The Waiting Game

These days, games get released not once, not twice.... you get the drill. Lebron knows what I'm saying.

I'm talking about Game of The Year Edition, never mind the remastered and HD edition this time. 

I waited a really long time for Red Dead Redemption GOTY edition almost to the point where I forget why I wanted the game at the first place. Looking back, I wasn't very eager about this game until the Undead Nightmare DLC came about. Being a fan of all things horror, I was probably more interested in the DLC than the actual game itself so it made sense to wait it out for a complete edition. Sure I could have gotten the standalone DLC first but I always find DLC pricing too absurd for my liking. For the record, I did actually play the original Red Dead first before getting into the Undead Nightmare. 

Most of the time it's almost impossible to wait for a Complete edition if you are really eager on the game since day one. Quality DLC takes time to develop, unless it's some cheap tactic employed by a publisher to withheld finished content to release down the line. Most of the good DLC like Left Behind and RE5 felt like genuine afterthought made due to positive feedback of the original game. By the time those DLC came out, the original games were aging in dog years by gamer's standards.

I had no idea that The Evil Within was going to have DLC story content when I picked up the original game. I don't keep track of every game out there to point where I even know about games I have no intention of playing. Thankfully the main game was satisfying and pretty meaty content for a single player game. Mikami isn't one to cut back, I always thought RE4 was probably a tad bit too long for its own good. The Evil Within never overstayed its welcome, it's long but never felt draggy. The DLC added more to what was already a pretty strong content for a survival horror game. Probably good enough for me to consider double-dipping on a complete edition for The Evil Within PS4/Xbone version.

It's nice to own the complete edition of a game, having all that content in one convenient package. However, there is something cool about owning the first edition of the game. You can denied that, it's almost like a badge of honour among your geek friends.

Why So Serious?

We all know at least one in our life.

The one who overreacts and stops you when you get to spoiler territory. You know, the one who starts covering their ears and singing to themselves to avoid being spoil. Some people just take their entertainment way too serious.

I find spoilers part of the perils of being a latecomer. It doesn't bother me as much as the next guy. Sure sometimes I get disappointed when I stumbled into one but in this age, it's hard to avoid spoilers.

I found out John Marston dies at the end of Red Dead while I was still playing the GOTY edition. As you know the GOTY edition took forever to come out and I was taking my sweet time playing it. In this case, I was actually intrigued how he dies and the ending certainly didn't disappoint. There is a silver lining I guess but of course if it was really lame ending then a spoiler could quickly defused all interest.

If you really want to avoid spoilers then join the master race and be the first to play everything. Very difficult task as even when I buy a game on the first day, I still take my time and never finish it in one go. So don't blame the guy who tells you Brad Pitt is actually Edward's imaginary friend. Blame yourself for not getting around to watching it.

Talking About My Generation Games

Since it's NBA Draft Night and I'm in the mood of compiling my own selection of picks, I thought I shared my choices for IGN Game of the Generation Poll. I loved taking part in these polls and finding out the results even though IGN tend to be doing these Best of list almost every other month.

Now I gave quite a bit of thought as to which three games should make up the top 3 but not nearly as long for the rest on the list. Mostly I just knew the other games had to be there no matter what the order were, most were really early in the generation so no game had the benefit of making the list just because I recently played it. Well, except The Last of Us but I don't think anyone would argue it isn't a game for the generation.

1. Red Dead Redemption - Playstation 3

I wasn't as hyped up for this game when it came out, in fact I patiently waited for the GOTY edition before picking it up and really took my time to play and finish this. But it's pretty apparent this game did everything right even down to the DLC and multi-player mode. I was pleasantly surprised by how good the writing was, now I'm used to playing Japanese games so most of the time the story is just serviceable or sometimes things get lost in translation. Red Dead may be about outlaws and lowlifes but the conversations are never random babbling or meaningless chatters, and you don't have sit through a long cutscene most of the time too.

2. Super Mario Galaxy - Nintendo Wii

Mario 64 was my first 3D Mario game but it was years after release when I finally played it on the Nintendo DS. Let's just say the controls on the DS remake are not nearly as accurate as the original without an analog pad on the handheld. So Super Mario Galaxy was more like my first real taste of 3D Mario platform and the game works so well because Nintendo didn't just do a 3D version of conventional Mario platform levels like how the early 3D Castlevania games were.

3. Catherine - Playstation 3

This was a first day buy for me despite not having played much of Atlus' previous games. I bought this game after being intrigued by  the premise and characters but the only reason I replay this game is solely because of the addictive puzzle/block-climbing. In fact, I wish you could just skip all the evening drinking session because once you played through it once, those nightly sessions can be a chore.

If you look at the rest of my picks, you may think I deliberately left out any Capcom's games but the truth is, most of their game released this generation just weren't very good though Dead Rising is noteworthy exception.

Logan in the Old West

Logan, meet John Marston you two have a lot in common

I was in a bit of a wolverine craze of late so I dug up some modern classics to read and among them was the recent Old Man Logan by Mark Millar and Steve McNiven. What makes Old Man Logan so compelling is Logan playing the role of the family man pacifist in this alternate reality future instead of his usual badass mutant berserker self. We don't know why he is that way initially but there he is, attending to his family and herds of cattle in the barn. We have all seen wolverine in action before and being the best at what he does, it's nice to see such restrain with the character until the final payoff when he does pop his claws out again.

What does this has to do with anything? Well, the character John Marston in Red Dead Redemption just reminds me of the Old Man Logan tale. But the problem with Marston is we've never seen him in action as the cold-blooded killer riding with his old gang or even this new family he talks about so fondly, at least this early on in the game where I'm playing. It hardly establish the character quite as well hearing him talk about it rather than seeing it. It's doesn't feel intimidating when Marston warns strangers not to push his buttons or take his words lightly because even I'm not sure what he's capable of, aside of picking up rare flowers and herding the cattle. The mundane task just feels that way, this is not how the cliche story of cold-blooded killers walking away from past life of killing is supposed to be. Is there going to be a huge payoff at the end where Marston goes berserk and just guns down his old gang and anyone standing in his way?

Maybe I should have just watched Clint Eastword in Unforgiven instead, I heard it's really good and has a similar story to Old Man Logan, probably Red Dead Redemption too.