A Gaming Diary
Archive for December, 2005
Dragon Quest VIII
Dec 31st
Well, I’m home on New Year’s Eve as a result of plans falling through and the Tube strike, but I don’t really mind because it’s given me more time to play Dragon Quest VIII, which is quite incredibly excellent for no obvious reason.
I mean, the music is superb and the graphics are lovely, but as far as I can tell it’s not doing anything more than millions of other RPGs. In fact, the story is actually weaker than most RPGs. So why’s it so playable, joyous and addictive?
I have no idea whatsoever. It’s very strange. Must be secret herbs and spices, or something.
Animal Crossing: Wild World
Dec 31st
Tortimer gave me some party poppers.
Woo. Great.
New animal’s moved into town. He’s an aging, grey-haired bear called Curt. Name and nature, like.
Fishing’s rubbish today. No hint of anything good.
And I got a terrible new haircut that makes me look like a old Etonian fop.
Tony Hawk’s American Sk8land
Dec 30th
Well, deKay set up a ‘skate crew’ today, so I’ve sent in a request to join.
As my stats were utterly humiliating I decided to play it for a while to improve my scores. Now they’re only very humilating.
Result!
Dragon Quest VIII
Dec 30th
I cannot think of a single thing to stay about this game…
Um…
It looks very nice…
And…
Monster designs in particular are wonderful…
Er…
It’s very playable…
And…
Very traditional…
And…
Um…
Nope, there’s really nothing to say about it at all. Except maybe to moan about having to go back to town to find a save point. But that’s less of an issue now I have spells that let me teleport around. (Not that I’ve used them much, unless one of the party’s dead I tend to run everywhere so I can get some more of that lovely, lovely XP.)
Dragon Quest VIII
Dec 30th
Popped it in for a ‘quick go’ that lasted well over three hours.
Seems like a decent RPG, if nothing very special yet, but the almost complete lack of save points is an act of utterly idiocy which may well mean I don’t play it much once I’m back into a normal routine and not sat on holiday.
Why can’t we at least have a suspend option if there are any actual reasons for us not saving anywhere we want?
Quake 4 Demo
Dec 30th
Oh dear. Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear.
Just downloaded this demo for the 360. Now, it seems like it might be a nice straight up blaster, but it’s difficult to tell.
The single player doesn’t seem to allow saving and doesn’t feature check points. Which means that every time you die you have to do back to the beginning of the game… and watch the lengthy, unskippable, deeeply boring cut scene again. I sat through it twice before I just couldn’t stand it any more.
So I tried multiplayer. Jumped straight into a game, which took a while to set up and seemed to be over in seconds, but which was fun enough for a first go. And then the demo refused to connect to any more games and came up with annoying error messages which, helpfully, said “There has been an error” without giving any details.
So I quit out and turned the 360 off. As I said, then, Quake 4 might be decent, but the demo’s bloody rubbish.
Animal Crossing: Wild World
Dec 29th
Seems Apollo from Cheese has moved into Teacozy. I’ve introduced myself, but haven’t really talked to him yet.
Kody’s left Venture now, but nobody’s moved in to replace him yet.
Joe and Dusty came to visit today, as well as p’anther, so we had a full four-person town and the game didn’t crash. Incredible.
Condemned Demo
Dec 29th
Found out online that this was available to download, so I started up the 360 and downloaded it while I watched Cheers.
By the time it had finished, the demo was ready to play. Live Marketplace is great, it really is.
But is Condemned?
Well, it seems rather good, actually. Quite spooky, very dirty and nicely violent. My only concern is that I’m not sure how long it would stay spooky – the effect of strange noises and things moving in the shadows was starting to wear off by the end of the demo, even. Still, I was impressed.
Demo hasn’t persuaded me to spend fifty quid on it, but once it reaches twenty quid I may well pick it up.
Animal Crossing: Wild World
Dec 29th
So, I was excited this morning because Nook’s has been upgraded and now has a hair salon. I got a nice everyday cut. Nothing to fancy or difficult to manage.
Then I bought all of Nook’s flowers and planted them around town.
And I can’t wait to visit Teacozy today because I’ve got two spare apato fossils and I know Wolfgang is collecting them.
So, I’d like to know, WHAT IS THIS GAME DOING TO ME?!?
Need For Speed: Most Wanted
Dec 28th
Another boss down.
Only got a paltry ten gamer points for defeating her.
Ah well, it’s the winning that counts, not the prize.
