First stroll with the Pokewalker is a success

I’ve been wanting to try out the Pokewalker since I got HeartGold, but it rained all day yesterday. So I figured I’d bring it to work in my pocket, fully knowing that since I work in an office and sit at a desk for 90% of the day there would be few steps taken. I loaded in my LV. 2 Spinarak nicknamed Aragog since he’s my lowest level critter at the moment and not very strong. See:

Don’t frown, buddy! Anyways, after eight hours I’d taken a total of 2,837 steps, a number that surprised me. Guess it’s all the back-and-forth to the copier. What’s neat is that stuff is happening when you’re not even paying attention, which is nice. While walking, your Pokemon accumulates Watts. You then use these Watts to play two mini-games and open up new paths to stroll down. The one mini-game has you searching bushes for wild Pokemon, and I ended up catching a Duduo. You can also play a dowsing/guessing game for hidden items. When all is said and done, I zipped Aragog back into my DS, and all the items and Pokemon I’d caught came with him. Then he went up a level. Easy peasy.

The device definitely works, and it’s something I look forward to exploring more. If I can get a level a day for my Pokemon while at work, that’s not too shabby. Playing the game without playing it, y’know. I’ll take it.

Also, sidenote, I know nothing about Pokemon and who is good to use and who is a waste to level up. Any tips are greatly welcomed.

PURCHASE OF THE MONTH: Pokémon HeartGold Version

Okay, this is going to need some explanation.

Ever since enjoying the badunkadunk out of Monster Rancher, I’ve always had a soft spot for creature-raising gameplay. It’s addictive, and there’s a sense of fatherly pride upon seeing one’s little critter grow stronger and more powerful. That said, Pokémon has never appealed to me. I will freely admit that I watched the cartoon show now and again back in the day, mostly as background noise, and therefor know some of the basics of the world, but otherwise…I stayed away.

But then I started noticing a lot of gamers falling in love with Pokémon. Some were my age, some were older. Was I missing out on something great just because I scoffed at it as nothing more than a child’s plaything? I’m actually a very open-minded man hobbit, but I wanted a better consensus on the state of things. I asked via Twitter if there were any Pokémon-fashioned games out there for the Nintendo DS worth pursuing? I got two answers: Bakugan Battle Brawlers and Dragon Quest Monsters. Of them, DQM seemed to be a better fit for me so I headed to the local GameStop over the weekend…

…to purchase Chrono Trigger!

See, while browsing, my eyes get real big and I suddenly see a bunch of games I want to play and quickly forget why I journeyed outside that day. So, seeing that Chrono Trigger was a cool $20 and knowing the sad fact that I’ve only ever played an emulation of it and even then gave up pretty early because I loathe playing games on the computer, I marched up to the counter, ready to make a deal. And then it happened:

Clerk: Hmm, I’m really sorry, but I can’t find any copies. We don’t have any more in stock right now.
Me: …
Clerk: Did you know that Pokémon HeartGold and SoulSilver just came out?
Me: …
Clerk: They’re pretty great.
Me: …tell me…more.

And so, yes, the salesman did his sale thing and got me. In actuality, as silly as it sounds, the Pokéwalker, the pedometer that comes with Pokémon HeartGold, was what intrigued me most. I already enjoy going for walks after work, and now these walks can count double for me: 1) being healthy and 2) leveling up my monsters. Can’t knock a game for trying to get its players to be active.

I’m definitely interested to see if this will get me addicted hard and good, or if I will play for a bit and just find it so-so. I already named one of my fire Pokémon…Balrog, and care for him deeply. So, y’know, that’s good.

This is difficult to write about, or Dragon Age: Origins is hard

Recently, with Dragon Age: Origins, I found myself doing something I can’t recall ever doing with another videogame. I changed the difficulty…from Normal to Casual.

This decision stemmed from playing the same scenario over and over again to no success; it was not the first Ogre fight as depicted above, but rather a small fight while on the quest for the urn of Andraste’s ashes, where two mages and a group of soldiers slaughtered my team each and every time. I even tried switching up combat tactics, but to no avail. I found myself unable to move forward in the game, and I couldn’t pinpoint why. Did I lack the skills? Is Dragon Age: Origins grossly unbalanced? Is it a mix of both questions?

It was not something I wanted to do, trust me. I want to play games as they are intended to be played. In my mind, this is how it works: Casual is a setting for those that can’t cut it, Normal is how the developers expect you to experience their creation, and Hard is for masochists. Rarely do I go up or down, always comfortable in the middle. I even maintained the same difficulty setting through Mass Effect and BioShock, eventually learning to save often and get better.

But the combat tactics are hard to manage and mostly unreliable, with Alistair constantly charging straight to his death no matter what I try, and the difficulty spikes in Dragon Age: Origins are about as predictable as picking the next set of winning lottery numbers (4 8 15 16 23 42). I’d end up using every last healing potion on one fight, and then have to desperately crawl my way on a wing and a prayer through the remainder. It made for tough, frustrating times, and was all around just not a lot of fun.

And I wanted to have fun, see more Ferelden. Thanks to Casual, I have. But I wish it didn’t to have to come to such drastic measures.

Last two Fallout 3 quests completed

Over the weekend, I jumped back into the Capital Wasteland to finish up the last two quests tied to Achievements for Fallout 3. These were You Gotta Shoot ‘Em in the Head and Reilley’s Rangers.

The former quest I avoided during my first playthrough, as it most definitely clashed with my super-duper angelic nature and soul. Can’t just go around shooting people in the head, even if they are bigots and hate ghouls of all shapes and colors. Trust me. I kinda wanted to. Thanks to my evil, I could, and each and every racist Wastelander got what they deserved. Red-headed Samantha shot them square-on with a 47 damage Chinese Assault Rifle.

For reasons I don’t know, I just never picked up the latter quest from one sickly Reilly in the Underworld. Must have missed her. You can play it evil or good or neutral, and I actually achieved good karma by accident by helping the rangers out. Don’t worry. I remedied this later when back at Ranger Compound where I planted some conveniently-placed mines and slaughtered everyone that made it safely back home. Yeah, being evil can be fun, but I still feel ultimately guilty over the action.

Okay, that’s the last two quests down and out. I’m now at 64 out of 72 Achievements, and I really really want to get a full Gamerscore for Fallout 3. Can’t just have the LEGO games riding forever high on my list. All that’s left are the karma-related ones for evil’s LV 20 and LV 30 and playing a full neutral character, as well as finding all the alien recordings and steel ingots. Gonna need a map or walkthrough for those ones, methinks.

Creeping closer though. Must finish before Fallout: New Vegas drops…

Fallout: New Vegas rocks the purple sky

Finally, we get some official Fallout: New Vegas screenshots to drool over. Though most of these were already leaked thanks to numerous magazine scans, they can at least be shared over the Internet without a guilty conscience. In them, we get a glimpse at the new radial menu for controlling companions, more crazy-looking Super Mutants, and lots of clear, beautiful sky. That’s pretty interesting, and I suspect I’ll get tongued to death a number of times by radiated geckos because I’m just standing there, staring at it, loving it. Can’t wait.

Still wanna see some gameplay video though…even if it’ll be exactly like Fallout 3.

You can check out all the screenshots over at That VideoGame Blog‘s gallery.

Just beat BioShock, still processing it all

I’m happy to report that I just beat BioShock, a pristine example of gaming and genre mixing done excruciatingly well. One-word summary: wow. Three-word summary: kinda crazy game. More words summary? Well, that’ll come later because there’s a lot to talk about, both good and meh. And trust me, I understand how late I am to the party, but I’ve brought everyone their very own ADAM-flavored cupcake…so don’t bite my head off.

I unlocked 42 out of 51 Achievements during my playthrough. I did not actively use a guide, but I did skim a list of things to keep in mind as I explored Rapture to potentially unlock all I could. Going in, I immediately knew that I wouldn’t harvest any Little Sisters, supposedly making Jack’s trek that much harder. I guess it was? I did miss some Achievements though, as shown below:

• Weapon Specialist (20G, Acquire all upgrades for all weapons.) — In order to get this, you must upgrade all your weapons, but I did not find all the Power to the People stations to do. Only was able to upgrade three in the end, namely the pistol, the machine gun, and the crossbow. Mmm…love that crossbow and its trap bolts.
• Research PhD (20G, Max out all possible research.) — I missed fully researching the Nitro Splicer to get this. Any time those dudes would show up, my main concern was to shoot first, snap pictures second. Guess that didn’t work out too well.
• Historian (50G, Find every audio diary.) — Hahaha no.
• And two secret Achievements — One I won’t spoil here, but it was my fault because I axed a certain someone prematurely, and the other requires beating the game without using a single Vita-Chamber. Not to repeat myself, but hahaha no.

BioShock is definitely a game I’ll remember, but don’t suspect I’ll replay. The only moral decisions are harvesting or rescuing Little Sisters, which ultimately determine how much ADAM you get and whether a certain character is nice towards you or not. Otherwise, it’s the same beautifully detailed Rapture swarming with splicers, gun turrets, and Big Daddies, which is not a bad thing, just not a different thing.

Full review forthcoming. Would you kindly wait for it?

Top 10 Worst Silent Lead Characters

Silent protagonists, from a design perspective, are a device used to get the player to empathize more with other characters. Draw them in, make them feel like they’re right there with everyone, making decisions and demands. It’s also a rather tiring aspect of many RPGs, especially JRPGs, but they do occasionally pop up in other genres. They can mostly be broken down into the following:

Mutes: They are characters that do no speak at all. No text, no voice acting…nothing. They are mimes in a dark, dark room. They are empty husks you move with the directional pad and never grow to care for.

Reactive: These are characters that often don’t get speaking roles, but exist for other NPCs to bounce ideas off of and/or look to for assurance/disapproval. Sometimes get involved non-verbally.

The Roleplayer: Silent only in voice, this leading character is one that the player builds through dialogue options, morale choices, clothing and weapons, stats, and so on. They “speak” pre-determined lines, but only if you choose so.

Some silent protagonists are better than others. Click the “keep reading” link below to see my take on the Top 10 Worst Silent Lead Characters.

Comparing Dragon Age: Origins with Summoner, Not Completely Crazy

I’m going to do something here that might have folks scratching at their heads, but it has to be done: Dragon Age: Origins and Summoner are pretty similar games. Yes, they’re both third-person RPGs set in traditional epic fantasy worlds, focusing on party-based battles, twisting plotlines, and a constant sense of so much to do. But they also both eerily pace themselves in the same manner.

In 2000’s Summoner, after the introductory prologue to get things started, main character Joseph ends up in Lenele, the City of the Gods. It’s a huge city made up of at least ten areas, and Joseph will spend a good hour or so wandering around, speaking to locals, and picking up a ton of miscellaneous side quests before you can even begin the main one.

In 2009’s Dragon Age: Origins, after the introductory origins story and battle at Ostagar, main character Grey Warden ends up in Lothering, a small village that, while not made up of at least ten areas, offers just as many (or more) side quests before starting the real deal.

At both of these points, I began to feel overwhelmed. The main quest has barely begun, and already I have a honeydew list as long as a broadsword. Suffering from gamer OCD, this is problematic. Anyways, let’s also take a look at plot synopses…

Summoner: Joseph’s goal, achieved through his newly regained powers of summoning, is to defend Medeva from the Orenian invasion and to defeat the evil emperor, Murod, by using rings to summon the ultimate creature.

Dragon Age: Origins: After completing their character’s respective origin story, the player encounters Duncan, leader of an elite group known as the Grey Wardens. Duncan guides the player to their destiny of becoming a Grey Warden, a group who dedicate their lives to the destruction of the Darkspawn, a force of demonic creatures that live underground and have at various points in history swarmed the surface of Thedas in movements known as Blights.

So, one game is about stopping an invasion of evil creatures, and the other game is about…stopping an invasion of evil creatures.

And look, Morrigan’s in both games:

I’m really not trying to harp too much on Dragon Age: Origins. I do like it so far, and it’s definitely going to keep me busy for awhile. Just feels like I’ve played it before, recurring pitfalls and all.

P.S. Woah, I even managed to last this entire post without making the joke that both game’s graphics are interchangeable. Er, whoops. Zing!

Some early impressions for Dragon Age: Origins

Just crossed the ten-hour mark for Dragon Age: Origins. In ten hours, as an elf mage, I’ve done very little. Conversely, I’ve experienced a lot. I’m currently mucking about in Redcliffe, on a quest to storm the town’s castle and find out what is happening with Arl Eamon. It’s definitely turning into a great game, and I know in my heart of hearts that I will love it immensely, but I can’t help and nitpick because some of the issues I’ve noticed should most definitely not be there in a game of this caliber.

Right. Onwards to lists of things…

THINGS I LOVE

• The world. Amazingly detailed even if it is more or less a mesh of Tolkien’s Middle-Earth and George R.R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire series. And I’ve only unlocked…14%. Love the treatment of elves, as well as the Circle of Magi and their emotionless servants. The Codex can be a bit overwhelming at first, but it’s worth scouring for sure.
• The writing. It’s sort of BioWare’s thing.
• So much to do, so many options. And most of the time you don’t get to pick them all or go back and try another, which makes perfect sense. Some games are just more forgiving than others; not this one; your actions are yours. And even if it didn’t have the different origin stories, Dragon Age: Origins has plenty of replay value. The dialogue options are great and varied, the structure of quests have multiple outcomes, and once you get to Lothering it becomes a sort of choose-your-own adventure; I most likely won’t go straight to Redcliffe with my next character.

THINGS I’M UNSURE OF

• The inventory menus. They are deep and fairly organized, but still a bit of work to get through. Especially when assigning spells to the controller’s face buttons. It can be clunky, but it might just take me some more time to get used to.
• Combat tactics. Have not set any of these up, but I want to. The problem? The interface is not very clear.
• Why can’t a mage unlock treasure chests? I should at least be able to cast a magic missile on it.

THINGS I HATE

• At least three times during a cutscene, a character has completely walked through another character. Not even in a fantasy world like Ferelden should that be possible.
• Also a cutscene complaint: with friendly fire, I accidentally set Alistair on fire with a flame spell, and then we hopped into a cutscene where, limbs ablaze, Alistair stood calmly and spoke without any realization that that horrible burning smell was actually him.
• My character, Carys, likes to wear an enchanter’s cowl. It helps with his magic and/or willpower (I can’t actually remember at this point). Anyways, he’s definitely wearing it when running around town or doing battle, but the moment we hop into a cutscene…he is not. Yet if I changed his staff or robes, that’s been updated. I don’t understand this.
• Nineteen things happening all at once, all of them going by in a blur of swooshes. So, say you just talked to a dude. When the cutscene ends, you get a bunch of pop-up messages that say “New codex entry!” “New quest!” “Quest updated!” “Items received!” “Alistair approves (+3)!” “Morrigan disapproves (-7)!” And then it’s all gone before you even realized what happened.
• And the graphics. Sometimes they are pretty, most of the time they are not. Thankfully, gameplay makes up for them each and every time. I’m just surprised it’s not as polished-looking as, say, Mass Effect 2, made by the very same company.

Either way, I’m itchin’ to play more.

PURCHASE OF THE MONTH: Dragon Age: Origins

I was planning on picking up Dragon Age: Origins in January, but got so many great games to play over Christmas that it never happened. So the next plan was to get it in February, which was all well and good, but things got busy, and I only just sort of realized this weekend that there’s not many more days left in the month.

It’s amazingly deep so far, and I’ve only just started, having now completed the Elf Mage origin. The codex is marvelous, the magic is fun, and the voice acting strong. The only part I was surprised about is the…graphics. If you look out over the walls at Ostagar, the trees look absolutely ridiculous as they are basically flat images standing atop a texture-less “field” of brown. Maybe the darkspawn had something to do with that. Yet another reason to hate ’em, right?!

Anyways, it’s definitely my kind of RPG. All the numbers, dialogue options, and inventory managing warms my heart. I hope the mage was a good choice though; the magic spells does seem pretty potent, but there was a couple instances where I got knocked down and had to heal really fast or buy the farm. We’ll see how it all pans out…