A Gaming Diary
Archive for April, 2009
Phantasy Star Portable (PSP)
Apr 20th
Well, I’ve been playing some more. I think I’ve worked out that MAGs are now support items for magic users, more or less, which means I won’t be using them. That’s a shame. I like having a little guy hovering over my shoulder. On the plus side, I’ve changed class from ranger to gunmaster, which should help. I’ve also noticed that the sword I often use (because it doesn’t consume PP) actually fires projectiles when I swing it, which is pretty awesome.
GTA IV: The Lost and Damned (360)
Apr 19th
Didn’t get to play my big consoles long this morning, so rather than put on Valkyria Chronicles, I decided on some GTA. I finally managed to do the pipe bomb mission I’d been a little bit stuck on, which was nice.
The main reason I wanted to play, though, is that I’m finding it hard to stop thinking about GTA IV. Over the last few weeks, a thought has been nagging at me.
The thought: “GTA IV is better than Doom.”
Astounding, bizarre and even heretical, that thought. Doom has been my favourite game of all time (and thus the best game ever) for fifteen years now. Nothing’s ever come close to replacing it over the long term. But GTA IV has been nagging at me. Every time I play it it astonishes me. And maybe that astonishment is more about the world and the graphics engine and less about the core game, but so be it.
Doom is perfect, in its way. There’s no flab, nothing but pure, core brilliant game. GTA IV isn’t perfect. It’s got mess, loose ends, annoyances and oddities aplenty. But, but, but… maybe, sometimes, isn’t a glorious mess just, you know, better? I’ll take London, which has grown over centuries over any neat planned community. And maybe I’ll take Liberty City over a base on Mars.
I don’t know, but when it’s the middle of the night and the rain’s lashing down and the flames from a burned-out van are blowing in the wind, GTA IV seems to be making its case in the most eloquent manner.
Civilization Revolution (DS)
Apr 19th
I played this when I got it at launch, but didn’t get on with it at all, due mainly to an interface I could just not get my head around.
I thought I’d try it again, though, just in case I’d been wrong. I think I’ve come to terms with the interface now – I’m using the buttons as much as possible now – but I’m still not convinced. You just can’t see much of the map at a time and the units are hard to tell apart.
Still, impressions are better than they were first time I tried, so there’s definitely hope.
Pokemon Platinum (DS)
Apr 19th
I’ve put in ten hours now. I’ve liberated the windworks from the evil Team Galactic and have fought my way through Eterna Forest. I guess I’ve got a gym to do next. I hope I’m strong enough – I’ve been doing a lot of quite tedious levelling up. At least, though, my Abra finally evolved into something useful.
Phantasy Star Portable (PSP)
Apr 19th
Going away next week, which is a good excuse for a new handheld game. There are three reasons why I decided on this.
1) It’s new.
2) Nostalgia, based on playing Phantasy Star Online on the Dreamcast.
3) I wanted something like Monster Hunter, but less hardcore, for want of a better word.
I agonised over what type of character to create and decided on a CAST (i.e. robot) ranger (i.e. shooty guy). I’m not regretting the decision yet, so hopefully it was a good one. There’s a lot to take in, with different parts and items and upgrades and a million shops and different types of mission, etc. I think I’m getting it though. Except my character level and ranger level seem to be different, which I don’t quite get.
My main trouble at the moment is the controls. Specifically, the lock on for enemies seems to be very sensitive and doesn’t work in quite the way I think it should. I’m getting more used to it, but it’s a bit weird.
It’s a bit early to say whether or not I like it, but going to down to a bright green planet and shooting some monsters certainly gave me the nostalgia fix I was looking for, even if it’s not online.
Valkyria Chronicles (PS3)
Apr 18th
Wow. Chapter seven is when things start getting serious, then.
It’s a pretty epic battle. There’s a huge tank that’s covered in guns and which you can only hit during certain turns, which is hard enough. But after you do some damage to the tank, Severina (I think that’s here name) turns up – and she can kill all my troops without any effort whatsoever. What had been a reasonably easy battle – after one attempt during which I got completely killed very early due to not knowing what the heck was going on – became a real struggle for survival.
Vyse had to run round the battlefield rescuing fallen soldiers while my tank tried to keep between him and Severina so he didn’t die, while my tank and remaining lancers concentrated on the enemy tank. Any spare CP went to bringing more troops on to the battlefield.
It was touch and go, but I managed not to lose anyone permanently. Vyse was the only “dead” soldier on the battlefield at the end of the battle, but it seems that winning the battle counts as a rescue. Phew.
Anyway, the hero of the battle was Walter, whose anti-armour potential meant that I managed to destroy the tank. One more turn and I’d probably have been toast.
So, I ended up with a B rank and a whole lot of money and experience to spend. Hooray!
I’ve become quite attached to some of my troops. Vyse, Walter, Dallas and Melville are all favourites of mine, for reasons I couldn’t really explain.
Left 4 Dead (360)
Apr 18th
Pew pew! Last night I played Versus with friends for the first time. Very different experience from playing with random types. After a couple of levels where we got completely destroyed, I got more used to the tactics needed and we started working together better and actually won the last couple of rounds. An excellent experience all round and great fun – even if I didn’t get to be the tank.
I think my favourite thing is successfully vomiting on the survivors. It’s hard to do, but a good vomit makes me happy.
OutRun Online Arcade (360)
Apr 18th
A huge event in my OutRun life last night. I tried manual gears for the first time. Mainly to see if I could improve my Time Trial times with them. While they’re a lot easier to use than I was expecting, I’m finding it hard to recover when things go wrong. I might be able to improve my times with a bit of practice, but I’m some way behind that so far. It’s interesting, anyway – and I got an Achievement for using them.
Animal Crossing: Let’s Go To The City (Wii)
Apr 18th
Um, right, so I’m trying to think of something that happened last night. Anything. Just one thing. Um… oh, I caught a peacock butterfly. There were other things going on, but I can’t remember any of them.
