• 21May 13

  Updates and Thoughts

  After much delays, my stupid practical examinations are finished. I took the day off from college just to get some rest after burning a little too much of the midnight oil.
  
  I know that I've been not so active on GS and I apologize. It's just that college is college and my time management skills are nothing but a bad joke. That and I had a lot on my plate. I devoured all the books in the Hunger Games Trilogy. The first two books were great but the third one was disappointing. I also managed to get my total games completed count to 296, saw a lot of great movies (the ones in my native language - malayalam) and also read Brain "Head" Welch's autobiography in one sitting.
  
  With the next gen consoles nearing the horizon, I'm most excited for the PlayStation 4. Better exclusives, better hardware, better features - I'm something of a Kaz Hirai believer now. I'm also grinning stupidly because Metal Gear Rising : Revengeance is coming to PC (YAAAAAAAHOOOOOOOOO!!) and if the leak about Castlevania : Lords of Shadow on Steam are true, then color me insane because of joy! MWAHAAHAHHA!!
  
  I don't like having unrealistic expectations but one can hope that a certain Crystal Dynamics reboots a certain Legacy of Kain series...because that would be badass.
  
  
  
  Am I concluding the blog with a cat pic? Yes, I am. Problem?
  
  ...
  
  DON'T JUDGE ME!!!!!
  • Posted May 21, 2013 12:03 am GMT
  • Category: General
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• 13Apr 13

  Resident Evil 6 done and dusted!

  After 24 hours and 30 minutes, I'm finally done with Resident Evil 6.
  
  My 2 paise on the game:
  
  The QTEs were okay. It's nowhere near as bad as reviewers said they would be. And to those who found the QTEs hard - well, I played the game on PC with mouse/keyboard and I didn't have a problem. They would have been even easier if I had hooked up the 360 controller.
  
  The story is well - all over the place. Intriguing, but not all that great. Atleast we get to see some cool sights though.
  
  Graphically, the game's presentation is good. Wish Capcom had done a better job with the PC version by optimizing framerates (the game ran mostly at 60 FPS with some dips along the way), adding higher res textures and tesselation. The scale is pretty good but really, the low res textures mar the otherwise good looking game. The lighting is fantastic and really nails the atmosphere. Sadly, the game is a console port with only Vsync, AA and resolution as its PC features. As for the camera - it's okay. I had some difficulties with the fixed camera angles when they went HOMAGE MODE but other than that, the camera is just like the one in RE 4 and RE 5. Oh, and don't try to fight the camera - go along with it.
  
  The game is okay, but not the 4.5 GameSpot said it was. The game really wanted to go all out like the Uncharted setpiece moments but the engine is too rigid to allow such high octane action. Either that or the programmers of RE 6 aren't as good as Naughty Dog's programmers...
  
  And no, it's not survival horror. It's a straight up action-adventure game. Sure, the enemies are numerous, ammo is given at just the right amounts, but don't expect to be frightened by anything. As far as I'm concerned, Resident Evil was never scary. I also don't get the, "RE 6 is not scary like RE 1, RE 2 and RE 3!" comments. If dogs jumping out of windows is your definition of scary, I don't know what to say.
  
  No Mercy Mode, however, will ratchet up the difficulty to the point where just making it to a checkpoint is survival horror. The difficulty does live up to its titular name. The game does feel clunky at times but once you understand how to play the game in a dynamic way, everything makes sense. By dynamic, I mean countering, laying prone, rolling, dashing etc. Please don't go playing this game thinking it is a cover based shooter. Seriously.
  
  What I didn't like was Ada Wong. Her voice acting and dialog are all grossly inappropriate for the situation. Just like how I hate the "steroid injecting male character" stereotype in games, I hate the femme fatale BS that Capcom stuffs down my throat in the form of Ada Wong. She was good in RE 4 but in both Damnation and 6, I get the feeling that Capcom is trying way, way too hard in making a badass character.
  
  In a surprise twist, the campaign that I thought would be the worst ended up being my favorite. Which campaign is that? Chris's campaign! It had better characters, better story and better gameplay than the other campaigns. Second favorite is Ada Wong's. My least favorite campaigns were Jake and Leon's.
  
  Mercenaries mode is back and is one of the best parts of the game. I'm pretty sure I'll be AWOL because of it...
  
  So, with Resident Evil 6, I'm now at 292 games completed.
  
  ~ fend
  • Posted Apr 13, 2013 2:53 am GMT
  • Category: Games
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• 31Mar 13

  Tomb raiding and something about Jade Empires

  Heya!
  
  Sorry for not being active. My excuse? No excuse.
  
  >_>
  
  Anyways, I have put both Jade Empire : Special Edition and Tomb Raider to rest. Jade Empire was a good game. The combat was iffy and once you unlock the Jade Golem transformation, it's basically GOD MODE for the entire game. The story was interesting, characters - well, not so much. Yes, there are cliches like prophecies, The One BS but in the grand scope of things (and because it's a bloody game), all is forgiven.
  
  Tomb Raider... well, it's like Uncharted (complete with killer set piece moments) without its humor. The story was initially predictable but it managed to surprise me. Lara was stupid (oh come on girl! you knew that was going to happen!) which is surprising because she isn't blonde (Oh no, I didn't!) and the supporting cast is useless (similar to the "cast" in Dead Space). Cinematography is simply out of the world in Tomb Raider. There's a scene where Lara climbs a communication tower. I nearly had a game induced vertigo at that moment but once she got on top (get your head outta the gutter mate), the camera spans around and you have the most gorgeous vista to grace a video game. The PC version looks lascivious and the game ran at a silky smooth 60 FPS but half way through the game, I started getting dips. It didn't kill the experience but the game looks and feels so much better at 60 FPS. TressFX was a cool addition, but the lighting can sometimes ruin the shadows formed by Lara's hair. The game looks beautiful though it could have used some better optimization. The color palette is a bit drab which puzzled me to end as Crystal Dynamics' previous game, Deus Ex : Human Revolution had a positively beautiful palette. Was this their idea of making the game look dark and grimy? :\
  I still have no idea what High Precision does, thereby giving me reason to keep that setting turned on.
  
  There are a few lapses of logic in the game's story (some regarding Lara's wounds) and the supporting cast will piss you off considering how useless they are in terms of gameplay. Voice acting was good, and Lara's moans and groans are thankfully, not as bad as I thought back when they showed this game in E3 (it was as though she was a porn star back then).
  
  Long story short : if you have the cash, get Tomb Raider. It's easily my favorite game of 2013. Total number of games that I've completed : 291.
  
  I've already started Assassin's Creed : Brotherhood (just got all the guilds up and running) and I've got Resident Evil 6, which I'm saving for playing next weekend. Looks like this is going to be a very busy week for me.. Sigh, practicals STILL haven't been announced. Pray that I get some days off because of strikes. Goodness knows, I could use some :\
  
  ~ fend
  • Posted Mar 31, 2013 3:37 am GMT
  • Category: Games
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