SixTwoSixFour

Wow. That, uh... That's actually pretty good. I really didn't expect quality from the Duke after all this time....

People who bought Darksiders within the first couple of days of release had a little slip inside their game, next to the manual. The slip said, basically, "Here is your secret code. What does it do? There will be an announcement at a later date." Two months passed, I had forgotten about it, and then they said, "Go to the THQ website, punch in the code, and you get a free copy of Red Faction Guerrilla for the system of your choice, just pay shipping." Made me very happy.

Not sure how it's possible for an insult to be "no offense," but whatever. It was a little long winded, though.

Guerrilla was a lot of fun- I got my copy free thanks to the whole Darksiders thing, and I enjoyed it immensely. Don't think I'll buy the new one at release, but once the price goes down a little, I'm in. The walkers were fucking awesome. I was playing it with my friends one time, and my friend found a walker, and went to one of the rebel bases. He walked the machine up to a lady who was standing next to a car, declared "Ma'am, I'm TAKING YOUR CAR" and then hit the swing arm button. One massive explosion later and we were all laughing our asses off.

Well, if you disagree, I respect that. To me, the fact that you could position yourself during combat was a big enough change that it felt very different to me. I know, now you're going to say "You could do that in FF Tactics," and I really don't have a good response to that. It felt different to me. That's all I got.

Double Trouble was great, show some respect!

It's very nice that you have a different opinion about the movie than me. That's the nice thing about opinion. You made the statement that you couldn't call Scott Pilgrim clumsy. Maybe you don't think it is, but sure I can call it that. I think it is clumsy. The magic of opinion. For the record, my problem was not with the cast- they did their job quite admirably, Cera in particular. My problems probably stem from the source material (which I have never read), but that's the danger of adapting a work of fiction for film- if the source material is disliked, the movie will more than likely be disliked. As to specific complaints, since you were so specific with your praise.... The game metaphors were incredibly clumsy. Having Scott "get a life" for playing well at the battle of the bands made me wince, having all the bad guys turn to piles of quarters when killed was a painful attempt to reference River City Ransom, the random Zelda music was jarring. But that, of course, was not the only group of problems with the movie. Out of all the characters that fought with super powers (evil exes plus Scott, Knives, and Romona, forgive me if I'm forgetting one or two), only one was explained- the vegan, who has powers because he's vegan. I have no problem with that explanation- it was maybe the one part of the movie I found genuinely funny. But presenting us with an everyday world and then spontaneously giving its inhabitants powers is just stupid, and sloppy storytelling. If there had been any kind of excuse, that would have been fine, but the movie just takes it for granted that we'll roll with it when the world is, otherwise, perfectly normal. Scott in particular is an incredibly ordinary guy who suddenly becomes an incredible fighter just because it's convenient, narratively. The few jokes that were amusing the movie brought back until it was impossible to enjoy them anymore- yes, Scott's roommate has this near-inhuman ability to spread news and gossip. It was cute the first time. Let it go. But really, most of the flaws of the movie come from the fact that it embraces gaming tropes that are awkward even in gaming. Extra Lives are (or were, it depends on your perspective) a necessary part of video games, to keep the action going, but it's pretty obvious to everyone playing that they're a breaking of the fourth wall, and make no sense in the in-game universe. Similarly, the fact that characters have fighting prowess is a necessity in most video games, even if they have no martial background. We accept it, because if we didn't, there could be no game, but it's clumsy and awkward. They're necessary evils, endearing flaws that we have, over time, come to love, because they show video games for what they are- flawed pieces of entertainment. Everything is flawed in some way, I'm not dissing games, but if games were perfect, and had always been perfect, there would BE no Extra Lives. There would BE no characters who had inexplicable powers, there would always be a reason. Scott Pilgrim's entire schtick is taking those flaws out of context, and once they're out of context, put into the setting of a live-action film, we suddenly become aware of just how clumsy they are. Making it "canon" that it took the protagonist two lives to finish the final level is stupid. Having Scott suddenly gain "the power of love" and "the power of self-respect" in a burst of flame and sound is stupid. The movie draws attention to things that even video games try to keep behind the scenes, because when you see them up close, when you really think about them, they're sloppy design. And the movie tries to use these endearing flaws as its focus and selling point- thus making them unendearing. We love them BECAUSE they are awkward but necessary. When you proudly display them, we have no choice but to see them for what they are... and thus dislike them. That is Scott Pilgrim's true legacy- managing to take the most fun parts of gamer culture, and make them insufferable.

"If you wanted it to be" being the important phrase there. It was entirely possible to play without using the menu very much in combat. And sure, you used menus to set up the gambits... but if you're getting that nitpicky, then every game is menu-based because you need to navigate menus to start, load, and save games. FFXII's combat was different from what we've come to expect from a Final Fantasy, I'm pretty sure you agree with that. How we phrase it is a pretty unimportant point.

Gackt holds the Philosopher's Stone- he will be toasting his reign when we are all long in the grave. As to what it means to be a Final Fantasy... it seems like a dangerous question, but I would say it means a couple of things. It means an RPG- to me, Dirge of Cerberus wasn't a Final Fantasy, it was just FF-inspired. It means swords and sorcery- if there were no swords, or no magic, I don't know that we could call it a FF. It means preset characters- if a Final Fantasy were to allow you to create the main character, like name, face, features, class, all that, I don't feel it would still be a Final Fantasy. And finally, it means plot-driven. If they were to just drop us in an open world with no goals, I don't feel it would still be a Final Fantasy. Of course, they're changing the definition all the time. Once upon a time, I would have added "menu-based combat" to that list, but FFXII kinda derailed that one. And I'm sure some people will disagree- this is not a definitive list, this is just what I think when I think of Final Fantasy.

Very true. It seems kind of like Psychonauts in that regard- it didn't do well commercially, but after the fact, everyone realized that they'd made a mistake and that it was actually a great game.

I even OWN the Club and I really didn't like it. I think you're giving it too much credit, I thought it was lame. Viewtiful Joe, similar to God Hand, was an amazing game that did not get the sales it deserved.

I think you can absolutely describe Scott Pilgrim as clumsy. Just because the visual effects were well done doesn't excuse incredibly unlikable characters, weak story (when you shoot for a D movie plot and FAIL, there's a problem), and irritating attempts at nostalgia.

...One of the Shrek movies? Pass.

Last crap movie? Scott Pilgrim vs. the World. God. I have never been so ashamed of gamer culture- watching that movie try to clumsily lay claim to our society just pissed me off. Badly written, stupid in concept, the only things it did well were the things it stole.

I... huh. Uh. No idea, and I'm not sure I wanna know.

AND KNOWING IS HALF THE BATTLE. G. I. JOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOE "And the other half?" "Fate."

Looked it up- here's what we got so far. Once upon a time, every country had FFV-esque crystals, and they basically allowed the people of that country to use magic and shit. Now, it's the present day, and only one nation still has a crystal. Noctis, our protag, is the prince of the nation that still has a crystal. The other nations of the world, in lieu of having magic, have had to develop advanced technology, and there's a sort of Cold War going on between them, a magic vs. tech war, it looks like. Though I think the magic side has tech as WELL, so that's hardly fair XD And basically, the Cold War turns very, very hot, and Noctis is left having to fight for the freedom of his country. So what little we know actually sounds really really cool.

The reason we believe that is that Versus has had way more dev time, and is being made by a better team. It's the Kingdom Hearts team, they know their shit. I fully expect Versus to be a much better game.

Not sure if you mean the XIII-2 trailer or the XIII Versus trailer, but I just watched both, so I'll comment on both =P The XIII-2 trailer was, predictably, short on information, but I like the idea of Lightning not doing the traditional epilogue hero thing- that is, hanging up the sword and settling down. That's just not her style, she'd find something else to fight for. And it would seem she has. (XIII-2 trailer linked in spoiler tags- warning, pretty loud, adjust your volume) XIII Versus... now, THAT was interesting. It was definitely not what I expected... and I'm not sure what to make of it. I mean, I like it. I like it a lot. But... it seems... weird, to me. It almost seems like they are taking a real world setting, and suddenly plunging it into magic and monsters. I hate it when fiction does that. It's also possible, of course, that it's just a fantasy world that has a lot of the trappings of our modern world, and that would actually be really cool. I guess we'll have to find out more. Still... gameplay. FINALLY. And it looks pretty solid. Wonderful. Fucking. News. Maybe it will actually come out. (XIII Versus trailer linked in spoiler tags- also pretty fuckin' loud. This uploader just fucks with the sound equalization, I guess.) Edited for multiple code failures, I am stupid.

StaySICK is our winner!

"The greatest trick the devil ever pulled... was convincing the world he didn't exist." I'm not one hundred percent sure that this isn't in more than one movie, so if you give an answer different than I'm expecting, but you KNOW it's in that movie, just let me know. Honor system here =P

Other people got that too?! I thought my disk was fucked up or something. "I'm Commander Spaghetti, and this is my favorite shop on the Citadel!"

...That sounds so familiar... TOTAL RECALL! HA!

Not to be a hater, but I thought the Wii has been in a sharp decline for a while now. A couple years? The whole "game library doesn't even compare to PS3 or Xbox" thing? No?