I got to strike 2 games off my "Top 10 games I'm looking forward to" list over the past few weeks.


I did get to pick up Brawl on launch Sunday (they had 10 copies left, out of the 80-100 they got), so I'm glad I pre-ordered it (and I didn't get there all that late, maybe around 1:30-2:00 pm). And I've been playing it a great deal since, not as much online as I should, but I've been very busy lately so most of my time goes to little things (my brother plays it far more). I love the game, I've waited for it forever and it met all my expectations. It's just a great great game, and will likely be the game I play for years and years just like Melee was for the GameCube.
I wanted to wait a few days after launch, post my first impressions... boy was that stupid. That ended up taking too much time so I kind of turned it into my review of Brawl (I took parts from it).

I also picked up Crisis Core the day after launch. It was the last one they had (too bad I didn't get my little pre-order gift, but it was the last one so I'm happy) so I picked it up and picked a guide up and went home. I'm liking the game so far, it's nice to see old faces and see the back story of FFVII (one of my fav FF games). It's just too bad I know the end of some of these characters (seeing how I am one of the lucky people to own a copy of FFVII).




As I said, I thought I'd do up first impressions of Brawl but it turned into a review. A four and a half page review... It has a lot of personal thoughts and such in it, but it's the first review I've done in over a year (Gunstar Heroes was my last one, and that was Jan of 07). And I think it's nice that Brawl was the game to break the no review way. Because I plan on reviewing Call of Duty 4, Crisis Core, maybe FFXII, and who knows what else on my list. But Brawl was the first one in a year so... check it out, glance at it if you hate long rants. Just make sure you give it a thumbs up *dodges bricks* I'm joking, I'm joking, please don't kill me. Ok... maybe I'm not joking, if you like it thumbs up... *runs*. XD




Final Fantasy XII was my 100th game. Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII was my 150th game. That's right people, I now top out at 150 games. I know a good many members on my friends list has over 200. But for me, that's a lot of games. And to me 50 games in a year and a half is a good bit. But here's to the next 50, may they be as good as this 50 (not like that's happening...).




And I thought I'd just say... I'm back from the dead... I know I might have posted here and there on GS and it's unions. But I've been so busy lately. But maybe now I'll be able to go back to making normal blog posts like I used to.

It might be after 4 am my time, but I got it done like I said I would. XD

I wanted to post this list sometime ago… ok, a long time ago. But still, I was busy and I had other things to do. So it got pushed back and back and back. So I worked on this list little by little until I got it done today. And what can I say… it's pushing 7 pages in Microsoft Word, so it's a long list. So without further ado here is my 2007 GOTY, and my top 10 list of games I want.


For you that know me well (my close friends), and for ones that's been checking my posts and comments this won't be a shocker. This game is one that I just can't pull myself away from. This game is one that I can't just set aside to play other games. This game is the game that prevents me from playing Tales of the Abyss, Tales of the World, Pokemon Diamond, Twilight Princess, as well as other games I should be playing (and beating before Brawl comes out). And that game would be…

~ Call of Duty 4
CoD4 is such an awesome game. And I'm good at it, and I have so much fun playing it, I can't pull myself away from it. I look at Halo, I look at GRAW and I can't play it like I can CoD4. I can get on CoD4 and I can piss people off due to being so good at it (it's not bragging so much as it is saying this is my best online game, one that I'm truly good at. One where I'm not holding the team down by making more deaths then kills). I put people to shame on my team because I'm so good (and I will note, there are some really good players on my friends list. And some of them are better then me). Just today I was in a room and someone was saying "Why is he still on our team?", and the match before that one I was at the top of the list and we won, that match I was at the top of the list and we won. So that tells me they don't want me there because I'm making all the kills and/or making them look bad.
Enough about me… This game has to be my fav shooter. You can customize your weapon (and you can pick from many different weapons), change the name on it, change the camo on it, and you can have different perks. And you can customize 5 different weapons because there's 5 slots all for you. Want 2 shotgun class? You can have it. Want 3 sniper class? If you want it, sure. There is so much freedom in CoD4. Sure, Halo and GRAW does have some things I wish CoD4 had but all of that are just nice secondary things. What CoD4 has is something really really great. Something that I keep going back to everyday. On top of that, CoD4 was the first game that I got every achievement in a 360 game.

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List of top 10 games


10: Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII



The prequel to Final Fantasy VII hits stores (for NA) a little under a month. It's going to be a big game, and will likely get a ton of sales. Games like this is why I got a PSP, games like this is will make people say "Yes, the PSP was worth it.". Track down the steps of Cloud, Zack, Aerith, Sephiroth, and others before the events of Final Fantasy VII. See what happened before all of that, and maybe have some questions answered that might have come up while playing Final Fantasy VII (if you are lucky enough to get your hands on a copy of VII).

Moved: Neutral
CC:VII is a big game on my list, I will likely like it better then some of the other games higher up on this list (when I get all of these games, sit down, play and beat them all). But for right now it's going to stay 10th on my list.

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9: Battlefield: Bad Company



Truth be told… I don't know why I want Bad Company so…. bad. But after I watched the first trailer I broke out laughing and was shocked at the same time. I know games in the past would let you blow things up, and I know PC games have had it for sometime. But for a Battlefield game (as well as console game) to have this, and maybe (just maybe) have it to a point where just about anything can go… well this is a game that I have to pick up. If not for being about to blow things up, but for the humor that might just be in the game (I do hope the humor I've seen on the trailers ends up in the game). It likely would have rated higher on my list if I wasn't so into Call of Duty 4 right now. So we'll see where it ends up if I some how make a 3rd blog post with my top 10 count down.

Moved: New
The trailers pretty much done the game in, if you haven't seen them then you should. Even if you don't like shooters you'll likely be laughing or "WTF?"ing at it, or maybe both at the same time.

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8: Tekken 6



Everytime I play Dead or Alive, everytime I play Tekken DR for the PSP, everytime I see a new trailer or info on the game I want Tekken 6. I'm sure there are DoA fans on my friends list, and I like DoA due to eye candy (oh such sweet eye candy XD), and I like some of it things it has to offer. But as far as fighting games goes… It's all Tekken for me. Not only because I'm far far better at Tekken games, but when it came to arcade fighting series I grew up with Tekken. The first Tekken game I played was Tekken 3 and I LOVED it, I don't know how many times I rented (I should have bought it). Then I worked my way back with Tekken 2 and Tekken. I ended up playing every Tekken game out there (well, all but the GBA ver). And when Tekken 6 rolls around, and if they got the joystick then I'm getting it. I didn't have the money to get it for Tekken 5, but if Tekken 6 has it then it's mine.

Moved: Down
It moved down because some new info, trailers, and such for other games made way for it to move down. I don't want the game any less… it's just I want some other games more.

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7: Mario Kart Wii



When it comes to racing games with a twist you can't go wrong with the Mario Kart series. Sure, others have tried to copy what Mario Kart has (like Crash, or Diddy Kong), but MK is the series that lasts and still has games that comes out time after time. I love the Mario Kart series, for my first GBA game it was a MK game, my first DS game was an MK game. I remember renting MK64 all the time when friends would come over, or just randomly rent it so I could race or battle my brother.
Some people fear that the chances made in MKWii will change the series for the worse, or will just kill the game. And that may be true (they have changed some of the main series lately). But I think as long as the core is there the game will be no different then when I played MKDS, or MK64. And with online play up to 12 people, world ranking, being able to send Ghost Data, might have some sort of communication (most likely text), and much more… I think this game will be one to pick up if you're a fan of racers, or even if you're not.

Moved: Down
As much as I want to play MKWii, I just feel like others on the list will be closer to what I want to play for the time being. I know, it has online play, and I loved it with MKDS. But when it comes to the Wii I do believe that Super Smash Bros Brawl will be game I'll be playing for sometime (I just don't know how much room there will be for MKWii when Brawl comes out).

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6: Final Fantasy: Versus XIII



After coming off that awesome new trailer for vs XIII it can't help but to be moved up the list. Like most other games very little is known about this game, the plot, the battle system, the characters, everything is pretty much unknown. What is known is that this game is coming from the team behind the Kingdom Hearts series. And it's said to be the "darkest" Final Fantasy yet. And the main character likes swords (13 for that matter), and can kick butt with them. Now if this is true or not it's yet to be determined. But what does look to be true is that this game will be one great game and won't break from the greatness of the Final Fantasy series. And with just a hint of Kingdom Hearts (remember, this is being made by the makers of Kingdom Hearts) throw in for some spice.

Moved: Up
This game moved more spots then any other game on the past list (it moved 3 spots). One game above it was taken out, and after seeing the new awesome trailer it just had to get pushed higher up the list.

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5: Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of the New World



Characters from the first Tales of Symphonia. The Tales of battle system, old lands from ToS, being able to have ToS characters in your party, as well as other things. Dawn of the New World will be the first real RPG for the Wii. Forget what we got before, forget what we likely will get, Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of the New World will likely be one of the best RPGs on the Wii, if not one of the best games on the Wii. Tales of Symphonia for the GameCube was one of the very best games on the Wii, I'd love to go back and play it (if I didn't have so many games on my backlog). The storyline to it was just so awesome, and had lots of plot twist. Like many other RPGs I got it because some of my friends said it was a good game and I should get it. And I LOVED it. And I don't see Dawn of the New World being any different. There are lots of games I "can't make the time for" but I do believe this will be one of the games I have to make time for.

Moved: Up
Why did it move up? Heck, why was it so far down the list last time… that should be the question that gets asked. After the new trailer, the new info, the characters, the info on the ToS characters this game has to be moved up.

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4: Final Fantasy: XIII



Like Final Fantasy: Versus XIII very little is known about this game. Square is keeping the lid on this game when it comes to info. But what little is known is enough for this game to shoot to the top of the list and stay there. The first trailer is enough for me to drool over and watch over and over again. The second trailer is enough for my jaw to drop and bring tears to my eyes. The song(s) in the trailers is enough to send chills down my neck. The characters in the game are so lifelike due to the PS3, and the battles looks awesome. If the game looks at least close to the trailers, and plays like it does in the trailers then this game will not disappoint.
The game's battle system is in real time like FFXII. It's an Active Time Battle (ATB) system, but said to work differently then before. How different and how will it work? Well, I guess we'll just have to wait and find out for ourselves won't we?
The game is shaping up to be one of the best games on the PS3 (and is one of the few games that's only for the PS3). And for all we know it might be one of the best Final Fantasy games to come out. It does look like it's basing some stuff off of Final Fantasy VII (heck, Lightning even looks like Cloud… and I'm not kidding, she does look like Cloud), and we all know that was one of the best Final Fantasy games to date (and will likely always stand as the best Final Fantasy game. Personally, I liked Final Fantasy X better, but I know the fanbase for VII is larger).

Will this game hold true to the Final Fantasy series? My guess is yes… but time will tell.

Moved: Neutral
This game doesn't move for 2 reasons. 1) My last list had 2 Kingdom Hearts games taking up 2 of the 3 spots in my last list, this time around… well… 2) 4th isn't that bad, and chances are it's not going to go any higher up on my list (unless a few of the games before it are removed).

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The last 3 games here don't really go in order (That's why there is no "Moved" in them). If I was given these last three all at the same time I'd have a very very very hard time picking what should I play more. The way I look at this list is which of these three games would I play (not complete) first. That is really the way I have to look at this final list. Because these last three games will likely bring me to tears when I finally get my hands on them (just like Kingdom Hearts 2 did). I can't really pick "Well, I want this one more", it's more like "I'll play this one before the others". That's just how it goes.



3: Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep



If this is the only game I had for the PSP, if this was the only game for the PSP, it would be so worth the $250 price tag that went along with it. If they had a limited edition PSP (and if it came out in NA) I'd get rid of my PSP and go out and buy that limited edition one. That's how much I love Kingdom Hearts, that's how much a KH game is worth to me. Sure, everyone will think I'm crazy for selling my PSP and getting a new one with a KH pic on it, but I'd never regret it.

Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep is the game we saw at the ending of Kingdom Hearts 2, and Kingdom Hearts 2: Final Mix+. This is the game that made my jaw drop, my mouth shudder, and brought tears to my eyes when I first (second, and third time) saw the secret ending (And after watching the trailer just now I couldn't help but to have that shocked feeling all over again… ). And at one point in the trailer made my heart stop (due to the shocker in the trailer).
In Birth by Sleep you don't just learn the backstory of events that happened before, or between the Kingdom Hearts games (such is the case with both Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories, and Kingdom Hearts: 358/2 Days), but you find out what happened many many years before the events of the Kingdom Hearts series. You will learn about Terra, Ven, and Aqua, and what ties they have to the characters in the main series. The story behind the Keyblade war, and countless other things we don't even know about. If my brother doesn't get rid of his PSP by the time this game comes out I'm going to be using both of our PSPs to play this game (once the battery dies switch batteries). This game will likely take my breath, as well as my life away. My PSP will never get as many hours put into it, as it will be when I get Birth by Sleep.

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2: Kingdom Hearts: 358/2 Days



It's hard for me to pick if I want Birth by Sleep to take 2nd place, or should 358/2 Days take 3rd place (and vice versa). I want both games so bad that I thought about just putting these two together and just adding another game to the bottom of the list to fill in the 10th spot. But, I thought it'd be better if I just picked one of the two and went with it. And thus Kingdom Hearts: 358/2 Days took the spot of 2nd. I want it just as bad as Birth by Sleep, I would buy a new DS (I wouldn't sale the one I got now) if they had a limited edition DS, I would buy the game and a DS if it were the only game on the DS. But, this game ends up higher then Birth by Sleep because I always liked Organization 13, I always wondered about them, wondered the back story on them. And Roxas himself, and what was he before the events of Kingdom Hearts 2. What is going on with this 14th member, and why wasn't she apart of the main 13 in Chain of Memories and Kingdom Hearts 2. Why was the group called "Organization 13" if there were in fact 14 members. The friendship of Roxas and Axel, how did all of it start. Why did Roxas leave to go fight Riku (how did he know about Riku). As well as lots of other questions that will be answered when this game rolls around.

I get chills down my neck everytime I see "I will disappear from this world in 151 days". It's a quote from Roxas in the game. I know what the quote means by it, I know what happens to Roxas. But I want to know why he said it, how did he know and all of that and so on and so on. That's the big question for 358/2 Days… The story behind Roxas, and what does his side of the story have to tell?

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1: Super Smash Bros. Brawl



Ok, so the game is a little under a week out from now. It wouldn't matter if this game was coming out tomorrow, it'd still be up here, at the top of the list. From what I've seen this game is going to come really really close to being perfect. Sure, I could say "I wish it had this. I wish it had that." But stepping back and looking at the whole picture, can you really ask for much more? Online battles, being able to make your own stage, the big single player, tons of levels, a good many more characters, being able to change the music on levels, co-op for single player and so on and so on.
Personally, I would have been ok with Brawl being a flat out Melee copy with online battles. Sure it's just a remake of the same characters, same levels, same items, etc. And some might think that's just crazy. But at least I'll be able to battle my friends online. At least I'll be able to play a little Smash Bros with them. I mean when Melee came out how many of us said "This would be great online.", how many of us said that in the Smash Bros day? I know I did, I know I wanted the game online so I could battle my friends and battle random people online. And I'm getting that with Brawl. Right now I'm playing Call of Duty 4 more then any other game, I can put hours into the multiplayer. But when Brawl comes out I see all of that changing, I'm seeing myself playing Brawl and seeing the 360 collect dust. Brawl is going to do to the 360 what Call of Duty 4 did to the Wii. If I was going to get the Red Rings of Death for my 360 again then the day before Brawl comes out would be the perfect time to get it. Because then I could send that 360 off and wait a month and not have to worry about it, because I'll have another game to play. I just hope people see this game as a big jump for the Smash Bros series (as it is a big jump), and not just an "improvement" over Melee.
But as Brawl rolls ever so closer to being in my hands I can't help but to ask myself this question… How will I be able to stop?

Ok ok, so I haven't gotten my list up yet... I know, I should have had it up days ago. But I'm really really busy. But I'll have it up sometime before I go to bed (see, I didn't say before the end of the day, because some of you say the end of the day ends at 12am... and I never go to bed before 12 XD).
But still, I've made it to level 30. Took me a little over a month but I'm here. To me, level 30 is getting on up there... I mean it's level 30... And I remember when I hit level 20.... bad bad level...

I thought you guys were sick of my blog updates every other day so I thought I'd take a break from them. XD
Truthfully... I've been really busy lately, so I've had little time for GS.
Anyway, on to Brawl. As we all know, so far the reviews of Brawl have been perfect scores. Well, that changed today with the review from NGamer. They gave it a 9.3. Is 9.3 a bad score? Did I think every Brawl review was going to get a prefect score? Have I played the game yet to judge them on their judgement on the game? The answer to all of them questions is no. But I've got friends who does in fact own Brawl, and they said it's a 10/10. Now I won't know for myself what the real score is until I get my hands on it for myself, but from what I've seen, from what I know about the game... Lets just say I don't think I'll be rating it so "low" (like I said, 9.3 isn't a low rating). I'll be finding out in a little over 11 days. But as of right now, the streak Brawl had going has ended (I thought it'd end with IGN's review).



I got on today and found this freaky looking thing on my emblem list...

I had forgotten all about this crazy thing, I mean it was back in September of last year... But an emblem is an emblem, and now pushes me over to the 5th row of emblems, so I'm not complaining about that.


OH! And as a side note, tomorrow or the day after I'm going to have my list of most wanted games, plus my 2007 GOTY. I was going to post it today, but since this Brawl update came out (as well as the funky new emblem) I thought I'd just give myself another day to clean up the post and get everything else worked out. I would have posted it sooner but busy busy...


Edit:


Well, not that long ago I found out that MGS4 is coming out in a PS3 bundle with a new Dualshock 3 controller... so after seeing that I thought "Why not?". I mean I've never played an Metal Gear game, and I won't know what the heck is going on, but at least I'll be getting a PS3, and a free game. And about 10 or so days after that comes out Soulcalibur IV. I think I'll also be picking up Warhawk at the same time as the PS3. So I think it's worth it for me. So, here's to getting a PS3 in a few months.

First Brawl pulled in a perfect score on Famitsu, they gave it a 40/40. Then some site called "Thunderbolt" they gave it a 10/10. Now the newest place to give Brawl a perfect score (remember, these are the only 3 places that have reviewed Brawl) is a little mag known as Nintendo Power.
"I'm ecstatic to report… that Brawl isn't just amazing, and it isn't just one of the best titles on Wii, but it's one of the very best games that Nintendo has ever produced."

And here are scans of the review (since it's not in text format).
http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a247/Arcanine_PC/Brawlscan1.jpg
http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a247/Arcanine_PC/Brawlscan2.jpg

Lets see, back oh so many updates ago I posted saying I'm going to get an HDTV. Well, yesterday (Friday) I got to buy me that HDTV I've been wanting.
(Click on pics for larger views.... maybe too large but oh well XD)


This is my old setup (don't mind the old GA flag, and the ripped picture of one of my cats... strange enough, the one who ripped the pic was the cat in the pic XD). Had the 360 and Wii next to each other in true current gen friendship. This TV is a 19" TV.

And this... is my new setup.




This new one is an Olevia TV. This one is a lovely, big 37". A heck of a lot bigger then the last 19" (as you can see, I got to put the Wii on the other side of the TV, up next to the wall. There is no space on that dresser thingy for... well anything). Pumping out at 720p the 360 looks so sweet. And the size.... a lovely 37". I wanted a TV larger then my dad's... and I got it. His TV is a 26" HDTV... I love playing online with this thing.
It's a $900 TV, I had to give a little over $600 for it (a little over $700 with tax and all). So it was a good deal.
Anyway, just thought I'd say something about my new TV. XD

First off guys, this is the intro, so it will have some spoilers in it (nothing big big, but like I said, it's the opening). So I'm just going to warn you about that upfront. Because for me, I personally don't want much spoiled (new characters, new levels, etc), I want to find them out and be shocked when I play Brawl.
But for you that can't wait, this is the Japanese opening for Brawl.

Link to the video page (again, due to spoilers)

Sorry that it's not as clear and high res as we'd all like.

And character (returning character) spoiler below.
[spoiler] It might be kind of hard to see, and you might think it's Ike. But one of the characters you see at around 1:28 as well as 1:44 is Marth. [/spoiler]

A few days ago (the 26th) my brother picked up Halo 3 (I had to tell the truth Cam, Halo 3 isn't mine XD). The game does have some good online, but then again I just started. Personally, I still like Call of Duty 4 better. But I've only played Halo for a few days so we'll see how it goes (even if I dislike Sci-Fi shooters). Still haven't tried out the single player, maybe I'll get around to that one day. XD
I also picked up on Undertow, the free XBL Arcade game, the game that MS gave us to say sorry for the downtime probs. Blah, I'll just beat the single player and go back to playing something else.

And I'm now a level 29... so close to level 30 (to me that's kind of getting up there). Maybe it'll move up faster if I post more. XD

I am so never going to be able to post my countdown list (the top 10 games I'm looking forward to), as well as my GOTY for 2007 (not when I keep making posts like these XD).

Last night's update (don't get technical with me, it was last night XD) had something a little new in it, a little something called "Masterpieces". Being able to play demos of VC games for series/games that shows up in Brawl. In other words, Pit is in the game, so you'll be able to play a demo of Kid Icarus on Brawl. Now these demos are on Brawl itself, so there is no downloading for anyone to download (just incase some of you don't have the Wii online). And these demos have a time limit (don't know how long, or if it's different for each game). But still, I think it's a great add-on and a nice little side thing in Brawl. I mean demos of VC games, they got the right idea, something Nintendo itself needs to take and make happen on the Wii itself.

Well I got around to making a new avatar (avy) and sig banner for myself. I like the avy, and I guess the banner is ok (feels off, but I guess it's ok). The strange thing is... the style isn't mine... my close friends (ones that I've known forever) will know what I'm talking about. XD

Banner


And the avy

It's Yoko (the girl in the set, duh XD) from Gurren Lagann. The banner is a lot smaller then what I'm used to, but oh well.





And incase none of you saw the GS post about it... Famitsu (Japan's largest gaming mag) reviewed and scored Brawl. They gave it a low score of 40/40, in other words a PERFECT score. Only 6 other games has gotten a perfect score, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, Soul Calibur, Vagrant Story, The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker, Nintendogs, and Final Fantasy XII. Really... look at the great games that didn't get a perfect score, Super Mario 64, Super Mario Galaxy, Twilight Princess, RE4, Final Fantasy X, Kingdom Hearts 2, Final Fantasy VII, Tekken 3, Metroid Prime, Halo and others... And Brawl gets a perfect 40/40?... I'm sick of the push backs and the waiting... but how good can this game be to get a perfect score from Famitsu? All I can say is Wow...