Now I'm not gonna rant on to ya about how this post's title came to be but given the silly nature of the name, is the brand hit "Star Wars" much different? Given the nature how "Mass Effect" is pretty much the "embodiment" of all Sci-fi movie and video game material in an RPG form, Space Battles is pretty much that same embodiment but in an "Action/Adventure" form. Space Battles is pretty much a call for a cinematically-presented game in the spirit of such titles as Lost Planet, but the story "salutes" the original concepts of brand hits like Star Wars, Star Trek, and the like. Gameplay would a mix and mash of Lost Planet, Battlefront 2, and Metal Gear Solid, with a soundtrack prizing of techno-orchestrated pieces ala Lost Planet and MGS.
Now of course given the broad source of given inspiration of course it might boil down to a simple plot of "good guys vs bad guys", but we all know the source material and the game itself have and will push the boundaries of the "gray areas" of both moral and mindful connections. Also the game due to the source material would present a "unified" branch of different Action/Adventure styles of gameplay as the character's skills and settings will be varied or "mixed" play styles.
With such presentation standards the graphics will have to be top-notch, but given the technology breakthroughs of recent months the game could be a graphics-fest of both cinematic and gameplay proportions. Nothing short of a "movie-game" can be done to make this game a great sci-fi brand hit even with a very generic name.
That's pretty much it for now, see you guys soon.
Sunday, February 13, 2011
Thursday, February 10, 2011
The Last Story: The Premium Soundtrack REVIEW
This is my first music review so bare with me if my emphasis on the tracks sound strange. Also my first music review might be one of courage and controversy as this soundtrack is pretty much Uematsu-san's latest attempted return to RPG mastery, but did he succeed? Everyone knows of his famous and infamous wonder of the song world "One Winged Angel", but does The Last Story's music re-thrones him as king or should this be Uematsu's "The Last Soundtrack" made by him? On to the tracks I say!
TRACK ONE: Theme of THE LAST STORY
The song starts off like a movie-opening sequence to draw you in slowly, and to a great yet stricken effect due to the midi-esque nature. Not only does this "start" sequence only moderately does it job, but the start lasts about 90 seconds...about 30 seconds too long in my opinion. The following sequence though picks up the pace in a RPG-battle like way and at this point the MIDI-esque nature is somewhat lifted in the pure action-like nature of the current tune. At this point you can somewhat visualize through the music the overall nature of the game...a dark action-rpg with plenty of action. The sequence then goes into an even darker tone with eletronic beats to help the listener visualize even further an even darker scenario. Soon the switch to the next sequence is short but graceful as the tune turns into pure epic rpg themes practically sealing the vizualization of how much scope this dark action-rpg has. Followed by the "epic-scope" tone though the song takes a dip from epic to a very simple dark turn and then quickly to more epic themes as if a means to change up the pace to keep people "guessing", though this epic theme ride sounds much lighter than all the previous sequences. The epic sequence then slows down considerably to re-enter the darker tones in a slow-paced version of the previous epic theme sequence tuned down. What I find absolutely strange that the next sequence seems to be something pulled from MGS as it's ambient and "war-like" nature, though not a bad influence to choose from, it seems out of place at the end given the RPG nature of the song. Thus afterwards the "epic themes" return in an "MGS theme ending" like way as to have you picture the characters saluted a graveyard similar to Snake, and the ending is pretty much a stab at "finale" bits from something like John William's famous pieces.
SCORE: Pretty Nice
TRACK TWO: Order and Chaos
The song obviously starts off with a pretty groovy techno piece and the following strings help solidiy the epic-ness tune. The melody of this first sequence has epic yet curious nature as to pull at your musical organs as something not really describable in spoken language, it's just epic. Though I do like the phenominal integration of both "natural" and "articifial" pieces that make this song if nothing but unique. Though halfway through the song you can definitely hear "Chaos" as the song becomes nothing but confusing and somewhat irritating, and somewhat after returning to a more enjoyable matter. The more enjoyable tone then switches to an almost FFXII like nature with nothing but natural elements that feels quite nice to the ears. Following this bit is a somewhat strange "vocal-like" bit followed by the "return to techno".
Score: Great where it's good
TRACK THREE: Joyful voices can be heard
Now at first I was NOT expecting a marching band like tune at the beginning of this due to the title of the song. The orchestral part following it seems something ripped straight from RPG Maker, and it's simplistic nature. The happy tune doesn't really tell much but as to guess it's either a "town celebration" or a quirky stab at the "battle victory", which isn't likely due to it's long nature. The song then switches to a calmer mood as to which signify the "ending of the action bit", and to which it returns to a "medium-pace" to finish off the "Happy Day!" occurence which is most likely a cutscene at this point.
Score: SOkay
TRACK FOUR: Timbre of the City
The beginning theme conducts itself as a "Menu song" as it's slow and yet non-emotional nature as to keep the player calm before enganging in the main gameplay. The feel of the bit is quite smoothing and relaxing as in my vizualization of keeping up with it's given job. Though the slow entrance of strings seem to pull at your musical organs as to say "Hurry up already and kill some mobs!" in an almost "slow yet urgent" matter. Of course following the "pull of the string" bit is another relaxing piece with a calm-like flute. Eventually this calm-flute starts screeching at ya with long passes in the melody going back to "Hurry it up already". Also what's this?....Nice beat with the epic theme of Track one...nice. Not too far behind this is another return to calm-ness as to which the game practically has figured out you WANT to be in the main menu. Thus ending in a nice bit at the end.
Score: Makes you nice and sleepy
TRACK FIVE: Bonds
Okay, the use of instruments are SO reminiscent of Ocarina of Time, but the Violin's piece is very smooth and nice. Also love the guitar...this is what I call "calm epic" at this part. At this point the song is playing "tug o war" with your musical organs as there is no real human spoking language to really describe this "epic violin". Also makes you kind of sleepy as well...as to which it mostly repeats itself throughout the track. Almost makes you want to drink some Hot Chocolate or something Reeaalll cozy and a great guitar ending.
Score: I could use some hot chocolate right now...and a cottage...and a nice big dog...Nice song!
TRACK SIX: Evil Beasts
Typical Uematsu Boss Theme methinks? Nope, it's got a RADICAL beat, yo! Groove it on down Uematsu! Love the fusion of both natural and artifical elements, definitely tells you that the player is fighting SOMETHING boss-like, and to which some of the melody pieces share pieces of that of previous Final Fantasy games?...Interesting. Also...some 007 in there?...You got at confusing people Uematsu. Also the main theme has made it's way into this song...NICE!.
Score: BURN BOSSES...BURN!(Epic btw)
TRACK SEVEN: The Flying One
A masterpiece of a beginning, and to which in my opinion the "true main theme" follows that has been on The Last Story's site for so long. I remember when Sakaguchi compared the original concept to this game as his "game daughter"....and this song perfectly reflects a "game child" Sakaguchi would spawn. It makes me want to meet Sakaguchi's "game daughter" due to the massive emotional pieces this song has...purely a beautiful piece, as should Sakaguchi's "game child" should be like. I could listen to this song for ages, and to which technically I believe this song to be the "ending credits"...which would be great if that's the occassion for the song. Almost wants me to picture Sakaguchi's "game developed daughter" in the background the of the credits :).
Score: I WANT TO SEE YOUR GAME DAUGHTER SAKAGUCHI!
Now...Getting back to if Uematsu's back to being king....I think he's made a welcome return to the "the kings" at least...glad to have you back Uematsu!
OVERALL SCORE: WELCOME BACK UEMATSU-SAN
TRACK ONE: Theme of THE LAST STORY
The song starts off like a movie-opening sequence to draw you in slowly, and to a great yet stricken effect due to the midi-esque nature. Not only does this "start" sequence only moderately does it job, but the start lasts about 90 seconds...about 30 seconds too long in my opinion. The following sequence though picks up the pace in a RPG-battle like way and at this point the MIDI-esque nature is somewhat lifted in the pure action-like nature of the current tune. At this point you can somewhat visualize through the music the overall nature of the game...a dark action-rpg with plenty of action. The sequence then goes into an even darker tone with eletronic beats to help the listener visualize even further an even darker scenario. Soon the switch to the next sequence is short but graceful as the tune turns into pure epic rpg themes practically sealing the vizualization of how much scope this dark action-rpg has. Followed by the "epic-scope" tone though the song takes a dip from epic to a very simple dark turn and then quickly to more epic themes as if a means to change up the pace to keep people "guessing", though this epic theme ride sounds much lighter than all the previous sequences. The epic sequence then slows down considerably to re-enter the darker tones in a slow-paced version of the previous epic theme sequence tuned down. What I find absolutely strange that the next sequence seems to be something pulled from MGS as it's ambient and "war-like" nature, though not a bad influence to choose from, it seems out of place at the end given the RPG nature of the song. Thus afterwards the "epic themes" return in an "MGS theme ending" like way as to have you picture the characters saluted a graveyard similar to Snake, and the ending is pretty much a stab at "finale" bits from something like John William's famous pieces.
SCORE: Pretty Nice
TRACK TWO: Order and Chaos
The song obviously starts off with a pretty groovy techno piece and the following strings help solidiy the epic-ness tune. The melody of this first sequence has epic yet curious nature as to pull at your musical organs as something not really describable in spoken language, it's just epic. Though I do like the phenominal integration of both "natural" and "articifial" pieces that make this song if nothing but unique. Though halfway through the song you can definitely hear "Chaos" as the song becomes nothing but confusing and somewhat irritating, and somewhat after returning to a more enjoyable matter. The more enjoyable tone then switches to an almost FFXII like nature with nothing but natural elements that feels quite nice to the ears. Following this bit is a somewhat strange "vocal-like" bit followed by the "return to techno".
Score: Great where it's good
TRACK THREE: Joyful voices can be heard
Now at first I was NOT expecting a marching band like tune at the beginning of this due to the title of the song. The orchestral part following it seems something ripped straight from RPG Maker, and it's simplistic nature. The happy tune doesn't really tell much but as to guess it's either a "town celebration" or a quirky stab at the "battle victory", which isn't likely due to it's long nature. The song then switches to a calmer mood as to which signify the "ending of the action bit", and to which it returns to a "medium-pace" to finish off the "Happy Day!" occurence which is most likely a cutscene at this point.
Score: SOkay
TRACK FOUR: Timbre of the City
The beginning theme conducts itself as a "Menu song" as it's slow and yet non-emotional nature as to keep the player calm before enganging in the main gameplay. The feel of the bit is quite smoothing and relaxing as in my vizualization of keeping up with it's given job. Though the slow entrance of strings seem to pull at your musical organs as to say "Hurry up already and kill some mobs!" in an almost "slow yet urgent" matter. Of course following the "pull of the string" bit is another relaxing piece with a calm-like flute. Eventually this calm-flute starts screeching at ya with long passes in the melody going back to "Hurry it up already". Also what's this?....Nice beat with the epic theme of Track one...nice. Not too far behind this is another return to calm-ness as to which the game practically has figured out you WANT to be in the main menu. Thus ending in a nice bit at the end.
Score: Makes you nice and sleepy
TRACK FIVE: Bonds
Okay, the use of instruments are SO reminiscent of Ocarina of Time, but the Violin's piece is very smooth and nice. Also love the guitar...this is what I call "calm epic" at this part. At this point the song is playing "tug o war" with your musical organs as there is no real human spoking language to really describe this "epic violin". Also makes you kind of sleepy as well...as to which it mostly repeats itself throughout the track. Almost makes you want to drink some Hot Chocolate or something Reeaalll cozy and a great guitar ending.
Score: I could use some hot chocolate right now...and a cottage...and a nice big dog...Nice song!
TRACK SIX: Evil Beasts
Typical Uematsu Boss Theme methinks? Nope, it's got a RADICAL beat, yo! Groove it on down Uematsu! Love the fusion of both natural and artifical elements, definitely tells you that the player is fighting SOMETHING boss-like, and to which some of the melody pieces share pieces of that of previous Final Fantasy games?...Interesting. Also...some 007 in there?...You got at confusing people Uematsu. Also the main theme has made it's way into this song...NICE!.
Score: BURN BOSSES...BURN!(Epic btw)
TRACK SEVEN: The Flying One
A masterpiece of a beginning, and to which in my opinion the "true main theme" follows that has been on The Last Story's site for so long. I remember when Sakaguchi compared the original concept to this game as his "game daughter"....and this song perfectly reflects a "game child" Sakaguchi would spawn. It makes me want to meet Sakaguchi's "game daughter" due to the massive emotional pieces this song has...purely a beautiful piece, as should Sakaguchi's "game child" should be like. I could listen to this song for ages, and to which technically I believe this song to be the "ending credits"...which would be great if that's the occassion for the song. Almost wants me to picture Sakaguchi's "game developed daughter" in the background the of the credits :).
Score: I WANT TO SEE YOUR GAME DAUGHTER SAKAGUCHI!
Now...Getting back to if Uematsu's back to being king....I think he's made a welcome return to the "the kings" at least...glad to have you back Uematsu!
OVERALL SCORE: WELCOME BACK UEMATSU-SAN
Wednesday, February 9, 2011
YOU ARE THE HUNTER, YOU ARE THE KING: THE ART OF THE SHOOTER
"Give me Victory, or give me death" pretty much sums up the goal of any shooter...ANY shooter. Whether it goes from sniping heads from miles away or stabbing that punk-y lizard foe in the face....Victory is your goal, and Death is either right behind or right in front.
People call shooters senseless violence that trigger MOST of the teenage/college shootings because they think just because the dude has a copy of Halo or something...they just blame the freakin game...well for one thing...Shooters are not senseless...but SENSEFUL. Sure shooters take brains and a keen mind to flourish at...but your best friends are your eyes, ears, and by goodness your quick-reflex hands. You'd be amazed how many times I won a "one-on-one" because I knew the exact moment that I needed to slice that "dude". Given also the immense self-ego-boosting nature after you gotten your hefty killstreaks or your foe is scripted to run away due to his squad is totally slaughtered by your l337 sk3llz.
Not to say these games aren't better with tactics...having friends and "clannies" to play with makes the game quite fun, if not a "pwn-fest". That said many people (cough like my bro cough) see clan groups as nothing but cheap groups of people whose only motive is to have everyone rage quit...to be honest though...they are quite correct. As the "thing person" in Republic Commando would say it "We hunt in pods to take down much larger prey"...Darn right sista! Pwnage in groups is well...PWNAGE 2 TEH MAXX!
Now getting back to our skill assessment, if you don't got brains or a quick knee-jerk reflex that triggers in your brain to get that "I Killedz him?" one-on-one kill....know your weapons...YOUR WEAPONS DARN IT! Everyone who has played shooters even occasionily should know the rock-paper-shooters of their arsenal...Snipers can kill from far away...machine guns are great at multiple targets, and shotguns are good at blasting ....well...PRETTY MUCH everything within 5 feet of ya(and boy do I love that booming sound).
Of course, people who don't get the Rock-paper-scissors are mostly "whiners"....like dude...If you keep just running at the sniper at a mile away...OF COURSE he has the freaking advantage ya nitwit! If you see some dude with a shotgun...or you think he has a shotgun...BAAAACK OOOOFF DUUUUDE because he's gonna blow ya to kingdom come and back.
Now you might be thinking..."What is this guy getting at???"...Well..my friends...I have just explained...THE ART OF THE SHOOTER..
Bye for now :P
People call shooters senseless violence that trigger MOST of the teenage/college shootings because they think just because the dude has a copy of Halo or something...they just blame the freakin game...well for one thing...Shooters are not senseless...but SENSEFUL. Sure shooters take brains and a keen mind to flourish at...but your best friends are your eyes, ears, and by goodness your quick-reflex hands. You'd be amazed how many times I won a "one-on-one" because I knew the exact moment that I needed to slice that "dude". Given also the immense self-ego-boosting nature after you gotten your hefty killstreaks or your foe is scripted to run away due to his squad is totally slaughtered by your l337 sk3llz.
Not to say these games aren't better with tactics...having friends and "clannies" to play with makes the game quite fun, if not a "pwn-fest". That said many people (cough like my bro cough) see clan groups as nothing but cheap groups of people whose only motive is to have everyone rage quit...to be honest though...they are quite correct. As the "thing person" in Republic Commando would say it "We hunt in pods to take down much larger prey"...Darn right sista! Pwnage in groups is well...PWNAGE 2 TEH MAXX!
Now getting back to our skill assessment, if you don't got brains or a quick knee-jerk reflex that triggers in your brain to get that "I Killedz him?" one-on-one kill....know your weapons...YOUR WEAPONS DARN IT! Everyone who has played shooters even occasionily should know the rock-paper-shooters of their arsenal...Snipers can kill from far away...machine guns are great at multiple targets, and shotguns are good at blasting ....well...PRETTY MUCH everything within 5 feet of ya(and boy do I love that booming sound).
Of course, people who don't get the Rock-paper-scissors are mostly "whiners"....like dude...If you keep just running at the sniper at a mile away...OF COURSE he has the freaking advantage ya nitwit! If you see some dude with a shotgun...or you think he has a shotgun...BAAAACK OOOOFF DUUUUDE because he's gonna blow ya to kingdom come and back.
Now you might be thinking..."What is this guy getting at???"...Well..my friends...I have just explained...THE ART OF THE SHOOTER..
Bye for now :P
Monday, February 7, 2011
Fallout: New Shovelware
Okay, I call myself a true FPS gamer, and a follower of RPG games, but recently the current games who attempt to mix these two genres are as I quote my friend "Read: The Boring as all get-out genre".
Seriously, games like Borderlands and RAGE seem to have their redeemable qualities by emphasizing co-op and other tried and true methods...but once the title "Fallout" appears the only thing I can do is cry...or laugh...or both(?)
Seriously, the series is nothing but as I quote my friend again "A FPS on training wheels(training wheels as in the RPG-luster method of overused and abused quest-system)". The abhorent amount of glitches and bugs serves to make the game as "Shovelware cloacked as a AAA title" to the point of gamebreaking and frustration. It's amazing how Bethesda gets ANY profit or enormous sales but to the irony of the games' major selling point being a plethora of game mods(plenty of them being copyrighted material such as STAR FOX). That said the game in it's nature is nothing but a bore-fest as watching videos of players gaming it(see what I did there?) either Live or recorded....the game seems boring as if there was no tomorrow.
That said the quest system is more derivative of MMOs, and thus quoting a term coined by Will Wright, the famous creator of Spore by saying "Massively Single-player Online" with a huge world....but only yourself to play with. That said who would of thunk that by TAKING AWAY the emphasis of such of quest system out of the hands of friends who might want to share those quests together, and giving them to a single person and almost ridding them of all potential "fun value" is almost a sin within itself. Thus it seems the urgent need to "reboot" this shovelware content with such as stated "game mods" that only help to refresh gameplay and the glitchy RPG-like system that only seems to "newbify" the potential gameplay.
If anything I hope games like RAGE are a wake up call to titles like Fallout that there are and will be better interpretations of such an "FPSRPG" genre.
Seriously, games like Borderlands and RAGE seem to have their redeemable qualities by emphasizing co-op and other tried and true methods...but once the title "Fallout" appears the only thing I can do is cry...or laugh...or both(?)
Seriously, the series is nothing but as I quote my friend again "A FPS on training wheels(training wheels as in the RPG-luster method of overused and abused quest-system)". The abhorent amount of glitches and bugs serves to make the game as "Shovelware cloacked as a AAA title" to the point of gamebreaking and frustration. It's amazing how Bethesda gets ANY profit or enormous sales but to the irony of the games' major selling point being a plethora of game mods(plenty of them being copyrighted material such as STAR FOX). That said the game in it's nature is nothing but a bore-fest as watching videos of players gaming it(see what I did there?) either Live or recorded....the game seems boring as if there was no tomorrow.
That said the quest system is more derivative of MMOs, and thus quoting a term coined by Will Wright, the famous creator of Spore by saying "Massively Single-player Online" with a huge world....but only yourself to play with. That said who would of thunk that by TAKING AWAY the emphasis of such of quest system out of the hands of friends who might want to share those quests together, and giving them to a single person and almost ridding them of all potential "fun value" is almost a sin within itself. Thus it seems the urgent need to "reboot" this shovelware content with such as stated "game mods" that only help to refresh gameplay and the glitchy RPG-like system that only seems to "newbify" the potential gameplay.
If anything I hope games like RAGE are a wake up call to titles like Fallout that there are and will be better interpretations of such an "FPSRPG" genre.
Wednesday, February 2, 2011
MULAN: Chinese Tactical Strategy Game
After many months of pondering how to turn the famous Mulan legend into a fitting video game formot, and recently picked up interest in the Shogun 2: Total War game...I think I can finally put down some basic ideas on how the Mulan game would function.
Now first and foremost, the game doesn't HAVE to be a full-blown RTS game, but seeing how in the legend she was known to become a "general-like" figure during the war with the Huns/Mongols it would be fitting to have some kind of "super-tactical form" that was like a "tactical view" but "strategy-like control", which probably the closest game I have played to this was Bladestorm (but not as clunky/rigid). That said the size of her "unit" it's difficult to say since all modern interpretations of her legend seem to vary how many allies she had(The Disney version was basically a "large-squad-size" unit). That said how I envision it she would have at most 100 soldiers per battle to keep that "super-tactical-form" while still feeling like you have a personal feel for the battle.
That said since she "becomes" a general figure, like most strategy and tactical games it would make sense to only allow her modest amounts of troops at first, while allowing more and more as you progress and make your way up to the "100" soldier limit. Now we all know that in the stories of Mulan that she had a group of friends along the way, so it would be in my best interest to try to mimic the "Valkyria" way of fighting that you can control her friends but once they are wounded or inured they become unavailable but still participate in the story. Also like Valkryia they can serve as you will "Hero" units that provide more power to your "unit" during the expanse of the campaign.
Going back to earning more and more larger units, of course the battles will get more and more difficult since you will also be facing more and more larger ENEMY units and eventually face Shan Yu's(for lack of an original name) henchmen and himself. Now with this in mind there will be no source gathering since well...China's citizens can take care of themselves for all I care, and the legends always just "focus" on the battles similar to Shogun 2. That said there will have to be some sort of story/campaign reward/penalty system for how well you performed in battle, but not to the point of being "forced out" of being motivated to continue on. Also it would be nice to have a sort of KOTOR/Mass Effect system for the story/campaign that can "influence" your bonds with your friends and as well as ties to the Chinese/Mongol people(Basically in the way of influencing your friendships or "close up" diplomacy options).
That's pretty much what I have for now, but thanks for reading.
Brian
Now first and foremost, the game doesn't HAVE to be a full-blown RTS game, but seeing how in the legend she was known to become a "general-like" figure during the war with the Huns/Mongols it would be fitting to have some kind of "super-tactical form" that was like a "tactical view" but "strategy-like control", which probably the closest game I have played to this was Bladestorm (but not as clunky/rigid). That said the size of her "unit" it's difficult to say since all modern interpretations of her legend seem to vary how many allies she had(The Disney version was basically a "large-squad-size" unit). That said how I envision it she would have at most 100 soldiers per battle to keep that "super-tactical-form" while still feeling like you have a personal feel for the battle.
That said since she "becomes" a general figure, like most strategy and tactical games it would make sense to only allow her modest amounts of troops at first, while allowing more and more as you progress and make your way up to the "100" soldier limit. Now we all know that in the stories of Mulan that she had a group of friends along the way, so it would be in my best interest to try to mimic the "Valkyria" way of fighting that you can control her friends but once they are wounded or inured they become unavailable but still participate in the story. Also like Valkryia they can serve as you will "Hero" units that provide more power to your "unit" during the expanse of the campaign.
Going back to earning more and more larger units, of course the battles will get more and more difficult since you will also be facing more and more larger ENEMY units and eventually face Shan Yu's(for lack of an original name) henchmen and himself. Now with this in mind there will be no source gathering since well...China's citizens can take care of themselves for all I care, and the legends always just "focus" on the battles similar to Shogun 2. That said there will have to be some sort of story/campaign reward/penalty system for how well you performed in battle, but not to the point of being "forced out" of being motivated to continue on. Also it would be nice to have a sort of KOTOR/Mass Effect system for the story/campaign that can "influence" your bonds with your friends and as well as ties to the Chinese/Mongol people(Basically in the way of influencing your friendships or "close up" diplomacy options).
That's pretty much what I have for now, but thanks for reading.
Brian
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