That was some of the best times I've had with a video game console, and I have no problem stopping into Best Buy tomorrow to replace it with an Arcade. I'll even give their Service Center at Microsoft a call just to take a chance on seeing if they'll fix my Elite.
Yeah, I'm pissed that I can't finish this night off with some MW2, but I guess for now I could just substitute that with some Res: Remake for 'le Cube. The only game in the last ten years that's scared the shit out of me with the exception of Dead Space and Fatal Frame. Orrrrrr, I could just go through more of MGS4, right?
Well, for now I'm gonna spend some time bitching about a topic that's always gonna be important... I guess. The everlasting "best game ever" war. Yeah, it's always going to be something that's "flame-on" for the fanboys out there that can't help jumping on their keyboards to consistently badger other fanboys for liking something that they don't. So why the fuck not join in and do the same right here!?!?
How often are you flamed for liking something someone else doesn't? I'm sure we've had our Backstreet Boys are better than Jay-Z fights at one point in our lives; knowing full well that such an argument isn't plausible. But I think what's most important to this is knowing that not all things are relevant when it comes down to it. I've been told by one person that their favorite game ever was Donkey Kong Country, and that it was better than any of the crap that comes out today. Well, as obvious and fair of a statement that is- I think it's a bit late for Donkey Kong to make a comeback into canon releases (since Nintendo/Rare doesn't care to re-dignify the ape with a standalone title to reclaim his throne), let alone bring back an SNES series that's over ten years old to compare with what's coming out today. It's a bit... intangible. Basically, it's a difficult topic to go on; what really is the best game? Well, how about the one that's holding the audience's attention best at the moment? How about the one that, for now, is doing what other games can't? Keep the players playing.
What am I playing now? Well, it's mostly a shifting behavior. I'm sure that at some point, what I want to play will change. Right now, it's the shooters. I can't get enough of the good'n's. Now, not that I'm solely into the MW2's and the Halo's, but let's just establish that some of the better FPS' are holding my interest better than the games that I'd spend just as many hours playing back from my tweens to about eighteen.
Take for interest- RPG's. Wow, what happened? These things used to be my favorite games ever. I could probably play Chrono Trigger again if someone bought it for my DS *wink wink*. The day my sister gives back my SNES, I'm gonna pop in FFIII (you know which one it really is). I would be ecstatic if I could get my hands on Secret of Evermore/Mana within the next decade.
Let's face it: RPG's were the shit back then. But are they now?
The current topic of debate is the ongoing battle between JRPG's and WRPG's (Japanese vs. Western... don't you all think that "Western" is almost paradoxical, considering that... well, Asia is technically more "Westside" than USA is?)
Essentially, both sides are getting to be stupid. They shoot back and forth about how their opposing side is going to fall off of itself, and all the while, I keep seeing both sides repeating the same game they released last year. Which I guess is what everyone is guilty for within every genre, but nonetheless, this one hits me a little more at home.
FFXIII is due out now in two months and eight days. The next big WRPG appears to be somewhere along the lines of Fallout: New Vegas and whatever Bioware has planned for consoles that isn't Star Wars related.
One douchebag I always seem to be reading comments from on Kotaku put it pretty well: WRPG's are just re-releasing KOTOR over and over again, while JRPG's keep re-releasing FF. (I'm not quoting him because I don't give a fuck)
This is the direct competition that we're seeing. And yes, both sides have stated that the other will die out sooner or later. Which clearly, neither will anytime soon, no matter what their opponent says. There's a large enough fanbase for both sides to keep them from going out. So for the time being, we're gonna see the same ole' same ole'. Atlus will get away with releasing shoddy titles with subpar presentations and incomprehensible (due to poor English translations) storylines meeting arbitrarily difficult gameplay, while Bio-Thesda will release heavy story driven games that will be judged negatively on their immature (yes, I've heard people say that the gameplay is "immature," in what I'm assuming is in relation to the depth of the gameplay versus whatever clusterfuck you'll find in JRPG's) gameplay instead of what stories they tell.
I hate to make it sound like I'm picking a side on this one; but I'm really not. What I like about one, I hate about the other... and vise versa. I've been trying with THE BEST OF MY PATIENCE not to throw Demon's Souls out the window for its punishing and arduous battle system. Throw in the shitty ass Dualshock 3 controller setup, and you get me breaking knuckles on the wall, just like MW2 Kid. You know who he is. While at the same time, I'm trying to keep myself interested in Dragon Age: Origins. I'm REALLY trying. REALLY. It's a super easy game so far... so far... yeah. But I just can't find myself caring about what's going on. There's some LoTR shit going on here, people are joining me, left and right... I've got a dog. (sigh) I'm constantly reminded that Mass Effect looked beautiful in comparison. And altogether, I've learned the main plot of the game not more than three hours of playing it... which won't be accomplished for what seems to be another 60 hours later. That first boss fight in the tower was pretty cool with the finishing move that I had no part in, but still looked really damn cool considering that every other RPG boss just falls over and gives up after you brush off 99,232 damage on his legs.
What Dragon Age lacks in keeping me attached, Demon's Souls banishes itself from my love by pissing me off in the first dungeon crawl at Castle Boletaria. Yeah, I suck that much at that game that I can't even get passed the first dungeon after you most certainly die against the Vanguaard and find yourself in the Nexus. I can't seem to master the shoddy parry/riposte system. It's like, some enemies are simple. Others, however- are ridiculous. They'll start swinging fast... like YEAH I GOT THIS... and then mid-swing, they just go slow-mo, almost like they're juking you into hitting parry too early by just a hair. And yet, when their attack lands, you flinch, fall back a bit, and are opened for their sudden 4-hit combo that takes your health to near... after-death? Oh yeah, don't forget that you have to reclaim your soul-filled bloodstain that mysteriously appears in a location roughly a few meters from whatever brutally murdered you a few hours after you ran through a large portion of the dungeon. And don't forget that you have to kill everything all over again to reclaim that bloodstain, with damaged equipment, scarcer supplies that seem to be more difficult to replenish after dying, and ultimately, a deterred will to continue living because you know that you just got fucked over by one of the little guys because the stamina system is something that needs to be fucking axed. All in the hopes that you progress just a few rooms further before the next little guy cuts you the fuck up for making eye contact with it and further recycles the ever-repeating process.
After all that is said and done- I find myself shooting the shit out of Christmas Nubs on MW2.
There's a point at which I think the happy medium can be obtained in RPG's again, and hopefully, that comes in the form of FFXIII when March rolls-in. The game series that has yet to disappoint me in the realm of RPGs, yet has always kept me just far enough away to know that they aren't exactly perfect, either, without being upset about it. Where Final Fantasy suffers for repeating the same storyline over and over, it still excels in the very way they do it. Add their tried and true battle system, and you have another winner in the beginning of 2010.
All the while, I'm still thinking about Bioshock 2. ^_^
