Author: FairlyObvious

The World Ends With You

This game made up for my disappointment with Spirit Tracks. Brad has been trying to get me to play this game for a while now, but I always found another game to play instead. I finally relented and I will never regret it. Sadly, this game was a limited release and not heavily advertised. Sounds reminiscent of . . . let’s see . . . Okami?
I will not say I put this game up on the same pedestal as Okami, but it’s definitely one of my FAVORITE DS games.

Forewarning, this game does have a bit of language in it. Not harsh language, but I’m not suggesting this for anyone under the age of . . . 12? It’s mild language, I don’t know how ratings go nowadays, they’ve become a bit less strict since I was young. Sooo I’m going by MY experience, because I’m a genius and all. (right . . . ) Anyway! Back to the game!
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Question . . .

Yo,

Sorry for being so absent as of late; with removing wallpaper and painting + refinishing floors my time has been limited. Please do not be angry with me *whimper*

I just wanted to ask all of you a question, please answer in any way you see fit (rant, outlined format, etc). Brad and I are attending GDC this year and there is a panel that’s addressing “Are Girls the New Hardcore Gamers?” Brad has issues, as do I, with the term “hardcore.” I, personally, do not consider myself a hardcore gamer. I lean more towards the retro historical aspect of games and most of my experiences are directly effected by my previous experiences. I do not sit down and for five hours straight perfect my Halo technique, although I believe L4D2 and Uncharted 2 could potentially suck me in rather easily (one of the reasons I’m afraid to start playing them, hah)

So what do you consider “hardcore”?
AND do you believe that people tend to be more loose on the application of the term “hardcore” when it comes to girls?
Don’t be worried about making comments “too long” I really want to know what y’all think.
(and please don’t be worried about offending me)
Thx guys =)

Edit: Love the comments, I have another question to add on inspired by the comments. Are you more likely to avoid going after someone who identifies herself as female (to go easy on her in a fight), have you seen this happen?

It would make a bit of sense, I know that I had to knock a few males down before they took me seriously in different male dominated pastimes. However, I had a tendency to go easier when I was playing against girls because I was afraid I’d hurt them.

Thoughts?

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Zelda: Spirit Tracks

I will say, first off, that anyone who says this game is better then Phantom Hourglass better check their water system because something in there is affecting their brain. While a decent game, Spirit Tracks is in no way better then Phantom Hourglass. I know that a lot of reviews claim that it is, I began to question my own view of this game because so many reviews were all gung ho about it, then I talked to someone else who was currently playing the game and they agreed. So I felt much better about my stance.
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Avatar

Who knows if anyone actually cares about a review of the movie, but since it’s broken all box office records and finally topped “Titanic” as the top grossing film, I figure it was worth an article.

I have one main complaint about the film, and it’s not even about the film itself, it’s about the man who made it. I hate, HATE it when people make a movie all about their politics. I would like to simply go watch a movie and just not THINK about it, I want to take away from the movie what I think, not think about what someone else meant it to be. It’s one of the big pet peeves I have with certain English teachers as well . . . or Literature professors, they like to take their interpretation and force it on their students. I’ve experienced this several times and it drives me absolutely mad. I’ve also taken lower grades because of it. Yes, my professors have written in their notes that my personal interpretation is “wrong.” I’m not sure how a personal interpretation can be “wrong”, but whatever.
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Answer . . .

(The post I was talking about in “Ridiculous” that I was almost finished with)

Okay, first, I THINK I am almost finished with Spirit Tracks so expect a review on that soon. Of course, we all know Zelda, you always have that “Yay! I beat it!” then the game slaps you in your face and you realize you have another 450 hours of game play left! Joy!

Someone asked in the comments if I had an issue with “Disney” . . . that’s kind of a loaded question for me, it would probably be the same for Brad. If any of you ever sat in on one of mine and Brad’s conversations over a meal or just in general, we’re almost always talking about animation (Brad’s big thing) or music (one of my big things). Unfortunately it always ends up turning to what Disney has become.

I took a trip to Disneyworld maybe two years ago with Brad and his family. I absolutely loved spending time with Brad and walking around the park but NONE of it echoed my childhood. There were Finding Nemo rides and a new Toy Story one, BUT I was excited to see that they had a Muppet show that they did. Otherwise, it was just a bit depressing, it took me the entire week to find Chip and Dale, two of my favorite Disney characters, staples of my childhood. Even Brad was a bit upset to see that some of his favorite parts of Disneyworld had been altered. We would go into toy stores and we’d see CGI Winnie the Pooh or some freaky Mickey Mouse interpretation. CGI Disney characters are weird and scary looking. I don’t think things that were obviously meant to be animated and 2d should be altered in any way, but Disney has to keep up with what’s “hip”
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Nostalgia . . .

“My hope still is to leave the world a bit better than when I got here.”

This post was originally titled “Christmas Nostalgia”, but then I realized that the subject matter I was addressing could not be that narrow. I could not specifically stay on the subject of Christmas or the holidays, not with this.

The quote in this first line is from one of the heroes Brad and I both share, Jim Henson. As much as I’d hate to think that people have never heard of Jim Henson (I cannot refer to him by just one name, he’s too epic), I’m sure in this day and age . . . there are those who probably haven’t. Jim Henson was the master mind and creator behind the Muppets, his company worked on many projects including Star Wars and Alien. He was the driving force behind The Muppet Show, Sesame Street, and the many muppet movies that came out. He voiced that lovable green frog, Kermit.

Recently, his company released a youtube video that quickly went viral, The Muppets “Bohemian Rhapsody”

I chose that quote because I know it’s one of Brad’s favorites and it’s certainly one of mine. It’s something that we both hope to accomplish before we have to leave this world.

If anyone wants to get an idea of how Brad is inspired, this is the place to look.
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Professor Layton

Is it bad that whenever I start to say “Professor Layton and the Curious Village” a part of me wants to say “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”? No, I have never seen the movie, something about that title just has a rhythm to it, I guess.

In this review, you will get two in one. “The Curious Village” and “Diabolical Box” (such a diabolical box!) I’m still trying to figure out if maybe this game is just more streamlined towards chicks . . . (I was speaking to “educkface”, apparently he hasn’t beaten the first one but his younger sister has beaten both of them) Maybe it is just part of my personal eternal quest to prove that I do have a brain, considering the game is purely brain teasers.

Actually, I loved this game because it did remind me a lot of sitting around the dinner table, post-dinner, listening to my dad reading brain teasers out of a book. Since I think I was around 10 when this was happening, I wasn’t able to inject much into the conversation, but it was definitely interesting to listen to my whole family reasoning their way through them.

For those who may think this game is PURELY brain teasers, which I must admit . . . I was a bit worried that was the case, the game does have a amazing (and brain teasing) plot. Both games have a twist at the end and, while I was able to guess the end to the “Curious Village” PARTIALLY, I was completely lost on the “Diabolical Box. It was very nice to have an unpredictable ending, games can be so friggin predictable these days. No imagination or anything, just END CREDITS.
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Happy Thanksgiving!!!!

Yes we’re silly Americans that love to celebrate a holiday that involves stuffing ourselves silly and then slowly falling into a food coma, ah so lovely!
That and it means the lovely holiday season of Christmas is comin soon!
I will attempt to nudge a new post out of Brad, if not I will post a few reviews and also talk about some of the Christmas staples that Brad and I both grew up with! If anyone cares, maybe I’m just being narcissistic.
I shall have some extra turkey in honor of all of you, that probably means I will be doing some hardcore sit ups in honor of all of you as well!

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Bowser’s Inside Story

*Disclaimer: I have not played the two Mario RPGs before this one. That is why there is no comparison to those, just a general overview*

Hey guys, sorry I’ve taken so long to update. I’m actually working on another website that’s going to launch in January (not game related) so they’ve got deadlines and the like. Kept me on my toes . . . Anyway, I’m going to give myself a schedule and try to update this weekly. I think Brad is going to have some new stuff too, soon. He’s been working hard!!

Anyway, Bowser’s Inside Story, DS game, meant to kind of give you an insight to Bowser.

Thank GOD it wasn’t what I was afraid it was going to be.
I was afraid it was going to be some mushy, let’s turn Bowser into a bleeding heart that’s just misunderstood and blah blah blah. I HATE it when people do that with back stories or when they are trying to show “insight” into a character. I was so happy when I left this game with my ORIGINAL perception of Bowser intact.
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Where the Wild Things Are

Where the Wild Things Are, midnight showing, Brad and I were there, of course. This is not something either one of us would miss. I’m breaking from my usual game review because Where the Wild Things Are is a classic book that pretty much every person that is mine and Brad’s age has read.

If you’ve read the book you know the basic story, the magic is in the presentation and its simplicity. Boy gets in trouble, boy gets sent to bed, boy runs away to island, boy becomes king, parties with the Wild Things, and then goes home. That’s it!
So how did they stretch it into an hour and a half long movie?

Pure genius.
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Crazy Times . . .

Hey guys,

I figured I should update about . . . not updating? Recently . . . maybe . . .
The past two weeks Brad and I have dealt with two wedding weekends, one that was one of his childhood friends, the other which was one of MY childhood friends. Not only that but we’ve both been swapping sickness back and forth, and I actually had a potentially bad infection I had to take care of. So yeah, it’s been an interesting three weeks or so . . . Continue Crazy Times . . .

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Well well . . .

Update: 9.3.09

http://www.capcom.co.jp/tgs2009/theater/index.html
Check out Theater 4
——————————

HMMMM

“Well look at that…it looks like that ‘Okamiden’ trademark was for Okami on the DS! We aren’t sure if it’s a remake or a sequel, but I’m sure more details will come in very soon. Thanks to all that sent this in!”

The scene definitely doesn’t look familiar to me and the overall graphic is completely different so I’m GUESSING it’s a sequel.
If this turns out to be a hoax, I will curl up into a corner and cry.

BUT!!!! For now!
*happy dance*

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Okami . . .

So this isn’t technically a review, yet. I just finished Okami for the Wii.

Guys, I have never had a game make me feel this absolutely emotionally involved before.

I cried. The friggin game made me cry, it was that beautiful.

I don’t even know how I am going to go about writing this review, it will come soon. Tune in for it guys because I want this review to reflect exactly how I feel about this game.

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My Comic Con

Hey guys, Brad will be doing a full wrap up of comic con later (complete with picturez ZOMG!!!) but here is something to hold you over. I actually wrote this on the plane ride home. This is me thinking y’all care what I think again 😉

As most of you know, I had the pleasure of attending Comic Con 2009 with Brad this year. My apologies for breaking off from my regular gaming reviews, but I hope that some of you would be interested in hearing a little about the experience of Comic Con.

It’s crowded, horribly crowded, and I’m sure the excessive amount of Twilight fans that decided to attend this year didn’t help. You go through over 5000 booths and sometimes you end up lodged inbetween a booth you don’t want to see and another booth you really don’t want to be caught dead even glancing at.

However, the whole experience gave me a strange sort of glimmer of hope. I saw appreciation everywhere, even in those crazy cosplayers, there was just utter appreciation. I’ve never seen any kind of celebrity act as graciously as the ones from the “interwebz”, and there are quite a few big ones. I’m sure there are a few bad seeds every now and then, but I didn’t meet one in my whole experience.

As a 24 year old sometimes it can be a bit disturbing to see what can pass off as art or as animation nowadays. When you are raised on the good ol’ 80s cartoons of yesteryear you tend to cringe at the popularity of things like SpongeBob Squarepants and  . . . well . . . every single CGIed version of a cartoon that hangs around on TV nowadays. You don’t see the same talent and love for smoothness and lines or even for general beauty. It’s slap it on a lunchbox and sell it as soon as possible.

I was sorely disappointed to go to a panel and hear about how they’d released their game on everything except for maybe a box of wheaties and they reveled in it. REVELED in being total sellouts (I’m looking at YOU EpicGames). Even more disturbing were the hordes that worshipped that kind of behavior but I won’t get into that . . .

On the OTHER side of Comic Con I managed to see a completely different side to all of it.

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Long Awaited Twilight Princess Review

or maybe I flatter myself thinking that everyone has been squirming in their seats for this review . . . 

yeah flatter, definitely flatter. 

So I promised a level by level review, but after spending a while writing that I realized it would be impossible to do that without ruining the game. I hate to break promises but I hate spoilers even more. So this will be a rather long review because there is so much in the game  and it’s Zelda, so my heart has always belonged to this game. 

😉

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