Bite Size 2008: Except, Now It’s 2009

Bite Size 2008 is my wrap-up of moments in games from the past calendar year. The last post in the series, I look into the crystal ball and try to see my gaming future. Check out this listing for the rest of my Bite Size 2008 posts!

Playing Through Classics

I had a span of time in my life where I played literally nothing but JRPGs and watched a shit ton of anime. I played a few other games, but not too many, and those that I did tended to come out of Japan. While the Final Fantasies and Star Oceans were nice then, I missed out on a lot. Hell, I even missed out on JRPGs because I spent most of my attention on Final Fantasy games. Late in the PS2 life cycle, when people started buying Xbox 360s and I was down in the dumps because I could not afford one, I started playing catch up, and I got into the God of War games, and Shadow of the Colossus, and some others, however, this quest was hampered by my purchase of a 360 to call my own. So, with a still growing list of games I should have played, and a bit of a drought in the beginning of 2009, I will be playing some classics. If you look to the “Currently Playing” bar on the right, you’ll see I’ve got Prince of Persia: Sands of Time, Metal Gear Solid and Half-Life all in there. I grabbed 2/3 of the Sands of Time trilogy as well as Metal Gear 2: Substance and 3: Subsistence during a recent Gamestop sale for 25% off used PS2 games, MGS off of eBay, and HL during the anniversary sale on Steam where it was only a dollar. I’m also going to be borrowing a copy of Hitman: Agent 47 for the PC from a friend of mine so I can check that out as well. I’ve got plenty of catching up to do, but really, I’m not complaining.

 

2008: The Asteroid Belt Year in Gaming

Yes, an asteroid belt. There were big titles and small titles flying by, and you could only hit so many of them. I tried to play all that I could, but I still lagged behind. I started Dead Space in 2008, and it just came to me from Gamefly yesterday, so I plan on finishing it in 2009. I never even got around to touching Mirror’s Edge, Saint’s Row 2, or Far Cry 2. Since Far Cry has seen a price drop recently, I expect that one to be the first one I see of those. I did manage to start and finish the new Prince of Persia in five or six days though, which was interesting considering I was playing Sands of Time right before that. I’d also like to sink my teeth into a PS3 this year, although the purist in me will scour eBay for a 60 GB looking for a new home, since I’d like Emotion Engine backwards compatibility. When that day comes, though, I’ll look forward to playing all of it’s big hits: MGS4 (providing I’ve made it through the others at that point), LittleBigPlanet, Heavenly Sword, Uncharted, etc. The theme of 2009 for me seems to be “Playing Catch-Up”. It’s where I’ll probably see the most bang for my buck in my Gamefly membership.

 

Downloadable to my Heart’s Content

There’s plenty of downloadable content coming out in these next few months to get me back into my favorites of 2008. I just finished up the Knothole Island DLC today for Fable 2. That was a bit of a wash, with one achievement that required three hours of slaying civilians and sleeping in order to get a certain vendor to spawn selling a certain item. That was a pain in the ass, but I also felt like I was robbed out of my $10. I actually felt like the Jedi Temple DLC for Star Wars carried a little more weight than this. I won’t let that spoil DLC for me, since I still have the three packs of Fallout 3 DLC, as well as The Lost and the Damned for GTA4, and some DLC apparently coming for Left 4 Dead as well. There’s some MSP spent across the board, so let’s hope it’s all worth the points.

 

 

What the Calendar Year Holds

Well, I already know I won’t be seeing a Final Fantasy this year, so there’s about 100 hours of my life that I get to retain in 2009, but I’ve already stated enough other projects to keep me busy. This year looks to have some interesting titles, but nothing even in the realm of the Fallout 3/Fable 2/GTA4 caliber. Sure, Resident Evil 5 is going to be good, but it is hard to be the sequel to one of the greatest games of all time. Lord of the Rings: Conquest just hit this week, and I’ll be checking that out, though I’m afraid it won’t have the same type of impact that Star Wars: Battlefront 2 did. My friend Joe and I have spent countless hours playing Battlefront 2. We love it so much, when I hooked my PS2 up to my LCD via component cables, and the LCD started dropping the signal during battles to the point where it was unplayable, I ended up buying an Xbox copy so we could play it on the 360 and it’s HDMI cable. There’s always the looming possibility that Battlefront III will be released, but I’m not getting my hopes up for that. If I get that PS3 I’m looking towards, then there’s Killzone 2 and Uncharted 2 coming along for that. However, that’s all dreams and aspirations, so who knows where that is in the grand scheme of things. Let’s hope 2009 brings another good year, even if things don’t look so hot now.

 

Done with this series! With the new semester starting, maybe I’ll have some insightful commentary on… something. Cheers, let’s have a good year of gaming.

Bite Size 2008: Lasting Impressions

Bite Size 2008 is my wrap-up of moments in games from the past calendar year. This is the grand poo-bah of the series with my memories of my favorite games of the year. All of these experiences comprise some of the most fun I’ve had playing videogames in the year, and roughly the most of my gaming life. These aren’t in any order, because if you were to ask me to pick just one, I could not. Check out this listing for the rest of my Bite Size 2008 posts!

Reloading!

The Left 4 Dead demo did exactly what a demo should do for a game: it got my friends and I excited to play it. The day the demo hit the marketplace, the first question on everyone’s lips was to ask whether the rest of us had downloaded the demo. We spent a night that weekend playing the demo on split-screen, passing around the controllers. Everyone got a turn, and everyone loved it. I know the game is primarily made for online multiplayer, but a social multiplayer event like we had is something to show the game’s merits. It’s just as much fun to watch as it is to participate in a scenario. Although only one of those friends and I ended up ponying up the cash for the full retail game, it’s still fun to have a couple of people over enjoying the game and the entertainment that it is able to provide.

 

 

Welcome Back to Your Old Home

I’ve already written about Fable II, and so have tons of other people across the web.I’ve commented on the narrative and the characters and the matter of choice. Nowhere did the matters of choice become so prevalent as they did when I swung off the market square in Bowerstone and headed for Bowerstone Old Town. (Spoiler ahead) When my character was simply Little Sparrow, I made the choice to return the deeds, and help the police officer clean up the area. When I returned many years later, I found that the city was bright and sparkling, and the envy of all of Bowerstone. The vendors all cut me significant discounts (which I abused thanks to a General Store shortage), and I was glad to see that the deeds that I did had ramifications that changed an entire city area. It was because of this I saved up until I could buy my first house in the game in Bowerstone Old Town, just because I felt like it was where my character belonged. These were his streets, his people. It gave me a sense of belonging in the world that few other RPGs recreate.

 

Peace Out Playboy

The theme of the year was freedom of choice in videogames. It was a mantra we heard so many press events and developer interviews spout, we hardly had a choice but to hear it. In a year where narrative really took center stage, and allowed the players to shape their worlds in their own manners, the role of the characters in games became even more prominent. Some of my favorite characters of the year came out of Grand Theft Auto IV. My friends and I still quote lines from Roman and Little Jacob, even though most of us finished the game months ago. Almost all of us picked it up on release day, or shortly thereafter. However, I still remember the night we all gathered at our local diner and the conversation came to GTA. Most specifically, whether we killed Dwayne or Playboy X. While we were split (and some of us going so far as to say there was a “right” answer), it showed that games could create a real sense of realism in how we believed these characters. Niko Bellic and company showed us what some real human emotion can do for a story, and it brought my friends and I back to these same discussions every time we had to make a choice like this in the game. Despite some frustrating missions, this was truly one of the best gaming experiences I’ve ever had.

 

Breaking into the Shed was a Bad Idea

I’ve already mentioned that I almost hated Fallout 3. Then, I turned around and showed my love for it by creating an in-depth character planning sheet. I may have knocked it a bit when comparing it to Fable II, but when it all comes down to it, I have nothing but love for Fallout 3 and it is easily my #1 game of the year. The world had a lot to see and a lot to do, and it really rewarded players who had that little bit of gumption to color outside the lines, as Mitch Krpata pointed out recently. What I enjoyed was stumbling a little town on the map called Andale. Located in the central Southern area of the map, Andale is a small town with a few buildings, and a couple of families worth of inhabitants with an extremely bright outlook on life. To them, Andale is the best place in the world. However, you realize how far wrong they are once you enter the shed in the backyard. It gives you a glimpse of how people are surviving in the Capital Wastelands, and what it takes for some of them to make ends meet. At that point, you feel sorry for them, and for everyone else in the Wastes since you see how hard it is for people to survive. Moments like these made Fallout 3 an engaging game, and my game of the year.

Next: What 2009 will bring for me, if nothing else.

Hero’s Best Friend

Fable 2 managed to grab me because of its world, and that kept me interested in the story, which got me involved with the characters, namely, my fellow Heroes. Or, at least I tried to get involved with them. Since the support characters are very sparse, and exist only within the story based missions, you would think that they’d take this opportunity to flesh them out and give them a greater place in the world. I found myself gaining no attachment to the other heroes in the story, even when they were in jeopardy. The only one I felt I really knew was Hammer, only because she was around the longest, and the most vocal. Even Theresa only seemed to serve the role of a quest-giver. This is really a disappointment, because I felt like I knew more about the final villain than my teammates, and there we were fighting his troops together.

However, the one character I really gained some feelings for was my dog. Since I was good, my dog was a blonde color, so he was aptly named Luke. Not as in Duke, but as in Skywalker. He ran when I ran. He fought when I fought. When he got hurt, I healed him. We played fetch together. He aided me in my expressions (and covered his head with his paws for others). Overall, though, I felt as if this in-game dog really captured the spirit of a real dog. Unlike Fallout 3’s Dogmeat, who instead had the spirit of a party member. I found myself spending more time healing Dogmeat than I did caring for him. The plus side to Fable 2’s dog is that you don’t have to tell him anything. He automatically finds his treasures and barks for my attention. Dogmeat just attacked anything that was near, and getting him to find ammo or health was more of a chore than anything (and because of this, I rarely used him for this purpose). The fact that Luke waited by my side as my hero grew, and that he ran to greet me at the docks as I returned from a quest showed me that he cared for me before I even began to care for him. I applaud Peter Molyneux and his crew for creating the most inspired character in this year of gaming, and possibly one of the most emotionally realistic support characters of all time.

Until I am able to venture forth to Knothole Island, this is all I’ve got on Fable 2 for now. Coming up soon: My thoughts on 2008.

The Choices are Yours and Yours Alone

First off, I promised things and then went silent, and to that, I apologize. I know my number of readers is still scant, but it doesn’t change the fact that I felt bad about it. However, I didn’t realize how much family-related stuff I had to do for the holidays until it was already upon me. However, I’m finally back to gaming and with that, thinking about games. Back to the regularly unscheduled programming, I guess. Once again, here I go with a topic past it’s point of discussion, this time, Fable 2.

I’m wrapping up Fable 2 tonight, after writing this post. I finished the main quest earlier this evening, and just have to mop up some achievements and then I’ll be done wit it. Overall, I’ve taken away a lot of enjoyment from the game. I don’t feel like writing up a full review, since I realize my reviews tend to focus on some things more than others, and have a very subjective taste. So, instead, I’m going to throw up a few posts about various parts of the game.

The story was interesting enough to keep me interested when I was doing the main quest missions, yet, I felt like the main quest was too far removed from the rest of the game. Many of the main quests operated in their own sections totally removed from the rest of the world, and their number was really quite scant when compared to the number of missions in the game. It was really just like three or four missions for the main quest. One could easily blow through the story missions in a long day of playing and be done with the game, if they felt so inclined. Several of the story missions really serve a basic purpose of advancing the game’s time so that your decisions can be reflected in the game world, since your character is removed from the world for a period of years.

While I knew going in to the game that choice would make a big deal, as it has with so many other games this year, I really didn’t realize that this time, the choices would affect how I felt about the world. In Fallout 3, your choices are really restricted to character development or mission based actions, and rarely do they have an overarching affect on the entire atmosphere of the world outside of Three Dog’s radio broadcasts. However, I felt like my actions changed the way the world felt in Fable. When I invested money to develop Westcliffe and came back a few years later, I felt like my actions meant something to the world, not just to the mission. The closest mission to this in Fallout 3 was the mission where you can either help the slaves kill their former owner, or lead the slavers to them. In that sense, it was like you were helping to establish a settlement and help the world develop. In Fable 2, every action feels like that. Whether you decide to build it up or tear it down, you feel like the world is really being shaped by your hands.

Since I took the route of a good character, I got a genuinely good feeling with each time a passerby said something positive about me. As much as I hated the hordes of people crowding around every time I walked into a building and caused problems with exiting, I knew it was because I was a real hero that they seemed to genuinely love. That created a real compelling atmosphere for the world and made me genuinely want to save it. To be honest, I can’t say I’ve felt that way about a game world since the first time I played Chrono Trigger. With that in mind, it is an awesome season to be gaming when I can be playing both Fable 2 and Chrono Trigger as new releases. More to come on Fable 2 later.