Eternal Darkness: Secrets revelead

Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem is a famous horror game released exclusively on the Gamecube by now defunct company Silicon Knights (so thank GOD it didn't end with sequel bait).It throws the player into the shoes of Elizabeth investigating the bizarre murder of her grandfather in the family estate. She uncovers a terrifying book and starts to uncover a millenia spanning plot to summon for the old gods and slaughter all of existence.

Not this book

Resident Evil: Code Crossdresser

It is an unfortunate reality of fiction that for MUCH of western literature that fay or crossdressing  are symbols of SUPER evil. Its pretty insulting now and still happens sadly. Resident evil code veronica features a villain who has actually lost his mind and didn't realize he was crossdressing as his dead twin sister. Its actually potentially sad, since he's doing this out of a sense of needing to meet his families expectations, which drove him to such great stress as to have a legit mental breakdown. AND THEN the "heroes" call him freak. Pleasant.

You SUCK

Prince of Persia: Time travel as a narrative device

So, I just finished Prince of Persia: Sands of Time for the GC. I've had it for a while, but got stuck on what I thought was a glitch. I powered through it over a few days, which I really miss in games. Not being so long that you need actual WEEKS to finish them. The platforming was EXCELLENT, smooth and sublime. The combat had good mechanics but was WAY to dependent on spamming enemies at you and was just a chore. Overall, well worth playing through. But what I want to talk about was the narrative.

Yes ladies, he does take his shirt off. 

REBIRTH!!!!

Well, its been a while. But I'm back. Since I last posted, my life has gone through a lot of changes. Ones that contribute to my re-opening of the blog: I've gotten a job that doesn't demand inordinate amounts of time, I moved in with some friends and I've got a lot more time to game. Especially considering my friend is also a big gamer and we have been able to pool our gaming rigs. Now, im still VERY active with my manga activities and on twitter, but frankly twitter isn't enough space for me to really get out my gaming thoughts. So, this is being reborn. I will post whenever I finish a game and feel inspired to talk about my thoughts. OH, i think i got one welling up in me right now.

Death of the Blog.

Its finally dead. I have to kill it.

I have had a lot of fun making this blog. Had some small projects. Discussed games with some people. But right now, I am working on a much bigger project. My manga review show simply takes up too much of my time. And, I do use the youtube format for some game videos, everynow and then. So I must abandon this blog to the aether. I'll leave it up, but I will no longer post her.

and hey, maybe you like games and manga like me. So here's a link to my youtube channel. Happy trails, internet.

Eagleland Manga Reviews

Shadowrun Returns: Decking

Well, since I am now making videos about shadowrun returns, I feel I have a nice launching platform for talking about detailed points of the game. Lets talk about a very interesting part of this world, the Matrix.

Well, it has its similarities to the movie matrix. You "jack in" to a worldwide computer network. While in there, you can interact with visualizations of programs and directly effecting data and real world machines. In world, deckers use portable keyboard/computer decks with them and directly access proprietary systems that aren't hooked up to the global network.

In game, this results in a secondary world that your character can enter into and have battles in. You have to invest into a series of programs and IC units. Summoning IC units are offensive or defensive autonomous programs that will aid you in battle, but can only be summoned once during a session so you can't just have them suicide for you. Programs act like spells in the real world, costing action points to cast with various effects.

The art design while in the Matrix is quite good. With bright lights, and enemies in a nice red shade, it has a very striking look that differentiates it from the rest of the game. It doesn't feel as cluttered as the real world levels, but that works since its supposed to be the inside of a computer.

I especially like the integration of the matrix world with the real world. It doesn't happen often, but there are battle sequences that are integrated with a hacking segment. Entering into the matrix takes your decker out of the battle sequence. But each single turn of the real world battle adds up to three rounds INSIDE the matrix. Since you don't really want to leave your character helpless in front of a computer during a battle, this accelerated pace really works well. Naturally, having a character who focuses on decking results in a less battle ready character. So I honestly really appreciate the effort put towards making the decking options feel valuable, even in the context of a gun fight.

Below is a video I made to demonstrate a great side mission that features a very well integrated decking segment during a battle.

Bionic Commando Re-Armed

Well, I finally got the upload to work. So my career as a youtuber begins now!!! Again.... Yeah, its my second pass at this, but before it was just silly philosophy videos.

Bionic Commando Re-armed is a supped up remake of the NES classic. I played the original and it was a good game, I just never got interested enough to finish it. The HD remake is quite possible one of the best remakes EVAR. Not only does it update the art assets but also makes great changes to the game mechanics. Now you have actual health instead of dying instantly. It also completely redesigned the boss fights to not be so awful. I also like how the game maintains the 3 life mechanic, where by you get booted out of the level when you run out of lives. Adds a nice level of tension to the levels, especially on the last life.

So, getting into the recording and uploading is going to take some practice. I have to get the game sounds down. I also have to find my commentary voice. I absolutely can't just sit there and play the game. I liked whenever I freaked out when the suicide enemies charged me. I may go for a more manic style.

Video Compression

So I finally figured out a way to compress Fraps videos. Gets them down to about 400 Megs and makes the youtube uploading SOOOO much faster. So I will be shifting my focus to making some shadowrun playthroughs. I will still be finishing my Dreamcast reviews, but these commentaries will be taking up my focus from now on. I will still post on this blog, but they will mostly be said videos. After I finish the shadowrun vids, I will move onto a System Shock 2 playthrough.

Crazy Taxi: A Dreamcast Review

Just two more games to review. This week, its the Dreamcast classic Crazy Taxi. This game was adapted from a popular arcade game of the day. In it, you are a taxi driver. You pick up fairs, deliver them to there destination and get paid. What makes the game memorable is the absolutely bat shit insane car physics. Your taxi is not of this earth. It weaves and accelerates with no regard for your safety or the cars structural stability. And boy, its fun.

Team Fortress 2: Updated

I've gotten back into TF2 lately. Not as much as I used to, but I found a nice CTF rotation server. Now, some time ago I posted a guide on how to play pyro. I went into great detail about how you play with other classes and the weapons available to the pyro. Well, the game has changed a little since I was last big into the game.

I still attest that the pyro is a women.

A big change was that they have gotten rid of ALL item set bonuses. I guess they did this to take care of "Pay to Win" allegations. So now the polycount pyro set isn't valuable at all and feel free to ignore the hat. There have also been new weapons added and some changes to others

1. Rainblower and Lolichop: With the release of the Meet the pyro video, these weapons were added. They are a simple reskin of the flamethrower and the fire ax. They are mildly amusing, but I don't like the rainblower. Its funny, but the rainbow effect gives you a really bad feed back on whether you are hitting people.
2. Phlogistinator, Degreaser and Backburner: These items got a damage hit. They all now do 10% less damage, bringing the Phlog and Degreaser below standard and Backburner has the same damage as the base. The Degreaser has been brought into a more balanced position, but I can't see any reason you would want Phlog any more; its just way too gimicky. I don't like the loss of damage on the Backburner, but it still has its valuable flanking use. 
3. Scorch Shot: The newest Flare gun. I don't personally like it. It does less damage than basic flares and gets no bonus damage on flaming targets. What it does do is knock back targets and leaves flare on the ground that will ignite people who touch it. This is an interesting idea, but I cannot justify losing the shear damage of crit flares.
4. Neon Annihilator: An interesting new melee weapon for the pyro. It gives guaranteed crits under water, but does less damage out of the water. BUT, in an interesting twist, this item also removes sappers. A strange mix up of the axtinguisher and the homewrecker. If you are on a map with a lot of water, this can be surprisingly effective choice.  

Now, this is nothing big in terms of pyro itemization. You have to be a bit choosier when it comes to your specialty Now there has been some VERY interesting changes to OTHER CLASSES. So let me discuss how it has gotten so much harder to be pyro in this game. 

1. The DemoKnight: The demoknight has gotten a lot scarier for the pyro. Now, the chargin' targe gives ignite INVULNERABILITY. This makes targe knights IMPOSSIBLE for you to deal with without the shotgun. You can't crit flare them, you can't axtinguish them. You can't deal with them. On top of this, there is a new, far more annoying grenade launcher. The loose cannon has a lot of different feature, but the most annoying is that it allows the user to shorten the flare, meaning the damn thing can blow up before you even get a chance to reflect them. Demo's, especially smart ones, are now a huge potential threath. 
2. Spy: The spy hasn't gotten much new. But the spy-cicle is specifically designed to counter act the pyro. If held when ignited, the spy will extinguish themselves and become invulnerable to fire damage for 2 seconds. Combined with the dead ringer, a properly decked out spy can actually effectively run from a pyro. There is a counter technique. Even though the spy can't be ignited, there will still be a sizzle sound as long as they are in the fire cone. So if you know the probable escape route, you might be able to keep track of the spy for 2 seconds. 

I have to say that the community, even with all the Free people, can still be very good; as long as you like derping. Serious players better get some like minded friends on a private server.