Halo: Reach?!

(Most of this is based off what my friend Michael has told me, so bear with me!)

So I'm pretty sure if you're reading this right now, you know something about videogames. And if you know anything at all, you've heard of Halo: Reach, which came out on the 14th.

Apparently this game is the best thing since peanut butter. (Thumbs up if you get that reference.)

So the online community has basically exploded since Reach came out; everyone wants to play this game! And why not? Though not my favorite, Halo is still a pretty good series. And get this! It's the LAST Halo. What I had heard was "the last Halo by Bungie", but apparently they aren't selling the rights or anything. Just not making any more Halo games. Kind of sad, but they had to let it go sometime, I suppose.

Anyway, is this one worth it? I'd love to know, sounds like it is...

(Also, apparently if you pre-order games at Best Buy, you get a $20 gift card. Guess it doesn't count after the game has come out, though.....)

STUPID PUBERTY!

So I started to watch FMA: Brotherhood today. First thing out of my mouth was "AL YOUR VOICE!"

Aaron Dismuke, that cutie patutie who voiced Al through the entire first series and movie? Puberty. No more Al.

Know who it is now?

A GIRL.

This is worse than the time I found out Ash Ketchum was ALWAYS voiced by a woman.

Sorry Al, I just can't take you seriously anymore. D:



RIP Al Voice
2003-2004
We miss you!

REAL UPDATE!

This is actually news about games! (Actually I just watched X-Play on G4, but still!)

OK, what hit me was Halo: Reach. Looks good! But is it really the last Halo? Or just he last from Bungie? Anyway, Reach is a prequal where you play as one of the guys from something before the thing. I'm sorry, I'm not that into Halo... I'd rather be playing Left 4 Dead.

There was another game, too... Crackdown 2 I think. Anyway, they gave it a 4 out of 5, but having never played it before, I'm not so sure. From the sounds of it, it's mostly a copy of the first game. Worth the money? If you liked the first one, sure, but I personally wouldn't buy it.

I can explain...

I feel kind of bad now. I almost never update here anymore. I haven't played many games lately, played FFXIII for about an hour. I was going, then I saved and noticed the time and date were wrong and after fixing it, I didn't feel like turning it back on.

Anyway, Anime Expo was what, last week? Anyway, IGN did a cosplay segment on it, and it's made me realize I've only been dabling in this world, since I don't know about half of the costumes. Still nice to look at though! Check it out here.

And whoa, has blogger changed for anyone? It feels different for me. (And yeah, I changed the blog name AGAIN. This one's probably going to stick though. Maybe.)

Happy E3!

It's that time of year again! (Which is actually a bit earlier than last year, if I remember right.) E3 has come and gone, sadly, all too soon. I'm not going to fool around searching for stuff, so here's what I remember most.

Nintendo really threw down this year. They unveiled the 3DS, proving that there are more variations to the DS system than flavors at Baskin Robins. This one might be good though, with the 3D graphics. I don't know specifics, but supposedly it's 3D without the glasses, which may or may not work out for them. But more importantly, what do they preview with the 3DS? A new Kid Icarus! It's about time angel boy got some respect again. Another downside, though, is that the game looks like it's only going to be on the 3DS, not compatible with the older DS systems. I would love to play the game, but I'm not going to buy an entirely new system for it when I've got one remarkably similar that still works fine. I was also really excited about the new Zelda game. Sure, it looks pretty good (graphics could've been better) but I noticed a little lag on the Wii, which could majorly affect the game.

Probably what I'm most excited about is the Metal Gear Solid: Rising game. If you watch the trailer, you know what I'm talkin about. That watermelon didn't stand a chance. Secondly would be Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood. A continuation to ACII (which had a total WTF ending), Ezio is now, unfortunately, old. Oldish. Actually not really that old. Vic Mignogna is 47 and he's still hot. Anyway, this looks like it'll be well worth the wait due to a new multiplayer mode. Female assassins! Power to the women! Although without X-Box Live (or PSN, whichever one you're on) the multiplayer would probably be a LOT harder to appreciate.

*FREE PORTAL!*

Yeah, you read that right! Steam's now in cahoots with Mac, so to celebrate, you can download Portal for the low low price of FREE for Mac or PC! Check that out here.

I gotta tell you, though, it'll take about an hour or so to download, and I'm on DSL, so I pity tha fool with dial-up. Other things include having to install the Steam program and some drivers, which isn't much, and making an actual account with Steam, also not much. In other words, they'll make you work a bit for it, if nothing else. I gotta check my computer over, though, since I can pull up the game, get to the Valve logo screen, and it'll crash. I'm more of a software person so I have no idea if I'm missing RAM or something. You do however, need DirectX 9 for it to work, so go update if you ain't got it.

Still can't get Portal? Here's one of my favorite things on the internet: Flash Portal! Go to a website called yousaytoo.com to get it past a blocking program, such as when you're at school. There are also a lot of other cool games there, like both the Impossible Quizzes, Super Mario Bros., and Tetris! Happy gaming, y'all!

Zombies Saved My (Gaming) Life!

I recently came into a copy of Left 4 Dead 2, via my brother. I just have to say...

WHERE HAS THIS BEEN ALL MY LIFE?!

Yes, L4D made me remember why I love sitting at home for hours on end in front of the TV with my 360. Unfortunately, those hours on end are more like an hour and a half right now since I've got a cold. But some's better than none, right?

Basically if you've played Halo, you can play L4D. It's actually kind of the same, only with zombies instead of aliens. Why doesn't Halo give me the same satisfaction? Don't ask me, I'm mildly insane like that. I mean, even Final Fantasy was having it's downfalls. For some reason, there's something about some of my games that made me not want to play.

Hey, y'know what? I feel like I'm talking too much when I could be killing zombies or watching cartoon ninjas. Happy gaming!

OMGEVILTHINGIES

Whoooaaaaah man, it's been like a month.

OK, so this is a quickie filler thing. Actually there hasn't been a whole lot going on in gaming. BUT I heard about some Halo: Reach footage, so I'd go YouTube or IGN that stuff and see for myself. Still working on FFXIII, actually. I went through a bit of a gaming hiatus. What was I thinking? Either way, third disk, pretty close to the end I think. Look forward to a review sometime between now and... A while.

Actually picked up my DS a couple weeks ago! Ever notice how there are no good DS games anymore? It was all like OMG TOUCH SCREEN MUST HAVE and now it's all meh. Now it's funny because they're trying to boost sales by making a million different DS consoles. Basically there are more versions of the DS than there are flavors at Baskin Robins. Maybe not, but you smell what I'm stepping in.

Smosh and KH3?!

Been a while, huh? Well this won't be very long anyway. First of all I want ya'll to check out my new favorite YouTubers, smosh, and their take on video games.

Next is some pretty big news for all those rabid Kingdom Hearts fans out there. Word has it that three new KH games are being planned right now, two spin offs and the long-awaited Kingdom Hearts 3, one of which should be released in Japan by the end of this year. Hopefully they'll think of us 360 fans when developing it, KH has a bad reputation for being PS or handheld only. Speaking of which, I still haven't finished 358.... But it's a DS game, what are you gonna do?

FFXIII Character Review

OK, so it's midnight and I can't sleep. Thought I'd tackle some junk. Not literally, but y'know.

First you've got Lightning. Fighting, she's pretty good with Commando, but don't ignore her Ravenger, either. She's good with chaining. Personality, she's a bit cold-hearted, but I hear that's what the military can do to you. She's just trying to look out for her sister is all...

Next I think is Sazh. Why the 'h'? I don't know. He's kinda like Basch for me, it took me forever just to figure out how to say his name. Fighting, just find a good weapon, it'll make a difference. Personality, he really cares about his son, you can tell. Tends to joke around, I guess. I don't use him in my party, so I don't really know how to describe him. The chocobo is awesome, though.

Vanille is your quirky type that has to be in ever FF. She's just really carefree, which must be hard considering what all she's been through. Also may or may not be lesbian, hopefully not though, 'cause she's my favorite character... Anyway, she's great will magic and is just about the second best Medic, though you may want to stick with her since she's got more HP.

Dang, I forgot Snow, didn't I? Barbara thinks his name is ironic, because who ever heard of hot snow? Anyway, he's got a pretty loud personality to say the least. Kind of impulsive. But he really cares about Serah, I could've just cried when he proposed. Fighting, he's going to be your best Sentinel and a good Commando, but no magic for him.

I'll tell you what, Hope is probably the character who surprised me the most. I thought he was like 16. Nope, y'know how old? 14. How does a 14-year-old kid get dragged into THIS kind of mess? Anyway, he's got guts, I'll tell you what. You just really see him grow throughout the game. Hope's also got my favorite line in the game: Vanille - "You OK?" Hope - "Oh yeah, I'm great." (You just have to see it.) Fighting's not much his style, he's got low HP but great magic capabilities, so Medic, Synergist, Sabateur, and maybe Ravenger are more his speed.

OK, Fang. Oh, was she still supposed to be a secret? ..... Oh well, you would've found out eventually. She's kinda feisty, I guess, I don't put her in battle often enough. The other half to the possible lesbian equation, but I don't know, sometimes Hope looks like he's got it for Vanille. Wow, you know you've gotten pathetic when you're discussing the love lives of video game characters. Anyway, she comes pre-packaged with a ton of CP and the Sentinal paradigm, so that helps out in later battles. She's actually a pretty well-rounded character... I just don't like her too much.

A Glance at FFXIII

This is just a quick overview of my first impressions of XIII, so nothing big here.

OK, the graphics are WOW. Y'know how every FF has OK graphics, then really good graphics for specific cutscenes? You can barely tell the difference here. Speaking of cutscenes, there are a heck of a lot of them. And people complained about XII having too many!

Battle system is like a cross between X, X-2, and XII. Overall good, but sometimes you just can't get that Cure out fast enough. You don't have levels, but your character advancing system is like a cross between the Sphere Grid and License Board. Easy to maneuver, but in the later stages of the game you have to have a LOT of CP to get it going good.

Characters are great. They all feel like main characters without really totally being main characters. I love Lightning because she's popular, but not because her boobs are bigger than her head. Story is fantastic, I was always kept guessing at what would happen next.

Lastly, this is probably the hardest FF yet. I'm on the third disc, and all my characters have 1000-2000 HP, while taking out enemies with HP up in the hundred thousands, if not millions. Plus I never have any money so I always end up short on items, and Phoenix Down is your best friend.

Well, happy gaming! I'm off to go catch up on my YouTube watching and try to remember what I did with my life before this game...

Ahh frick

Blogger's being gay because I pre-typed my FF countdown and everything's appearing underneath the new posts. Just scroll.....

::10::

...... FFXIII news?!

Yup, leave it to me to ruin things for myself. So I finally got on IGN a couple days ago and y'know what I saw? A FFXIII article. So I said, "OK, let's see what they've got going here, I deserve a little sneak preview." (I've promised myself I wasn't gonna spoil the story like all my other FFs.) And y'know what I found out? XIII will have no towns to visit. In the words of my aunt's nephew, "What faggotry is this?!" Screwing with FF will be Square/Sony's downfall.

Well I just got home from the doctor's, which is the worst place you can send me. I feel like crap, so this is it. Come back in a couple days, we'll be starting the 12 day countdown...

::15::

12DoFF: Twelve Mischievous Sky Pirates...

•Fun Fact: XII is the first regular FF not to have a screen change when you go into battle (and is my favorite of the series so far)•

I. Love. This. Game. The story reminds me of Star Wars (Also, did you know FFVIII is the FF with the most Star Wars references?), there are no seriously sucky characters (don't care much for Vaan, though; Reks was cuter), and you can set up their stats any way you want. What's more, the game pretty much plays itself once you get gambits set up right. However, that does remind me of a Penny Arcade comic... I no longer look at his game the same way. But only when I think about it...

In a nutshell, buy this game. You need it. I need it. We all need it, whether we know it or not. "In time you will learn, Young Grasshoppa."

Also, XII has a sequel, too: Revenant Wings (DS). It's OK, a bit busy on the screen, though. I like Penelo and Shiva's new look, it suits them.

Have fun with your new crack-n-apples addiction to XIII tomorrow :)

12DoFF: Eleven Crashing Servers...

•Fun Fact: XI is the first MMORPG from Final Fantasy (as if you didn't already know this)•

I haven't played the game myself (stupid pay-to-play) but I've seen it being played at a friend's house, and it's actually pretty neat. You get to name your character, pick which race they are, and pick their job class, then you go out and play along with other people. I've always wanted to play this game just so I can have my very own White Mage...

Yeah, well, like any online game, there are tons of expansion packs, so getting the whole thing will run your wallet dry, not to mention the console's fees and the $12-$15 per month is costs to play. Is it like WoW? I don't know, I haven't played it either.

12DoFF: Ten Magic Aeons...

•Fun Fact: X is the first FF to have a sequel, Final Fantasy X-2•

This game was actually pretty popular, but hey, the PS2 was pretty dang popular. It's still going, ain't it? Oh well, back on topic. X follows Tidus (pronounced tea-dus) and Yuna as she follows the path to becoming a summoner to defeat a giant monster called Sin that has been plaguing the land of Spira.

A lot of things were good about this game, except one battle made me hate it for life. Stupid Seymour Flux should've died the first time I fought him!.... Hmm, I felt like I've mentioned this before. But really, it actually is an OK game. The ending made me want to cry more than Crisis Core. Either those people really know how to write a story or I just get too engrossed by these things.

X-2 isn't really that bad either. I think it's better than X, but I'm not stuck on 2. Aside from some new outfits ("Like OMG, where's the other half of my skirt?!") you get a new character (or seven) and can change job classes in the middle of a battle -- the best kind of battle system! Oh, and Tidus comes back, in case you didn't know. He's a whiny idiot, but Yuna loves him and that's what counts.

12DoFF: Nine Acting Monkies...

::Fun Fact: FF designers decided they'd plan their next three games as such -- one going back to the classic FF style (IX), one going to the PS2 (X), and one featuring online capabilities (XI)::

I need to play this game. Why? Well, Garnet reminds me of Selena Gomez, and she's one of the few Disney actors I still like. That and Zidane is pretty much my favorite character from Dissidia.

Actually, since they returned to the original cartoony style in this game, many fans thought it would be the last Final Fantasy. Of course they were wrong, but still, it's a scary thought... IX was the last FF for the PSX, but wasn't ported to the computer (otherwise I'd've played it already). I also feel that this is the FF with the most screwed up characters. Some are cute, others are just "What were they smoking when they designed this?"Story-wise, it's pretty cute. I don't remember much, but you know the drill. A lot of the designers said they wanted a sequal to IX more than any other FF, but it hasn't happened yet, so I wouldn't get my hopes up.

P.S. - Kuja is a man. Just making sure you know.

12DoFF: Eight Amnesic Teenagers...

•Fun Fact: FFVIII was the fastest selling FF game, but seemingly the most critically reviewed•

"But soft! What light from yonder airship breaks? It is the east, and Rinoa is the sun!"
....
Yeah, Squall would never be that romantic. Such a stick in the mud...

Yup, VIII is a love story. Well, the whole story, you're trying to stop this witch from messing up time. Something like that, the copy we downloaded off the interwebs cut me off after the second disk. I miss it so.

Today's verse? Well, do you know who gets amnesia? EVERYONE. Also, it strikes me as odd that an 18-year-old is already a teacher. I have trouble seeing Quistis as everyone else's age, since teachers are all, y'know, old.

12DoFF: Seven Giant Swords...

•Fun Fact: This was the first Final Fantasy to be on the PlayStation (instead of with Nintendo) and the first to use 3D graphics throughout the entire game•

Yes, this is it! Ah, good old seven.... Brings back memories. If you don't know already, VII is the best selling FF (about 9.9 million copies), thus making it the most popular. The story follows Cloud Strife as you quest to stop Sephiroth from destroying the planet, and also to regain Cloud's true memories. Sounds bland here, but yeah, it's awesome.

And just why would you want to play a game that looks like Legos? Because it's awesome, that's why!! And I said so.

VII is also the FF with the most spin-offs. You've got Advent Children (movie/sequel -- GREAT animation), Dirge of Cerberus (sequel, focusing on Vincent), Crisis Core (prequel, tells Zack's story), and Before Crisis (Japanese cell phone game, focuses on Turks before CC). It's a lot to take in, I know. But Crisis Core will make you cry like a little baby, I swear.

If you want to play this game, TAKE MY ADVICE!!! Download a computer version of the game off Limewire or something, because if you order off Amazon you'll be paying around $200, and the guys at GameStop will point and laugh at you.

12DoFF: Six Naked Sirens...

•Fun Fact: FFVI was released in North America as FFIII. (What were they thinking, switching them all around like that?) Several changes were made in the American game, including restrictions on nudity and profanity•

I can't play this game. Have you seen Kefka? *shudders* Stupid clowns... Anyway, this one sticks out (as far as unplayed games go) because I remember Terra, all because she was an awesome fighter in Dissidia. I remember I read through the story one time, and the ending sounded pretty lame. But hey, make your own opinion.