Dan #6 – SPIN ON [Updated Thrice!] October 30, 2008
Posted by Dan in Dan's Rants.3 comments
I had another dentist appointment this morning, much to my surprise. I’d completely forgotten until I was woken up with “GET UP WE’VE GOTTA BE AT THE DENTIST’S IN 40 MINUTES”. If you’ll recall from my last dental rant, I had seven cavities. Yikes. Before that day, I was only aware of two.
Anyway, I got four of the seven filled today. Wasn’t nearly as painful as the cleaning was. The numbing injection they gave me beforehand didn’t even hurt as much as I’d anticipated. I saw some blood during the whole ordeal, though, and I imagined my mouth would hurt like a bitch after the numbness wore off… Six hours later, my mouth’s back to normal entirely. No pain. Very strange…
My dad had an appointment himself, so I killed time in the lobby watching Gurren Lagann Parallel Works #5 on my Zune. Oh, Gimi…
The title of this rant make sense yet? Dentists, Gurren Lagann, HURR DRILLS. I’m so clever.
Anyway, now for some gaming-related updates. Remember that 360 I had being shipped to me? At first I thought it would arrive on the first week of November. After some double-checking, it looked to be the second week of November. Well, earlier today I checked the shipping log..
- October 29, 2008 05:52:40 PM US Shipment has left seller facility and is in transit
- October 29, 2008 06:28:00 PM LEXINGTON KY US Shipment received by carrier
- October 29, 2008 09:55:00 PM LEXINGTON KY US Departure Scan
- October 30, 2008 01:04:00 AM KNOXVILLE TN US Arrival Scan
- October 30, 2008 03:35:00 PM DALTON GA US Incorrect address
…See that last one there? “Incorrect address.” What the hell?
Anyway, Dalton is like 15 miles from here. Seriously. I expect that 360 to show up tomorrow. Tomorrow isn’t even November yet. Seriously, what the hell? I suck at shipping estimates, I guess.
Time for a bit of bad news now. Turns out I won’t be able to afford Animal Crossing: City Folk in time, so I’m going to cancel my reservation and put that money towards Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of the New World. I’m still going to get AC:CF, but it’ll be late November to around Christmas time before I do. Here’s hoping you all don’t get bored of it and quit before I can play.
If that 360 does arrive tomorrow, you can be sure I’ll make a post about it. I’ll no doubt do Reviewtiful segments for both Tales of Vesperia and Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of the New World, as well, but those will both be a couple of weeks from now.
Anyway, I guess that does it for this rant. Catch you guys later.
UPDATE
- October 30, 2008 05:57:00 PM DALTON GA US Incorrect address
ANOTHER incorrect address? WHAT?
ANOTHER UPDATE
Alright. I got in touch with UPS. They couldn’t find my house… which is understandable. My house isn’t even visible from the road. I gave the guy some very precise info, though, such as how many miles down the road it is, what side it’s on, which side of the forked driveway you need to take, and… Oh, yeah. Have I ever mentioned that I have a colossal cell phone tower in my yard? Because I do. Told them to keep an eye out for it. The 360 should arrive tomorrow. Here’s hoping.
…Actually, it’s not a “cell phone” tower. It’s just a tower. It serves no purpose (as of now, anyway — cell phone equipment can always be mounted onto it in the future), yet the people who built it give my family between $300 and $400 a month just to let it sit there. No complaints here.
UPDATE #3
My 360 arrived. I had to run to the end of my long-ass driveway in my pajamas in about 55 degree weather to flag down the UPS driver, but I got it. Loving Vesperia so far, as well as the 360 itself. Lots of very nice features.
Mach# 25 – Ouch ;_; October 29, 2008
Posted by Mach in Mach's Rants.4 comments
I hate the weather in Jersey… It gets cold way too fast, it’s been raining like crazy lately, and I’ve been feeling like shit. ;_;
In short, it’s been around 44 degrees Farenheit. I’m still feeling cold with a long sleeved shirt, a track jacket, and hoodie. Considering I’m a big guy as well, I’m supposed to be well insulated, but that isn’t working much either. When your college profressor starts to notice that you’re not as perky in class (apprently I’m perky in class), then I guess that’s when you start having problems. Stomach has been giving me problems
Anyway, recently finished Time Hollow. A nice little adventure game on the DS with a pretty decent story. I’m not gonna indulge in the games bits here since I’ll be doing a review later this weekend.
Now that I’m done with that, I don’t know what to play…
Since I really don’t feel like ranting much, I leave you with two questions:
I need a name for my review thing. I’m out of ideas… I might leave this one for the stream, but I could still use some ideas.
And, what should I play now?
Later.
Dan #5 – Tales of November October 28, 2008
Posted by Dan in Dan's Rants.4 comments
Yesterday I received a package in the mail containing the Special Edition of Tales of Vesperia. It was an early Christmas present from my grandma… She knows the Tales of name, but she forgot that I don’t have an Xbox 360. I called her to say thanks, and after I brought up “I don’t have an Xbox 360,” she felt bad about it, and… Yeah… Decided to order me one. My grandma is the best, I tell ya. The best. Who cares if it’s the Arcade version? At least I can save my progress… Plus the Arcade version comes with an HDMI port and a wireless controller these days!
As I said, it’s the Special Edition of ToV. For those unaware, the Special Edition comes in a different box — it’s a metallic one with the original character art on the front. Said art was drawn by Kosuke Fujishima, who is the character designer for several of the Tales games. Also included in the Special Edition is the Tales 10th Anniversary Soundtrack, Vol. 1. It contains music from Tales of Vesperia, Phantasia, Symphonia, Destiny, and the Abyss. It’s a very nice album… But then again, I’m a bit of a Tales nut. Probably not as big of one as our dear Len, but still.
The Special Edition box art and bonus soundtrack.
The manual that comes with the game also has some additional pages at the end, all of art. Some of it is Kosuke Fujishima’s art, some of it is the “regular” character art… There are pictures of several monsters and towns, as well as a two-page overworld map for the game. Nifty.
Anyway, my Xbox 360 was ordered yesterday, and is scheduled to arrive “in 5 to 9 business days.” That means it’ll most likely arrive during the first week in November. Here’s where things get really Tales-y. I have Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of the New World preordered. It ships on November 11, so I’ll probably be able to pick it up in store on the 12th…
ToS:DotNW's Japanese box art.
I’ve been saying for a long time that I’d like to play DotNW before ToV. I’m afraid DotNW would seem like a drastic step down in terms of graphics, presentation and battle system; that’s why I want to play it first — so I get the best out of both games. My hopes aren’t too high for DotNW, mostly because it was made on a budget, but it’s still the sequel to one of my favorite games, Tales of Symphonia. I’m gonna play it and I’m gonna like it regardless, but I think I’ll like it more if I play it before I do Vesperia… Which means that I’m going to have to fight off a shiny new Xbox 360 and Tales of Vesperia for several days. Can I possibly…?
Playing two new Tales games at the same time is out of the question for me. I’d rather play each one through one at a time and soak them both in rather than hop back and forth between them… *sigh*… My willpower is going to seriously be put to the test in the next two weeks. I don’t think those free Arcade games are going to satisfy my 360 urges for more than 5 minutes, either.
There’s also the matter of Animal Crossing: City Folk. Here’s how things stand. I have $20 and no income. DotNW has $10 down on it, AC:CF has $7. I can get the money for DotNW, but AC:CF comes out only around a week after that. I’ll be virtually broke. What I’ve considered doing is cancelling my AC:CF preorder and putting that money towards DotNW. I don’t want to, but if I must, I will. There’s also the matter of Wii Speak. Considering the Backloggery staff and I imagine several other Backloggers are getting it, I’d like to have it, myself. It’s an additional $10 (if I can switch my preorder to the bundle, that is… additional $20 if I can’t), but still… I’d like LOVE it if my dad would pay me back enough money to get both DotNW and AC:CF… He’s owed me $170 since April or so. If I could get $70 or $80 back from him, I’ll be one happy camper
Rest assured that I’ll probably post a rant about the way things turn out, for better or for worse.
Reviewtiful #1 – Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood October 26, 2008
Posted by Dan in Reviewtiful.5 comments
Welcome to my review segment, Reviewtiful. Props to BluFin for the name. It’s a result of the fact that I go by “Alastor”, a villain/anti-hero character in the first Viewtiful Joe game, on a couple of forums. Anyway, we’ll kick off Reviewtiful with the relatively new Sonic RPG developed by BioWare, Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood for the DS. Despite the pretty bad-to-average reviews I was seeing, I was still kind of excited to play this game for myself. After all, it’s a Sonic game with the worst element of Sonic games removed — Sonic Team themselves.
Alright, here we go. “Henshin a review, baby!” (hai Sobou)
Introduction
Released in North America on September 30, 2008, Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood is a turn-based RPG developed by BioWare for the Nintendo DS. BioWare, are you are probably aware, were behind the critically acclaimed Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, as well as Jade Empire, to name a couple. That said, Sonic Chronicles is unique in that it’s a Sonic game developed by someone other than Sonic Team. This fact raised my expectations for the game considerably. You remove the cancer that is Sonic Team and substitute them for the guys who made KotOR, one of my favorite games of all time? You’ve got my interest.
All control in the game is done via touch screen. You move, battle and navigate menus/dialogue all via the stylus. Field movement can be compared to that of The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass. Battles play out in a turn-based fashion, with one twist — rhythm segments. Each character has their own unique POW Moves, as do your enemies. Each move has its own rhythm segment. Whenever that move is used, you must complete the rhythm segment. Notes will appear on the screen, and you must tap or slide them with the correct timing (think “watered-down Elite Beat Agents“). Now, let me elaborate just a bit. As I said, each move has its own rhythm segment. Take, for example, one of Knuckles’ POW Moves, Uppercut. Any time you use Uppercut, you’ll be prompted for the same rhythm command. It’s never anything random. This greatly cuts down on frustration, as far as I’m concerned.
The better you perform during the rhythm segment, the more damage your attacks do. They have an increased chance to hit, to boot. As for the enemy, nailing their rhythm segments will cause their attacks to miss completely (or do only 1-2 points of damage). Ergo, the more notes you miss during enemy attacks, the more damage they’ll do to you. You never encounter one single type of enemy for too long, so the rhythm commands stay fresh, as newer enemies have different attacks.
Graphics
I’m torn here. SC:TDB is part pretty, part bleh. The backgrounds and worlds you visit are all very attractive. The character art (the things that show up in dialogue) is well-done… Very reminiscent of the Sonic X art style. The character models themselves, however, are… Not so great. They’re not genuinely bad, but come on, BioWare. The DS is capable of more than this.
Sound
The music holds up well. For some reason it kind of reminds me of the music from Sonic Rush… Well, some of it. Anyway, I’m not sure who the composer for SC:TDB is, but there are several catchy tunes in the game, and the sound quality is decent. The sound effects are mixed. Some of them are well done, and others… Not so much. It was nice hearing some of the retro Sonic sound effects thrown in, though.
Gameplay
As I explained in detail earlier, the battle system is turn-based with rhythm segments. I find that awesome. I’m very picky when it comes to turn-based RPGs… Being a Tales fan, I find most turn-based RPGs extremely boring. The rhythm bits are a nice twist, especially considering Elite Beat Agents is one of my favorite games. Said rhythm bits aren’t near as fun or complex as parts of EBA, but they’re still entertaining and serve to keep the battles from becoming monotonous
Story
The story starts off simple enough. Someone’s stolen the Chaos Emeralds and kidnapped their guardian, Knuckles. Your first task is to rescue Knuckles, then go after the Chaos Emeralds, as well as the Master Emerald. I won’t go too far into it because I don’t want to spoil anything, but the story develops a bit after that. Still nothing too serious, but it’s a nice story. It adds a lot of backstory to the Sonic universe, most of it involving the echidnas. Considering Knuckles is probably my favorite character (despite being gullible to the point of pure stupidity), said backstory was really entertaining.
A large portion of the story takes part in Sonic’s world, but near the end you travel to this alternate dimension (or something like that) called the Twilight Cage in pursuit of the villain, as well as to retrieve the Chaos Emeralds and the Master Emerald. Inside the Twilight Cage are several original worlds, each with their own unique native race. Maybe it was just me, but this part of the game felt a little rushed. You’re not on any one of the four worlds (five counting the final one, but you’re introduced to its inhabitants at the beginning of the game) for too long… Not long enough to really care, anyway. I mean, it was still nice to see all of these unique races, but you don’t spend enough time with any of the four of them to really care about them at all. They don’t really feel necessary to the plot, which is bad.
Misc.
As in Knights of the Old Republic and Jade Empire, SC:TDB uses a multiple-choice dialogue system. You can make Sonic respond in different ways to the other characters. There’s no “light or dark” here, just a couple of laughs, or means to gather more information about the story, your current objective… Stuff like that. You can make Sonic be a total smartass or you can have him be a goody-two-shoes. Take your pick. There are no long-term repercussions for your decisions (not that I’m aware of, anyway), but the different responses keep dialogue interesting. A nice touch.
Be a smartass or stay focused on the task at hand. The choice is yours.
The Sonic characters themselves are well-represented. The cast consists of characters from Sonic Heroes and prior. No Marine, no Blaze, no Silver, etc. Your party consists of Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Amy, Rouge, Shadow, Big, Cream (an optional character), E-123 Omega (another optional character), Dr. Robotnik (I’m not calling him Eggman, so shush.), and Shade, the mysterious new female echidna.
Sonic is required to be on your team at all times (which isn’t a bad thing since he’s pretty useful), but you’re free to have any combination of the three others in your party, unless you’re at a point in the story that requires otherwise.
Replay Value
I can’t say there’s too much replay value to be had in this game. After you defeat the final boss (and get through the hilarious credits sequence), you can start a New Game +. EVERYTHING you have is carried over. Your current level, all of your equipment and Chao (Each Chao gives you a unique boost, by the way. Don’t think I said that yet.), all of your POW Moves… EVERYTHING. This allows you to blow through the story start-to-finish in only a few hours. I can’t imagine that being entertaining more than one time, so I guess there’s your Replay Value verdict — One replay if the whole “New Game +” prospect appeals to you.
Overall
I didn’t feel this game really deserved all the negative feedback it’s been getting. Sure, it’s a little rough around the edges, but it’s still a fun game. Most of the stuff that makes it “rough around the edges” will probably be fixed in the sequel, so that’s something to look forward to. The story ends VERY open-ended and the characters themselves even talk about a sequel during the credits… Not to mention the fact that BioWare has already confirmed that they’re writing a sequel.
All in all, it’s a fun, decent-length RPG for the DS. Sonic fans, look into it. If you liked the franchise but are tired of Sonic Team’s crap, this is pretty much your holy grail. Everyone else… Might not be for you, if only because the plot and dialogue are pretty centered around the assumptions that you’re familiar with the Sonic universe (personalities, backstories, all that stuff).
Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood – 4/5
Mach #24 – The Weekend Update October 26, 2008
Posted by Mach in Mach's Rants.1 comment so far
Meh, it’s a hit or miss weekend for me as well as a short update.
Hit, that I managed to see a bunch of my friends this weekend that came up and down from college and it was fun hanging out with both of them (lots of Rock Band 2 to go around). Plus, I introduced a friend of mine to Pop’n Music which she seems to like playing a lot.
Miss, that I had almost no money this weekend. At the moment, I only have $4 to my name. Most of it gone due to my brother’s birthday being this past Friday. So about $40 spent on him and $20 for myself to live throughout the week.
Which brings me leading to a dilemma throughout the week in gaming related stuff. At the word of Scott in my last rant, he mentioned Game Crazy, which I just so happened to have about 7 miles away from my place in another town over. I checked that place and I’m pretty impressed with the place. Any place that sells a Dreamcast and Ace Combat 6 for $40 has me sold as a customer.
Here’s the question: By this Friday, I should have about $70 to spend on whatever I feel like it. Given I don’t spend a shitload eating something during the week… Anyway, here are my choices…
An almost definite would be getting an MVP card from Game Crazy. $10 for Crazy Discounts? Fucking sold. The remaining choices would be:
- Get an 2000 MS Points Card
- Get the Hori Arcade Stick I’ve been wanting for a while for the 360
- Get NBA 2K9 (360)
- Get DDR Universe 3 (Will have to wait another week on it…)
- Get Ace Combat 6 (Despite not having the other two before it ;_;)
So many choices, so little money to do it with… 
I’ll think about it later this week. Doesn’t really seem worth it to think about it now.
As far as me actually playing any games and getting anywhere with them… Nothing! I wasted a whole week pretty much getting nowhere in my games! I’ll probably work on Time Hollow or Unsolved Crimes or something… I need to beat something recent, or I’m gonna go crazy.
Sousuke, post something!
Until then, later!
Dan #4 – General Gaming Update October 23, 2008
Posted by Dan in Dan's Rants.7 comments
It’s been a while since I posted about what I’m up to in general lately, and Mach seems to really encourage doing so, so here goes. As stated in my last rant, I borrowed Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood from a cousin of mine, despite seeing several reviews and online associates (IM friends, forum members, etc.) slamming the game pretty harshly.
Personally, I was pretty excited for the game prior to its release. I mean, an RPG developed by BioWare (who made Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, one of my favorite games) starring Sonic characters? Seemed like a good mix, considering I actually like most of the Sonic cast, characters introduced after Sonic Heroes excluded (Hell, I even liked Shadow until they brought him back in Sonic Heroes. He would’ve been fine by me if he’d stayed dead, as per the end of SA2.). As it so happens, all of your party members in Sonic Chronicles were introduced either in Sonic Heroes (E-123 Omega) or before, with the exception of the new character, Shade. Anyway, the gameplay of Sonic Chronicles seemed interesting enough. Turn-based battles with Elite Beat Agents-esque rhythm segments? Sounded like a pretty awesome combination if you ask me.
I’m currently at Chapter 9 (out of 10), and this game has really surprised me. Sure, it’s a little rough around the edges, but it certainly doesn’t deserve some of the extreme bashing it’s getting. I’m having a really good time with it. While the rhythm segments aren’t quite what I expected, that still doesn’t make it a bad game by any means. I could go on about it, but I’ll stop here, as I’ll probably be writing a full review for Sonic Chronicles here on DRE:ID2 after I’ve beaten it. Keep an eye out.
Other than that, I’ve been playing Kirby Super Star Ultra and Super Smash Bros. Brawl, both of which are really great “time killer” games for me. I’m one of those people that consider Brawl to be way better than Melee was, and I played Melee for six years. I don’t see myself getting bored of Brawl for a long, long time. I’m just playing random matches in it, basically, both online and off.
As for KSSU, I usually just pick a random game whenever I turn it on, but I’m slowly working through the Helper to Hero mode with all Helpers. It’s weird: You can get 100% in KSSU without actually having everything done/unlocked. My save file shows 100% completion and I even unlocked a cutscene saying such, as well as saying that I had “mastered” Kirby. Pretty flattering. However, there’s one thing missing in the theater–Movie #00. If you complete the Helper to Hero mode with all of the possible Helpers, you unlock Movie #00, which contains the original SNES opening movies for the games from the original Kirby Super Star. Trying HtH with all of the Helpers in a short span of time is pretty rage-inducing, so I’m going at it at a nice, steady pace.
That’s all for now. The next time you hear from me will probably be that Sonic Chronicles review I alluded to earlier, so I’ll see you then.
Mach’s Blueprints – Guitar Hero: World Tour Hands-On October 23, 2008
Posted by Mach in Mach's Blueprints.2 comments
To start, my new banner for my Halloween Backloggery theme is from Tigerfog’s Sega Sonic Zombies. Awesome image, and I’ve used this for a song that I’ve stepped as well. Also worth noting, Tigerfog is the artist for the MNT Gaiden. Read the comic, visit his deviantART. He’s an amazing artist worth looking at.
Also, no rant tonight (this morning? It’s 2:30 AM and it’s dark. I consider it night. 
), Camtasia refuses to work with me for my rant video… Unless anyone want to reccommend some good video editing software, I’m more than willing to listen.
Anyway, I was over at Best Buy today with the intention of getting my brother’s birthday present. What I was plesantly surprised at was the demo stations they had newly implemented and was completely shocked when I saw Guitar Hero: World Tour was being demoed. To note, this was the full version of the game they had available for play.
The Guitar Hero: World Tour Demo station they had at my local Best Buy. (Shitty picture, work with me. D:<)
If anything I had to try, it was obviously the drums and the guitar. I was willing to try the vocals, but alas, no controller hooked up for that purpose. In this game, there are 5 difficulties available, ranging from Beginner, to Expert. Pretty much the same ratings they’ve always gone by except with the addition of something even easier being added on.
I chose a couple of songs that I recognized and just to name a few:
- Fleetwood Mac – Go Your Own Way
- Blink 182 – Dammit
- Jimmy Eat World – The Middle
- Linkin Park – What I’ve Done
- The Eagles – Hotel California
- Paramore – Misery Business
- Michael Jackson – Beat It (Song most likely to be whored out during any occasion)
- Korn – Freak on a Leash
- Bon Jovi – Livin’ on a Prayer
- System of a Down – B.Y.O.B
The drums are the most notable thing for this game. Obviously with the additions of the two cymbols. During gameplay, it was surprisingly comfortable and had absolutely no problem transitioning into this drum set. The levels of really make a difference. Also worth noting about the drums, they’re even quieter than the Rock Band 2 drum set. It’s very bouncy, which makes it a lot of fun to play.
I did have a qualms with it though. The sensitivity and how long these pads would last was my main concern. While I was playing I occassionally had some trouble hitting the cymbols, mostly because they didn’t respond at time when I smacked them. Perhaps it was because of the constant beating this game had already recieved prior to me playing it, I wouldn’t know, but I just worry about its durability.
The guitar on the other hand is nice as well. One very welcome addition was the touch-sensitive pad for the guitars. With the addition of these, you are able to tap strum/slap bass (depending what instrument you’re playing) with the music. One notable area you’ll be using them will be during solos. Like the guitars before them, have pretty much been the same, except this one is A LOT quieter. It still contains the click that most Guitar Hero guitars have, but this one pretty much lulled it down to a mouse click for a computer. It’s pretty good.
Durability for Guitar Hero guitars have never really been an issue, so I’m not worried about that at all, mostly just wondering about how responsive the touch pads will be after a good amount of time.
As a personal thing that’s always troubled me about this series is how accurate you have to be with the notes. I know the series has always been a stickler for accuracy, but this one seems to take a bit further in my opinion. I found myself having a bit of trouble hitting notes that should’ve easily been hit. So how leniant the game will be is a concern of mine.
Or maybe I just got too used to Rock Band timing and I just suck at Guitar Hero… It’s been ages since I’ve played one. ;_;
But overall, the game looks really good. If I had the money and the room to house all the instruments, I would definitely pick this up. Graphics are superb and the music creator looks like an interesting feature to be working with when one has more time to work with it.
Just keep in mind, the game comes out this Sunday on October 26th. Most places should be having a midnight release so watch out for ones in your area.
Later!
Rare Candy #3 – Red/Blue, Part 2 October 22, 2008
Posted by Dan in Rare Candy.1 comment so far
As I (think) I stated in the last Rare Candy, I’m not going to try to cover every single Pokémon game. Instead, I’m only going to cover most of the North American releases. That said, I’m not going to go into details about the games in other countries. Anything I write is going to be purely from a North American standpoint.
Anywho, we begin our foray into the Pokémon game timeline with the first entries in the series, Pokémon Red and Blue. Developed by Game Freak and published by Nintendo, Pokémon Red and Pokémon Blue were released in September, 1998, for Nintendo’s handheld console, the Game Boy.
Red Version box art
Red/Blue take place in a region known as Kanto, both named and modeled after the Kantō region of Japan. This is a trait that would become commonplace in the handheld (or “main”) Pokémon games. We’ll touch more on that when the time comes. You take the role of Red (though this name is optional), a young boy who is just starting his Pokémon journey.
Blue Version box art
At the beginning of the game, you meet your town’s Pokémon expert, Professor Oak. Oak is the one who will give you your very first Pokémon. You are free to choose between Bulbasaur, a grass type, Charmander, a fire type, or Squirtle, a water type. After you have chosen your partner, your rival, Blue (again, optional name), decides to take the Pokémon that has a type advantage over your own. For example, if you chose the fire type, Charmander, Blue will choose the water type, Squirtle. After you both get your Pokémon, your rival challenges you to a battle. However, both of your Pokémon are at very low levels, and neither of them know any elemental attacks. As such, Blue has absolutely no advantage over your own Pokémon during your first battle. This changes later on, however.
After your rival has been thoroughly spanked, it’s time to begin your personal Pokémon journey. The point of this journey is to travel across Kanto, capturing as many kinds of Pokémon as possible, battling other Pokémon Trainers to become stronger, and collecting badges from each of the eight Pokémon Gyms in the region. Once a Trainer has collected a badge from each of the eight Gyms, they become eligible to participate in the Pokémon League. While the anime depicts the Pokémon League as a tournament between hundreds of Trainers, the games depict it as a group of extremely talented Trainers known as the Elite Four.
With all eight badges in hand, it’s time to face your final challenge–the Elite Four. Members of the Elite Four can be considered “Gym Leaders on steroids.” You must battle each of the Elite Four one after the other. You may use items during and inbetween battles with each of the Four, but you do not have access to a Pokémon Center during this challenge. After you have beaten the Elite Four, you must face the Pokémon League Champion. In Red and Blue, the Champion is none other than your rival, who has just recently defeated the Elite Four himself.
After you have defeated your rival and usurped the title of Pokémon League Champion from him, you are inducted into the Hall of Fame and treated to the credits. That’s great and all, but it’s likely your task isn’t over yet. One of the most addictive elements of the Pokémon games (the first ones, anyway) was actually trying to “catch ‘em all.” Pokémon Red and Blue contained 150 unique Pokémon (151 counting Mew, who was only attainable with a Game Shark), all of which had to be captured in order to truly complete the game. Each game had a number of Pokémon exclusive only to that version. Therefore, in order to capture all 150 Pokémon, you had to link up with someone who had a different version than you and trade Pokémon with them via the Game Boy Link Cable.
Every “main” Pokémon game has followed suit, having more than one version for each generation. Each version always has its own unique Pokémon, making the task of “catching ‘em all” impossible without A) the help of other players or B) lots of money on your part. Ah, marketing is a lovely thing, no?
I’ll wrap things up here. Next up is one of my favorite entries in the series, Pokémon Yellow: Special Pikachu Edition!
Until then…
Mach #23 – A New Challenger Appears! October 21, 2008
Posted by Mach in Mach's Rants.5 comments
First of all, I wish Len the best on all his endeavors and hopefully he could work out all his issues and everything during his hiatus. I rant more than enough to handle a couple of extra updates per week. The rest of us will be holding down the fort and hopefully I could figure out something else in the mean time. I’m sure I will. ;_;
Just another run-of-the-mill gaming update from me. So I stopped by one the malls in my area to check out the status on the Hori Fighting Stick for the 360. It looks like I don’t really have anything to worry about at the moment. They’re still there. One Gamestop obviously had it on their floor, the lone EB had it hidden off on a really, really high shelf that’s pretty much out of sight. So no worries there.
To my satisfaction, I discovered that they were regular, no special design arcade sticks. Perfect, right? Wrong! I also discovered that the arcade stick was 60 bux. Looks like Fable 2 will have to wait. 
However, a new game store opened just this past Saturday at the mall I visited, bringing the grand total of game stores at that mall alone to four. (There’s an irony about all the game stores which I’ll explain tomorrow since I’ll be running some errands in the afternoon).
The new challenger to go up against the demon that is Gamestop is called Gamer’s Edge. A rather simple game store and a game lounge… It just opened up and has all the latest releases up from July until this point in time. So you ask, what’s so special about this place? What’s worth mentioning about this place?
They do something that I’ve actually never seen a game store do before.
Try out the games before you buy them.
Now, towards the back of this store, they have three HDTVs set up with a major console attached to each TV. Each are available to try out any game they have in store.
Personally, I love this concept. Surprisingly simple, but yet so effective for the consumer. For parents stopping by this store, they’d be able to try out these M-rated games that these ignorant little shits are begging for and because of this, we’ll have less ignorant little shits causing havoc and shooting people straight up on the block.
I’m definitely going to be visiting this store a lot more now. They seem more trustworthy than the three Gamestops in there anyway. And with those HDTVs, I’d expect tournaments… It would be nice to get some local tournaments sprung up in the area. Show off dem skillz. :3
Anyway, done for the night. Updating tomorrow.
Len Announcement – Hiatus October 21, 2008
Posted by Ren in Annoucements/News, Len's Rants.4 comments
That’s right. Unfortunately, I’ll have to go on hiatus for a while.
I’ve been having family problems for YEARS.. and well, it’s gotten to the edge. My own edge. Something like that. Either way, my sister is on her knees for me to resolve it.. and I know this will take up a large portion of my time.
Plus work keeps me busy. I know I’m online a lot, but the majority of the time, I’m at work, which means I’ve got no time for games and anime. I used to bring in my consoles, but I’ve stopped that. o_o And anime is just a borefest now, hopefully I’ll watch some more later. When motivation beckons at my call.
As for games.. time for that is also very limited. Right now I’m playing Kingdom Hearts 2, and I’ll continue to play games when I have free time, but I just don’t have the time to rant. I’d like to rant about fresh things, you see, not something I watched/played years ago.
I’ll pop back, sometime. I won’t really be doing rants, perhaps I’ll throw in a review or two sometime. Also, I’d like to concentrate on my studies a whole lot more. I’m majoring in English.. going to towards the teaching career. I’m taking classes at insane and unorganized times, so I have a blasted schedule. Literature can be a bitch sometimes. I’ve got loads to read/write. Ha.
I’m sorry for this, but this is just how it is for now. I’ll definitely take a step back onto DRE:ID2 in December. I’ll see you around the Backloggery or NA. Tootles~
