” which is earned by not shooting a single enemy.

With this in mind I started to watch YuGiOh season zero, the first YuGiOh series that was never aired in America. This series has a much darker theme to it compared to any other YuGiOh. I must say I find a slight glee in seeing Yugi dropping people off the top of buildings, this version if YuGiOh shows the true face of the manga, and that is not one of dual monsters.
At the end of season one Yugi is referred to as the king of games in all the later series but he only plays one game. This series he has everything from dual monsters to digipets, and if you like the original series you should like season zero. You can find it and more on animecrazy.net.

The Curious Village is the first game in the series, which puts you into the shoes of Professor Layton and his assistant, Luke. You are invited to the village of St. Mystere to locate the “golden apple”, because a baron said that the person who solves the mystery of the golden apple is granted his inheritance.

The village of St. Mystere is separated into several areas that are easily accessible, provided you have solved the right number of puzzles to access the area.

The game play is easy pick-up-and-go, with the only obstacle being your own intellect. The brain-teasers, logic puzzles, and sliding puzzles will make the hamster in you head run at full speed, but after solving a few it will give you will gain a satisfying sense of accomplishment. As casual games go, Professor Layton and the Curious Village is the cream of the crop. It has the perfect bait to get you started and have you addicted for hours.

Hell, scratch that. I’m not even a very good writer.

When I was approached with the opportunity to write for this blog, my inital reaction was, why me? I don’t have any qualifications. The last thing I remember actually writing was a term paper my senior year in high school. That is about the extent of my knowledge. What could I possibly have to offer?

Yet, here I am. The day to day monotony of my life is catching up to me, and I feel that I need to take a chance on putting myself out there, whether or not I can actually provide any sort of actual function to anybody. If they ask me if I want to write, casually, for them, then I suppose I have humbly accepted.

Now, what to write about?

…

Damn. Did I just jump into the ocean without knowing how to swim?

I’m pretty much a guy who likes his entertainment. Videogames (and yes, I spell it all as one word), movies, television, Japanese animation, regular and graphic novels, stand-up comedy… I suppose there is a plethora to write about. However, I am a fan, and nothing more. I do nothing but observe. I barely have a working knowledge, not to mention an apathetic research motivation.

Is that alright though? Is the perspective of the, at least within my own culture, “Average Joe” a viable one?

Heh. Here I go again. Did I not just state my resolve?

As an opening, I will do a review. As time goes on, I suppose I can dabble into game philosophy or, you know, whatever I seem to want to rant about that pertains to my interests. If you are still with me thus far, I hope that my musing can be of some use to you, if even for you to just laugh at.

So then, without further ado, I present my first post.

“I Haven’t Yet Beat the Damn Game” Persona PSP Micro-Review

Please bear in mind that, while I am now technically writing for this start up blog, I am in now way able to secure “review copies” of games. This will count for any other form of media as well. This means that I will be getting my games at the same time as everybody else, which are usually released on a Tuesday, and will most likely not be able to play the full game for a proper review, or even one that is remotely timely.

That said, I have recently had the chance to pick up and play Atlus’  re-introduction of their first Persona title.  Having been a fan of the Shin Megami Tensei series  since I played the third game, Nocturne, I have gone on to play and enjoy the third Persona game, it’s expansion FES (or, at least, a little bit of it), and the penultimate Persona 4, which took the formula 3 set down and polished it to quite a sheen.

Atlus has, as far as the games that they have developed themselves, yet failed to disappoint me. Their gameplay systems are robust, their models and animation are quality, and their stories, while still pretty much cliche and predictable, at least offer some food for thought. To say the least, I was excited to get to go back and play an early Atlus game. A chance to see where some of my favorite themes got their roots.

I was at least somewhat pleased.

After the horror that was their first localization of Persona (one that you can read about on the Wikipedia page), Atlus has gone back and cleaned up their mess. The setting has returned to Japan, the character’s portraits and their names have remained untouched, and things that were removed from the original release have been put back in. Add in a remix of the soundtrack and new cutscenes and you have a recipe for one corrected mistake.  Not that they had any obligation to. That is just how awesome Atlus is.

The story, as far as I have gotten, revolves around modern Japanese high school students (when aren’t they?) and the jeopardy that their city has fallen into. They discover that they can use a mysterious power known as Persona, and thus have resolved that they are the only ones who can restore order.

The “world map” is actually the city and it’s various landmarks and hotspots, such as the school, the police station, convenience stores, a shopping mall, a hospital, and various doctor’s offices, among other things. The player roams about this map with a blue icon. Having never played the original, this is reminiscent to me of SMT 3: Nocturne.

Dungeons, for lack of a better term, are viewed and traversed in the first person. After everything goes catastrophic, buildings will get more maze like in structure, with random dead-ends, but until then, they will at least have a plausible structure to them. Rooms, however, and this was a leap for this series in the past are viewed from a fixed, third person camera angle, and is where NPC’s will be around to interact with, as well as boxes and lockers that act as treasure chests may be available. It is in these rooms that you will also be able to see the avatars of the Hero and his party.

Battles unfold in a turn-based grid format. Some may find it familiar with battle system in Enchanted Arms (an Xbox 360 JRPG title by From Software). Party members are placed on their own side of the grid while the enemy occupies the other. Attacks hit certain squares, and only enemies in those targeted squares can be attacked. Each character has his or her own various attacks with weapons, guns, and Persona powers. I have only experienced up to five party members at a time on my side, and no characters can stand right next to each other. They all must be at least one square apart (which irks me to no end).

Each character can have up to three Persona, and more are created through the Fusion System, by collecting cards from the demons you fight (usually through negotiations, yet another SMT staple). While I have visited the Velvet Room (and basked in the awesome theme music), I have yet to actually obtain any cards to use. I cannot say for certain if the system in anyway resembles what the recent Persona games have offered in terms of fusion. This will allow the player to obtain more powerful Persona to defeat the game’s rather difficult enemies.

The game is, expectantly, chock full of content and complexity. For instance, Persona not only fall into a certain Order (with names taken from Tarot Cards), they each have their own type, of four. Those four are then broken down into four sub-types. It can get real confusing, really quickly if one is not careful.

I can say for certain that I am enjoying the game and story so far. Everything from the cinamatics to the music, and while the game is definitely re-polished from it’s previous iteration, it does have a really big pitfall. The game shows its age, from dated character portraits, to the models and animation. For all Atlus put into the re-localization, a little attention to prettying up the visual aspects could have gone a long way toward my enjoyment of the title Those are barely smudges, however, and battle animations can be skipped over if desired.

I base a lot of my enjoyment of this game on the potential the story holds for twists, and discovering the origins for a lot of themes and references that the recent Persona games hold. I at least will remain steadfast in my resolve to keep with the game. If you are a fan of the Persona series, or even SMT in general, going back over the roots probably wouldn’t be a bad idea. You might even enjoy it a little.

Now, I just have to hold my breath for a re-localization of Persona 2.

Next week? Hmm… I believe I am seeing Zombieland at a midnight showing with a friend. Is that something the readership would look forward to?

Until next time. ^o^

-IcepickEvans