Thursday, March 31, 2016

The Inferno Hits It's 3 Million Views Milestone Mark On Google+

Today while updating my Google+ blog post view standings I realized I had finally broken past the three million views milestone. It is a true milestone for this blog, and is reflective of my collective efforts at keeping you guys in tune with the latest game related news and reviews. Unknown to some of you I had setup a Google+ page long ago when the service first started, and directly tied my blog posts to it. While my Google+ contains a select few photos of me, and images of some of my art it's main purpose has always been to mirror my efforts on the gaming side of things. That's exactly what it does. I didn't notice how popular the Google+ page had become until last year though. It's then that I was able to definitively prove my point to PR that my blogging efforts weren't in vain, and that they were substantial. I think I owe most of that exposure to the attached link that was placed on my Youtube channel as well as all my blog settings geared towards making my work search friendly. Regardless of which outlet I got the views from they are there, and I'm proud to say that with this milestone my efforts which have seemed futile to even me at times were proven efficient enough.

Sunday, March 27, 2016

The PSN - PS3 vs PS4

Have you ever wondered what makes the PS4's PSN online multiplayer service worth paying for? Have you ever wondered how the free-to-play online on the PS3 compares to that of the pay-to-play online of the PS4? If you have you are not alone, my friends. I've often times asked myself those very questions. Me being an owner of both consoles. I've often thought to myself, "Why in the hell am I paying for an online gaming service that is burdened by cheaters, and trolls of all sorts?". I just do not understand why people like myself pay for their own aggravation. When it comes to the PS4 I have admittedly spent most of my time gaming on it despite it's upsetting online experience. Much like a grown man beating his head against a brick wall to get a point across I have no one else to blame for that continued grievance but myself as I could easily ditch the PS4, and be done with it. At the same time I want to enjoy it, and I want to get my damn money's worth out of it though! I did pay for it after all.

With the decline in online stability, and the grief issues plaguing the PS4's PSN multiplayer I've often times wondered what gaming is like on last generation's Playstation console? Is it any better? Is it any worse? To test the waters that are the PSN, and to find my answer I decided to make that journey back to the PS3 after a long absence. A journey that was surprising, to say the least ...

Friday, March 25, 2016

Trillion: God of Destruction - The Verdict

Idea Factory's "Trillion: God of Destruction" is one of those special gaming experiences that is slow to start, and hard to grasp at first, but is one that grows on you the more you play it. It's a game that takes in account persistence, endurance, faith, sacrifice, relationships, love, and loss and weaves it all into a heartfelt fantasy about overcoming seemingly impossible odds. It's a lot like real life in that sense. While I do understand the game on such a level now I will be honest in saying that it took me a while to warm up to it, myself. Once I did though I fell in love with the characters involved as well as the story being told, and was rooting for them from deep within as they each faced insurmountable opposition in the form of a God who was out to destroy their home.

When I first began playing all I could think about was how story heavy 'Trillion: God of Destruction" was, and about how much time was spent on character development. I felt that the little time spent fighting Trillion, and Mokujin wasn't significant enough to make me call the game an "RPG", or even a purchase worthy game. I felt that it was more of a visual novel, and that due to it's lack of explanation and provided direction that it was poorly designed. Those were my initial thoughts. As I continued to play and build upon character relations along with the character stats though I found myself caring more for the characters involved, and was utterly heartbroken when some of them died by my own careless mistakes. When I realized these untimely deaths of my favorite characters were meant to be to a certain extent it took away my grief of the loss somewhat, and had me hoping that all would not be lost for Zeabolos, and his lady overlords. Thankfully not all is doom, and gloom when it comes to fighting the all consuming Trillion, and supposing you can fight the good fight you will be able to see one of the better endings out of the available ten that are there for unlocking. You'll also find plentiful moments of heartfelt emotions, laughter, and relationship building that will make each decision you apply all the more important to you.

Monday, March 21, 2016

Trillion: God of Destruction - Early Impressions

For the sake of keeping focused, and keeping you in the know I'm going to do this early impressions review about "Trillion: God of Destruction". I am free to write/type as I please since there is no embargo, so no worries there. Just take these impressions for what they are. It's not a definitive review just yet as I am still trying to figure things out.

When it comes to categorizing this particular PS Vita exclusive I have found it to be more akin to an interactive visual novel due to it's heavy dialogue, deeply involved character interactions, and deep seeded character development. Sure, it has some gameplay in it, but that RPG style gameplay is very limited. What you'll be doing with most of your time in 'Trillion: God of Destruction' is micro-managing your current overlord during a series of cycles, or weeks. This cyclic training ties in with the story's premise which basically involves a last ditch effort to save the underworld from total destruction. The game's story, as it were revolves around the inhabitants of an underworld that is much like the hell of Christianity, and slightly like the Hades/underworld from Greek mythology. It has a leading demon overlord (Zeabolos), and his overlord underlings which are each seven deadly sin stereotypes. During the games introductory narrative, and following tutorials it is made known that a god of destruction that is called "Trillion" is consuming the underworld in which these denizens of the damned reside from the surface inward. Zeabolos, in his vanity thinks he can deal with the problem easily, but in attempting to do so along with his brother he suffers a near fatal wound. After being fatally wounded a mysterious person of interest (Faust) enters the scene to do some devilish bargaining. For his soul, and flesh she offers to help him exact his revenge on Trillion, and save his underworld from destruction. Thus the underworld's fight for survival ensues.

Thursday, March 17, 2016

Street Fighter V - What It Needs To Be Good

From the day I picked up SFV to this very day I have been one of the game's worst critics. I haven't really bashed it outside of the initial shock of feeling ripped off, but I have come up with a laundry list of valid complaints that desperately need to be addressed by the developers. The game, as it stands is functionally flawed. It's missing content, and it's missing features that it should have. Not only that, but it's server dependent, and it features two new layers of anonymity that the online community can, and does abuse. Let me not forget to mention the fact that Capcom also made it cross-platform with the PC. The one gaming platform from which all mods, and hacks originate. A platform that is not governed by Playstation moderation.

To start off with I said in all honesty that "Street Fighter V" deserved a "4 out of 10" rating. That's how I felt at first. The more I played it though the more I realized how far it has fallen from it's origin source, and in realizing this I ended up feeling that it warrants an even lower rating than that. I do realize that SFV is a completely different beast altogether, and that such a fact should be taken into consideration, but at this point I feel it's not even worth recommending regardless of it's new nature. Before you start defending the game like some butt hurt fanboy or fangirl allow me to explain what I mean.

Street fighter V is not what USF4 was, especially to people like me who relied upon the online for training. It is also not what any of the previous Street Fighter games were at base level. It branches off almost completely from that foundation formula, and in doing so forces the gamer to endure the eSports elements that the developer, and publisher are pushing. Capcom made it perfectly clear that they were making SFV eSports friendly. In doing so I fear they have compromised the integrity of the game, and the series by seeking an audience that is not the audience which made said series great, and widely recognized. This whole fantasy that is "eSports" has only caused more problems. It has effectively created scrub pros, and not scrubs turned pro. I can guarantee you that you won't find a lot of SFV's online top tier players going to tournaments, because they cheated their way to the top.

Wednesday, March 9, 2016

Fire Emblem Fates: Conquest - Impressions

In the past couple of years I have been told by several friends that the "Fire Emblem" games were good, and that I should pick them up for my 3DS. While I usually take such advice to heart I kind of felt that paying retail price for a used version of the older Fire Emblem games was ridiculous, so I chose to wait for the release of ''Conquest', and 'Birthright' to make my entry into the series. After looking at both games, and observing their character inclusive cover art I decided to go with "Conquest" as it appealed more to my artistic interests. The whole "villains look cooler" ideology kind of stuck in my head from my toy collecting days. I think the purple theme may have also drawn me in a bit too. Once I got into the game, days after having purchased it, I found myself impressed by the anime cutscenes, the in-game character design, and the story being told. It's something I've not seen yet with a 3DS game, and in that sense I think the developer worked wonders with the software/hardware they created the game upon. At the same time, I noticed some things that weren't exactly appealing to my RPG judgment standards. For one thing the game was heavy on plot presentation, and didn't really make the battles seem all that important outside of the perma-death setting, battle assessments, and the positioning strategies. The battles felt too cinematic, and out of the hands of gamers for me to enjoy. That, and a few other things have made me wonder if this is all that there is to the game.

Sunday, March 6, 2016

MKX XL - Impressions (PS4)

I had seriously thought about not even wasting my time posting an article on my thoughts about this game as my thoughts about MKX XL, and fighting games of the modern age remain pretty much intact despite the addition of new features, and new characters. Even with the new netcode in place in MKX XL it is still a flawed experience due to the developers' oversight when it comes to the problems plaguing competitive online gaming. Why I have to repeat myself so often in regards to this matter is beyond me. I tweet directly to developers with sound advice, and I even send emails about my concerns. None of which is heard, or taken into account. This new generation of online gaming experiences is definitely flawed when it comes to the online portions of said experiences, and MKX XL only serves to echo that fact.

Wednesday, March 2, 2016

The Witch and the Hundred Knight Revival Edition (PS4)

Instead of rehashing everything from my PS3 review of "The Witch and the Hundred Knight" I will leave you with the following link (http://thegaminginferno.blogspot.com/2014/03/the-witch-and-hundred-knight-ps3.html), and spend this article discussing the new features as well as why it is I back this game with an enthusiastic recommendation. Please visit the provided link before reading any further as it will tell you all there is to know about the game's mechanics, and features ... outside of the new additions.

Tuesday, March 1, 2016

Sadame - "Assist" (3DS)

In my rush to get the review out to you guys I made a huge oversight. It wasn't particularly my fault though. With the game being digital, and void of tutorials certain things weren't so easily understood. One of said things was the "Assist" menu in the main menu listing. This feature didn't really open up to me until I was almost done with my first character playthrough, and until I had created additional characters to see what the character classes were all about. The 'Assist' function, or feature is pretty much how it sounds. By going into the menu of the same name, and assigning a second character that you are currently not playing that second character will accompany you in your playthrough. The character will kill enemies so long as that character is alive. The higher in level the assist character is the more likely it is to stay alive to the end. I will say that having an assist character to fight alongside you does make the problems of battling waves of lesser enemies easier, but it also acts as a double-edged sword in that boss battles will be even more short lived. In my opinion this feature only serves to add to the game's balancing issues, and in effect dumbs down gameplay even more.