Russta (![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} russta) wrote,@ 2008-01-04 17:29:00 |
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20 minute free-form jazz odyssey
We're coming up to the end of our three week break from World of Warcraft and boy do I feel better for it. No matter which way I've sliced it over the past month or two, it's hard not to come to the predictable conclusion that raiding just isn't fun anymore. For that reason alone, so many of our members needed such a lengthy break over Christmas and the New Year to recharge their batteries. Anything in WoW is a challenge until you beat it at which point it's (usually) instantly on farm and you move onto the next stuff. But what do you move on to when there's nothing left to move on to? As we seem to have discovered, each other. There were times where the guild atmosphere felt saturated in cabin fever so I stopped caring who was or wasn't in Vent nor if people were tabbed out for nearly every trash set for weeks on end. I mean, it isn't that I don't care per se, but what's the point in trying to squeeze a maximum performance out of everyone daily when it's going to take a night and a half either way? At this point in the guild's life cycle, it feels far more important to let people raid in the way that they themselves find the most fun. If that involves listening to Black Out on Winamp or talking in small groups rather than listening to me dictating Flame Crash movement, so be it.
A lot of my time away has been spent reflecting on where I currently stand and how I can improve things. Lord knows I've certainly been in better shape socially than I am now, so I'd like fix that where possible. It's pretty tough trying to strike a balance between what each and every person from our different strata define as fair and just. As a sort of New Year's Resolution for within WoW, I wrote down a flow chart of how to make decisions that involves my officers liberally and penned a few methods of spreading out the assets of the guild better. The issue of gems for PvP was something that sat as top priority for me considering many of our members are hardcore arena players and help earn them too. I'm also determined to tighten up DKP for The Sunwell in lieu of it actually being released. That's something I plan to seek advice and suggestions for from every raiding member of the guild. Having a system tweaked by the very people it affects built on our strong existing framework seems a logical step in fairness and keeping people happy for our final dungeon in the Azeroth that we know.
Aside from this, the weeks I was away, and quite a few preceeding them, were spent catching up on a lot of Wii games I've had build up since my Birthday. I'd like to share my experiences with them as best my memory allows.
Mario Galaxy
Aside from my beloved Zelda franchise, the two games I went to such lengths to get a Wii for were Super Smash Bros. Brawl and this. I always anticipated it to be good but in an age where the hype for games can hit ridiculous heights they're never going to to hit, this was a grand exception. I've had people say that the game was too easy but I felt the difficulty curve was spot on. If you wanted to just get the minimum amount of stars, the game would be pretty simple. Once you decide to start going for the comets, it takes a step up. The one I recall being a pain in the ass was having to beat Bouldergeist on the Daredevil Comet. That was still nothing to the frustration of the trial galaxies from the three green stars or some of the Purple Comets (the Dreadnaught and the one on the giant 8-bit Luigi spring to mind). Amazing game I fully intend to play through again soon and genuinly one of the best games ever - but Super Mario World is still better.
Metroid Prime 3
Buying this game, or asking for it as a gift rather, was pretty risky for me. I bought the original game on the GameCube and simply couldn't get into it. I don't know if it was because I was heavily into something specific on FFXI at the time, but that's how it was. Obviously I never bought the second one either.
And despite this, Metroid Prime 3 is my game of the year by a considerable margin.
The graphics, sound, atmosphere and especially the controls are incredible throughout this game. The levels had a bit more linearity to them than I would've expected from my days of Super Metroid and I found Bryyo dragged on just a tad too long but that was something Elysium more than made up for with the SkyTown level. One of the concious decisions I made was to play the game on veteran based on Darm's suggestion and it wasn't one I regretted. Well, to be fair, it did cross my mind when I sat there screaming at my TV how fucking impossible it was trying to pull down the three levers while defending them at the Titan guns preventing my ship detroying the barrier over Bryyo's Leviathan. The game was extremely challenging but in a way that never truly felt impossible, a feat seldom achieved in games these days.
A very special mention must go to the boss battles, they're epic. I can't remember a game ever having them this good. From wondering if the thirty minute battle with Mogenar was ever going to end to the absolute awesomeness of the Omega Ridley and Gandrayda fights, they were consistently impressive. I've shown a few people videos of them on hypermode and they're such enthralling spectacles that they've watched them in their entirety and expressed a strong desire to play the game. Keeping someone who previously held zero desire to ever play it hooked on a ten minute video is testament to the game's greatness.
I haven't felt so strongly toward a game since Resident Evil 4 and can't recommend this enough to anyone who'll devote the time it desires which, for me, was 18:56 for a 100% clear.
As a final note, if anyone with the PAL version of this game happens to be reading, post a comment as I'd like to trade some friend vouchers and it can't be done with my NTSC loving chums.
Super Paper Mario
Not gonna lie, I was slightly dissapointed with this game. I can't help but wonder if my choice of when to play it assisted in that or not though as I felt I would enjoy an easy, relaxing game after the difficulty of Metroid but found myself craving the same challenge. I like what they were trying to achieve with this game in creating an easily accessible RPG without any of the hardcore RPG elements but, in truth, it was hard to see that at times when it felt like I was playing a cross between Metal Gear Solid and some outsourced platformer hiding under a shiney Nintendo coat.
I do sorta feel guilty saying bad things about this game as it did have a nice charm to it and, on more than one occasion, made me laugh. The third chapter with the stereotypically fat weeaboo Francis in particular was a riot. I also couldn't help but snigger in my mind everytime Tippi spoke too as I would've named it Okan if it was possible. The art style was incredible to me too, but then I genuinly believe Wind Waker is the greatest looking game I will ever see in my lifetime.
Almost up there with Lego Star Wars as a true kids game amongst all the woeful licensed games palmed off as them but contradicts itself a bit with the monumental amount of text to read. I'm really not sure where I stand on this game.
Guitar Hero III
I've played this a few times in the past in various arcades and friend's houses but never actually owned it myself. I did want to but I refused to buy a third PSdouble after my first two broke, though my brother eventually caved in and did. All the custom song videos on YouTube over the past few months really sparked my interest up again though and I almost bought Guitar Hero II a week before the third was due to come out. I held off though and asked for the latter for Christmas.
The majority of my life revolves around music and gaming, frequently at the same time, so this seems a match made in heaven. Even so, I'm pretty amazed at my level of addiction to it. Though I want to be "that guy" who can play expert Dragonforce without looking, I've kept my progress through the game slow and steady, being sure to five star each difficulty before moving onto the next. After much swearing today, I finally got done with the final song I needed to do (Raining Blood) and moved onto hard where I must actually learn the songs for finger placement incorperating the orange button. I've been playing online with Rex a lot and started learning hard 'cause I was so sick of how stagnant medium had become. Something I did to ease the transition to hard was by playing bass online and it helped a lot. And if anyone feels like it;
Wii - 3527 1895 9401 7635
GH3 - 232048480250
We're coming up to the end of our three week break from World of Warcraft and boy do I feel better for it. No matter which way I've sliced it over the past month or two, it's hard not to come to the predictable conclusion that raiding just isn't fun anymore. For that reason alone, so many of our members needed such a lengthy break over Christmas and the New Year to recharge their batteries. Anything in WoW is a challenge until you beat it at which point it's (usually) instantly on farm and you move onto the next stuff. But what do you move on to when there's nothing left to move on to? As we seem to have discovered, each other. There were times where the guild atmosphere felt saturated in cabin fever so I stopped caring who was or wasn't in Vent nor if people were tabbed out for nearly every trash set for weeks on end. I mean, it isn't that I don't care per se, but what's the point in trying to squeeze a maximum performance out of everyone daily when it's going to take a night and a half either way? At this point in the guild's life cycle, it feels far more important to let people raid in the way that they themselves find the most fun. If that involves listening to Black Out on Winamp or talking in small groups rather than listening to me dictating Flame Crash movement, so be it.
A lot of my time away has been spent reflecting on where I currently stand and how I can improve things. Lord knows I've certainly been in better shape socially than I am now, so I'd like fix that where possible. It's pretty tough trying to strike a balance between what each and every person from our different strata define as fair and just. As a sort of New Year's Resolution for within WoW, I wrote down a flow chart of how to make decisions that involves my officers liberally and penned a few methods of spreading out the assets of the guild better. The issue of gems for PvP was something that sat as top priority for me considering many of our members are hardcore arena players and help earn them too. I'm also determined to tighten up DKP for The Sunwell in lieu of it actually being released. That's something I plan to seek advice and suggestions for from every raiding member of the guild. Having a system tweaked by the very people it affects built on our strong existing framework seems a logical step in fairness and keeping people happy for our final dungeon in the Azeroth that we know.
Aside from this, the weeks I was away, and quite a few preceeding them, were spent catching up on a lot of Wii games I've had build up since my Birthday. I'd like to share my experiences with them as best my memory allows.
Mario Galaxy
Aside from my beloved Zelda franchise, the two games I went to such lengths to get a Wii for were Super Smash Bros. Brawl and this. I always anticipated it to be good but in an age where the hype for games can hit ridiculous heights they're never going to to hit, this was a grand exception. I've had people say that the game was too easy but I felt the difficulty curve was spot on. If you wanted to just get the minimum amount of stars, the game would be pretty simple. Once you decide to start going for the comets, it takes a step up. The one I recall being a pain in the ass was having to beat Bouldergeist on the Daredevil Comet. That was still nothing to the frustration of the trial galaxies from the three green stars or some of the Purple Comets (the Dreadnaught and the one on the giant 8-bit Luigi spring to mind). Amazing game I fully intend to play through again soon and genuinly one of the best games ever - but Super Mario World is still better.
Metroid Prime 3
Buying this game, or asking for it as a gift rather, was pretty risky for me. I bought the original game on the GameCube and simply couldn't get into it. I don't know if it was because I was heavily into something specific on FFXI at the time, but that's how it was. Obviously I never bought the second one either.
And despite this, Metroid Prime 3 is my game of the year by a considerable margin.
The graphics, sound, atmosphere and especially the controls are incredible throughout this game. The levels had a bit more linearity to them than I would've expected from my days of Super Metroid and I found Bryyo dragged on just a tad too long but that was something Elysium more than made up for with the SkyTown level. One of the concious decisions I made was to play the game on veteran based on Darm's suggestion and it wasn't one I regretted. Well, to be fair, it did cross my mind when I sat there screaming at my TV how fucking impossible it was trying to pull down the three levers while defending them at the Titan guns preventing my ship detroying the barrier over Bryyo's Leviathan. The game was extremely challenging but in a way that never truly felt impossible, a feat seldom achieved in games these days.
A very special mention must go to the boss battles, they're epic. I can't remember a game ever having them this good. From wondering if the thirty minute battle with Mogenar was ever going to end to the absolute awesomeness of the Omega Ridley and Gandrayda fights, they were consistently impressive. I've shown a few people videos of them on hypermode and they're such enthralling spectacles that they've watched them in their entirety and expressed a strong desire to play the game. Keeping someone who previously held zero desire to ever play it hooked on a ten minute video is testament to the game's greatness.
I haven't felt so strongly toward a game since Resident Evil 4 and can't recommend this enough to anyone who'll devote the time it desires which, for me, was 18:56 for a 100% clear.
As a final note, if anyone with the PAL version of this game happens to be reading, post a comment as I'd like to trade some friend vouchers and it can't be done with my NTSC loving chums.
Super Paper Mario
Not gonna lie, I was slightly dissapointed with this game. I can't help but wonder if my choice of when to play it assisted in that or not though as I felt I would enjoy an easy, relaxing game after the difficulty of Metroid but found myself craving the same challenge. I like what they were trying to achieve with this game in creating an easily accessible RPG without any of the hardcore RPG elements but, in truth, it was hard to see that at times when it felt like I was playing a cross between Metal Gear Solid and some outsourced platformer hiding under a shiney Nintendo coat.
I do sorta feel guilty saying bad things about this game as it did have a nice charm to it and, on more than one occasion, made me laugh. The third chapter with the stereotypically fat weeaboo Francis in particular was a riot. I also couldn't help but snigger in my mind everytime Tippi spoke too as I would've named it Okan if it was possible. The art style was incredible to me too, but then I genuinly believe Wind Waker is the greatest looking game I will ever see in my lifetime.
Almost up there with Lego Star Wars as a true kids game amongst all the woeful licensed games palmed off as them but contradicts itself a bit with the monumental amount of text to read. I'm really not sure where I stand on this game.
Guitar Hero III
I've played this a few times in the past in various arcades and friend's houses but never actually owned it myself. I did want to but I refused to buy a third PSdouble after my first two broke, though my brother eventually caved in and did. All the custom song videos on YouTube over the past few months really sparked my interest up again though and I almost bought Guitar Hero II a week before the third was due to come out. I held off though and asked for the latter for Christmas.
The majority of my life revolves around music and gaming, frequently at the same time, so this seems a match made in heaven. Even so, I'm pretty amazed at my level of addiction to it. Though I want to be "that guy" who can play expert Dragonforce without looking, I've kept my progress through the game slow and steady, being sure to five star each difficulty before moving onto the next. After much swearing today, I finally got done with the final song I needed to do (Raining Blood) and moved onto hard where I must actually learn the songs for finger placement incorperating the orange button. I've been playing online with Rex a lot and started learning hard 'cause I was so sick of how stagnant medium had become. Something I did to ease the transition to hard was by playing bass online and it helped a lot. And if anyone feels like it;
Wii - 3527 1895 9401 7635
GH3 - 232048480250
