My PS3 strikes back: The games I missed out on !

So, yesterday I had the abominable, unheard of, never-to-be-mentioned thought of selling off my ps3 :O ! I know, I know, I heard them too as the Meta Soul of all gamers all over the world screamed so loud that every analog stick in the world trembled with rage, rumble motors or not ! I dwelled on selling it off and getting a Vita to play all the wonderful Ys games I never played on the psp. Memories of my time with Ys Seven came rushing through my gamer brain and along came teh tumultuous joyous goosebumps of time lost and hope of it to be found again ! See, the intentions were never bad, exchanging one joy for another , the greed for more gaming was the root cause of the thought of selling my ps3....however convoluted it may sound....:P Tee Hee !

So, what happened then? Did I forego my sense of gamerness and sell off my soul ? Did I do the unthinkable ? Am I proud owner of a Vita with my fingers sliding caressing over Ys games?


Well, lets say, the thought got me thinking about my times with the ps3, which were the best ever, no doubt. What it also got me thinking about are the games I never played on the ps3 and boy it turned out to be quite a list of really really good titles ! Even though I have played tons of games on my ps3, to the point that the poor thing died twice on me and I had to buy new ones, but I was amazed to realise that even after my exhaustive gaming time with the console, I still had quite a few great titlesthat I never really played before the ps4 arrived and swept me away with the 1080p crispness ! So, I decided to give my ps4 a very very well needed rest and turn my ps3 back on again for some good old revisit-a-thon ! :D


So, here goes a list of titles tat I want to play on my ps3, even as my ps4 library grows by the day and begs my time:

Final Fantasy XIII : The poster child of next gen back then which I completely missed out on when it finally released !


I have actually started this one already and boy am I amazed by the graphics, the music, the impeccable presentation and the unique battle system. having warmed up to RPGs over the years, I am enjoying this a lot currently !

Okami HD: I did play this one back in the ps2 era, but never really completed it.

 With the season of sales in full swing, I plan to buy this for the ps3 and see it to the sweet end for real for this time ! With the beautiful art style it has, one only needs an slight excuse to jump into Okami's world.

The Darkness: From the talented developers at Starbreeze, this is one title I always had my eye on but never really played it for some unknown reason !

The game has that very unique Starbreeze touch that continues to this day in the new Wolfenstien games made by the same devs, now called MachineGames. Also, apparently , the game has very unique storytelling moments which I would like to experince first hand. Hope I can get a copy soon, but its a difficult bet these days. Lack of a PSN version is a real bummer :( !

Max Payne 3: Max Payne was the game that thrust me into the business of games and game development but when Max Payne 3 was announced I just could not associate this new bald headed alcoholic to the legend that was Max Payne, the icon who changed my life.

It just did not fit and I never got even a tiny inclination to play this game. Now that quite a lot of time has passed and I have gotten over that gloom, I would like to give this title a try and check out what dpressed maniac has been let loose by Rockstar games.

Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker: Whoa ! I know, this title here will throw a lot of people off balance as I am known as a hardcore MGS fan. I even have the game installed on my ps3, its just that .........I don't know, I guess I got too busy enjoying Ground Zeroes and replaying that tiny snippet to hell to come back into this game. This will be top priority after FF XIII, for sure ! Big Boss cannot be kept waiting ! We are the Homo Ludens after all !

God of War Ascension: This was one demo where my jaw never closed at all ! What a rush, what an amalgamation of brilliant visual ideas was this single piece of demo for the game that I was left asking for more RIGHT now ! I thikn the only reason I missed out on this might have been to do something with some Naughty Dog game and the fact that GOWA required a 35 gb download  and I was totally against discs at that point of time. Whatever may have been the reason, I really want to play this now and guess what, it even went free on ps Plus recently and my bad luck that I forgot to add it to my library and missed it ...........Waaaaaaaaaa ! I am searching for a cheap copy now !

Dragons Dogma: Considered a gem by RPG players all over, I really wanna get into it. I really wish they release a ps4 remaster of this one because from the time that I did spend in this game at one point of time, it really was asking for better hardware. I will keep this on the back of the list just to see if a remaster crops up. If not, then ps3 shall rev its engines again for this one !

Dark Souls : Yes Yes, I admit it T_T ! As much as a die hard Bloodborne fan I am, as much as I swear by the level design of Demons Souls and BB, I have not played Dark Souls and my soul cries for the heresy committed ! I feel deeply hurt for having not played it but having played Dark Souls 2, an unpure, non-Miyazaki game ! My heart cries for a Dark Souls on PS4, but considering DS3 is almost here, I do not believe we will ever see the original remastered for the ps4 ever, which is a massive shame cos I would pay full price for it anyday !

HAZE:  Yes, as much as it was hated, I liked the shooting in the demo a LOT !

The game has bad story and bad bad writing but I somehow feel it would be a very fun game to "play" and sadly I never got my hands on the full game. I really wish I can find an old cheap copy  but it is extremely hard to find considering no one has it anymore. Everyone seems to have rid themselves of it. Wish I can find one and try it out myself.

ICO: Shadow of the Colossus is all time favourite game along with MGS3,

but yes, I never really got to play ICO and I believe the ps3 version is the best way to go before The Last Guardian finally graces the ps4 and sweeps me off my feet again !

Puppeteer : The game where nothing is ever repeated, everything you see on screen is new ! I bought it very proudly only for the ps4 to wean me away again before I could finish it ! Honestly, the game looks so so so good that it could easily have been a ps4 launch title and wowed everyone while at it. I am coming back to wield those magic scissors again !

Tales of Xillia : Because : the amazing and unique Battle system !

I have the game purchased and installed , just waiting for the go ! If one can't have a Ys game on a system, one needs some kindof replacement, I am hoping this will be the one !

hmmm...this has turned out to be quite a long list, feels shameful in a way that I missed out on all of these during my time with the ps3 but OTOH, it also shows how solid and diverse a library PS3 has that even after begin a loyal and dedicated gamer for so long, there are still such beautiful gems ready to be enjoyed on a system that almost a decade on now ! Here's hoping I actually go past FFXIII and manage to play these games and am able to withstand the calls of my beautiful ps4 for the time being atleast !

Here's to the New Year and some Old Wines that are yet to provide the heavenly bliss of gaming !

Just Cause 3: Can you handle the freedom !

So, out of the blue, in the midst of playing the fantastic Borderlands 2 and the kindof miffing Fallout 4, I had a tryst with Just Cause 3 for about 2 hours and the 2 hours had enough "Boom Boom Boom !" to silence Fallout completely and make think twice about going back to Borderlands 2's fantastic DLC campaigns.

Here's a snippet of what I found myself doing pretty soon of starting this "slam-bang explosion of freedom of a game" :

The question in this game is not "what can I do?" but instead "Hmm, what should I do with all that I can do in this game?" 

The game is a sandbox or a toybox , as everyone must be telling u right now, which provides u with a rather very pretty playground and a bunch of toys to play with.

A flyby with a quick explosion, I guess !

A fine day for mayhem ! 

But there is also another thing people are talking about : Instant Gratification!

 The game lets you have almost everything from the get go ! I want to differ in that regard, the joy of instant gratification will last not for more than an hour if you think that is the hook of this game. No, the power fantasy of having all kinds of explosion causing devices at your disposal is just the surface of the game and not to be mistaken for the whole game. The joy of the game lies in "playing" with it ! :) If you are the kind who can have fun thinking up crazy things to do and then finding ways of doing them with the archaic tools at hand and can enjoy failing in them and laughing away while your plans go completely haywire, then you will have fun in JC3. If you feel smug hanging upside down from a jet plane while launching off cars off a cliff in a whacky show of fireworks without the game providing you with applause/kudos/meaningless-appreciation-shenanigans then you will have fun in JC3. 

The game is for the one who is content in the process and not craves for the applause at the end !  Thats what I feel till now , will be back with more vidoes soon as I get to play more of it :D ! 

Batman Arkham Knight: Log 1: Explosions and Jetsons ! Right here, right now !

I have just started my blind playthrough of Batman Arkham Knight on my ps4 and it evoked pretty surprising reactions from me, maybe because I was expecting a different gameplay from it, and it set me thinking that maybe I should log down these thoughts regularly for the fun of it and see how it feels :) I have not read or watched any reviews of the game and do not know what criticisms have been levied or what praises have been showered on the game by the gaming press or users. I am aware that it has been recieved well by people at large, by which I mean if I ask people about Arkham Knight I mostly hear good responses. Rocksteady has built that reputation for itself pretty well !

This project has no real theme or purpose other than to see what amusing thoughts I have while playing Batman:Arkham Knight, which I am sure I will all but forget once its done, and see how they evolve as the game progresses.

Oh and as always I am going to keep it completely Spoiler-free for your experiential pleasures while playing the game yourself. So don't worry a bit and come join me in my adventure as they unfold!

So, here goes the first log, hope this turns out fun :) !



Explosions and Jetsons ! Right here, right now ! Oh and Battletank!

 Diary log 01: 

The game opens really well, to be honest and introduces the world with a touch of mystique and flamboyance that instantly catches attention. Things are set in motion within minutes in a very theatrical way and soon we have the stage set for Batman, the saviour , to arrive and save the day ! ....or to be literal, start saving the night. 

Slam-bang-kaboom! 

Here is Batman, our gadget sporting masked knight, with all his jazz and antics sprinkling around him. The Gadgets take the centre-stage right from the start and if you have ever dreamt of flying over neon streets while popping out all kinds of seemingly omnipotent gadgets, ala the Jetsons, which can do literally everything for you then this is the game you had been waiting for. For every problem thrown at Batman out pops a gadget by Wayne Tech and saves the day :) !

 The city makes a supreme first impression dazzling you with stunning graphics and a perpetual rain so dense that it in itself becomes a spectacle during the free flowing flights of the Bat and the tense chases involving the other hero of our game, yes there's a surprise here, literally the second protagonist of the game: The Batmobile ! 

You are going to either hate it or love it but Batmobile has a presence in the game equaling Batman and frankly, it stops being a gadget or a car and becomes the second playable character to an extent that can annoy some people while delighting others with its gameplay while literally reminding you of your cheerful childhood evenings spent with Battletanks ( or not if you weren't a biological entity yet back then, in which case you will have no memories to fall back on, sorry, sometimes being older has its perks).

 It's almost as if Rocksteady decided that Batmobile was to be THE GAME in Arkham Knight. Atleast thats how it feels in the intial hours of the game. I mea they have accomodated the car so much into the game that I was even forced to take Batmobile inside buildings, for gods sake, lest I forget about this amazing new gadget In the game and start playing as Batman :P ! 

It will yield different results for different people but for me it is reaching to a point where I have started questioning the quest design's practicality ! Everything is forcibly designed such that u can be in that car for most of the time. Corridors have been widened to allow a car through, simple ledges which can be easily grappled are magically made unreachable for Batman so that Batman needs to go back to get his car and for some reason Batmobile has a grapple in the front which can pass electrical current to devices ! o.0  

Another immersion breaking element of the game is the whole Augmented Reality training exercises that trigger right inside the city, right in the middle of all the chaos ! The game showed me a guy who needs to be rescued from 4 thugs and immediately after informing me about the urgency of the rescue the game asked me to smash holographic thugs right there ...in front of the actual place where a guy is about to die ! 

How can I not feel weird clicking on floating challenge buttons in the air and going through six training mission while a crime progresses right in front of me ? I still can't fathom Batman punching air to train himself smack in the middle of real thugs....I am sure paper would carry news of Batman's insanity the next day :P ..lol ! 

 The jarring choices aside the game integrates Batmobile with Batman so smoothly that it playing from within the car and as Batman feels seamless. The game lets you switch between them absolutely seamlessly creating a flow of traversal so fluid that it easily gets addicting to just zip in and out of the car just to see how cool it all is. Oh and the rest of the game also shares that philosophy of coolness. The whole focus right now is on flash and bang ! Dazzling graphics with lots of explosions thanks to our Battletank.

 In case you try being the old batman and fly around a bit, the banter from the thugs keeps reminding you that you have a new car which can level tanks in straight fights lest you forget it and not use it. The game seems obsessed about keeping Batmobile in attention all the time ! I find it very amusing while playing the game and can't help but smirk everytime a thug mentions my having a tank-smashing super Car ;). 

Anyways, I have settled in with that and now I have accepted that most of my Batman adventure would be played out as a havoc wreaking tank sliding around causing giant explosions and not as a sneaking detective with a penchant for cracking knockdowns!

I have put that behind me, accepted my new sidekick and have started enjoying the tank battles for I cannot forego them in any way. Now I look forward to what story the game will unfold around me and hope that it turns out to be a fun experience. 

The game has an excessive focus on explosions for now which was, frankly, unexpected for me.I like flash and kaboom too but only if it has substance to back it up, like say Wolfenstein:The New Order. I will continue tomorrow hoping that now that the initial explosions have settled down, my dearest Batman's adventure actually starts delivering on that mystique with which it opened! 

:)

Hello Games: Where games surpass our imagination !

Needs no introduction, No Mans Sky is every explorer's "dream-come-true" game ! Its one game where it does not matter what happens in there, it does not matter what check-boxes it ticks, all that matters is you, in your little ship and .....the Universe out there !

......... open to you, all encompassing, unimaginably big but yet, for the first time ever, within your reach....in your grasp ! You can, for the first time, just get in your ship and aim for anywhere! Anywhere ! 

...and live the adventures that happen along the way. For once it is literally not about the goal, its all.......I repeat, all about your journey :)......to wherever you want, for however long you want. Whatever "life" you want in this space !

In a way its a journey into your own mind. It asks a question so beautiful :

"What is it that you would do if you could explore the whole Universe ?"

that how can one not be excited about it :^) !!!!

Here is the latest video shedding light on the small team going about making this masterpiece. I cannot imagine the leap they have taken going from making the little levels of (the very fun game) Joe Danger to a galaxy so massive that it might not ever be possible to visit every planet in it !

They seriously need to announce a release date asap ! Explorers, Scientists,Space miners, Pirates, rogues, adventurers.....all aboard, Ahoy :^) !

Battleborn: Get aside Mr Destiny A new addiction is incoming !

BATTLEBORN !

Nice name, yeah? Well, not really.Generic space marine is what I think of when I hear  Battleborn but I paid attention because it sounded a lot like that awesome amazing super fantastic Miyazaki love called Bloodborne but, calm your horses,  it has nothing to do with it which is sad because anything to do with Bloodborne is most welcome, will be appreciated and devoured till  no more can be devoured ! 

     The similarity of name with the Japanese masterpiece is not the only reason Battleborn caught my attention, in fact, putting aside teh jokes, the real reason is that its being made by Gearbox, the creators of Borderlands franchise and, well, I liked Borderlands 2 quite a bit. The cast of multiple crazy characters and the skill trees combined with the unique art style worked its magic on me back in the day and , in fact, writing this right now makes me wanna re-buy the game for my ps4 to try out the newer characters which were released later as DLCs. Damn it, there goes my money again, I shouldn't be writing stuff at all and should be just posting this kaboom-a-shazaam of bad-assery mixed together with some phonetic crooning of exotic sorts :D .......!

   What you just saw, Ladies and Gentlemen, needs no explanation : its gamingsuace being poured in dollops ! Bring it on Gearbox, let the games begin :) ! Yeah ! all that excitement brewing in me and I haven't even shared the gameplay demo yet. Well, I am not Snake to keep you waiting, here , here :

(That Ratchet and CLank vibe to te banter is unmistake-able)

You know what, I can be that Archer right now :^) and that Vampire Ninja :O : the cast of characters is crackling with energy ! I think Destiny, the only game that actually ever got me "addicted" in the true painful sense of the word is in danger now. I sense a true competitor even if the games are very different from each other. Destiny is following the MMORPG formula while Battleborn wants to tread the MOBA way, both not really committing to the respective genres instead trying to be lighter versions of each. Yet the common element of selling a fantasy of playing as exotic characters mowing down enemies together with your friends while earning yet stronger powers as you play remains at the heart of both .......and that both are aimed at the FPS lovers out there ! 

The competition is real and as far as I am concerned, Battleborn is already in the battle with Destiny for my time. I cannot wait to try it out for myself and see the punches it packs considering I am already getting jaded with the DLC pricing and the direction Bungie is taking with the way they serve content in Destiny. Instead of being a world where regular new events occur, Destiny is more on the lines of fixed content being delivered via DLCs which you keep playing till the next paid DLC arrives. This may have always been what Destiny was 'destined' to be but I perhaps had a different vision of a persistent world where newer events get pushed into the world every week, like Warframe does. I mean whats the point of running your game on servers if you aren't pushing fresh events regularly? Even small missions which change things, like :

"Fallen are taking over cosmodrome...defend it , events lasts till Monday evening."
 Or
"Hunt a special target amidst a massive firefight between hive and fallen on earth. "
Or
" Fight alongside cabal in taking over an area from Vex....some guardian can choose to take Vex side... Events lasts for few hours ! "

 /end_Destiny_rant.  I got carried away but thats how I had imagined Destiny to be. 

So, what does Battleborn do? Battleborn isn't going that way either, instead they are being a MOBA with a co-op campaign. A MOBA is primarily PvP genre, just like League of Legends and DOTA, and I think thats why Gearbox is so focussed on revealing co-op content first to distinguish themselves from regular MOBAs and catering directly to the FPS fans first and foremost. Just like any other MOBA, Battleborn has a wide array of characters, 25 to be specific and Gearbox is making a huge deal out of it and comparing it to Borderlands 2's 4 but, to be honest, that comparison is just misleading. This is a MOBA-esque game and 25 is not over the top for a MOBA !( C'mon Gearbox, get your act together ;) !) But when they are as crazy and imaginative as Gearbox makes them, then that count of 25 sure packs a punch !

This difference from Destiny, yet sharing the similar fantasy is what excites me actually. This game can be heaven with a bunch of friends, just like Destiny is... but with 25 characters to choose from and each match letting you level your character up differently, there is a LOT of builds to try out and a LOT of fresh gameplay to be savored. Considering that we are having so much fun with just the three classes, technically six, in Destiny, imagine having 25 characters with multiple skill trees which can be changed every mission... ....I see smiles plastered on my face :^)! I hear cackles of laughter while failing and victory dances when the classes just work together ! Who doesn't want to be a Vampire Ninja, for gods sake ! I know I do ! :^D and did I mention a four handed witch yet , oh and a Mecha that can fly up in the air and shoot tracking missiles ala "insert-favourite-anime-name"  !!!

.....and just look at the art style  ! 

In-Game screenshot !

My heart screams :OKAMI !!! :)

Although I am not totally convinced by the art but the mix of Diablo-esque art with Sci-fi with Ratchet n Clank tendencies looks fantastic to me. The explosions are what caught my fancy instantly, they look hand drawn and pulled straight out of Anime ! Apparently the character designer from Borderlands has the reins of Art direction in this one and he has been allowed to go as crazy as he wants and though something feels off about it IMO, it still feels "alien" in a very new way. Its unsettling, unfamiliar to look at and I guess that's the premise of the game. Its the place left after all star systems have died and your warriors fight the last battle of the universe in this far-away corner of the universe ! A world alien to all aliens too, an inviting yet unsettling place for adventure. SOunds and looks equally cool. Hoping it gets mroe polished by the time beta arrives and more importantly, hoping to jump into the beta myself. Sony hasn't really been giving us the betas that were promised with PS+ subscriptions !

Here's the official website, btw: https://battleborn.com/

The promise here is huge and the possibilities immense.

I just hope the MOBA influences don't dilute the fun for me. Battleborn has a 2015 release window.Here's hoping for a excting end to this wonderful gaming year of 2015 !

Oh, edit: Here's the latest interview of th eproducer, much needed tons of info in there, enjoy: