So I returned to Demon's Souls (PS3) after an extended break. I only killed two bosses before an avalanche of games pulled me away from it. But now I'm back!

I've been addicted to the game for the past two weeks. I've had some really successful sessions with one session where I killed three bosses in three hours. That was epic. I killed 11 bosses so far and it's been fun and frustrating so far. There are some truly tough levels to get through and retry to make it through. You really need to make use of your skills and tactics to beat every level one by one. Tough game.

I've taken up reading up on guides for enemy tactics and weapon/armor upgrades etc. You should not play this game blind because it's not worth the grief. There isn't much of a story so I didn't mind learning in advance what I can look forward to. Even if you know the strategy it doesn't mean you will succeed in executing it. The game is highly unpredictable at times. I also found that guides online just didn't work for me so I had to come up with my own strategy with my equipment and armor. It's a blast when that happens.

I'm also trying to get some hard to get trophies for sidequests on my first playthrough so I read up on this whole confusing thing about World Tendency. It seems these sidequests should be done on my first playthrough because New Game+ only gets harder each time you complete the game. I haven't really gone for them yet because I'm still focused on the main game but I may do them before the end.

Anyways, great game. It's hard but satisfying and anyone who's into tough action RPGs will love it. I know I am. I hope to finish this soon. It's a game I don't mind bragging about completing. :D

Completed the Starcraft 2: WoL (Mac) Campaign on Normal this week and it was great. The missions are fun and varied and there are some nice twists. The characters are very well written and have superb voice actors. The graphics are awesome but I had to stick to Medium settings so my MBP could play it without it totally slowing down. But damn, it's a gorgeous game and even the in-game cutscenes look darn good. Oh yea, some of the rare CGI cutscenes are ah-mazing. The sound is epic and the score is excellent. Overall, the 12 year wait was well worth it and there are two more chapters coming out so I can't wait! Blizzard, you've done it again!

Btw, the RPG-ish stuff between missions reminded me of a cross between a point-and-click adventure game and Mass Effect. I liked it. Anyways, I'm playing the Challenge missions currently and they're hard. I'll check out multi when more people I know finish the Campaign so I can play with them. Must buy folks! :D



Also finished DeathSpank (360) last week and it was good. I liked the writing cuz there were some really funny stuff. But the weird thing was you had to dig through them from the branching trees. Some really good stuff could be missed if you don't spend the time to chat with the many NPCs you meet. I loved the Monkey Island and WoW references. They're not subtle. The art and graphics are nice and colorful. Voice acting is average.

The gameplay was mixed for me. Combat was simple and fun but gets really tiresome after extended play. But I'll admit that I played most of the game on Easy cuz the enemies are insanely powerful and grinding takes forever. Even on Easy, the enemies can kill you often early in the game. This is mainly because the blocking mechanic is USELESS! Its hard to judge when an enemy attacks and you have a silly limit on how long you can block. I pumped it up to Hard late in the game but if you wanna enjoy the game's goofy story, play on Easy. Even on the Easy setting, you'll still find it challenging. Most of the missions are basically fetch quests. Hell, the WHOLE game is nothing but fetch quests. It's a shame because if the gameplay and missions were more varied, this would be a lot more fun. Anyway, it's worth checking out but try the demo first. Recommended.

Completed Limbo (360) and I won't say too much about it. It's gorgeous, atmospheric and devious! One of the best puzzle platformers this year. Short and sweet. MUST BUY!

Finally, also played through the Alan Wake DLC, "The Signal" (360) the day it came out. A really great continuation of the story from the main game. It doesn't really reveal a lot but the set-pieces and gameplay is mixed up a bit to keep it fresh. There were some nice suprises but I do have to say that the game is ALOT tougher than the main game on Normal. There seems to be less ammo around and more respawning enemies. There is one particular location which I found a tad frustrating as well. I think Remedy thought everyone played through the main game on Hard or Nightmare cuz that's what it felt like in this DLC. But it's still worth it and hey, it's FREE if you bought the game new. Highly recommended!

Some new pick-ups in the past few weeks.

Adobe Photoshop CS5 Extended (Mac) - It's freakin' fast. :D


Starcraft 2: WoL CE (PC/Mac) - One of the best CEs this year. Lots of nice stuff and superb packaging.


Gradius V (PS2) - New and sealed! Finally got it after all these years. Another Treasure shooter for my collection. ^^;


Bayonetta Artbook+DVD


Blu-rays

Sorry that I haven't been blogging lately. Been busy with various things outside of gaming. I finished only a handful of games and by the time I finished them, I haven't felt like blogging about it. Damn you Twitter! :P Anyways, I've also been planning out a project which I'm super excited about. It's a personal hobby so it's coming out slow.

I need to give a quick thanks to various podcasts out there for giving me a shout out or reading my emails and comments recently. It's always cool to hear my name on their shows. Thank you for acknowledging my existence. XD

Here are just some VERY brief reviews about games I've beaten in the past month or two:

Red Dead Redemption (360) - EPIC. Amazing voice acting and some nice twists. Lots of fun, gorgeous graphics and music. Rockstar's best game by far.

Deadly Premonition (360) - AWESOME. The game's controls are clunky and the graphics are cruddy but the characters and story is SUPERB. Lots of cool twists and revelations that will make your jaws drop. It still gives me chills when I think back about it. One of my fave games evar.

Singularity (360) - Fun game with some cool ideas. Not quite as polished as other games in the genre but it's worth checking out. The story makes sense and the endings are quite interesting. Anyone who's played games like Half-Life 2, Bioshock or Dead Space will see the influence.

DeathSmiles (360) - Anyone who saw my Top Ten Shmups video will know I liked this game. Great visual design and excellent gameplay. Another great shooter from CAVE.

So here's a bunch of new pick-ups from the past month or so.

Final Cut Express 4 (Mac) - Another component for my project.

Games

Movies and Anime from major sales.

Figures

Also got some sweet Hot Toys figures but I'll save that for the next post. Thanks for reading.

I made a video of my top ten shmups on the 360 with my new video capture setup. Please check it out. Comment on the video if you like it. Big shout out to Mizuguchi-san for liking and retweeting it. ^^

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a9hU_LUqIkk

I'll have a proper blog post next time. Been busy.

3D - Limp

Move - Chubby

Kevin Butler - Hormones

GT5 Release Date - Hard On

Twisted Metal - SP**GE!

THEY WIN. No, seriously. They win.

MS learned three things:

1) Present Kinect like Nintendo.

2) Ship it at announcement like Apple.

3) Give it away like Oprah.

Done.

Haven't had time to game much over the week but I spent a huge chunk of time playing Red Dead Redemption (360) over the weekend. I think I'm near the end. LOVE the story and the characters are fairly interesting. The voice acting is just excellent through and through. Whoever does John Marston's voice is one of the best out there. He really gives Marston a sense of gravitas that makes him very likeable and believable. The missions have been fun overall with a handful that I could do without but there's none that I hated like in the GTA series. Love the Stranger sidequests. They're like lil short stories that add to the world's character. Btw, love the world's look too. Gorgeous lighting from night to day. Anyways, gonna finish the main story this week so I can move on to my other games.

Also, looking forward to any surprise announcements at E3 this year. The amount of leaks coming out is fast and furious. I'm not sure there's much more to look forward to at this rate.

New stuff for this month:

Games and movies.

Second 360 for my video project + Points and Gold card - Got them all on sale so it was a nice deal.

Capcom Artbooks (Hardcover versions) - Love love love.

And a bunch of figures. My otaku-ness is coming back to me. Also got a few more coming because of the free shipping sale from HLJ.

Degenki Mags - I never bought these before so I didn't expect them to have such naughtiness...lol. XD

Lineage II Elf and Velvet Figures.

Play Arts Shiva - Gigantic figure!

Hot Toys Dark Knight DX

Revoltech Professor Layton x2

And Layton Mug

Finished Yakuza 3 (PS3) about a week ago. FANTASTIC in every sense of the word. Loved the story and characters (new and old). Fun combat, lots of entertaining sidequests and the minigames were enjoyable. Not even the edited content in the US version made the game any less epic and fun. I'm looking forward to finishing up the various sidequests in Premium Mode later. I hope Sega localizes the 4th game. I love this world. GET IT!

Also finished Alan Wake (360) last night. Awesome story and great combat. The world is really atmospheric and creepy. Personally, I didn't find the game scary at all. There are some jump scares but no dread, imo. I guess after playing through games like Bioshock and Dead Space, I'm immune to the dread factor in Wake. There are also lots of funny moments that break the tension which I appreciated. This is a really well written game and the voice acting is SUPERB. The graphics had some issues like tearing and pop-in, but it didn't ruin the mood of the game at all. The lighting effects are really well done and I loved the art design of Bright Falls. I also found the audio for the game in general to be excellent. Great use of surround and lots of awesome effects. Make sure to turn up the volume cuz the default sound is a lil low. Anyways, MUST PLAY!

Also played a few hours of Red Dead Redemption (360). I've only done some missions but it's been pretty good. The voice acting is top notch and all the characters behave really realistically. The shooting is tight, unlike past GTA open-world games. The world has a lot of ambient noises and effects that will keep you immersed. I don't like the save system or some of the other mechanics like sprinting/running but I'll deal with it. Fun game so far, will try out the multi soon. Btw, John Marston is a very cool character. Recommended.

Also, new pick-ups!

The following are components for my video project I'm planning to work on.

Macbook Pro 15.4" Anti-Glare Screen - My first Mac. :D

A Stand for it.

Magic Mouse and Wireless Keyboard - Very nice minimalist packaging.

HD PVR

Monitor/TV

Here's some other stuff I've purchased in the past few weeks.

Games and a Music CD - All new and sealed.

Yakuza 2 Figure - Finally found it! :)

Hot Toys Chris Redfield and Medicom Kaneda 1/6 Figures

It hurts, see you next month!

I've been playing Yakuza 3 (PS3) for the past week and a half through sporatic sessions. I'm trying to take my time because this game is AWESOME! The story continues to be amazing and keeps me playing. The sidequests are also much more fun than the previous two games and some of them have really hilarious storylines. I'm really enjoying it and now that the entire world is in 3D, I am able to fully immerse myself in the world and explore it freely. This iteration of Yakuza really feels like the Shenmue games. While it doesn't have small little details like opening up dressers etc, the ability to examine things up close or explore an environment just screams Shenmue to me. The combat is also much more fluid and controls better. They really did a good job with the 3D movement too. It's a bit more fluid than the prequels. Anyways, LOVE LOVE LOVE this game! Must play folks.

New pick-ups:

Ryu ga Gotoku 4 (PS3) + Bonus - Guess what? I had to get the 4th game before they come out with those lame Best covers and I wanted the preorder bonus. If Sega doesn't localize this game, I can still play it (with a guide). :)

Super Street Fighter IV Dojo Edition (PS360) - Capcom store exclusive. Lots of cool swag but it cost more than the game alone (obviously). The Dudley t-shirt rocks. Too lazy to take pics of the included stuff but you can google, right?

Record of Agarest War LE (360) and Ikki Tousen X Impact LE (PSP) - Uh, yea, no comment. ^^;;

Avatar Steelbook (BD) + Bonus - UK Version. Really nice stuff. Why didn't the US get this stuff?

Avatar (BD) + Time Warp Season 1 (BD) - On sale.

One Piece Strong Edition Figures (Nami, Luffy, Zoro) - Actually forgot I preordered these way back. Nice quality but so darn expensive compared to the original ones.