CrossFit for Hope

So in addition to loving and playing video games, I also do CrossFit. We're doing a fundraiser for St. Jude's - raising money for kids with cancer.  We'll be doing a particularly brutal workout and you can sponsor me per rep or at a flat donation.

If you have enjoyed reading this blog over the past couple years, please consider donating. I promise you it's a legit charity. Just click the "Be a Sponsor" link below.

BONUS - Anyone who donates $50 or more can have any completed game from my collection. Free shipping. Just let me know in the comments.

Thanks guys.

Up Next: Xenoblade Chronicles

Developer: Monolith Soft
Release Date: April 2012
Average Review Score: 92%

Current Progress: Six hours played.

Using the last of the Christmas/Birthday giftcards, I decided to pick up Xenoblade Chronicles. Yes, I'm adding to my backlog, but the fact that this game will inevitably become rare and pricy was too much to resist. Why will it become rare and pricy? Well, Xenoblade Chronicles has quite the interesting backstory.

Originally released in Japan in June of 2010, Xenoblade garnered high reviews - high enough to attract the attention of import gamers in the west. However, Nintendo made no announcements regarding a North American release. Then the game was released in Europe in August of 2010 - with a full English translation! Despite the fact that all they would need to do is essentially print more copies to sell in the US, Nintendo still refused to release it stateside. After a lengthy online petition to have it brought to RPG starved Wii gamers in the USA, Nintendo finally decided to publish the game here, making it available exclusively through it's own website and at GameStop.

After the initial North American printing, it's likely there won't be a reprint. And with the WiiU slated to arrive later this year, chances are GameStop and Nintendo will quickly forget about this beautiful game. So I snatched it up while the snatchin was good. Good thing too - it's already fetching between $60-$100 on Amazon.

So what is Xenoblade Chronicles anyway? Welp, it's a Japanese RPG with an interesting and unique story - a rarity indeed. The game focuses on a race of people who live on the body of a gigantic robot. Centuries ago this robot was in a timeless battle with another robot, they fought for ages until something caused them to freeze in place, and now life flourishes on the one while evil droids invade and attack these people from the other robot. Your main character is the only person in the world who can wield the Xenoblade - a weapon powerful enough to destroy these evil robots. The story revolves around the connection of your character to the mystical sword and why the droids are attacking the peaceful people. 

The fighting system occurs in real-time within the world map. No separate battle screen. Following the trend of recent JRPGs, you control only the main character's actions, and sitting idle during a battle will prompt him to simply auto attack. You have different special moves or "arts" that are location sensitive and a unique "Aggro" system that attracts the enemies' attention and attacks on one party member.

I'm about six hours into what is reportedly a 70+ hour experience. Wish me luck, fellow gamers.

The Angriest I've Ever Been at a Video Game

I'm not an angry guy. I very rarely get mad about anything, but, as most mild mannered gamers know, there's a special rage switch in our brains that's only activated by video games. Now I've been frustrated by cheap deaths, poor game design, and losing over and over in Smash Bros, but nothing was like the rage inside me the night I lost my Metroid Prime save file.

In my senior year of college, I decided it was time for a Gamecube. The entire purchase ticket consisted of the following:

Black Gamecube
Extra controller (Used)
Metroid Prime
Mad Catz Memory Card

I figured I just spent about $250, why not save a few bucks on a cheap, third party memory card? It's just the same as the official one right? Right?

Once I got home, I lost myself in the world of Metroid Prime - dedicating hour upon hour to finding every upgrade to my Chozo suit, tirelessly searching for and reading the history logs, and refusing to quit in the face of tough bosses. But it wasn't long before I regretted cheaping out on the memory card.  I came home from class one day, excited to progress a little further in my quest, only to be met with a "Corrupt Save File" message on the load screen. I had to start over.

Damn it. 

"Oh well," I said, "I was only a few hours in, and I'm sure I missed some things. No big deal."

So I replayed those opening moments of the game again, and I did find new things and collected upgrades that I had missed the first time around. "It was worth it," I convinced myself. "Now when I get to the final boss, I'll be better equipped!"

I continued to play day after day, joyfully exploring new worlds - acquiring the Ice Beam was one of the most memorable and enjoyable experiences I had yet had as a gamer. But that fateful, cheapskate decision was not done with its role in my fate. Much like the first time, I came home after a particularly cold day of classes. The winter break was just around the corner, and Senioritis has definitely taken up residence in my psyche. I booted up my Cube and was greeted with the amazingly energizing Metroid Prime menu screen, and then...

"Corrupt Save File"

SH*T!

This wasn't a shrug-it-off situation this time. This time I was pissed and decided to quit. I put the game away and moved on to Smash Bros, not sure if I would ever return to the world of the Chozo. Winter break came and went, I got new games for Christmas that I played to death, but a few months later as Spring began to bloom, so did my hopes of seeing the end of Metroid Prime.  I dug it out of the last place I threw it as hard as I could, booted it up, and blazed through the beginning stages - which I had basically memorized at this point. The momentum I had gained carried me through the second half of the game and before I knew it, I was in the final level- the Impact Crater.



I was battling my way through the game's toughest enemies while jumping from narrow platform to narrow platform. I had a really hard time with this section and soon got frustrated enough to rage quit mid-game. I shut off the Gamecube, the TV and even the lights in my room, and just sat in silence for a bit. I just needed a few minutes to clear my head and calm down, then I knew I could beat it. I would just turn it on, load up the save file...


Oh no.

No, It wouldn't. Not this far into the game. God isn't that spiteful...

I took a deep breath and hesitantly pressed the power button. I was greeted with the cheerful Gamecube startup jingle, the badass menu screen...come on...come on...


"Corrupt Save File"

FUUUUUUU*******K!!!!!

I was on a rampage. I literally lost my mind - I could feel my entire body tingling as I hit and threw anything I could get my hands on and cursed a stream of obscenities that would make the devil blush. My roommate who was somewhat concerned, but mostly entertained by what was happening tried to get me to explain myself. I imagine it was like trying to get a hysterically crying child to explain why they were crying. I finally calmed down enough to get enough actual words out of my mouth to  explain the situation, but then I just got mad all over again and punched the banister on our staircase, resulting in a nice swollen rack of knuckles. To cap it all off, as I turned away, my good old roommate punched me in the butt. The old butt punch. I didn't even react, because I honestly barely felt it next to the anger brought on from my now THIRD lost saved game. It was too much for one college-aged dumbass human to handle.

I traded in the game the next day for a menial amount of store credit, decidedly done with the saga of the rogue memory card and Samus Aran's attempt to eradicate the Metroid race.

A few years later, a non-Metroid-fan friend of mine bought the Metroid Prime Gamecube Bundle, and gave me the included game. I finally ended up beating it and Retro Studio's first Prime game continues to be one of my favorites to this day.

The ironic thing is that never - not once - did I ever consider investing the $30 in an actual, real life memory card. In fact, this is the same memory card that caused the corrupt file in my attempt to play through Beyond Good and Evil. Yup. I still have it. And it's still actively ruining my life.

Review: Megaman 7

Any time there's a number higher than "3" after a title the general public is more than likely to raise a suspicious eyebrow or two. If one "universe" - let's call it - has been rehashed that many times, there's a good chance that the idea well has run dry. However, there are notable exceptions, and Megaman 7 is one of them.

Although Capcom rigidly stuck to series conventions in the design of the Blue Bomber's seventh installment, they showed some creativity in trying out a few new things. The most notable change is that the absolutely punishing difficulty from previous games was dropped from a nine to about a seven.
Most of the difficulty relief comes from a lessened focus on high-flying, block-disappearing platforming. It's still a hell of a challenge, but toning it down just made for a more enjoyable overall playthrough.

Rush.

The second change goes hand in hand with the difficulty - the store. Every few enemies you destroy will drop collectable bolts which serve as currency to buy extra lives, energy tanks and powerups. Most of these items can be collected within the levels, but are always out of the way requiring the player to take a great risk to get them.

Then there's the third change - secret areas. These hidden treasure troves usually contain some sort of permanent upgrade or new weapon for Megaman to use, and sometimes force you into an impromptu boss battle. The way these areas are accessed kinda reminded me of Super Metroid in that most of them required you to use a specific weapon to trigger something in the environment to change which would open a new path. And these would have been really rewarding if I didn't look up how to find them in a blind rage due to the impossibility of beating the Wily stages without them.

The Super Adapter - You're Dead Without It.

Once again the game is all about pattern recognition and proper weapon selection. Once you memorize those things, it's actually a breeze. The journey to that point is long, but it's a blast, and you feel seriously accomplished when you finally finish it. The game looks great, sounds fantastic and plays like a dream. Not a must play, but certainly worth your time if you come across it.

Finished: Megaman 7

I did it.

Completion Time: About 6 hours

So it turns out that I'm a dummy. Beating a game does not unlock another game - all the Megaman games are unlocked from the start - I just have to select "New Game" instead of "Load Game". Anyway, I beat it. Overall, it was easier than the first two, but posed some unique challenges in new and different ways for the series.

Review coming soon.

Almost Done. Megaman 7

It's interesting - the Wily stages actually get easier as you progress through them - the first one being the absolute hardest and the last one - which is just all the bosses from the beginning of the game - is a cinch because you already know their weaknesses.

Wily himself is actually fairly difficult. I had, in one sitting, gone back to get the Super Adapter power up, beaten all the Wily stages, and gotten all the way to Wily's final form. At this point it was 2:30 in the morning and I decided to give up.

Butthole.

Now - since I'm playing on the Anniversary Collection on the PS2, the auto save only saves your progress up to the beginning of the first Wily stage. So now I have to beat all four Wily stages again. An incredibly frustrating setback that I can't even blame on Megaman 7 - the blame falls squarely on the developers of the compilation. I actually considered lying and saying that I beat it, but since I can't unlock any of the other games on the disc until I beat this one, that wouldn't really work.

So, here I sit, dragging my tired and frustrated Blue Bomber through the same four levels all over again.

I guess this time I just can't turn it off.

Still Playing: Megaman 7

So far I've managed to take out the eight Robot Masters - and lo and behold...I have a new most hated level of all time! Turbo Man!

Screw you, butthole.

Not only is this level frustrating because of cheap, one-hit-kill enemies and hazards, it's extremely tedious. There's pitfalls all over the level - and the ones that don't kill you force you through a slog of enemies with massive health bars, prompting you to empty your special weapons on these meaningless baddies.

THEN! After dancing through unpredictable, and unavoidable fire columns, and one-hit-kill lasers, you're met with an eighteen wheeler truck, who appears invincible. Every type of ammo you have bounces off of his stupid face leaving the player to believe that nothing will kill him. Welp. Come to find out - the bullets ARE doing damage! It's just that they decided to change the series standby of "these bullets aren't working because they're bouncing off the enemy" to "fooled you!"

Turbo Man himself isn't that hard if you have the right weapon, but the stage threw me into a frenzy multiple times.

 

See! Even this guy with the Australian accent had trouble with it.

Now on to the end of the game.

I'm comin for you, Wily!

Up Next: Megaman 7

Developer: Capcom
Release Date: September 1995
Average Review Score: 70%

I'm playing this via the Megaman Anniversary Collection on PS2 - and it forces you to beat one game before moving on to the next one. I beat the first one - Megaman 2 was unlocked. I beat that one, Megaman 7 is unlocked. Crazy right? Like, probably the craziest thing you've ever heard.

Megaman 7 is the first and only main Megaman game to appear on the SNES (the popular Megaman X series began a few years earlier). When the game was released, critics complained of it being too similar to the previous six games in the series. But I've only got Megaman 1 and 2 to compare it to, so it's pretty unique so far.

This

Then This

One of the interesting things about it is that not all the levels are open to you at the start. In the first two games, you had 6-8 levels to choose from, all available at the start, with part of the challenge coming from figuring out the right order in which to play through them. In Megaman 7, you only have four levels to choose from at the start - once those are completed, you get access to the next four. This makes it a little easier to figure out the proper order and streamlines the process a bit.


The graphics also seem to have been given a facelift. I say "facelift" specifically because it has that good ol' look-and-feel of the classic Megaman. Huge enemies, colorful characters, and memorable bosses are all hallmarks of the series, and that continues here, only with eight extra bits. The Blue Bomber's character model was also given a little more screen space, making him much larger within the environments.

Jurassic Park Man

Facelift McGoo.

So far I'm really enjoying the 7th entry in the legendary series. I've beaten four of the eight robot masters, but then I've got the inevitably difficult Dr. Wily stages. Wish me luck!