What I Played Today: July 23

Nintendo 3DS, Pokemon Mystery Dungeon, Rift, L.A. Noire

I bought a new thing today! It's pretty cool, you can just look at the screen and it's all 3D and stuff. I screwed around with it for a while, playing the A.R. games they have, until I got bored and remembered that I didn't actually buy a game specifically for this system, because I'm waiting for Devil Survivor Overclocked coming out next month. It'll have voice acting! And more than a single clock!

I did buy Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Sky, because I'm kinda stupid. This is the roguelike with Pokemon, and so far it's been mostly undifficult fights and too many cutscenes. I remember being done with it for the day after the start of Chapter 3, and was stopped dead by two five-minute long cutscenes on my walk back to the save point. I don't care about Marill. He has a stupid name. But it's supposed to get good soon, and it's not super vicious, so I'll hold out.

Also, got into a good funk with Rift, playing it because I can. I'm slowly climbing up there, almost to 50. Just a few more...weeks. And am getting tired of feeling compelled to kill every snake I see though, because they are supposed to drop Snake Tears, which I need to complete an artifact set. But no, all these stupid fearless snakes ever drop is their scales. Cry, assholes, Cry!

Oh, and, um, I finished L.A. Noire. I will not be saying a thing about it, because anything that happens in the final three cases is major spoiler territory, but I did find myself fighting with all the design decisions and storyline convergences that were popping up. Everything started to feel really odd and forced, and I didn't really dig on it that much. It was still good sure, but there were moments when I found myself saying "Really?" But enough about that. Go play it if you want to know what happens.

What I Played Today: June 20

Magic: The Gathering, L.A. Noire

I tried out the demo of the new Magic Xbox game, and it’s better than I expected. They beefed up the look and the gameplay, and actually included a lot of lore and material from the recent couple of sets, which was one of the problems I had with the first game, in that it didn’t feel like the current play environment. But this includes all the new mechanics, including totem armor, which I was not expecting, so that’s cool. I’ll have to buy it to learn more though…but it appears they are providing a lot here.

Also played more L.A. Noire, screwed up another case, because in my mind, I could see exactly what was going on, but that wasn’t what the game had going on, and so I got yelled at. I think I may have been following the desk arc rather than the case arc, which is why I got confused. I also chose not to interview the other guy, which was probably my biggest mistake. There was also a hilarious bit where I was walking around this area and come up close to a couple of dudes chatting it out, seeing if I can interact with them. The X button yielded nothing from the first guy, so I move up close to the second guy, and Cole immediately slugs him in the face! The guy falls like a sack of potatoes but says nothing, his friend is just kinda standing there, and I bail, because who knows what I started. It was just a really weird glitch, but funny as hell.

What I Played Today: June 13

L.A. Noire

Oh dear! I really didn’t expect that to happen! I mean, I knew there had to be a way to move Cole onto the next desk, which in itself seems a bit of a downgrade, but holy shit. I guess this is when things get real, huh? There was also some information provided to me, the player, that I wish Cole Phelps could have seen, so that I could have had Cole do something really awesome. So…now I’m in Arson! And I can’t say anymore!

What I Played Today: June 6

L.A. Noire

Oh son, Cole Phelps got into such trouble today. I finished up my current mission, and it went BADLY. Multiple corpses badly. So I get a one-star, and realized after it was done that there was literally nothing I could do, the game was already saved past the point of no return when I started today. I’m not even sure what I was supposed to do to make it not go tits up.

But it’s on to the next case, which finally starts bringing some of Phelp’s past into play (of course you knew that, because why would they be showing us flashbacks otherwise). I did get a weird glitch where after a cutscene, I hear a sound like breaking glass and then the screen freezes. I freaked out like crazy because I thought my TV just broke, but then I realized there is likely no glass in my LCD, and after restarting everything on my TV seemed fine. It was just weird hearing that noise when the game broke. I wonder if they did that on purpose.

What I Played Today: June 1

L.A. Noire

Played some more dang L.A. Noire, still in Vice, in which there is a lot of tailing people. Yep! That's all I've got to say!

What I Played Today: May 23

L.A. Noire

Played through a case tonight; it got overwhelmingly gamish, which I guess isn’t all bad, it is a game, after all, it just didn’t quite feel right, and felt even more jarring considering all the work I’ve done up to this point. I understand that they needed to do something more dramatic for this case, but it just wasn’t what I was expecting. And of course, because I want to avoid spoilers in this fantastic game, I can’t go into any details.

What I Played Today: May 21

Rift, L.A. Noire

I was busy waiting patiently for nothing to happen, so I didn’t play many games, just got a little further in L.A. Noire, reaching the end of the Homicide desk, I imagine, and played Rift, going up another level and a half. Haven’t got much else to say…

What I Played Today: May 20

Dominion, L.A. Noire

A couple of games of Dominion, one that I won pretty handily, due to milking a few good cards and my opponent costily getting screwed out of using a King’s Court, and one that I lost because I trashed all my estates and I could have really used those to force a tie.

Then some murder mysteries in 1940’s L.A., in which some serial murdering is brewing and things are looking a little too connected. No spoilers, although it has been pointed out to me that there’s a pretty obvious connection between these cases that isn’t being explored very well, in some cases shutting out the opportunity to actually check up on those options. Now, I wasn’t smart enough to notice, but I did start to notice in later cases where you are mysteriously not allowed to check out a location that keeps getting mentions, which is overly weird.

What I Played Today: May 19

Rift, L.A. Noire

Eh, just go read yesterday's post again. It was pretty much the same idea.

What I Played Today: May 18

Rift, L.A. Noire

I keep just kinda sorta playing Rift, which I’m not going to apologize for. The next “event” that they are constantly running is really a non-starter, in which not a lot happens and you need to collect these…eggshells, which you can’t get a lot of quickly. Meh, whatever.

Also played the next case of L.A. Noire, which was intense and interesting. I’m always a bit miffed when Rockstar games start doing that thing that they do, you know, when people stop being people and you just start mowing them down. I’m sure this situation isn’t going to come up often, but it’s always disconcerting when Rockstar gets all Rockstar on me. But it’s on to the next desk, and I’ve met some of the supporting characters who will surely get into some real crime later on. Although it is superweird how it mentions a number of months passing and just kinda skips over one of the desks. I guess that will be the DLC.

What I Played Today: May 17

L.A. Noire

Oh man this game is out! I’m excited, because after playing it for a bit, it’s a nice meld between an action game and an adventure game, in which you have to pay attention to the scene and take a good look around to figure out who has done what. It feels very immersive, and I like looking around and finding clues, although I would like less handholding when it comes to finding them, because I can imagine how interesting the story can get if I miss things.

The game looks and controls great, and the facial mechanics are just fantastic. One problem I am having a problem with is the pacing, as for the first hour you just get juked from case to case without any idea who you are and why you’re doing this besides the fact that you’re a cop. It’s weird that you aren’t eased into the plot, instead being tossed into it without much of a howdido. The quick pace also got me really concerned about game length (I want my games to last forever), as I completed four cases in under an hour, and there are only 21 included in the main game. But…things started to slow down in the next case, and I’m sure it will get even slower in the later cases. I can’t say anymore without spoiling anything; I even watched a playthrough where the players were extremely reticent to show any of the game because they did not want to spoil anything. So, I’m not going to talk about it too much.

But, I will point this out. What is with the extra ‘e’ on ‘Noire’?