Zel-kun’s Words

Well, with the completion of my new PC came the need to install new games.  I have a love/hate relationship with PC games.  They can be some of the most unique and innovative games out there, but they all too often fall short of their potential.  I’ve played a couple brilliant games that were miserably executed (Vampire Bloodlines, Arcanum), and I’ve played some pretty good games that were ultimately uninteresting in concept (Sacred, TitanQuest).

I installed Blaze & Blade, which was a Japanese RPG from 1999.  It was released in Japan on the PSX, but never made it to Amaerica until they released a PC version.  The cover looked good, as did the in-game artwork.  The price was right (free, borrowed it from Zai), so I figured I’d give it a shot.  I was treated to the most poorly thought out piece of garbage ever.  First off, it wasn’t a tru PC version, it was emulated, so there was no support for the mouse, and the keyboard controls were clumsy and awkward at best.  It took me no less than ten minutes just to figure out how to navigate the menus.  The there’s the gameplay…. its good in theory, it tried to splice the traditional Japanese RPG style with American, meaning you crafted and created the characters yourself, then went off on a somewhat linear journey.  But with its clunky controls, positively silly battle style (your party ALWAYS followed you in a straight line, regardless of where the enemy was coming from), and a picture that seemd somewhat blurry, it failed in what it tried to accomplish.  In Blaze & Blade’s defense, I think it would have made a pretty cool multiplayer PSX game.

So I uninstalled B&B, and treated myself to Vampire: Redemption.  Another old game (why am I playing these old games on my new comp?), but something of a classic.  Its a Vampire the Masquerade game that takes place in the Dark Ages, ending in the modern era.  Its full of cheesy, overdramatic dialogue, and its attempts at horror come out more comical than anything.  But its backed up by some very solid gameplay and a decent plot.  The game is basically all battle, so the Vampire system was nearly completely thrown out, allowing you to slaughter hordes of demons and vampires with all sorts of crazy spells and weapons.  I got through this one in two days.

So I decided to go out and buy NEW games, with the hope of actually seeing all that RAM and new video card put to use.  I bought Neverend and Dungeon Siege II, both of which looked promising.  I liked the first Dungeon Siege.  It had its problems… namely the complete lack of plot and character development… and that it was basically one GIGANTIC dungeon crawl, but the gameplay itself was pretty good, and the mechanics were unique and fun.  I hear DSII addressed the issues of the first, and expanded on the learning-based levelling system.  I’ve only played it for about ten minutes at this point, but I think I can concur.

Then there’s Neverend, which I was nervous about because I see dozens of RPG’s on the shelf, and three out of four of them are garbage.  But once in a great while you can find that obscure game no one has ever heard of, and it turns out to be really good.  Neverend is this game.  The one thing that reeled me in was the summary on the back of the box, which stated I played a character with a name.  This is very rare for a PC game, where you create your own character, but as a result you have no backstory, and no voiceover.  So you start as this female elf bandit named Agaeven, who gets robbed by her own bandit group, and there it begins.  The game uses an active turn-based battle system, not entirely dissimilar from Final Fantasy VI.  The game boasts some pretty nice graphics, and a good soundtrack so far.  That’s usually the second thing about PC games, the soundtrack is usually very lackluster.  Usually one or two tracks and that’s it, relying on ambient noise to fill in the rest.

Also waiting to be installed is Oblivion, which I’m hoping will live up to its reputation.

Zel-kun out.