Image By Flickr User: RoninKengo (cc)
Happy Easter everyone! It’s hard to believe that we’ve already departed March and made it to April, but it’s happened and with a new month comes a new report back from memory lane. For March I decided to return to Final Fantasy XIII, and it actually held up surprisingly pretty well!
Image by Flickr User: clubizarre (cc)
It’s been a week and a half now since we said goodbye to 2014, and I still haven’t quite gotten my head around the fact that the world has turned once again and left us at the bright beginning of a new year (just…wow!). So as you might imagine, I didn’t really know what I wanted to do for the new year. That’s changed now though. You see, a couple weeks ago I posted my “replay” list for Listmas; that is, the list of all the games I’d like to revisit someday. Like most years, the list continued to grow in 2014, because even though we had more problems and controversy than usual, it was still a year filled with plenty of new games worth playing. This new year is looking like it’s going to be even better, so I figured I’d take a page out of Simpleek’s book, and issue myself a challenge. That is, to fully complete at least one game on the replay list each month this year!
Continue reading Finally Getting Back To It!
tImage by Flickr user: cinz (cc)
Merry Listmas everyone! So psyched to be doing this again! Strange thinking that we’re almost at the end of 2014 isn’t it? This year just flew by in a whirlwind of high-profile releases and just as many controversies. Bugged launches and disappointments abounded this latter half of the year, and while I did enjoy the games I played I could help but find myself looking back at the games of years gone by. I’ve been thinking about revisiting quite a few of them lately , so why not make a list? That’s what Listmas is all about right?
1. The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
This game has been calling my name like no other lately, so I can’t wait to take up the mantle of the dovahkiin once more. I’m going on 2 years since having put it down now, perhaps the time to return has finally come; this time as a sneaky Argonian mage!
2. Assassins Creed II
There was a time when I called myself a fan of Assassin’s Creed, and was all because of this game. True the controls are now dated compared to the current entries into the series, but I still think this is the pinnacle of he franchise! It’s an open world, but with little of that same-iness that found in so many modern games. Assassinations, platforming, mind-bending puzzles, a plot that’s actually interesting. It’s all there, just waiting to be experienced anew!
3. Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood
Also known as Assassin’s Creed: 2.5. This one still has all the good of Assassin’s Creed 2…just less of it. I’m mostly looking forward to the Assassin training and stealth missions when time comes to pop it in the ol’ 360 again.
4. Final Fantasy III (aka Final Fantasy VI)
Okay, I’m cheating a little bit here since I’ve never actually played this game. I’ve just been hearing its praises for so long that I’ve decided that 2015 will be the year I finally bite the bullet and dig into it! I even went so far as to get the actual cartridge for my Super Nintendo! All that’s left is to get started…
5. Final Fantasy XIII
Going through this is a matter of just finishing it this time. See, I got the game back when it came out and was actually very much a fan of the combat system. The problem was that I just wasn’t very good at it. I got as far as Barthandelus and could progress no farther…well not until I “adjusted” my save file that is. It’s not the best Final Fantasy I’ve played, but I just don’t like the fact that it beat me. That changes next year!
6. Final Fantasy XIII-2
Similar situation with this one. However, rather than getting stuck on fight, this was a case of the story completely losing me and me losing my interest as a result. Still have the game, so if I’m going to go through the trouble of beating the first one I’m thinking I should take this one one too while I still have the momentum going.
7. Final Fantasy XIII: Lightning Returns
Seems like there’s a bit of a pattern here isn’t there? Yup, I didn’t finish this one either. Unlike the other two though, I’m not sure what cause me to put this one down. It came out around the time Infamous: Second Son did, so I must have just gotten distracted. This one can’t site any longer though, I really love the streamlined combat (that and being able to wield the Buster Sword again!) so having this one site unfinished is just unacceptable!
8. Batman: Arkham Asylum
There’s another Arkham game coming down the pike and sadly I can’t seem to muster very much excitement for it. After Arkham City and Arkham Origins, it looks like Arkham games are going to continue following an open-world model. That’s fine and all, but to me they will never be as good as Arkham Asylum’s carefully crafted encounters and tight, focused plot. It’s time once again to take up the ol’ cape ‘n cowl in the Batman’s first and best last gen outing.
9. Super Metroid
Yeah…I haven’t played this one yet either. All of my knowledge of this one is cobbled together from what I’ve read on the internet and for a Metroid fan, well that just can’t stand. I’ve played every major entry in the franchise except what is arguably the most important one. Need to fix that…
10. The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask
Simply put, Majora’s Mask is my game. I could probably play through it 50 more times and still not get tired of it! This is the one and only game I make sure to revisit every year, so of course I’m gonna include it here!
With four Final Fantasy games on here getting though all these might wind up being a tall order, but then again just getting through a game really isn’t the point is it? This next year is going to be great!
—
What games are you planning on replaying next year?
Image By Flickr User: Al Pavangkanan (cc)
With Thanksgiving having come and gone this week, I thought I’d look back at a few of the games I’m most grateful to have had the chance to play over the years. Like the Duck of Indeed, there’s more than a few games on that list: The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past for getting me started, Super Mario 64 and Kingdom Hearts for fueling the fire, and Mass Effect for making me want to do more with gaming than just playing the games. Those are the major ones to be sure, but as I thought about I realized that there’s also several games that taught me how to be a better t player. With that in mind, I’d just like to say I’m thankful for Final Fantasy XIII!
Not long ago, I published a post discussing what I like and dislike about the Wii, and seeing as the next console of this particular generation that I bought was the XBox 360, it makes sense for Microsoft’s console to be the subject of the second post in this series. It’s a funny thing, though, how I got this console in the first place, because I am more of a PlayStation fan than an XBox fan, so it would stand to reason that I would have been much more inclined to purchase a console made by Sony over one made by Microsoft. Unfortunately, at the time, the PS3 was much too expensive, and it didn’t have any games I really cared for yet that weren’t already on the 360 (this was obviously before I became a “Ratchet and Clank” fan…). Since the games I wanted at that time were all on the 360, plus that console would also allow me to play any new “Halo” games, this became the next console I added to my gaming family.
And when I first started playing the 360, I was immediately impressed with the graphics, which were way ahead of the Wii, and even though the first two games I played were not as good as I was expecting (“Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts and Bolts” and “Sonic the Hedgehog”, the 2006 version, shudder, gag, shiver), I did have a good time playing “Halo 3” (even though it was short) and “Final Fantasy XIII” (despite its flaws), the latter of which came with my console. (I even got this little waste of time thing on one end of the console that says “Final Fantasy XIII” on it. Jealous?) Plus, I was just pretty thrilled that this new XBox had “Final Fantasy” games as part of its library now, as during the last generation, only the PS2 had such an honor. My game collection was further improved with the addition of “Halo: Reach” and “Halo 4”, which were awesome, and I even had the pleasure of expanding my game library with over 40 Sega Genesis games on “Sonic’s Ultimate Genesis Collection”. In the end, I ended up really enjoying my 360, and I loved it way more than the original XBox. And now, anymore of my thoughts on this console will be listed below. (As usual, my main focus is on gaming, not the other features the 360 has to offer, and extra info was found on Wikipedia.) Continue reading The Duck Discusses the Wii, 360, and PS3 Generation: Part 2-360 Boxes
Today’s addition to my little glitch series is a common one, when things just mysteriously vanish. Mysteriously.
Sometimes, the world falls apart around you: This happens in “Spyro” games I played on the Cube. For me, it was quite common in “Spyro: Enter the Dragonfly” for the ground to disappear in the second world, the farm level. So I’m walking along, and then the ground is just suddenly gone, wheat and barns and scarecrows, not to mention little, purple dragon, floating in midair. No harm is done, but it’s rather frightening to see oblivion right there below you. And once Spyro was riding an elevator down from Cloudy Domain in “Spyro: A Hero’s Tail”, and the world decided to disappear from below him, leaving just an expanse of yellow. Rather worried at the apparent coming of Armageddon taking place below me, I had no choice but to continue riding the elevator down. It eventually arrived on the ground, and everything was now black, except for Spyro, the elevator, and a distant Moneybags’ shop. Unsure of what to do, I attempted to glide towards that shop, my single beacon of hope in a world apparently come to an end. Here, Spyro did not meet any invisible ground. He fell to his doom. And I reset the game and rode that elevator nevermore. Continue reading Glitches Involving a Disappearing Act, With no Magicians Responsible
I have been hearing rather often over the years a lot of people saying that a game is terrible because it is different from other games in its respective series, such as the belief that “Final Fantasy XIII” and “The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask” are bad games because they stray from the expected. I am here to challenge that.
In some ways, I understand this notion. When we grow to love a series, it can be disappointing when a game comes along that is different. I love the “Rayman” series, particularly the gameplay of the second and third main installments, but now they’ve decided to make the next few games side-scrolling like the original. This does upset me quite a bit, as I loved “Rayman 2” and “3” (while at the same time tolerating the exceeding silliness of the latter), and I want more like them. At the same time, the side-scrolling “Rayman Origins” from a couple years ago was a really fantastic game, and I’m sure the upcoming “Legends” will be, as well, but at the risk of being very corny, my heart yearns for another “Rayman 2”. It yearns, people. I don’t like these recent changes, even if they are not bad, because I like what I have grown accustomed to. At the same time, in no way can I say “Origins” was a bad game, despite its differences from my favorite version of “Rayman” gameplay. It saddens me in some ways, while also providing me with a whole new way to have good, old “Rayman” joy. Continue reading Is a Game Bad Just Because It’s Different?
