The Gamer's Quarter

Legal Step · . Joined: 15 Feb 2005 Posts: 81 Location: Los Angeles

At lunch today I tried to go to my local Los Angeles gaming establishment only to get there and find out that the last copy was sold. I didn't ask the guy to hold one because I figured Sony, in its abundant wisdom, would have made tons of copies of this greatly reviewed game. But no I get there and I see a US PSP box, on the counter a day early, but no God of War!

This is tragic and I wonder if I should bother calling around or just wait until I can get it there. If I didn't own a PSP or wasn't improverished I would have bought the US one. As it is now that one was being contemplated by a Japanese guy who I was debating the 'portability' of it with.

I think deep down inside this Japanese guy envied because I was man enough to admit Xbox didn't really "do" anything for me. Though I did enjoy Halo and I'm glad and followed Mr. Mechanical's advice and got one, it's just my honeymoon with it, ended in tragedy.

dhex · Posted: Wed Mar 23, 2005 9:10 pm Post subject:

i haven't tried that hard to get a game in a very long time.

may the gods (of war!) be with you.

Szczepaniak · . Joined: 19 Feb 2005 Posts: 770

The only games I buy in stores are impulse purchases or retro stuff.

Big new games I tend to order off the net for cheap.....

Then again, I did buy a DS yesterday, and rather than chronic European shortages Ive been hearing about, the store had over a dozen left on the shelf. Then again, they were a supermarket. After which I went to buy some bread rolls, they were out. So I did indeed go around to another store. Though I'd admit there is little correlation between my bread roll buying habits and your PSP story of woe.

Have you tried buying online? Goodluck. (what is Gods of War? Surely you should give us a brief outline of what it is? Sadly I have not been following the PSP in recent weeks, the last review I read was for Ac!d.)

Mr. Mechanical · Friendly Stranger Joined: 14 Oct 2004 Posts: 1276

friedchicken · . Joined: 16 Mar 2005 Posts: 496 Location: Port Land, OR

It's especially bad when you check online and/or call for availability and see they have it, only to find it's nowhere to be found when you arrive.

OR! Worse yet, you find the case on the shelf, take it up to buy it, it's the last one they have, and they CAN'T FIND THE GAME!!! True story, it's happened to me several times. It's psychologically damaging.

SuperWes · Posted: Thu Mar 24, 2005 10:15 am Post subject:

That's a shame because God of War is easily the best game I've played in a long time. Remember Rygar on PS2? This is Rygar done right, and much better than it has any business being. I wish it was on PSP so that I could try out my new toy and play the best game of 2005 (tied with RE4).

-Wes
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Shapermc · Hot Sake! Joined: 14 Oct 2004 Posts: 6279

Legal Step · . Joined: 15 Feb 2005 Posts: 81 Location: Los Angeles

usually I do pretty good getting games...gone are the days when I would put 5.00 down to preorder...so far today I have struck out again too. I might be forced to have to delay my eventual satisfaction

SuperWes that is good to know because Rygar is crappy.

friedchicken · . Joined: 16 Mar 2005 Posts: 496 Location: Port Land, OR

Shapermc · Hot Sake! Joined: 14 Oct 2004 Posts: 6279

friedchicken · . Joined: 16 Mar 2005 Posts: 496 Location: Port Land, OR

SuperWes · Posted: Thu Mar 24, 2005 3:28 pm Post subject:

dhex · Posted: Thu Mar 24, 2005 3:46 pm Post subject:

launch sales are the craziness.

god bless you nutty bastards.

you know what would be funny? doing a short on waiting to buy a psp, getting it, and then yanking it out of the packaging and destroying it in front of everyone else waiting in line.

Mister Toups · Posted: Thu Mar 24, 2005 5:28 pm Post subject:

I liked Rygar.
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where were you when nana komatsu got a wii?

SuperWes · Posted: Thu Mar 24, 2005 5:40 pm Post subject:

Mr. Mechanical · Friendly Stranger Joined: 14 Oct 2004 Posts: 1276

Rygar's movement felt too stilted. God of War feels much more fluid and natural. In more ways than one it is Rygar done right without all the kinks.

Shapermc · Hot Sake! Joined: 14 Oct 2004 Posts: 6279

Hell, I joined the bandwagon on this... the gift card paid for it so... I can't complain.

Sorry Legal, our store had over 10 copies.

friedchicken · . Joined: 16 Mar 2005 Posts: 496 Location: Port Land, OR

dhex · Posted: Fri Mar 25, 2005 8:40 am Post subject:

which episode? i probably did, but my brain is coated in a thin layer of resin.

friedchicken · . Joined: 16 Mar 2005 Posts: 496 Location: Port Land, OR

dhex · Posted: Fri Mar 25, 2005 8:56 am Post subject:

oh yeah. he calls him his monkey and makes him ruin christmas.

Legal Step · . Joined: 15 Feb 2005 Posts: 81 Location: Los Angeles

I got this and MrMech is right, this is how Rygar should have been. It's like they took Rygar broke it and then built it again from the ground up. I keep powering up my blades and whatnot...good stuff.

Oh yeah I finally got it.

dhex · Posted: Fri Mar 25, 2005 12:40 pm Post subject:

why did rygar fall flat?

friedchicken · . Joined: 16 Mar 2005 Posts: 496 Location: Port Land, OR

I personally enjoyed Rygar, but then I did only pay $5 for it. I guess when it's compared to other stuff though, it seems a little... light, and almost unfinished. It starts off pretty strong, but gets less and less improessives as it goes on. I especially dislike the way the camera works , and how that effects jumping later on in the game. But then you barely take any damage at all from a missed jump that in many other games would kill you, which is in itself a problem. Oh, and the princess who looks like Britney Spears is pretty dumb.

It's got some good points, like the high destructability of stages, the graphics, and... well, no, the fighting engine is a little crappy too, sorry.

Mr. Mechanical · Friendly Stranger Joined: 14 Oct 2004 Posts: 1276

Rygar had some camera issues that hampered play and the combat felt somewhat neutered. That, and it was a bit too long for it's own good, it just kept going after you would've expected it to end and the level of polish slowly degraded as the game went on.

That and action wasn't fast or frantic enough, and you spent more time breaking stuff in the environment than you did slashing enemies with the diskarmor. Animation wasn't as fluid as it could have been too. Overall it was just a lot of little things that took away from it that added up in the end.

That said, Arcadia is still one of my favorite video game levels.

So far, God of War is just awesome, through and through. I got it last night and I've been playing it today. I'm really getting the feeling that this is what 3D action brawlers should have been by now, but for some reason haven't. It's like developers were too hung on getting the camera right or something.

It's also very focused. I mean, like Ninja Gaiden Xbox focused. I think it's because it's the brainchild of David Jaffe. This is the game he wanted to make, and he wanted to make an awesome, bloody game with a modest amount of T&A.

It's not as hard as Ninja Gaiden, though it still manages to feel like a challenge. It mainly focuses on letting you do cool shit and feeling badass, whereas Ninja Gaiden focused on training you to actually be badass. Both games are really quite different, but they have their similarities it seems.

Ok, enough talk, I'm going to go back to shoving my blades down the throats of minotaurs and twisting the heads off of gorgons.