dan’s will

Liz and I had nothing to do last weekend, and we both weren’t feeling that well (didn’t feel like going outside or anything). So, I bought Shadows of the Colossus, which had just gone into the bargain bin (19.99). It is awesome with all the next generation coming out (xbox36 and the wii and ps3 soon) all of the older games are going down in price rapidly (we also got a new DDR game for $15!).

Anyways, this game, Shadows of the Colossus, is friggin amazing.  During the game you search for and take down these monstrous things. There isn’t much story. You start off with your girl dead, and you journy to this weird land, a land where the dead can be brought back to life. A voice booms down and tells you that if you destroy the 16 huge creatures, this will be done. So you set off and search for and kill them, one by one.

It’s an extremely selfish quest. And this tone develops with the game. You ride accross vast expanses of this beautiful and desolate landscape, and then a you find a huge creature. The creatures aren’t particularly hostile: they usually ignore you or look at you curiously–until you begin to harm them. 

And harming them is no easy task. They tower like 50 feet above you. You have to climb up them, grab onto hair, use pieces of the landscape, and so on. The game is actually more of a puzzle game (figuring out how to take them down) than an action game. When you finally stab them enough in their vital spots (on top of the head or neck or somewhere), they come crashing down. It’s almost sad, each time, to see such a huge beast fall and to hear it moan.

The Colossus’ are all very different. One is like a leviathon swimming in the water, a couple are four legged beasts, another is a worm in the sand, another is a bird in the air,…. And the music orchestrated for the battles is amazing. You feel like you are in the middle of an epic movie while playing. This is the game that makes you ask why more games can’t be made at this high of a quality. Sort of like those great movies that rarely come out.

So, since we both didn’t feel like doing much of anything last Sunday, Liz and I played this game all day long. We took a break only to make a real good dinner (Red Snapper cooked on a bed of onions and red peppers). Which reminds me, I was going to post about how Liz and I are making a new hobby out of finding good recipes and cooking delicious meals … but these huge colossus’ (is Colussi the plural?)seemed more interesting.

1) Katamari Damacy

I got this gaem a month ago when i got my PS2. It is way too much fun. It's even fun when your not the one playing. You only use the two little joysticks on the controller–no buttons. And you move around picking up stuff smaller than your ball while avoiding stuff bigger. Every stage you have a certain amount of time to get to a certain size. That't it! The gameplay is easy to learn, hard to master. And just so much fun. You start out as small as a pin, with mice knocking you around. And then five minutes later you realize your picking up those mice. And then a few levels later its the same thing with houses. And then stadiums and skyscrapers –itscrazy!

The backstory is even better. The king of all cosmos got drunk and knocked all the stars out of the sky. So you, the itty-bitty prince, have to use katamaris to collect stuff and then send the big balls up into space for new stars. In the final stage you are recreating the moon.

2) Ikaruga

 What can I say? I got this like 6 months ago for the gamecube. Its the most aesthetically beautiful, most well-crafted, most insane gaem ever. It's in its own league. It's an old-style vertical shooter. You know: blow up everything and dodge the bullets like mad, never take your eyes of the screen. This one, though, has an intensity as yet unheard of. Everything is bipolar: white and black–both the enemies and you. You can switch at any time from black to white or white to black. When you are white you can absorb the white bullets. Visa-versa when your black.

The color of the bullets you shoot is the color you are. When you hit enemies with the opposite color you do twice the damage. There are only 5 levels. The entire game is like 25 minutes long. But you wanna play it over and over and over and over. I've already logged in tons of hours on this gaem. It's kinda rare and still costs around 50$ if you find it. But o man is it worth it. O, one more thing, in this game its one hit and you are dead. ONE HIT. No shield or nothing.

so here was the latest crisis:

i got my PS2, knowing of its backwards capability, excited about playing old PS1 games. The one i became the most excited about is actually and even older SNES game, called Chrono trigger. It came out on a final fantasy anniversery disc for PS1 with some added cut-scenes. Chrono Trigger, which I played probably over 10 years ago, is the best RPG ever. You have no idea. You go back and forth in time through gates. Parts of it feel like back to the future, where you gotta fix something you screwed up. And the cast of characters is amazing: this hiliarious robot from the future, a frog from the past (you get friends from different time periods as well).

Anyways. So i bought the game like 2 weeks ago and put it in and it says "no memord card detected. WTF.

So I research and research. At first I think its cause I got a 3rd party mem card. Finally I discover, on the backpages of sony's website, that yes the PS2 is backwards compatible but to SAVE a PS1 game you still need a PS1 memory card. BULLSHIT. like the couldnt have threw a tiny chip in the ps2 that would convert the types of storage.

And wasn't I happy to discover, after calling a few places and driving to others, that absolutely no one sells ps1 mem cards anymore. I finally break down and pay 17 dollars (7 bucks for the shipping) and order one online from frys online store outpost.com. When checking out it says 'upgrade to next day shipping for 70 cents' and im like hells yes.

About 4 days go by and no memory card. I check the email, link to the order tracking and discover that … wallaa … they deliver via DHL, which requires a signature. I have it going to my home, assuming that it goes by regular post into my mail box. No where while ordering did it say "DHL" or "Will require signature"

It then takes me calling DHL and them telling me that I cant reroute it but the initial buyer of the service has to and me sending a quite rude/adament email to outpost.com to get it rerouted and another day later, almost a week now, yesterday to be exact I got my memory card. And was able to start Chrono Trigger.

Chrono Trigger was recently inducted into Gamespots Hall of Fame. You should read the article here .

i bought my ps2. it is very sexy.

O and the next nintendo system, that was codenamed revolution, is real-named Wii (pronounced ‘we’). Game consoles always have the dumbest names. Just gotta get used to them. I was really hoping nintendo would pick a good name though. Like BaddassMutha!
“Watchu wanna do, Dan?”
“Lets go play some games on my BaddassMutha!”

…That or BaddassMutha 3000.

Final Fantasy X

I bought a few PS2 gaems a while ago before purchasing the actual PS2. Then with Liz down here, money has been very tight so I keep having to push back the purchase. She has begun working though, I should be able to get the console next month. In the meantime, Roy pitied me and has been leaving his PS2 at my apartment for different periods of time. I have been working my way through this extremely enjoyable and beautiful RPG:

I love RPGs. Many people don't. They find the turn-based battles to be boring since you just have to point and click on what you want your character to do. But I love the decision-making process involved in all of this. Especially in great RPGs like Final Fantasy when I find myself on my toes trying to keep my party alive while attacking the enemy. I find this much more satisfying then the brain-dead, button-mashing combos other games require.

What really makes RPGs memorable, however, is the stories. RPGs, unlike most games, have much the same guidelines as movies and books do in regards character development, plot (twists and turns), events and so on. All of these have to be extremely engaging to make a good RPG. Once your involved in one, you don't wanna stop till you beat it. And then you regret it because the journey's over.

I have already put around 30hrs into this gaem. A good RPG is anywhere from 40-60. Sorry if this is the most boring post yet. Here's another pic to keep you pleased:

I was pronounced Lord of Cataan this weekend, twice. I did have to tell the losers (Liz, Jason and Curt) that it IS written in the rule book that they must hail the winner 'Lord of Cataan'. They didn't seem to impressed by my knowledge of the intricacies of the gaem. I have played it over ten-hundred thousand millions times, tho.

Liz and I playin it last year in my old room:

I've been playing this gaem for far too long, folks. It started way back a year or so before college ('99 or 00) when Greg and I went to Gabe Naves house. Gabe owned the gaem and had already completely mastered it. I remember he completely schooled Greg and I. Then it wasn't until my second year of college, when Brian Dykema got the game as a gift from his now-spouse, that I saw the gaem again. We played it in his dorm like coke addicts, before, between and after classes. It then became the craze at Redeemer.

I couldn't cut the habit and had to buy the gaem myself at the end of that year. In California, I got my dad and Jason Martin into it. The best memory from that summer is when Jason and I took the gaem with us during our Las Vegas trip. During summer in Vegas, you dont leave your hotel room until the sun has set. So Jay and I played Cataan straight like 6 hrs a day.

And now I'm sick of Cataan. I cut the habit a long time ago and dont want anything to do it. But, alas, Jason and Liz are still into it. And I was forced to recently introduce Roy and Curt to the game (both already have expressed there desire to play more, more, more!).

It seems I am forever doomed to be Lord of Cataan.

This is how I begin each morning, with a cup of coffee, black.

I just love how the video gaem industry manages to pump out 4-5 horrible gaems a week. I suppose Hollywood does the saem with movies. But with gaemspot reviewing all the gaems, its too good. Here you go, folks:

Rebel Raiders: Operation Nighthawk (PS2) 5.4 (mediocre)

“Rebel Raiders is an arcade flight combat game that’s quickly and mindlessly consumed and then forgotten immediately. 

Monster 4X4: World Circuit (XBOX)  4.7 (poor)

“Monster 4×4: World Circuit manages to make the act of driving comically gigantic trucks through destructible environments a complete and utter bore.” 

The Apprentice (PC) 3.0 (bad)

“If this haphazard collection of minigames was the best the developer could muster for an Apprentice game, The Donald may be due for a firing spree.”