Ben-DutkaHappy July 4th to all! Yes, I'm aware that it's tomorrow. 🙂
I confess…I'm a little concerned about The Last Guardian
As badly as I want the game, and as much faith I have in the developers, this project worries me. From a journalist standpoint, it's really showing all the signs of a game with development problems; we see very little in the way of updates and when we do, it's usually news of a delay. And even then, the information is vague. Now they're moving their base of operations and although one could be optimistic, I'm starting to wonder… That bit about a "major reformation of our development environment" could be interpreted in a number of ways but right now, I'm more inclined to believe that the lengthy design process has hit a snag or two. I dearly hope I'm wrong but projects on similar tracks have turned out poorly before.
They've either been delayed far too many times, or the end result is nowhere near the level of quality gamers expected. Now, I refuse to believe team TRICO will mess this up; I know Ueda is a perfectionist and anybody that can create ICO and Shadow of the Colossus deserves all the respect – and trust – in the world. But we're really going to need more progress reports. And a new estimated release date.
There should be more buzz about Media Molecule
You know, these guys created one of the most revolutionary pieces of interactive entertainment of the generation. Therefore, when we hear they're moving on to work on something new , you should probably pay attention. This team has extraordinary creative and artistic talent and just about any genre would benefit from that over-abundance of imagination. LittleBigPlanet wasn't really my thing and yet, I was always blown away by what those titles offered. And of course, because they're a Sony-owned studio, whatever they produce will be exclusive to the PlayStation brand. It could be for the PS3 or the Vita but either way, we should definitely be pumped. Personally, I'm hoping for an RPG…but I always hope for an RPG.
I do that more often now because the RPGs I actually want to play are few and far between, but I know I still have a love for the genre. Media Molecule could really do something pretty special, I think.
Personal gaming update
I'm still playing inFamous 2 ; savoring it, really. I'd also like to keep pushing through Final Fantasy IV: Complete Collection just because I've never played the Interlude or The After Years . Beyond that, I'm actually thinking of going all the way through Beyond Good & Evil HD . I never completed it the first time, although I came close, and I was struck by the game's originality and appeal when I played the high-definition version. I might want to finish up Shadows of the Damned , too.
We're sort of entering the summer lull now. The next game I'm interested in is Catherine , which won't be here until July 26 (although I might get it sooner). After that, another month until Deus Ex: Human Revolution . But it's nice to have a little break; might catch up on some downloadable reviews, including Puzzle Agent .
Lastly, many thanks to everyone who came to the Episode #2 debut of our PSXE Show in the PlayStation Home Community Theater. Episode #3 should be ready to go on July 21 and for the fourth episode, we're taking suggestions; it'll be a reader-driven show. I've already decided to do an old-school Final Fantasy segment because so many have asked for it, but we need three more segments. So if you have any ideas, let us know, and that idea just might get into the show. 🙂
What worries me most about TLG is that at last word we still didn't know what the gameplay was about and neither did ICO.
I hope MM goes hardcore with their next title.
Oh man I've been sick and unable to game or write for the most part. I want to retry Two Worlds II, I've got Mirror's Edge, and I want to make a montage of Duke's antics but I'm still tryin to figure out how to do the damn EasyCap thing with my TV.
Love Mirror's Edge.
World, there you are. You disappear for a week and our site turns into VelocityGamer–your one stop shop for all your twitch gaming needs =p
You know. That could turn into our slogan Temjin you never know haha.
PGU: Still working on F.3.A.R, Operation Flashpoint Red River, L.A. Noire and Dirt 3 haha. I'm gnna be busy for the rest of the summer..
lol, I know that was weird. I'm getting better though.
Haha, yeah, we can draw the twitchers in and then get them converted to real gaming =)
Twitchers are where the hits are at I guess, we don't have the benefit of this fine community.
World, glad to hear you are getting better my friend… My twitching has come to an abrupt end as one of PS3's has died, that is the one I can go online with. The other is stuck in Linux land. I have to get my Silver one fixed and then I am back up and running; but as I am traveling quite a bit for work in the coming few weeks, I probably will not get a chance to get down to the repair center for a little bit. As I said to Ben, I have missed the get together's in Home because of this, which is a shame, but hopefully I can get this thing sorted out.
The "no news" concerning TLG doesn't concern me too much. I think Ueda is keeping a great surprise up his sleeve. I think we may see something at the TGS later in the year, with a full showing and near release visuals of the game at next years E3 🙂
I am expecting we will be able to purchase The Last Guardian Holidays 2012, but not before everyone has been blown away by trailers and a demo of the game by E3 2012… I think all is ok; just excited to see what it is about…
Q!
"play.experience.enjoy"
Pgu : still plugging away at wkc, and ff : ta. And I've finally got the money saved up for wkc2. Although I could've just lumped it all together at one time, but this way if makes me feel like I've worked for the game. Now the wait. Damn you september…
Ben, since the next psxe episode will have an old-school ff segment, perhaps you could make it a full blown tetro gaming episode of the psxe show.
Perhaps have a segment based on the chrono series, trigger and cross.
Maybe talk about what they respectively brought to the table at the time, where the story could possibly go if a 3rd were to be released, what it could include, and maybe whether a third installment would be a success and whether or not it would appeal to the fans of the series. Of course the original chrono team would have to do threequel.
But yeah, just an idea.
I ment to say retro gaming episode. Not tetro.
…the hell is tetro
A round version of Tetris?
The Last Guardian, Agent: Where the hell are you?
I'm hoping that Media Molecule's next game is on both PS3 and PSV. And yes, I wouldn't mind an RPG. They're good developers, they can do it.
@Ben, it seems like in your review of Call Of Juarez: Bound In Blood that you somewhat enjoyed that game. Are you at all interested in The Cartel as well?
Sort of. It could be good; Techland isn't a bad developer.
Yes, I agree. It seems like I'm the only one pumped up for the game and the only one who is going to be getting it day 1.
I had to look up what other games Techland developed and noticed that they are the ones working on Dead Island which looks promising in my opinion. So, now I'm a little bit more excited for The Cartel. Can't wait.
dont be, IGN just did a preview of it, and, well it was far from optimistic!
we have not been seeing much of it, theres only one result when that happens……
Happy Independence Day to my fellow Americans. What better way to celebrate the birth of your country than by blowing off a small piece of it?
What, Did Duke Nuke New England?
I doubt it, I live there so it's still here. 😛
i dont have any interest in the last guardian as of now. never played ico or shadow either. however, that doesnt mean i wont try it. i've tried a few different genres this gen that i didnt even think of last gen. played god of war series and liked it, yakuza, littlebigplanet, demons souls, etc.
as for media molecule, i am interested in their next project. i just hope its not multiplayer centric. although i loved littlebigplanet 2, i kinda have buyers remorse with it. after beating it, i havent played the game at all, mostly because noone on my list is playing it. also, i'm not that creative concerning user generated content so i dont take part in it.
Personal gaming update:
i want to say that i'm playing mass effect 2 but i cant get that damn game to play. i get up to the part where the first EA logo comes out then i get stuck on an endless loading screen. i think i only made it to the main menu once and managed to download the cerberus pack. after that its the same damn loading screen. as i type this i am waiting on the EA help live chat. so far they havent helped at all. anyone have any idea how i can fix this? i thought getting it for 20 was a great deal but now i'm thinking i just paid 20 bucks to get pissed off everytime i put the game in.
aside from this, i platinumed infamous 2. great game and i'm glad i bought it right away instead of waiting which im trying to do with single player only games. also been playing uncharted beta and i love it so far. i like the fact that it seems like its on a little slower pace. that airstrip level is pretty crazy. if they have that on multiplayer, i cant wait to see what they do in single player. next game i'm picking up is white knight chronicles 2 then its straight to battlefied 3 and uncharted after that. i do hope i get enough money for resistance 3 and batman arkham city though but i still dont have a job. i knew i shouldnt have done mechanical engineering major.
I started a game of Yakuza 4. I like it but I dunno if I can tackle it rightnow. It's kinda big. I'm not a cutscene-complainer but one of those babies was at least a half hour! I totally needed to go to bed too.
once you start breaking faces and bones then it gets really fun and addicting. i dont know how many times i've said i need to go to bed, wait, i want to break this guys face in first, then i find another guy, then another, then another.
I think the biggest cause for the long wait of Trico is that the team is having issues with trying to get the AI of the creature u[ tp the level that they've promised. Giving it an animal brain and having it react to the environment as well as the will of the boy can't exactly be easy. Then again, maybe the game is simply going to be massive, taking 25 hours or more to complete. Whatever it is, I have the utmpst faith in them and can't wait for the collection come September.
MM can do whatever the jolly hell that they like. LBP was downright fantastic, and their next project, while being a deprtaure should be just as good. I'd liken them to Insomniac. R&C was awesome, but then they changed it up with R:FoM which was just as good. Though I think that it'll definitely be a family friendly game. I mean… take a look at their website: if they go out of their way to make it that cutesy, I don't think that they're about to go and make Dead Space.
PU:
Still going on the Writings of Edgar Allan Poe, he has some really good stories in there, and I really love the style of horror.
I got probably halfway through Tools of Destruction while my niece and nephew were here, so I'll be going back to that series when I finish my evil playthrough of iF2. Also gone back to FFIV: Complete after KZ: Liberation just got on my nerves.
Peace.
I now have an image of sackboy cutting up people with a plasma cutter.
I hope Last Guardian is good. I think it will be. It's development stuff does seem odd. Anyway I appreciated the artsy vibe of Ico and Shadow. I'll probably snag the HD collection.
Media Molecule has achieved something special and great with LBP. I'm pretty curious what direction they'll go with their next secret project. The selfish side of me wants them to direct their talents towards something more to my specific tastes. But what the hey, I'm sure it'll be good whatever it is.
I never finished Beyond G&E either. I played it way back when and got stuck somewhere in a boat with my pig friend. The game had a real unique vibe. While it's an amalgamation of a lot of gaming styles it's all cooked together to make something that tastes yummy and especially distinct. Ill eventually grab the HD version.
PGU: Been living it up in Fallout 3. Man, I've been hooked at it, too. Took me a little while to acclimate to the Bethseda way of design. Which includes scrapping your character and restarting because you eventually realize that you put your points in the wrong spots. Dont bank on charisma guys. You might be able to talk smart to the locals, but you'll get your butt kicked by the Super Mutants and Crab Men. I don't understand why they let you screw yourself up like that right from the beginning. Maybe I'm just ignorant, but it seems the game pays off in dividends if you just sort of select 3 primary attributes of growth and concentrate on developing those. Because, like Oblivion, being a jack of all trades just gets you dead faster.
I decided to just become a mean slugging melee brute, who can tote around large guns and keep myself good and healed with meds.
Last edited by Temjin001 on 7/2/2011 10:45:52 PM
Bethesda took a tad to grow on me too but once you are out there in the wastes scavving man, the real world disappears.
fallout 3 is one of my favorite games of this gen. there is just so much stuff to do in that game, one of best examples of creating a living/breathing world that really draws a player in. the game had a lot of personality.
Yes Fallout 3 was really good. Somehow they managed to lose much of the atmosphere in Fallout Las Vegas, I actually lost interest before finishing the story.
In F3 it was over far too quick.
Interesting as I think Fallout3 is the biggest let down this generation. I expected a truemash up of FPS and RPG in one my my favourite series of all time-and what did I get? Broken aiming and a VATS system which redefines arbitrary.
Don't get me wrong, it isn't a BAD game it's just an AWFUL Fallout game and most of the people who agree with me are also old time series fans and the biggest issue I have, and most of them, is that Bethesda totally miss the atmosphere of the originals which, to a tiny extent, is actually more easily found IN NV. I realise I'm in a tiny FO3 minority but it still amazes me how Bethesda got so many gamers on side with this. I actually really like them(despite their insistence in making us pay to play while doing their beta and QA testing with a supposed "final" product)as devs, love TES and loved Oblivion too-I just didn't expect so much of it to get coloured grey and stuck in FO3! Oblivion's great but it doesn't make a great fit when you feel half the next game is recycled from it.
Anyway, great that you guys like it so much but I couldn't pass it up as, to me, it really was a game I was beyond excited for and the mechanics and atmosphere (and the abrupt main story) just wrecked it for me-I felt it was actually a bit cruel!
pgu, just got the plantium trophy for infamous 2, almost like the first infamous, it was a little easier beating the game on hard being evil. glad i didn't wait to play infamous 2 until i got the plantium for infamous, or i'd still be waiting, 8 blast shards to go.
what was the hidden trophy if u recall? I have one hidden on my list
**iF2 SPOILERS**
If I'm correct, the two hidden trophies are for switching powers with the Nix and Kuo respectively. Of course, I am often wrong…
Completely un-related to anything gaming, I'm standind outside my apartment watching a fire crest over a mountain that's currently at 6000 acres and gaining strength about 25-35 minutes or 19 miles from my town. And poopy enough its on my side.
I read its only about 30-40% contained.
The place that's on fire is called nixon, nevada.
Hell of a 4th of july weekend.
I hope evryones okay though.
That's nuts!
Hope things turn out all right.
Scary. I know the feeling. Not too long ago there was a fire blazing towards my neighborhood. Less than a mile away. Thanks God our brave fire fighters managed to put it out. Hope all goes well with your situation.
I hope you made it through the firestorm OK.
Last edited by BikerSaint on 7/3/2011 10:11:23 AM
Ben did you like White Knight Chronicles? I can't remember.
Never got a chance to play it. I regret that, though, and I plan to try it when WKC2 gets here.
Last edited by Ben Dutka PSXE on 7/3/2011 12:05:40 AM
I liked it a lot, the battle system almost feels like the additions in Legend of Dragoon, and the story is actually not bad, desptite being a "rescue the princess". I hope you get the chance to play through it.
Off comment sorry,but Gamestop is selling God of War 3 right now for only 15 dollars brand new,I'm picking it up,I missed it for lack of money. Just passing on the info…
What are some lesser known or obscure rpgs from either the PS3 and/or PS2 that I may not have heard of, but are also good?
Thanks in advance. =^.^=
Well, I don't know about "lesser known" but I can certainly recommend a bunch:
PS2:
Suikoden III, V
Wild ARMs 3
Dragon Quest VIII
Shadow Hearts: Covenant, SH: From the New World
Legaia 2: Duel Saga
Dark Cloud
Xenosagas
Valkyrie Profile 2
Champions of Norrath
Baldurs Gate: Dark Alliance I, II
Rogue Galaxy
Kingdom Hearts I, II
Star Ocean: 'Til the End of Time
PS3:
Valkyria Chronicles
Eternal Sonata
White Knight Chronicles
Star Ocean: The Last Hope International
Nier
Dungeon Siege III
I didn't mention the more obvious ones, like Final Fantasy, Dragon Age, Mass Effect, Fallout, etc.
Wow! This will help, thx. =)
How about Grandia II/III? I saw them at the mall for pretty cheap the other day.
Grandia II was really good, it had one of the more unique battle systems of turn-based JRPGs. The series is made by Game Arts, who also made Lunar 1 and 2. I still regret selling it to this day. I didn't play the third one, but it did get praised for its battle system as well.
Grandia II was good but the english VO during battles was almost unbearable.
Yeah, I missed Grandia II for some reason. Liked the original, though.
Ben: while I understand that were Playstation centric here, I hope that you'll spend some time on the SNES classics during your Final Fantasy segment if the next show.
Also, in keeping with the fondness for RPGs, perhaps you could also include a segment on the divide between WRPG and JRPG
PGU: I'm still plugging away at inFamous after picking that up with the Welcome Back package. While it is worth every bit of the praise it gets, I have to admit that it's become a little tedious trying to pick up all the blast shards and dead drops from the Warren. But for the most part, I've been trying to get through another read of a Song of Ice and Fire before a Dance with Dragons hits later this month. Almost halfway through with Clash of Kings and this is just one of those series that I enjoy more every time I read it.
I can't stop looking for blast shards. I find myself saying "just one more…" when ever I play inFAMOUS 1 or 2. Same goes for the side or story missions. I think inFAMOUS is one of my new favorite franchises. Right behind The Legend of Zelda.
Last edited by Jawknee on 7/3/2011 4:37:06 AM
I got lucky & found that one & only hidden blast shard very early on.
****Spoiler alert****
I was inquisitive to see exactly how much damage was done to the city by the bomb blast & how widespread it was, so I climbed the very tip of the largest building to survey the area & boom there it was.
right when i got like 5 or 6 blast shards in infamous 1 i had to do a block by block sweep which was annoying. i got the one in the highest point because i got distracted and decided to climb the highest building i can.
in infamous 2, the most missable blast shard is on the top left corner of the train yard on a container thats mostly submerged in the water farthest from the train yard. that was the last one i found because it didnt show up on my radar.
Personal Gaming Update…
A bit of Home, some Sodium 2, Midnight Club LA, Uncharted 3 Beta (which rocks by the way), and a hideous amount of Hot Shots Golf on the PSP.