It's a blog! 18-12-08
by oni
I don't write enough. So this is me, writing about whatever games I have been playing/buying the past week or so. Hang on, folks. I've bought a shitload of stuff. As if being knee-deep into World of Warcraft isn't enough to keep me occupied, my Rock Band obsession has reached new heights as well. I've purchased the ION drum kit, a $300 piece of equipment. It's an Ain't she a beauty? absolute jo...
I don't write enough. So this is me, writing about whatever games I have been playing/buying the past week or so. Hang on, folks.
I've bought a shitload of stuff.
As if being knee-deep into World of Warcraft isn't enough to keep me occupied, my Rock Band obsession has reached new heights as well. I've purchased the ION drum kit, a $300 piece of equipment. It's an
Ain't she a beauty? absolute joy to use. As a mostly expert-level Rock Band drummer, I found the stock kit to simply be inadequate, it was holding me back and preventing me from having as much fun as I could be having. The Guitar Hero kit isn't ideal either as it maps the charts to weird pads in Rock Band from time to time. So for me it was totally worth the money. Smacking away at a real crash is much more satisfying than smacking on a pad. However, the foot pedal wasn't entirely to my liking so I've also gone ahead and ordered the Rock Pedal, costing another $75. Someone needs to tell me I'm fucking nuts.Aside from that, I've ordered Left 4 Dead and Prince of Persia for the 360, and I'm looking forward to shooting zombies with some Giant Bomb buddies. What's that, not enough games, you say? Well that's why I also ordered Chrono Trigger DS and Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia. And I'm set till February at least!
Great title screen. 9/10I've been waiting for a portable version of Chrono Trigger for ages. Did you know this is actually the first time Chrono Trigger has gotten a European release (even though it isn't actually out in Europe yet)? It's a shame it took so long. Chrono Trigger is the RPG that anyone who has ever wanted to try a Japanese RPG should play. It's amazing how well it's held up over the years. I guess what's more amazing is that the genre has basically barely changed since that game. I've been saying for a long time that the genre has been stagnant, which is why I welcomed FFXII's new approach. Don't get me wrong, there is still a place for the traditional RPG, but when a SNES game showed you don't need to have random encounters in a traditional RPG, what's the excuse for an XBOX 360 game to have them? Certainly not technical limitations.Meanwhile, back in Azeroth...
As I've said, I'm also playing Wrath of the Lich King. Once again, Blizzard has set the new gold standard for MMORPG's. The integration of story is very well done. Instead of having the world change around
Chilling with the Queen of Dragons and her Prime Consort.you without your input, or not changing at all, completing certain quests and events causes the world to change for you, whereas other players may still see it as it was before. It's a fantastic way to make you feel like you are actually advancing the story, as opposed to just being a bystander. As a lore nerd who's read almost all the Warcraft books, it's immensely gratifying to actually interact with Thrall and Sylvanas to retake the undercity, or to see Alexstrasza, the Dragon Queen, Aspect of Life, in full glory. Like I said, lore nerd. Bioware may like to believe they will be the first to make story important in an MMO, but they're not. It will be interesting to see what they can come up with regardless.I'm taking my time leveling though. Only level 75 at the moment, I'm enjoying exploring Northrend. It's a (mostly) beautiful place, and massive to boot.
That's all for now. Tune in next week(?) for another instalment, and my thoughts on Prince of Persia and all that good stuff.