GamesCom 2013 - Wednesday (Trade Visitor- and Press-Day)

I was kinda tired and my feet still hurt, but I didn't want to miss this year's GamesCom, especially if I was able to enter without buying any ticket |'D

So we arrived at Cologne at around 12:30 and decided to enter at Congress Center Ost (East Entrance), so I would be able to avoid the crowd entering at GamesCom's main entrance (South). Even though it looked rather full in the entrance hall as well, I think it was a good choice to go there. Of course I had to wait for my companions, since they only had "normal" Trade-Visitor tickets, and were only allowed to enter when GDC was officially closed. Anyway, it worked pretty fast! ^^

First, we entered Hall 10, which was rather boring, actually. We just wanted to get some ribbons which would allow us to enter 18+ booths, but the queue was SO long, so we decided to go on without wearing a ribbon. And to be honest, I'm quite happy I didn't try to get one either, since we totally didn't need them, haha! ^^; 

So we left to Hall 9.1 , where there was the Square-Enix booth! It's so flashy!  (๑•ᴗ•๑)♡ Square-Enix had lots of games with them this time - "Kingdom Hearts", "Final Fantasy X" (and X-2), "Lightning Returns", "Murdered", "Thief" and of course "Final Fantasy 14 - A Realm Reborn".  We even gave it a try to play "Lightning Returns" - but I got to say that unfortunately, that's a game I'm not looking forward to. I don't like the main character, to be honest, even if I like her design... but she looks and appears "soul-less" in my opinion. She's not one of those characters you directly fall in love with. She's just... boring? I don't know. And also the new battle system is rather weird for me. I don't like "half-agile" battle mechanics, to be honest. But it's just like that. The player got to change Lightning's outfits several times within a battle, and by doing so her 'class' changes automatically (e.g. "warrior", "magican" and so on). The artists did a very great job on this game anyway, especially on the monsters. Kudos to you, guys.

Some more impressions from the booth <3 

Well, after checking out the Final Fantasy-part of SE, we decided to attend a presentation for the game "Thief", which actually is just a remake... anyway it looked so cool, and I'm totally looking forward to this game! Especially because I already thought that the old Thief-games were totally great! Unfortunately, we weren't allowed to take any photos during that presentation, BUT I totally felt it's the same team workin' on this title which also was responsible for "Deus Ex: Human Revolution" (and, oh you can't imagine how I loved this game!). 

Right after the presentation finished, we headed back to the back side of the booth, where there was another presentation... a presentation about "Final Fantasy 14 - A Realm Reborn" by Naoki Yoshida !! ❤　He introduced some innovations and even fought against one of the bosses, allying with some random attendees :'D He obviously had fun! Unfortunately, he already left the stage quite early again, but I was able to ask for an autograph and additionally I could have a little chat with him in Japanese! He was visibly surprised about that, though ( *´艸｀) ). 

After that, we didn't attend lots of presentations or tests, since most of the queues were already too long (so I don't wanna know what it'll look like on Saturday .... _ _'! ). Anyway I met lots of press people who also did recognize me with a huge smile :) Thank you so much, you made my day! ww And I also met Mohamed and Vicenzo :) (I hope you guys will have a save trip! ).

Later on that day, we were invited to have some drinks at the business area, where we stayed until GC closed :'D I was able to take some "Monster Energy"-drinks with me for free, and well, since I totally love "Monster Ripper", I didn't need to think twice! (￣∀￣)

Nevertheless, we saw a lot. Too much, maybe, to put it into words without hurting my fingers, haha :') But since I want to end this entry with picutres... here we go! ^o^

 

(The Last of Us)

(Assassin's Creed IV - Black Flag)

(World of Warcraft)

(World of Warcraft)

("Rain")

(the "Flying Steps" at the PS4-booth)

 

(Castlevania 2)

Just received my schedule for GDCE!

Yey, so it's been a while again. Anyway I just wanted to share my excitement with you. As I mentioned before, I'm happy to be part of GDCE (Game Developers Conference Europe) in Cologne again ☆

This time will be totally different for me, since I'm not going to be a runner, but got a quite more...well, for me, a job which will cause lots of nightmares until GDC, I think 囧rz

It's decided I'm gonna be a Press Room Assistant, which means I'll participate at the press conferences and meet lots of important people working in the game industry. And, how you probably can imagine, I'm totally nervous. 

Nevertheless, my shifts are rather horrible. I got to attend to our team meetings at around 8:00 a.m., while my sessions only start at 01:00 p.m. (･･;) It means that I'll obviously need to get up at around 5:00 a.m. ... Holy! 

And my shift just ends at 7 p.m. - adding my travel time, I think I'll be able to take off my shoes etc. at around 9:30 p.m. or something. I already plan to abuse our locker room as a dormitory (*ﾉ∀｀*)ゞｴﾍﾍ

Let's see whether I'm able to make it. 

At least we're gettin' free lunch! ☆ (and to be honest, I really think that GDC's lunch is awesome!! :D). 

Are you interested in GDC-content, by the way? If so, I want to try gathering some information to share them with you :)  (I think I will write about my time there anyway, but you can kinda co-determine to what extent I'll do so ( *｀ω´) )

By the way, is anyone planning to go to GamesCom this year? Are there any games you're curious about? 

I'd be totally interested in your opinions! ☆

Game Review: Journey (PS3)

It's been a while since I played any video-games, which is - actually - quite sad... (^^ゞ　

Anyway, I even bought some PSN-Money to be able to buy this game as fast as possible (you know, I'm not that kind of person who likes to buy "money cards" and stuff like that... I'd prefer PayPal, but thanks to Sony it's not possible to use it X_X! ). 

Anyway.

The game  I want to write about in this entry is named "Journey".

( Screenshot taken from thatgamecompany.com )

Even though "Journey" already had been released in early 2012, I just heared about it lately. Until now, it's only available via download or as disc within a "bundle", consisting of three games in total. I wasn't quite sure what would be awaiting me, so I decided to download the free demo (which is also available at the PlayStation-Store. The demo is also the "locked" full version which can be upgraded!).

To be honest, I don't think that the demo version is quite prestentable at all. "Why?", you might ask now - I'll come to explain that later.




Some general things regarding the game

The game starts while the player can see a shooting star touching down in the middle of the desert - that's where the player will find "himself", sitting in the sand. The only interesting place to go at this moment is a dune with some floating banners. Arriving on this dune, you'll be able to see the main goal: the big mountain's split peak in the backround.

But already now you can see (and feel) how detailed the developers worked on the atmosphere of this game (the main-atmosphere totally reminds me of "Shadow of the Colossus" by TeamICO).

Going on, you'll get introduced slowly into the gameplay, and you'll gain a small scarf with some runes on it, which will be attached to your robe. This scarf will allow you to make small jumps, collecting glowing symbols will help you enlarging your scarf, and so, also your "floating" time, which means you can basically fly for a few moments.  Anyway, it cannot be used unlimited. After using your jumping/flying ability, the runes will disappear from your scarf, and you won't be able to use them until you recharged it. This can be done by touching some little floating piecec of fabric, which seem to be lively and - I'm already regretting to sound so acromatic, haha ...^^; - friendly.

( Screenshot taken from thatgamecompany.com )

During your 'journey', you'll have to pass several landscapes, such as the - already known - desert, a sunken city, an underground passage and also a snow lanscape. In between there are also some little puzzles and lots of secrets to discover (which will offer you to earn trophies, by the way!). Sometimes you'll also be hunted by big flying lithic snake-monsters, which means that there are some stealth passages also.


Story

Actually, the story of this game is rather vague. I already have made up my own thoughts about that, but I really don't want to spoil you, since I'd recommend playing the game at least ONCE before you spoil yourself with theories or stuff like that. Let's just say it's a journey.


The control system

The control system is fairy easy and - in my opinion - very well balanced and quite precise. I didn't find any severe control bugs so far.

It's possible to control the character via the left analog stick, the camera can be adjusted by either the right stick or by bending the whole controller (given that you own a DualShock3- or a Sixasis-controller). Using your scarf's powers (such like jumping and flying) can be activated by pressing (and holding) the x-button.

Additionally, pressing and holding the ❏-button will cause to pull the - already mentioned - little floating pieces of fabric to regain energy for your scarf. By simply pressing it shortly, it will create a sound.

Soundtrack

Talking about sounds, I just want to squeeze in some words about the soundtrack, because I personally think that it is very important for the atmosphere of the scenery and the game itself. I want to keep it short: I don't think that words can describe it accurately (and so this paragraph is rather useless), so I'd suggest to check it by yourself to get an image. (There are several playlists with the full soundtrack on Youtube, so if you're interested, please check it out!).

Multiplayer


If you're logged in, which means you're playing in online-mode, it's possible that you might meet some other player within your own game. These other players will show up randomly and cannot be chosen (so it's not possible to connect to your PSN-friends or something like that). It's not compulsory to stick to your partner, but it will allow you to enjoy several pros (for example, travelers can learn from each other and while walking together, your scarf's energy can be charged by your partner, too).  Per "level", you just can meet one player. But if you stick to your partner and finish each level with him/her, he/she will also be your companion in the next level.

Having talked about the ❏-button and the sounds, these "sounds" are your only possibility to communicate with your partner (!).

( Screenshot taken from thatgamecompany.com )

And, I want to be honest, I think that's the main fact why I think that the demo isn't representative at all. Playing this game all by yourself is great for sure. Especially because of the landscapes and the very great atmosphere. But I think it's just astonishing how a game can create such a strong relationship to a stranger, particularly while you're not able to communicate properly.
I - for example - really started caring for my companion, wanted to share secrets with him etc., and he was just the same for me, obviously. Some kind of a guide, some kind of inspiration, and thoughout the game, he almost became like... a friend? A partner? Well, something like that. Maybe.

Unfortunately, the game is quite short - I think that you can manage to finish one playthrough within maybe 2 hours...? Such a shame for such a great game!! Nevertheless I don't feel bad that I spent 12,99 € on this game, because until now (I think I already played it 5 times), every single playthrough felt totally different because of the different people I met (and I'm sure that the game itself didn't change at all!).  And it's just somehow touching to reach the end of your journey - especially with a companion who went through all of this with you.

As I said, I already have my ideas about what the plot is about and what it should mean - if anyone else already played it, please feel free to leave a comment, I'd love to hear your ideas, experiences etc.!  :)

But of course I also appreciate comments from people who didn't play it yet ^_^ 

White Knight Chronicles II / Resonance of Fate (?)

Well, even though my heart started bleeding while I came to this decision, I resolved to stop playing White Knight Chronicles II now. Why I did so...? Well, I'll tell you why.

I'm tired of running around like a retard and fighting the same monsters over and over again. I'm tired of the SAME MAPS (!), taken from WKC (Yes, it's the same maps. The only difference is that you need to pass them in another order... ). And, well - even though I think it's only around 2-3 hours to go, I really can't pick myself up to launch that game another time now. 

I'm kinda ... let's say disappointed.

I wanted to know so much more about several characters... _ _' But it's QUITE too less for my taste. 

The story is still great and interesting, and the fights as a Knight are still great and exciting. But, as I said, I just can't get up any energy to restart that game from my latest saving point. 

Maybe it's my fault that I played both games in a short distance, anyway I really think that even a sequel should be more varying... but that's just my personal opinion. I want to stop playing for now, and I don't know whether I'll start playing again to finish the game finally (for those who're interested, I just saved that little bunny-guy in "Van Haven Waste").

Well, so I want to start playing another game soon, which is - hopefully - different, even though it's also a "J-RPG". The name: Resonance of Fate. 

The style is kinda steam-punky, so I'm looking forward to that. And I really hope that this game won't let me down D: ! (Buhuuh, Caesar....! T_T I miss him, already! ) Dunno when I'll start, though. (And actually I don't want to promise that I'll play it completey, but at least I want to try it since I think the mechanisms in this game are very individual).

White Knight Chronicles: A few last words

Yush, I finally did it ☆

I finished "White Knight Chronicles".  And actually, the boss fight wasn't that horrible... I think I did a "quite" good job on that? Heeeeh? (Okay, maybe I almost failed because I switch to "transform back" quite too often by accident ...) Anyway, I really got some questions I'd like to ask Level-5 =A=;;;  

For my personal taste, there were too many  "big-size monsters" in the last quarter of the play time. You know, I really LOVE big monsters (especially if they're epic like s**t), but they just carried it to the excess. The worst think about that: especially at the end of the game, the enemies are just repeated. Endlessly. And if they want to top that, they don't give you ONE, but TWO or THREE of the same big size enemy.  I mean, why? What about some more epicness? ;___;? If they just use those big monsters TOO often, it loses the effect, I think...

But to sum it up, I played around 23-24 hours on "White Knight Chronicles" now. I might play it again now, via "Game+", which means I would restart the whole game BUT with my latest level and my inventory. Additionally, I could get stronger weapons from the dungeons' chests, which would fit to my current level (and above). But, to be honest: If that's the only thing you can do on "Game+", I will refuse to do so. (I really enjoyed playing  NIER (Square-Enix) a second time, because you just learn so much more about the story and the background(s). It's not like I played it because of the stronger weapons....)

Well, but after all: Nicely done, Level-5. I would be lying if I'd say I didn't enjoy the game. Even though there are still some - let's call it - "facts" regarding the story which I just can't reproduce... (for those who already have a clue about the game or even played it by themselves, I just want to say some keywords: CAESAR AND KARA?! WHAT'S WRONG WITH YOU? )

However, I liked those little twists which tried to confuse the player from time to time, but sometimes they were kinda... predictable. At least for someone who likes 'freaky' stories in general (like me, for example, haha... ✌（◕ω◕）✌).

But as I already mentioned in my first post about "White Knight Chronicles", I really, REALLY liked the characters. Almost all of them. I just think that Leonard is (yush, I'm being hipster now!) "too mainstream", in the same way as Princess Cisna. I mean, come on, sometimes I felt like Mario trying to rescue Princess Peach... (btw., I think Cisna and Peach are look-alikes anyway |D ).

My favorite character, since I got him into my party, was Caesar (and GEEZ how I just knew he would be important so he was a non-stop party member! :'D ). And actually I also liked Kara, even though I knew directly there's this secret about her (I don't wanna spoiler you, so please excuse me that I write so much without saying anything... ^^;; ). Yulie was... well, I never played Yulie, to be honest. She's just the normal "I am so cute and every Japanese RPG needs a character like me!"-girl. Eldore was quite an interesting character, and actually I really would have liked to know more about him. But they tried to explain his whole "story" within around 3-4 minutes, right before you got to prepare for the boss fight, unfortunately...  (I would have preferred a little less "Mario" and a little more "NIER" here ;w; ). So I think that the narrative style failed in this case. They stretched the plot in between like it wouldn't EVER stop, yet they didn't spend enough time explaining more about several characters. Bummer. Again.

Nevertheless: Just give it a try! I don't think it's a bad game (especially if you like KAMEN RIDER or any other trashy stuff like that (;*~∇~)ﾉ" ).  

As for me, I'll start playing "White Knight Chronicles II" now (or later, however...), especially because I hope to get more information about the story and (maybe even) about the king's lieutenant - I think he's a very important personality for the plot, but at least in WKC's first game he just appeared like a side show :')

I wrote too much again. I'm sorry _ _!
As an excuse, here's a picture of Caesar (＊☉౪ ⊙｡)

White Knight Chronicles - a 'short' personal review

I'm so sorry I didn't post for a while now… but this just has a very simple reason: 

Nothing big happened these days, because I'm still sitting at home, bored, because I still can't go out due to I'm still in recovery time for my foot... _ _!

I'm not sure whether anyone is interested about this at all (except Sofi, she even said that she'd be interested...σ(^_^;) ), but maybe it could be a possibility to present the game I'm trying to kill my boredom with.

White Knight Chronicles  

(Original title: 白騎士物語)

To be honest, I was quite doubtful regarding this game. When I saw the cover, I was like: "Geez, it's some knight game..." (and I'm really not attracted to typical trash-medieval fantasy style, to be honest D: ). Anyway, as soon as the opening cutscene started, I wanted to scream like a little girl seeing Justin Bieber at the mall （;´▽｀A``

I must admit that I totally loved Power Rangers when I was a child, that I just LOVE huge monsters in video games and that I absolutely enjoyed watching Kamen Rider (仮面ライダー (engl: Masked Rider)） even as an adult. I don't want to spoil you, but I think it's okay to share the opening trailer with you:

(Please don't be surprised, it's the Japanese version because I really think that it fits the atmosphere MUCH better than the international (English) version... but if you're interested in checking out the English version, please visit Youtube by yourself ^^, )

So, regarding those facts, maybe it's not that surprising anymore that I fell for this game... (;^_^A  (even though it has some trash-medieval character as well....). Saa, "White Knight Chronicles" is actually already kinda "old" (I think it's from 2008... or something like that? I'm currently quite too lazy to check it (*￣Oﾉ￣*) ), which explains the 'bad' resolution (even though I'm not that spoiled with HD and stuff - and I personally don't think it's that bad ^^, ). 

White Knight

As soon as you start the game, you're allowed to create an own character, which is quite cool in my opinion (I also enjoyed doing this playing the Dragon's Dogma demo (which is quite more 'medieval', but has a nice gameplay. You can download it for free at PS-Store)). You got plenty of possibilities to create your personal character. Even though I took too long for that (because I love playing around with all these possibilities... |D ).

Let's come to the bad point about that: If you don't play that game online, but in the offline story mode, your character is a soulless retard without any facial expression, staring like a dork (´＿｀｡)

The name is very individual, I know |D It's based on a "pun" between me and some of my fellow students :'D

And, yes, I'm not kidding. Even if you can play your character in between, the main character (named Leonard) is quite more important for the story mode and he needs to be part in every important battle. And even if you can choose a speaking voice for your own character, you won't hear anything else than "Uaaaargh!" or "HUH!!", just like Zelda's character Link. As for me, I think it's quite a pity. At some point of the game, I gave up changing to Kwun in between, because it didn't make any sense for me anymore. Every 5 minutes I saw Kwun standing there, again, staring like a dork and not participating in most of the cutscenes either and just after that, the player is forced to take Leonard as his character again. Does it make sense? Why didn't they just allow you to play your own character ONLY online then, if he's just useless attachment...? Maybe I should ask those guys from Level-5 about that ゛(｀ヘ´#)

Well, what about the gameplay...? To be honest, I personally had some problems at the beginning (and even still in between, haha...). The fighting system is actually very easy, but has some severe problems. Sometimes you cannot switch your target properly, or if you already changed it, it automatically changes back to some other target which is MILES away, constraining you to hit your actual target and kills some precious fighting time, which is very important (especially if you transformed to a Knight).

Using items during a fight is actually quite easy as well - but because the fight won't pause if you switch to 'items', you'll have to learn to change your action bars (1-3 for actions, 4 for items, targets etc.) quite fast, without switching too far or disordered, so you lose lots of important time as well. I grant you that I often kinda groaned about that, just because I felt hacked off =_=;;

Additionally, the game has some strange - so called - 'save points', where they assert that the game will be saved "in between" (I never noticed not even ONE, by the way...).  You're gonna freak out if you died the first time (what I recently did - at a boss fight, containing 5 (!) bossfights without any time to recover, chill out or even change your party [I think I'm almost done with the game, by the way |D ]). That's annoying, but rather acceptable. A fact which made me stop playing for a day (instead of trying again right thereafter, like I would usually do) was the fact that NOTHING was saved. And if you want to reload immediately, it "costs" some experience points and - of course - you won't see the items you used at the battle never ever again. So I just shut down my PS, hoping that I just can "restart" that battle as if my first try never happened :')  For me, the most grueling thing about failing this fight was, that my enemy just needed one or two more hits to die...

(￣へ ￣ 凸

By the way, never ever try to update or re-arming your characters after you just passed a fight without finding a save place to do so. Monsters (and even the big ones, which kinda act like "path guards" and are compulsive combatants) do respawn within only a few minutes. And, as I said, this game is in real time, so it won't pause, even if you opened your character's skill surface in full screen. They will respawn, and they definitely attack you right away.

You might think about that in your individual way, for me, some of these facts are annoying. And unfortunately, the story is like chewing gum. It IS great indeed, but sometimes you will feel like they tried to keep you playing on synthetically, as if they wanted to add some more hours to the playtime, even if there's no further essence. Bummer.... (I especially think that this is one of the games' biggest drawbacks, because the characters as such are totally lovely (even though I don't like Leonard and his stupid princess, haha... |D ). Anyway, the other characters are neat!  ☆　

(Talking about the characters... please check out the leader of the Magis (villain) :*:・(￣∀￣)・:*: Doesn't he just look like one of Power Ranger's villains...?!)

Rain - Sony's new game

I'm so sorry to bother you with game stuff again (haha, I lied! ヽ(▼ｰ▼ｷ)).
No, really. I'm almost sorry :')

Well, did you already hear about "Rain" ? I just saw the trailer (even though it was already shown at Gamescom's press conference ... but as you know, I didn't see a lot ;__; ) and I really think it looks totally pretty!  The main style reminds me of ICO, so I'm quite curious about how this game will be... unfortunately, it'll be released only "sometime in 2013", as a download for PS3 _ _!

Whatever! I wanna share this trailer with you and I'm curious about what you think about it! ☆