loonyblog.

Well, so much for that idea…there are some really serious bugs in the GBA version of Broken Sword (which are all well-documented in the FAQs on GameFAQs), one of which I’ve just run into. For those curious, it’s the one with the goat puzzle in Lochmare castle. Anyway, this effectively puts the kibosh on my plan of playing through this game here on my trip to the lesser coast. Oh well…at least I’ve still got Advance Wars 2 and Blackthorne for the plane ride back.

As for Broken Sword, since you can only keep one save game per file, there’s no way for me to jump back to avoid the bug without starting over completely, something I don’t like doing (I did it with Legacy of Kain: Defiance, but that’s a very rare exception), and I’m even less likely to do it for a GBA title, where I usually don’t spend more than twenty minutes at a time playing. Fortunately I recently ordered the PC version of Broken Swords 1 & 2 from Sold-Out, so I guess I’ll just restart the game using ScummVM instead. But it’s a shame, because I was really enjoying this rare handheld adventure game.

#1 in a series of fun things I’ve learned since working on the PR side of the gaming industry: Tips & Tricks magazine is published by Larry Flynt Productions. Puts a whole new spin on that title, doesn’t it?

From The Rumor Mill section of the latest issue of Electronic Gaming Monthly:

Sega’s dragon not grounded

Despite a recent Internet hoax and Panzer Dragoon Orta’s less-than-stellar sales on Xbox, The Q hears that yes, the dragon will fly again. A new title, allegedly much closer in style and tone to Saturn’s cult hit Panzer Dragoon Saga, is expected to surface soon.

Seeing as how PDS is one of my favorite games of all time, this had better not be just another tease. I don’t think my weak gamer’s heart could take it.

Since I no longer have a way to post this for comments on Shacknews, I might as well do it here…my ShackReview of Final Fantasy X-2 has gone up. I gave a slight preview of what to expect here yesterday, but the full review goes into far more detail about the issues I have with the game. Here’s a quick excerpt:

After completing Final Fantasy X, Squaresoft (now Square Enix) faced a pretty formidable problem: the next game in the series, Final Fantasy XI, was being developed as a massively multiplayer game (don’t even get me started with that logic…why they couldn’t just call the damn thing Final Fantasy Online is beyond me). Which is all fine and good, but that meant Square would have no single player Final Fantasy until FFXII, which was quite a ways off. And so the decision was made to produce what can only be described as Final Fantasy on a Budget, or as it was titled on its release, Final Fantasy X-2.

FFX-2 really is Final Fantasy on a Budget. Corners were cut in every conceivable way, and the result is a cheap feeling game, with a shoestring storyline that exists only to connect the various side-quests that are passed off as core objectives.

Earlier this evening I finished Final Fantasy X-2, and I am severely disappointed in the game. I’ll go into the exact reasons why in my full review (which hopefully I’ll be able to write tomorrow, as otherwise it’s going to have to wait until after I get back from my trip next week to the lesser coast), but the biggest reason was the storyline. Now, I give any Japanese console RPG a lot of slack in this department, as even the best ones in this sub-genre have somewhat nonsensical elements, and nine times out of ten center around some sort of hokey new-age spiritualism. But FFX-2 doesn’t even have that. It just has a loosely structured story that has no real villain, immensely irritating characters, and a tone that even for a Final Fantasy is frequently juvenile and grating.

So I thought about that a bit, and looked back at some other games I’ve played recently that I found very disappointing in the story department: Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time, Beyond Good & Evil, XIII, Xenosaga, AoM: The Titans, WarCraft III: The Frozen Throne, and so on. All of these had storylines that were either cliched in the extreme or just under-developed, and at least the first two were widely praised for something I seem to have missed. So the question that I can’t quite answer is this: am I too picky?

I don’t think I am, but then, I suppose it’s possible. I approach games like I do movies and novels. I expect to see likable, well reasoned characters who do things for logical reasons. I expect the storyline to be at least somewhat original. I expect the dialogue to be at least remotely natural sounding. And most of all, I fully expect the story to have a beginning, middle and an end. Leading into a sequel is one thing, but the abrupt way that BG&E ended is inexcusable as far as I’m concerned.

So what games do I consider to have great stories? Any Legacy of Kain (yes the gameplay is lacking, but they all more than make up for that with complex and original plotlines), Fallout 1 & 2, Panzer Dragoon Saga, Final Fantasy VI, VII, VIII and X, Chrono Trigger, StarCraft + Brood War, WarCraft III (but not its add-on), Morrowind, Half-Life, and so on. I intentionally put a mix of the action, RPG and strategy genres in there to give you an idea of what I’m talking about.

Is it unreasonable to expect a great story? I don’t think so. Which is why when I play a game like FFX-2, which fails to deliver an even mediocre story, I’m so disappointed. I’m not sure what I’m going to play next. Fortunately I’ve got a week to decide, during which I’ll spend some time with the GBA port of Broken Sword (which I already know has a great story). When I come back I’ll decide if I feel up for more disappointment by playing Deus Ex: Invisible War, or maybe I’ll go straight for pure action and check out Baldur’s Gate: Dark Alliance, which has been sitting on my stack for a really long time now. Then again, maybe I’ll finally get the courage to play Zelda: The Wind Waker, which I’ve picked up several times already and always put back within minutes.

Regarding locked gates around cemeteries: are they there to keep people out, or zombies in?

Another in a series of dispatches from the Department of Classic Game Abuse (see Midway’s ironically drug-fueled remake of NARC for an earlier example):

Business Wire: It’s Real, It’s Ugly, It’s Racing! Atari Announces ‘Test Drive: Eve of Destruction’ for the PlayStation 2.

Various and Sundry pointed me towards this interview with Shawn Ryan, the creator of the FX series The Shield. Apparently David Mamet (he of the mametastic mametude) is going to be directing an episode of the show. I’ve never watched it before, but with Angel ending, I guess I should probably find another hour-long drama to watch instead, lest I begin to sink into the gaping void that is reality television (*shudder*). Anyone out there like the show? Is it hard to get into if you haven’t seen it before?

As anyone that’s been reading the strip for the last few days already knows (and if you haven’t shame on you), a long-time Doonesbury character is going to be seriously wounded while fighting in the war in Iraq. If you’re not a regular reader, you might find this troubling, as after all, Doonesbury is at its core, a gag-oriented strip, but Gary Trudeau has tackled gravely serious issues before (such as AIDS and Alzheimer’s Disease), and every time handled them with grace, dignity and respect.

This particular storyline has an extra bit of poignance, as the character originally was put in the war as a public affairs officer, supposedly well outside the dangers of front-line combat. Considering how many other non-combat soldiers have been injured or killed in the line of duty during this war, it’s nice to see that here. Also of note is the fact that this character isn’t just some recent addition — he was one of the very first to grace the strip.

Doonesbury as a whole is quite an achievement. While there have been funnier strips over the years, and arguably even more politically relevant ones, I can’t think of any other gag strip that’s had its characters evolve as much as Doonesbury. The strip started as a gag strip about a couple of college kids. Since then, the title character has gotten married, had a child, divorced, gotten married again and watched his daughter grow up. And that’s just one character! The whole cast has gone through similar changes. And it’s not like these have been super-fast jumps. Every character in the strip (from Mike Doonesbury on down) has evolved slowly, in near real-time.

I think everyone should read Doonesbury every day, but that’s just me. If you’d like to check out this latest storyline, you can start with Monday’s strip.

Well that’s that…my last post just went up over at Shacknews. It’s sad to have to end that side of my life, but the time has come for me to move on.

So where does that leave this blog? Well, with no official channel for my game-related ramblings, it’s very, very likely that the number of game-related posts to this blog will increase greatly. Nothing even remotely related to Rockstar/Take Two/Gathering/GlobalStar of course, but somehow I doubt I’ll be able to go two days without ranting and raving about something in this industry, no matter how minor. When you’ve been doing this for as many consecutive years as I have (over seven) it’s kinda hard to get out of that mindset.

So stay tuned. And if you’re new to the blog, welcome. If you’re easily offended, steer clear of the political posts. Otherwise, enjoy yourself.

Just one quick notice: this site will be upgrading to Movable Type 3.0 as soon as I possibly can, and will be using the TypeKey system for comment registration. I hate that I have to resort to that, but comment spam has been just relentless, and this is the only surefire way to combat it (MT-Blacklist won’t work on my server, and even if it did, the author’s discontinuing it once 3.0 comes out anyway).