Prolefeed

Well last weekend the servers for the MGO beta finally shut down, but not before me and my friends destroyed team after team until the wee hours of the morning. It was definitely a great time while it lasted and I will be joining everyone back online once it hits next month.

Now I just want to put up my final impressions, now that I have had time to reflect on various aspects of the beta.  As I said in my last post, I want to spend some time discussing the Sneaking Mission playmode that was added a few days into the beta. For me this was the most exciting thing in the beta because it not only gave us a look at the general idea behind the single player in MGS4 but also gave us a chance to try out Snake and his awesome Octocam!
Continue reading Metal Gear OFFline…

Thanks to the Golden Week holiday me and my friends managed to put a significant amount of time into the MGO beta. God this game makes me giggle in happiness over and over. It is one of the freshest multiplayer experiences I have had in a long time. The SOP system when properly utilized is amazing and really adds a lot of incentive to proper teamwork. I am just going to do my normal thing and go over some of the various aspects that have put a smile on my face so far in the beta.

Continue reading Detailed Impressions: Metal Gear Online…

Yeah I would not normally use a frown face in a title, but it really is fitting.

Sadly, the Metal Gear Online Beta is still running a little behind schedule.

They are currently working on the Japanese servers, while shutting off access to the other regions. The remaining servers are allegedly going live after things are stabilized for Japan. Maintenance is scheduled to end tomorrow around 3PM. 

I made it as far as entering my character name but got dropped after sending the data. Will try again throughout the night, but it doesn’t look promising. There is a hint of good news in the fact that the test will be extended for another five days. It is now set to end on May 11th.

And yes this is being placed under Latest Addictions because I can’t seem to go an hour without trying to connect again. Sounds like an addiction to me. 

So I have recently started working my way through Persona 3 FES. I planned to play the original Persona 3 when it first came out but just got sidetracked with other things. However, after hearing about the U.S. Persona 3 FES announcement and Persona 4 unveiling I found my interest reignited. Unfortunately the Persona 4 announcement caused all the used copies of P3 FES in my local stores to disappear within days. After calling around for a few days I found a store willing to have a copy sent from a different store. It took about a week and I was finally able to get my hands on this spectacular RPG after my spring vacation.

Now I am just goddamn addicted. It is always on from the moment I get inside the house. Even when I have other work to do I always figure out a way to get some grinding done or just go through the daily motions inside the game.  

I am really liking how the game handles day to day pacing. The simplicity which which it flows really makes it a pleasure to play. There is a ton of variety in what you can do to pass the in game time plus it appears that new activities and communities are just going to keep popping up.  The dialogue is brilliant and all of the characters are likable so far. The story started off developing slowly, but it has started to pick up finally and every new revelation has me wanting more. The development of all the characters is well done, especially for Junpei who has to be one of my favorite RPG characters in a long time. He oozes personality but not in some weird manufactured way. He is just a really believable character which is rare for most RPGs. Even a lot of the NPCs in the game have better character development than your average RPG fare.

I usually try to avoid grinding as much as possible in RPGs but Tartarus keeps calling me back in this game. This is mainly because find the battle system so enjoyable, primarily because of it’s fast pace. It might be because the last RPG I played was Lost Odyssey which is in direct contrast with it’s slow paced system but P3 FES just feels refreshing in this regard. I was somewhat wary after reading that you could not have direct control over your party members, but the AI has proved itself more than capable so far. This fact plus the addition of strategic commands you can issue really reduce the number of headaches there could have been. The use of AI is one of the main reasons why the battles flow so smoothly. 
 
Now to just wait for this work day to end so I can get back to my passion!  

There is just so much to say about this gem. Treasure came up with the perfect formula for a handheld Bangai-O and I just can’t get enough. I have limited experience with the Dreamcast version but I do understand that they are completely different beasts. It still retains the solid core gameplay of insane missile combat that has yet to be rivaled by any other game. This time however, the real meat of the game is in the level editor which has been stealing more and more of my sleepy time every night.

Continue reading First Impression: Bangai-O Spirits!…

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