It's an RPG!

Most gamers don't understand RPGs at all. It is more a PC thing and to be honest and Dragon Age is a game I am honestly disappointed to not play on PC. Although I am glad to cope with the console port at the advantage of not buying a money guzzling machine.

It is a HUGE waste that most gamers never try these gems. How can people not like them? I don't understand how people can play games for purely hacking, slashing and gunning. Sure RPGs have some of this but it is not the focus. The adventure is what it is all about. Gearing up your guys and not just rushing in head first to every confrontation. In fact you are usually rewarded if you can help people rather than kill them. Of course the option is always there to do both and it is up to you to decide which way will reap the most rewards.

Of course if you pick up an RPG and ask something like "Where is the jump button?", you are missing the point. Also to watch someone play the same game for half an hour and push the "A" button for every attack is horrendous when you only need to push it once and the AI keeps attacking the enemy until you tell him to do something else.

Another big point is an RPG will last forever and be well worth your money! There is always something else to do or another item to find. And growing your team and finding your own way to get through the game means you can play it 5 or 6 times and do it differently EVERY time. And you can't get EVERYTHING in an RPG. It will make you take sides and make pivotal decisions that will affect the rest of the playthrough which means you can have another path to take on another playthrough.

People who are not used to RPGs will often take the same path because it is "comfortable" and they reckon they made the best decision the first time. While the immediate benefits may seem better at first it can still have a great affect later in the game if you choose the other path too. Besides these options are usually balanced and give you another way to play through it and use a different strategy.

I guess that is all I want to say about RPGs for the moment. I may come back to you if Pete frustrates me again by not levelling up his party on Dragon Age for years.

Resident Evil 5 fails again!

This is a random little thing I just wanted to mention about my Resi 5 experience.
With all the steroids Chris took in Resi 5 and Jills new hair and appearance I did not like what they did with the characters in Resi 5. The story also annoyed me in that it was far too Hollywood and predictable.

But then I remembered the past RE plots with UNpredictable twists, emotional scenes, conspiracy and mystery. Some of the most moving scenes were when people died or sacrificed themselves. And the biggest feeling I had in RE5? Well for the most part I could say I was underwhelmed but entertained. BUT there was one big shock to me. And it was related to a past character called Sherry. She was twelve in the past game which occured in 1998. She had since dropped off the map and all I knew was she is being held captive. I presumed by Wesker the bad guy.
Resi 5 occurs in the year 2009 so she would be around 23 at this time. I was hoping they would bring her back into the plot seeing as they were holding her back for something.

So I was playing through the game based in Africa so most the infected were black people. But look! Here I see a blonde white girl screaming for help out a window! She is dragged in and I wonder "Is that Sherry?!" I run up to try and save her. I shoot her captor dead. She runs towards me happy to be saved, embracing Chris. I am hoping at this point for an explanation. Something, ANYTHING!
But before this happens she shudders violently! She's infected too! Is this Sherry? Did they make her infected!? She advances on me going to attack but what do I do? I had no choice and I acted in self defence hoping that she would not be killed.
Another cutscene jumps in just as I weaken her and she is still alive... Then POP!! Her head explodes! And some monster that I have never seen before sprouts from her neck!! My heart wrenches as I think Sherry, a character I eagerly awaited may have died in front of me! I then think it must have been her! She was a host for the old G-Virus. This virus created similar beasts which were often end game bosses. I am forced to finish it off... I was confused and saddened. But the game made no effort at explaining what happened...

I had to come to realise that the beast was an evolution of the virus and it was also spreading. This event was to alert me of the new threat.
However the white, blonde women in the red dress who stuck out from the poor black community was someone completely unimportant and misleading. I had to look up what actually happened. I was not the only person on the internet searching for this answer. So many people made the same mistake. I was left disappointed again.

And that was the high point in the game! That was IT! It was completely unintentional and all in my head. With everything the game was built up to be SURELY a professional could have written something else that stood out in the plot as dramatic as that. Yet another point at which Resident Evil 5 failed me...

Hey, Dead Space is 10 times the horror game Resi5 was and Dead Space 2 is gonna kick ass as well. A great replacement for the nose diving Resi series...

I am a controversial person.

Well seeing as I have not touched my gaming blog in months I decided to update it and hopefully get it going at the same speed as my normal blog.

Firstly I would like to say I have a Mac! There! It is terrible for gaming but I'm a console gamer, not some delusional purist. Also I don't use it for anything other than simple tasks online (i.e. Firefox) and drawing (Macs are good at photoshop).

Now let me tell you why I made those two bold statements shall I?
Firstly PC gaming is great and all but I prefer to keep my money and play console games which the industry works very hard on. It is the direction gaming is heading and I would like to be a part of this when it picks up.

Secondly the reason I prefer a mac over a PC is because I now finally have a computer that does what I want! I could have a PC function but I would have to learn to much. Lets just say apple understand simple interfaces for simple people. That is me! It's true I am a huge geek and I could learn these things if I tried but it is unnecessary as long as I don't care for anything more daring than Firefox.

While I am at it let me just say why I prefer PS3 over Xbox 360. I may as well! Both consoles are practically the same! All the big games come out on both and yeah the Xbox currently gets slightly better versions. But the way Microsoft treat the gaming industry is more or less another money making gimmick.
Microsoft started Xbox Live by charging people to use it. And then they pushed forward on DLC for consoles. While this seems like a good move people don't realise the difference between DLC and expansion packs. Before DLC on consoles you only paid for expansion packs. PC gamers used to have it good with mostly free DLC but since the big push by Microsoft to casual gamers we have all started paying.
This move was made in the form of Fallout 3. That was the big DLC game and Microsoft payed to get exclusive rights to it at first for at least a year. And they wanted to of course make money on it.

What makes Sony any better? Well they did make PSN free to use and they made a loss on manufacturing and selling PS3's at first anyway. They also support newer developers and to be honest I am quite intrigued by it's processing power. I really want to see if a game will ever utilise it fully. Also I have been a Playstation man my whole life and don't see a reason to change.

If I am honest the PS3 does not do badly at all in the UK. And it certainly kicks ass in Japan. I prefer these two places to America. I am sorry but America has some of the most poorly informed people in the world when it comes to things like industries and other countries. The big "casual gamer" faction of people in America don't realise that Microsoft would happily slow the industry's advancement if it made money on it whereas Sony and even Nintendo (both Japanese) try to push the boundaries. And really 90% of gaming revolutions have come from Japan. They are PASSIONATE about it!

On my last note I am making another bold statement. I would rather buy Darksiders over Bayonnetta. Why? Well even though Darksiders has flopped a little bit, the style of game is just so rare to see nowadays and I can't get enough of Zelda-type games. And since it is a good game that is fun I think I would enjoy it. I don't know why but it reminds me of Jak and Daxter. Another series I love. Even though Bayonetta is crazy and fun and very polished it doesn't hold the same nostalgia for the exploration Darksiders is promising.