Sometimes a game gets accidentally misclassified, and I have misclassified Onimusha: Dawn of Dreams. I had this in my Pure Action category, all you do in this game is run around hacking enemies with your sword. It's a Sword Slasher and I am sliding it into that category, to replace Shadow of Rome.
Which leaves us with an open space in the Pure Action Category. Surveying all of the opportunities available, I have decided to add Gran Turismo 3, a racing game, into the mix. It'll be a nice change-up game. If my fingers can survive the obvious button masher motif of most racing games, then it'll be fun.
Okay then. Time to play some games!______________________________________________________________________
Let's start off today with the game that got moved: Onimusha:Dawn of Dreams.
Soki, my main character now has a partner in crime, the girl with the red demon eye: Jubei. After increasing both of their statistics through trading in soul points at our HQ. I learn that Jubei has the ability to take junk we find on our missions and combine them to make better medicines and other things. Neato. She can make three special medicines with the junk I have so far, so I add that to the mix.
it is time to head into the next mission: Stage Four!
We're going to attack the fortress in Suraga. Why? Because more of those evil cherry trees are there! No, I'm not making this up. Apparently, the cherry trees are evil and contaminated or something! I dunno. Who cares, let's kill something!
At the start there is a cut scene: There's more guards then anticipated, so Soki and Jubei decide to split up. Soki will distract guards near the front gate while the smaller, craftier Jubei infiltrates to sneak around and open the gate.
Wait, I have a better plan. Does anyone consult THIS GUY? No, they don't.
Okay then, we'll go with their plan. I am controlled Jubei and we're off and running. I fight some Genma right off the bat. Those are the evil demon things that make up most of the antagonists in the game. There's an endless variety of them. Good, that means that there will be a nice variety of heads stuck on my trophy room wall. Yee-Ahhh!
I kick the snot out of a bunch of Genma. There's a door that is locked, and I don't have the key. Hmm. There's a combination lock on a second door, and I don't have the combination. Hmm. There's a log to cross, that's Jubei's specialty. I cross it!
I find a Magic Mirror. I can save the game here, and upgrade stats and my weapons. I do all that!
I find a glowing piece of armor on the ground, sad ghost souls try and talk to me, but I can't understand them. Oh no! A bigger, tougher Genma guy shows up - he's not a boss level, but clearly tougher than the welcome party earlier. I give him what for! I eat his soul points. Yum!
I head down some stairs, and turn into four Genma, two of them are wacky Spider Genma. They look cool, they spit acid and they jump around the walls. Jeepers Creepers. I have to drink most of my health potions, that's going to haunt me later, I should have bought more at the base, but eventually take out all four of the Genma. I do find another health potion on the ground, and a guard's diary.
Reading it, its about a sorry sap who regrets having left home to come and work here at this place. Nice of you to write it down and leave it where anyone could find it. You're fired!
I can do that. I can fire the guards that work for other people. I do it all the time.
Anyhoo, Magic Mirror. I save the game. I climb up a ladder and....
Cut Scene! Soki is fighting for his life against a bunch of Genma outside the gate. They have him cornered wiht his back against the gate and they are advancing in a menacing semi-circle. But Jubei spies this from above, and sends the gate crashing down on the Genma. Soki is agile enough to dodge it, and then Jubei jumps down and gives him her usual obnoxious sarcasm.
Magic Mirror! I save the game. These missions are now longer, multi-part and complex. So, this is a checkmark, we'll continue along Mission Four next time.
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Let's get Gran Turismo 3 started! I start off the game with 18K. Time to buy a car. I look at all of the American made cars, but they are too expensive, except for a PT Cruiser. Yeah. Maybe later.
After checking out some Japanese models, I go with the Mazda Miata for 17K. I decide not to make any modifications yet, and then go to check out custom stuff. I accidentally spend 500 dollars on new tires by hitting the wrong button, doh. With only 500 bucks left, its time to start making some money back.
After a quick review of the game, I decide that for a checkmark, I will need to do two things: 1) Clear a license and 2) Compete in a race.
There are a ton of licenses to get in the game, and as you defeat them, you unlock all of the various options in the game. The first License, B-1, is a simple concept. Race fast down a straightaway and then stop on a dime within 35.5 seconds.
This should be easy!
Try One: I go too fast and hit the cones.
Try Two: Same thing.
Try Three: I go too slow and don't make the time
Tries Four-Six: Same thing.
Try Seven: I hit the cones!
Try Eight: Yee-AAAAH. I get the silver ranking in it. Good enough for me, for now.
Now for a race. I head to the Super Speedway for a Beginner level race. I qualify and get pole position. Nice!
Now for the three lap contest.
Lap One: I maintain first place with a nice 51 second lap.
Lap Two: I lose first place about halfway through and fall into second, three seconds off my Lap One pace! That's because some jerk hit my trunk and made me wiggle a little. One little wiggle and you're in second. GAH!
Lap Three: I close on the guy in front of me, but I run out of time. Only 2 tenths of a second behind the guy, but I take second place. Not bad for my first ever race in the game. I accrue a grand, and I go to the tech shop and have them make my car lighter for 1000 K. I should be able to drive faster in the next race, now.
That's a checkmark. Nice! This is will definitely be a fun change of pace in the 48 game mix.
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Time for a little Civilization 4 action. In these long strategy games, its good to identify when you are beat and have no chance. I had been playing, through the first two rounds, a game with 17 opponents where we are all supposed to get multiple large islands, which should have conceivably made for a fantastic game.
However, it turns out I got stuck in the lower left hand corner of the map, which meant that my island was mostly tundra! If you know the game, you know that tundra is the worst thing that can happen to you, because you can't build anything on it. This stymied my development to the point where by the time I expanded a bit, I had opponents crowding me on all sides, so expanding to a reasonable size is impossible. Already 280 points behind the leader, an almost insurmountable point differential with this many disadvantages, I know that this is a total loss.
I delete all the save games. Its time to begin fresh.
17 opponents is a tad too many. I like it due to the extreme challenge, but I've never won past the first three levels of difficulty, and on those levels the AI is intentionally goofy. When you get to level 4, the first level where the opponents' moves are much more intelligent, there are just too many random chaotic factors to beat 16 other computer run opponents.
So, I'm going to start the game with these parameters:
- 10 Computer Opponents
- No Barbarians. I hate those guys, they ruin the early part of the game for me, and 10 opponents is all I need for excellent competition.
- No city razing. So part of the strategy will be, if your opponent makes an inconvenient city, you have to live with that city. This actually increases the difficulty for resource management in overcrowding situations. It also makes fighting over cities a part of your war strategy. You can't just get rid of it, and you won't permanently lose a city you worked hard to build if you can eventually re-take it.
- No technology trading. This means that everyone is on an even playing field technologically speaking. It puts more emphasis on building libraries and educational facilities.
- Enough giant islands for each player to have multiples of them -- this means expansion is an important part of the game. You don't want someone to get three islands while you only have one, or they will crush you later.
And so, I hit the start button. Let's see what happens....
And my island is JUNGLE. Uh oh. While this is good in that it gives different resources which will help in the middle part of the game, early its bad news. You can't expand on jungle without cutting it away, and you can't do that until you research Iron Working, which is not a first era technology.
It also isn't hills or mountains, so you can't get any production help from it, and in addition, it creates pollution which you don't generally see in the early part of the game. So you have to counter it with health additions that normally wouldn't be part of your initial focus.
This is going to harm my early development, though not quite as badly as tundra. But Jungle is definitely the second worst landscape. Bah!
My initial two goals are to invent the religion of Hinduism, which will take two initial technologies, and to invent it, I need to be the first civilization of the 11 competing to get those technologies first. My second goal is to build the Pyramids, which will allow me to use any government civic right away.
You always start out with one Settler to build your initial city with, and basic grunting warriors with clubs. There is a native village right nearby where I plant Washington, my first city. It grants me a free Scout, which is awesome because they move twice as fast as warriors. I can now explore quicker. I park my Warrior in Washington, set the city to start building a Barracks, and send my scout into the great beyond.
A second village grants me 32 gold pieces. I instantly melt it all into a gold chain! What about it?
After a bunch of turns of moving the scout around to see what we've got here -- jungle and more f'n Jungle, a representative from Persia arrives to make contact with me! Holy!! I'm on an island. How did he get here. Crap. I make peace with Persia since I only have one dinky warrior in my only city, and I sent my scout around to find out how this travesty occured.
No! Hinduism is founded in a distant land! I was 2 turns away. I guess its paganism for me! I sacrifice a goat and hang its head on the outside of my front door, and move on with my life.
I decide to start looking at military technologies, and get Hunting and Archery.
AHAH. My scout finds a path all the way to the east that leads to Persia. They are far enough away that this should not constitute an early game problem. But, I will need to expand eastward in order to make sure they don't get there first. And then I will smite them, and take their lands! I'm the good guy!
I build my second city, New York, to the north, close by Washington, and after building my first worker in Washington, the quest to build the Pyramids is on! 168 Turns away, it says. Ouch. But now my population can grow (It can't when you are building Settlers and Workers), and as it does, that number will shrink.
I gain technologies The Wheel, Pottery, Mining. I connect Washington to New York, this reduces the Pyramids to 91 turns due to resource sharing.
Somebody builds Stonehenge. Congratulations, get your freak on!
I gain Writing, which gives me access to Libraries, which will be very important shortly. 61 turns to The Pyramid!
I gain Bronze Working and there is a copper resource right near Washington, that's nice. Soon I will get Spearmen, who I will adorn in flowing red capes. What?
My one mine, with the copper, gives me great resource additions, and cuts production of The Pyramids to 32 turns! It's gonna happen. Yee-AHH!
England makes an appearance in the game, and we make peace and have scones and tea. I can't wait to throw it all overboard in a re-enactment later. I will get you sucka!
Someone builds The Great Lighthouse. I have yet to build my first raft, I have not focused on naval technologies at all yet, because I need to get to Iron Working.
Which I finally get. Now my Worker can finally transform jungle into farmland. Good. I'm sick of everybody being all like "Give us a piece of bread, Guv'nor?" And then I kick them, and give them a vine to eat. Bah. Jungle terrain sucks!
The Pyramids are built in a far away land, the game tells me. AAAGH. I was 6 turns away. This is clearly a case where the Jungle terrain screwed me, because in most other terrains, I would have had a few more hills or mountains to build mines on, or I would have found Quarry, which also would have increased production substantially.
Well, I was 0-2 with my goals for this session but this game is barely underway. An hour has passed, so its time to call it for Round 3. Next round I will attempt to expand from 2 cities to 6, which will play havoc on my econonmy but allow me to start making real gains in the game environment.
Alrighty then!
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And the new, updated scoreboard looks like this:
The Scoreboard: Round Three
If you're keeping score on my progress, I'm 24-6-2 this round. Two of the failures are Killzone. Bah!
The "ties" are games that I am in progress with. I haven't achieved a checkmark, but I didn't fail either.
MIND TEASERS: 3 of 6 defeated
Chess Titans - 3
Gabriel Knight - 2
Mahjong Titans - 3
Sherlock Holmes - 2
Spider Solitaire - 3
World Series of Poker - 2
STRATEGY: 4 of 6 defeated
Civilization 4 - 3
Europa Universalis - 2
Gladius - 3
Space Empires - 2
Suikoden Tactics - 3
World of Mixed Martial Arts - 3
SHOOTER: 2 of 6 defeated
Crysis - 3
Fallout 3 - 2
Freedom Fighters - 2
Killzone - 2 (Note to self: Stop getting shot in the head.)
Ring of Red - 2 (Note to self: It helps a lot if you hit the target)
Star Wars Battlefront - 3
PURE ACTION: 3 of 6 defeated
Devil May Cry - 3
God of War - 3
Gran Turismo 3 - 3
Madden Football - 2
Soul Reaver 2 - 2 (In progress: Just kicked the door in on a new location)
Soul Caliber - 2
SWORD SLASHERS - 4 of 6 defeated
Champions: Return to Arms - 3
Dark Cloud - 3
Drakengard - 2
.Hack Infection - 3
Oblivion: Elder Scrolls - 2
Onimusha: Dawn of Dreams - 3
EPIC - FANTASY - 3 of 6 defeated
Dragon's Age Origin - 2
Dragon's Quest 8 - 2
Final Fantasy 12 - 3
Suikoden 3 - 3
Suikoden 4 - 2
Suikoden 5 - 3
EPIC - OTHER GENRES 3 of 6 defeated
Kingdom Hearts - 3
Marvel Ultimate Alliance - 2
Mercenaries - 2
Rogue Galaxy - 3
Star Ocean - 3
Xenosaga - 2 (Running through Menopause, I mean Merkabah)
ROCKSTAR MISSION BASED 3 of 6
Assassin's Creed - 2
GTA: Liberty City Stories - 3
Hulk: Ultimate Destruction - 3
Manhunt 2 - 3
The Warriors - 2
Urbz - 2
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