In the wild, mouse at the ready, hunting down links
From The Fantastic Four # 4 (1962):
Posted in Comics.
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– Tuesday, August 19, 2008
Having played and completed Final Fantasy XII and Persona 3 FES, I’ve begun my third Playstation 2 Japanese RPG on the trot, Final Fantasy X.
Final Fantasy X was released in 2001 but it looks older than that and occasionally plays like a really old game. Playing it makes a gamer better appreciate the improvements Final Fantasy XII brought to JRPGs, console gaming and RPGs as a whole.
The random encounter feature in FFX is the biggest gameplay annoyance by far. You’re jogging at a sedate pace on what appears to be a quiet country road when the screen suddenly shatters without warning and foes appear out of the ether.
(Original image source: SCEA.)
Continued…
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– Sunday, August 17, 2008
(Image source: Atlus.)
“What gives you life? What makes you realize you’re alive?”
Those are the questions The Answer, Persona 3 FES‘s bonus chapter, purportedly addresses. However, after sinking 30-plus hours into the add-on, gamers will be inclined to suggest “How do we entice fans of the original P3 to buy P3F and then proceed to alienate them?” as a reasonable alternate.
Continued…
Posted in Games, Persona 3, PS2.
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– Sunday, August 10, 2008
(Image source: Persona 3 FES ending.)
There are moments when Persona 3 FES, a game from a Japanese developer, seems very Japanese.
That the writer(s) were concerned with the way Japanese society was heading is clear from the allusions in the game to the hikikomori and Aum Shinrikyo. And it’s telling the game’s attitude towards The Lost, the hopelessly apathetic victims of the Shadows, is handwringing about the effect on society rather than heartfelt concern for the individual victims themselves. The collective comes before the individual in Japan, and self-sacrifice as a means to protect others is a recurring and another very Japanese theme in P3F.
But there are also moments in the game when the player is faced with more personal yet universal concerns. There are few games that leave you contemplating life, death and what it means to live with the knowledge of its inevitable end.
Continued…
Posted in Games, Persona 3, PS2.
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– Saturday, August 2, 2008
