Basurake

Well Johnny’s engaged the dragon god in a dialogue, now perhaps they can begin moving towards a peaceful resolution of their issues. See kids? Violence doesn’t ALWAYS solve problems!

Lot to talk about today! First off, with this chapter nearing its close, I’ve been thinking heartily about the next chapter. You’ll all be glad to know that I’m well into writing its fourth page! Isn’t that exciting!? In addition to writing the next episode, I’ve also been thinking of some neat bonus pages I could to to keep things spicy. I may begin posting end of episode summation pages, which sounds dumb on paper but in practice will be neat if I pull it off correctly. I can’t lie, I’m borrowing this idea from Kia Asamiya’s Steam Detectives, but flattery is the most sincere form of theft, right?

Okay, next up is some Castlevania goodness! The lost gem of the series, the Japan only PC-Engine title Dracula X: Chi no Rondo is out on the Wii’s Virtual Console! For anyone that didn’t feel like buying a PSP and slogging through Konami’s recent remake to get to the original version, this is great news! This game is considered to be among the best old school Castlevania games, and it really is just dripping with charm and detail. This one kinda slipped onto VC without much fanfare, possibly because the PSP release has made the original seem old hat, but the chance to play this previously unavailable game for nine dollars, on an actual TV screen is still exciting to me!

Next up Tatsunoko Vs. Capcom. Although I really enjoy the game, I have to say that I dislike the direction fighting games are taking. The emphasis on spamming cheap, unblockable super combos and the general necessity of absolutely lame tactics to play the game with any sort of proficiency is disheartening. He online component unfortunately only seems to serve as a window into how sad and pathetic the hardcore fighting game community has become. Shame. That said, the game is still a blast to play with friends when the focus is fun, not victory.

Well, that’s about it! With how much I talk about games here I might as well be running a different site altogether! Maybe next time we’ll discuss literature!

Johnny makes a choice… we’ll see if whether or not he gets to live with it! When jacked up violence jockies with swords the size of airplane wings can’t solve a problem, then what can!? I guess we’re gonna find out soon!

Finally got Shiren 3. Compared to the previous games, this one is supposed to be a bit more easy on players, but that certainly didn’t stop me from messing up and dying before even getting to Karakuri Mansion, the actual main dungeon of the game. I found myself alone on the 5th floor of Catfish’s Nest, having lost party members Shiren and Sensei to plot twists prior to entering the dungeon, starving from lack of riceballs, with the game threatening me for lingering on the floor for too long, pursued by freaking spear fish and ghosties, mysteriously missing my jar of holding that contained my Escape Scroll. Lots of herbs and two revivals later, my story ended quite literally on the stairs to the next floor, felled by three goddamn enemies. I discovered later that my Jar of Holding had been stolen by one of the enemies without my noticing… After some prep in one of the easier dungeons, I found my way back, re-equipped, regained Shiren and beat the freaking Catfish with relative ease. Still, this doesn’t bode well…

Watched a clip of God of War III recently, and decided that I hate the game more than I already thought I did. The sex mini game, which was already stupid in the first game, is one of the stupidest things I’ve ever witnessed in a video game. The attempt at sexuality only reveals the games lackluster character models and animation, the writing is worse than even the cheesiest porno parody, and they don’t even have the stones to show the actual act. Its good to see that in a supposedly mature game, we still can’t touch on the topic of sexuality as adults… the fact that anyone over the age of thirteen will play this game and not find it an insult to their intelligence is amazing. PANDER TO MY MASCULINE FANTASIES MORE, SONY!

Some people just don’t know how to adapt their speech to suit the situation. Like, have you ever heard a young guy address a cop or something as “Dude” or “Man”? That’s not getting you out of breathalyzer!

MEGAMAN 10 IS OUT! AND I HAVE IT! AND IT IS COOL! I wouldn’t mind a 16-bit look for one of these new games, as I really really liked MegaMan 7, but I think I’m in the minority on that one.

Speaking of MegaMan, the much anticipated (by me) release of Hitoshi Ariga’s Rockman Megamix in good old English has come and gone, and I can’t seem to find the damn thing in a store anywhere. As a matter of fact, I haven’t been able to find a manga that I actually wanted in a retail store in years! I understand having trouble finding books from smaller publishers, but sometimes there are Viz books that stores don’t stock simply because they are not Bleach or Naruto.

Can’t seem to find a copy of Shiren the Wanderer 3 either… very annoying, but I guess that’s what the internet is for!

Johnny slogs his way into the Pool of Violence as a direct consequence of impaired judgment. I guess people have made worse mistakes drunk, right?

Sorry this took so long, I guess I’ve been a bit scattered lately. I’ve been really giving my Wii a good workout lately, which is good, since I bought it and all. I finally got around to playing The Conduit, which from what I can tell has received rather mixed reviews. The first person shooter has never been my game of choice, but I like to do some shooting now and then, and decided to give the game a try, since I found it for 15 dollars at Target. Although it was certainly underwhelming in terms of its scale, overall I’d say it was a solid game that I had a blast playing. I don’t care much for multiplayer, so I probably won’t be playing it again any time soon, but I enjoyed what was there. If nothing else, it gives me hope that The Grinder, High Voltage’s next Wii shooter will be something to look forward to.

The other game I’m playing is the 10 dollar game Spyborgs, which got absolutely terrible reviews that I don’t think it deserves. If I had to sum it up, I’d say it is next gen Battletoads, but without some of the more annoying bullshit that made Battletoads so inaccessible. It’s still damn hard on the normal setting, but it certainly isn’t cheap or unfair, and the co-op is fun, if a little confusing. There are even a few nice touches that I think other games of this genre really could have thought of. For example, if both players are in need of health, but one player accidentally grabs both available health powerups, the game automatically distributes the unused health increase to the other player, which doesn’t sound like much but really is nice. Other than the difficulty, I don’t have a single issue with the game, though I guess we’ll see if that changes as I progress.

Anyway, that’s all I have to say for now! The next page is technically done, so there isn’t any reason why it won’t be up this week. Until then, SEEYA.

Well, Johnny’s getting in over his head, but I guess that’s what growing up is all about, right? Don’t worry guys, this scene is going somewhere… I promise.

I sure did talk alot during those last couple posts, but I guess I don’t have a whole bunch to say today… OR DO I? I think it’s kinda interesting when games get sequels that aren’t really sequels, the most recent example being Modern Warfare 2, sequel to Call of Duty 4 Modern Warfare. Is it Call of Duty 5? No, because Call of Duty World at War might be Call of Duty 5. Maybe it’s call of Duty 6, in that case. It reminds me of the whole Darkforces, Darkforces 2 Jedi Knight, Jedi Knight 2 Jedi Outcast, Jedi Outcast 2 Jedi Academy thing. That’s like, Darkforces 8, right? In any case, I recommend everybody skips this game and just holds out for Call of Duty 7 Modern Warfare 3 A Time for Shooting, coming in 2011!

A quick look at the back of the original Modern Warfare box will reveal that it is ACTUALLY the best game ever made. It says so, right on the back of the box, so it HAS to be true, right? This just blows my mind. What a ridiculous claim to make! Like, I don’t even think I’d call that game the best game on the Xbox 360. I don’t even think I’d call it the best FPS on the Xbox 360. Hell, I don’t know if it’s even the best Call of Duty game. Hopefully Modern Warfare 2 will shed some light on this situation…