Slight Lost Odyssey spoilers.
Well thanks to best buy having an amazing sale in december I managed to pick up a nice 26 inch TV with HDMI, component, optical audio, and all that fun stuff. Lost Odyssey was the first 360 game I bought, a few weeks before I even got the console. Back then I told myself I would not play the game until I had a nice TV to play it on. So after finishing Kameo in like 1 day I popped in LO and...
Its an RPG. When this game came out I have no idea how it got so loved or hated to the extremes it did. Its a fairly average RPG with insane production values and a great combat/character system. However, I just hit the 40 hour mark this morning and I am pretty close to the end (of the story anyway, all of those achievements shall be mine afterwards!) and that game has a major problem. The story is one of the worst I have had the displeasure of sitting through in a long time. I mean could it even be anymore cliche? Look, a cliche story is fine and all when done correctly but I mean they took the concept of bad-guy-wants-world to a whole new level of dull. Gongora is a terrible vilian with absolutely no motive forty hours into the game. What, seriously Mistwalker? No I am not done, but I am near the end and the plot is past the point of no return. The biggest plot twist in the histoy of media could be ahead of me in the next few hours of the game and it could not redeem itself.
On the bright side however, I think the cast of characters is one of the best out there and I love sitting through the long scenes that develop them further. I love Cooke and Mack, why? Because they actually act like kids. First RPG I have ever played where the kids act like kids. I love the relationship between Jansen and Ming, and Seth and Kaim I love because of the dream scenes. I can not think much bad to say about the characters at all. Speaking of dream scenes, half of those almost make me cry and they seem to hit really close to home in an odd sense and something that is easily relatable too. This game has made me realize living forever would be a bummer.
Enough about Lost Odyssey though, let me move onto Mass Effect. I don't own the game (will be getting it soon surely though) but man that game is... something. I played through my room mates for about 5 hours before I decided I wanted to buy it at a cheap price. Let me get this out of the way now, sorry if you like the branching dialogue system in that game - but it's utter crap, at least the first 5 hours. Aside from sidequests there has not been one time that the branching dialogue actually changed anything for me, I even went back and tested some to make sure. Its just wasted voice overs for the same thing to happen. What is the point? Surely the different options make a difference later on but its a waste where I was. That is not my major issue though, the fact I can't actually "roleplay" is an even bigger concern. I went into the game thinking you know what, I am gonna just be myself in the game. I will pick responses based on how I would in real life. Sadly that took a turn for the worse ohhhh about 5 minutes into the game. You get 3 way to obvious options which 90% of the time are not what I would answer in real life. Where is the "brutal truth", "sarcastic", or "backhanded compliment" options? Those are 3 ways of answering I use on a daily basis so it sucks they never came up on Mass Effect. This blog is getting to its limit, but I will also say for the few parts I played the plot was as equally as bad as LO's, for the same reason. LO though, actually has good characters, I can't even remember my squad peoples names from Mass Effect.
That aside, you know what I do like in the game? The gameplay itself. I love third person shooters almost as much as RPGs and Mass Effect handles it well. That is one of the top reasons I am buying the game, because the gameplay was top notch.
And one last thing before I go, this is heavy opinion so no need to argue since I know some people think otherwise and I respect that, but for me this is just how it is.
Only 1 more console left for me to purchase, the PS3 obviously. In a way I am glad I waited this long to buy one since it is FINALLY starting to get exclusives worthy to purchase it. I refuse to get any multiplat games on the console since a) I don't know anyone with the thing besides my new room mate who only cares about COD4 and LBP. b) As someone who has been getting Sony consoles before they even released the dual analog controller I have ALWAYS hated the thing. The analog sticks suck (why is there no indentions like the 360 controller or grips like the wii/GC to make my fingers comfortable?), I can't fit all my fingers on it, my hand starts to hurt after an hour or so of holding it, and the R2 and L2 buttons are TERRIBlE this time around for some reason. It is bad enough it limits how well I can play a game thus I have to turn to another console for multiplat games. c) still some features the PS3 is missing that I personally use on 360 (avoid/complaint player system, voice chat no matter what I am doing or game I am in, and the invite player function from people not inside the same game as you.)
What I am really sad about though is... to get a half decent console (irony inc) I have to buy a used PS3. Since the newer models cut out 2 of the most important features for the PS3 for me (backwards compat and the card slots) I am going to have to spend around $500 to get a good console, a used one at that, with no HDMI cord or games. I realize sony needed to cut something to make it cheaper but making the whole console unappealing to someone who still has way to many PS2 games to play (something like 10 now) and owns a nice amount of PS1 classics he wants to be able to play on the PSP or PS3 whenever he feels like it, I get a bit angry.
Oh for the record, no I don't hate the PS3, save any tears. I just am angry at Sony themselves (Oh did I mention I have not been able to add my debit card to my account for the past 3 months? Had to force my mom to give me hers so I could get Suikoden). I think the PS3 is the most important console for getting console RPGs back on their feet, but overall were probably boned for a few more years.
P.S. Bought Persona 3 FES, played about an hour of it and had to force myself to go back to LO, it seems to be this weird mix of a simulation game and a RPG which is pretty much the game I have been wanting created since I originally played Animal Crossing, i am almost scared to actually start playing it seriously.
Bye!