Over the past two days I've been trying to finish Silent Hill for the first time. I always got up to the hospital and stopped playing. I started fresh yesterday. I got tripped up on one puzzle in particular for two hours, which is why I'm writing this.
I was in overthinking mode due to the game's themes and storyline. I analyzed everything being said. When I got to the “Nowhere” area, I got stuck on the door where you have the alphabet as an input, and there is a list of names next to it:
35 Lydia Findly
60 Trevor F. White
18 Albert Lords
45 Roberta T. Morgan
38 Edward C. Briggs
The hint for the puzzle said that you had to input the names in the right order, by age. I knew I had the right order, Albert, Lydia, Edward, Roberta, and Trevor.
What I didn't know was how to input them. I first tried all the initials of the people, inputting ALLFECBRTMTFW. That didn't work. I tried inputting their first names in order. Then I tried their full name, which took forever. That didn't work. Finally after staring at it I realized the names formed the word ALERT when in the right order, going by the first letter of the first names. It was SO OBVIOUS!
I was relieved and pissed that I missed that at the same time.
The Legend of Dragoon hasn’t aged particularly well. We’ll just start with that. If you are super crazy about graphics, don’t play through this game. It’s about 50 hours long and if the graphics make you want to vomit all over your shiny LCD TV, you won’t make it too far. If you can get past that, however, you will be in for an amazing experience.
I first got this game in 2001. I didn’t know much about RPGs. I was eight. This game pretty much became my life. I played it for about 130 hours cumulatively. I never finished it as a child (because most of that time was spent wandering around leveling up my character) and when I got my PS2 I gave it away (bad move on my part). About a year ago I got it back and started it up. It was like starting my memories up again. From the menu screen to the music to the opening cutscene, everything about my experiences with this game was coming back.
Because I had grown up, I noticed a lot of things about this game’s story and dialogue that really stuck out like a Japanese game developer trying to appeal to children. The game takes place in medieval times but the characters say “Yo!”. I’m not from the 12 century but I think it’s safe to say that that’s not part of their everyday vernacular. The translation in general has some really rough patches where the sentences make no real sense at all. For the most part the translation is the big criticism of the game when reviews get really critical.
If you can ignore all the Japanese craziness though you’ll discover the real gem of the game – the story. The story is pretty nonsensical in parts (name a JRPG that isn’t) but it is more of a ‘real’ game than others. The characters for the most part are believable. They have motives that actually make sense given the context of the world and that’s about all you could ask for in terms of believability in an RPG. The combat is pretty basic with only a few options. There is attack, defend, item, escape, and when your meter fills up you have Dragoon. The Dragoon is your special move basically. The game keeps the basic attacks interesting by giving you ‘Additions’ which are basically combo moves that are activated with precise button presses. The game gets challenging but that’s nothing a little grinding can’t solve.
If you like JRPGs and can deal with some aging and bad translation, this game will deliver for you. For me personally this game is probably my favorite RPG ever and it will always stick with me. I love how bad the translation is, honestly, and how well the characters are created. I’ll play through it at least one more time before the system cycle ends.
1. How did you get into 31 (of Montreal)? My friend Caine said "Holy shit you have to listen to this album."
2. What was the first song you ever heard by 22 (The Smashing Pumpkins)? Most likely Cherub Rock.
3. What's your favourite lyric by 29 (Reggie and the Full Effect)? To be honest I can't really think of any one lyrics that stands out in my mind.
4. What is your favourite album by 49 (AFI)? Decemberunderground. It's consistent and it's the only album I've ever worn the bottom off of.
5. How many albums by 13 (Say Anything) do you own? 2: ...is a Real Boy and In Defense of the Genre
6. What is your favourite song by 50 (Megadeth)? Take No Prisoners
7. Is there a song by 4 (The Mars Volta) that makes you sad? Not really, but some of their songs are pretty moving.
8. What is your favourite song by 15 (Mudvayne)?. Internal Primates Forever
9. What is your favourite song by 5 (Misfits)? That's a tough one. I'd have to go with Bullet.
10. Is there a song by 6 (blink-182) that makes you happy? Definitely Roller Coaster.
11. What is your favourite album by 40 (1up.com Staff)? Well it's a podcast. But my favorite podcast is Retronauts.
12. What is your favourite song by 10 (Frozen Electricity)? Well I wrote every song by them. That's a tough one. Hmmm...probably I Hate Nickelback.
13. What is a good memory you have involving 33 (Slipknot)? When I was little I would go over to my neighbor's house and before we could play Mortal Kombat together I had to tell him all the members of Slipknot, point to their masks on his poster, and know all of their instruments.
14. What is your favourite song by 37 (Coheed and Cambria)? I really like Three Evils.
15. Is there a song by 19 (Death) that makes you happy? Well, it's Death, so not really, no.
16. How many times have you seen 24 (Suicide Silence) live? None.
17. What is the first song you ever heard by 23 (Oceano)? Inhuman Affliction
18. What is your favourite album by 11 (iwrestledabearonce)? Danger in the Manger
19. Who is a favourite member of 1 (The Fall of Troy)? HOLY SHIT THOMAS ERAK.
20. Have you ever seen 14 (1up Network Staff) live? Well I've never met anyone from 1UP, no.
21. What is a good memory involving 45 (Attack Attack!)? Hardcore dancing inside a car.
22. What is your favourite song by 16 (Brand New)? Degausser definitely.
23. What is the first song you ever heard by 47 (Four Year Strong)? Bada Bing! Wit' a Pipe!
24. What is your favourite album by 21 (Every Time I Die)? Their album Gutter Phenomenon is really growing on me, as is Hot Damn, but in terms of consistent quality I would go with New Junk Aesthetic.
25. What is your favourite song by 18 (Tool)? I don't know many of their individual songs. I just listen to the album.
26. What is the first song you ever heard by 38 (The Beatles)? Who knows? They're ubiquitous.
27. What is your favourite lyric by 3 (Insane Clown Posse)? "What is a Juggalo? A dead body. Well he ain't really dead, but he ain't like anybody that you've ever met before. He'll eat Monopoly and shit out Connect Four."
28. What is you favourite song by 2 (The Devil Wears Prada)? If you asked me a month ago it would have been Don't Dink and Drance but it's Revive now.
29. What was the first song you ever heard by 32 (Mastodon)? Blood and Thunder like everyone else.
30. What is you favourite song by 8 (A Day to Remember)? Here's to the Past.
31. How many times have you seen 17 (Eminem) live? None.
32. Is there a song by 44 (Kanye West) that makes you happy? Celebration!
33. What is you favourite album by 12 (Fall Out Boy)? Infinity on High
34. What is the worst song by 46 (Slayer)? Any of their covers. UGH. that or Payback.
35. What was the first song you ever heard by 34 (Killswitch Engage)? Rose of Sharyn
36. What is you favourite album by 42 (Iron Maiden)? Virtual XI
37. How many times have you seen 39 (Explosions in the Sky) live? None. I want to though, I hear they're really cool live.
38. What is your favourite album by 36 (Metallica)? And Justice for All
39. What was the first song you ever heard by 28 (Job for a Cowboy)? Martyrdom Unsealed
40. What is you favourite album by 7 (Giant Bomb)? Funny that this is the last question. Um...Giant Bombcast?
So much shit is coming out in 3D. It's interesting, but I STILL don't feel like it's the right thing to do. Listening to the 4/20/10 episode of the Bombcast inspired me to write a little bit. The movie industry kind of sucks right now anyway, what with a huge lack of inspiration. I probably sound like a huge hypocrite saying this, but the Saw series is one of my favorite movie series ever. Saw VII will be in 3D. I actually am dreading to see this shit. I KNOW that because 3D is still in its infancy, there will be at least one sequence where the filmmakers basically say 'OH SHIT LOOK WE MADE THIS IN FUCKING 3D! LOOK AT HOW THIS THING POPS OUT!'. Maybe when this whole 3D thing grows out of the whole gimmicky thing we can sit and watch movies in the third dimension without having to see shit like that. I suppose once that happens all the piss in my blood will settle but for now, God damn it. That's about all I've got.
Looking at today's trailers on GB, some of that stuff excites me. Saw II and F.E.A.R. 3 especially. Also UFC 2010 isn't necessarily a game I'd buy, but it does look pretty cool. And I didn't even know Crysis 2 was coming. Pretty good looking stuff if you ask me.
Oh and this isn't to get the quest. I blogged earlier about that.
This quest thing is insane. Recently I've found myself just searching the site, doing a lot of quests and actually having fun doing it. It's taking away from me playing Silent HIll 3 for God's sake.
I was way excited about BioShock 2. For realsies. That first game, while flawed, was the shit. The story was deeply affecting and had many layers and metaphors, played pretty good, and had pretty stunning graphics. This one is also awesome. At first I was pretty turned off by the drill and slow movement of the character, but as the game progresses you upgrade that shit and your drill feels good and walking is just as fluid and fast as it was in the first game. The story is not as compelling as the first, but this is mainly due to the element of surprise in the first game. The second game takes you new places in Rapture, but these places are well designed and feel absolutely consistent with the 50's art deco style of Rapture.
That's about all I've got. The game is damn good. Play it if you liked the first. End.
I can't really afford new games, and I'm already way addicted to Fallout 3, and that will keep me occupied for a long time, seeing as how I have all the DLC and haven't even completed the main quest yet.
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