Characters in Video Games

You though I forgot, didn't ya! ... oh, crap. It's after midnight.

Ok, fine, I forgot.

Same style as Monday, only this time we're talking about my favorite characters in video games. I realize this is probably going to be more difficult, simply because I normally play games for their stories, which does NOT always mean they have good characters -- for example, Bioshock's character is a silent protagonist who literally makes maybe one choice for himself the entire time (and even that's debatable). So... Well, here we go.

And remember, these are five of my favorites in no specific order other than the fifth slot is the best of the best.

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Cole MacGrath

inFamous 2 Cole. I've already got the bag...

(inFamous series)
Cole is a bit of a gruff hero, even when following the canonical light side path in the two games. He's on this list for three reasons:

Lightning powers are awesome, and the way he gets them is beyond interesting.

His reactions to events in the world around him are interesting, if not always unique. And he gets put through a lot of crap that would make many characters get all emotional. He just keeps zapping away, but it doesn't feel as if the game lacks emotion; it's simply fueling something more. And his drive to become stronger is a multi-faceted one that I respect, which isn't something I can say about a lot of characters.

If I ever do make it out to San Diego Comic Con, this is who I will most likely cosplay as. Word.

Yu Narukami

(Persona 4)
Ok, technically this character is only awesome because he's a composite of his relationships with the other wonderful characters in this game but, since I can't pick all of them (it's the [arbitrary] rule), I'm sticking with Yu.

He's forced to live with his uncle and cousin during the school year while his parents are away, and he is thrown into a new school, a new social climate, and a new mystery at every turn. Even though the player chooses Yu's responses, any number of them make for a slick, cool character that is in control and a focal point for the lovely supporting cast.

Maybe not my favorite looking character, but that's ok.

His family, Dojima and Nanako, is a strong bond in particular that really helps to articulate an otherwise silent character. Special note: most of his cast, while falling into an anime-style harem, is made up of some pretty badass female characters, which this list is severely lacking.

Link

Silent(ish) but deadly.

(Zelda series)
Link is the only silent protagonist I think fits on this list for me. Yes, he's quiet, but in this case it feels like he's
a man on a mission more than a stand vessel for the player's reaction. Link gets shit done like a dutiful soldier in his perpetual battle to defeat the darkness and save Zelda. Or Hyrule. Or Midna. Or...

His iconic tools also add to this character, and he was a personal favorite in the Smash Bros. games.

As a deep character, Link comes up a bit short, but not every character needs to have a psych profile hundreds of pages long. The strong silent type works for the man in green.

Minsc & Boo

Crazy made corporeal.

(Baldur's Gate series)
This is a duet because they wouldn't have it any other way. Having recently played some Baldur's Gate for the first time, I was immediately thrilled to meet Minsc & Boo. Minsc is an insane tank-style warrior. Boo is his "miniature giant space hamster" and is a plug for the craziness that can only arise in a pen and paper format.

Minsc... is another character that lacks depth. That being said, he's the most batshit insane character you never want to leave your side, which really does reflect on any good D&D group.

This is also the only example of a non-player character on this list, which is intentional -- if I was to dig
through supporting casts, you'd find a lot of Bioware characters up here, me thinks.

Darth Revan

(Knights of the Old Republic series)
If you haven't played the first KotOR game, there are MAJOR SPOILERS in the section below. You've been warned.

Darth Revan is awesome on many levels. When you first learn about him, he's a badass looking Sith master who, along with his apprentice Malak, almost took over the entire galaxy. Of course, he apparently went down in a blaze of glory when Malak betrayed him, but that's not important because, before that, Revan was able to discover dark side secrets and mysteries of the galaxy that gave him incredible power.

That you later learn that the player character IS a mind-wiped Revan, the awesome factor is kicked up to a scale of eleven. And what does the newly reminded Revan get to do? Bring some lightsaber-to-the-face revenge against his Mr. Clean looking former apprentice.

As a plus here, Revan has decently flushed out Light and Dark choices (even if the darker ones are NOT Bioware's best work), meaning the character can grow into two distinct personalities, both of which are awesome in their own right (though only the Light side is canon).

Revan as seen in The Old Republic MMO.

The Revan mythos has been expanded in comics, novels, and The Old Republic MMO. These additions generally detract a bit from the badassery of Revan, but not enough to dethrone him from the spot as my favorite video game character to date.

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So, I found an even bigger problem than I thought in doing this list! Most of the games I play are strategy games, which don't always have to have interesting characters! And the RPGs I've played, unfortunately, didn't have any standouts for me. I have a strong feeling I'll love Cloud and Sephiroth from FF7, but I haven't gotten far enough in the game yet!

I'll have to do another round of these with supporting cast, or possibly play some of the many suggestions I have for games with great characters (looking at you, Metal Gear Solid!), but for now, I'm happy with this list for the first (to-be-annual) Character Week!

Now Playing

I know this is a bit off the normal schedule, but it's been a busy week so deal with it.

When I have some free time, I've been playing the following lately:

PC: Star Wars: The Old Republic. I've started playing it a bit more again and still enjoy it, though wish I knew folks who still played -- I don't care for randoms and don't see a benefit of joining a random guild. Even so, my Sith Marauder just got Revan's Chest Plate and Robes, so I'm pretty excited there.

Also, I finally started The Witcher. Seems interesting, I'll keep up on it.

If you're looking for good PC game deals, be sure to check out GOG.com for the Holiday Sale and GreenManGaming.com always has good daily deals.

X-Box 360: I've stayed with Call of Duty: Black Ops 2, though haven't had much time to invest. A double XP weekend started today, so I'll finally prestige. Thinking about trying Tranzit mode, but I've never enjoyed CoD Zombies.

I want to start a new character in Skyrim, but I don't want to pay for the two DLC I've missed. Oh well.

PS3: Nothing! Sorry! Pretty soon I'll be watching Star Wars in Blu Ray, though, so expect some follow up there (I'll be doing a recap of my posts about the different viewing order after the holidays, since I'll be encouraged to watch all the films again in the new format).

3DS: A bit of Pokemon Black 2 here and there, though I've been itching to play Devil Survior: Overclocked again (the New Game+ feature is done right and makes replaying the game that much more enjoyable, not to mention I haven't played every character's ending yet).

Vita: I've finally beaten Persona 4: Golden and have started a NG+. I'll probably play this a bit less now that I'm not sucked into figuring the story out, though I am mildly interested in trying for the Platinum trophy (it would be my first ever game to get all achievements for). I don't see anything else on the Vita horizon for a bit, though it's be perfect if Persona 3: Portable (a PSP title) went on sale this holiday...

iPhone: Yep, I've been playing Angry Birds: Star Wars. I couldn't help it. If you enjoyed Angry Birds and like Star Wars even a little, it's good.

Other: My youngest brother gave me a GameCube he found. I don't have a controller yet (and have made no effort to find one), but I eventually look forward to playing some GC titles (he also gave me one of the Pokemon Colosseum titles, and I've never played one before).

That's it for now. The only game that I know is coming out and has me somewhat interested is Injustice: Gods Among Us (the DC fighter done by the guys who made Mortal Kombat 9), but even that's only a tentative interest.

Anything you guys would like to see reviewed for next week?

The Nerd's Top Games of 2012

Hello again! My week is still obscured with finished up my grad work and ramping up for the end of the semester as well, but I figured I could bang out a quick post about my top 5 games from this year.

In case you're wondering, these ARE all my opinion, and I really would like to hear from readers who have titles they've enjoyed more -- I certainly haven't had a chance to play every title that's come out this year.

For this post, I'm even going to put them in descending order by preference; frequent readers (if such a thing exists) would know that only my 5th slot is considered the "favorite," the rest are in a rather... arbitrary order.

If you're looking for gift ideas this holiday season, I think these would be great. I'll list what system I played them on, but all besides one title can be found on any current gen console.

Well, here goes:

Mass Effect 3 (X-Box 360) While I join the masses in being dissapointed with the ending of ME3 (note: I've yet to play through the DLC ending), I really enjoyed the game as a whole and thought it was a fitting evolution for the series. There were some components of ME1 I enjoyed more, but ME3 fully improved upon the second one and remained exciting the entire time. If you haven't played a Mass Effect title, I strongly suggest you play through the entire series. It's great Sci-Fi fun and has a really interesting universe built around it. The game play takes a fairly dramatic shift from 1 - 2, but it's mostly for the sake of streamlining. This game is great if: you enjoy games with deep stories and sci-fi action.
Batman: Arkham City (X-Box 360) A direct sequel to one of my favorite games in general, AC improves on almost everything featured in Arkham Asylum. The atmosphere is the one dramatic change, and I believe it's a matter of preference -- AA was a fairly linear game with mostly enclosed areas and tensions riding on that. AC is a more open world option, my personal preference, which opened it up to a lot of interesting scenery and side quests. The story for AC is a bit out there, but it's fitting for a comic book character. The gameplay is improved upon, meaning the already amazing combat has gotten that much better. And, as sequels should be, it's prettier than ever. This game is great if: you like Batman and kicking ass in action games.
Sleeping Dogs (PC) Click here to read my first impression of Sleeping Dogs. Since my first impression, I've almost finished the game. I did get distracted by other titles, but Sleeping Dogs has easily been one of my favorite games this year. It's similar to a GTA/Saints Row style game, but the story is done much better than anything I've seen from this genre. Also, the action is much, much better. The combat itself is on par with the Batman titles, driving feels awesome, and it is a very nice looking game (on my gaming PC). This game is great if: you enjoy sandbox games, action titles, or Chinese action flicks.
XCOM: Enemy Unknown (PC) This title was my most anticipated title this year, and it did not disappoint. I reviewed it right after it was released, so I won't harp on it too much more. If you're a fan of the original game, this is much, much different. It is a streamlined strategy title that stands on its own merits while pulling thematically from the original. If you've never played an XCOM title, they are strategy games that have a very important resource management portion. This game is great if: you enjoy strategy titles, grid/turn based combat, shooting up some aliens.
Persona 4: Golden (Vita) Yes, I reviewed this last week. Yes, I'm still obsessed with this game. It IS a port of a PS2 title, but it has been improved enough to feel different and much, much more accessible. I'm coming up on the close of my first play through and am anticipating a run through New Game+. Not only is this my favorite game of 2012, I'm confidant in saying it has become my favorite game of all time. I fully understand people disagreeing with this, but I'm an RPG fan at heart and this hits me on the RPG game level and, additionally, gets to the reader in me who likes mystery and interesting, humorous characters. Check out my review for a bit more info! This game is great if: you want a decently lengthy RPG, you love games with interesting stories, or you like your RPGs with some level of replayability.

There were several runner ups, but I'll save them for later down the line in the off chance I do a best game by genre feature for 2012.

Let me know what you think about my list and post your own below!

Hunting Game(s): Persona 4: Golden Review

Hi! I still exist! It's just been a long week with the holiday and today has been especially long unto itself. I'll update this post tomorrow with my review of Persona 4: Golden and then again on Wednesday with my top 5 favorite comic series to make 100 issues.

Yes, I know I'm switching the normal Monday/Wednesday schedule up, but bear with me please!

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Ok, I'm starting this just before midnight and know I wont submit it until it's officially Wednesday. Sorry about the delay! I'll have this week's special Extra! Extra! on Thursday and a regularly scheduled Friday at the Movies after that.

Now, on to some content!

Last Tuesday, Persona 4: Golden came out. This is a port of a game that originally came out on PS2. It is in the line of Shin Megami Tensei games, which are RPGs known for their dungeon crawling gameplay that utilizes demons to fight for you. Some other SMT games would be:

Persona 1-3
Nocturne
Digital Devil Saga 1 and 2
Devil Survivor 1 and 2
Persona 4 Arena
Strange Journey (I think there are two of these as well)

And there's probably a couple I'm forgetting as well. From that list, I've played Strange Journey, Nocturne, and both Devil Survivors (the first of which easily makes it on the list of my favorite games).

That being said, you don't need to play a single SMT title to understand what's going on in Persona 4. That's not to say Persona 4 isn't confusing sometimes in its own right, it just doesn't follow the story of any other game (similar to how most Final Fantasy titles work).

I own Persona 4 on the PS2, but never got very far. It was a bit difficult and there are several time sensitive elements to the game that made me nervous to play without a guide, which is something I hate doing. I put it aside on my games to play later. Then I heard about Golden being released on the Vita, with some interesting changes made.

Before I get into that, I should touch upon Persona 4's story: you are a city-boy who was shipped out to live with his Uncle in the countryside for a year. It's not explicitly said why, but there you are, living with an Uncle you don't remember and his young daughter you've never met. You have to go to a new school, meet new people, and, along the way, solve a murder case. That's right, there's murder afoot!

Almost as soon as you get there, a woman is murdered and found under strange circumstances. This happens once more before you and your new found friends at school get dragged in to the supernatural elements involved with the case, which include the "Midnight Channel" which shows the image of the next victim on TV at midnight, but only when it's raining. What's more, your character finds out that he can travel to the dimension where the Midnight Channel is taking place... inside the TVs!

A bit bizarre, which fits any SMT title, but its done artfully and, as long as you accept the wackiness, things slowly begin to make more sense.

Game play is handled as part high school simulation, part dungeon crawler, part monster collector, and part mystery solver.

The simulation takes place any time you're not inside the TV -- on a given day, you have the option to hang out with a myriad of characters or perform a bunch of different activities, including some that increase your personal stats that affect how you interact with others. Every action has a consequence, but there's a catch; most actions cause time to pass, meaning you approach the end of your year in Inaba with every event.

The dungeon crawler is whenever you're inside the TV. You and a team of three others fight through randomized floors, trying to find your way to the top floor to beat the dungeon bosses. It's pretty standard fair, but the interesting bit is that each character is given a "Persona" to fight the demons with. Your character is special in that he can change his Persona by finding and combining more and more that you find as rewards after battle.

The mystery is threaded throughout the entire story, and you need to solve it in phases in time or risk losing the game.

This leads me to the Good, the Bad, and the Changed:

The investigation team.

Good:
-Unique visual style that I find immensely pleasing. It has a lot of bright colors that pop of the Vita screen especially.
-Awesome music. I've actually got it playing "Tanaka's Amazing Commodities" while I type this.
-A really humorous cast of characters that you unlock over time.
-The writing is overall very funny, while still being able to be serious when necessary.
-There are a lot of things to do in the game, and you don't have time to do everything. This leads to some replay value, which is good.
-The dungeon crawling isn't tedious as other titles.

Bad:
-The game can still be overwhelming for those new to the series or even just this individual title.

Changed:
-An additional "TV Listing" section that I don't remember from the original. You can listen to your favorite songs, rewatch your favorite scenes, or learn some history about the game world.
-The way you get additional rewards after battle has been changed. Instead of having to pick through fast moving cards and hoping you get the one you want, you're presented with several choices and get a bonus when you manage to get every card shown (by use of special cards that have negative effects but allow you to pick more cards).
-The online interactions, while limited, can boost your survivability when dungeon crawling, which can be hugely important.
-There are more things added, but listing them all would be difficult and excessive. They work.

If you can't tell, I'm really enjoying this game. Other than the potential to overwhelm, which isn't an issue with me, it is just the RPG I've been looking for lately.

I'm going to rate this a 10 out of 10, something I rarely do. I have not been able to put this game down since I plugged it into the Vita, and that's probably the biggest issue I'm having with it.

Also, it game with a pretty awesome sticker for my Vita :)

Perfect!

Hunting Game(s): Three November Titles

No new video game updates with me personally, though November is an interesting month for gamers.

To start, Halo 4 came out yesterday. While it still follows the Halo format (which means I won't enjoy it), there are a couple of traits that seem to set it apart -- a better integration of sprint, random weapon spawns, and all new weapons/vehicles go a long way to make the game interesting for a non-believer again. That being said, I WON'T be picking it up, at least not for awhile.

I'm pretty terrible at Halo...

...I can spray and pray in CoD.

That's because Call of Duty: Black Ops II comes out next Tuesday. Normally I'd try to go to a midnight release, but it's not looking too good (on call for work, work the next day, I'm getting too old for Gamestop CoD lines, etc...). I still might, however, because I'm actually pretty excited for the game. The complete level of class customization the game allows looks REALLY interesting, as does some of the new items and kill streaks. Look for a First Impression next Wednesday (as long as I'm actually able to pick it up by then).

After that, the only game on my radar is Persona 4: Golden, which is on the Vita. I own the original on PS2 but never beat it -- I look forward to changing that with the Vita version. It's a Shin Megami Tensei RPG, with randomized dungeons and really interesting monsters. The story is a murder mystery, of a sort, which you learn about as you progress the story and your social relationships with the characters in the game, simulation style.

Can't wait!

That's really it on the games front for me. The wife DID pick up the pull list, as well as a couple of surprise issues, so expect to see a Pull List Review soon. I've also decided which Marvel NOW! titles I'll be picking up initially, so keep an eye out for that.


Other than that, I might start going off on tangents that don't fit my M-W-F schedule. Keep an eye out for that -- I had something I wanted to write about today and seem to have forgotten, but it will eventually happen.

A short post going into another storm. Hopefully there are no issues and I'll finally be able to complete a Friday post on time!

If anyone plans on picking up Black Ops II for 360, add me. My gamertag is Silt44 and I enjoy getting group games going (preferably with mics, but I don't discriminate).

Balls, it's snowing.

Hunting Game(s): Upcoming Dates

Howdy Folks,

Sorry if my slightly late posts have been an issue for anyone who really looks forward to my MWF schedule, this has been a bit busier of a week with grad classwork and the like. Hopefully next week will slow down a bit!

For this week's Hunting Game(s) post, I wanted to give a calendar for what releases to expect in October, November, and December:

10/7: Pokemon Black 2 and White 2 release this week, though I'm going to have to pass (GASP!) if I want to hit the other two titles I want this month. It's nice that they're the first story-following sequels, but I don't see any other reason to pick them up, and who the hell plays Pokemon for the story?

10/9: Dishonored and XCOM: Enemy Unknown - I'll be picking these both up, thanks to selling my soul at GameStop, and at least one of them should be featured in next week's Hunting Game(s).
---Dragon Ball Z for Kinect also comes out, but I don't have a Kinect (... and I assume it will be terrible, but that's neither here nor there).

10/23: Killzone HD is out!

10/30: Marvel Avengers: Battle for Erath (another Kinect title) comes out, but, more importantly, so does Zone of the Enders HD Collection! Oh, and Assassin's Creed III comes out too, for those of you into that...

11/6: Dragon Ball Z Budokai HD Collection and Halo 4 hit stores on this day. I'd suggest skipping Budokai (it only has the first and third games, apparently), and I think I'm personally skipping Halo. Mass Effect Trilogy is another notable release.

11/13: Call of Duty: Black Ops II comes out -- I'm looking forward to this, though I say that every CoD lately and am let down...

11/20: Persona 4: Golden is released on the Vita! Finally! I actually thought this was coming out in October; now I'm a bit sad I have to wait. Also, Playstation All-Stars Battle Royale comes out (you know, the Super Smash Bros. knock off with a terrible name).

12/4: Far Cry 3 is out, which looks interesting, though I never played the first two.

On a side note, the 3DS has NOTHING coming out all year that interests me. Nintendo REALLY needs to support their next gen device and stop developing so many DS games (which they may be, since the list I'm working off only has released into November...).

If you notice a lack of Wii or Wii U titles, that's because I have no intention of picking them up and couldn't really suggest and decent titles on their upcoming list -- I've done at least a little research or am otherwise familiar with the above.

Next Tuesday is XCOM and Dishonored (you know, as I wrote above), and I can't wait! I'm going to try and find a store with a midnight release (and, since GameStop doesn't seem to have my back on this, will probably be Wal-Mart), and I have Tuesday off so I can play to my heart's content!

Alright, see you Friday with a post on... well, I have no idea!

Video Game News (7/31/12)

The Good:

Consoles: Sleeping Dogs comes out in 14 days. This looks like an GTA-style open world game done right. Click here for some gameplay footage.

Handhelds: Persona 4: Golden comes out at the end of the month on the Vita. This may very well be the first Vita game I purchase! Click here for the trailer.

The Bad:

Dragon Ball Z Budokai HD Collection was announced not too long ago. First, it doesn't even collect the whole series -- it is only Budokai 1 and 3. Second, I can't imagine why anyone would be interested in playing the exact same game that came out years ago, without any changes beyond the HD graphics. There isn't even online support, which is a glaring oversight.

I would have accepted a merger of the 3 Budokai titles -- each had a certain merit, whether it be game play or story mode format. Or, at the very least, an HD version of Infinite World, the last Budokai style game on the PS2 that was much better than 3 (warning: that last one is an opinion I've seen debated. My other opinions I just assume are awesome).

The Ugly:

The 3DSXL is launching this month. If you take a look at the image below, you'll notice that the 3DS STILL doesn't have dual joysticks -- you can bet they'll lease an attachment you can pay full price for later, though!

Sure, bigger is better, but it isn't everything.