If You've Got The Poke Balls

Ah yes, the pokemon game series. I've always liked the pokemon games because they're fun and the first video games I've ever played. They also gave me my first doce of what I like to call "Gamer's Frustration". I made a good bit of progress and turned it off only to realise that I forgot to save it. I proceeded to moan and groan only to turn it back on and find out that I actually did save it. My feeling of annoyance quickly turned into embarrassment. And Then I got to the boss battles where you oh so close and then the coward uses a health potion and you pretty much have to do the battle all over again. And of course pokemon always did feel sort of like an RPG. First off, there's a ton of grind. What grind you ask? Well just look around you. You run around training your group of monsters to be the biggest baddies around so you can senselessly beat everybody and there brother. And once you've beaten them you get money so you can buy more poke balls so you can catch more pokemon so you can have a bigger, badder team so you can beat more people. It just goes in that circle until you beat the game and decide to restart it. Second, the fact that the whole point of an RPG is to play as something that you're not. I'm pretty sure that none of us here is an actual pokemon trainer. The series started off in the Kanto with Red, Blue and Yellow. Then Johto was introduced with Gold, Silver and Crystal. Hoenn came afterwards with Ruby, Saphire and Emerald. Then there was a remake of Kanto in Fire Red and Leaf Green. Then came the Mystery Dungeons Red and Blue. And finally came Diamond and Pearl with Synto (correct spelling? I dunno). I didn't really play in Synto or a Mystery Dungeon. I keep forgetting to get a Mystery Dungeon and there's no way I'm coughing up to get a DS just so I can enjoy two or three games. Which is also my reasoning behind not getting a Wii. But enough about that. As fun as the pokemon games have been with your controlling of cute and cuddly monsters of death, there's just something missing. I'd like to see the game from the perspective of the pokemon. Oh sure, Mystery Dungeon did that. But it was still basicly the same thing. You go around and train using turn-based combat. And if you want to sort of "capture" a fellow pokemon and have them fight along your side. The same concept, only you get to be a cute and cuddly monster of death. I'd like to see some good old fashion pitched combat brought about by mashing buttons (sorry to sound abrupt). And what's up with the thing about only being able to know four moves? Getting all the moves would me really nice, ya know? That would be an interesting game.

Well, thanks for reading. This is The Blade, signing off.

Pic of the Day for 11 December, 2007

That aboot sums it up right thar...


I'll be doing a pic of the day every day from now on.

Cheers,
~Toby

Hello, Jericho.

I recently heard one of my favorite game reviewers talk some serious trash about Clive Barker's Jericho, and I decided to try the demo just to see how much it sucked. So I entered this "horror" game expecting it to be terrible. By the way, thier attempts at scaring you just basicly turn into blood, blood and more blood. Just like every other horrer game and horrer movie these days. Seriously, the only time I found myself in the least bit scared was when I turned the corner, zoomed in and got a lovely view of the first enemy's uncovered buttox. I'd like to thank the Jericho game designers for this disturbing image that has kept me awake many-a-night. But enough about that. As much as I didn't want to like the game (1, I'm not a big fan of horrer games and 2, I heard it was bad) I actually found it sort of likable. I found myself having a little fun with these ugly zombies that wore knight's armor. Some had axes on thier left arm that acted as shields, some had dual blades and some had crossbows. They were definitely interesting foes. But thier AI only had the option of attacking head on. Seeing a little strategy would have been nice. Speaking of strategy your two friends seem to have the same set of options. Unless you give them orders, which they don't really follow that well in the heat of battle so ya have to give it to them before hand. Or else they're just gonna do what they want. I just tell them to hold and moved them on ahead through the level. Never a single time in the Demo did the camera leave the first-person view. Not even in the cutscenes. I thought this was kind of cool and not something that I've seen before in a game.


So overall It wasn't the best game I ever played and not the worst. At least give it a try ya know. Well, thanks for reading. This is The Blade, signing off.

*AnimeRaider has just joined your party!*

Hey, g4mr5! Toby here!

Big news: Anime website AnimeRaider.com has joined teh L33T n00b as a partner or "party member" (MMORPG joke). The partnership will first begin with Acs posting a review of Devil May Cry 4 for the XBox 360 (largely because AnimeRaider has the Devil May Cry anime availible to watch).

Also, we will be getting a Sub-forum on the AnimeRaider forums for the blog where you guys can post and ask questions. Who knows? Maybe we'll answer them in the blog!

On Friday, Acs and I will post the first teh_L33T_n00b podcat (was podcast, but I typed it wrong, and the name stuck). It will feature some background music and a commercial for the teh_L33t_n00b making of documentary: "A Day in Infinate Lives: teh_L33T_dcumntry"

Well, I have to go.

Cheers!

~TM

Recieving New Maps

Bungie has said that there will be no new updates during the week of Thanksgiving... They lied... A new update has shown up on bungie.net. It's all about the first map pack for Halo 3. It includes Standoff, Rat's Nest and Foundry.

Standoff... It reminds me an awful lot of Coagulation from Halo 2. It's got the same basic look. Now it has two massive satelites in the back ground. And from what I hear it has the same basic setup of one base on either side of the canyon, each complete with vehicles and a turret.

Rat's Nest... It looks very similar to the campaign level "Crow's Nest". And it will probably have similar combat style, close quarters that is. It also includes an open up area that contains a helipad complete with pelican.

Foundry... Not much to say for this map. The default version that is. This map has a massive amount of stuff you can do in Forge. From what I hear you can delete every thing that makes up the map and start from scratch. Not just the standard setup. Sounds like a lot of fun.

For more information go to http://www.bungie.net/News/content.aspx?type=topnews&cid=12983

This is The Blade, signing off.

Insert Title Here

Hey everyone. The Blade here and guess what. I finaly got Halo 3 working right. I'd like to thank the XBox support line. They didn't help me fix the problem but they did point me in the right direction. I fixed it while on hold for the umpteenth time. And for some strange reason I feel the need to revise my review of Halo 3. I'm not going to start over completely. I'm just going to hit a few key points that I missed. I realize that everyone is too busy actually playing it to give care, but I'm basicly doing 'cause I feel like it. *Spiolers*

First off, let's get a few things straight. Halo 3 is not (nor is Halo 1 or 2) perfection. Honestly I'd give it an 8 out of 10. Mainly because "Boss Battle" was pathicly easy and extremly anticlimactic. Seriously, could anyone beat the boss of Halo 2 even if they were standing still? Absolutly not! The guys at bungie could have done WAY better with that. Like maybe actually getting to fight this Gravemind thing. Next issue is the AI. OK, yeah. Bungie did make the AI smarter. But only for the enemies that is. The marines are just as stupid as ever in this game. Need proof? If you do you obviosly haven't been paying atention to there behavior. They toss grenades just after you kill something,(that took out your shields by the way) and blowing you to bits. They drive you into walls while Wraiths are trying to blast you. They shoot at the Scarab when there's a Banshee or a Ghost on your tail just about to kill you. One good thing about them is there aim. Give the guy in the passenger of your vehicle a rocket launcher and you'll be in good shape in just about any spot (so long as you aviod those pesky walls).

Few things I'm a bit tired of. One: Complaints about the campaign being short. While it is kind of short I still think it's lots of fun as long as I avoid that one level crawling with flood literally everywhere. Two: People who say Half-Life is more original and there only explination for this is that the flood are just head crab rip-offs. Oh puh-frickin'-leaze! The whole idea of "Alien creatures take control of and mutate humans" had been done a hundred times over before Half-Life did it! Everything has! I'll admitt that it does earn originality points being able to play as mute (or so I've heard, never really played it). But I'd like to hear some other details of it other than "We did this first!". And Three: People who say the multiplayer of Halo 3 excuses the problems of the campaign. Wait a sec... I thought this game was "perfect". Does a "perfect" game need excuses? I should hope not. "Please excuse this piece of perfection for partially sucking." Doesn't make a lot of since if you ask me.

Well, I guess I'll see you later. And thanks for reading.

Teh tag of teh l33t

Hey. This is The Blade here. Toby has informed me that some people have been requesting my XBox Live Gamertag. Well, here ya go. My XBox Live gamertag is as follows: ACS Blaid. Got it? Good.

There ya have it, my XBox Live gamertag. This is The Blade, signing off.
And remember, there's always room on my friends list.