Woo-hoo! I only have 3 days of uni per week! What a luxury compared to those past two years where I've had to haul my ass off to uni every day. A day of rest for every day I go to uni. Hehehehe.
Switching of Schedule - And About Wasting Time
Obviously, a daily schedule doesn't fit one who procastinates like me. While I did like posting something every day for a week or two, as with every time I start such a stint, I already know I can't keep it up for very long, even if I wanted to. For the foreseeable future, I'll try to keep to a long post every three days, so that I post at least ten posts a month. In truth, I could keep up the daily rant thing, but I figure that I shouldn't. Number one - I'm unfortunately someone who easily succumbs to writer's block, and literally can't write anything for long periods of time. Number two - I'm going to be busy soon. I'm involved with SIFE, an unnamed project, and a new section of the cfgt.net site (from the looks of it, it'll have some kind of story going - still part of my Fantasy of War ;) ).
This is not even taking into account my university work (bound to pile up since this year is supposed to be a difficult and challenging year), my gaming (required to keep me sane) and constant long periods of zero productivity of any sort. I'm trying to cut off those long periods of doing nothing, but I get them a lot. There are just those times when you feel like doing something, just not programming, not studying, not blogging, not gaming, not watching anime, not watching reality shows, not watching TV, but just sitting around chatting with people online, surfing the net for funnies or even doing research on something you're ultimately not going to buy.
This waste of time ultimately hurts me - but is somehow necessary. I've been trying to cut it down since last year, but with no success - my consoles are a good example of this attempt, as well as my reentry into programming. While I have cut into it somewhat significantly, there are still a good number of spoilt days (usually due to classes being in strange gaps). I'm hoping the section of the site will soon remedy that, since I intend to work on it in those strange gaps - in addition to the now new music games filling in those gaps (being the only games I don't have to get into a particular mood to play).
While I can't truly be considered a procrastinator, since I plan my work very well. I've never actually had to rush for a deadline before, and I do work in chunks what I'm never interested enough to do in one shot. I even plan days around those last few days when my motivation to finish the assignment takes over to be free of any other distractions - or if there are those I can't avoid - enough time to do it anyway.
I've realised after so long that I enjoy doing computer work. Programming is really fun for me - and I'm good at it. I love putting parts together and getting them to work - be it software or hardware. Problems and puzzles while trying to solve problems interest me greatly, and I now realise that I could've gone and studied IT. Years ago, I was afraid that I'd end up doing nothing but massive amounts of coding - and what if at some point, that became deathly boring? Now, I'm a little more certain that boredom won't be too much of a problem. If at some point, I fail to shave off more dead time, I'll consider picking up a more intensive programming project - and if I do, expect it to be the battle system for the Fantasy of War!
The Wonkiness of Bias
I'm probably among the biggest culprits of being biased. You can probably see it all over my blog. I think. Why I am biased: I spare no popular game I don't like serious criticism. Final Fantasy XII is a good example. I hate the game. I have no idea how it earned so many honours by doing NOTHING well. It wasn't fun, the story was bad, and it was draggily long. I couldn't even go past five hours on it. That being said, I could easily and happily play what most review sites call an 'average' game - .hack//G.U. I can spend hours on Dynasty Warriors and Ninety-Nine Nights just because I find it fun.
I cannot for the life of me see why people like Zelda. It still hasn't clicked, and probably never will. Why is it fun? I don't know. There's just obviously something I'm just grandly missing. I think I just have this dislike for platformers. Okami didn't charm me, and neither did Super Mario Galaxy. I know they were good, but not that good. Maybe I'm just too much of an old-school gamer.
Why I might not be as biased: Even consoles I own don't escape criticism. I hold no true favouritism over any console just because I own them. I badly want the Wii to crash and burn. I like my PS3 over the XBox 360 because I can run Linux on it. The PSP just beats the DS because the PSP is just that much better of a handheld device. I switched to Windows Mobile because Palm OS was just too archaic for my liking. Just because I own the console doesn't mean I have any interest in it being successful. It just means I have an interest in games that are already out for it - the GameCube is a good example.
Graphics are nothing to me if there's no gameplay. Even if I could play Crysis at maximum settings, I'd still give it a 6, at most. Crysis' level design was poor and the ease at which one could lose their way despite having a minimap was appalling (don't even get me started on the interface and gameplay). I'll happily trod through Disgaea and Atelier Iris, and shelf away any of the PS2 Final Fantasy games. I'd play Ninja Gaiden Black while immersing myself in Folklore. Command and Conquer: Red Alert is still fun despite everything looking like sad blocks of pixels now.
Why I might be biased: Graphics still do matter. Now that UT3 nearly matches the pace I'm used to from Quake 3, it's probably no turning back. While gameplay occasionally does trump graphics, it's difficult for me to see myself going back to playing Freecell XP after playing Freecell Vista or Dynasty Warriors 5 after Dynasty Warriors 6.
(I wanted to say more. But writer's block hit again. Dammit.)
Another Weird Dream Part 2
Accomodation. A rather strange thing. I got off the train to what I described to be student accomodation. The rain has just stopped. First, I enter what I seem to consider my old accomodation. It is an old building with many rooms, and there are beds everywhere in the main hall, like a wartime hospital. I walk in and ignore all those beds straight to an elevator. I take the elevator up to the second floor. I speed straight to a familiar room and unlock it. Inside, I find my things. Because it's just a dream, I picture it as a heavy fluff. Imagine a really heavy comforter.
Near this room, a bed lies outside at the end of a corridor, a sign of how small my old place was. I leave the place with my stuff, knocking over a few beds in the process, and returning the now no-longer-of-use key to the office.
I head over to my new place, and get in. (I already have a key.) I have trouble finding my own room, so I knock on a door, finding about six people busy playing Devil May Cry 4 on PS3 controllers. (How six people do this is beyond me.) I ask them for help, and they ask to see my key. I show them my key, and they take me to my apartment, where I enter to find my housemate happily trodding his way through some game. I drop off my things in my room, of which my housemate seems to have dumped his things in as well. (probably some artifact of my first housemate doing the same thing).
I immediately leave for some gaming event at a concept store. After this gaming event, the dream ends - and is replaced with one a lot more dreamlike.
Devil May Cry 4 Review
This was due a long time ago. As the demo had already confirmed, DMC4 stays true to the formula in Devil May Cry 3, with numerous boss fights and focus on dealing boatloads of damage while not taking those same boatloads of damage yourself. Among the most popular (or notorious) features of Devil May Cry 4 is its difficulty, so I'll be covering that first. It goes without saying that Devil May Cry 4 is significantly easier than DMC3. I'm not sure if it's because the bosses are easier to kill, the bosses' attacks are easier to dodge, or because the controls in DMC4 are that much tighter. But, on Devil Hunter (Normal) difficulty, it goes without saying that it's a lot easier than DMC3's normal. The fact that four bosses repeat themselves along the way probably doesn't really help up the difficulty much.
As most reviews have said, the difficulty is kinda like a bell curve. It starts easy, and then gets really difficult (Dante is a b*tch to kill) and then it gets pretty easy again. Do bear in mind however, that part of this is actually attributed in an increase to the player's own skill and the player character's repertoire of moves (which you can purchase as well as mix and match along the way). For example, when you fight Berial, Echidna and Bael/Dagon for the last time, it's as if they became minibosses somewhere along the way. A quick jump back to the beginning of the game confirms that it's your skill and character that have gotten better, not that the bosses have gotten easier.
That being said, being able to play Devil May Cry 4 depends heavily on the growth of your own skill as well. While I was able to just run through the game without stopping (having played the previous 3 games before - yes, I forced myself to finish DMC2), it's likely a good number of people will get stuck somewhere. (for example, when the demo came out, a lot of people were whining about how they couldn't kill Berial)
The graphics look excellent, and it seems we've finally come to the point where cinematics of the past (think Final Fantasy VIII) are now completely executable in real-time graphics. Shadows are low quality however (it seems that the game developers and I see eye-to-eye on how shadows aren't quite that important) and can look rather weird. It's rarely a problem since you're usually too busy killing the enemies and watching the green meter on the top right side of the screen (the portion with the combos).
Most people will likely complain about the variety of weapons available to you. The main character, Nero, only uses one sword and one gun (and one arm - come on, you can't switch arms) throughout the entire game where he is the playable character. When you do get to play Dante, however, you only get a choice of 4 melee weapons and 3 ranged weapons. Not really much of a choice, if you ask me. (Although yes, Pandora is several weapons in one.) Of course, if you recall, this was roughly the kind of armament we saw in the first game - and considering this is kind of a reboot for the series, and the uniqueness of each of the weapons, I'm very very pleased.
While you don't get to choose which character to play for a given level, each level is designed to cater for the individual characters, and since a good amount of geographical locations are replicated between levels for the two characters, it's more like getting the choice, just that it's now compulsory to switch characters during the course of the game.
Since Dante can now switch between the five styles at will - things got a lot more interesting. Three unique weapons, five fighting styles. Dante deals significantly more damage than Nero. You'll find yourself taking down the four bosses a lot faster than you did with Nero. The downside? Style upgrades are expensive - and you'll find yourself usually short of Proud Souls to level up everything.
Talking about Proud Souls, I like the new system. It allows to you to reallocate your skills purchases at any time you come into contact with a divinity statue (I still like calling them God of Time statues, actually). If you need to switch out your loadout of skills - you can. Don't need that Charge Shot for this level? Buy something else. Need to get that Trigger Heart for the boss battle? Disable those unneeded Gather More Orbs and Speed upgrades before the boss battle so you have more Devil Trigger to kick ass with. Some people may dislike it, but I love the new system. (This is especially true for Dante, since you'll find yourself reallocating Souls between styles often. It's kinda a different way to force you to stick to more or less one style most of the time.)
While earning Proud Souls is no easy task - you are given the flexibility to grind. That's right - replay those easier levels to get those Proud Souls you need. When you start over in a new difficulty, your characters stay the same as they were before. Even if they aren't supposed to have Devil Trigger yet, they do - just like in DMC3. Having problem in a certain level? Get those few extra skills, health bars and DT gauge bars for the additional edge you need against that boss.
The game is now way more accessible to new players and is still filled with what you've come to expect of DMC - difficulty that keeps you on alert (although now much easier than DMC3), abilities you have to buy, Devil Trigger and full control of your character - even in the air (even the weak storyline is there XD). I'm extremely satisfied with the game, and it will likely keep me entertained for months to come.
I'd say it's a must buy if you own either an X360 or PS3. (Note that replay value may be greatly decreased if you do not enjoy repeating levels on higher difficulties or just to get a higher score - which I enjoy immensely. Now that my hands don't ache as much, off I am to finish off Son of Sparda mode.)
Note: As a hypothetical score, I suppose, with my bias, it deserves a 9.5 out of 10. Why not 10? DMC3's choice of weapons and characters way outclass this one - but there are very few games that are this addictive to me. If I were in Australia when this came out and it wasn't so close to Chinese New Year, I would've finished it the first day it came in one sitting. (I had to play in three sessions over 2 days due to the circumstances.) There isn't any other game out there on any of the three new consoles that I can say I would do the same. (Even Call of Duty 4, Halo 3 and Bioshock never reached that level for me.)