Yet another week of pretty much nothing, which is just fine by me. The Hitman HD Trilogy (PS3
, 360
) releases as does a co-op action game thingy called Dungeonland
, a military shooter called Heavy Fire: Shattered Spear (360
, PS3
) and the long awaited XBLA title Skulls of the Shogun. For me, I’m looking to finish AC III, keep on keeping on in NFS:MW and start up Call of Duty: Black Ops II. Should be interesting. I haven’t played a Call of Duty game since Call of Duty 2 launched with the 360. I hear this one has ponies!
Deals
Toys R Us – Buy one, get one 40% off for all games priced $19.99 and less. Get Madden 13, Far Cry 3 or CoD:BLOPS II for $49.99 each. Get Marvel Avengers: Battle for Earth and Nascar The Game: Inside the Line for $39.99 each. Get LEGO LOTR, Epic Mickey 2 and NBA Baller Beats for $29.99 each.
Target – Get Madden 13, FIFA 13, NHL 13, CoD:BLOPS II, ACIII or an Xbox Live 12 month gold card for $45.
Best Buy – Get an Xbox Live 12 month gold card for $35, MW3 for $39.99 and CoD:BLOPS II for $49.99.
I too hadn’t really played a COD since mw2. I tried and discarded black ops and skipped mw3 entirely. So maybe that’s why I’m liking black ops 2 so much. As usual, the campaign is entirely forgettable, but multiplayer is fast and brutal, and the flexibility of the pick 10 system means you can always play your own way.
Nothing for me this week.
I am going to be all over Fire Emblem and maaaaybe Dead Space 3 next week, so meh.
I just got SSX finally with the price drop to $20 and scored Ni No Kuni for $9 after trades so I am super content with my pile.
And despite all that, I can’t seem to play anything else but Picross 3D on my DS and Dust on XBLA.
I got Ni No Kuni last week and am a little over 16 hours in. This game is unapologetically a JRPG, which is a shame after Xenoblade Chronicles did so many things right (not having to return to the quest giver comes to mind).
The art and story keep me coming back, but the game has its flaws. Your sidekick treats you like an idiot, beating you over the head with what you need to do, thus taking any joy you may have gotten figuring it out yourself (hopefully, that changes later, but somehow I doubt it).
The creatures you collect (like Pokemon) lack any real personality but that may have more to do with the fact that you are going to be battling the same small number of creatures in an area over and over and over again until you are sick of them. The combat is a lot of fun when you are facing a challenging enemy (pretty much Boss fights only), but incredibly boring and repetitive otherwise.
The sidequests are not all that bad actually, a few fetch quests and kill x number of enemies but these are not the only type and the ratio of sidequests to main story missions seems to be well balanced enough that they do not get annoying.
All in all, I really do like the game, it just frustrates me from time to time. Ghibli’s influence is prominent and welcomed, as the universe and world building are great. I just wish Level-5 would have learned a thing or two from Monolith and others about breaking the mold a little more.
See, this is why I’m hesitant to play it. I much prefer western RPGs and have limited patience for JRPGs. It’s possible that Ni No Kuni’s art style will balance it out, but I’m not sure that I want to wager $60 on it.
If you are not a huge JRPG fan, I think I would suggest a pass on it all together unless you are really curious about the art and universe. If that is the case, maybe a rent sometime down the road. Definitely do not pay $60 for it though if JRPGs are not your thing.
This is exactly why I, the guy with a Kiki’s Delivery Service tattoo, passed on a Studio Ghibli video game.
I really wish that it had come out when I was on my JRPG jaunt back in the summertime, but I burned that candle too long and too hard until it just ended up in armageddon. Not really, just being too burned out on the genre to get into Xenoblade Chronicles- ironically, a game regarded among the best-in-class.
Ni no Kuni looks absolutely amazing, because it’s Ghibli. But everything Penguin pointed out makes me not want to go anywhere near it. I feel like it’s a game that is going to be given A LOT of passes because of the Ghibli association and the great art direction.
When you think about it some JRPG’s have “Free Pass” tattooed to their ass because of art direction alone…. Mr Final Fantasy.
I’d love to play Ni no Kuni but real life gets in the way of it these days.
Last game of that ilk I managed to play through was Neir so maybe its time I become Yoda on dagobah for a while. A bloody long while.
Path of Exile is in Open-Beta this week. Very fun so far. If you are all interested in ARPGs you owe it to yourself to check this out.
It’s Free 2 Play, but done in an interesting way. The company claims to be committed to selling real money items that are cosmetic only. I’m nearing the end of the 3rd Act and I haven’t spent a dime, or felt like I needed to.