Some Other Podcast, Episode 12: Roleplaying

Leah — Fri, 29 May 2009 12:50:08 +0000

Yeah, the week before E3 can be a little boring, but we’re doing our best to make sure everyone stays entertained and happy! To that end, we actually have a special segment with J. Goldberg, community manager at Volition, who was awesome enough to give us an interview about the upcoming Red Faction: Guerilla. Check out their site at community.redfaction.com, and make sure to check out the Red Faction: Guerilla marathon play taking place at 10AM central/11AM eastern time at justin.tv/volition, where some of the devs and QA folk will be giving an advance look at the game by playing through it themselves! When we’re not chatting away with him, we’re talking about our ongoing Persona obsessions, punching/stabbing manz, and the viability of plastic ear peripherals. We also make some insightful (and maybe not so insightful) E3 predictions, so start marking your scorecards! (We’re usually right about pretty much everything.)

Linkage incoming!

Persona 3

Persona 4

Disgaea: Afternoon of Darkness

X-Men Origins: Wolverine

Bioshock 2 dated for 11/3

Zune HD

GTA IV- The Ballad of Gay Tony

All three Metroid Prime games on one disc for $50

OnLive not coming to E3

Star Ocean collectors edition makes Leah cry big anime tears

Break music #1 is “Demon Academy Prospective Student” from the Disgaea Custom Soundtrack.

This episode’s a bit long because of our special interview segment, so you get treated to a second set of break music! This one’s “ROM Schtick” by Shale Riley, from the Bound Together OC Remix.

We looooooove listener mail! Send it to podcast@someothercastle.com and we will smile big happy smiles!

Confessions of a Backlogged Gamer, Week 16: Diversions and Abnormalities

Leah — Wed, 27 May 2009 01:34:27 +0000

I try not to borrow games too often, either from my job or from other people, because…. well, because I have so very many to play already that I either feel bad for putting the ones that I already own on hold or simply don’t play whatever it is that I’ve borrowed because I’m already sunk into something else (read as: Persona 3). This week, however, ran a little differently from my norm; breaking with my own tradition, I did end up sneaking in a borrowed game, which I played start to finish (so as not to screw up the regular backlog, you understand). I still made some progress, though! Make no mistake; I would never neglect my duty.

I’ll start, then, by saying that (somewhat contrary to my expectations), X-Men Origins: Wolverine for the 360 was actually pretty decent. I wasn’t expecting much (and if you’re wondering why I bothered to play it at all if I wasn’t expecting much, all I can say is that I just really wanted to stab manz in the face, which this game allows its players to do ad nauseum), but I was pleasantly surprised to find that it was an enjoyable time. I played through it more or less in one all-day sitting, with a few breaks for things like food and House, which is another thing I don’t usually do; I like to stretch games out a bit, to give me time to really soak them in and feel like I’m getting the whole experience, not just rushing through the whole thing. That, and I think I’ve got a bit of game ADD. For, you know, everything but Persona. I played through the game on the easiest setting, thus further facilitating my manz-stabbing desire, and so, as might be expected, the whole thing was pretty much a breeze. I had a bit of trouble with the last fight (because I kept falling the fuck OFF….. if you’ve played it then you know what I mean), but I’m pretty sure that was mostly because by that time it was late and I was tired…. blah blah, excuses. Anyway, I did finish that final bit the next morning, and overall, I was happy with the game. I don’t think I’d have bought it, but it’s definitely a good rental.

The rest of my gaming week was pretty much par for the course; I played a bunch more Persona (and shared some special moments with some special ladies…. awwwwwwwwww yeah), finished up N+ (the levels that a human being could feasibly complete, that is), and started two new games from the backlog: Insecticide and Disgaea: Afternoon of Darkness (for the PSP, also known as Disgaea: Hour of Darkness for the PS2, Disgaea DS for…. the DS, and Disgaea: Winter of our Discontent for the Neo Geo Pocket). I’m not very far into either of the new entries as of yet. Insecticide appears to be a cross between a sort of adventurey-type shooter and a detective seek-and-find; I’m not quite sure whether I like it or not. Disgaea is a bit of a different story; these are some seriously revered games, and I’ve never played them before, but I have, by and large, sworn off the SRPG genre. I think I’ve mentioned this before, but if the title starts with Fire Emblem, Final Fantasy Tactics, or Disgaea, then exceptions can be made, largely because I trust those particular franchises, either by firsthand experience (the first two) or by reputation (the latter). I’m giving this a shot, so we’ll see how it goes. I predict one of two things will happen, based on the hour or so that I’ve played:

1. I will become completely obsessed with the game and will end up being an obsessive player/leveler, to the point where I won’t be happy unless the lowliest Prinny can decimate armies with a single glare from its googly eye.

2. I will break my PSP.

I suppose a third option exists as well, wherein the first two are combined. Let’s just hope it doesn’t come to that.

Recap:

Current backlog total: 111

Now playing: Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 3 (PS2); Insecticide (DS); Disgaea: Afternoon of Darkness (PSP)

New games added: MadWorld (Wii) (I also picked up the disc version of the first two Fallout DLC packs, but I’m not counting that)

Games completed: N+ (PSP); X-Men Origins: Wolverine (360) (but again, that wasn’t part of the backlog to begin with, and so doesn’t really count, I suppose)

Some Other Castle » wolverine

Some Other Podcast, Episode 12: Roleplaying

Confessions of a Backlogged Gamer, Week 16: Diversions and Abnormalities