mikeszekely

I loved Soul Calibur II (I bought and played through both the GC and Xbox versions), but I couldn't get into Soul Calibur 3. It just felt like a step backward (to be fair, maybe it wasn't from the PS2 version of SC II). So I can't say I spent much time with the character creator. Apparently, Yoda is going to be 360 exclusive, and Vader will be PS3 exclusive. Usually I buy multiplatform games on the 360 because even when the PS3 version is identical, the 360 version has the Achievements I've grown to love. But as cool I I'm thinking it would be to play as Vader, I can't muster that level of interest for Yoda, so I guess I'm going with the PS3 for this one.

I don't necessarily mean that games like Xenogears or Final Fantasy VII are indecipherable, but they require more effort to understand than I'm willing to give. I should also stress that, despite its overly complex story, Xenogears was my favorite JRPG on the PSX (Final Fantasy VII, on the other hand, is wildly overrated). On the one hand, it really seems to make no sense to have Star Wars characters in a Soul Calibur game. On the other hand, it didn't make sense to have Spawn, Link, or Heihachi in 2. And those screens of Vader do look pretty bad ass...

Which ones have you played? Nocturne's the only one I've fired up so far, and I've been playing long enough for the Demi-Fiend to be around level 50. From my experience, you have to buy as many healing items as possible (might as well, unless you count the few Magatama that show up for sale, you don't buy any equipment). And unlike modern Final Fanasy game where you can pretty much just keep playing to advance the story regardless of level, you really should grind in any new area you come to until, at minimum, until you can recruit any demon in the area. Playing that way, I haven't had any trouble with the regular demons in an area. Boss fights, on the other hand, range from hard to insane, especially the fiend battles. You pretty much have to go into the battle, see what it does and what it's weakest against, get killed, switch Magatamas and party members around, and have a solid strategy thought out. Or at least consult a walkthrough that'll tell you what you should do. No two ways about it, the game is HARD. But I kind of feel that the payoff is worth it. Prior to Nocturne, I'd played plenty of JRPGs, but the last three I really got into were Xenogears, Chrono Cross, and Final Fantasy IV. (Sorry, I never played Chrono Trigger). Even then, to this day, I couldn't really explain to you what Xenogears was about. Most JRPGs just ape the usual anime/Final Fantasy story cliches (especially the one about not making too much sense). Nocturne is completely different.

Hey, like I said in another thread, having finished the holiday glut of 360 games, I found myself broke and itching for something to play, so I started digging through my PS2 collection. When I worked at Gamestop, I picked up a lot of games on whims that I either never played, or I started to play but never finished. Currently, that means I'm playing Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne. I truly regret that I didn't play this game sooner. Combat is turn-based with heavy emphasis on hitting enemies with their elemental weaknesses to gain turns, a story that begins with the end of the world and is a far cry from your usual cookie cutter JRPGs. Oh, and you recruit demons to fill out your party, giving the game a sort of demonic Pokemon vibe. Hands down the best JRPG I've played since the PSone, and better than any Final Fantasy since IV. I mean, I thought I was losing interest in the genre, but with two Digital Devil Saga games and Persona 3 (all part of the Shin Megami Tensei family), I could be playing JRPGs (on the PS2) until Spring.

Ah, see most of my consoles are in the living room, but my DC is in the bedroom. I fire it up whenever the missus wants to watch something on TV that I'm not interested in, since we only have cable in the one room.

But which other players? An iPod is still restricted to what's in its associated iTunes library. And let's be honest, love 'em or hate 'em, they're a huge portion of the market. Don't get me wrong, it's not a bad thing Sony's doing... I agree that some sort of option to do it is better than none. I personally find it hard to get excited about, though. BTW, it's on Kotaku (don't feel like linking right now), but even Microsoft is talking about a potential Blu-ray add-on for the 360. Nothing's official, but if Microsoft's money isn't backing HD-DVD anymore, the war is definitely over.

I already have an import of Ikaruga for the Dreamcast. And since I'm poor now, I'm going back and playing through PS2 games I picked up while I worked at Gamestop and never got around to finishing (if I played it at all). Currently, that means SMT: Nocturne.

I think you have to think of SEED (and 00) as opposites of Turn A. You see the mecha for SEED and 00, you think it looks good, only to find the story, characters, or both are boring and cliche. You see mecha for Turn A, you think it doesn't look right for a Gundam, but when you watch it you find that the design fits with what is easily one of the best Gundam series to date.

I use it to mean parts of the alt mode that just sort of hang off the robot and generally get it the way or otherwise seem like they don't belong.

Yeah, shorter as in one game, not a trilogy. Sure, Halo set the standard for console FPS when it first came out, but by now there are much better ones.

Technically I shouldn't care, since I've got a PS3 and a 360 HD-DVD, but I'll admit, despite owning a ton more Blu-rays, I've kinda rooted for HD-DVD. And even I'm ready to call it now. Meh. I mean, I suppose it's great for the hardcore Sony crowd that really gets into the PSP's media functions, but what about all the iPods, Zens, Treos, Zunes, and what-have-yous? I don't know how much it's changed since I switched to the iPod (5G, then Touch), but the PSP has always been kind of a pain with how particular it is about how you name movies that, while I enjoy it as a gaming system, was almost immediately looking for a better portable media player. EDIT: Managed copying sucks. I long for the good old days when we bought media, not licenses.

Well, I think his bot mode is worth it. Well, that and the fact that he comes with Kremzeek. I mean, yeah, Prime and Starscream are fun to Transform and display in alt mode from time to time (although, while overly large, if you could find a way to display it, Megatron's alt mode looks great), but unlike a lot of the G1 toys we had growing up they look great and are, for the most part, some of the most detailed and poseable Transformers you get. Unless you like Pat Lee's chunky Megatron (okay, I'll admit it, Pat Lee's a jerk, but I actually like his chunky Transformers) and go with the Revoltech Megatron, this is quite simply the best G1 Megatron out there. That's pretty much how I feel about Galvatron. The Transforming toys are fun to transform and occasionally display in alt mode, and the MP figures are just fun collector's pieces since they're big, detailed, and still Transform, but I've been thinking I'd have a lot of fun with the Revoltech Transformers lately. I mean, Transforming is fun, but super-poseable robots that aren't compromised by kibble and what not from their alt modes have a certain appeal too. Since I'm not interested in any more movie toys, I think sometime between now and the Animated toys I'm going to try to grab the Revoltech Prime and Megatron before Hot Rod/Rodimus and Starscream come out.

According to TV.com, episode 5 has a human villain who turns Bumblebee into a bad guy. Cartoon Network probably figures (rightly) that we'd rather see Dinobots.

My MP Megatron arrived today. Even though LAF advertised that it'd be modded, it wasn't. The detail in the figure is what you'd expect if you're familiar with either MP Prime or MP Starscream. And, it's probably the most cartoon-accurate you can get in a Megatron toy that still transforms into a gun. That said, it's not without it's issues, and it's easily my least favorite of the three (Skywarp, Ultra Magnus, and Prime with Trailer don't count, since they're repaints). The legs are thin, and a lot of the gun parts end up as kibble on his hips, shoulders, legs, and back. In fact, his thin legs and ball-jointed ankles make him unstable and difficult to pose. The kibble on his shoulders further limits his posibility, and his Fusion Cannon is so large that it's in the way of the gun barrel on his back (or vice versa, as the barrel sits pretty tall). Also, the way the Cannon clips on his arm leaves a a gap between it and his arm. It could just be mine, but a lot of his joints were really tight, and transforming him was difficult even when I knew what I was doing. It's a shame, because I probably won't transform him much, but his alt mode looks really good (although a bit to large to be a real gun). I suppose this was done to keep him on scale with Prime. Which reminds me, just like Prime has a light in his chest cavity for the Matrix, Megatron has a red light in his Fusion Cannon. That does sort of beg the question, why go to the trouble to include lights in Megatron and keep him on scale with Prime when they didn't bother on Starscream? I can't really complain, since I paid more for Prime and Megatron than I did for my Wal-Mart Starscream, but it makes the price of importing Skywarp seem unreasonable. Overall, while this isn't the best of the Masterpiece line, that's a lot like complaining that the Countach wasn't the best of the Lamborghini line. The MP Transformers are still the biggest and most detailed Transformers, and the only G1 toys that strike a good balance between detail and cartoon accuracy in both modes. If your a fan of Megatron, Transformers, and the Masterpiece line, you need MP Megatron on your shelf.

I'll look to see if there are demos of them later. To be fair, though, I haven't bought more than a few XBLA games, either. I applaud both Sony and Microsoft for providing a platform for smaller, cheaper, and sometimes more innovative games, but I just don't think they're my cup of tea.

The 80GB PS3 uses software emulation, doesn't it? Sorry, I'm not really sure what to do. I kept my old PS2.

Oh yeah, that's it! I got it probably during the same sale! And in Westmoreland County, PA, I only had to pay 6% sales tax. Where, if you don't mind my asking, do you live? 9% seems awful high.

Speaking of toylines, I was watching the Japanese Headmasters cartoon, and that totally took me back. Not for the toys (I had tons of Targetmasters, a few Powermasters, but the only two Headmasters I had were Scorponok and Brainstorm), but because of Battle Beasts.

Really? I downloaded Go! Sudoku (mostly for my wife) and the GT thingy, and that's about it. flOw seems pretty interesting, but I played it when it was just a Flash game, and it didn't see worth the cash. Castlevania would have been a must-buy if I hadn't already bought it on the 360 (or felt like looking for my PSone memory card and digging out the disc), and that's pretty much all that's grabbed my attention. I mean, there might be more, but the PlayStation Store is easily the worst online shopping experience of the three consoles, so I must confess I don't visit it often. Or course, I expect to have a newfound interest in the PlayStation Store and the PSN when WipEout HD hits.

That'd be it. The name's so obvious I'm half embarrassed not to have figured it out on my own. On the other hand, it's so generic, I'm not surprised I forgot. It might just be the nostalgia talking, but cartoons were better in the 80's.

If the PlayStation Network starts adding movies and TV like XBL, or if you plan to use it as a media center, you might want the extra space. As I mentioned earlier, I burn my Divx files to discs, and since I have an iPod I keep my music in an iTunes library on a computer, so I pretty much just use my HDD for game saves, demos, and PSN games. Oh, and I installed Linux. I'd have to check, but I think I've still got maybe two thirds free of the original 60GB, so I haven't felt any strong urge to upgrade it yet.

On another Xbox topic, anyone play WarTech: Senko no Ronde? I know it didn't get the best of reviews, but they seem to be more unhappy with the price than the gameplay. But, I found copies at Best Buy for $9.99. Worth wasting a ten on?

Well, it was a white guy's poor impression of Chinese style, but you kind of overlook that. The world of Jade Empire isn't meant to be ancient China any more than Azeroth is supposed to be medieval Europe. And yeah, a lot of the RPG elements are simplified and combat was almost like a beat-'em up. But it actually wound up being my all-time favorite original Xbox game. The story was fresh, the plot twist nearly as good as KOTOR's, and the game play suited the setting. Because, face it, half of what makes BioWare's games good is the story, the setting, and how your character interacts and converses with it. Jade Empire was classic BioWare there. Honestly, I really recommend it, especially as it's backwards compatible, and most stores have it for $10 or less now.

My buddy was over the other day, and we were talking about cartoons we watched growing up. We both remember a cartoon, late 80's early 90's, about dinosaurs (and I'm not talking Dinosaucers). I think it had something to do with humanoid aliens crashing on prehistoric Earth. The good guys made friends with dinosaurs and used them to build a happy little village, but the bad guys used some sort of mind-control helmets to enslave the dinosaurs and use them to harass the good guys.

I think a big part of that is that there's so few standout JRPGs these days. They're all so very cookie-cutter similar to Final Fantasy now. And while Sony gets a lot of JRPGs, Microsoft's been getting some great Western RPGs. That said, as sick as I am of most JRPGs, I long for a next-gen MegaTen game.