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McMad

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Posts posted by McMad


  1. Holy rusted metal batman. I used to ride those trams all the time for my school commute.

     

    I see the great London tradition of general misanthropy while navigating the various channels of public transport solo has crumbled here.

     

    • Eyes forward.
    • No small-talk.
    • Avoid sitting next to a stranger at all possibilities.
    • Mentally castrate anyone who betrays the above while expressing grave looks.

    Suddenly I'm surprised I never encountered something like this considering the claustrophobic isolation that haunts those trams.


  2. :shakehead

     

    Is nothing sacred?

     

    Despite the clusterfuck abomination that is the plot of this series there's a lot of hope for this game.

     

    Nomura has fostered a lot of talent in the Osaka team that are working on this not to dissimilar from how he was mentored by Sakaguchi and Kitase in the 90s. Many senior staff members from Jupiter (Chain of Memoires, TWEWY) have also been folded in to this team. These guys previously made Birth by Sleep which is not only the best entry in the Kingdom Hearts series but is easily a contender for one of the best titles on the PSP.

     

    The only problem with Birth by Sleep was the lack of a second analogue stick for mapping camera control. Problem solved here.

     

    It's also nice to see S-E hasn't swept TWEWY under the rug.


  3. Call of Ktulu being played at Sonisphere completely blew my mind considering they usually avoid playing Cliff's instrumentals. Nowhere near as surreal as Weezer covering Paranoid Android on the Saturday though. Couldn't help but grin like an idiot throughout that.

     

    (Justice>Ride>Puppets>Kill>Black Album>meh)

     

    And now for something completely different:

     


  4. Rather rude and uncalled for.

     

    It illustrates that Kirby is a massive tool as I see the same absurd shit posted often in neogaf and the videogames board on 4chan.

     

    Heaven forbid Kirby ever says such a thing to someone who is actually gay.

     

    Oh wait.


  5. The Persona games are tedious as fuck.

     

    Tales of Vesperia was fun. Although if you've played Symphonia its essentially more of the same. And the anime clichés aren't so thick in this one... (who am I kidding?)


  6. Listening to 'Ride The Lightning' and I likes it a lot....finally think I'm starting to get metal :) Or at least, the appeal of metal.

     

    Ride the Lightning got me into Metal as well.

     

    Fooking amazing album that one.

     

    Well... apart from Escape...


  7. In relation to your complaints concerning the episode title, remember what Sayid said to Jack before he went boom; 'It's got to be you'. Considering Jack's development as a character over this season it's pretty clear where the writers are taking him.

     

     

    Although this is Lost.

     

    Fucking Lost.


  8. Here's what I mean when I say VIII was poorly written:

     

    The plot lacks structure. From Disc 1 to Disc 4 there is no over-riding quest for Squall and his comrades. The story telling is much more episodic rather than being a whole, coherent piece of work. The game constantly throws new allies and adversaries at you (Edea is the primary antagonist for the first two discs, and the joins your party in Disc 3) instead of clearly establishing two opposing forces and creating a convincing fictional world. Throw in some silly plot twists which add nothing to the story and time-travel and you have a very messy plot. VII in contrast establishes Shinra and Sephiroth as the primary antagonists very early on and the main story can be either be seen as a group of eco-warriors fighting for the survival of their planet or one man's quest for revenge.

     

    Many video-game plots lack structure though. And sometimes a strong cast of characters can save a poorly structured plot. It worked for me and Final Fantasy IX. The problem is that the only developed character in VIII is Squall. Squall starts the game as a cold loner - emotionally scarred by the abandonment he suffered as child - but through the power of love he is able to begin trusting others once again and finds happiness. The boy becomes a man. The other characters seem like card-board cut-outs in comparison. In fact the majority of the main party except for Squall and Rinoa become irrelevant after Disc 2. Much of the main cast lack back stories, development and even motives. (apart from the fact that they're all on the payroll) They don't share interesting dialogue with one another and many players often find VIII's cast simply un-likeable. In fact Laguna and his trio were far more charming, in my opinion, than Squall and his party.

     

    Then there are the awkward set-pieces such as the train mission that defies physics and logic. The fact that Irvine would have been aiming at the back of Edea's float during the assassination mission. Time compression. And I'll let you lot decide whether the dual narratives complemented each other or not.

     

    I also find that the game also lacks themes apart from love and growing-up. VII was crammed full of themes: Life, Death, Mothers, Nature, Industrialisation, Identity and I'm sure there are others I've missed. In comparison there never feels like there's much point to VIII's story.

     

    I don't write VIII off because of the story. I just believe that it lets the rest of the game down. I've said it before: I love the Junction System and the game's style.

     

    Can't be bothered to write another argument.


  9. Final Fantasy VIII's story is one of the worst in the series. The game itself is alright but the narrative/characters/pacing/romance are, for most part, rubbish.

     

    I wish S-E would take a step backwards during game development every now and then and ask themselves; 'does this plot actually make any goddamn sense?'

     

    The fact that most of the context of Final Fantasy XIII was provided within the datalogs is atrocious. It seems like the developers have a hard enough time telling a story - let alone writing a decent one.


  10. AT least XII had the choice of having freedom, thats one of the main reasons why I hate FFX is because of how straight forward it is. Plus this is a story made by Kitase, a man who makes the Twilight books look good

     

    Um. X definitely has one of the better stories of the series. Well at least the people making Tales of Symphonia thought so.

     

    Edit: Also Kitase doesn't write much anymore - he mainly produces these days. He did direct VII and VI though. Not a bad track record really. Certainly more respectable than that of Stephanie Meyer.

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