Under Appreciated, my ass

So the other game I ordered due to the Filter "Under Appreciated Games" episode was Shadow of Destiny. What a crappy game. I like adventure games (Myst is still one of the best games I've ever played), so even tho' I like FPS, I like adventure quite a bit. This one is soooo badly done I'm not sure I can play thru it.

Ico was an absolute delightful game to play. I can see why it was under appreciated (too cerebal for mass appeal), but this Shadow of Destiny is crap.

The voice acting is painful. It's all dialog (I actually haven't had much to do). It's also time travel based, so you have to go thru the same painful voice acting sequences more than one time.

It's a shame, as the idea of the story is good. Ah, but the game play is slow and tedious so far. I'll plug along for a bit more, but at this point, I would rather play Ico again... or either of the Soul Reaver games. I can never get tired of a Legacy of Kain game... 

 (hey, they have Kahn in the spelling dictionary but not Kain?????)

Ico

I finished Ico. It's a very short game (took me about 7 hours to play), but it was great. The puzzles were difficult, yet clever and solvable. The story, tho' basic, was done superbly. The animation of the main characters was just flawless.

I did find the fighting a little annoying. As it's not really a fighting game, the fighting was a mash the X button until your thumb hurts game play. No strategy involved. My only other complaint is that sometimes the camera angles are hard to figure jumps (especially if you have to line 2 items up).

As I said, this one's all about the personalization of the characters. You want them to succeed-which is what I want from a game. I can understand why it didn't do well: it is a very laid back quiet game. No throbbing exciting music (very little music at all as a matter of fact). There's no real dialog (Ico doesn't understand Yorda, and you can't understand either: it's all subtitled)

Well worth getting. A game I plan on playing thru again.

Arrived!

ah, nothing like receiving a package of games in the mail. My two "new" games arrived today.

I started Ico and already am enjoying it. There's a simple beauty to the story, but the puzzles have already proven to be challenging (but not impossible yet).

I haven't tried the Shadow of Darkness yet. I'll pop it in the PS2 just to make sure it works, but I'll concentrate on Ico right now.

Done, again

I finished Legacy of Kain: Defiance yesterday. Again. For the 10th time. Have I mentioned how much I love the game? Yes, I believe I have.

My games from EBGames are on their way. Both are PS2 games. Both are more adventure/puzzle than action. Hopefully like Soul Reaver 2.

I'm guessing they'll be here tomorrow!

More on the way

I'm playing thru Legacy of Kain: Defiance for like the 10th time. Have I mentioned how much I looove this game?
 
Yesterday while watching G4-Tech TV (am I geek or what?), Filter did a show on under-appriciated games. I saw 2 that had my name all over them. Ico (I think it didn't do well due to the name) and Shadow of Destiny. So I ordered them from EB Games (love that 15% off pre-played games discount!!!). 
 
I'm pretty excited about Ico.  I've been reading the boards on it and it definitely sounds right up my alley.
 
Speaking of the boards (I use www.gamefaqs.com), I was referred to as a "girl" by one of the gamers. I was so flattered. (the actual reference was "I can't believe a girl beat this game before I did"... haaahaaa... bow to my superior gaming goddess abilities little kiddies!!!!)

KOTOR: or the end of your life as you know it...

Yep, still playing Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic. I'm almost done with the second time thru. Sadly, there are a lot of side quests that could take up even more time (you have to have the right personal with you at the right time to do some of them). I think the key is not to find the actual Star Maps until you complete all the side quests. Not that you need to do them. It helps you level up, but I maxed out my level up so early that I had two plus worlds that I was maxed out on.

I was going to do dark side on this, but just couldn't do it. Oh well... maybe the next time I play it! Heeheehee

Actually, I've got a hankering to do a little Kain. I may go thru the Defiance game again.

The new gaming blog

Okay, Blogger is much easier for these "side" blogs that I keep starting. It will also help me clear up some space on my Knitting Park domain. I'm going to spend today fine tuning my template, then I'll update my game playing (FYI: I'm still playing Star Wars: KOTOR).