Demo: Bastion

My shield deflects and enemy missile?
What a novelty!

Bastion, the long awaited (for me) game that released from indie developer Supergiant is now available on Steam, as is its first-level demo.  The game is action role-playing, like Legend of Zelda.  Your character can wield six unique items, three of which are available in the demo.  Also available are techniques and a shield, which can be used to deflect enemy attacks and missiles.

Because of "the calamity," the unknown event which brought apart the world's devastation, there is nothing around you.  As you explore, the world rebuilds itself, flying out of nothingness.  Every action taken (bashing items, dying, etc.) is narrated as you go, giving the game a very organic feel.

The titular central hub of the game, Bastion.

Battle is standard adventure-rpg faire: block when you are attacked, strike back when you have the chance, etc.

You gain experience and level up, but the demo only gives you a look into the first level (for which an additional set of HPs are not unwelcome).  As you level up, however, you gain the ability to apply tonics which supplement your abilities, bringing in an excellent factor of customization.

Looks like a great game, and now it's available on Steam!  But will it be cheaper in time?  We shall wait and see.

Tonic customization.

Demo: Recettear: An Item Shop's Tale

The items featured in the window tell customers what you primarily sell.

It's not often you get a feel for how the other half lives, but that's exactly what we get in Recettear: An Item Shop's Tale (demo available on Steam).  It's the oldest story in the world: girl's father leaves adventuring and a mysterious fairy loan shark visits the girl telling her t hat she owes some ungodly amount of money on her father's behalf.  She lives in an adventuring town, so why not open an adventuring shop to make back the required gold?

To this end, Recette (the player) and her loan shark/item shop partner, Tear, buy goods low, and sell them high! With a payment lurking every 7 days, it's sometimes stressful when your worried that the poor little Recette might be out of luck without your skillful intervention.

Command changes to the adventurer you hire,
for dungeon crawling hack and slash.

To get items, you may buy them wholesale, or from patrons looking to sell (you're like a pawn shop).  Additionally, you can hire adventurers to go out with you into dungeons to defeat monsters and loot chests.  The adventurers will be equipped with any items they have bought in your store, so it behooves you to consider wisely in item placement and sales to adventurers.

The demo takes you through the first week and the recruitment of a base-level adventurer.  The graphics are quaint, but they really work for the game.  There is plenty of tongue-in-cheek dialogue, which is actually pretty welcome, since the premise is silly anyway.  We also get a glimpse of a rival shopkeeper, so that promises to be interesting.  Also, we really ought to find out what happened to your father and why he burdened you with this massive debt.

Recettear: An Item Shop's Tale is a great grab, even though it's no longer on sale on Steam.  Highly recommend that you run the configuration program prior to playing or you may hit every button on the keyboard before learning that Z was the default key for "Accept."  (Z?  Seriously?)

Do Better Graphics Make Better Games?

While L.A. Noire (r/gameswap'd for Star Wars: The Force Unleashed and Heavy Rain) and Catherine (friend swapped for Dragon Age: Origins) lie in wait of a playthrough - not to mention the new Dragon Age II DLC and Bioshock 2 DLC I've bought, but haven't played, and the Fallout: New Vegas DLC I've nearly finished and have to review - I spent an inordinate amount of time with Crono Trigger, replaying the 16-bit classic for memories and love.

It forced me to think: do better graphics make a better game?

With new games, graphics are often a huge selling point: the ability to create and immerse a player in distinct and lushish environments is part of what makes the game worth it.  However, indie developers (and some big names, too) have rejected this notion - the simplier, easier times might have a place left after all.  Consider the success of Scott Pilgrim or Megaman 9, which embraced the chunky graphics of old with a new niche.  Or hell, MINECRAFT for that matter.

In fact, there are many times in which the graphical beauty of a game, while pretty to look at, distracts from the game itself.  Form and functionality.

Graphics also deny the player's imagination in the same way television and films do for books.  If the representation I am given of Link in The Legend of Zelda is an 8-bit pixel mess, my mind bridges the difference.  In Twilight Princess, there's nothing for my imagination to do: for the game has done it already.  For a game embracing a concept of realism (Heavy Rain, for example), this is a make-or-break thing, but for fun, and unrealistic worlds, why bother with the realism of the hairs on a man's head if I'm already accepting the disbelief that I can carry seventeen different swords?

16-bit sprites really embody the best of both worlds: enough definition to give you a start, but not so much as to disrupt your imagining of a character.  Maybe that's why Crono Trigger got a chunk of my time.  Or maybe because the graphics were limited, programmers felt more willing (or able) to give the story and dialogue the time they needed to be perfect.

Suddenly, New Games!

By trading played games, I have come to acquire new ones!  However, I have avoided the beast of Gamestop (which, despite frequent criticism, is a store that offers a service which people are taking advantage of), and done my trading via friendship and r/gameswap.

Want: Wireless Controller

So pretty.

It's just so pretty.  How could I not want this?

Flash Game Friday: Hyperpipe

Pipe Dream-esque games have always fascinated me.  Hell, I even liked the hacking in Bioshock (there!  I said it!).  However, I can barely get my mind around Hyperpipe, which no only wants you to connect pipes, but do so without leaving any pipes unconnected.

Far from being frustrating, the game is actually best played with a cup of coffee and some Whisperings PureStream piano happening in the background.  Kick it!

Minecon Registration Opens Tomorrow!

I know that I am financially unable to attend the big hoorah that has been planned around Minecraft's release, Minecon, in Las Vegas, NV, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't check out the Mojang blog for details!

Fallout: New Vegas - Lonesome Road DLC

The final DLC package (or ... final announced DLC package) for Fallout: New Vegas has been delayed, according to the Bethesda Blog.  The DLC supposedly tells of the Courier's past and why he was selected for the job which sparked the events in New Vegas revolving around the diabolical Mr. House.

While the delay certainly isn't good news, any news about a deepening storyline is good news in my book.

Podcasts Worth Listening To

You've got a limited amount of time in your life, so don't waste it with a podcast that doesn't give you everything you are looking for.  Check these podcasts out:

1. Too Beautiful to Live with Luke Burbank: I gave this podcast a try on a bit of a whim, after hearing Burbank on Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me: The NPR News Quiz.  TBTL is hilarious, contemporary, and updates every weekday. 
2. Giant Bombcast is a whomping 2.5 hour (!!) weekly podcast where four hapless gamers discuss their past week.  While this might sound as boring as it could, the show works because the guys have real personality and good, soulful voices. 
3. The Six Pack: again, a podcast I was turned on to from my undying love of Wait, Wait and one of its frequent panelists, Mo Racca.  Mo was featured on The Six Pack which is two (cute) guys talking news, celebrities, life, and being gay dudes.  Great fun for a weekly podcast subscription.
4. And of course Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me - how can you not love Peter Sagal's hosting us through this dynamic (and often hilarious) exploration of the weeks news through limericks, lightning rounds and bluffs?

Don't have an app to listen to these awesome podcasts?  They're all available with iCatcher!

Fallout: New Vegas DLC - Dead Money

Old World Blues certainly gave me a run for my money this past week, but today I was able to sit down and plug away at Fallout: New Vegas' first expansion pack Dead Money.  Was it as good as OWB?  Check out the review, after the jump!