Greetings and Salutations!

I see that it's almost been an entire year since my lost blog (Anywhere, not just here..). There hasn't really been anything keeping me from it..except mass quantities of gaming. I plan to update my gaming lists to reflect it all. Played some really excellent games, played some stinkers, and played some that i could never get far enough into to know if they were good ior bad. (Killzone 2, I'm looking at you!)

On a personal note, my dog Scooter died about a month ago now.

I am a Trophy Whore. I admit this. I do it because each Trophy presents an added challenge. But the last week I've done nothing but play Puzzle Quest. And not really caring about trophies!

Anywhoos, that's what's happening, if you care.

Peace, Love, and Bullfrogs!

Greetings and Salutations!

Sorry it's been awhile. Massive gaming. You know how it is.

Anyway, on to the crux of this post....Soul Calibur 4.

Now, I absolutely adore the Soul Calibur franchise. I like it better than any other fighting game, including Tekken. But...

What were they on when they made this installment?

First of all, the whole concept of facing multiple characters back to back seems really cool, and is rather neat in execution, but can lead to totally unexpected ring outs due to the always hard to judge direction of appearence of the next opponent. My next gripe is that it seems that half of every character's move list is designed to be used against a grounded foe. Which will be obvious to anyone who's suffered what would have only been a split secong knockdown, then had their entire energy bar depleted by a constant stream of moves while defenseless.

Then, there is the actual Story. It's gotten to the point where i only use my created characters, because the motivations of a lot of the 'good' guys has become retarded. Destroy Soul Edge? Check, no problem. Destroy Soul Calibur? What in the name of Zues are you thinking?.... Balance? No. As in life, this is Good vs. Evil. Good should v anquish Evil, not 'live in harmony with it.' Crock of poo, that it.

The bright spot to all of that is the Character Maker. There are so many options just in looks, and then when you figure in that armor affects your stats..and then you add in having enough skill points to equip abilities.. It's just immense. Very Satisfying.

What isn't satifying is the 'Tower of Souls'. Although I do like the fact of redoing any set of floors you've passed to unlock armor, I really, really miss the centralised character and story of SC3's extra mode. That, and some of the requirements are absolutely INSANE! Which actually leads to a funny story..

Okay, I'm at the floor that asks you to do a voluntary ring out to get some armor. Should be no problem, right? Wrong! The do-it-yourself death is a lot harder to pull off the some fighting games. Okay, no sweat..just switch to Talim since she's known to have almost lemming like tendencies with the edge of the ring. Three opponents and me doing nothing but TRYING to ring myself out.

I wupped all three with Talim who was only trying to commit suicide.

SC3 was so much better on almost every front. The graphics are better in 4 though, and lord knows, that's all anyone cares about anymore.

Oh, and Darth Vader and the Apprentice? Vader was tough to beat, and is pretty cool to use. His apprentice was an almost impossible Monster to beat, and that was with my best character! Using Vader? Don't make me laugh. So, I cheated the system and just constantly did the 'Emperor Toss' throw on him. Only way to beat him.

I give this game about an 8 to 8.5.

Peace, Love, and Bullfrogs!

I. Can. Not. Wait! Diablo 3 is the sequel i've been waiting forever for.

Diablo Rules! It might actually make me forget all about Oblivion.

Shock. Gasp! Awe.

Peace, Love, and Bullfrogs!

Greetings and Salutations!

Sorry it's been so long since my last blog, but I've been busy saving the world. The Oblivion world that is.

Never before has a game so enthralled me like this. Final Fantasy VII came close, but that was mainly due to me being a completionist, and going after every single Materia in the game. Diablo II consumed massive amounts of time, but over multiple characters and games.

Last Friday I finally finished almost everything I wanted to do in Oblivion. Key Point: I had saved the Knights of the Nine materiel for last. I had finished the main quest, all four faction guild lines, bought houses everywhere, and completed many, many side quests. As soon as the final Knights quest was finished, I looked at my time when I saved.

180 HOURS.

I have never, ever spent that much time on one game in my entire life..and I've beaten every Dragon Warrior, Final Fantasy, and Star Ocean. This game Deserves the Game of the Year award it received.

Did I mention there were many side quests left to do, plus almost all of the Shivering Isles content?

Well, I just started a new save the other day, so I gotta go.

Peace, Love, and Bullfrogs!

Greetings!

I actually managed to get my copy of GTA last night after work, and it's pretty frickin cool.

First the bad news: I'm not sure whether the song lists are made just for GTA, or just from a bunch of artists I don't recognise, but either way...it blows. The ability to not be able to import your own mp3's make it that much worse. I've gotten to where I either turn the radio off soon as I get in a car, or turn it on the talk-radio channels.

Now for the not-so-good: No discernable ability to improve your stats in any way. Even Niko's running is slow. My weiner dog, Scooter, could outrun him.

Now the good: Just about everything else! The graphics are really good. The G.P.S. is a God-send! The Cell-phone is the coolest innovation yet. Dying in a hail of bullets from thew cops is actually cool now, thanks to the black-and-white effect. Civillians are a Lot tougher now, though.

All around, I would give this game an 8.9 - 9.4.

Peace, Love, and Bullfrogs!