The Next Great Adventure - Sydney!

Well, ladies and space marines, this will more than likely be my last post from Brisvegas before my epic adventure to Sydney! I've been hired by a game company to be my awesome self (can't tell you too much - yet!) with them. The flight is booked, some of my stuff is packed and my mother wept. But what an adventure!

Here's the thing - while hunting for a job in the industry, it's going to be difficult to find a job close to home. Hell, I had to travel interstate for just the interview! :D But if you're willing to work hard and to go the extra distance, you're bound to impress your potential employers.

Also, keeping a game blog (much like this one) is an excellent idea. You have a limited amount of time to wow the company with your game knowledge. Just think of what you can say about your ideas in a blog and what your would-be bosses can read if you can give them a link to your blog! It will definitely work in your favour.

So here I am - I handed in my resignation for my part-time job (the one that I've held for the last 7.5 years!) yesterday and the countdown is on to D(eparture)-Day. In true girly tradition, I bought new shoes (a pair of very cool leather-studded high heels!) and a new bag (to which I immediately transferred my Starfleet Medical insignia badge).

So the next time we meet, I'll be a Sydderian! A Sydney-sider! Oh God... at least I'll be closer to Anthony Warlow...

Final Fantasy Tactics A2: Grimoire of the Rift

'Tis me again, another boring review, yes, I know... but EB had a sale on and I wanted a new game. So I bought this one, as far as the definition of new can be stretched.

This one bears a marked resemblance to Revenant Wings - to the point where Vaan and Penelo actually make an appearance! I've only played the GBA tactics version and really, this isn't different at all. Sure, the option is open to use the touch screen, but this really doesn't make the full use of it the way that FFXII:RW did.

It really is your basic, turn-based strategy game; you have a clan full of variously clad party member options and each "job" (because that's what we call classes these days) has -mostly- unique qualities and moves. Black Mages use the traditional fire, blizzard and thunder combination, White Mages do the usual healing jobs; then there's your melee classes/jobs like Gladiator, Fighter, Soldier, Berserker, White Monk, etc. I could go on, but you get the picture.

Most quests you can dispatch a party to (cheat's way of getting through the MASSIVE amount of jobs on offer quickly). But as well as the main storyline quests, there will be a few that you can't dispatch. Usually, there will be a reason for this - a new job on offer (take Veis, Assasin, for example, or the long-running feud between the Bangaa Brotherhood and the Nu Mou Nobles) or a particular item that is both functional and useful. Either way, you'll have to lead the charge yourself on these occasions.

In any one of these bouts, the rules are usually the same: follow the laws the judges hand down, or you'll be refused re-entry into battle if one of your party members falls to a foe. That means no use of Phoenix Down or Raise on anything that currently calls your clan host. You can, however, still use these moves/items on the undead. Go figure. If it were up to me, I would rather have had the law-breaker unable to re-enter battle, or disabled. Affecting the WHOLE clan is a bit much.

All in all, it's a very well structured game, the bones of which carried over in Revenant Wings. It's not boring or dragging, but the combat can be a bit samey, which is the real drawback in this case. Still, if you are anything like the perfectionist I am, you'll be searching all over to find all the job classes.

Verdict: A great time-waster if you have a few weeks free.

Pnuemonia and old games

Well, as most of my friends and minions know, I've been stuck in the house for the last three weeks at my doctor's behest in order to recover from a particularly nasty bout of pnuemonia. Those of you who haven't had it, you don't want it and those that have... well, you can share my pain. I'm starting to feel like a human pin cushion with the amount of blood tests I've had and all they can tell me is that my white blood cell count is up and that my lungs still sound a bit rattly. Gee, really. I wouldn't have expected that from a lung infection.

In other news, all this time being made to rest has forced me to replay some of my old games. Sadly, there are parts of my Kingdom Hearts II games that won't load properly - sad face - so therefore I went back to play Final Fantasy XII: Revenant Wings for the DS.

It must be said that I quite liked this game, hence why it wasn't traded in. The strategic nature appealed to me, along with the ability to constantly summon Yarhi/Espers. The storyline was quite acceptable and I found myself warming up to Llyud, the first Aegyl you meet in-game. I'm a bit neurotic with games, so I've had to try and finish every mission, summoning melee, monster melee and all-out brawl. This has led to my party having some pretty tricked-out gear that has better stats than the stuff they came with (example, Bathier comes equipped with Rygel, his gun. Crafting one with Cu Sith, however, boosts most of his stats +10, so what's the point in keeping the old one?).

The other game I restarted is Viva Pinata: Pocket Paradise. Yes, yes, I know I bought it around this time last year, so technically it's not all that old for me, but the Viva Pinata game itself is old, therefore it counts. This time round, it seems to have lost a lot of the fun for me. I don't know why, but maybe it's just one of those games that you absolutely love the first time round but the second... you forget what you saw in it in the first place.

Completely off-topic, today is Johnny Depp's birthday, so happy birthday to you, sir! Funnily enough, I was reading a topic over at the escapist forums and found a nifty little video clip starring said handsome actor that I'd never seen before (and for those of you complaining that Johnny Depp has nothing to do with video games, I have one thing to say to you: The Legend of Jack Sparrow. Ha).

Oh... and happy birthday to Karl Urban for yesterday. The gorgeous kiwi is now 38. I watched reboot!Trek in his honour. ^_^

GameOn Program: Portfolio Presentation

Well, for all of you who didn't realise it was going on, QUT's GameOn series has had it's last event for the semester - Iron Dev. In response to a challenge put forward by Morgan Jaffit, my little two-man team representing Quill Games came up with a cute little piece called Frankie, Jr.

The night was a great hit - we got to see the kind of games being developed by other small studios and student groups. We got great feedback from the panel about the game and made some really good friends in the crowd. A shout out to Isaac, who I spent an exorbitant amount of time with discussing Square Enix games and various anime.

In other news, it looks like I have a sound engineer for Quill Games should the need arise. A few of my former classmates have rallied in the absence of paying work in the form of screw-this-we'll-just-go-it-alone mentality. Thus far, we're not doing too badly. I may have to shelve my epic RPG Heavenly Legion for a while, though.

Finally, I've just found out the saddest news - Vincent D'Onofrio is leaving Law & Order: Criminal Intent. This is the end of an era. He really is phenomenal as Det. Robert 'Bobby' Goren and the thought of not having him on the show is heart-breaking. So from all your loyal fans, Vincent, thanks for making the show amazing. We wish you well in your future endeavours... BUT PLEASE DON'T GO!

Supanova Brisbane: This McCoy Fangirl's Dream

Every geek who is any geek will know what Supanova is to Australia. It's like Comic-con, only in Oz.

Well, this was my big weekend. This was it. I was finally meeting my idol, my hero and my dream man - Karl Urban. He of the sexy southern doctor persuation and Star Trek inclination who rocked in the movie Doom (based on the classic cult video game).

In short, I will share the story I shared with my friends in STARFLEET (alright, you can all stop laughing now):

I went to Supanova with a friend of mine - Veronica - where said lovely man was signing autographs and having photos taken. We checked out the line for the pavilion to pay for aforementioned photos/autographs and it was nearly a kilometer long. We decided to skip it fora while and have a look around at the other booths in the room.

I should mention that I was in my Starfleet Medical Corps uniform (sans tricorder and communicator) and was moseying around when we spotted Karl stepping out for a break (cue my hyperventilating). He walked past the queue and turned.

He looked right at me.

I looked back at him and did the only thing I could think of - smile and snap off a salute.

He grinned back, pointed at my uniform and said "THAT'S cool!" He then proceded over to me and began plucking at my shirt to see what it was made of.

I was in a state of shock, so Veronica swung into action, asking him if we could have a photo. He smiled at me and said "Sure, I'm not supposed to do this, but oh well!"

He then slid his arm around my lower back and posed kindly for a photo(something I would have had to pay $40 for if I hadn't been in uniform!). He was also gracious enough to answer a question I had about his portrayal of McCoy whilst I was present at his Q&A session.

This awesome story continues on the Sunday, Day Two of Supanova Brisbane...

On this day, I had a portrait with Karl and I done - signed by the man himself! I had to edit it slightly, because he gave me a moustache while signing it, which he apologised for and offered to draw one on himself. He also signed my Star Trek DVD.

Even better, Mr Urban thanked me for the invitation to the Region 11 STARFLEET summit in Adelaide! Whether or not he will agree to come, that I cannot tell. But he said thanks for the invite and - from me - a copy of In Limbo, the short story I won a Starfleet writing award for.

I went into recruiting mode whilst I was there and found two other girls who maybe quite keen to join up, with at least one saying she'd be interested in attending the summit. I got to ask him - at his Q&A - if he would like to see the relationships between Kirk, Spock and McCoy developed further, maybe ala' The Search for Spock. He said yes, from what he's seen of the new script, there will be moments that will better develop the "triumvirate".

We have been told that the Supanova website will probably podcast Karl's Q&A sessions later in the year, which is an opportunity to check out the really interesting questions he was asked and how he answered them.

What can I say about Karl - the man is an utter gentleman; funny, kind and clever with a real dedication to his fans and will go out of his way to make his fans happy. To that end, his queue for autographs and photos was the longest in the room. Just goes to show that he is one very much loved Doctor and they couldn't have picked a better successor to DeForest.

And now... you know I'm a rabid McCoy fangirl... and what I look like... hmm.

A Weighty Issue: The Pokewalker

Anyone who has known me for any length of time knows that I've struggled with my weight in the past. In fact, looking at the obesity figures globally, I'm not the only one. I'm not saying that I'm morbidly obese, but like every girl, I've been unhappy with the way I look.

But this isn't a story about my self-esteem issues. This is about the release of Pokemon SoulSilver and HeartGold on Thursday.

From the outside, the game is identical to the predecessors on the GameBoy Colour. In fact, I dug out my old copy and had a look at it. Thus far, it is very comparable to the old favourite, Pokemon Crystal. Most of the story has been carbon-lifted, including the physical manifestation and encounters with Suicune and his devotee Eusine. The graphics have more in common with the recent edition Diamond/Pearl. Musically, it's almost identical to the original version with the same city and cycling tracks used.

Funnily enough, most of my party is exactly the same as my old game - and with good reason. I have Pakka (Cyndaquil), Woopidoo (Wooper -> Quagsire), Clocky (Hoothoot -> Noctowl replacing my usual Pidgey - Kevie - for a reason), Rocky (the Onix I traded a Bellsprout for and who has become a lynchpin in many battles), Miracle (Togepi -> Togetic following the low-level evolution from my first game, when he evolved at level 18) and Ratty (Rattata -> Raticate... not sure why he hasn't been replaced yet but I think I'm waiting for Raikou).

I think I'm missing an Arcanine from my old game... I was a huge fan of the move Extremespeed. In any case, the game has aged well and the introduction of the Pokeathlon and the shift of the Safari Zone (very useful if you're a fan of just raising your six favourites) has benefitted the newer version (I know I won't be able to get my Lugia back until after the Elite Four).

The interesting part about all this and my fangirlism is the new device called the Pokewalker. Simply load a Pokemon that's stored in one of your deposit boxes, chose a route, clip it to yourself and start strolling. The Pokemon earns XP as you walk and there are opportunities to catch wild Pokemon and find useful items.

The funniest thing is that people are now trying to find every which way to defeat the purpose of the installed pedometer. Admittedly, I tried. I found myself stuck and bored at around a thousand steps. However, yesterday I wore it to work under my uniform. In one shift, I clocked over six thousand steps and another four thousand this morning.

The moral of this story?

Ten thousand steps is not really a lot. Really. Wearing a Pokemon on your belt all day might be daggy, but it's Nintendo's genius idea to keep everyone thinking about healthy ways of integrating gaming into a healthy lifestyle and let's face it - they could have done a lot worse than incorporate it into a favourite like Pokemon.

Super Mario Aerobics DVD, anyone?

All The World Is A Stage - Theatre and Games

So I was talking to an online friend about games and how they compare to the average theatrical production recently (and by recently, I mean about twenty minutes ago). He asked me what the difference was. I countered with the idea that not all games have that barrier that dramatisations have - there is a clean break between you and what happens onstage, despite audience interaction (and yes, I've played Return of the Phantom).

I went on to say that the average RPG is like a theatre production - while the player has a small amount of input, the game determines pretty much everything that happens. You just have to fulfil a number of conditions; buy the game/ticket, sit down, press buttons/watch quietly...

On the other hand the average FPS seems to have more invested from the player's perspective. Look at something like Borderlands. You have objectives to complete and there are milestones, but you choose your own pathway there. There aren't requirements that you take a certain route (generally). I'd say the same for something like Lock's Quest (while not strictly a FPS, it's not really a RPG, either. I'd say it was more like a simulator). You have objectives, but how you complete them is up to you.

There's a little-known episode of Doctor Who that I believe was called Attack of the Grask, or something similar. During it's airing in Britain, viewers were offered a chance to really be the Tenth Doctor's companion and help him discover information about the Grask. I can't remember it really well - I watched it on Youtube - but what stuck in my mind was the potential for this form of entertainment. It was almost game-like, yet it wasn't.

I also postulated that perhaps the FPS isn't really a genre, but an extension of the RPG... or at least some of the games on offer are. If the player is not themselves and cannot customise their avatar in their own way, then by default it is, in fact, a role-playing game in which they take over the persona of someone else. The same holds true for acting. If it is not you as yourself treading the boards/strutting for the camera, you are role-playing. It's not rocket science.

In unrelated news, I'm finishing Tree of Tranquility soon, so will be back with a review in the next week or so. Also, SoulSilver, the rerelease of Pokemon Silver is out this week, so I plan on heading out to my EB Games where I preordered it and playing it ASAP. Also, I really want to try out that PokeWalker.

Lock's Quest Review and other musings.

Well, I'm back!

I haven't started at the studio, so I'm still applying for work. Hey, if it keeps me paid, that's what I have to do. I've also got my birthday coming up in the middle of this month, so I'll be purchasing Pokemon: SoulSilver with the proceeds of said celebrations. I'm really looking forward to the port-over; I'm old enough to have bought the original Pokemon Silver when it was released as well as Pokemon Crystal which followed it. Needless to say, that will probably be the next review on my list.

Anyway, to the matters at hand - your timely review for Lock's Quest (DS).

So, the general idea is this - you're Lock, an amateur Archineer (a cross between an architect and an engineer) and your village is attacked by clockword droids (who may or may not be related to those in The Girl in the Fireplace - Doctor Who). In any case, you're given basic training in how to throw up a wall, put a turret next to it and defend both with your life.

Because Gods forbid you lose your objective.

Herein lies the funny part. Most of the time, you'll be asked to guard the ever-important Source Wells. Occasionally, you'll be asked to guard a gate. Or a blue-thing whose presence is never really explained. The funniest thing is that when you are asked to guard soldiers, not all of them have to survive to meet your objective.

Take this for example:

I was tasked with escorting the remaining force back to Antonia for the final showdown. Out of about six or so, only two made it to the end. I still completed the mission according to the game. While this made me very pleased that I could now shoot off to take down Lord Agony (one boss fight I was happy to be done with!), I was a little put out that these people seemed to think less of their "Kingdom Force" (see: fighting flunkies) than their Archineers (see: building AND fighting flunkies).

All in all, though, it was a fun little game, but not something that I will probably continue playing. The mechanics of wall and turret building get old very quickly and the length of the campaigns got a bit boring after a while. But as a cute little game with a vaguely interesting storyline, it's worth playing just to build your own fortress (and you really can't discount the traps you can set!).

Happy New Year! (RockBand review)

Yes, yes, I know I'm always late with my reviews and what-not. You could sue me, but I have no money to speak of. Also, this diet I've been on has lead me to having a whopper of a headache and it's only Day Two! Still, I must persevere.

As you might have noticed, I bought RockBand. Just the plain variety. I'm looking for The Beatles one was well, but then, my twenty-third is coming up in a month or so, so I should hang that idea up for my friends to see. In any case, here's what I thought of the game.

Bloody. Addictive.

There's enough variety to keep me interested between the difficulty levels and it appeals to my perfectionist nature to try for a five-star rating on every song on every difficulty. I have to say that I primarily played this game on the drums, though I did make it through REM's Orange Crush on Bass playing on Expert difficulty. That, my friends, was fun.

I do think that rhythm gaming has perhaps reached its potential for entertainment value, but with that said, I'm enjoying my drumkit so much that when I went to a friend's for a week, I actively missed it. When I arrived home, I played for about five hours straight!

So what are the drawbacks? Natural rhythm helps, especially on the drums. Also, you don't get to choose your band members, unlike Band Hero. When you aren't concentrating on hitting the right buttons, you are forced to sit through cover bands that may or may not look like the bands released the songs they are performing... though sometimes they are pretty good.

On the whole, I would recommend this game. It's a great way to pretend like you have musical talent without the years of practice that mastery of an instrument demands.

In other news, I hear back on whether I have that job as a Community Manager tomorrow. Ooh, I'm so excited!