System requirements for Flower Paradise: Windows 2000/XP/Vista / 1 GHz CPU / 512 MB RAM / 32 MB Video RAM / DirectX 9.0 Key Game Features 150 match-three puzzles 100 Box Clear Puzzles Three gardens to customize Nine trophies to unlock Untimed and Time Modes
System requirements for A Gypsy's Tale: The Tower of Secrets: Windows XP+ / Pentium 400MHz / DirectX 8 or later / DirectSound-compatible sound card / 256 MB RAM Key Game Features 30 beautiful environments Multi-scene interactive puzzles Dozens of hidden object puzzles Over a dozen mini-puzzles Extended hint system
System requirements for Ski Resort Mogul: Windows XP, Vista or 7 / 1.7 GHz processor / 512 MB RAM / DirectX 9.0b compatible graphics card / DirectX 9.0b compatible sound card / DirectX 9.0b Key Game Features 12 bonuses 40 levels Five characters Five different hotels Six different services
System requirements for TikiBar: Windows XP / Windows Vista / 1.0 Ghz or faster processor speed / 256 MB RAM / 56 MB available hard disk space / DirectX 8.0 or later Key Game Features 60 unique levels Six different bars Unlimited game time Free upgrades to new versions Full customer support
System requirements for The Island: Castaway: Operating System: Windows XP/Vista/ 7 / Processor: 900 MHz / RAM: 1 Gb / DirectX version: 8.0 / Video RAM: 128 Mb / Hard Drive Space: 600 Mb Key Game Features A huge island to explore More than 200 quests to complete Ancient writings to decipher 14 unique characters Cinematic storyline
Since Zuri and I became a couple in SL. Now our RL relationship seems to have ended as well. She is still my Domina, but in name only. I lost her back to her ex-boyfriend as she wants to make it work between the two of them. I have no problem with that, but not the way she ended it with me. I only wanted to hear her side and reasons why she decided to go back to him. After all, she told me she was unhappy with him, and the way he has treated her in the past.
Like all relationships, a sexual one can only last if their is fire coming from both persons. And once the sexual desire is gone, you only have the love and trust to keep it together to make it work. If neither exist, why bother being in that relationship in RL or SL.
Another issue is her being depressed, since the passing of her RL father. I know its hard for her now, but not hearing from her, only worried me in RL. How would you feel, if you talked to someone you cared about, stoped calling to talk to you? Without a reason for the person to be upset about to begin with.
Anyway...I an sad and upset, that my RL relationship with Zuri as a lover has ended. I don't even know, if we are going to remain friends as of this posting.
Alone.
FYI...I may not have been able to log in to SL, due to graphic issues with wireless connection. But I was able to chat with my demon family, with the use of Skype. I handy feature to have, if you can't log in to SL. I am still able to dictate my orders from it, and communicate effectively to everyone that needed to hear from me.
What do you get when you cross Disney and Final Fantasy? Kingdom Hearts 1. What do you get when you cross Disney and Final Fantasy and then throw them in a pot and poop all over it? Kingdom Hearts 2.
Story Oof. Where to begin. Kingdom Hearts 2 opens with a tedious five hour intro focusing on an unknown character named Roxas who kinda looks like the main character, Sora. During these five hours, you will do exciting things like deliver mail and find missing purses for old ladies. To put it bluntly the opening is mind-numbingly slow, it's almost as if the developers didn't want people to play the game at all - heck, it's the reason this game is in my backlog!
The banality of Roxas.
Once you get over the intro-hurdle, you are put back in control of Sora, Donald and Goofy and set out on another adventure across various Disney themed worlds. Some of the worlds were rehashed from KH1, but most were new experiences. Seeing the different worlds and being able to walk through the scenery from some of my favorite Disney movies was my favorite thing about the game. But the individual stories that each world told were atrocious.
You are basically tasked with helping the good guys of each world complete the major plot points of their respective movie. However, your existence in the story always feels tacked on and shoe horned in. On top of that, the stories are completely neutered from any and all upsetting imagery, thereby eliminating any emotional investment I would have had into helping these characters. Think about that. They are censoring Disney movie plot points. Like the death of Mufasa in the Lion King world. Shown in full emotionally destroying detail in the film, only to fade to black when the same scene occurs in the game. This is the case across every world in the game, and was a full disappointment.
Ooh, so scary.
On top of all this you have Sora's main quest to find his friends Riku and Kairi, whom got separated from him at the end of the first game. This quest is being thwarted (for some unknown reason) by this group called Organization XIII. A group of pretty-faced men who wear turbo-trendy black trench coats and are all "dark and evil" and stuff. You also have Malificent and Big Bad Pete working against you, but then, strangely for you. It's a hodge-podge mess of a story that has trouble focusing on anything in particular.
The motivation for the villain simply isn't there. I have no reason to hate the final boss, he's clearly doing something bad, but damned if I can figure out what the hell they're talking about. The biggest shame of all is the fact that these themed worlds do not connect to the overarching story in any meaningful way, meaning 85% of the game is simply a gigantic, cleverly disguised level-grind. And when you come to realize that after finishing the 30+ hour game, you certainly feel a little more than gipped.
Gameplay The gameplay is built on the same Action-RPG blueprint from the first game, but adds a toilet full of complexity to it. You're basically button mashing your way through hundreds and hundreds of enemies, and you can simply press the X button for the entire game and never touch the upgrades or special abilities, negating any real need to dig into it in the first place. But its likely that you'll get bored of pressing the X button if you have an IQ over 10, and will want something extra to do.
So what you see in the picture above is your battle menu. This is pretty standard for a turn based RPG when you have time to think about and plan what you want to do. But this is an action game. You don't have time to contemplate using a potion or risking it and attacking again. The example in the picture above is only half of it. Press left on the D-Pad and that list will change to "Attack" "Magic" "Item" Drive" - so that's seven options BEFORE you dip into the submenus of six of those seven choices. Now, you can press L1 to bring up a magic sub menu which you can assign magic to so you don't have to scroll through all your spells, but overall its a cumbersome system that leaves you all thumbs more often than not.
I feel like the gameplay suffered from the same design mentality as the story. I feel like they made it overly easy for the younger audience, but added a whole heap of complexity for older players. The problem is, it's too complex. I just figured out how to perform a summon with like five hours left in the game.
Equip your abilities, it's super serial important
Then you have your abilities. This includes magic, increases to melee attack combos, defensive upgrades and so on. Some of them are quite helpful, but the game lacks a much needed help system. For instance, the first ability you get is "Guard". It says that you can block enemy projectiles using the square button. I tried it a couple times early on and was not able to do it, so I figured I was doing it wrong and eventually forgot I even had the ability. I got to a boss that was exclusively projectile based and was forced to go back and figure out how to use it. Now maybe I'm an idiot, but I felt like I didn't have the right info on more than a few occasions.
Again, same as the story, the gameplay just felt like the developers threw a bunch of solid ideas into a pot and expected them to form into a delicious soup, and it just didn't. It was like a toothpaste, tomato, and car tire stew.
Presentation
Presentation usually is 50% visual and 50% audio. If the game has voice acting, break the audio into 50% music/sound effects, 50% voice acting. With those numbers in mind, the game gets a 75% in the presentation department.
The visuals in this game are incredible. They managed to recreate the charming Disney artwork in 3D without resorting to cel-shading, and without them looking like clunky 3D game models. Really excellent work. The other visual treat was the change in appearance your characters got when entering a new world. With Tron and the Black and White worlds being the coolest.
The fantastic 3D art
The music is fan-flippin-tastic, even from the title screen, you get a sense that they really wanted to squeeze a great story out of this one, but just couldn't deliver. Nonetheless, I often sat through the entire opening song before loading my save file, just cuz it was so good.
Bliss.
Then we have the voice acting. Mughhh.... Well, its not so much the performances as it is the voice direction and script writing. I know this was made in Japan and that sometimes the gravity of a story gets lost in translation, but they were so heavy handed with the plot delivery, it almost became a joke towards the end. It's like when you tell a joke and then over explain the punchline and ruin it for everyone. There would be points where I would make a connection in my mind and be all excited that I figured something out and then - oh. They just told me. Thank you. Thank you for that.
Gud vus Evah.
Overall, the game gets a 50%. And I don't mean that in the failure sense of the number. It does half of the things very well and half of them very poorly. It is truly a half baked experience. I will never ever play it again. It's tedious and boring and likely written by an attention starved 12 year old.
Stuff I Loved:
Multiple Disney worlds to explore
Fantastic transposition of characters to 3D models
Delicious music
Stuff I Hated:
Terrible, terrible story. Just awful.
Way too easy gameplay on the surface, cumbersome, confusing gameplay underneath.
Voice direction is atrocious. Has anyone ever taken a story telling class?
Review in Ten Words or Less: A recipe for a delicious stew with all wrong ingredients
A change of pace from some of our recent strip serialisations. This one is in colour, for starters, and is an adaptation from the 11th or 12th century. Originally published in France, La Chanson de Roland was an epic poem and the oldest surviving major work of French literature. It tells the story of a true historical incident, the Battle of Roncevaux Pass, in the 8th century; by the mid-9th
System requirements for Stray Souls: Dollhouse Story Collector's Edition: Windows XP, Vista or 7 / 1.7 GHz processor / 256 MB RAM / DirectX 9.0 compatible graphics card / DirectX 9.0 compatible sound card / DirectX 9.0 or later Key Game Features 12 main chapters Bonus prequel chapter 50 game locations 20 hidden object scenes Unlockable bonus content
System requirements for Clash'N'Slash - Worlds Away: PIII-750 / 128M RAM / 3D Video 32M Key Game Features More than 70 enemy types 12 massive bosses Unlimited game time Free upgrades to new versions. Full customer support
System requirements for Strimko: Windows XP, Vista or 7 / 1.2 GHz processor / 256 MB RAM / 70 MB hard drive space / DirectX 7 or later Key Game Features Four game modes 220 handmade puzzles 10 mini-games Increasing difficulty Hints
System requirements for Mysteries of Horus: PIII-750 / 128M RAM / 3D Video 32M Key Game Features 16 locations to visit 100 levels to beat 16 amulets to acquire Six bonuses to use Nine vengeful gods to appease Pictures from the tombs of actual Pharaohs! Online high score table
System requirements for SnapShot Adventures - Secret of Bird Island: Windows 2000/XP/Vista / Pentium III 700 / 128 MB RAM / DirectX 8.1 or above / 32 MB DirectX Compatible 3D Graphics Accelerator / DirectX compatible Soundcard Key Game Features 50 levels and 20 locations 130 authentic birds and birdsongs Easy-to-use pan-and-sweep camera Cool bonus items like the X-Ray Lens In-game bird creator
System requirements for My Farm Life: Windows XP, Vista or 7 / 1 GHz processor / 512 MB RAM / 64 MB video card / DirectX 9.0 or later / 80 MB hard drive space Key Game Features 100 levels Two game modes 35 achievements Interactive tutorial Lasso-the-animals mini-game
I will start blogging, I will start blogging, I will start blogging.
I so love it. And yet it has definitely been on the back burner as of late.
Noticed???
Here's the recent conclusion I've drawn about life...
We humans all have chronic cases of amnesia.
It's so true. I feel like I go through stuff. I learn. I evolve. I become enlightened in certain areas.
Wait a couple years, or maybe a couple months... and I land on my tail again looking for the same answers or conclusions I've already found/drawn! I LEARNED THAT LESSON ALREADY, LADY! Why can't I REMEMBER? Why can't I apply all the wisdom I've already attained?!
Huh? huh? huh? (Does anyone else think of Ellen's voice from Finding Nemo's "Dori" ?)
Actually, good insert Tricia. We're all DORIs! We all have short term memory loss when we face tough stuff. It's like recreating the wheel, even though we're in the year 2011 and the neandrothal version of ourselves ALREADY DISCOVERED the wheel.
What makes me go on this tangent? I will tell you.
JOURNALS.
Buy one, write in it, then read it later. It's my memory for my amnesia-riddled self. When I'm stuck, I will reread. Then, I remember I was stuck before - in ironically similar scenerios. The formulas for success, the lessons learned, the answers to my troubles are all found in my JOURNALS! Hip Hip Hooray!
System requirements for Heroes Of Hellas: PIII-750 / 128M RAM / 3D Video 32M Key Game Features Seven unique heroes to utilize Nine myths to explore Seven stunning desktop wallpapers Unlimited game time Free upgrades to newer versions Full technical and customer support
