POLITICAL KOMBAT 12

Elect your Champion!!!

   So if your like me or many others,  you've watched some or all of the Presidential Debates.  While some may view these as wastes of time (because let's face it,  it's alot of talking points),  now the way I see it,  they are just seconds away from trading blows (especially in this last debate).  Now this is where the title of this blog comes into play.  The folks over at Slate have something pretty awesome on their hands.  A few battles from something called Political Kombat 12.  These basically show the candidates duking it out in a winner take all battle to the death.  So let's check out some of the matches so far.

ROUND 1:

MITT ROMNEY VS. HERMAN CAIN

& RICK SANTORUM

   

   The first bout pits Romney against a Tag Team of Cain & Santorum and takes place in Obamaville (a run down town with gas prices at 8.52 a gallon?!?).  This game itself is very similar to Mortal Kombat, in name and in play style.  Each person has different moves (perfect for their character) and a finisher (we don't see everyones).  In this battle,  Herman uses moves like 999 (very underpowered) and creepy ads (I AM AMERICCAAAAA!!!).  Rick's moves really crack me up, SWEATERVEST and Clean Coal are the definite highlights here,  also using Church and State.  But both these guys fall to Romneys'  arsenal,  consisting of Missionary Proposition (what you see in the picture for the video above),  Olympic Savior (he fires the 5 Olympic rings from his robot arm), and he blocks with his Money Shield (which also deflects projectiles).  Of course this is all while sounding like a robot (Genius).  Romney takes the win in this round and finishes off Rick.  First with the Pro Choice Gatling Gun (as Governor Romney), then he has a change of heart and uses a Pro Life Axe (as Candidate Romney).  

   This ends with Rick taunting Mitt after being beaten, saying first " I can't believe I lost to a cult following, flip flopper...", then ending with "and I fully endorse his candidacy".  What a great intro battle, there's still 4 more to come.

ROUND 2:

MITT ROMNEY VS. RON PAUL &

NEWT GINGRICH

  

   So,  Round 2 has Romney fending off more Republican Candidates.  This time it's Newt Gingrich and Ron Paul.  This fight also takes place on Newt's Moonbase (Ha!).   It starts with Newt facing off against Mitt,  using moves like Ethics Violator (a punch to the twig and berries), some type of belly push,  Open Marriage (which ends with Mitt getting hit with a frying pan), and of course Freddie Mac Daddy (he drops a house on him).  Also,  Ron Paul (who fights in a hilarious Monkey Style) joins the fray using Puff Puff Pass (a pot related projectile that sounds funny), Gold Standard (similar to Sub Zeros freeze in MK), and Fan Spam (drops a bunch of fan posts, because the kids get it!).  Of course,  Romney brings one of his old moves into play and some new ones.  Still using his Money Shield (which he uses against Pauls Gold Standard), new to the fray is Blind Trust (Romney puts on a blind fold and money falls from the sky), Romney Care (he wraps up his enemy, similar to Anakaris in Darkstalkers.), and Tax Evasion  (a teleport move like Raidens in MK). He finishes the job with Newt first by Repeling Romneycare (lol) then throwing him into a his dogs travel crate that is strapped to the top of a car (obviously poking at Romneys' remark about where his dog was during their trip years ago).   Newt adds the final defeat remark by saying "You'll never truly defeat a Historian.  We only come back stronger, because we remember stuff!"  A great fight,  now on to the next one.

ROUND 3:

BARACK OBAMA VS. DONALD TRUMP

   Taking place in Trump City (where everything is made of gold apparently),  this battle pits Barack against Trump himself (who is considered a secret character on the roster list).  I will say that one of my favorite things is that, for some reason,  the creators decided to give Barack eyes similar to Akuma.  So now we get to see a whole new set of moves on both sides,  starting with Trump.  He opens the battle with Your Fired (lighting an enemy on fire from a distance),  while using other moves like Make It Rain (throws money in the air),  Birth Certificate (which makes Obama look like a Muslim when hit with it and a move he uses almost constantly, mirroring how Trump really acted with this issue), Comb Over Here (my favorite and very genius, resembles Scorpions hook), and Sold Crushing (drops a for sale then hits him with a wrecking ball).  Of course, Obama brings his own moves to the table.  He uses Supply Chain (a electric charged chain that uses emails to restore Obama's power), Count It (projectile where he shoots a basketball), Ray of Hope (He gets behind a podium and speaks while a giant ray fires at Trump), and Photo Op (his family jumps in for a quick photo that damages the opponent). He finishes off Trump first with the Long Form (shows a form as Trump is basically decimated) then uses Secret Smoke (Obama takes a drag off a cigarette then blows it on Trump, which melts his upper body down to a skeleton).  Trump ends with saying " An 'extremely credible source' told me that Barack Obama's birth certificate is a fraud, and that Americans should watch Celebrity Apprentice sundays at 8pm est".  Another good fight,  now it's time for the Vice Presidential Candidates to duke it out.

ROUND 4:

JOE BIDEN VS. PAUL RYAN

   So, this brings us to the VP fight, taking place on the Commuter Rail.  When the match starts,  Paul Ryan rips off his shirt and turns into something of a Bruce Lee look alike.  Biden is still asleep and the Commentator has to wake him up (I SAID FIGHT!!!).  Then he starts punching Ryan and using moves like Gaffe (A leg comes out of his mouth,  this can be a multi-hit attack like E. Honda's hundred hand slap), Big F'n deal (an F Bomb drops out of the sky to do massive damage), Regular Joe (a copy of Biden as a regular blue collar worker appears and damages Ryan when he touches it), Interruption (stops an attack and calls "malarky"), and Back in Chains (grabs ryan mid air and drags him to him, eventually combined with Regular Joe).  Paul Ryan wins the fight eventually,  using moves like We Did Build It (an kick uppercut like Fei Long would use), P90X (drops a bubble with P90X in it, his projectile), Marathon Time (Runs fast 3 times, something similar to what Kung Lao does in MK), and Budget Cuts (he grabs the Reapers Scythe, hitting Joe 3 times.  Each for Medicare, Social Security, and Sesame Street).  He finishes off Joe with Atlas Shrugged, where he throws the planet Earth on him.  Joe adds in, after being defeated, " My friend, we're not friends anymore! And I would have literally kicked the crap out of you if Bush hadn't left such a mess."

ROUND 5:

THE FINAL ROUND

BARACK OBAMA VS. MITT ROMNEY

This fight has not been made yet.  It will be released after the election is over.  This whole series is a great non game and an awesome satire on both politics and video games.  I hope you all enjoyed it as much as I do.  Make sure to check out the final battle once it occurs.  

Thanks everyone for reading and check out Political Kombat 12 on youtube.   Also don't forget to vote and stuff.  

10 of the Most Unique RPG Towns

  So I figured for todays blog, I would write about some of the strangest RPG Towns I have seen since gaming.  These are not ranked,  just put in a list format for the sake of organization.  So,  everyone enjoy this trip through crazy town with me.  

10.  The Village of Split - Elder Scrolls Oblivion

   In the Shivering Isles,  the land is split between Mania and Dementia.  This makes for some pretty interesting monsters and NPCs (allthough the leader of the Realm,  Sheogorath, is by far the best).  So on the border of the dividing line, stands the Village of Split.

   This town is populated (like other areas of the Shivering Isles) with people who are extremely Manic and also people who are severely Demented.  There are both types of people here because it's on the border of where the land splits between Mania and Dementia (Hence the name).  However the residents are even more unique than that, as it's populated with two of each person, one manic and one depressive.  This causes some crazy confusion as each one wants you to deal with the other one.  

    Everyone of course has their own reason for wanting you to kill their alternate.  All of these reasons are of course really insane, and they make for some entertaining dialogue.  Some think their alternates are going to kill them while others think they are going to eat them.  I applaud Bethesda's writers for making such a unique town.

9. Reverence - Baten Kaitos

  This game is already unique as it is.  Baten Kaitos, made by Tri-Ace, had a unique combat system (turn based but using a Poker Style to do attacks) and a great world (floating continents because most characters had wings).  The story was amazing and the art was beautiful.  Truly a great game with a sense of personality.

  Nowhere does this show most than the Town of Reverence.  My first impression was blown away, this town has a different animation style,  more old school than the rest of the game.  Everything is very flat, from the backgrounds to the residents.  But it's how the town itself is presented that makes it truly strange.  See Reverence is more like a story book.  By that I mean a Pop up Book,  everything unfolds, turns like pages, then springs out.  It's really amazing to see, and it really fits the uniqueness of this entire world.

   But Reverence truly stands as a unique town and shows great imagination on the parts of Tri-Ace for creating this.  I really would recommend watching the video and seeing it for yourself.  It is really awesome.

8. Shrunk down area - Shining Force 2

   The Shining Force series was on of those games that set the bar for me, in both RPGs and Tactical RPGs. It had a big amount of characters, great story,  everything even played out like an anime.  Also there were no random battles,  every battle was strategic and necessary.  There were many places you could travel around in on two pretty big continents.  One place in particular stands out.

   Without giving too much away,  you are heading towards Creed's mansion.  Once inside,  you attempt to find him and talk with the Devil Creed.   Instead you end up getting shrunk down,  from here you have to fight your way through some roaches (yes, roaches!).  Once your done with them you find a small gathering of people on a desk and bookshelves.  There's some people you will eventually recruit and a King of the area who tells you that you must fight the Chess army.  Basically meaning that you engage in a normal Shining Force battle,  but with a bunch of chess pieces.  This battle can actually be quite tough if your not prepared for it.  But it is a bit strange going from fighting fantasy world monsters (orcs, goblins, zombies, and such) to a tiny sentient Chess army.  

7. Saturn Valley - Earthbound

   Already a very unique game,  Earthbound (or Mother 2 as it's known in Japan) oozed with personality.  Having been used to RPGs being games that were taking knights and wizards to fight dragons or other demons.  This game was out of left field for me,  taking 4 psychic kids from a modern setting and pitting them against an alien force.  I instantly fell in love with it.  Of course that description barely scratches the surface of what the game is all about.  Every character, enemy, and ally all stood out (even the Strategy guide was unique,  it was freaking scratch and sniff!!!).  

   I would have to say that one particular set of characters stood out more than anything in this world, The Mr Saturns.  See Mr Saturn is well.... uhhh... some weird round thing with two legs, a nose, and some sort of reddish/pinkish hair on top of it.  When it spoke, it's text was just strange looking.  They all live in a place called Saturn Valley and they are all named Mr Saturn.  This is the sort of thing that would be inspired by someone taking many psychedelic mushrooms (Of course I think 99% of this game might fall in that category).  

   Never before or after this game have I ever seen anything so weird.  But that's also what made Mr Saturn so awesome.  This is a character that I really hope to see more of in the future.  Really,  I just want more Earthbound!!! 

6. Seaside Town - Super Mario RPG

   A grand crossover,  Nintendo decided that they would put the fate of their most beloved franchise in the skilled hands of Square.  A decision that may very well have been one of the smartest things they have ever done.  Even though we have Paper Mario nowadays,  Super Mario RPG was something altogether different (different = awesome).  

  The whole game you interacted with many characters from the Mushroom Kingdom, and some new characters unique to the game itself (Even a small cameo from Link).  You were going around trying to find all Seven Stars so you could defeat Smithy.  In about the middle of the quest,  you run across seaside town.  This area is populated by Toads who are acting kinda strange.  They behave as if they are possessed and also hiding something from you.  It creates some really odd scenarios where they keep whispering things to each other and moving back and forth on the counters kinda strangely.

   The game itself is just an awesome creation of Squares.  But they really make the strange aspects of the Mushroom Kingdom that much more strange.

5. Village of Mythril - Final Fantasy IV

  Whether on the surface of the world, or under it,  all the villages in Final Fantasy IV featured many of your typical Final Fantasy occupants;  Humans, Elfs, and Dwarves.  While each village wasn't boring,  none stood out as much as Mythril.  It's inhabitants, while strange, were all based on status effects you could inflict or have inflicted upon you in battle. 

    Residents fell mainly into 3 categories; frogs, pigs, and mini people.  The character could cast spells to turn enemies (or even yourself in the town map) into one of these.  The town itself also featured the dancing Mythril Brothers (seen in the video above from the DS version).  The main draw, however, was that they lived near Mythril mines.  The strongest material in the game, used to make the best weapon in the game.  The town was located on a secluded island, away from the empire and other villages.  Even their mine could only be reached by hovercraft.  

   This location sells the occasional strangeness of Japanese RPGs, but also the final fantasy series in general. It really shows that while they take their property seriously,  Square can also be really silly sometimes with it.

4. Rokkaku Hamlet - Suikoden 2

  Ah Ninjas.  What list could be complete without them.  Suikoden featured many characters from all types of backgrounds and parts of the world.  You would see nearly everything that fit into a typical fantasy world work itself into the gameworld,  but always in a way that made perfect sense.  So it only made even more sense that it would have ninjas.

  Rokkaku was first introduced in Suikoden 1.  Although at this point it was only merely mentioned,  which you even recruiting some of it's members in your party and army.  It wasn't until the awesome Suikoden 2 that you could actually visit the village itself.  However,  it wasn't something that was on your typical travel route through the game.  The village itself was hidden (which makes sense because hey, they're Ninjas.  It's not like there would be a big sign saying "Hidden Ninja Village this way".).  Not only was it a total geek moment for me finding it,  but the music was super awesome.  Plus you get to recruit more Ninjas, and you can never go wrong with that.

   Suikoden 2 is an amazing game as it stands.  But being able to see Rokkaku after only hearing about it in part 1 really made it an even better game in my opinion.   I would say everyone needs to play this game,  however, procuring a copy for yourself nowadays is gonna take a $100+ investment.  This game is extrememly rare and worth every penny you spend on it.

3. Dunwich - Cthulhu Saves the World

   This game had to make my list for many reasons.  For one,  you play as Cthulhu who has to become a hero. This is in order to get his stolen powers back so get can blanket the world with insanity (Hey he's a demon, what did you expect?).  What ensues is a hilarious trek through a world that not only pokes fun at RPGs stereotypes,  but pays tribute the Lovecraftian lore.

    Which brings us to the village of Dunwich,  Cthulhu and crew pass through here on their travels.  Of course, everyone in his party is taken aback by the town being overrun by zombies.  Cthulhu however, wants you to minimize zombie casualties (hey zombies are people too!), so you have work your way around all the various zombies partying in the streets.  While the town itself is still overrun (and it's one of the very few instances where you run into battles in a town),  there are still survivors and scattered shopkeepers throughout.  Some even take advantage of the situation by price gouging (bastards!!!).  You get to the end of the town only to find that  (as Cthulhu expected) Nyarlathotep is controlling all of them. 

   Not only is this game hilarious, but it has a very unique story.  Playing as Cthulhu is just plain awesome.  For any lovers of old school rpgs out there,  this game is only $2.99 on Steam and comes with Breath of Death VII (another awesome comedy RPG).  

2. Village of Magic - Chrono Trigger

  Chrono Trigger is a timeless RPG classic.  Shaping for many what games to come should be like.  I personally have sunk untold amounts of time into it.  Which is somewhat ironic to say, because this game is mainly about time travel.  As you played the game,  you would affect history, and in some cases, change the course of certain things in future parts of the world.

  The Village of Magic is one of those places.  It's a town built by and lived in by Monsters,  originally founded by worshipers of Magus (one of the games many villains/allies).   However, as you go through the game, defeating different bosses.  This town changes, from worshiping one villain to another and disliking all humans.  Eventually,  if you do the related side quests, they worship no one and become much friendlier with the player.  Dropping shop prices, inn prices, and dismantling the statues in the courtyard.  

   It's really awesome to see this town evolve as the game progresses.  Especially to it's eventual conclusion.  It's moments like this that really show how awesome time travel can be in gaming,  when used correctly.  Chrono Trigger is truly a unique gem of a game and would be my number one RPG ever, if it wasn't for the next game on this list...

1. Zozo - Final Fantasy VI

  Ah, Final Fantasy VI,  my all time favorite RPG.  What can I say about this game that hasn't been already said.  It had everything;  a unique cast, a madman bent on world destruction, train suplexing,  huge enemy variety, a believable world, and an amazing soundtrack.

   There's one other thing it had that has always stood out to me.  What I consider to be my favorite RPG town.  Now I know I said in the beginning this list is in no particular order.  This is the one exception,  Zozo is my all time favorite RPG Town ever.  First off,  one thing to know,  everyone here is a liar (except for the innkeeper!).  They say things like giving you the wrong time (for a clock puzzle to unlock the Chainsaw for Edgar),to telling you that Zozo has no crime (only thieves and brigands live here), and that the weather is perfect (it's always pouring down raining in Zozo).  This is also one of the only towns in Final Fantasy where random battles are engaged.  You have to initially come here because Terra runs away here.  But the town has so much atmosphere and an awesome theme to boot (check out the video to listen, it's Nobuo Uematsu at his best).  Honestly I would love a summer home here (not really :P).

   So remember for those who don't know,  come visit Zozo.  It's a great town and the people are wonderful.  By that I mean,  this place sucks and everyone is a lying asshole.  

Thanks for reading this and I look forward to all your comments.  If you enjoy my blogs, please follow me (not literally,  stalking is illegal!).  

-Chris

THE SEASON PASS

What should be good has become bad

   So at this point,  everyone is used to their games having extra content that extends the life of your favorite game.  This was an unheard of concept for console gaming over a decade ago,  PC gamers were used to getting expansions to their games (massive amounts of content usually as extra story and more multiplayer maps/vehicles/guns/etc.).  This can be a win scenario for gamers and developers alike,  it in many cases has become a way to milk more money out of the consumer.

   During it's late stages,  Microsoft started released extra game content through their Xbox Live service for Halo 2.  At this point, things like online gaming on consoles were in their infancy (Sega tried to start this trend with the Sega Saturn by purchasing an add on and also making the Dreamcast come standard with a 56k Modem.).  This was one of the first cases of DLC on a console game, at this point it was still a win situation for consumers.  It wasn't until the next generation of consoles (Xbox 360 and Ps3) that console makers and game makers really embraced this ideal.  But even during the early stages,  they had their stumbles.  The most famous of which is the Horse Armor DLC for Elder Scrolls IV Oblivion.  Bethesda put up DLC to add armor to your horse, which had no effect in game other than to change the look of it.  For this they wanted $2.50...  This caused a massive outrage from gamers and a big embarrassment for Bethesda.  Many viewed this as a travesty, as this item could have easily been put in the game or added for free.  Other games would put similar things in them over the years (Godfather buying in game money, Gears of War 3 selling weapon skins,  Tales of Vesperia selling level ups), but this became the most famous one.

   So, as I said, DLC is a common practice now for games.  When the game L.A. Noire was released,  Rockstar planned a release of extra cases for the game after its release.  This gave them the idea to release something called the "Rockstar Pass".  Basically this gave early adopters access to all extra content released for the game,  by paying a fee upfront.  This came to $10 for the pass (this is one of the two I have personally purchased),  this price later went to $12 after a time and at that price gave you a 50% discount on all DLC.  At the point,  I viewed this as a pretty good savings and still don't regret purchasing it.  However,  many other companies saw this and started to pick up on the idea.  Now you've got games like Forza Horizon, Mortal Kombat, Battlefield 3, Call of Duty Black Ops 2, Max Payne 3, Assassins Creed 3, etc., these are all adopting the practice of season passes.

   Now you would think from reading what I said above that this would be a good thing.  However,  many of the publishers are only offering, at most, a 10% to 20% discount.   For example,  Black Ops 2 just announced they are doing a season pass for DLC which will be $50.  This includes 4 unannounced Map Packs, retailing at $15 dollars a piece.  That's a savings of $10,  which is something like %18 (give or take). So this means that for anyone who's a big fan,  that's spending $60 for the game (if you just buy the regular editions,  big collectors editions can set you back $150).  So if you want all the DLC at a discounted rate, that's another $50.  There was even issues with people who had paid for Call of Duty Elite (which is $50 dollars),  then having the Map Packs for Modern Warfare 3 just recently go on a weekly sale.  This made all the DLC combined cheaper than the Elite Pass, which to many defeated the purpose of the service.
   Some games like Saints Row 3,  took a different route.  They made promises of certain pieces of content and did not deliver everything.  They even released content that was outside of the Pass,  forcing people who wanted it to pay more.  This obviously left a sour taste in their mouth.  It's this type of exploitation that gamers do not forget,  causing people to abandon franchises.
    While DLC is a good idea to extend your beloved games.  Let's hope in the future that publishers realize that the best way to keep fans,  is to give them their moneys worth.  Not use us as cash cows.
  As always, thanks for reading,  if you enjoy please follow my blog.  Also leave some comments below, thanks!

                          SPOTLIGHT

THIS ARTICLE CONTAINS STORY SPOILERS FOR PHANTASY STAR IV!!!

YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!!!

                                Todays Spotlight is on:

Rune Walsh

 Rune is one of the playable characters in Phantasy Star IV,  he is an extremely powerful wizard and the 5th generation of Lutz (a character from Phantasy Star I).  He becomes a very valuable member of your team and also picks on the main character,  Chaz Ashley.  He can sometimes come off cold to others,  but he generally means well.  

 
 When he is in your party (especially early in the game),  Rune uses some of the most devastating moves of anyone in your party.  The first time he joins you (which is brief), he pretty much annihilates every enemy you encounter.  His major weaknesses are that he doesn't have much defense or hit points, so keeping him alive is crucial to winning many of the later battles.  He's also present for majority of the crazy boss battles (two in particular in the Air Castle).

  His past is mostly left up to interpretation,  when you first meet him.  He already is acquainted with the hunter Alys Brangwin, although their relationship is never fully revealed (especially due to her eventual death).  He is respected by many different elders in parts of the Algol Solar System.  It is also later revealed that Rune is the 5th reincarnation of Lutz,  one of the playable characters from the original Phantasy Star.  Basically, all of Lutz's memories and powers are passed from successor to successor.  This has been done over a period of 1000 years.  Now,  one would think this would make them quite old,  Lutz and his successors use Cryogenic Sleep in order to extend their lives.  This also makes Rune one of the only Magic users left in the Solar System and also puts into question how old he actually is (this is never revealed as well).

  On the planet Dezolis lies the Esper Mansion.  This was established by the original Lutz as a place for the Espers to reside and also for them to protect and preserve his memories.  As Rune is the current Lutz,  the Espers hold him in high regard (those who know about it).   Of course,  him being such an old being also comes with enemies.  One of the original villains in Phantasy Star I,  Lashiec, is revived by the Dark Force (supreme evil in the galaxy), in which he steals a relic in order to lure Rune (Lutz) and his party to his castle so he can destroy him (this is where the Air Castle comes into play,  one of my favorite dungeons in all the RPGs I've played,  mainly for being such a huge area and REALLY tough).  

 Rune Walsh is one of those characters that is not only deeply ingrained into the universe,  but also brings life to the game itself.  This is one reason why I have enjoyed Phantasy Star IV so much and consider it one of my favorite games.  Really,  they could make this entire game into an anime (it pretty much is),  given the banter between characters. Especially between Chaz and Rune,  they provide alot of comic relief to the game and great character development.  

   Thanks everyone for reading and I hope you enjoyed it!  If you haven't already played Phantasy Star IV, this article only discusses a small part of it and you owe it to yourself if your looking for a really good old school JRPG.  

  

XCOM: ENEMY UNKNOWN

or

How to reboot a franchise the right way.

  So, this week saw the release of X-Com: Enemy Unknown,  a deep strategy game that was originally released in 1993 on PC.  This series was beloved by many strategy fans for it's layers of depth and intense difficulty.  It saw a few sequel releases in the following years but faded away for over a decade (hardcore fans never forgot it though).  This new release by Firaxis (Civilization devs, with other greats under their belt) pays an insane amount of tribute to the original, while modernizing it at the same time.  Other developers and publishers looking to reboot old franchises take note (I'm looking at you, Syndicate!).

  First off, for anyone who doesn't know,  X-Com is about first contact with a hostile alien force.  They invade the planet and start kidnapping people and destroying cities.  The X-Com program is started as humanities defense against the extra terrestrial threat.  You take the role of the Commander of this newly formed organization,  juggling many factors to keep it running and deal with threats.  You must send out teams to battle aliens with ground forces, use aircraft to shoot down UFOs,  build and manage your homebase, research new technology gained from battles, interigate any Aliens captured alive, and juggle keeping panic levels down in all parts of the world.  I know this sounds like too much to keep up with,  well if the game wasn't so well executed then that would be an issue.

   This game makes all these factors easy to get used, with such a great menu layout and overall look to the game.  The controls are superb and everything was explained very well as things went along for me (I'm about 10 hours in as of this writing).  Now I want to break down each section so you can really have an idea of the depth of this game (there really are tons of options).

COMBAT

   With combat,  one of the main things,  you can send a squad of anywhere from 1 - 6 soldiers.   There are different classes so each soldier is different (Assault, Sniper, Support, and Heavy are what I've seen so far).  Now each time a soldier ranks up you can choose between a few abilities to add, making 2 of each class a bit different.  Even more awesome is the ability to customize the look and name of each soldier,  it really puts a personal feel to each squad member making keeping them alive all that more important.  Because, well your soldiers will die, ALOT, especially if you are not careful.   X-Com does an excellent job of making you care for your soldiers and really wanting to keep them alive.  Not just because they level up but you really feel crappy when one of them dies.  Objectives in battle can range from stopping abductions, disarming bombs, invading alien bases, and raiding crashed UFOs (might be more,  i'm only 10 hours in).

   Now, within the battles itself, everything is turn based (you move your troops, they move theirs).  Your guys get 2 actions per turn.  You can move in a smaller area which takes one action, or dash which takes two.  You always want to be mindful of your cover and what type (a crate really doesn't hold up well against laser blasts and explosives), especially since your cover will be destroyed with attacks (destructable environments, woot!).   Among the assortment of other abilities,  every character has two options while lying in wait.  You can either "Hunker Down" which makes you a harder target to hit for that turn, but reduces your line of sight for seeing enemy movement,  or you can go into "Overwatch", that means you will attack the first enemy moves into your line of sight with an accuracy hit (enemies can do these too, so you have to be careful watching for that).  

   Keeping your troops safe is important in even more ways than I have described.  If you are reckless and get a squadmate injured, or worse killed,  your other soldiers might start to panic.  This causes some serious problems in battle, as you not only lose control of said Soldier for a period of time.  They also start firing randomly at things,  which could be enemies or other team members.  Your squad can also be poisoned by some aliens and even mind controlled by some of the more advanced enemies.  If someone is injured in battle and they survive the mission,  they will also be out of commission for a period of time, due to the injury.  These factors can rip your squad to pieces in no time, this is why it's important to pay attention and be careful.

BASE MANAGEMENT

  Another level of strategy,  you have to keep funding coming in and decide what to do with it.  At the beginning of the game,  you get to choose which country your base in located in (there are specific bonuses tied to each area, it also keeps panic levels down in that area).  Since you are building underground,  you have 4 layers to build into,  some areas need to be excavated prior to building.   This means you have limited space altogether,  so you have to decide what fits your objective the best.  You also have research labs and engineering to worry about, and the growing factor of power (you must manage power levels in order to keep your base running).  

   On the research side,  here you will take in salvaged Alien tech,  Alien bodies, and captives to study so you can further what equipment your soldiers use, which aircraft you can make, or even what structures you can build.  So it's important to always be researching anything but also recruiting scientists.  You can get more by doing missions and sometimes trading your salvage with other nations.  This will keep money coming in and your men alive on the battlefield.

   Somebodies gotta build all this stuff, right?  Well that's where engineering comes into play,  they build what is researched, man satellites, and build the gear your soldier's use.  You recruit them the same way you do scientists.  So these guys are the life blood of your operation.  

SECURING FUNDS & PANIC MANAGEMENT

   

  To get all the upgrades and base additions, you have to be able to pay for them.  This is where paying attention to your situation room comes into play.  Since the X-Com project is new and the world is being invaded,  all the major countries of the world are supporting it.  Now each country can go into further states of panic,  you can reduce this by stopping abductions or defeating aliens in that area,  However when scanning the globe for missions, when something does happen it occurs in multiple parts of the world.  For instance, abductions typically occur in 3 parts of the world.  Well you can only stop the aliens in one part of the world,  so you have to pick where your squad will go.  Once victorious, that areas panic level goes down. However, in the other two areas raises up.  If panic levels, get too high in one area, they will discontinue support for X-Com at the end of that month.  Now if you lose support for 8 or more countries throughout the game,  the project is shutdown and you lose the game.  So it's critical to pay attention to which countries have higher panic than others.

   Other ways you can reduce panic is by building and launching satellites in that area.  This helps further scan those parts for abductions and UFOs, and help that country feel safer with your program.  Now another factor of this is your aircraft.  In order to protect your satellites and shoot down UFOs, you need planes.  So you have to setup Jets on each continent,  this again helps reduce panic and gives you a way to shoot down any Alien craft in that area.  This in turn gives you access to more alien tech which can be sold on the Grey Market (one way to get more money by selling stuff to other countries) or researched by your scientists to make your arsenal stronger.

  Truly,  X-Com is a beast of a strategy game,  having so many layers to manage.  But again, this would all fall apart had not for its smart interface and its risk/reward system.  Now while my platform I played on is the PC,  I've read numerous reviews that say the game works great for consoles as well.  For anyone looking for a challenge or old fans,  this game comes with a high recommendation.  

KICKSTARTER

WHY IT CAN BE GOOD AND BAD FOR SMALL COMPANIES.

   By now,  I'm sure most everyone knows what Kickstarter is.  It's a Amazon affiliate website that let's people take a project that they are working on,  make a pitch video about what they want to create,  and put it up for people to help fund it with incentives to them from a simple thank you to merchandise.   Anyone doing a pitch has to have a minimum goal and offer rewards for anyone looking to support them.  You don't get any money unless you hit your goal, but once there you can keep going.  With some people setting high records,  in the multi millions.  

   In many ways, this helps small companies by pass would be publishers who would make a decision for the consumer.  This gives the power to the consumer, in the early stages, to decide whether they will purchase something or not.   So it's really a powerful tool for a company with little funding to get their products out there.  

   However,  it seems lately to be a place where high profile people set up a pitch idea and everyone flocks to it, showering them with tons of money.  Now, this isn't necessary a bad thing,  because the things they release are products that a publisher wouldn't even touch due to a supposed risk factor.  I have noticed though, from this, that people are seemingly starting to get a bit jaded with Kickstarter itself now.  I first noticed Kickstarter from a post on Kotaku.com, about the game Routine (one of the current Greenlight Steam products btw).  It was an indie title at the time and garnered a good amount of support (over 100k, if i'm not mistaken).  This was a little over a year ago,  so at this point Kickstarter was overflowing with small companies pitching their ideas,  trying to get a leg into the industry.  

   While nowadays it's much more popular,  if you search through it you will find many higher profile people.  Pitching ideas where they are looking for investments near 1 million,  usually going over.  Now while bringing more attention to Kickstarter itself is a good thing for a small developer.  It can also be bad being surrounded by such high profile people,  where someone might have supported your small project.  They now might get bedazzled by a bigger project from someone more well known,  therefore you are more likely to get lost at sea.  It also seems to be pushing some people away,  thinking Kickstarter has become a site where big time developers and idea men push their ideas so they can avoid publishers altogether.  While this is a good thing for them to avoid a middle man,  the people who cannot even get the middle mans attention get shoved into a corner.

   In closing,  I would say that even though I myself have been using Kickstarter for a project.  I feel good and bad about these issues.  While more exposure is a good thing,  it brings on much more people vying for attention.  So sometimes, the people who really need the support get lost at sea. 

   Thanks for reading (this is more of a personal thoughts thing) and check out my next blog on Wednesday.

 

                          SPOTLIGHT

The Spotlight series is a segment where I look at one particular character in gaming,  whether it's a Character, good or bad, Playable or Not playable, Main or Secondary,  and examine their deeds and what impact they had on me or gaming.  



Today's  Spotlight Character is:

Prince Luca Blight

from

Suikoden 2

    So Luca (or as he's lovingly referred to as, The Mad Prince) is part of the Royal Family of Highland.  He is a blood thirsty maniac and willing to murder and sacrifice anyone because he enjoys chaos.  He is also the heir to the Kingdom of Highland.  

    Now the source of his rage is really a tragic one.  When he was younger,  Luca was traveling in a Royal Caravan with his mother and father when they were attacked by bandits.  His father, the King, fled leaving them at the mercy of the ruffians.  His mother was raped repeatedly by the bandits,  which he was forced to watch.  Later, it is found out that the City of Muse (part of the City States of Jowston, Highlands enemy) hired these thugs to elimate the Royal Family.  After this incident,  his mother gave birth to his half sister Sara and died during child birth.  These things of course, contributed to shaping Luca into the monster he is (also having the last name Blight doesn't show much promise either).  

     Now fast forward to present,  Luca is the leader of Highlands Military after his father Agares steps down.  He decides to instigate another war to destroy the Jowston Alliance with the power of the Beast Rune (an all powerful and destructive relic).  Luca proceeds to slaughter the Unicorn Brigade (a small unit comprised of young teenagers),  Slays everyone in the town of Toto (except for a young girl),  and then crushes the local resistance movement.  

    After having his father assassinated,  Luca gains control of Highland and starts using the military to capture towns controlled by the Jowston Alliance and sacrificing people to the Beast Rune.  At one point,  he rounds up and sacrifices a 1/3rd of the population of the City of Muse.  

   It became clear that the remains of the Jowston alliance needed to stop Luca Blight for good.  They get word of a raid that he is planning to crush their resistance movement.  So they prepare to ambush him and take him out.  What proceeded here was, in my opinion, the most insane battle with a video game villain to ever occur.  

   You have to split into 3 parties of 6 team members, each led for one of your more high profile members.  After getting Luca into the woods the first party fights him, taking down his health just a little.  First group, led by Flik, fights Luca and some soldiers.  Then they get taken down and retreat (Luca gets 3 attacks per turn!!!).  Next up is the 2nd team,  led by Viktor, who fight Luca again (he's lost some health) and more soldiers.  They have to retreat,  then your main character comes in and fights Luca for the 3rd time (this time it's just him).  The first 2 battles you couldn't win,  this one you have to win.  Afterwards, Luca flees into the woods and you have to fight some more of his soldiers on the way to him.  He ends up near a tree at the edge of a cliff, injured but not down.   Then, some of your archers unload on him, hitting him 5 or 6 times.  At this point your character catches up to him.  Which Luca, riddled with arrows,  rushes your character for a one on one fight.  Now you only have to hit him once, but if he can kill you in two hits (which if he does you have to start all that over again).  After you hit him for the final time,  he slumps over on the tree.  Before dying,  he says one final thing to the player,  "It took hundreds to kill me,  but I killed humans by the thousands.  I am sublime!  I am the true face of evil!!!"  At this point,  I had to give a huge sigh.  This is one of the most exhausting battles in gaming history,  clocking in at 40 mins to an hour (Just to take out one person!!!).   It's also important to note that he is note the last boss,  this part takes place in the middle of the game.  

   So in conclusion,  I wanted to make my first Spotlight segment on who I thought was one of the biggest villains in gaming.  Yeah he might be viewed by some as a cliche maniac,  but he didn't seem to care.  

Here's a list of Quotes from Luca, taken from Suikoden Wikiquote:

- "DIE PIG!" - right before he stabs someone begging for their life

- "I don't care about breeding. A sword doesn't need a fine lineage,        it just needs to be sharp"

- "Fear is a stupid emotion..."

- "Let me tell you something.  There are weak men and strong men in this world.  The strong men take everything and the weak men die.  That's how the world was designed.  Now I will show you how it works, weaklings!!!"

- "HAHAHAHAHA you LITTLE punk.  Kid you've got balls I'll give you that.  Would you like me to remove your head from your shoulders with this blade?" - to Jowy

- "Riou, right here, right now, I am gonna separate your little puny head from your little puny body"

- "Just below the surface, I see the darkness inside you."

- "To end this war? That's a fairy tale... it's a foolish child's dream,  Even if you kill me and defeat Highland, you won't have peace! You'll have a defeated country screaming for our vengeance."

- "You can round up a million maggots to try to defeat me... but you'll still all just be maggots!"

- "I've chopped hundreds, thousands of necks.  I can do it with my eyes closed!"

- "It took hundreds to kill me, but I killed humans by the thousands. I am sublime!!! I am the true face of evil!!!"

Thanks everyone for reading and I hope you enjoyed this segment.