PSP thoughts, The Killing, LOTRO

Just a quick update tonight, folks.  Expect more later this week, but for now, consider this my "welcome back, Giant Bomb" blog of sorts.

 

MYSTERY SCIENCE THEAT.............. UHHHHH, PSP 3000

 

Oh, damn, now I have an idea for my first Screened blog - my favorites of MST3K.  Jesus, that's a daunting proposition.

 

So I ended up buying the PSP 3000 along with a few games.  Among those are ZHP, Final Fantasy Tactics,  Dissidia 2 (I refuse to look up the full name of that game, for reasons forthcoming), Star Ocean 1 & 2, Jeanne d'Arc, and Lunar.  I picked up the games in a killer sale at a semi-local game shop, saving me a fortune.  With the exception of Dissidia 2, all the games were purchased for less than $10.  I've had a chance to dabble in most of them, save for Star Ocean and Lunar.  Most of the games are pretty great, but I'm glad I bought them all at discount prices.

 

Jeanne d'Arc is easily the best of the games I've played so far, with a solid as hell strategy RPG backbone, an intriguing story I love alternate reality novels, so this was pretty much guaranteed to succeed) and an anime art style that I'm really enjoying.  Yes, your anti-anime buddy Sparky just said he actually LIKED the anime stylings  of a game.  It's far more adultish than, say, the aforementioned ZHP.  Some of the battles are rough, but there are ample opportunities to grind out levels, skills, and the like, so I'm really, really digging it.  The only annoying part is the turn limit to each battle.  It adds an artificial tension to the game that just isn't necessary.  Overall, though, this one should hold up with just about any strategy RPG in my book.  It's superb.

 

ZHP is pretty typical Nippon-Ichii, which is Sparky-speak for, "It's truly and completely loony."  If you've played Disgaea or one of the other Nippon Ichii RPG games, you kinda know what you're getting into here.  Heroes, through love, courage, and a whole bunch of other touchy-feely nonsense, overcome crazy odds to be a hero, along with a cast of typically zany Japanese anime cookie-cutter figures.  I say cookie-cutter with a certain degree of fondness.  NIS games, starting with Disgaea, had some of the strangest characters you're likely to find anywhere, but by now, their characters feel like a well-worn glove of sorts.  There's a pattern to the lunacy, one I half-heartedly hope they'll break from upon release of Disgaea 4.  Overall, though, the gameplay is super addictive, crazy tough at times, and probably not the best game for an NIS beginner.  But if you've played and enjoyed their games in the past, or want to dabble in the super-hardcorest of RPG's, this might be for you.

 

Final Fantasy Tactics is Final  Fantasy Tactics.  Some of you might remember me fawning over the series in the past.  This remake is good, if unspectacular.  I haven't really got a chance to play with the new classes or characters, but you can bet your ass I will sooner or later.  I've yet to actually beat the entire game, and I intend to this time around.

 

Final Fantasy: Dissidia 2 leaves a fucking bad taste in my mouth.  The only reason to buy this game is if you're a die-hard Square fan who doesn't mind a plodding, incomprehensible story (even by JRPG standards), shoddy gameplay, and god-awful generic design.  It has a ton of fan-service, though, so if you've really been looking for that game that throws together all your favorite Final  Fantasy characters, I guess this is it.  This is the Square equivalent of a poor man's action game, with little to no redeeming qualities in my mind besides the superb quality of the character design in the cutscenes.

 

THE 4TH BIRTHDAY

 

Lord of the Rings Online is celebrating its fourth anniversary this weekend, and to judge by the server I play on, you'd think it was its last.  There are very few people logging on for the bonus experience, games, and frivolities that come with the usual holidays around LOTRO.  And maybe that's part of the problem - by now, we've seen these types of celebrations, we know what to expect, and to be honest, we know this is the sort of limitiation put upon games this old without severe overhauls.  There aren't going to mysteriously be new mini-game types.  We're not going to be able to dice, or play cards, or snowboard down Mount Doom.  I hope I'm wrong, and I hope the eventual release of the new expansion pack changes all this, but honestly, right now, there's very little to draw people in.  I still dearly love and enjoy the game, and cannot wait to see what they do down the road, but more and more, I find myself hankering for a new experience and cannot wait to see if maybe The Old Republic won't fit that bill.

 

THE KILLING

 

If you're not watching AMC's The Killing, you're missing one of the best shows on TV.  Period.  Exclamation point.  Upside down question mark?