|
Post by Tross on Apr 9, 2014 18:59:39 GMT -5
Today I decided to come out of my shell and start a gaming blog, because life is an adventure, and at worst, it'll be an experience. You can find it here: landofgaming.net I know it doesn't look like much yet. I don't have paypal set up for it yet or anything like that, so for now it's just a fun project. Truth be told, I'm still figuring out how this thing works, and I've never been the most tech savvy individual, so it may be a while before I figure out how to make it look more presentable. That said, I invite constructive criticism, because this is a whole new experience for me, and criticism can only help make it better. If I can figure out how to, I'll see if I can link to this forum, and hopefully help promote it, assuming people actually visit my blog, and it doesn't actually end up being a bust, which is a possibility. In the meantime, I thought you guys should be the first to know. I'll be trying to spread the word, so I'll be sharing this info elsewhere, but know that I shared with you first.
|
|
|
Post by OttselHero on Apr 9, 2014 23:34:38 GMT -5
Bookmarked.
|
|
|
Post by Tross on Apr 10, 2014 2:55:11 GMT -5
Heh. Feel free to post comments, like how this idiot has the worst blog ever. If I can figure out how to make the background of my posts a different color, I will. I hate plain white backgrounds. Not only are they bright, but they're also bland, and plain, and a little too word-documenty for my taste. There's an option to change the background color, and I tried changing it to a blue, but that did nothing, so maybe I'm stuck with the white. I chose the theme with the black background, because I think black is simple and classy, so there's that, at least. Edit: I've got paypal set up for donations, but I'm expecting $0.00 at this point. I also have today's post up though.
|
|
|
Post by Tross on Apr 12, 2014 2:11:30 GMT -5
Alright, I managed to make my other pages more visible to users who browse the site, so they can be aware that those pages even exist. Moreover, I managed to post Poison's Gamers Hub banner, under affiliates, and thanks to google, clicking it will link right back to this forum. Feel free to check it out if you want. A possible benefit of having a blog, is that if people ever actually notice that it exists, they may be led right back here. Of course, the opposite is also true, and I hope this forum will help lead more people to my blog, if people actually find out it exists, and actually feel led to join us. It's a win-win situation if either party gets the traffic we desire, not that I'm not part of this enterprise too, mind you. May I inquire if it's possible to post a link to my blog somewhere prominent in this forum, and if so, may I request it? I don't have a banner, or any kind of image or logo for my site yet, but a simple link will work for me. Of course, if anyone more tech savvy than me wants to design one, I won't say no. I can easily google how to get it to work on my site, and an image link is much more attractive. Actually, since google has all the answers, maybe I can google how to make a banner, when I have the time. That's a project for another day. This blog thing will be much easier when all the technical stuff is the way I want it, and I can concentrate on just blog posting.
|
|
|
Post by OttselHero on Apr 12, 2014 12:26:19 GMT -5
When you talked about that Disney game, I checked out the trailer on YouTube. I'm definitely in the same boat as you; it doesn't look that great (with the exception of the more action-y bits), but the reviews are saying it's that good, I might consider it when the price drops someday.
|
|
|
Post by Tross on Apr 12, 2014 18:35:52 GMT -5
Yeah, it's such a strange phenomenon, that I'm super intrigued now. I don't think I'll be getting it this month, but I probably will later on. Today's post is about the crazy phenomenon that is The Last of Us, so feel free to check that out if you get the chance. Truth be told, I'm not particularly happy with that one, but I had to get ready for work this morning too, so maybe I wasn't as focused as I should have been. Oh well, it opens up some more possible topics, so we'll see what happens with that.
|
|
|
Post by OttselHero on Apr 13, 2014 15:49:17 GMT -5
Yeah, it's such a strange phenomenon, that I'm super intrigued now. I don't think I'll be getting it this month, but I probably will later on. Today's post is about the crazy phenomenon that is The Last of Us, so feel free to check that out if you get the chance. Truth be told, I'm not particularly happy with that one, but I had to get ready for work this morning too, so maybe I wasn't as focused as I should have been. Oh well, it opens up some more possible topics, so we'll see what happens with that. "...and though the last line in the game, that everyone says is fantastic, didn’t blow my mind either…" Because Ellie uttering the word, "Okay" is so fantastic. I definitely agree with everything you said. If I may add to the discussion, I think the reason why the game has gotten this much attention is a two-parter: first, this game was influenced by The Walking Dead, and prior to the game's release, TV spots plagued every commercial break during the show (and I do mean EVERY commercial break), that way Walking Dead fans would see it and think, "Aww man, gotta get that." The second part is my theory that the game has attracted swarms of non-gamers, many of them being fans of The Walking Dead who saw the game advertised while watching the show. Sure, they may not be huge gamers, but they may have a PS3 for the occasional game or know someone who owns a PS3 so that that might check out the game for themselves (and they tell someone about it, and they tell someone, and they tell someone, etc.). And the reason why non-gamers or casual gamers think it is so extraordinary is because they haven't been desensitized by other equally great or better games like hardcore gamers have been. Like you, I also had a very hard time putting the game down. It told a good story, the gameplay is probably the closest to real life that it could be (i.e. you can't take on more than 2 people or infected at one time without getting killed, and that rushing into battle hardly turns out well), and I grew close to the characters, especially Ellie, whose growth throughout the game was phenomenal. Did I like it? Most definitely. Did I think it was one of the best games of this generation? Definitely. The best game of all time…? Not really. Even though I enjoyed The Last of Us as much as I did, I've played better games in the past. As far as how emotionally driven people claim the game to be, they clearly haven't played Telltale's The Walking Dead. Words can't describe the emotional roller coaster ride that game put me on; The Last of Us, as far as emotional strength goes, didn't hold a candle by comparison.
|
|
|
Post by Tross on Apr 13, 2014 22:45:25 GMT -5
Yeah, it's such a strange phenomenon, that I'm super intrigued now. I don't think I'll be getting it this month, but I probably will later on. Today's post is about the crazy phenomenon that is The Last of Us, so feel free to check that out if you get the chance. Truth be told, I'm not particularly happy with that one, but I had to get ready for work this morning too, so maybe I wasn't as focused as I should have been. Oh well, it opens up some more possible topics, so we'll see what happens with that. "...and though the last line in the game, that everyone says is fantastic, didn’t blow my mind either…" Because Ellie uttering the word, "Okay" is so fantastic. I definitely agree with everything you said. If I may add to the discussion, I think the reason why the game has gotten this much attention is a two-parter: first, this game was influenced by The Walking Dead, and prior to the game's release, TV spots plagued every commercial break during the show (and I do mean EVERY commercial break), that way Walking Dead fans would see it and think, "Aww man, gotta get that." The second part is my theory that the game has attracted swarms of non-gamers, many of them being fans of The Walking Dead who saw the game advertised while watching the show. Sure, they may not be huge gamers, but they may have a PS3 for the occasional game or know someone who owns a PS3 so that that might check out the game for themselves (and they tell someone about it, and they tell someone, and they tell someone, etc.). And the reason why non-gamers or casual gamers think it is so extraordinary is because they haven't been desensitized by other equally great or better games like hardcore gamers have been. Like you, I also had a very hard time putting the game down. It told a good story, the gameplay is probably the closest to real life that it could be (i.e. you can't take on more than 2 people or infected at one time without getting killed, and that rushing into battle hardly turns out well), and I grew close to the characters, especially Ellie, whose growth throughout the game was phenomenal. Did I like it? Most definitely. Did I think it was one of the best games of this generation? Definitely. The best game of all time…? Not really. Even though I enjoyed The Last of Us as much as I did, I've played better games in the past. As far as how emotionally driven people claim the game to be, they clearly haven't played Telltale's The Walking Dead. Words can't describe the emotional roller coaster ride that game put me on; The Last of Us, as far as emotional strength goes, didn't hold a candle by comparison. I will say, I enjoyed both The Last of Us, and The Walking Dead equally. They're both solid, and they both offer a different and refreshing take on the hackneyed zombie apocalypse scenario, and they both approach it from an emotional perspective, as opposed to a more horror oriented approach. They also both involve the relationship between a man, and a young girl, but not in the creepy sense. That's where the similarities end though. I was thinking about making a comparison post between the two games one day, so more on that if and when I do it.
|
|
|
Post by Tross on Apr 15, 2014 3:01:51 GMT -5
Alright. I just changed the theme, so my blog should be easier to look at. Much easier. Seriously. I think I found the perfect theme. Check it out if you have the time.
|
|
|
Post by OttselHero on Apr 15, 2014 12:43:23 GMT -5
Alright. I just changed the theme, so my blog should be easier to look at. Much easier. Seriously. I think I found the perfect theme. Check it out if you have the time. Yeah, it looks much better (not that I had a problem with it before)! Good topic, too. RPG's have probably advanced more so than any other genre (except for maybe the action/adventure genre). I look forward to reading Part 2.
|
|
|
Post by Tross on Apr 15, 2014 14:30:52 GMT -5
Alright. I just changed the theme, so my blog should be easier to look at. Much easier. Seriously. I think I found the perfect theme. Check it out if you have the time. Yeah, it looks much better (not that I had a problem with it before)! Good topic, too. RPG's have probably advanced more so than any other genre (except for maybe the action/adventure genre). I look forward to reading Part 2. I agree. Mike Murphy's main argument is that you can't tell the difference between rpgs from 20 years ago, and rpgs now, aside from the difference in graphics, and he doesn't really differentiate between wrpgs and jrpgs enough, and fails to mention the various styles of each, altogether. Needless to say, I disagree. On the plus side, it gave me something to write about, so I'm glad I saw that article. Part 2 is up. Truth be told, it was all going to be one post, but then it ended up being long enough that I could split it in half, and divide it based on two separate counter-arguments, so that's what I decided to do. I really like the Aurelia theme for my website, but I might be having trouble with Google Adsense on it. The code works perfectly on every other theme I've tried, but I'm not seeing the blank ad in Aurelia. It's possible it's there, and I won't see it till it's activated, since there is an extra space at the top of the page, that isn't there without the ad code(which you probably wouldn't have noticed if I didn't point it out). I hope that's all it is, because I really like that theme, and don't want to go back to the old one. I posted about this problem in the Wordpress support forum, so I hope that's resolved.
Other than that, the only other problem is that posting comments isn't self-explanatory in this theme, but no one posted comments when it was convenient. I will try to fix that, but it's low on my list of priorities. The important thing is that it looks nice, and stands out from all the boring white blogs out there.
|
|
|
Post by OttselHero on Apr 15, 2014 23:21:33 GMT -5
"[Namco] was never as dedicated to the Tales of series in the past, and only localized entries when they felt like it…" -through gritted teeth- Tell me about it. Where is my PS3 version of Tales of Vesperia? I would have thought that Ni no Kuni's success would have made it happen by now, but I'm still waiting. Even though they released a statement that they have no intention of localizing the title, I'm still skeptical; Troy Baker informed fans that he and the rest of the cast were called back to record additional voice work for the new Artes exclusive to the PS3 version. Why go through the trouble of paying actors (and wasting their time) to record more dialogue and not release the English version of the game? And then there's this leaked box art: Sorry, I get really passionate when I talk about Vesperia. It stands as my favorite game of all time and it's aggravating that I am unable to play it. ^^;
|
|
|
Post by Tross on Apr 16, 2014 12:55:22 GMT -5
"[Namco] was never as dedicated to the Tales of series in the past, and only localized entries when they felt like it…" -through gritted teeth- Tell me about it. Where is my PS3 version of Tales of Vesperia? I would have thought that Ni no Kuni's success would have made it happen by now, but I'm still waiting. Even though they released a statement that they have no intention of localizing the title, I'm still skeptical; Troy Baker informed fans that he and the rest of the cast were called back to record additional voice work for the new Artes exclusive to the PS3 version. Why go through the trouble of paying actors (and wasting their time) to record more dialogue and not release the English version of the game? And then there's this leaked box art: Sorry, I get really passionate when I talk about Vesperia. It stands as my favorite game of all time and it's aggravating that I am unable to play it. ^^; Rumor has it that Scamco was paid off by MS, not to release the ps3 version in NA. I never said they have a perfect track record with that series, even now, but they have been consistent with their latest entries, which is a plus. Hopefully the'll never leave their fans out to dry again, but as it stands, they still haven't lost the nickname "Scamco". I have my issues with the company too, even though they've earned some brownie points back lately. I'm still mad at them for breaching their contract with Sony, and going multiplat with Tekken, but I haven't been on a Tekken kick for quite a while now, so...eh. I'm more mad at them for publishing the Dark Souls series, and taking all the credit for the Souls franchise, even though it was Atlus who proved the viability of that IP, when everyone else refused to touch it. Oh well. Enough about Scamco. The less that is said about them, the better. I've done some research, and I think Adsense is working with my Aurelia theme, and is just blending in. I really hope that's the case, because none of the other themes I've seen yet, hold a candle to the one I'm using IMHO.
|
|
|
Post by OttselHero on Apr 20, 2014 16:26:06 GMT -5
The PSP was a great system whose potential was rarely exposed by but a few games. Though it's one of my favorite gaming platforms, my PSP library is very small. I only own 5 games (Daxter, Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII, Dissidia: Final Fantasy, Jak and Daxter: The Lost Frontier, Kingdom Hearts: Birth By Sleep), which shows the real problem that it had, that being the fact that developers scarcely paid much attention to the system. It's not to say that there were only 5 games EVER that were good, as there have been others that I simply haven't gotten around to (i.e. Persona 3 FES, Final Fantasy, Final Fantasy II, Jeanne d'Arc, Dissidia 012: Duodecim), but the point remains the same: I've had my PSP for 2 years longer than I've had a PS3, and yet my PS3 library ranges in the dozens compared to the measly 5 PSP games I have. It's difficult to say as to WHY that problem exists, as the PS Vita is having an even harder time staying afloat with even fewer exclusives to attract gamers to purchasing the system. I guess devs would rather focus their attention on console games, creating a self-fulfilling prophecy that Sony's handheld devices can never be wildly successful; whereas Nintendo's developers divide their attention equally among their consoles and handheld devices, and as a result, the popularity among the two categories is consistent with one another.
|
|
|
Post by Tross on Apr 22, 2014 1:39:21 GMT -5
The PSP was a great system whose potential was rarely exposed by but a few games. Though it's one of my favorite gaming platforms, my PSP library is very small. I only own 5 games ( Daxter, Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII, Dissidia: Final Fantasy, Jak and Daxter: The Lost Frontier, Kingdom Hearts: Birth By Sleep), which shows the real problem that it had, that being the fact that developers scarcely paid much attention to the system. It's not to say that there were only 5 games EVER that were good, as there have been others that I simply haven't gotten around to (i.e. Persona 3 FES, Final Fantasy, Final Fantasy II, Jeanne d'Arc, Dissidia 012: Duodecim), but the point remains the same: I've had my PSP for 2 years longer than I've had a PS3, and yet my PS3 library ranges in the dozens compared to the measly 5 PSP games I have. It's difficult to say as to WHY that problem exists, as the PS Vita is having an even harder time staying afloat with even fewer exclusives to attract gamers to purchasing the system. I guess devs would rather focus their attention on console games, creating a self-fulfilling prophecy that Sony's handheld devices can never be wildly successful; whereas Nintendo's developers divide their attention equally among their consoles and handheld devices, and as a result, the popularity among the two categories is consistent with one another. I disagree about the psp's library. I own 25 physical games for the system(I counted them), plus however many digital games. I've been playing Dracula X Chronicles non-stop the past few days, and I have a whole bunch of other games I have yet to get to. I love Japanese games though, and think the system is quite terrible for Western games. Yeah, I have Daxter, and the God of War tie-ins, as well as the Patapon games, Sid Meier's Pirates, and Manhunt 2, but otherwise, it's definitely a system for Japanese games, and it has been Japanese games that have carried the system in the second half of its life cycle, which made it a great niche system, especially with a strong prior install base to keep it afloat. If you like Japanese games though, I'd recommend browsing the ps store, to see if there's anything you like. Unfortunately, the average mainstream gamer had long since moved on, and the vita's software support has been similar, with Japanese and indie games carrying the system, but trying to build an install base on those games alone, is a tall order, so it's not surprising that the system has struggled so far. I love both systems, but neither is known for their mainstream appeal. Ok, the psp was a really popular device at first, and earned the title of best selling competitor to a Nintendo handheld, at about 80 million units sold, but its appeal waned, as did its software sales. Of course the vita's situation could be foretold. I disagree about Ninty as well. They're awesome in the handheld market. Always have been, always will be, but they haven't been so great in the console market the past couple gens. Sure, the wii was an overnight success, and outsold all other consoles, but it was a fad among casual and non-gamers, and the thing with fads, is that they come to an end. Meanwhile, they pissed off their core fanbase with their "we decided we suck at making hardware, so we're not going to bother trying anymore, and focus on gimmicks instead" approach, and the fact that they treated core gamers like they weren't important, and were second class citizens, for quite a few years, didn't help matters much. Of course that momentum carried forward. Once the fad ended, software sales waned, as did wii hardware sales. They've built their new system on a gimmick, while not bothering to even put sufficient effort into the hardware end, but that didn't work this time, because they don't have the general, non-gaming public to bail them out. Now Ninty's in the middle of an uphill battle, trying to win back their core fanbase, yet I just don't think they're going about it in the right way. Their booth at E3 looked like one big grovelling act to me, as does their wii u software lineup for the past year, and for the foreseeable future. They want people to remember the Nintendo of old, because they painted themselves into a corner, and now need the people whose toes they stepped on last gen, to help them out. The problem is, the 3ds is still getting better support IMHO, which is just less incentive for 3ds owners to get a wii u. I actually do have a soft spot for the wii, despite my disdain for motion control, and do kind of want a wii u, despite my disdain for gimmicks in general, but the facts are the facts, and Ninty's current predicament could have been predicted, just as the case is with Sony's current predicament with the vita. The wii u and vita are more or less in the same boat. Obviously one company knows what it's doing in the console market, one knows what it's doing in the handheld market, but vice versa isn't true. I have more respect for both companies than MS, mind you, but that's a discussion for another time.
|
|