October Games

I thought I'd just chat a bit about the games I'm currently playing. Video games are a big part of my life, and I play them pretty much every day. So I guess It would make sense to include them in my blog :P

Monster Hunter Tri:
I have a love/hate thing with this game. Its certainly not one of the best games I've played. Its below average really. But MY GOD is it addictive. Which is why I think the Monster Hunter series is so big in Japan. This action RPG focuses mainly on hunting monsters (duh) to complete quests to...hunt more monsters lol I don't really think there is a main objective besides hunting stronger monsters to become powerful enough to take on the Lagiacrus (the creature on the cover). Basically, you mine resources to create healing potions, weapons, armor etc. Complete quests which can be hunting a number of monsters, or a large (boss) monster, capturing a boss monster or gathering resources. Each quest is a part of a star rated Hunt Rank group. So the more stars, the harder the quest. Complete all the quests in say, the 2 star Rank group and you open up Lvl 3 Rank Quests. Completing more quests opens up new areas to visit in which to mine new resources (to create/upgrade new armor, items or weapons), complete quests and new monsters to hunt.

Felyne - Favourite "monsters" in the game. SO CUTE!

The problem is you can get stuck on the boss monster quests if your armor & weapon aren't good enough.Which is what happened to me trying to take on a Barroth. My armor wasn't strong enough (I kept dying - you can only carry a certain number of healing potions) so I had to upgrade it to the best set available at the time (Ludroth Armor). Which required me to mine resources from a boss monster called a Royal Ludroth. Which isn't easy. The hardest thing about this game is fighting the boss monsters. There is a system. Locate monster, throw paintball at it, fight it whilst avoiding attacks/other monsters/healing, chase it as it runs away (hence the paintball so you can see it on the map), hack at it some more, probably chase it again, and then finally kill it to mine for items to use for upgrading armor to take on the next boss monster.

I pretty much just play this game in quick bursts when I've got nothing else to do, or when I don't have time to play for long. Like when I get home and its almost time to start on dinner but not quite enough time to say, watch an episode of whatever it is I'm watching at the time (which is currently Invader Zim, Bleach, and American Dad).

Gears of War 3:

Best thing about game (besides it finally being out) - there are girls! I don't have to be a grunting barrel on legs anymore! lol I kid. I love me some walking barrels. Cole Train, yeah! He makes me laugh :P Matt and I finished the story mode already haha (it felt too short - kind of dissapointing but more on that later). But we can always go back and try to find more collectibles, get more achievements/ribbons etc.

My favourite weapon to use is the Torque Bow. I find it much easier to use than the Longshot for some reason. Then when I'm out of ammo, I just use the Lancer (or Retro Lancer). I hate the Hammerburst. The Boomshot is also pretty fun to use, when you can find it. I suck at throwing grenades, though I think the targeting system plays a part in that.

Besides the story mode, there's also Horde, which is a lot of fun. I like taking on waves of AI enemies with a team. I find it more fun than say, playing Codfish: Black Ops (xD) where you're sort of in a team but not really because you tend to take on separate (player-controlled) enemies. We tried Beast mode but that was actually kind of hard. You get to choose what creature you start off as, then upgrade to stronger creatures the more kills you get. But its really not that easy to get kills. You have to quickly run to where the Stranded are, avoid razor wire and try not to get shot in the face as you try to whack them. I played as a Wretch because they make hilarious noises and run fast/retarded-ly haha But they are really weak, even if they can jump over razor wire. Matt tried a Grunt dude and did better than me since he had a gun. But he still got killed eventually too. Hmmm. We might have to give it another go sometime. Maybe our strategy needs improving?

Now. About that ending.

I don't know if it was just the HUGE gap between 2 and 3, my horrible memory or the fact that the game seemed to end abruptly. But whatever the reason, I wasn't at all impressed by the story (or ending) of GoW3.  After the last boss that didn't really seem like a last boss, Matt and I were just like "Wait...was that it? Maybe there's a clip after the credits?" waitingwaiting "Ok. No. Well, that didn't wrap things up at all". Matt seems to think they rushed the ending and I have to agree. Its like Epic Games was pushed into getting the game out early and just quickly threw together a quick fight and a video clip to finish in time. Since I put up my spoiler warning I'm going to speak freely about what happens in the ending. So, Myrrah comes along with her giant pet bug. Flies around for a bit. You shoot her and then set off the Hammer of Dawn a few times. Bug falls to the ground and squashes her. Marcus chats to his dad. Dad sets off his machine doo-dad that kills Locust and Lambent. Dad dies (though it was obvious what he had done to himself aaaaages ago). Marcus tries to be sad but can't because he's all manly and gruff and stuff. Myrrah crawls out from under her bug, blabs for a bit. Marcus stabs her with a knife. The end.

....eh? Soooooo, that's it? He stabs her. She's dead. The Lambent and Locust are all dead too thanks to the immulsion bomb or whatever its called. No Gears of War 4 then? Not going to conclude the story properly since 3 reeeeally didn't do a good job of that? Hmmmm. Ok then.

Well, I guess one can hope for an all new story in GoW4, if Epic Games is even going to make a fourth installment. Somehow, I don't think they are and that leaves me feeling rather "meh" about the whole series' conclusion.  As a whole, 3 just didn't feel quite as "epic" as 1 and 2 but I just can't seem to figure out why exactly. I know the ending was disappointing but that doesn't explain why the game as a whole didn't feel the same as the previous two. Maybe it was just that for most of the time in 1 and 2, it was just you and your buddy. Whereas in 3, there are clearly a lot more people around. Also now that I think on it, there weren't that many giant boss fights like the fish thingy in 2 *shrugs* I don't know. I did still have fun playing GoW3, since it is fun to play (and I LOVE co-op games). I just wish the story had been a bit better.

Vampire the Masquerade: Bloodlines: 

Ugly clothes!

I'd been meaning to play this for a few years now. Its one of those RPG's I'd heard good things about (story-wise mostly), but never got around to playing. My lovely friend Mr. Chadtastic was kind enough to lend me his copy so I could finally have a crack at it. I don't have much to say at this point, since I've only just started playing. Its not as ugly as I thought it would be haha I chose to play as a Tremere, though I would have been a Ventrue if the idea of throwing up if you drained the blood of hobo's didn't put me off. Best to be able to gain nutrients from hobo's if I needed to replenish my blood pool in a hurry. I still don't though. Drain the blood of innocents, I mean. Tremere are meant to be sort of bad, from what I can gather. The whole blood magic thing. But I didn't want to be bad. I'd rather pay a prostitute to drink her blood (or use blood packs) than just go around jumping people. I'm hoping I can find someone to feed off of without having to pay them though. I wonder if I can have a Ghoul?