Disclaimer: I am entitled to my opinion as are you, the reader. Tell me my opinions are wrong, and you are an a**. If this will be a problem for you, stay away from this entry, also if you have a problem with foul language, don't read it. If not, read on, and prepare yourself for a rant like no other. Also, you tl;dr me, imagine yourself getting punched in the face for me. =)
I've seen games grow from bleeps and bloops to a more realistic sense. The change that games have made are incredible by far, including the types of games and everything of the like. Technology advances, and in turn, games do too. But, since technology took a leap, it seems to me like games were kicked square in the nuts. Back in "The Day" games were simple, but fun; and were also balls-to-the-walls hard. The difficulty wasn't what made it fun, it was the mechanics, the simplicity, and the downright hilarious times had with friends and family alike. A friend of mine and I used to play Battletoads on the NES, attempting to beat it without dying. (It's impossible unless you cheat, thanks to a glitch) The game was difficult yeah, but really fun to play. Fast forward to the present, and what have we got? Games that can be difficult, but are also just not fun at all, and a whole pile of crap that really cant be explained without making a gag face. In this journal entry, you'll find my opinions on current games, and perhaps a few other game related things. Sony, Microsoft, Nintendo, and the computer.. None will be spared today.
Starting with Sony would be like throwing a Molotov cocktail at a bunch of fanboys. Oh wait.. Seriously, what has the PS3 got for it right now? It literally has two, maybe three games. TWO. The words "Final" and "Fantasy" aren't amongst these two games, either. (Another Molotov cocktail. Hehe.) I don't particularly care for whatever's out now, so that would mean the only two games I deem are out for the system are Soul Calibur 4, and Bionic Commando. Seriously. (The third and maybe fourth games are Resident Evil 5 and Tekken 6, which will both hit the system eventually.) Final Fantasy XIII(s) will come to the system soon, but I'm going to have a section on how I feel about that in another paragraph/textwall. Madden? ******** Madden. It's the same every year, I'm not amused. I know of Metal Gear Solid 4, but honestly I don't care. I liked the first three enough, but not enough to sit through made up political mumbo jumbo for hours on end. Also, I don't give a damn about Call of Duty 4, I've already played that game when it was Call of Duty! Nothing changed about it, except the graphics and eventually in the series, online play. Nothing else. Oh joy. Of course, the same thing can be said about any sequel, re-released game, or Halo wannabe. Yes, I said Halo wannabe: Nearly every FPS to have came out for a while seem to be about space marines or some guy trying to kill some sort of being that normally wouldn't exist (Turok). It's like every developer and their grandma are feverishly trying to kill Halo off by releasing their slightly altered clones of it. Killzone/Killzone 2 was supposed to be Sony's answer to Halo. While it's a moderately fun game with friends, its absolute bull in one player. (Provided, Killzone 2 wont be out till next year) The PSP, Sony's handheld is a block of garbage as well. Why would you want to watch an overpriced movie on that tiny screen anyway? Its about as bad as those GBA video things. Unless you homebrew your PSP, there's no point in even having it unless you just like wasting money. Hell, homebrewing that is a really big risk now, since it'll brick on you faster than you can spell "Screwed" should you mess up; leaving you with exactly what you bought: A very expensive paperweight. Speaking of bricking, god forbid you lose power while your PS3 is updated. It will brick on you, and it will brick good. Hopefully you're within warranty, if not, lulz.
Microsoft, seller of broken s**t decided to dip its rotting hand into the video game console scene. I never was a fan for Xbox or Microsoft to begin with, but I wont let it get in the way of my ranting. People keep saying that the hardcore gamers play the 360 and whatnot. Who the hell is 'hardcore' anyway, the people that waste all their time on Xbox Live playing Call of Duty 4? The people that sit there playing Gears of War all damn day? Uh.. WRONG. The hype around this machine is so blinding that people would pick the machine up without a second thought. It's been around the longest of the current generation consoles as well, so many people jumped on it as soon as it was available. Then, they felt the sting of buying Microsoft's broken goods: The machine scratches up the disks at times, just like the original Xbox did. Also, people began experiencing the infamous "Red Ring of Death", a seemingly console version of the "Blue Screen of Death" that Windows experiences. When the Red Ring hits your machine, its gone. Game over. Hopefully you were within the warranty, so you wont have to pay for repairs or another machine. A cousin of mine has gone through six, SIX of the machines. You cant say, "Ooh it's because you're playing it too long, you cant play it all day" Because that's not what the problem is. My cousin rarely ever played his 360. It's going to happen eventually until they fix the issue with the machine, which wont happen either. If it breaks, you buy a new one, they get more money. That's how Microsoft works. As far as the games go for the thing, there's literally none that I'd want to be bothered with, granted like all systems, there are some games worthy of a try. (In this case, Portal) Of course, Soul Calibur IV is also for the 360, but I'd rather try to swallow a bar stool than to use that controller for a fighting game. Before I forget, I'd like to mention that achievements do nothing for you. Most games have unlockables anyway, why you'd want something that proves you've unlocked it is beyond me.
Here we go, Nintendo. The longest running console making company, been around for years and years, starting with Hanafudo cards. The games released for their systems have always been somewhat charming, fun and challenging. I own a Wii currently, and a few games for the Wii, but this does not mean that I don't have anything bad to say about it. People whine about the graphics capability of the Wii not being as high as its competitors, but I'll get into this when I cover graphics in a different text wall. Mainly, people saw the Wii, and, because of the name, went Yay, or Nay. Now, they're going Nay for the huge amount of crappy party games, 'shovelware' and lack of third party games. This is Nintendo, so what would Nintendo be without beating their old series' to death? Twilight Princess, a game that was originally slated for the Gamecube came about. Granted the game is good, but what is it really? Ocarina of Time, slightly changed to include a wolf. That's it. I'm not fooled by this but the reader is probably wondering how I got this conclusion: Use a gimmick to help you collect stuff, slog through dungeons, defeat Ganondorf, save Zelda, avert crisis (Gimmick this game was the Wolf thing, as OoT was the whole time travel thing). Yeah, I definitely haven't done that before. The same thing can be said for Super Mario Galaxy, a good game, but the same game with a face lift. Super Smash Bros Brawl was announced, and people wet themselves. People reserved it, and slept outside to get ahold of it. I walk in a Target and buy one, no lines no nothing. Then boom, it was disappointing. I'm not as easily fooled as anyone else can be, but anyone can tell they took so much effort into the adventure mode, that everything else aside from free for all's seemed just.. For a lack of better words, Eh. There could've been so much more added to the game; stages, characters, music, but all of this was forshadowed by the adventure mode which eventually pulls a "play through the whole thing again to get everything." No. Another thing that's horrible about this was the online play. Lag lag lag: With anyone or with friends. Best bet is to play with friends locally to avoid the headache. Another thing people tend to pick on the Wii about is how its supposed to have motion sensitive controls, and how bad they are. The motion controls are only as bad as the game the person is playing. Red Steel is crap not just because the control is crap, its just crap period. Getting to Virtual Console now, if you really wanna spend your money on games you already have, make it the good games. Don't bother with stuff like Pinball and whatnot, you're only wasting your money. You'll have a much better time if you homebrew your Wii. Nintendo's portables have always been fun, the DS included. People tend to hate on the machine because of the graphics, and the touch control. If people didn't want to try new things, I'm pretty sure we wouldn't have televisions or phones. There's nothing wrong with the touch screen of the DS, and if there is, calibrate it, you dummy. While the system does have games on it I like, there's a plethora of s**t in the library as well like the Disney games and such. Homebrewing your DS however, is -so- much fun.
The computer, which many have hailed as the best gaming device ever, can only be the best gaming device if you've payed out your a** for it. For alot of games to run at a decent framerate, I hope you've got some money for a decent graphics card and such. Granted, the only games I bother with on the computer are Touhou games. The PC's pretty much known for the MMOs (I'll get into them later) and real time strategy games. There are also point and click adventures, as well of ports from consoles (Resident Evil 4, Call of Duty 4 for example). Thing is, if you have those games already, would you buy them again for the computer? Didn't think so.
Graphics don't make a game. Repeat: Graphics do -not- make the game. I don't care who you are. There could be a game that looks amazing, awesome explosion effects, water effects, the works. But then, the game is complete and utter s**t. What did you just buy? A DVD. Graphics help visually, but they aren't everything. I know too many a person that will say an awesome game sucks because of the graphical quality, and this is really a stupid mentality. Would you rather look at a game, or play the game? Personally, I'd rather play a game with 16bit graphics that had a nice story and gameplay, than play a current game that looks real, but is complete garbage. When someone said, "realistic graphics" and try to put this concept into reality, did they seriously mean that everything is shiny, including people, and the characters look like plastic? When they said "Realistic graphics" did they mean the overworld of a game has to look like its being viewed through a dirty coffee filter? I suppose they did, because that's exactly what they made. Moving on..
Final Fantasy. A tale of four light warriors, restoring light to four elemental crystals to break a one thousand year time loop. Woah wait, which one am I talking about?! It doesn't sound like it would have pointy yellow hair, or a long haired git with a long sword.. It must not be Final Fantasy. The first Final Fantasy was simple, and it gained a fan base. Soon after the first one, a group rebelled against an evil empire threatening to take over the land. The second Final Fantasy was reminiscent of The Empire Strikes Back, but that didn't stop the Japanese from eating it up. We did not get this game until around 2001 in Final Fantasy Origins. What we got was Final Fantasy IV for the SNES (Masked as Final Fantasy II), still, an excellent game. We also did not get III or V until recently, V for the PS1 and III on the DS. Both games were captivating and wonderful games, nostalgic to look back upon. Final Fantasy VI (III in the US, once again masked) came along and was seriously the best game of the series. Many characters, many back stories, an excellent plot, a vicious enemy.. It had everything that RPG fans could've wanted. Kefka and his epic laugh was seriously -the- most evil thing in a Final Fantasy ever, poisoning an entire town, destroying the world and commanding a death beam to incinerate towns at random, and even eventually becoming a god. When Final Fantasy VII came along, there was serious hype, as this was the first one to be in 3D. People were all over it, because of the graphics basically. The story isn't anywhere near that of VI's and the main villain is nothing compared to VI's. Sephiroth seriously had to have been what made the game for people: He wears all black and has long hair. He does absolutely nothing. Suppoably he destroyed some town or whatnot. Wow, the entire planet was destroyed in VI. He summoned the Meteor, which did nothing. What were people seeing in the game? Probably just the music, the only thing the game had going for it. I didn't like eight either, but it was decent enough, nine I liked because it was nostalgic and had many throwbacks to the original games.. Even Kuja in nine managed to destroy a planet, and people say he's a Sephiroth rip-off. (Lol, because Square recycles their character models so hard anyway) Eleven was a MMO, and twelve was a MMORPG, minus the MM, O, and the G. Twelve played itself, you just cart the characters around. There was no story either. The upcoming thirteen(s) will arrive soon for the fanboys.
MMORPGs and I don't get along. I'd rather not pay to work a second job that doesn't pay me back in return. What people see in these games is beyond me, let alone some of the free ones. A friend of mine once said about another friend, "He complains that nothing new ever comes on his free MMO, while I basically pay for quality." I basically just rolled my eyes, because he's paying for his game that wont pay him back, and the other friend has a free one that's not costing him a cent. Don't get me wrong now, the free ones aren't worth the trouble either, because these are clones of one game: World of Warcraft. All MMOs nowadays are clones of it, INCLUDING EVE online. Point, Click, Grind, Point, Click, Grind, Pay Money, Pay to be a member. zOMG should be no different, but I might hang around that because it will kill some boredom on Gaia, like how I'd play the Gaia Pinball at times.
I wasn't going to include this, but I'm going to have to anyway since I'm ranting, and that is the Naruto games are garbage. The only ones worth playing are the PS2 Ultimate Ninja series, and even those get boring after a while. Its not because of the voices, or how much I don't like the anime, but the fact that they throw the games together and sell them to make a quick dollar. Ninja Council games were a perfect example of this.
Then, there is emulation. Apparently, this has been the point of heated and stupid debate if its bad or not. Halfwits will say yes, others will say no. While yes it is pirating games, no one exactly cares. People pirate movies and music all the time, games are no exception. This didn't become suddenly a looked down upon thing until these random 14 year olds on the internet started whining about how it kills the gaming industry. Is the industry dead, dumbasses? No. People still buy their games and dont bother emulating anything, and even then the most people emulate are the old systems and games. Seriously, shut up about emulation already. You do it, good for you, you don't, good for you. No one wants to hear anyone else tell someone its bad or good, so keep the yap shut.
Hoo.. There you have it. This is my rant on why I dislike the current generation of consoles and some other stuff. These are my opinions again, and I'm entitled to them. Don't like it? Pff, you probably didn't even finish the whole rant. =P But if you did, I don't care to argue with you. For the record, I don't hate everything that I've mentioned, some of the games are pretty good, but that doesn't stop me from liking them or not. There are games that I do like, but I'm not looking forward to much other than Mega Man 9. Free 50 gold for me~ ;3
~Kuragari Ryo
Kuragari Ryo Community Member 
|
|
