Console / Reviews / RPG

Shin Megami Tensei IV

Shin Megami Tensei IV ReviewThis game marks my first foray into the main MegaTen series. My prior experiences being only with Persona 3 (P3P) and Persona 4 Golden. I think I even blogged about the latter a while back. I heard that the main series was pretty different compared to the Persona offshoots and their time management aspects. Having really enjoyed P3p and P4G I was a little concerned that SMTIV might not do it for me, but after 10 or so hours I’m already hooked.

The game takes place in, what I can only assume to be, some kind of post-apocalyptic Japan. Things have pretty much reverted to a more feudal era with stuff like kings, castles, nobility, and of course Samurai, which play a pretty large role in things. Every year or so all young men are called to attend a gauntlet ceremony to see if they will be chosen to join the Samurai, etc. Obviously you as the protagonist gets inducted and the game goes from there. It’s a pretty interesting narrative so far and I have the feeling that I’m just scratching at the surface so far. I can already tell there is going to be a lot of philosophical thinking about good and evil. I’m usually more for the lighthearted kind of stories but it is still interesting so far. Plus, supposedly you get to make more choices down the road and depending on who you side with you get a different ending. I’m looking forward to seeing the extent of that. (more…)

3 Comments
July 24, 2013
PC / RPG

Cube World Alpha

Keen and I picked up Cube World yesterday. Like Minecraft you can purchase now and gain access to an alpha build. So far from what I've played, and have heard…

9 Comments
July 5, 2013
Console / Platformer / RPG

Handheld Gaming

I've been investing most of my time lately into various games across the 3DS and Vita. I actually haven't turned on any of my consoles in a while and haven't…

8 Comments
June 1, 2013
Console / Reviews / RPG

Ni no Kuni or: How I Learned to Stop Moping and Play the Game

Ni No Kuni worldI wasn’t sure that I would be picking up Ni No Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch or not.  It had nothing to do with a lack of interest and everything to do with the fact that I couldn’t get the Wizard’s Edition of the game, which left a rather sour taste in my mouth and a large pit in my stomach. If you don’t really care about any of this then just skip down to my impressions of the game.

I should probably try to explain some things first, at least the best that I can.  Originally Ni no Kuni was a Nintendo DS game, which never left Japan. In it you played a young wizard and utilized the touch screen to draw spell glyphs.  In order to help you with this task each game came with a really neat wizard’s companion book that featured tons of info ranging from spell symbols, familiars, items, alchemy, etc. You pretty much needed to use it all the time.  This concept actually resonated with me rather well. I liked the idea of needing to consult your wizard manifesto in order to learn things and solve puzzles.  It kind of gave me the same vibe I got from old copy-protection manuals for Quest for Glory games. Most people probably didn’t care for that but I really dug it.

Read more for my early impressions of Ni No Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch! (more…)

11 Comments
January 24, 2013
Console / Free to Play / Game Design / MMORPG / PC / Random things / RPG / Sandbox / Themepark

2012 in Review

Another year has come and gone.  As I reflect on a year of blogging, gaming, and industry events, I’m full of mixed emotions.  Let’s take a walk down memory lane.

Keen and Graev’s Gaming Blog in 2012

We had more traffic this year than ever before!  We started blogging in February 2007 meaning we’re almost six years old.  I’m extremely proud that last year we grew our daily readership by 53%.  That’s insane!  I can’t believe so many more people now visit us daily compared to the start of 2011.  We didn’t hype any major MMO releases, come up with any new phrases adopted by the industry, or receive any magical exclusives to drive traffic.   I think the biggest increases came from two blog posts that were done simply to help people:

Each of the above brought in hundreds of thousands of people.  Maybe this means we should go into tech support instead of musing about games all day?

I’m always fascinated by how I wrote during the year.  Some years I’m hyped up, others I’m negative.  Some years I feel full of ideas and inspired to share my thoughts on how games should be made, and others I just analyze what’s happening.  This year was really ‘matter of fact’.  I commented a lot on the state of things.  Although this isn’t my favorite style (I prefer sharing ideas I have for how games can be made) it was needed, and fit the events of 2012.

‘Sandbox vs. Themepark’ and ‘Old school vs. A New Trope’ were extremely hot topics that came up in some form every month.  I didn’t debate F2P as much as I did in 2011 because that topic took a back seat to analyzing why games are 3 monthers, or why MMOs die.   I think we really dug into what MMOs are doing to deserve their classification, and discovered together what makes them fail and succeed.  I’ve had a wonderful time learning from what you have to say in the comments.  Keep it up!

Check out more of my 2012 in review including my year-end thoughts on specific MMO’s after the break. (more…)

13 Comments
December 28, 2012