Darklink42

Oh hell yeah, good to see you back! Been waiting ages to hear a new set. As always, worth the wait.

I think I'd like to play through Crisis Core instead. Or maybe watch me some AC, since it's been a while. *confetti*

I forgot all about the AC traffic cops. That horse so much as trots faster than 2 mph, you're a dead man. Another one that I remembered is the music puzzle in Myst. I'm sure to most who are more musically inclined, it was a cinch. But I waited almost 10 years to get past it because I couldn't match all the sounds right when I was a kid.

But there's the problem right there. Up until the point in which Cid's madness is revealed to be the rogue Occuria, everything was the ambitions, politics, and mistakes of people in power both in the present and in the past. Sure they had the help of magic stones and powerful creatures(later understood to have been created by the Occuria) that rebelled against the "gods" but still at the whim of human behaviors, for better or worse. History is made by people, in short. Then all the sudden, right at the height of tensions within the game, the player is suddenly treated to this "Small group of immortal beings" (who are also invisible, powerful psychics, and capable of instantaneous teleportation) who take all of that history and lineage and simplify it into what basically comes out as "Eh, we did it because we wanted to and you didn't know about it. Deal with it, yo." It's weird and jarring, coming in so late in the game and with no other hints up until that point. And although the story then does it's best to deal with the plot twist and tries to stay true to the characters, everything that was intriguing and powerful about what the characters had done up until that point feels cheapened. And worse, it robs the rich and in depth history explored throughout the game of any real bite, because in the background, there were always these invisible ghosts that did what they wanted all along. No one is responsible for their actions any more, because they had no real control over where their life was going to end up or what was going to happen. Mistakes are no longer mistakes, and redemption is no longer redemption, for all has been within the plans of these creatures from beyond our understanding who are not gods, just immortal and powerful enough to pull the strings. And who conveniently provide an enemy which everyone can band together against and defeat in triumph.

I have to disagree with you Kuolema on the point of the characterization, but I will agree that the fetch quest/grind these baddies nature of the game did bring it down a little for me. Vaan and Penelo in that game are, I won't argue, the least interesting characters if only because they are completely overshadowed by the bigger players in the larger story arc. I think like Tidus in X and Lightening in XII (Don't know about the second one though), they are sort of the lynch-pin connectors that keep a reason for the telling of the story present even if they only have a cursory investment in it themselves. I mean, sure they're orphans from a big city thrust into a continent dividing power struggle which will change the face of all they have ever known. But there's no development there, just "Hey, I still just want to be a sky pirate guys. I kind of miss my brother who ties me into this but about whom you'll hear almost nothing." That being said, everyone else in that game was really well developed as a complex character. As Thin Crust already pointed out, most of them have very interesting ties to the national politics and are forced to make meaningful choices and to live with the consequences of past mistakes. I liked that Balthier was more than a show boat pirate in it for the money and fame. I liked that Basch bore the shame of what his brother had done first by hiding away, but later confronts and bests his regrets and his shame by fighting to protect the son of an emperor that cost him everything. Ashe bears the scars of losing not only her love but also her country, and even though she's imbued with a power that no one had wielded since the great kings of old, she's still uncertain and wary of the consequences of it. All of this stuff was damn compelling to me, because they were all tied together in complex ways up until the writers apparently realized that there was no clean way to resolve all these issues in a happy ending. So then aliens are brought in to explain the mess, take the power out of the hands of everyone, and to transform Eddie Veder into a weird, evil machine man because there needed to be a final boss big enough to take up the screen.

You know, I may catch some flak for this, but I kind of liked the silent realm parts. They reminded me a lot of the Dark World from "Link to the Past" a lot more than the geometric, abstract weirdness that was the Twilight Realm in "Twilight Princess". The whole thing had a cool, surreal tone to it that made it feel fairly distinct and I liked that it challenged you to explore in new ways rather than steam roll through with your items. The stealth part was stupid in the volcano though, I'll give you that. It just made no sense that they had no interest at any time in killing you, after trying desperately to do just that for the entire rest of the game. Silly tropes... Other memorable moments: Mirror's Edge: Hey, you don't have to shoot anyone in this game, but we're going to put you on a rooftop with a bunch of snipers and guys with vehicle grade machine guns. Enjoy. Kingdom Hearts 2: Two words: Sing Along Crysis: (Admittedly a stretch, because it was only okay instead of awesome) Forced vehicle section at the end of the game, because the vehicles controlled like a bar of soap sliding down a ramp and you didn't use them ever before that point. FF12: Hey, you guys remember all that really interesting political intrigue and the undertones of exploring the consequences of unquestioning nationalism? And remember that we had a cool cast of characters haunted by a variety of personal demons from their past? Screw that, it was all alien gods.

Just...I have no words for the level of let down which has been achieved here today. Edit: Sorry Brian Gray, but despite bonus features/additions, it's still a port. You know, like everyone already said it was.

I really liked this game, and with it's inclusion in the new kingdom hearts game, I'm hoping that means they recognize it's got a big enough fan base that a well thought out (one can hope) sequel would be enjoyed. I'd be fairly disappointed myself if this is just a port to single screen devices. Too much hype for something so trivial. Is there any way to get the day two song (and potentially the day one song if it's different?) I'm kind of interested in the progression they've been doing with each day's background music.

You just won the internet sir. I cannot stop laughing. Someone should put this with the image that Schwaltzvald has for a sig.

I actually had the same thought, just wasn't sure about the logistics of implementation. I'm also sorry to hear that we had to pull so many images, but I'm glad that they let the bios remain. There's a lot of good writing there, and after helping with the editing, it would be a shame to see them go. That being said, I'll be glad to help with writing new bios for mascots, and/or editing. Thanks for being up front about it in so far as you could be DJP, and for doing your best to salvage/explain the situation with SE and with us.

I'm interested if you've still got it. Don't have much to trade though, unless there's something from one of the many humble bundles you didn't get at some point.

Sure, just send me your steam ID over PM and I'll send it your way.

Well, don't know where else to post this, but I magically seem to have acquired a 75% off Portal 2 coupon in my Steam inventory. I already own it, so I'm not going to use it and it's only good through August 30th. Any takers?

So, as a post sale check-up, how are you guys enjoying all the games you bought during the sale? Who hasn't actually played any of them, and who's been playing so many games they've gone near comatose with visual input? Me, I've been enjoying the hell out of Grimrock, Ys: Origins, and Portal 2. Haven't gotten around to playing much of Back to the Future though, but from what I did play, I enjoyed it. My wallet, however, has been in the ICU for the past two weeks, and while they say it might one day recover, the doctor's aren't too optimistic about it ever being the same as it was before the sale started.

Well, there goes what little interest I had. I'm not touching this thing with a ten-foot pole now.

Well, if anyone missed Ys: Oath in Felghana and is still interested, it's the daily deal on Steam at the same price it was up for during the flash sales. Also Fireslash: WHAA?...DAAAMMM!

Well, as a last farewell to the sale (and on the recommendations of several of you) I picked up both Ys: Origins and Legend of Grimrock. Not regretting it at all.

I picked up Trinity during the steam sale, and while I've only played the first one, I've found it to be fairly entertaining if a bit confusing at first. There are a lot of different things to manage, but it feels very grandiose and placed on a large scale rather than overwhelming. That being said, at least for the original, there's no story mode, just scenarios. I haven't tried the other two modes in the pack, which are Entrenchment and Trinity, nor can I speak to the multiplayer experience yet. But I like it, and even just playing on random isn't too bad.

Seconded. I hope it's not sabotage or something childish like that. Kind of wanted to put some money down for it.

"I'm not going to buy anything else on this steam sale. Absolutely not--" Sins of a Solar Empire: Trinity= $5 DAMN YOU STEAMMMM!!!

This pretty much sums up the entire counter argument I've seen going on in about the KS. It's a big wrap-around back to "But we tried something sort of like this and we got slapped down for it. Why do you guys get to?" Everything after that has read like paranoid conspiracy theory and a lot of hurt feelings over something that's already done and over with. DJP explained himself rather succinctly when he pointed out that what he had to say about the VV album (and others like it, I'm guessing) was simply advice consistent with what he felt was his obligation to a community he is a part of and feels ought to get a straight and honest deal. Metaphors and jokes aside, it should be obvious that people are taking sides here based on a conjecture that isn't even true. NO ONE IS CONSPIRING. Seriously, it's just childish to keep nitpicking and trying to insist that somewhere in here is a deep, intricate plot to bilk money out of all of us unsuspecting saps. Everything on the KS page is as straightforward as an idealistic project can be. As much as the mental image amuses me, I don't believe that Shariq, DJP, Andrew, and Larry are sitting in a back room somewhere smoking Cuban cigars and thinking about what they're going to do when all that sweet cash rolls in. If anything, they're all very likely sitting at their desks at their day jobs thinking "Well shit, when did everyone get so generous? And what else can we make that will be awesome enough to match that level of generosity?" I know I would be. In the interest of honesty, do I figure that 50 bucks for the physical copy is a bit much? Yeah, but only because I can't afford it right now and won't be able to before the kickstarter ends. But is it going to do anyone any good to come in here and carry on about how I think there's something Fishy (har har) going on here simply because it's out of my price range? No, no it's not. Because as many people have pointed out and have been ignored by those who disagree, it's not a store purchase of a four disc set, it's a reward for a donation to the project and the site behind the project. Anyone who donated is paying for a free album they can download, first and foremost. The rewards are there only to incentivise people to give a little bit more for something they want in return. Any physical copies received by the donors are essentially promotional tools given away by OCR, with an appropriate budget for shipping tacked on. If no one had paid 50 bucks? I can only guess that the budget for the studio time would have jumped dramatically. To put it more simply, look at it like this: if no extra money had come in for this project beyond the estimated budget for recording studios, printing, shipping, and so forth, where would the money come from to support the torrent bandwidth, the separate site, and various associated maintenance costs? OCR's budget. Aside from additional bonuses the staff adds to this project with their sudden surplus of funding, where else is that money supposed to go but into the site's budget? Extra money goes into OCR's budget, extra money goes out to keep the site for the project and OCR's servers, and the torrents, and the direct downloads open and available to everyone. I see zero issue with that. Why do you?

Picked up the amazing deal on Portal 2, in addition to the Back to the Future game, which had all 5 episodes at the absurdly low price of 6 bucks. Been wanting to play that one forever. Awesome deals this go around.

I always like listening to The Wingless' music since it helps me relax. Also a big fan of this one by Danny Baranowsky

One day, there will be awesomeness. Until that day comes, I wait with:

Also waiting for the Steam version, but I did buy the soundtrack. Excellent stuff.