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Tycho

The atrophy of Gabe’s ability in Fighters is something for which I am at least partly to blame.  With few exceptions - Freeman and Iron Man, for example - I put up a mostly token resistance, so if he has come away from all these mock conflicts with the impression of indomitable personal prowess, no man could blame him.  Other than checking out those new maps and ‘mechs, he has committed himself entirely to being abused in online matches.  The ability to hold “tournaments,” with spectators and the like, would be quite welcome - I’m curious if the imminent Marvel Vs. Capcom 2 will improve upon the current matching system.

Those Goddamn GBA SP’s showed up yesterday when I was over watching people injure Gabriel, so I guess I’ll have to wait until later today.  I have had many requests from humans curious how it compares with the Afterburners they have already, and I’m right there with them.  The more compact size, I can give or take.  It’s the light and the battery pack I’m in for, and if the light turns out to be only okay the status quo begins to make some very compelling arguments.  Hopefully I’ll have it before I need to tear my computer apart, and I’ll be able to kick out a quick note to all concerned parties.   

I’m really in the mood for an RPG at the moment, but if something breaks my concentration in the middle of a game - like moving, or whatever - I sometimes can’t get back on task, ever.  I was playing Asheron’s Call nightly for hours on end until I fled Chez Rats, and once I got into the new place, I played it long enough to buy some golden pants and that was it.  Of course, that didn’t stop me from trying to buy Dark Cloud 2 yesterday, which I would have done, if it hadn’t been sold out of every one of the four stores we went to.  Hopefully that’s a good sign.  For RPG’s, though, that’s hardly the only game out this month - in fact, good luck even trying to play them all.  If Xenogears is any indication, good luck finishing its sequel (prequel, yeequel, whatever) Xenosaga before the year is out.  Our operative at the Bellevue mall GameStop swears by “.hack”, and he has a very sincere face.  There’s also a new Breath Of Fire game, but I couldn’t tell you what that means exactly, because I’ve never played one.  Tentatively, I am prepared to say it is as good as the others.   

I tried to buy Apex when Dark Cloud 2 didn’t pan out, and for some reason no-one had that either.  At that point, though, I was primed for commerce - and I was able to bleed it off by purchasing a snappy reversible belt.  I sat down, reversing and unversing it, and wondered if my gut feeling about Apex was correct - had Ridge Racer 4 returned?  Ridge Racer 4, the one that showed me that racing games were, in fact, just games, and could be enjoyed independent of an irrational fixation on conveyances?  The controls were demanding without being simmy.  It had an almost RPG feel to it, your cars leveled up after races, and eventually changed shape altogether - but there were four different teams to race for, and all has specialties and unique progressions, in addition to a story, a strange story, but a story that carried you from race to race.  It was very engaging, and the reviews I’ve read of Apex make me hope. 

I do apologize for any brevity or lack of vigor the last few days.  It feels as though key portions of my brain are packed up, along with everything else.

(CW)TB out.

speak to the sky

Tycho

An X-Men action RPG, from Raven?  Hallelujah!

(CW)TB

Tycho

Here are the things you need to know.

  • You will not be prepared for how small it actually is.  I’ve been looking at pictures for days and days, and I was still shocked when it arrived.  The box looks as though it could not possibly contain it.  It still manages to fit pretty well in my GBA case, though.  I just arrange the games in the missing space.

  • The L/R butten placement - behind the screen, on each side of the base - that is going to take some getting used to.  Right now that feels pretty weird.

  • It came fully charged.  Thanks, Japan!

  • Comparing it to an Afterburner is more complex, not to mention highly subjective.  For example:  If you have installed the whole ball of wax - i.e., the “potentiometer” brightness dial thing - into your GameBoy, then you actually have a little more functionality than the SP, which only has “on” or “off” for the light.  In virtually every other case, I need to give the edge to the GBA SP - I won’t waffle on the point or try to mitigate it.  I prefer it.

(CW)TB

Gabe

We were in downtown Seattle today doing some business type shit for PA and we stopped by the EBX out there. We lucked out in that they had both of the games we wanted but were unable to attain over here on the east side. I picked up Apex and Dark Cloud 2 and Tycho just got Apex.

Tycho mentioned earlier that he hoped Apex would be able to measure up to Ridge Racer 4 and after spending some time with it I’d have to say it does. Visually it’s a knock out. Owners of HDTV’s will delight to know that Apex supports 480p.  The reflection maps and various lighting effects on the road are some of the best I’ve seen. The cars handle really tight, I was power sliding with ease after just a few laps. The option of using your own soundtrack is abother killer feature. Nothing beats rocketing around hair pin curves on some European mountain while Crystal Method blasts through your speakers instead of the bland techno crap most racing games include. Calling all freaks indeed.

Dark Cloud 2 is a bit harder to judge right now. I’m only on the second level of the sewer dungeons or whatever. Things I like so far are obviously the graphics which are killer and the music which is also fantastic. There are still some things I am not quite clear about involving the leveling up of your weapons and the spectralization or whatever of items. One of the best features in DC2 though is the built in help menu. Just about everything you could possibly have a question about is explained with video tutorials narrated by the characters. I am excited to spend more time with it.

My friend Robert and I are going to attempt to construct our own fighting sticks for use on CvS2. I have a bit of experience with this. I did a bit of rudimentary wiring on the two arcade machines I have. Hopefully I won’t solder any parts of my own body this time. That shit is hot. watch out.

-Gabe out