The Game Is On

So the second post of the reincarnation of the blog.  I guess this is a defining moment.  Who knows.

Please mind the fact that this entry might be a little short to the point and off.  I have been reformatting my wife's old net book to use as an auxiliary device.  The keyboard however is much smaller than I am used to so things are a little weird using it.  I shall conquer this!!

Things have been good this week with my advancing through the drudge that is my backlog.  I haven't beaten anything this week, just playing.  Lets go through things:

Pokemon Y:

I keep getting suckered back into the Pokemon series.  I loved Red.  I loved Silver and Gold and Yellow and Emerald.  I think they were great games because I was young and I could memorize all the damn Pokemon in the game and feel really cool.  Things weren't overly complicated.  That was the key.  Now though things are just crazy.

The story is similar as all the others.  If you have played one Pokemon game you have played them all.  8 gyms, 8 badges.  Elite 4.  Legendary Pokemon.  Some evil team trying to take over things/the world.  They add the element of a new region for each game and that helps to somewhat change things up if not just a bit.

I will say that "Y" is better than Diamond/Platinum (the last Pokemon games I played).  Mega Evolution is kind of fun during battles to get that instant boost of kickassness.  I like how the boring flow of the game from town to town is broken up at times with random little excursions.  And as always, the collecting of Pokemon is always entertaining.

I think that my problem with the game besides the sheer massive amount of Pokemon is all the little ways that you can level up your Pokemon so that you can battle against people online.  I haven't used the online element that much on here and I don't see myself becoming a huge collector and battler on it.  I will say that if you cut away all of that "fluff" that the game does do pretty well.

I find myself done with the power plant and back getting ready to take on the electric trainer's gym (can't remember the gym right now since I don't have my 3DS near me).  Besides having 5 badges, I have spent a lot of time just leveling different types of Pokemon to round out my team.  The problem though is that where I am I have't found a good spot to just level.  Its quite a pain in the ass.  I might just push through and beat this game this upcoming week.  Gotta a nice little trip for work I am doing, so lots of play time.  

It just blows my mind how many Pokemon I have seen/caught so far.  I think its when I look at this that I begin to realize the crazy amount in the game.

Ni No Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch:

I first heard of Ni No Kuni while listening to the Official Playstation Blogcast podcast.  At first I wasn't too impressed with what they were saying about things.  Just wasn't drawing me into the game.  They made the comments that it was a great JRPG that was very different from others and it had a great sense of humor and story to it.  I just didn't pay too much attention to things.

Then after a couple of months I saw that there was a demo for it and I decided "Why the hell not.  Lets give this a try".  Downloaded, explored the forest, defeated the monster, and still was not too horribly impressed by things.  Sometimes demos hit me really well but sometimes they don't.

After even more time had passed I was looking for a good game for my birthday and I just thought that maybe I would toss it on a list and if I got it I would try it out.  Maybe a new RPG to my routine would spice things up.

Damn.  I am really happy that I got the game and have been playing it.

Ni No Kuni is a title that seems to get a lot of things right, with some things wrong (more things right though).  The animation and drawing is amazing, but nothing less can be expected from Studio Ghibli.  The voice acting is perfect.  Using British actors was the perfect choice.  American voice actors I think wouldn't have been able to tell the story as well because there ain't anything special about our voices.  Please don't get me started on what the hell a Boston accent is from.

The story though takes the cake.  There are typical J/RPG elements with magic and rescuing and exploring.  There is a world to save.  There is leveling to do and friends to make along Oliver's journey.  You even have a quirky Lord High Lord of the fairies that helps you out.  What takes the cake is the reason behind the journey.

MILD SPOILER AHEAD.  INTRO SPOILER!!!!



All good adventures have a starting point.  A reason for you to cross that mountain and see what is on the other side.  Without this you are just on a stroll with no purpose.  Oliver doesn't start his adventure because he wants to free the world from tyranny.  He doesn't want to save crystals.

He wants to save his mum.  His mother dies and he discovers that by going on this journey he will be able to bring her back.

BAM!!  Thats it!!  Saving the world is secondary to his mother.  Through the journey he keeps saying that he needs to accomplish what he set out to do.  This is something that will pull at anyone that loves their mother.  I would have done anything for my mother when I was young, and heck I still would now.  That is the beauty of this.  I plan on playing this game when I have kids and have it as an interactive story.  There is nothing offensive in it (except for fantasy violence) and its something that they will really enjoy.

Yes its a game that still requires 40-50 hours to play through, and the familiar system is daunting and confusing.  Sometimes the combat system is off as well.  The thing is that that doesn't really matter.  I want more when I play it.  I want to hold Oliver's hand and get him to the end and see what happens.  I want him to save his mother because its not just his mother.  Its mine as well.  Its your's.

I strongly recommend that people pick this title up and give it a try.  It may be a little slow at the beginning but keep with it.  Its worth it I promise.  I find myself currently in Hamelin and you will laugh when you get there.

I only suggest that you think like a child when you play.  Relax and let yourself be young.

I remember when I had a Big Ass Gameboy

I try a lot not to use this as a soapbox for agendas or anything.  However looking at my list of games I realized something.  Handheld games are pretty good.

Here is whats up.  I read Kotaku daily.  I am not a crazy poster or anything, just like the articles.  But from looking on there and reading other stories there is this belief at the least, and a solid though that the handheld system (DS, 3DS, PSP, Vita, etc) is on the way out to be replaced by the cellphone.

I got some qualms with that.

Looking at the different arguments that are presented I wanted to say things about each one and add my own two cents (then I want to steal those cents away from you since I need the monies :) )

No one wants to pay a whole bunch of money for another thing to carry around when they can just play on their phone.

As a casual to above average gamer I don't carry my PSP/DS around in my pocket.  That would just look really damn weird, and I don't like to have more than one bulky thing in my pant (BAM!!!!!).  I choose to carry mine in my bookbag that I bring with me everywhere.  If I go to the mall or store then I usually leave it in the trunk, however I have it with me at work mostly cause I believe I should always be prepared.  They make carrying cases for the systems which unless you have it fastened around your neck they are meant to be placed in a case or carried by hand.  Yes most people put their phones in their pocket but I don't think they have in the other pocket their Nintendo system or PSP.  Heck the last system that I think could fit in a pocket was the Game Boy Advanced SP and the Game Boy Micro.

Its cheaper to just have a smartphone that can play games than to have both.

This might seem like it is pretty self explanatory but lets analyze things.  When you buy a cell phone, lets just say the new iPhone 4s for instance, you usually are going to buy a contract to go with it.  Normally you would buy a 2 year contract since you get the cheapest price for the phone.  So if we use Verizon, which I have, and say you want a 2 year contract with a 16GB iPhone 4s, you would pay 199.99 for the phone.  The price would go up $100 for 32GB and another 100 for 64GB.  So staying at the cheap end you have paid 199.99 for a phone.  You are buying the phone not for the express purposes to play game on.  You are buying it so you can make phone calls, text, get your email, and surf the web.  I consider those the 4 main reasons why you get a smartphone.  Its a phone so its main purpose is for communication with others.  Not for gaming.  If you break your phone and don't have insurance on it (which I have discovered is not that uncommon), for you to get another iPhone 4s it would run at least $649.99 without going onto ebay and getting a used one.

Now lets look at getting a PS Vita since its brand new.  Just getting a PS Vita WiFi (I really don't think you need to have 3g on all your stuff.  I have a wifi only iPad and I don't hate the fact at all that I don't have 3g on it.  Mostly cause there are so many places nowadays that you can get a wifi signal on while driving around) would cost you 249.99 at the least.  You can get on the internet with it and exchange information with friends.  You can play others as well, but it is a gaming device.  It it meant for you to play games on and not make calls and texts.  Its nice for little kids to have since 8 year olds don't need a damn cellphone.  If you or your child breaks a PS Vita it is going to cost you 249.99 to get another one.  Honestly though, handhelds usually are quite resilient so it takes a lot to break them.  By then the price could drop to $200.

When you combine prices for things, if you have to get a new iPhone your total for both phones would be $849.98, and for two PS Vita's it would be $499.98.  When you compare the two prices, you have enough money to get another PS Vita if you wanted ($350 difference).  You can also take into account the price of games for the system, but we will cover that next.  Therefore its cheaper in the long run to get a handheld since 1. You are getting it for gaming and not for phone calls, 2. If you break the system its cheaper to get a new one than it is to get a new phone.

Games for smartphones are cheaper than those for handheld games.
Ok.  I will give them this.  Yes they are cheaper.  Angry birds and quick little games are much cheaper.  Hell, you can get a couple of Final Fantasy games for about $15 for your phone.  But its the quality of the game you are paying for.  Look, Angry Birds is no FF game or mainstream console game.  I understand that it probably took a little bit of time to code, however the overall design and making of it is nowhere near most modern day games (we all know Call of Duty is just the same thing, they just change the maps around).  When you have a game that takes upwards of a year to make then it is going to be more expensive because you have to make up all the hours put into the game.  I do think they can work on dropping the price of video games by getting rid of the traditional medium used (Disc, cartridge, Blu-Ray, CD, etc.) and go to either a small flash card or download it.  Basic business says that if you can deliver the same product and remove just 1 element you can make it cheaper for the consumer, and with the way the economy is now price is a big time factor in purchasing a game.

With the above statements covered I think I will just address random things that are on my mind from here.

I know the screen on a smartphone is amazing in terms of its clarity, and can probably support some of the most taxing graphic wise games we have, however I can't really see someone wanting to put 60 hours into a game using a touchscreen as the control.  Its a bitch to use the touch screen to play games, especially if you have fat fingers like me.  Its like typing out an email on touchscreen.  Yeah you can do it, however it is a bitch and a half for long emails.

The ability to buy things in a game is not something that can be easily done on a hand held system.  However it is something that if people put their heads to it they could make it work.  Do I think its something that would be greatly used for handhelds?  Ehhhhh.  I mostly see it as a draw for certain games like Angry Birds and Cityville and all.  Maybe would be big for a FPS on a handheld when you want to buy a kickass gun, but who knows.

You might be thinking that I am dogging Angry Birds et al.  I am not.  I like Angry Birds.  I know that there is a version for the PSP of the game.  However I think its a good thing for just the smartphone.  Its a mindless game that helps to pass the time on the subway/waiting room/etc. without having to get big into the story (if you happen to have a hatred for bigs and want justice for all birds then you might want to seek therapy).  Yeah companies make big time $$ of these types of games however they are like solitaire.  Everyone plays it however does it need to be on a system that can also fly a spaceship?  No.  Also, I am not saying that a PSP can fly a spaceship.  I was just trying to make an analogy.

Another thing to think about is battery life.  I like being able to get in contact with someone for an emergency or work.  If I am playing a game that eats up my phones battery, where am I left at??  Its nice to have another system that is made for games and not being interrupted by every damn text or update on the internet.  I hate not having enough energy to do things.


I think that I am going to end with this final thought.
The Handheld has a good life ahead of it.  Companies need to make some changes to keep it in the fight, however the smartphone is not really its major competitor.  I think that belongs to the people who choose to give up on it.  Handhelds have a bright future for them if we decided to allow it to be that way.  If we give up on them now I think that we will be greatly disappointed by what we find is waiting.  Cause right now my damn phone can't catch me some Pokemon.