Hello everybody, SlimKirby here, and welcome to another blog entry!
First off, big apologies for not being able to update last week, but I really needed that time to study for finals. And then I also missed my update yesterday just because I had some other things going on. However, I did find some time to update tonight, so I figured I would, even if it will probably end up being a small one.
So I am finally on my Winter Break, and my god am I thrilled to be. That last semester of mine seriously never wanted to end. But thankfully I can look past it now and try to regroup. As for my grades, I don't expect very much or really any high marks, but I have a pretty solid cumulative GPA right now, and if I just get my act together, the blunders I made this semester shouldn't impact it very much.
Also some recent things to note, I have officially ordered my new laptop and should be getting it sometime after Christmas. For the time being I can manage recording on my "stay-at-home" desktop, but soon I should be back in action in terms of where I was a month and a half ago. But anyway, I'm going to be getting an HP Core i7 (which was quite pricey...but I didn't have any major requests for Christmas, which kind of justifies it (plus this is something I actually need)), and I am very much looking forward to getting it. =D
Besides that though, I don't have too much to report. I've basically been trying to take it easy these last few days before things start getting crazy with the activity and family get-togethers. Christmas is that time of year after all! =P
Anyways, moving on to Youtube stuff.....hooray for being completely back in action! Not only did I resume progress in both Kirby's Dream Course and Mario Party 7, I also added a new project to my list, that game being New Super Mario Bros. Wii, a game that I have actually done an online project for, but just not on Youtube. It feels good to be back in the swing of things, but let's hope that the "3 PROJECTS" don't hold me down too much. =P
Ok, so first off, for the first time in a month and a half, I can talk about Mario Party! The board I did this weekend was Neon Heights, a board, as I mentioned, that is far from my favorite, just because of the luck-based nature. Yeah, it seems kind of contradictory to hate on a board for something like that because so much of the game is luck-based already, but the board mechanic just adds that much more to it. I mean, from the beginning of the playthrough, I think that was pretty evident by the fact that I had such a hard time getting a star at first despite having quite a bit of coins, and the computer players seemed to get to them no problem. This is especially made true by the fact that the star is technically only worth 10 coins, and even if you get the wrong chest, you still have a 1 in 2 chance of getting those coins back with an additional 10 on top of it, and if not, well, that bob-omb just ends up screwing things up too. =P But nonetheless, I stayed pretty much at the top in terms of coin count, and that ended up working quite well for me. And it also helped that I was a demon when it came to the mini-games. >=D And I know I made such a big deal out of it, but man, I was glad that the bonus stars couldn't decide the outcome, because it was kind of lame how the 3 bonus stars I would have won weren't even up as options and the fact that Daisy got the 3 that were offered. If I didn't have more coins than she, I would have been in trouble. =P But in the end, I got a rightfully deserved victory, and I guess that is all that matters. Oh and lol @ Magmagical Journey happening in the same turn right after one another.
As for Kirby's Dream Course, things are going ok I guess. At this point I have more than half of the project recorded and I should be done before break...or at least that is the hope. If not, I'll be finishing just as I return back to college. Despite some criticisms on the commentary (or rather the idea that people can't understand that my voice has a natural monotone to it that I can't control), I'd say the project is going along well.
And yesterday, or technically today because it was updated at midnight..... although yesterday might be more appropriate since this blog probably won't be read til after this coming midnight......bah, technicalities.....the point is, I started New Super Mario Bros. Wii in my last video! I will admit, at first I was kind of unsure about the game as I was filming the episodes, but after I got done and started putting them together.....I dunno, it started to grow on me a little bit, and this should be a pretty fun project. Although the one thing I will say...never announce in a Let's Play how familiar you are with a game...the commenters will go after you on every little thing. I think one of the things I said in the first video was, "I know this game decently well," (which I think is true), but everyone interpreted that as, "I KNOW EVERYTHINGZ, I R MASTER, GIVE ME MONEYZ!" and everytime I said the slightest thing wrong, or missed something, it's almost like I violated one of the 10 Commandments. I mean, the people that do that are stupid, so it shouldn't bother me, and don't get me wrong, the idiotic comments don't bother me at all....but I am seriously concerned with the intelligence of most Youtube users. I really hate saying that, but come on, is it really that hard to use your brain or common sense to such a small degree? Is it? I guess not.....
Anyways, that is what is new in Youtube for me, so I hope you guys enjoy all the projects I have for you throughout this Winter Break, and hopefully you guys will be able to see nothing but daily updates from me from now on! =)
Once again, while I have finished Donkey Kong Country Returns at this point, I still don't feel comfortable enough talking about it, so once again I am putting that review on hold. And because of that, I think that about does it for this entry! Thanks for joining me this week and I'll see you next week for more bloggish excitement....unless I decide not to update due to Christmas and my 22nd Birthday! =)
Later Folks!
-SlimKirby
Monday, December 20, 2010
Sunday, December 5, 2010
12/5/10 - A Decemberish Update Type of Entry
Hello everybody, SlimKirby here, and welcome to another weekly blog entry. The month of December has finally began and the first snows of the season have already been upon us, or at least for me anyways. Not only that, but at this point I only have about 10 days left here at my university for my fall semester, so I am really looking forward to being done with the freaking semester that has tried so hard to get the best of me. Oh well, it’s almost over now and I can seriously see the light at the end of the tunnel. I just have to get past this difficult week and then make it through a week of finals, and then I’m done. Anyways, let’s get to talks about stuffs.
First off, I will say that I do have my laptop back now. Unfortunately, the changes made to it to get it to work got rid of any ability or capability for the machine to record anything, so I can no longer make videos at this time. However, this does not mean I’m necessarily “out of commission” until I get a new one. I still have videos ready for this coming week and then unfortunately I will have to take another small break (for just a week) when I won’t have any videos at all, but after that week I should have the capability to record again before I actually get my new laptop. I’ll basically be recording in the same fashion that I recorded my first Kirby’s Dream Course videos, but this time I’ll actually have a TV screen to look at while I’m playing and not just the stupid Windows Movie Maker window, which I refuse to use to play Mario Party 7 and my next playthrough.
Speaking of Youtube stuff…..HOORAY FOR UPDATES THIS WEEK! I can’t believe I’m actually saying this, but it actually felt good to make updates again. Of course they weren’t daily updates or anything like that, but still, it felt like that small part of my life that vanished for a few weeks had finally returned to me. I only hope the return was enough of an impact for the viewing public, which from the reception, I’d say it was at least good enough.
So let’s get started talking about Kirby’s Dream Course. This was a game that I really wanted to do for awhile, and for the longest time I was juggling my thoughts together about whether or not I wanted to do this game or either Super Bomberman 3 or The Adventures of Lolo 3. Of the three games, I knew this game was going to be the biggest challenge because Super Bomberman 3 is actually pretty damn easy, and Lolo 3, despite how challenging the series actually is, I think for a Let’s Play it actually is a pretty sensible choice and a game that’s relatively easy to handle. All you need to do is just record yourself playing through, cut out footage if you really need to, and WHAM, you have yourself a video. Kirby’s Dream Course, while really anti-climatic for a casual Let’s Play, if you want to do an all-gold medal playthrough like I am doing, you’re going to be in for quite a storm if you aren’t an expert player. I am of course not an expert player, but I think I’m good enough to at least handle the expert-leveled challenge that the game offers. I knew from the beginning that I would 1) have to play the courses multiple times, 2) make plenty of footage cuts until I got everything right, and 3) practice and do my research on game mechanics to get the best performance possible. Since I am not working with an emulator on this Let’s Play, save states were out of the question and I’d have to get the gold medals based on personal skill alone. I actually almost considered making the move to an emulator during the final weeks leading up to this Let’s Play, but then my computer went “kah-put” (or however you spell that) and forced me to use my Virtual Console copy instead. In the end though, I don’t think game was a bad choice, I just knew that I was going to be in for a lot.
The first recordings of this game were actually pretty “interesting,” and I’m not sure if I mean in a good way or a bad way. I wouldn’t say they were “catastrophic,” necessarily, but they were pretty far from easy-going…that’s for sure. The first recording, I really didn’t mind how that turned out just because it was the first video, and no first video is truly that perfect. I just figured I would cover the basics, do what I could to get a good score, and if I didn’t succeed, I could easily just try again and knock it out of the park, which is pretty much how that worked. The 2nd video/course was a little more strenuous, just because of that stupid recording glitch which caused me to redo that entire course. The 3rd was ok, but I had to replay that so many times due to small, stupid mistakes that I really shouldn’t have made. The following 3 videos, which I also recorded at around the same time, and which will also be released on my channel this coming week, were pretty much the same story. I got them done, but they could have been smoother for me. I’m really hoping the recording set-up that I’ll be using when I return home will be so much more beneficial for me, because it seems like my timing is just a bit off when I was playing the game for my finished videos. Oh well, I guess it’s just something we will have to wait and see what happens. For now though, I hope you guys enjoy.
As for Mario Party 7, I feel so bad that I haven’t been able to update this project, just because the first half of the Party Mode playthrough went pretty well for me. I did have that stupid loss at Pyramid Park, but even that went well considering. It really sucks that I had to put this on such a long hiatus, especially since at this point I actually would have been finished with Party Mode by now. Looks like the extra videos and even Party Mode itself will be going on til the first weeks of 2011.
As I briefly mentioned earlier in the blog, I actually had another playthrough planned for the month of December. However, due to how cruel nature can be to a Kirby with sunglasses, that project is also going to be significantly delayed quite a bit. At this point I was honestly hoping to have started the project as I finished Mario Party 7 and as I was closing out Dream Course, but now it looks I’ll be smack dab in the middle of both at this project’s beginning. It really, really does suck, I will admit, but that’s the price you pay when you go about 3 weeks of no updating, 2 weeks of light updating, and then another week of no activity. Again, just for emphasis, it sucks, but you really can’t control these things. In a perfect world, my Computer Tech people would be geniuses that could fix any problem simply by touching the screen, instead of taking it apart and having it at the mercy of their cold-hearted souls. In the end though, I still plan to release this project, whatever it is, around the week of Christmas, so I hope you guys enjoy it when that time comes (and yes, once again, keeping the project in the dark. ;)).
I could talk about a few other things, like CSS or the Kirby’s Stream Land stream I talked about during my 20,000 Subscriber special, but honestly, these are things that I just can’t address at this time because there is honestly just too much going on and the future is just uncertain. I’ll try to keep you guys updated as much as possible.
Also, this is going to be a short entry just because I’m really, really, really busy at this time. Plus I haven’t exactly made any progress on Donkey Kong Country Returns so I’m not ready to talk more about that yet. So without further adieu, I’m going to close the blog entry up here and talk to you guys next week! See you then!
Later folks!
-SlimKirby
First off, I will say that I do have my laptop back now. Unfortunately, the changes made to it to get it to work got rid of any ability or capability for the machine to record anything, so I can no longer make videos at this time. However, this does not mean I’m necessarily “out of commission” until I get a new one. I still have videos ready for this coming week and then unfortunately I will have to take another small break (for just a week) when I won’t have any videos at all, but after that week I should have the capability to record again before I actually get my new laptop. I’ll basically be recording in the same fashion that I recorded my first Kirby’s Dream Course videos, but this time I’ll actually have a TV screen to look at while I’m playing and not just the stupid Windows Movie Maker window, which I refuse to use to play Mario Party 7 and my next playthrough.
Speaking of Youtube stuff…..HOORAY FOR UPDATES THIS WEEK! I can’t believe I’m actually saying this, but it actually felt good to make updates again. Of course they weren’t daily updates or anything like that, but still, it felt like that small part of my life that vanished for a few weeks had finally returned to me. I only hope the return was enough of an impact for the viewing public, which from the reception, I’d say it was at least good enough.
So let’s get started talking about Kirby’s Dream Course. This was a game that I really wanted to do for awhile, and for the longest time I was juggling my thoughts together about whether or not I wanted to do this game or either Super Bomberman 3 or The Adventures of Lolo 3. Of the three games, I knew this game was going to be the biggest challenge because Super Bomberman 3 is actually pretty damn easy, and Lolo 3, despite how challenging the series actually is, I think for a Let’s Play it actually is a pretty sensible choice and a game that’s relatively easy to handle. All you need to do is just record yourself playing through, cut out footage if you really need to, and WHAM, you have yourself a video. Kirby’s Dream Course, while really anti-climatic for a casual Let’s Play, if you want to do an all-gold medal playthrough like I am doing, you’re going to be in for quite a storm if you aren’t an expert player. I am of course not an expert player, but I think I’m good enough to at least handle the expert-leveled challenge that the game offers. I knew from the beginning that I would 1) have to play the courses multiple times, 2) make plenty of footage cuts until I got everything right, and 3) practice and do my research on game mechanics to get the best performance possible. Since I am not working with an emulator on this Let’s Play, save states were out of the question and I’d have to get the gold medals based on personal skill alone. I actually almost considered making the move to an emulator during the final weeks leading up to this Let’s Play, but then my computer went “kah-put” (or however you spell that) and forced me to use my Virtual Console copy instead. In the end though, I don’t think game was a bad choice, I just knew that I was going to be in for a lot.
The first recordings of this game were actually pretty “interesting,” and I’m not sure if I mean in a good way or a bad way. I wouldn’t say they were “catastrophic,” necessarily, but they were pretty far from easy-going…that’s for sure. The first recording, I really didn’t mind how that turned out just because it was the first video, and no first video is truly that perfect. I just figured I would cover the basics, do what I could to get a good score, and if I didn’t succeed, I could easily just try again and knock it out of the park, which is pretty much how that worked. The 2nd video/course was a little more strenuous, just because of that stupid recording glitch which caused me to redo that entire course. The 3rd was ok, but I had to replay that so many times due to small, stupid mistakes that I really shouldn’t have made. The following 3 videos, which I also recorded at around the same time, and which will also be released on my channel this coming week, were pretty much the same story. I got them done, but they could have been smoother for me. I’m really hoping the recording set-up that I’ll be using when I return home will be so much more beneficial for me, because it seems like my timing is just a bit off when I was playing the game for my finished videos. Oh well, I guess it’s just something we will have to wait and see what happens. For now though, I hope you guys enjoy.
As for Mario Party 7, I feel so bad that I haven’t been able to update this project, just because the first half of the Party Mode playthrough went pretty well for me. I did have that stupid loss at Pyramid Park, but even that went well considering. It really sucks that I had to put this on such a long hiatus, especially since at this point I actually would have been finished with Party Mode by now. Looks like the extra videos and even Party Mode itself will be going on til the first weeks of 2011.
As I briefly mentioned earlier in the blog, I actually had another playthrough planned for the month of December. However, due to how cruel nature can be to a Kirby with sunglasses, that project is also going to be significantly delayed quite a bit. At this point I was honestly hoping to have started the project as I finished Mario Party 7 and as I was closing out Dream Course, but now it looks I’ll be smack dab in the middle of both at this project’s beginning. It really, really does suck, I will admit, but that’s the price you pay when you go about 3 weeks of no updating, 2 weeks of light updating, and then another week of no activity. Again, just for emphasis, it sucks, but you really can’t control these things. In a perfect world, my Computer Tech people would be geniuses that could fix any problem simply by touching the screen, instead of taking it apart and having it at the mercy of their cold-hearted souls. In the end though, I still plan to release this project, whatever it is, around the week of Christmas, so I hope you guys enjoy it when that time comes (and yes, once again, keeping the project in the dark. ;)).
I could talk about a few other things, like CSS or the Kirby’s Stream Land stream I talked about during my 20,000 Subscriber special, but honestly, these are things that I just can’t address at this time because there is honestly just too much going on and the future is just uncertain. I’ll try to keep you guys updated as much as possible.
Also, this is going to be a short entry just because I’m really, really, really busy at this time. Plus I haven’t exactly made any progress on Donkey Kong Country Returns so I’m not ready to talk more about that yet. So without further adieu, I’m going to close the blog entry up here and talk to you guys next week! See you then!
Later folks!
-SlimKirby
Sunday, November 28, 2010
11/28/10 - SlimKirby: Returns!
Hello everbody, SlimKirby here!
The title is no lie, SlimKirby has definitely returned, but in more ways than one (and not just because I got Donkey Kong Country: Returns =P). For one, it is time for another exciting blog entry, and two, as of tomorrow, I should be returning to the Youtube scene after 3 long weeks of not updating. Will this return set the wheels back in motion, will my laptop be back in action, will SlimKirby still be able to lead the Germans to victory on that Civilization II file I keep talking about? The answers to these questions will be answered….shortly.
First up, the laptop situation should finally be done with after tomorrow (the key-word is “should.”). I talked to the computer people on Wednesday and they’ve told me that there is nothing they can do about getting my laptop back up to the way it was before I started having problems, so they are going to do something else. Basically, what they are going to do instead is install a thing called Virtual Box onto my laptop. With this, I will be able to control a Mac OS and Windows OS simultaneously besides just one or the other. Of course I’ll lose some functionality this way, but it’s the only thing they believe they can do about this for now. Installing Windows via Boot Camp is impossible with the way my laptop currently is, which again is very strange because they actually say my computer is mechanically fine. Anyways, in the long run, just having the Windows OS would solve a majority of my problems, so I’m taking this as a victory for the time being. Of course, I’m not really sure what this means for my videos as far as this laptop is concerned. The thing is, my capture card only works on the Windows OS and is completely unrecognized when I plug it in whenever I’m on the Mac side. I’m not sure if Virtual Box will affect the device, but there is always that possibility. I guess the only thing I can really do is test it once I get my computer back, whether it’s tomorrow or Tuesday, or whenever the hell it will be X_X.
Now you are probably wondering….with this uncertainty still at play, how exactly will I be making my return tomorrow? Well, let’s just say that during this Thanksgiving Break, I did find a little bit of time to get some recording done on my desktop at home. Of course, my desktop set-up isn’t exactly the best set-up to use for the type of prolific work I do. For one, it’s just a really small space and not a very comfortable place to do recording. And second of all, there is no TV, so I have to use the small Windows Movie Maker preview window…something I haven’t done since Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance back in 2009. It’s not a terrible thing to use, but it sometimes hinders precise gameplay, just because you are playing a console video game through a computer program while it’s trying to record it. However, I think I got it to work fine for what I could do with it, and was able to pump out 6 videos from my recording sessions (even though they took a long time). The way I figure it, I will be uploading these videos every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday for the next two weeks. That way, I can figure out what I can (and need to) do when I get my laptop back, if I can do anything, and even if I can’t, I’m at least covered for two weeks.
So yeah, that is the activity you can expect on my channel for the next two weeks. I know 3/7 (6/14) doesn’t seem like much (it could be more if everything works out ok), but it’s better than the 0/21 record I’ve had for the past 3 weeks. In the meantime, CrystalStarStudio is also back in the swing of things (FINALLY), so you will have something to watch there for the next two weeks as well. Of course we only have TTYD extras for you, but soon we will have a winter line of projects ready for you guys as well. It’s a relief to know that finally CSS is back on the move. I know the wait has been rather long and ridiculous, but it honestly isn’t something we could’ve handled at the time. In fact, I’m actually still a little unsure about a few things, but I’m not going to get into those now.
As for other Youtube stuff, I really just don’t know right now. As I said before, a lot of it just depends on how the whole laptop situation goes. I hope it goes well enough so I can continue Mario Party 7 this coming weekend, but again, it’s just too early to tell. I also have another big project planned on the horizon as well. I would like to start that one on the 13th of December, but it may not happen until the 20th. School and education has quite a lot to do with things as well, and I am reaching that point where final projects and exams are quickly approaching. I guess the only thing I can really say right now is just stay tuned to my twitter updates and recent activity feeds for information pertaining to Youtube stuff.
So now that I got that covered, I guess I could talk about a few things that have been going on in my real life. After all, there was an American holiday we just had! =O My Thanksgiving (and TG Break) actually went pretty well. It didn’t last me as long as I would have liked, but then again, all breaks are like that. =P Anyways, I guess I’ll just cover some of the main highlights;
1). On Tuesday on my way home, I actually got the pleasure of picking up Donkey Kong Country Returns, a game I have been very excited about ever since it was first revealed at E3 2010. It was my “Best in Show” choice for the Wii (even over Epic Yarn), and after playing through most of the game thus far, I have to say that this game could possibly be Game of the Year for Wii as well. So far, the game is just incredible, and I can honestly say there hasn’t been a single part of it that I haven’t enjoyed. There are quite a few bits of frustration though, I will admit, but I’ve always been fond of a little challenge here and there. This game is seriously one of the most difficult games I have ever played, in the entire DKC series, of all Wii games, and may even be a candidate for of all-time. Unlike other games I have played this year, I’m not just breezing through it either. This game actually feels like there is some good length to it. And also like traditional DKC games, there are a lot of collectables and hidden stuff, so even after you finish the game, you’re probably not finished yet. ;) =P Anyways, I didn’t want to get too in depth with this game just yet. I will probably have a Game Discussion/review (whatever you want to call it) of the game soon in the next few weeks, so stay tuned for that. For now though, if you love platformers and if you were in love with the DKC series as much as I was back in the day, definitely give this game your consideration.
2). Thanksgiving itself was a pretty good day. I got to see some of my family (some of which I hadn’t seen in a few months), so that was nice. I spent most of the day feeling pretty tired (a certain girl wearing yellow and purple was doing her job of trying to keep me up as late as she could again =P), but that didn’t really ruin my day any. After the festivities started to wind down, I got to play some Rock Band with my cousins, aunt, and even my mom (my mom is surprisingly a good singer….by Rock Band standards =P), so that was a lot of fun, and perhaps the highlight of my day. Man though, after almost a year of not playing those games, I still remember when I used to be so addicted to them and Guitar Hero. To think if I never started Let’s Playing, I probably would have ended up being a Guitar Hero/Rock Band guy XD. Oh well, I think I chose the right crowd. =P
3). The last and final highlight of my break was that I got to see some of my best friends on Friday night. However, this gathering was not just a friendly, “let’s get caught up” type of visit. Since the end of October, me, and 3 of my best friends, have been trying to start a little Pokemon tournament of sorts (between ourselves). Basically, we replay our old R/B/Y games, and using the team we create in our games, we will use those teams and do battle with each other at a future date and time. All 4 of us have been Pokemon-a-holics for as long as we can remember (in fact, we even call ourselves “The Elite Four” =P), and this competition is kind of a way for us to go back to those times and try to relive those moments and memories. Although, I guess “relive” isn’t exactly the way to go about defining it. It’s moreso “re-nostalgializing” (if that’s even a word) with something near and dear to our childhood. Anyways, on Friday we got started with our new games and we’re all en route to our own individual paths of becoming Pokemon Masters! =P So yeah, this should be a lot of fun! And for those of you wondering (since I don’t think those guys keep up with my Twitter…. not like it really matters either), but I chose Charmander, and I currently have my first badge on my game. As for potential team members, I have a few Pokemon in mind, but I’m going to see how my game plays out first before I choose a finalized version. =P
So yeah, that is what has been going on for me as of late. I’m anxiously awaiting the end of this semester, but to do that I have to get through 3 more weeks of hard work (work I’m honestly not that excited about). However, once that work is finished, HUZZAH! I guess that’s a good word to explain it! =P
Anyways, since I kind of talked a little about DKCR already, I’m not going to bother with any additional game discussion, so I think that means it’s about time for me to wrap things up for this week. I hope you guys enjoy the line of videos I have planned for the next two weeks, and hopefully I can get back into the full swing of things (Youtube wise) very, very soon. I know that most of you are and will continue to be patient with me, but a part of me really misses making videos and updating. =( I’m not trying to overwork myself or anything, but I do get a lot of enjoyment out of it, just like I hope you guys get a lot of enjoyment out of watching my videos. But alas, kind of blabbering on for longer than I need to. =P
I’ll talk to you guys next week for another exciting blog entry! Catch you guys then! Later folks!
-SlimKirby
The title is no lie, SlimKirby has definitely returned, but in more ways than one (and not just because I got Donkey Kong Country: Returns =P). For one, it is time for another exciting blog entry, and two, as of tomorrow, I should be returning to the Youtube scene after 3 long weeks of not updating. Will this return set the wheels back in motion, will my laptop be back in action, will SlimKirby still be able to lead the Germans to victory on that Civilization II file I keep talking about? The answers to these questions will be answered….shortly.
First up, the laptop situation should finally be done with after tomorrow (the key-word is “should.”). I talked to the computer people on Wednesday and they’ve told me that there is nothing they can do about getting my laptop back up to the way it was before I started having problems, so they are going to do something else. Basically, what they are going to do instead is install a thing called Virtual Box onto my laptop. With this, I will be able to control a Mac OS and Windows OS simultaneously besides just one or the other. Of course I’ll lose some functionality this way, but it’s the only thing they believe they can do about this for now. Installing Windows via Boot Camp is impossible with the way my laptop currently is, which again is very strange because they actually say my computer is mechanically fine. Anyways, in the long run, just having the Windows OS would solve a majority of my problems, so I’m taking this as a victory for the time being. Of course, I’m not really sure what this means for my videos as far as this laptop is concerned. The thing is, my capture card only works on the Windows OS and is completely unrecognized when I plug it in whenever I’m on the Mac side. I’m not sure if Virtual Box will affect the device, but there is always that possibility. I guess the only thing I can really do is test it once I get my computer back, whether it’s tomorrow or Tuesday, or whenever the hell it will be X_X.
Now you are probably wondering….with this uncertainty still at play, how exactly will I be making my return tomorrow? Well, let’s just say that during this Thanksgiving Break, I did find a little bit of time to get some recording done on my desktop at home. Of course, my desktop set-up isn’t exactly the best set-up to use for the type of prolific work I do. For one, it’s just a really small space and not a very comfortable place to do recording. And second of all, there is no TV, so I have to use the small Windows Movie Maker preview window…something I haven’t done since Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance back in 2009. It’s not a terrible thing to use, but it sometimes hinders precise gameplay, just because you are playing a console video game through a computer program while it’s trying to record it. However, I think I got it to work fine for what I could do with it, and was able to pump out 6 videos from my recording sessions (even though they took a long time). The way I figure it, I will be uploading these videos every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday for the next two weeks. That way, I can figure out what I can (and need to) do when I get my laptop back, if I can do anything, and even if I can’t, I’m at least covered for two weeks.
So yeah, that is the activity you can expect on my channel for the next two weeks. I know 3/7 (6/14) doesn’t seem like much (it could be more if everything works out ok), but it’s better than the 0/21 record I’ve had for the past 3 weeks. In the meantime, CrystalStarStudio is also back in the swing of things (FINALLY), so you will have something to watch there for the next two weeks as well. Of course we only have TTYD extras for you, but soon we will have a winter line of projects ready for you guys as well. It’s a relief to know that finally CSS is back on the move. I know the wait has been rather long and ridiculous, but it honestly isn’t something we could’ve handled at the time. In fact, I’m actually still a little unsure about a few things, but I’m not going to get into those now.
As for other Youtube stuff, I really just don’t know right now. As I said before, a lot of it just depends on how the whole laptop situation goes. I hope it goes well enough so I can continue Mario Party 7 this coming weekend, but again, it’s just too early to tell. I also have another big project planned on the horizon as well. I would like to start that one on the 13th of December, but it may not happen until the 20th. School and education has quite a lot to do with things as well, and I am reaching that point where final projects and exams are quickly approaching. I guess the only thing I can really say right now is just stay tuned to my twitter updates and recent activity feeds for information pertaining to Youtube stuff.
So now that I got that covered, I guess I could talk about a few things that have been going on in my real life. After all, there was an American holiday we just had! =O My Thanksgiving (and TG Break) actually went pretty well. It didn’t last me as long as I would have liked, but then again, all breaks are like that. =P Anyways, I guess I’ll just cover some of the main highlights;
1). On Tuesday on my way home, I actually got the pleasure of picking up Donkey Kong Country Returns, a game I have been very excited about ever since it was first revealed at E3 2010. It was my “Best in Show” choice for the Wii (even over Epic Yarn), and after playing through most of the game thus far, I have to say that this game could possibly be Game of the Year for Wii as well. So far, the game is just incredible, and I can honestly say there hasn’t been a single part of it that I haven’t enjoyed. There are quite a few bits of frustration though, I will admit, but I’ve always been fond of a little challenge here and there. This game is seriously one of the most difficult games I have ever played, in the entire DKC series, of all Wii games, and may even be a candidate for of all-time. Unlike other games I have played this year, I’m not just breezing through it either. This game actually feels like there is some good length to it. And also like traditional DKC games, there are a lot of collectables and hidden stuff, so even after you finish the game, you’re probably not finished yet. ;) =P Anyways, I didn’t want to get too in depth with this game just yet. I will probably have a Game Discussion/review (whatever you want to call it) of the game soon in the next few weeks, so stay tuned for that. For now though, if you love platformers and if you were in love with the DKC series as much as I was back in the day, definitely give this game your consideration.
2). Thanksgiving itself was a pretty good day. I got to see some of my family (some of which I hadn’t seen in a few months), so that was nice. I spent most of the day feeling pretty tired (a certain girl wearing yellow and purple was doing her job of trying to keep me up as late as she could again =P), but that didn’t really ruin my day any. After the festivities started to wind down, I got to play some Rock Band with my cousins, aunt, and even my mom (my mom is surprisingly a good singer….by Rock Band standards =P), so that was a lot of fun, and perhaps the highlight of my day. Man though, after almost a year of not playing those games, I still remember when I used to be so addicted to them and Guitar Hero. To think if I never started Let’s Playing, I probably would have ended up being a Guitar Hero/Rock Band guy XD. Oh well, I think I chose the right crowd. =P
3). The last and final highlight of my break was that I got to see some of my best friends on Friday night. However, this gathering was not just a friendly, “let’s get caught up” type of visit. Since the end of October, me, and 3 of my best friends, have been trying to start a little Pokemon tournament of sorts (between ourselves). Basically, we replay our old R/B/Y games, and using the team we create in our games, we will use those teams and do battle with each other at a future date and time. All 4 of us have been Pokemon-a-holics for as long as we can remember (in fact, we even call ourselves “The Elite Four” =P), and this competition is kind of a way for us to go back to those times and try to relive those moments and memories. Although, I guess “relive” isn’t exactly the way to go about defining it. It’s moreso “re-nostalgializing” (if that’s even a word) with something near and dear to our childhood. Anyways, on Friday we got started with our new games and we’re all en route to our own individual paths of becoming Pokemon Masters! =P So yeah, this should be a lot of fun! And for those of you wondering (since I don’t think those guys keep up with my Twitter…. not like it really matters either), but I chose Charmander, and I currently have my first badge on my game. As for potential team members, I have a few Pokemon in mind, but I’m going to see how my game plays out first before I choose a finalized version. =P
So yeah, that is what has been going on for me as of late. I’m anxiously awaiting the end of this semester, but to do that I have to get through 3 more weeks of hard work (work I’m honestly not that excited about). However, once that work is finished, HUZZAH! I guess that’s a good word to explain it! =P
Anyways, since I kind of talked a little about DKCR already, I’m not going to bother with any additional game discussion, so I think that means it’s about time for me to wrap things up for this week. I hope you guys enjoy the line of videos I have planned for the next two weeks, and hopefully I can get back into the full swing of things (Youtube wise) very, very soon. I know that most of you are and will continue to be patient with me, but a part of me really misses making videos and updating. =( I’m not trying to overwork myself or anything, but I do get a lot of enjoyment out of it, just like I hope you guys get a lot of enjoyment out of watching my videos. But alas, kind of blabbering on for longer than I need to. =P
I’ll talk to you guys next week for another exciting blog entry! Catch you guys then! Later folks!
-SlimKirby
Sunday, November 21, 2010
11/21/10 - I'm Not Thankful for Long Laptop Examinations
Hello everybody, SlimKirby here, ready for another blog entry!
Last week, things really weren’t going that well for me, and to be perfectly honest, they still really aren’t. Since I’m already talking about it, I guess that will be the first thing I discuss.
If you couldn’t figure it out yet, that’s right, I still do not have my laptop back. At this time I am actually writing this entry using a loaner laptop from my university’s computer care place. Now, I know what you guys are thinking; “But SlimKirby, I thought you said last week that you should have everything solved by the start or middle of this week?” Well, it turns out that I was dead wrong, because at the end of the week, nothing has really been solved yet. For those of you wondering “How?” or “Why?” or “What in the hell is actually going on?” I’m honestly looking for the answers to those questions as well, because nobody seems to really know what the heck is going on with my laptop.
I’m not going to talk about the problem again, or rather, how the problem started, so if you are just joining the blog scene this week, I explain the problem to the full extent in the last entry, so you may want to look at that if you have no idea what I’m talking about. Anyway, on Monday morning I took my laptop in for the university computer experts to examine, and right off the bat I got some pretty bad news. The person at the desk said my hard-drive was most definitely failing on the Windows side, but not only that, the failure had already started going towards the Mac side as well. This of course put me in a very uneasy mood from the very beginning, but they did tell me that they were going to do anything they could to make sure that I had the machine back in the evening. So later that day, 30 minutes before the place was supposed to close, I went back and checked in with the computer peeps just to see how things were progressing. They did tell me that they were still running some diagnostic tests, and that they wouldn’t be done until the next day, so I was like, “Ok, but for the meantime, can I at least get a laptop to borrow until this problem is solved?” and they allowed me to use a loaner until Wednesday. This way, I figured I could at least use the computer until Wednesday, so if they didn’t call me on Tuesday, I wouldn’t have to worry about going back to check in again and give them ample time to finish whatever the heck they were doing.
Fast-forward to Wednesday afternoon! I did end up receiving a phone call that day, but because I had an all-nighter the night before working on a big homework assignment, I was not in a very perceptive mood when I got the call (in fact, at that point I was napping trying to get some energy after that night). The lady could have asked “Will you join me in a hostile takeover of America?” and I would have been like “Yeah…no…whatever, bye,” immediately zonking off back to sleep right after. So I went back later that day and got a pretty good status update, considering. They said they were still running diagnostics, but they at least gave me a little more confidence that the problem would get solved. Not only that, but they also extended my loaner laptop until after Thanksgiving Break, just in case the problem didn’t get solved. They also gave me a number I could call to check in every now and then if I wanted an update on the status. So overall, while they essentially accomplished nothing over the last two days, I was a lot less worried than I was on Monday, and they convinced that they were at least doing something to fix the problem and not just hitting the machine over and over again with a hammer.
Now we are fast-forwarding to Friday! I didn’t check in on Thursday, because like Tuesday, I wanted to make sure that I gave them a little more time to work on things so I wasn’t just breathing down their necks the whole time. So I called them on Friday at around noon, and sure enough, the same lady who gave me such a worry on Monday picked up and was all like, “You’re laptop is not happy! We tried this and this and this, and it’s failed 3 times! You are a horrible person for even installing Windows on a Macbook because Apple bribes us with money to say these things!” Ok, so she didn’t actually say the last thing, but that’s seriously what I feel like whenever she is the one talking to me. She basically gave me a “We don’t know what’s wrong or what’s going on, so we’re running even more tests, but if you would like a better update, you can call back in an hour when our expert isn’t eating lunch,” type of update. So I called back one hour later, and thankfully I got to talk to someone who wasn’t that peach (I use the word “peach” now, instead of the actual b-word, because Princess Peach is a b-word! =D). They essentially told me the same thing, but they promised me that they were not going to give up on me and asked for my patience over the long weekend. I liked the person who I was talking to, so I decided to comply and be nice about it. They had been working on it for an entire week, among many other laptops as well, so even if they do work for a satanic company like Apple, they had been putting a lot of work specifically into my machine, so I had to give them a little credit.
So here I am, one week after I originally had the problem, still not really sure what the problem even is. I still can’t record, I still can’t do any of my homework that involves programming unless I go to a computer lab, and I still can’t continue to dominate the randomly-generated world of my most recent Civilization II file. It sucks, but those are the cards I have been dealt with for this week, and unfortunately I might have to hold on to these cards for a few more weeks as well, if the problem continues. I have definitely decided that when I’m home over break, I am going to start talking to my parents about getting another laptop because I’ve had it with the problems of this one. As I said before, it’s a great laptop, but it just has too many problems that I shouldn’t be dealing with, and doesn’t provide me with the necessities that I need for a laptop. Plus, it has the whole hard-drive space issue I think I mentioned in the last entry. It would be so much easier if I had a desktop computer, but I couldn’t exactly make much use of that either, considering I’m still living in dormitory residence halls. Maybe after this year when I start doing commutes….
So besides that though, things have been going all right I suppose. Last Friday we actually had a LAN Party at my dorm, and at this party they had a Super Smash Bros. Brawl tournament and a Mario Kart 64 tournament (amongst other tournaments as well, but none of which worth mentioning as far as my game library is concerned). I did enter both tournaments and was actually satisfied with my Super Smash Bros. Brawl placement. I got seventh place out of 32, and had every possibility of advancing further than that considering my two losses (double elimination) were extremely close matches that came down to one lucky strike. Oh well, I guess I will just have to own them all next time. ;) For those of you wondering, I used my main man Diddy Kong in the tournament as a tribute to my most recently completed Let’s Play. =P As for the Mario Kart 64 tournament, I don’t even want to talk about that because that was the most disorganized piece of garbage of a tournament I’ve ever seen. I’m not going to go into details, but tell me if this makes sense; 1) All of the matches were 4-Player matches, 2) Each round was just one race, 3) If you aren’t first, you’re eliminated, 4) One elimination, and you’re out (single elimination). Who in their right, non-ignorant mind would make a Mario Kart tournament based on that? That’s so freaking stupid, considering quite a bit of the game is luck-based. In fact, that’s so stupid, I’m not even going to explain what would have been the right thing to do and end the paragraph here.
Another positive that came out of this party was that I also entered a raffle (I got 3 free submissions into the raffle because I attended and entered two tournaments), and actually won something. I only entered one of the three drawings because they only had a PS3 game, an Xbox360 game, and a Wii game, and since the Wii is the only system I own of those three, that was logically the only one I could get any use out of, so all 3 of my tickets went to that one drawing. And sure enough, the next morning when I woke up, I had an e-mail that said I won. I went downstairs to claim my game, and the game ended up being “No More Heroes.” Besides hearing the name of the game before, I had no idea what the game was actually about or what it consisted of, so last evening I actually sat down to play it for awhile. My first reaction, after playing 2 hours of the game, was pretty much the following: “Holy crap, that’s a lot of blood! O_O” NMH might just be the bloodiest, goriest game I’ve ever played, and I’ve played the Grand Theft Auto games. Safe to say, I was a bit surprised at what I first saw. Not to say I’m completely against blood, gore, and violence in video games, or anything like that, it’s just not what I’m normally used to. I’m more used to seeing goombas getting flattened, and octoroks vanishing after a quick swipe of a sword. Aside from that though, the game doesn’t really seem like a bad video game, but again, I’ve only played a very small portion of it. If I really feel like it, I might cover it in a future “Game Chat” discussion, but a lot of my viewers are pretty young, so in that regard, it’s probably not a good idea unless I “Viewer Discretion” the hell out of that discussion.
Aside from the LAN Party, not much has really been going on in the world of college. Classes and projects are slowly, but surely winding down. I have a nice 3-day break coming up for Thanksgiving this next week, so I’m looking forward to that, especially since I get to see and spend time with my always wonderful family. And then, before you know it, Christmas time will be upon us once again, so hooray for that! =D
Once again, I’m afraid I’m going to be kind of brief with this entry, so no game discussion this week, or Youtube discussion for that matter (not that it would matter, I haven’t exactly posted anything anyways). Hopefully I get some better news this next week with my laptop, and hopefully I can start posting videos again. If not, once again, I am very apologetic with the wait, but there is nothing I can really do about it. I hate not being able to upload just as much as you guys hate not being able to see any my uploads. I might try to figure a few alternatives out as well, but once again, there are no guarantees. I'll also try to have some game discussion up next week as well, considering there are a few games I want to talk about, plus I should have Donkey Kong Country Returns by that point as well. I'll also try to give an update on what will be happening with my Youtube stuff, whether I get my laptop back this next week or not.
I’ll talk to you guys next week for another exciting (hopefully) entry from the mind of SlimKirby!
Later folks!
-SlimKirby
Last week, things really weren’t going that well for me, and to be perfectly honest, they still really aren’t. Since I’m already talking about it, I guess that will be the first thing I discuss.
If you couldn’t figure it out yet, that’s right, I still do not have my laptop back. At this time I am actually writing this entry using a loaner laptop from my university’s computer care place. Now, I know what you guys are thinking; “But SlimKirby, I thought you said last week that you should have everything solved by the start or middle of this week?” Well, it turns out that I was dead wrong, because at the end of the week, nothing has really been solved yet. For those of you wondering “How?” or “Why?” or “What in the hell is actually going on?” I’m honestly looking for the answers to those questions as well, because nobody seems to really know what the heck is going on with my laptop.
I’m not going to talk about the problem again, or rather, how the problem started, so if you are just joining the blog scene this week, I explain the problem to the full extent in the last entry, so you may want to look at that if you have no idea what I’m talking about. Anyway, on Monday morning I took my laptop in for the university computer experts to examine, and right off the bat I got some pretty bad news. The person at the desk said my hard-drive was most definitely failing on the Windows side, but not only that, the failure had already started going towards the Mac side as well. This of course put me in a very uneasy mood from the very beginning, but they did tell me that they were going to do anything they could to make sure that I had the machine back in the evening. So later that day, 30 minutes before the place was supposed to close, I went back and checked in with the computer peeps just to see how things were progressing. They did tell me that they were still running some diagnostic tests, and that they wouldn’t be done until the next day, so I was like, “Ok, but for the meantime, can I at least get a laptop to borrow until this problem is solved?” and they allowed me to use a loaner until Wednesday. This way, I figured I could at least use the computer until Wednesday, so if they didn’t call me on Tuesday, I wouldn’t have to worry about going back to check in again and give them ample time to finish whatever the heck they were doing.
Fast-forward to Wednesday afternoon! I did end up receiving a phone call that day, but because I had an all-nighter the night before working on a big homework assignment, I was not in a very perceptive mood when I got the call (in fact, at that point I was napping trying to get some energy after that night). The lady could have asked “Will you join me in a hostile takeover of America?” and I would have been like “Yeah…no…whatever, bye,” immediately zonking off back to sleep right after. So I went back later that day and got a pretty good status update, considering. They said they were still running diagnostics, but they at least gave me a little more confidence that the problem would get solved. Not only that, but they also extended my loaner laptop until after Thanksgiving Break, just in case the problem didn’t get solved. They also gave me a number I could call to check in every now and then if I wanted an update on the status. So overall, while they essentially accomplished nothing over the last two days, I was a lot less worried than I was on Monday, and they convinced that they were at least doing something to fix the problem and not just hitting the machine over and over again with a hammer.
Now we are fast-forwarding to Friday! I didn’t check in on Thursday, because like Tuesday, I wanted to make sure that I gave them a little more time to work on things so I wasn’t just breathing down their necks the whole time. So I called them on Friday at around noon, and sure enough, the same lady who gave me such a worry on Monday picked up and was all like, “You’re laptop is not happy! We tried this and this and this, and it’s failed 3 times! You are a horrible person for even installing Windows on a Macbook because Apple bribes us with money to say these things!” Ok, so she didn’t actually say the last thing, but that’s seriously what I feel like whenever she is the one talking to me. She basically gave me a “We don’t know what’s wrong or what’s going on, so we’re running even more tests, but if you would like a better update, you can call back in an hour when our expert isn’t eating lunch,” type of update. So I called back one hour later, and thankfully I got to talk to someone who wasn’t that peach (I use the word “peach” now, instead of the actual b-word, because Princess Peach is a b-word! =D). They essentially told me the same thing, but they promised me that they were not going to give up on me and asked for my patience over the long weekend. I liked the person who I was talking to, so I decided to comply and be nice about it. They had been working on it for an entire week, among many other laptops as well, so even if they do work for a satanic company like Apple, they had been putting a lot of work specifically into my machine, so I had to give them a little credit.
So here I am, one week after I originally had the problem, still not really sure what the problem even is. I still can’t record, I still can’t do any of my homework that involves programming unless I go to a computer lab, and I still can’t continue to dominate the randomly-generated world of my most recent Civilization II file. It sucks, but those are the cards I have been dealt with for this week, and unfortunately I might have to hold on to these cards for a few more weeks as well, if the problem continues. I have definitely decided that when I’m home over break, I am going to start talking to my parents about getting another laptop because I’ve had it with the problems of this one. As I said before, it’s a great laptop, but it just has too many problems that I shouldn’t be dealing with, and doesn’t provide me with the necessities that I need for a laptop. Plus, it has the whole hard-drive space issue I think I mentioned in the last entry. It would be so much easier if I had a desktop computer, but I couldn’t exactly make much use of that either, considering I’m still living in dormitory residence halls. Maybe after this year when I start doing commutes….
So besides that though, things have been going all right I suppose. Last Friday we actually had a LAN Party at my dorm, and at this party they had a Super Smash Bros. Brawl tournament and a Mario Kart 64 tournament (amongst other tournaments as well, but none of which worth mentioning as far as my game library is concerned). I did enter both tournaments and was actually satisfied with my Super Smash Bros. Brawl placement. I got seventh place out of 32, and had every possibility of advancing further than that considering my two losses (double elimination) were extremely close matches that came down to one lucky strike. Oh well, I guess I will just have to own them all next time. ;) For those of you wondering, I used my main man Diddy Kong in the tournament as a tribute to my most recently completed Let’s Play. =P As for the Mario Kart 64 tournament, I don’t even want to talk about that because that was the most disorganized piece of garbage of a tournament I’ve ever seen. I’m not going to go into details, but tell me if this makes sense; 1) All of the matches were 4-Player matches, 2) Each round was just one race, 3) If you aren’t first, you’re eliminated, 4) One elimination, and you’re out (single elimination). Who in their right, non-ignorant mind would make a Mario Kart tournament based on that? That’s so freaking stupid, considering quite a bit of the game is luck-based. In fact, that’s so stupid, I’m not even going to explain what would have been the right thing to do and end the paragraph here.
Another positive that came out of this party was that I also entered a raffle (I got 3 free submissions into the raffle because I attended and entered two tournaments), and actually won something. I only entered one of the three drawings because they only had a PS3 game, an Xbox360 game, and a Wii game, and since the Wii is the only system I own of those three, that was logically the only one I could get any use out of, so all 3 of my tickets went to that one drawing. And sure enough, the next morning when I woke up, I had an e-mail that said I won. I went downstairs to claim my game, and the game ended up being “No More Heroes.” Besides hearing the name of the game before, I had no idea what the game was actually about or what it consisted of, so last evening I actually sat down to play it for awhile. My first reaction, after playing 2 hours of the game, was pretty much the following: “Holy crap, that’s a lot of blood! O_O” NMH might just be the bloodiest, goriest game I’ve ever played, and I’ve played the Grand Theft Auto games. Safe to say, I was a bit surprised at what I first saw. Not to say I’m completely against blood, gore, and violence in video games, or anything like that, it’s just not what I’m normally used to. I’m more used to seeing goombas getting flattened, and octoroks vanishing after a quick swipe of a sword. Aside from that though, the game doesn’t really seem like a bad video game, but again, I’ve only played a very small portion of it. If I really feel like it, I might cover it in a future “Game Chat” discussion, but a lot of my viewers are pretty young, so in that regard, it’s probably not a good idea unless I “Viewer Discretion” the hell out of that discussion.
Aside from the LAN Party, not much has really been going on in the world of college. Classes and projects are slowly, but surely winding down. I have a nice 3-day break coming up for Thanksgiving this next week, so I’m looking forward to that, especially since I get to see and spend time with my always wonderful family. And then, before you know it, Christmas time will be upon us once again, so hooray for that! =D
Once again, I’m afraid I’m going to be kind of brief with this entry, so no game discussion this week, or Youtube discussion for that matter (not that it would matter, I haven’t exactly posted anything anyways). Hopefully I get some better news this next week with my laptop, and hopefully I can start posting videos again. If not, once again, I am very apologetic with the wait, but there is nothing I can really do about it. I hate not being able to upload just as much as you guys hate not being able to see any my uploads. I might try to figure a few alternatives out as well, but once again, there are no guarantees. I'll also try to have some game discussion up next week as well, considering there are a few games I want to talk about, plus I should have Donkey Kong Country Returns by that point as well. I'll also try to give an update on what will be happening with my Youtube stuff, whether I get my laptop back this next week or not.
I’ll talk to you guys next week for another exciting (hopefully) entry from the mind of SlimKirby!
Later folks!
-SlimKirby
Sunday, November 14, 2010
11/15/10 - I Hate When Things Don't Work =(
Hello everybody, SlimKirby here, and welcome to another weekly blog entry!
I'm not sure if any of you guys have been to my channel in the last 2 days, but if you haven't, I'll go ahead and explain here. My computer started having some issues, and unfortunately, those issues are preventing me from recording any videos, working on any of my programming (and just ordinary) assignments for my school work, and perhaps the most major, preventing me from playing Civilization II! Ok, that last one is not that much of an issue, but I was in the middle of game that I was doing really well on when this happened. =(
Basically, for those who don't know, I use a Macbook laptop. Now before we start any of the Apple bashing, I want to state for the record that I dislike Apple, Mac, and pretty much anything associated with Steve Jobbs. I'm not saying they should all burn in a fire or anything like that, but as far as their hardware and their software go, I'm just not a fan. So anyways, the reason why I ended up with a Macbook was because my first major was Math Education, and all Education majors were supposed to buy a laptop. I personally never figured out why (I think it's because the portfolio software for that major and the BSU website was specific to Mac, or something like that, but even then I imagine there are ways to get through that), but either way, I was forced into purchasing a Macbook I didn't really want. =\ Like most Americans, I wanted a big computer with a lot of disk space! =3
Anyways, two years ago, after I dropped out of Math Education, I decided to partition my Macbook so it would allow the use of a Windows Operating System (that way, I could also record my videos much easier). Once I did that, everything was happy again (until I realized that I had barely any space to work with, but even then, I dealt with it), and that same laptop has been the laptop I've used for pretty much everything for these past two years. I had a few problems here and there, but they were fixed in pretty much no time. =P
Now, fast forward back to the present, last Thursday, when I turned my laptop on in the afternoon (after uploading my 20,000 subscriber special earlier that morning), for some reason, the machine just wouldn't start up. I got a little concerned and a little scared, because at that time I was planning on recording Mario Party 7 and the new project I was going to start this next week, but then I wondered if maybe I just wasn't getting it enough time to start. Before I tested that though, I decided to see if I could at least boot up the Mac operating system, and strangely enough, that started without a hitch. After that I wondered if maybe I had just gotten a random glitch or something, but sure enough, when I tried to start up Windows, it once again gave the black screen of non-loading. So yeah, at this point I was getting pretty ticked off, but figured that I could just take it to the computer repair place the next day and just deal with the Mac OS for the time being, which I did. During this time, I also tried to do some research on the problem, but couldn't really find anything. I figured though that since I was able to access the Mac OS so easily, it might've been a problem simply with the Windows side, in that case, a simple repartition would suffice (even if that meant losing all of my programs and files that I already had installed).
So the next morning I went to the computer place, but I was unfortunately unable to get my laptop looked at. The guys at the desk said that it would be better if I just came back Monday, because they didn't have any of the experts in the building, and even if I did turn it in, I probably wouldn't get it back until Monday regardless. So I decided to not turn it in yet, just so I could have it for the weekend, and maybe research the problem a little more on my own. I still came up empty-handed on the research, but oh well, at least I had a laptop.
Of course this meant that I couldn't record anything for my channel, which I was very apologetic for, although there wasn't much I could really do about it. I actually did try to get at least a Mario Party recording done though, using a very unique way of recording (which I will talk about when I play Neon Heights next weekend, or whenever I get the chance to record again). However, since there were no episodes this weekend, you can pretty much gather that the plan didn't exactly pull through the way I was expecting it to.
So yeah, at this point, I really don't know what's going to happen. I'm writing this entry late Sunday/early Monday, so I've still yet to turn the laptop in. I really hope it's nothing that major, because I honestly feel like a mess sometimes when I don't have my laptop. As pathetic as that might sound....it's the truth. I really do keep a lot of stuff on my laptop, and without it, I feel a bit lost. Not necessarily because I don't know what to do without it, but moreso because it's hard to transition from having everything in front of you, to having nothing in front of you. Oh well....I guess it's just one of those things that you have to deal with sometimes. Computers are definitely not perfect. So yeah...I guess we'll see what happens. Until then, I'll keep updates posted on my twitter account and main channel page, if you are curious on the progression. Hopefully this is something that can be fixed in a timely fashion...hopefully.
In Youtube news.....well, I don't have anything, mainly because I didn't upload anything but the final DK64 extra video. =P I did post my 20,000 subscriber video though, which went ok for being a small video with me talking a lot about stuff you may or may not care about. =P
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So yeah, I think I might actually end the entry there actually. I know it was kind of a short entry, but it pretty much explains this entire week in a nutshell for me. I'll see if I can find something gaming-related to talk about next week (Donkey Kong Country Returns is on its way after all ;) ), but for now, this has been SlimKirby! Hope you guys enjoyed this entry for what it was, and I'll see you next weekend!
Later folks!
-SlimKirby
I'm not sure if any of you guys have been to my channel in the last 2 days, but if you haven't, I'll go ahead and explain here. My computer started having some issues, and unfortunately, those issues are preventing me from recording any videos, working on any of my programming (and just ordinary) assignments for my school work, and perhaps the most major, preventing me from playing Civilization II! Ok, that last one is not that much of an issue, but I was in the middle of game that I was doing really well on when this happened. =(
Basically, for those who don't know, I use a Macbook laptop. Now before we start any of the Apple bashing, I want to state for the record that I dislike Apple, Mac, and pretty much anything associated with Steve Jobbs. I'm not saying they should all burn in a fire or anything like that, but as far as their hardware and their software go, I'm just not a fan. So anyways, the reason why I ended up with a Macbook was because my first major was Math Education, and all Education majors were supposed to buy a laptop. I personally never figured out why (I think it's because the portfolio software for that major and the BSU website was specific to Mac, or something like that, but even then I imagine there are ways to get through that), but either way, I was forced into purchasing a Macbook I didn't really want. =\ Like most Americans, I wanted a big computer with a lot of disk space! =3
Anyways, two years ago, after I dropped out of Math Education, I decided to partition my Macbook so it would allow the use of a Windows Operating System (that way, I could also record my videos much easier). Once I did that, everything was happy again (until I realized that I had barely any space to work with, but even then, I dealt with it), and that same laptop has been the laptop I've used for pretty much everything for these past two years. I had a few problems here and there, but they were fixed in pretty much no time. =P
Now, fast forward back to the present, last Thursday, when I turned my laptop on in the afternoon (after uploading my 20,000 subscriber special earlier that morning), for some reason, the machine just wouldn't start up. I got a little concerned and a little scared, because at that time I was planning on recording Mario Party 7 and the new project I was going to start this next week, but then I wondered if maybe I just wasn't getting it enough time to start. Before I tested that though, I decided to see if I could at least boot up the Mac operating system, and strangely enough, that started without a hitch. After that I wondered if maybe I had just gotten a random glitch or something, but sure enough, when I tried to start up Windows, it once again gave the black screen of non-loading. So yeah, at this point I was getting pretty ticked off, but figured that I could just take it to the computer repair place the next day and just deal with the Mac OS for the time being, which I did. During this time, I also tried to do some research on the problem, but couldn't really find anything. I figured though that since I was able to access the Mac OS so easily, it might've been a problem simply with the Windows side, in that case, a simple repartition would suffice (even if that meant losing all of my programs and files that I already had installed).
So the next morning I went to the computer place, but I was unfortunately unable to get my laptop looked at. The guys at the desk said that it would be better if I just came back Monday, because they didn't have any of the experts in the building, and even if I did turn it in, I probably wouldn't get it back until Monday regardless. So I decided to not turn it in yet, just so I could have it for the weekend, and maybe research the problem a little more on my own. I still came up empty-handed on the research, but oh well, at least I had a laptop.
Of course this meant that I couldn't record anything for my channel, which I was very apologetic for, although there wasn't much I could really do about it. I actually did try to get at least a Mario Party recording done though, using a very unique way of recording (which I will talk about when I play Neon Heights next weekend, or whenever I get the chance to record again). However, since there were no episodes this weekend, you can pretty much gather that the plan didn't exactly pull through the way I was expecting it to.
So yeah, at this point, I really don't know what's going to happen. I'm writing this entry late Sunday/early Monday, so I've still yet to turn the laptop in. I really hope it's nothing that major, because I honestly feel like a mess sometimes when I don't have my laptop. As pathetic as that might sound....it's the truth. I really do keep a lot of stuff on my laptop, and without it, I feel a bit lost. Not necessarily because I don't know what to do without it, but moreso because it's hard to transition from having everything in front of you, to having nothing in front of you. Oh well....I guess it's just one of those things that you have to deal with sometimes. Computers are definitely not perfect. So yeah...I guess we'll see what happens. Until then, I'll keep updates posted on my twitter account and main channel page, if you are curious on the progression. Hopefully this is something that can be fixed in a timely fashion...hopefully.
In Youtube news.....well, I don't have anything, mainly because I didn't upload anything but the final DK64 extra video. =P I did post my 20,000 subscriber video though, which went ok for being a small video with me talking a lot about stuff you may or may not care about. =P
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So yeah, I think I might actually end the entry there actually. I know it was kind of a short entry, but it pretty much explains this entire week in a nutshell for me. I'll see if I can find something gaming-related to talk about next week (Donkey Kong Country Returns is on its way after all ;) ), but for now, this has been SlimKirby! Hope you guys enjoyed this entry for what it was, and I'll see you next weekend!
Later folks!
-SlimKirby
Monday, November 8, 2010
11/7/10 - The Yarn Has Been Spun!
Hello everybody, SlimKirby here, and welcome to another week of the blog!
This entry will probably go up a bit late, but give me break. At least I’m getting it done every week. Besides, it’s not like I get paid for the blog, and it’s not like I’m off my goal of one per week or anything like that. But alas….I’m sure you guys don’t want to read sentence after sentence of me giving excuses or explaining my actions, so I’ll just move on.
We’re finally down to the last two months of the year. I can’t believe how fast time has flown. It only seems like a few days ago that I was running around a tree in Majora’s Mask and seeing glitched Donkey Kong Country platforms, but the time just seems to fly by anymore. If only the Inverted Song of Time had real life application! But on the other hand….then things would be going too slow.
Anyways, this past week has been pretty kind to me I ask. School has been hitting me pretty hard, but that’s the way it goes sometime. In my Advanced Programming class, we are working on a final six-week group project which is coming along great! I don’t feel like talking about what exactly we are doing, but perhaps that is something I can talk about in a future entry, or possibly even show it off. But yeah, I’m working with a pretty solid team. I’m not the main programmer (and I have the least experience with coding), but it’s my job to make sure everyone is on task and organized, and I usually take care of the group homework and busy work that we get on the side of the project. That’s really the only good class for me right now (and ironically the one that should be the hardest class X_X), as all my other classes seem to try and throw something stupid in my direction at random intervals of time. I’m doing everything I can though, and I guess that is what is important.
In Youtube news this week, I saw the end of a project today (technically tomorrow since I have one extra video to post), but my replay of Donkey Kong 64 is officially over. I clocked in at 55 videos (most of them lengthed at 15 minutes, the later ones at random numbers in between 15 and 20). Overall, it was a great project. I don’t consider it my best, but this has possibly been my best of the year (followed closely behind Majora and Yoshi’s Island (not that any of my other projects were bad…just not as memorable)). Which is weird….. I’ve started to notice that I do a lot of my big, well-known LPs during the Fall. Anyways, thanks for spending another gameplay session with me Donkey Kong 64! You’ve been a great game to have and play, for a Youtube project or not. =P
Mario Party 7 this week….kind of a different story. Honestly, I thought the board went fine…it was just the nature of the board that made it a mess (in the sense of my personal performance on the board). Pyramid Park was never one of my favorites, mainly because of the star mechanic. I liked the mechanic a bit more in Snowflake Lake (MP6) just because of the chain chomp locations. In Pyramid Park, 75% of them are on one side of the board and aren’t really evenly-spaced at all. My objective was to stay cautious and remain on the left side (the safe side) and only wander over when it was convenient, which was a good plan in retrospect. The only downside was that Boo had a 5 or 6 course meal on stars while I was playing it safe. I think if the computer players played more like they normally did (or should do), I think I would have won that board, no doubts about it. Once again though, it just seemed like they were all naturally working against me in every possible way from every possible angle. You saw the way they dueled everybody except Boo. =P Any way, next week is Neon Heights, a board I like a little bit more, but with a big emphasis on the word “little.”
As for other Youtube stuff, I need to start getting ready for my November 15th project as well as think of something to do for 20,000 subscribers, because that is still something I haven’t done yet. I really should just not worry about it, but I feel a bit obligated now that I mentioned it in my last update video. Meh…if it gets to be too much of a hassle, I just won’t do it, but thankfully my week shouldn’t be too hectic, so maybe I can sit down and come up with something.
Anyways, on to the game discussion!
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Game Chat:
Kirby’s Epic Yarn
Yes! I promised you guys that I would give this game a final….review of sorts once I got done observing and admiring the cuteness that is this game, and that is a promise I plan to keep.
I admit, I didn’t know what to think of this game when I first saw the trailer at E3. In fact, if you have been readers and watchers since E3 2010, you would know that I had a really hard time getting past the name at first. Thankfully though, I looked past the name and at the game itself and I liked what I saw, gameplay wise. I knew that we were going to have a pretty solid game on our hands. Plus, it’s the first CONSOLE Kirby ADVENTURE since Kirby 64 (keep in mind, I said CONSOLE and ADVENTURE…not counting GBA and DS games, not counting Air Ride =P), so that alone was something to get excited about. Any way, over time, the name did start to grow on me, and now I can’t picture the game without it. So now, I officially take back everything I said about saying the game name was too weird! It’s official! Put it in writing, inform the mayor, get out all of your “I Told Ya So!” messages….whatever! I apologize for being weird about it before because I love it now (although I never really said it was bad…I just thought it was odd as a name).
Now for the actual game itself, a lot of the things people were criticizing the game about in its early stages was how drastically the game was changing from past Kirby titles. For one, Kirby no longer has his trademark copy ability or his floating around ability. Another interesting mechanic is that Kirby can’t actually die in this game. Instead of death, whenever you get hit or fall into lava or an endless abyss, you lose beads, in-level collectables used for individual level ranks (gold/silver/bronze) and currency used to purchase things from the main hub store (mostly small little trinkets and souvenirs). You can kind of compare this to some of the Wario Land games where if you got damaged, you would lose coins. Because of this mechanic, the difficulty of the general game is definitely quite easy, but if you are a perfectionist player, and someone who likes to give themselves a challenge, don’t underestimate the difficulty. And although they got rid of the copy abilities, they left in some pretty unique Kirby transformations that are shown throughout specific parts of some levels. These transformations range from a robot, to a U.F.O., to a mole, to a dolphin, and even to a fire truck. Most of these segments can be really fun….just don’t be surprised if they don’t last very long.
So as you can see, Kirby’s new, yarny form has actually changed things around quite a bit. In a bad way or in a good way….I am honestly neutral in the matter. I will admit that it did feel different at first, just because it is Kirby and I am naturally expecting to see him swallow every enemy in sight or float above them for the entire stage, but that’s not what the game developers were going for here. They were going for a unique gameplay experience and I think they succeeded at that. In fact, I think they succeeded so much that the game almost feels like a different game altogether (again, that can be seen as a positive or a negative). I mean, you still have a lot of the familiar Kirby faces and enemies, but the atmosphere itself is just so different and unique (and I’ll get into that more later).
The game itself is still a classic Kirby platformer at heart. You make your way through side-scrolling levels, trying to survive the onslaught of enemies and obstacles in your path, sometimes using level-specific gimmicks or transformations to reach the end. And like Kirby Squeak Squad, you will also find treasures scattered across each level, some of them just stranded along the beaten path, others stashed away in hidden areas, and some that may seem right in front of you, but require you to find or do something a bit earlier on it the level. These treasures aren’t necessary for the completion of the game, and really only offer you some small bonus features (sound test selections, and stuff to decorate your apartment with (something else I’ll talk about later), but finding them does definitely add some extra game time and replayability if you get into the “gotta collect them all” mindset, which I am always in whenever I’m gaming! =P
As for game length, if you just want to play through the game and get it done, the game itself is not very long. However, I don’t necessarily think the game too short either. If anything, I feel like the game has just the right amount of length, for both a normal and 100% playthrough. I have seen quite a few people complain about the length, especially considering how “easy” they think the game is, but honestly, in my mind, those people are not gamers….just complainers. There is no perfect game people…especially in an unbiased sense. The sooner you learn that, the better off you will be. I mean seriously though….what do you want? A game that is 20 worlds long, each world having 10 levels? If that isn’t pushing the envelope, I don’t know what is. But alas, I’m not going to get into a whole rant on that. As for extra stuff you can do in the game, aside from collecting all of the treasures in each level and getting high bead scores on all the stages, there are a few other things you can do and accomplish as well. For one, there are actually quite a few mini-games you can play that actually stack-up with the 100% game completion. These mini-games are just simple “find this,” “collect or destroy this much in the time limit,” and “get to the goal first,” type mini-games that you play over certain segments of each level, but they at least add a bit of variety to the game. My only suggestion to you is that you probably shouldn’t play all of these games at once. They are better left to do in small spurts during the main quest. I actually ended up waiting until the very end of the game and easily spent around two hours just working on that. Some of them can be quite fun and interesting though. Another thing you can do, as I briefly mentioned earlier, is that you can decorate your own apartment, a small living space for Kirby that plays no practical purpose during the course of the game, but something fun you can do (if you find decorating a useless room fun). You can decorate your room with a wide assortment of souvenirs/furniture/figurines and different wallpaper and carpet fabrics you unlock during the course of the game (through treasure chests, mini-games, and the in-game shops). My only gripe about this, aside from the fact that it just seems pointless, is that there is not very much functionality at all. Now, don’t get me wrong here, I’m not saying the idea was bad or stupid, or anything like that. I know there are a few people out there who might find this fun, or at the very least, something interesting to try and do just because it’s there, and in that right, the idea is sensible. But the game doesn’t really encourage you to do any of it. They mention it once during the entire game, and I never really found myself going back there at all after that first time. I just wish they would have tried something else to make that feature just a bit more interactive with the game itself, considering how much time you can potentially spend getting beads to purchase all of the different furniture and fabrics, and just collecting them in general. After all, you do have to collect all the items if you want your file to say “100% Completed.”
As for the game controls, I think they work pretty well, considering how much of the Kirby formula was changed for this title. Movement and reaction time is usually pretty solid for the most part. Just make sure you don’t forget that you aren’t playing an older Kirby game where he can fly. Try to remember the yarn you are working with. =P
Now, one thing that really impressed me about this game, which is strange because normally I’m not as affected by this, was the graphics and music. I’ve always been a gameplay > graphics/music type of guy, but if there was one game that got me thinking otherwise (or at least “close to otherwise, because I love the gameplay here too), this game would be first on the list. The environments in this game are just beautiful, and the music fits so well with those environments. You normally wouldn’t think a world made out of yarn and fabric could be so appealing to the eye, but for this game…I just felt the opposite. I got the feeling that I was literally just staring into a work of art the entire time. Everything seemed just so aesthetically pleasing, and I loved just walking around and admiring the all of the environments and really getting into the music. Seriously….whoever created the graphics and the music…..I want to give you either a hand-shake or a hug after the amazing work you put into this game.
Another thing worth noting is that this game does have a 2-Player option for co-op. I will admit though, I haven’t exactly tested this out yet. I was kind of hoping to find someone to play this game with before I had to write about it, but the jerk never showed up. =\ Bah, he is a loser anyways. =P From what I have seen from videos, basically it’s a way where you can team-up with your partner to make some sections of the game a bit easier (for example, I saw a video where you could use your partner as a projectile against bigger enemies, and another part where you could use him/her as a stepping stone to jump to a higher place). It’s a pretty cool concept.I only wish I could have experienced it a bit before writing this. Oh well, I'm sure there is someone out there in this state who would play co-op with me...maybe even a cute girl wearing Wario clothes. ;) =P
Well, the only thing I really have to talk about now is replayability. Honestly, I wouldn’t say there is THAT much, in the sense that it’s probably not a game you want to immediately play again right after you finish , but I’m sure it’s definitely a game I will want to revisit to see some of the levels again and get WOWed once more by the amazing atmosphere the game presents many times in the future.
Overall, Feel Good did an amazing job creating this game and I give them major props for releasing a new, exciting, and eye-appealing chapter to the Kirby series, a very unique chapter at that. The game definitely excelled in its presentation and the execution was pretty damn good as well. It may not feel like a Kirby game, and there may be a few things in the game that kept it from being a perfect title (in my opinion anyway), but as a stand-alone game, it did just that…..it stood out. If I had to give it a score, I would give it a 4 or 4.5 out of 5.
LP Possibility: Hell Yes! Just stop asking me if it will be soon. I will LP the game when I’m ready to LP it. =P
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Well, I think I’ve rambled on enough about stuffz and epic yarnz for the week….at least for this blog entry anyways…considering I’m up to 5 pages in Microsoft Word now. So I guess I will leave it at that and bid you guys and gals adieu! See you next week!
Later folks!
This entry will probably go up a bit late, but give me break. At least I’m getting it done every week. Besides, it’s not like I get paid for the blog, and it’s not like I’m off my goal of one per week or anything like that. But alas….I’m sure you guys don’t want to read sentence after sentence of me giving excuses or explaining my actions, so I’ll just move on.
We’re finally down to the last two months of the year. I can’t believe how fast time has flown. It only seems like a few days ago that I was running around a tree in Majora’s Mask and seeing glitched Donkey Kong Country platforms, but the time just seems to fly by anymore. If only the Inverted Song of Time had real life application! But on the other hand….then things would be going too slow.
Anyways, this past week has been pretty kind to me I ask. School has been hitting me pretty hard, but that’s the way it goes sometime. In my Advanced Programming class, we are working on a final six-week group project which is coming along great! I don’t feel like talking about what exactly we are doing, but perhaps that is something I can talk about in a future entry, or possibly even show it off. But yeah, I’m working with a pretty solid team. I’m not the main programmer (and I have the least experience with coding), but it’s my job to make sure everyone is on task and organized, and I usually take care of the group homework and busy work that we get on the side of the project. That’s really the only good class for me right now (and ironically the one that should be the hardest class X_X), as all my other classes seem to try and throw something stupid in my direction at random intervals of time. I’m doing everything I can though, and I guess that is what is important.
In Youtube news this week, I saw the end of a project today (technically tomorrow since I have one extra video to post), but my replay of Donkey Kong 64 is officially over. I clocked in at 55 videos (most of them lengthed at 15 minutes, the later ones at random numbers in between 15 and 20). Overall, it was a great project. I don’t consider it my best, but this has possibly been my best of the year (followed closely behind Majora and Yoshi’s Island (not that any of my other projects were bad…just not as memorable)). Which is weird….. I’ve started to notice that I do a lot of my big, well-known LPs during the Fall. Anyways, thanks for spending another gameplay session with me Donkey Kong 64! You’ve been a great game to have and play, for a Youtube project or not. =P
Mario Party 7 this week….kind of a different story. Honestly, I thought the board went fine…it was just the nature of the board that made it a mess (in the sense of my personal performance on the board). Pyramid Park was never one of my favorites, mainly because of the star mechanic. I liked the mechanic a bit more in Snowflake Lake (MP6) just because of the chain chomp locations. In Pyramid Park, 75% of them are on one side of the board and aren’t really evenly-spaced at all. My objective was to stay cautious and remain on the left side (the safe side) and only wander over when it was convenient, which was a good plan in retrospect. The only downside was that Boo had a 5 or 6 course meal on stars while I was playing it safe. I think if the computer players played more like they normally did (or should do), I think I would have won that board, no doubts about it. Once again though, it just seemed like they were all naturally working against me in every possible way from every possible angle. You saw the way they dueled everybody except Boo. =P Any way, next week is Neon Heights, a board I like a little bit more, but with a big emphasis on the word “little.”
As for other Youtube stuff, I need to start getting ready for my November 15th project as well as think of something to do for 20,000 subscribers, because that is still something I haven’t done yet. I really should just not worry about it, but I feel a bit obligated now that I mentioned it in my last update video. Meh…if it gets to be too much of a hassle, I just won’t do it, but thankfully my week shouldn’t be too hectic, so maybe I can sit down and come up with something.
Anyways, on to the game discussion!
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Game Chat:
Kirby’s Epic Yarn
Yes! I promised you guys that I would give this game a final….review of sorts once I got done observing and admiring the cuteness that is this game, and that is a promise I plan to keep.
I admit, I didn’t know what to think of this game when I first saw the trailer at E3. In fact, if you have been readers and watchers since E3 2010, you would know that I had a really hard time getting past the name at first. Thankfully though, I looked past the name and at the game itself and I liked what I saw, gameplay wise. I knew that we were going to have a pretty solid game on our hands. Plus, it’s the first CONSOLE Kirby ADVENTURE since Kirby 64 (keep in mind, I said CONSOLE and ADVENTURE…not counting GBA and DS games, not counting Air Ride =P), so that alone was something to get excited about. Any way, over time, the name did start to grow on me, and now I can’t picture the game without it. So now, I officially take back everything I said about saying the game name was too weird! It’s official! Put it in writing, inform the mayor, get out all of your “I Told Ya So!” messages….whatever! I apologize for being weird about it before because I love it now (although I never really said it was bad…I just thought it was odd as a name).
Now for the actual game itself, a lot of the things people were criticizing the game about in its early stages was how drastically the game was changing from past Kirby titles. For one, Kirby no longer has his trademark copy ability or his floating around ability. Another interesting mechanic is that Kirby can’t actually die in this game. Instead of death, whenever you get hit or fall into lava or an endless abyss, you lose beads, in-level collectables used for individual level ranks (gold/silver/bronze) and currency used to purchase things from the main hub store (mostly small little trinkets and souvenirs). You can kind of compare this to some of the Wario Land games where if you got damaged, you would lose coins. Because of this mechanic, the difficulty of the general game is definitely quite easy, but if you are a perfectionist player, and someone who likes to give themselves a challenge, don’t underestimate the difficulty. And although they got rid of the copy abilities, they left in some pretty unique Kirby transformations that are shown throughout specific parts of some levels. These transformations range from a robot, to a U.F.O., to a mole, to a dolphin, and even to a fire truck. Most of these segments can be really fun….just don’t be surprised if they don’t last very long.
So as you can see, Kirby’s new, yarny form has actually changed things around quite a bit. In a bad way or in a good way….I am honestly neutral in the matter. I will admit that it did feel different at first, just because it is Kirby and I am naturally expecting to see him swallow every enemy in sight or float above them for the entire stage, but that’s not what the game developers were going for here. They were going for a unique gameplay experience and I think they succeeded at that. In fact, I think they succeeded so much that the game almost feels like a different game altogether (again, that can be seen as a positive or a negative). I mean, you still have a lot of the familiar Kirby faces and enemies, but the atmosphere itself is just so different and unique (and I’ll get into that more later).
The game itself is still a classic Kirby platformer at heart. You make your way through side-scrolling levels, trying to survive the onslaught of enemies and obstacles in your path, sometimes using level-specific gimmicks or transformations to reach the end. And like Kirby Squeak Squad, you will also find treasures scattered across each level, some of them just stranded along the beaten path, others stashed away in hidden areas, and some that may seem right in front of you, but require you to find or do something a bit earlier on it the level. These treasures aren’t necessary for the completion of the game, and really only offer you some small bonus features (sound test selections, and stuff to decorate your apartment with (something else I’ll talk about later), but finding them does definitely add some extra game time and replayability if you get into the “gotta collect them all” mindset, which I am always in whenever I’m gaming! =P
As for game length, if you just want to play through the game and get it done, the game itself is not very long. However, I don’t necessarily think the game too short either. If anything, I feel like the game has just the right amount of length, for both a normal and 100% playthrough. I have seen quite a few people complain about the length, especially considering how “easy” they think the game is, but honestly, in my mind, those people are not gamers….just complainers. There is no perfect game people…especially in an unbiased sense. The sooner you learn that, the better off you will be. I mean seriously though….what do you want? A game that is 20 worlds long, each world having 10 levels? If that isn’t pushing the envelope, I don’t know what is. But alas, I’m not going to get into a whole rant on that. As for extra stuff you can do in the game, aside from collecting all of the treasures in each level and getting high bead scores on all the stages, there are a few other things you can do and accomplish as well. For one, there are actually quite a few mini-games you can play that actually stack-up with the 100% game completion. These mini-games are just simple “find this,” “collect or destroy this much in the time limit,” and “get to the goal first,” type mini-games that you play over certain segments of each level, but they at least add a bit of variety to the game. My only suggestion to you is that you probably shouldn’t play all of these games at once. They are better left to do in small spurts during the main quest. I actually ended up waiting until the very end of the game and easily spent around two hours just working on that. Some of them can be quite fun and interesting though. Another thing you can do, as I briefly mentioned earlier, is that you can decorate your own apartment, a small living space for Kirby that plays no practical purpose during the course of the game, but something fun you can do (if you find decorating a useless room fun). You can decorate your room with a wide assortment of souvenirs/furniture/figurines and different wallpaper and carpet fabrics you unlock during the course of the game (through treasure chests, mini-games, and the in-game shops). My only gripe about this, aside from the fact that it just seems pointless, is that there is not very much functionality at all. Now, don’t get me wrong here, I’m not saying the idea was bad or stupid, or anything like that. I know there are a few people out there who might find this fun, or at the very least, something interesting to try and do just because it’s there, and in that right, the idea is sensible. But the game doesn’t really encourage you to do any of it. They mention it once during the entire game, and I never really found myself going back there at all after that first time. I just wish they would have tried something else to make that feature just a bit more interactive with the game itself, considering how much time you can potentially spend getting beads to purchase all of the different furniture and fabrics, and just collecting them in general. After all, you do have to collect all the items if you want your file to say “100% Completed.”
As for the game controls, I think they work pretty well, considering how much of the Kirby formula was changed for this title. Movement and reaction time is usually pretty solid for the most part. Just make sure you don’t forget that you aren’t playing an older Kirby game where he can fly. Try to remember the yarn you are working with. =P
Now, one thing that really impressed me about this game, which is strange because normally I’m not as affected by this, was the graphics and music. I’ve always been a gameplay > graphics/music type of guy, but if there was one game that got me thinking otherwise (or at least “close to otherwise, because I love the gameplay here too), this game would be first on the list. The environments in this game are just beautiful, and the music fits so well with those environments. You normally wouldn’t think a world made out of yarn and fabric could be so appealing to the eye, but for this game…I just felt the opposite. I got the feeling that I was literally just staring into a work of art the entire time. Everything seemed just so aesthetically pleasing, and I loved just walking around and admiring the all of the environments and really getting into the music. Seriously….whoever created the graphics and the music…..I want to give you either a hand-shake or a hug after the amazing work you put into this game.
Another thing worth noting is that this game does have a 2-Player option for co-op. I will admit though, I haven’t exactly tested this out yet. I was kind of hoping to find someone to play this game with before I had to write about it, but the jerk never showed up. =\ Bah, he is a loser anyways. =P From what I have seen from videos, basically it’s a way where you can team-up with your partner to make some sections of the game a bit easier (for example, I saw a video where you could use your partner as a projectile against bigger enemies, and another part where you could use him/her as a stepping stone to jump to a higher place). It’s a pretty cool concept.I only wish I could have experienced it a bit before writing this. Oh well, I'm sure there is someone out there in this state who would play co-op with me...maybe even a cute girl wearing Wario clothes. ;) =P
Well, the only thing I really have to talk about now is replayability. Honestly, I wouldn’t say there is THAT much, in the sense that it’s probably not a game you want to immediately play again right after you finish , but I’m sure it’s definitely a game I will want to revisit to see some of the levels again and get WOWed once more by the amazing atmosphere the game presents many times in the future.
Overall, Feel Good did an amazing job creating this game and I give them major props for releasing a new, exciting, and eye-appealing chapter to the Kirby series, a very unique chapter at that. The game definitely excelled in its presentation and the execution was pretty damn good as well. It may not feel like a Kirby game, and there may be a few things in the game that kept it from being a perfect title (in my opinion anyway), but as a stand-alone game, it did just that…..it stood out. If I had to give it a score, I would give it a 4 or 4.5 out of 5.
LP Possibility: Hell Yes! Just stop asking me if it will be soon. I will LP the game when I’m ready to LP it. =P
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Well, I think I’ve rambled on enough about stuffz and epic yarnz for the week….at least for this blog entry anyways…considering I’m up to 5 pages in Microsoft Word now. So I guess I will leave it at that and bid you guys and gals adieu! See you next week!
Later folks!
Sunday, October 31, 2010
10/31/10 - A Brief Halloweenish Update
Hello everybody, SlimKi….BOO!
Did that scare you? Probably not, so let’s try that again and just do it the normal way.
Hello everybody, SlimKirb...BOO!
Still no? Bah, fine, I’ll stop trying.
Hello everybody, SlimKirby here, and welcome to another exciting blog entry! I hope you guys are having (or had) a Happy Halloween. As usual, because on college campuses the mindset of everybody except me is to go out partying and get drunk on Halloween, I of course have stayed in my dorm room chilling and working on homework. I know, it sounds kind of sucky, but I’d rather do something boring than go out and do something stupid. Besides, it’s not all boring. As I write this I am watching MadameWario’s Horror Land stream, which is going pretty fiercely, as she would say. :P
Anyways, don’t expect this entry to go on for very long. I know I promised to talk about Epic Yarn in this entry, but considering that I just now finished it and I had and still have a lot of work to do, I haven’t been able to collect my final thoughts on the game, but I will definitely do it next week, I promise! Besides that, other news in gaming, not much I really feel like getting into at this time. Donkey Kong Returns should be coming out in the next month, which I will probably be getting. Not sure if it will be on release or not though. I guess we will wait and see.
In Youtube news, Donkey Kong 64 has been completely filmed at this point, and I will be posting the extra video (the final video of the project) on that Monday, November 8th, so that should be ending really soon. Final project thoughts will of course be posted next weekend, but I’ve pretty much said throughout the project that it went pretty well, especially when you get a longer time limit near the end and get to finish it in less videos =3. For those wondering, in numbered parts, it will end up being 55 videos, the old project being 29 videos longer.
For Mario Party 7 (once again, spoiler warning for those who haven’t seen the actual playthrough yet, so if you haven’t and don’t want to be spoiled, you will probably want to avoid this paragraph), this week’s board went pretty well for the most part, except for that random span of like 3 or 4 turns at the end where I got jipped by Toadette. Thankfully though, the bonus stars were very kind to me (they could have been the exact opposite). As usual though, I held my ground really well when it came to the mini-games, and usually that is what does it for me, so I stuck to what I know and do best, and that seemed to work. The next board, Pyramid Park, should be interesting just because the game is played a bit differently than the other boards (the whole “everyone starts with 5 and you gain stars by stealing” thing is in effect). It’s definitely not my favorite board in this game, but for what it is, it’s all right I guess. I guess I’ll see you next weekend for that, but for now, I’m going to celebrate my perfect 2-0 record =)….before I get screwed out of it =(.
The last thing I want to mention, once again, is that I really want to thank all of my wonderful Youtube subscribers for being so awesome with subscribing lately. Barely even halfway into the month I was just approaching 18,000 subscribers, and now I’m halfway to 21,000. I just can’t believe it…I really can’t.
Anyways, once more, I do apologies for the somewhat short entry this week. I’ll have more to mention next time when I don’t have a million other things going on, and of course I’ll have my Epic Yarn discussion about how awesome and cute the game is. :P
Later fol….BOO!
Bah, still can’t get you guys. =(
=P
-SlimKirby
Did that scare you? Probably not, so let’s try that again and just do it the normal way.
Hello everybody, SlimKirb...BOO!
Still no? Bah, fine, I’ll stop trying.
Hello everybody, SlimKirby here, and welcome to another exciting blog entry! I hope you guys are having (or had) a Happy Halloween. As usual, because on college campuses the mindset of everybody except me is to go out partying and get drunk on Halloween, I of course have stayed in my dorm room chilling and working on homework. I know, it sounds kind of sucky, but I’d rather do something boring than go out and do something stupid. Besides, it’s not all boring. As I write this I am watching MadameWario’s Horror Land stream, which is going pretty fiercely, as she would say. :P
Anyways, don’t expect this entry to go on for very long. I know I promised to talk about Epic Yarn in this entry, but considering that I just now finished it and I had and still have a lot of work to do, I haven’t been able to collect my final thoughts on the game, but I will definitely do it next week, I promise! Besides that, other news in gaming, not much I really feel like getting into at this time. Donkey Kong Returns should be coming out in the next month, which I will probably be getting. Not sure if it will be on release or not though. I guess we will wait and see.
In Youtube news, Donkey Kong 64 has been completely filmed at this point, and I will be posting the extra video (the final video of the project) on that Monday, November 8th, so that should be ending really soon. Final project thoughts will of course be posted next weekend, but I’ve pretty much said throughout the project that it went pretty well, especially when you get a longer time limit near the end and get to finish it in less videos =3. For those wondering, in numbered parts, it will end up being 55 videos, the old project being 29 videos longer.
For Mario Party 7 (once again, spoiler warning for those who haven’t seen the actual playthrough yet, so if you haven’t and don’t want to be spoiled, you will probably want to avoid this paragraph), this week’s board went pretty well for the most part, except for that random span of like 3 or 4 turns at the end where I got jipped by Toadette. Thankfully though, the bonus stars were very kind to me (they could have been the exact opposite). As usual though, I held my ground really well when it came to the mini-games, and usually that is what does it for me, so I stuck to what I know and do best, and that seemed to work. The next board, Pyramid Park, should be interesting just because the game is played a bit differently than the other boards (the whole “everyone starts with 5 and you gain stars by stealing” thing is in effect). It’s definitely not my favorite board in this game, but for what it is, it’s all right I guess. I guess I’ll see you next weekend for that, but for now, I’m going to celebrate my perfect 2-0 record =)….before I get screwed out of it =(.
The last thing I want to mention, once again, is that I really want to thank all of my wonderful Youtube subscribers for being so awesome with subscribing lately. Barely even halfway into the month I was just approaching 18,000 subscribers, and now I’m halfway to 21,000. I just can’t believe it…I really can’t.
Anyways, once more, I do apologies for the somewhat short entry this week. I’ll have more to mention next time when I don’t have a million other things going on, and of course I’ll have my Epic Yarn discussion about how awesome and cute the game is. :P
Later fol….BOO!
Bah, still can’t get you guys. =(
=P
-SlimKirby
Sunday, October 24, 2010
10/24/10 - October Partyin'
Hello everybody, SlimKirby here, and welcome to another fantabulous blog entry! Wait....I'm getting a red spell-check line under the word "fantabulous." WHY ISN'T THAT A WORD YET? And better yet, why isn't "SlimKirby" a word yet either? I guess the world will never know.
Anyways, what a week it has been. I'm reporting to you guys on the last day of my Fall Break. Yes, it has already come and gone, unfortunately, but what can you really expect from a 1-day break? Not much! That's what. For what it was though, it was pretty sweet. I got to hang out with the family, I got to play some sweet new games (which I still won't be talking about on here for a week or two), got to watch old Rugrats episodes at 6 AM.....the perfect 3-day vacation, am I right? =P
Aside from that though, things are going pretty well. Really starting to get hit hard with work at school though, and one of my class grades isn't exactly in a place where I deem acceptable, so I'll have to start paying attention to that more, but it shouldn't really effect very much if you are a reader or viewer. I still have ample amounts of time to do all of that stuff. It's just when I have a choice to work on class stuff or relax/nap, I sometimes choose the latter when I shouldn't. It's something I will work on though, and I am usually dedicated when it comes to my studies.
In terms of Youtube, quite a bit went down this weekend. Mario Party 7 has officially started and after the recording of the first board, I've never been as satisfied as I was with the first recording than I have in a long time...which is kind of funny because my first attempt at recording the board was horrendous, and I stopped after 20 minutes. XD I'll get more into that board in a second; first I'll briefly discuss Donkey Kong 64. At this point, I have up to Episode #50 recorded, and assuming all things go well, that project will be ending within the next two 2 weeks (I'll have a better estimation next weekend after I record the final world of the game). What can I say? The game has treated me very well thus far, despite the malfunctioning controllers and the gloomy galleons. For those of you wondering about the bane of my existence in that project, make sure you check out my video on Tuesday for some sweet rabbit race action.
Getting back to Mario Party 7, as I said before, the recording went well....very well...in both the technical sense and the gameplay sense. I can't believe how much I dominated that game. Sorry for spoilers if any of you haven't watched that board yet. I would say that was my biggest domination of all time, but I'm sure there has been another instance where I was on the ball. My only regret in that game/recording was losing on Funderwall the first time as I could have dominated even further, but the fact that I would have won all of the bonus stars no matter what they were kind of speaks for itself. Because of how well this recording went, I am very much looking forward to Friday when I will record Pagoda Peak, which feels very weird to say, considering how much I have bashed Mario Party 7 in the past. But basically, it went well, I enjoyed the experience, and I hope you guys enjoyed the videos as well.
With Donkey Kong 64 coming to a close very soon, once again, the thought of what my next project will be continues to jump around in my mind. I have to honestly say that I am still not really sure what to do next, but I'm sure I will figure it out eventually. I just hope this lack of being able to come to a decision doesn't delay the project or any other projects of mine.
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Game Chat:
Last week I mentioned that I had purchased both Wii Party and Epic Yarn, and so many of you guys have been asking me to give me thoughts on the game. However, I'm still trying to soak up what I can of these games (or rather, what I have left of these games), before I can give my final thoughts. So in the meantime, I'm going to get a little nostalgic and talk about another game...a very old game that I grew up with which I recently rediscovered and haven't been able to put down very easily.
Lemmings
After seeing this game, here is how I imagine your reactions. Half of you scratched your heads in confusion, while the other half gasped and immediately got flooded with very fond and nostalgic memories of this game. I don't like to think that I'm THAT old, but Lemmings goes back quite a ways in the world of gaming, back in the olden PC and early SNES days (probably even before that). Back in the day, Lemmings was a legit, hardcore PC game.
Basically, Lemmings is a puzzle game where you have to navigate these creatures (called Lemmings) to the exit in a very wide assortment of different levels, and puzzles (that obviously get harder and more complex as you continue). The lemmings themselves have a variety of different tasks and jobs they can take on while trying to make it to the exit, such as climbing, digging, building, and blocking, and you have to use these tasks effectively and correctly if you want to get these lemmings to safety before time is up, or before the Lemmings get viciously and utterly destroyed by traps and obstacles, which can range from lava and acid, smashing walls, or to simply just having them all walk off a cliff. At first, the puzzles are really easy and they give you enough tools to work with so you can easily figure out what you need to do in order to succeed. However, in later levels, they limit you on what can do and use, and try to get to you to focus on different strategies, some of which require you to use simple tools in ways you wouldn't imagine. You really have to know this game, inside and out, if you want to complete the entire thing. Speaking of which, if you want to beat this game 100%, expect to devote quite a bit of time to doing so. There are 120 levels (4 different difficulties, 30 levels for each), and while the first half of the game moves pretty quickly, the later levels have the capabilities of stumping you for a good 30 minutes or up to an hour. It's that complex, even when the exit could be right in front of your eyes. Getting there is usually the problem.
I have very fond memories of me playing this game with my dad when I was very young, and even he had problems with getting past some of the levels in the Level 50 range. But nevertheless, it's an experience I will never forget, and because of those fond memories, I decided to pick the game up once again.....that and a fellow Youtuber I watch (roundthewheelrtw) started a a playthrough (technically a replay, since his channel got deleted) of Lemmings that I've been keeping up with. At this point, even after playing for very long periods of time over the last few days, I'm still have quite a few levels to go (difficult levels at that). Although the words don't say much, that may give you an idea of how complex this game is, if it's giving the great SlimKirby so much trouble. =P
Anyways, one of the reasons why I started talking about this game today, is that I think I have decided that I am going to do a playthrough of the game on Youtube. It won't be a playthrough I start soon (maybe not even in 2011 either), but after getting so familiar with the game again, accompanied by so much nostalgia and fond memories, it's something I do want to share with you guys at some point. Again, just don't expect it to be soon. =P So in other words.....LP Possibility? Yes!
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Anyways, that is my entry for this week, join me next week on Halloween (if I decide to update) when I talk about more stuff, and possibly Wii Party or Kirby's Epic Yarn. See you guys then!
Later folks!
-SlimKirby
Anyways, what a week it has been. I'm reporting to you guys on the last day of my Fall Break. Yes, it has already come and gone, unfortunately, but what can you really expect from a 1-day break? Not much! That's what. For what it was though, it was pretty sweet. I got to hang out with the family, I got to play some sweet new games (which I still won't be talking about on here for a week or two), got to watch old Rugrats episodes at 6 AM.....the perfect 3-day vacation, am I right? =P
Aside from that though, things are going pretty well. Really starting to get hit hard with work at school though, and one of my class grades isn't exactly in a place where I deem acceptable, so I'll have to start paying attention to that more, but it shouldn't really effect very much if you are a reader or viewer. I still have ample amounts of time to do all of that stuff. It's just when I have a choice to work on class stuff or relax/nap, I sometimes choose the latter when I shouldn't. It's something I will work on though, and I am usually dedicated when it comes to my studies.
In terms of Youtube, quite a bit went down this weekend. Mario Party 7 has officially started and after the recording of the first board, I've never been as satisfied as I was with the first recording than I have in a long time...which is kind of funny because my first attempt at recording the board was horrendous, and I stopped after 20 minutes. XD I'll get more into that board in a second; first I'll briefly discuss Donkey Kong 64. At this point, I have up to Episode #50 recorded, and assuming all things go well, that project will be ending within the next two 2 weeks (I'll have a better estimation next weekend after I record the final world of the game). What can I say? The game has treated me very well thus far, despite the malfunctioning controllers and the gloomy galleons. For those of you wondering about the bane of my existence in that project, make sure you check out my video on Tuesday for some sweet rabbit race action.
Getting back to Mario Party 7, as I said before, the recording went well....very well...in both the technical sense and the gameplay sense. I can't believe how much I dominated that game. Sorry for spoilers if any of you haven't watched that board yet. I would say that was my biggest domination of all time, but I'm sure there has been another instance where I was on the ball. My only regret in that game/recording was losing on Funderwall the first time as I could have dominated even further, but the fact that I would have won all of the bonus stars no matter what they were kind of speaks for itself. Because of how well this recording went, I am very much looking forward to Friday when I will record Pagoda Peak, which feels very weird to say, considering how much I have bashed Mario Party 7 in the past. But basically, it went well, I enjoyed the experience, and I hope you guys enjoyed the videos as well.
With Donkey Kong 64 coming to a close very soon, once again, the thought of what my next project will be continues to jump around in my mind. I have to honestly say that I am still not really sure what to do next, but I'm sure I will figure it out eventually. I just hope this lack of being able to come to a decision doesn't delay the project or any other projects of mine.
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Game Chat:
Last week I mentioned that I had purchased both Wii Party and Epic Yarn, and so many of you guys have been asking me to give me thoughts on the game. However, I'm still trying to soak up what I can of these games (or rather, what I have left of these games), before I can give my final thoughts. So in the meantime, I'm going to get a little nostalgic and talk about another game...a very old game that I grew up with which I recently rediscovered and haven't been able to put down very easily.
Lemmings
After seeing this game, here is how I imagine your reactions. Half of you scratched your heads in confusion, while the other half gasped and immediately got flooded with very fond and nostalgic memories of this game. I don't like to think that I'm THAT old, but Lemmings goes back quite a ways in the world of gaming, back in the olden PC and early SNES days (probably even before that). Back in the day, Lemmings was a legit, hardcore PC game.
Basically, Lemmings is a puzzle game where you have to navigate these creatures (called Lemmings) to the exit in a very wide assortment of different levels, and puzzles (that obviously get harder and more complex as you continue). The lemmings themselves have a variety of different tasks and jobs they can take on while trying to make it to the exit, such as climbing, digging, building, and blocking, and you have to use these tasks effectively and correctly if you want to get these lemmings to safety before time is up, or before the Lemmings get viciously and utterly destroyed by traps and obstacles, which can range from lava and acid, smashing walls, or to simply just having them all walk off a cliff. At first, the puzzles are really easy and they give you enough tools to work with so you can easily figure out what you need to do in order to succeed. However, in later levels, they limit you on what can do and use, and try to get to you to focus on different strategies, some of which require you to use simple tools in ways you wouldn't imagine. You really have to know this game, inside and out, if you want to complete the entire thing. Speaking of which, if you want to beat this game 100%, expect to devote quite a bit of time to doing so. There are 120 levels (4 different difficulties, 30 levels for each), and while the first half of the game moves pretty quickly, the later levels have the capabilities of stumping you for a good 30 minutes or up to an hour. It's that complex, even when the exit could be right in front of your eyes. Getting there is usually the problem.
I have very fond memories of me playing this game with my dad when I was very young, and even he had problems with getting past some of the levels in the Level 50 range. But nevertheless, it's an experience I will never forget, and because of those fond memories, I decided to pick the game up once again.....that and a fellow Youtuber I watch (roundthewheelrtw) started a a playthrough (technically a replay, since his channel got deleted) of Lemmings that I've been keeping up with. At this point, even after playing for very long periods of time over the last few days, I'm still have quite a few levels to go (difficult levels at that). Although the words don't say much, that may give you an idea of how complex this game is, if it's giving the great SlimKirby so much trouble. =P
Anyways, one of the reasons why I started talking about this game today, is that I think I have decided that I am going to do a playthrough of the game on Youtube. It won't be a playthrough I start soon (maybe not even in 2011 either), but after getting so familiar with the game again, accompanied by so much nostalgia and fond memories, it's something I do want to share with you guys at some point. Again, just don't expect it to be soon. =P So in other words.....LP Possibility? Yes!
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Anyways, that is my entry for this week, join me next week on Halloween (if I decide to update) when I talk about more stuff, and possibly Wii Party or Kirby's Epic Yarn. See you guys then!
Later folks!
-SlimKirby
Sunday, October 17, 2010
10/17/10 - Is it Time to Spin Some Epic Yarn?
Hello everybody, SlimKirby here, and welcome to another blog update!
Lot of excitement this week and the coming week(s) with a lot of major stuff happening in the world of games and the world of SlimKirby. So much that I don't even know where to begin....
First off, if the title isn't any indication, I have purchased Kirby's Epic Yarn at this point, as well as Wii Party. I unfortunately have not played either though, because I just returned from purchasing both games, and I need to get this blog done immediately because I have a group meeting in a few hours. After that, I should get some time to at least play one of the games (probably Epic Yarn), and then the other game tomorrow. I may give some updates about game progress through Twitter, but I probably won't talk about either games on the blog for a few weeks until I'm finished with them and when I can look at them and give my final thoughts. I have finished Metroid: Other M though, and will be talking about that game at the end of this entry.
Second, as for other things going on, I really don't have much to say. Things are going well, and are kind of calming down for the time being. I expect things to pick up and get more intense really soon, just from the nature of what my life is, but I'll be ready for it when the time comes!
In Youtube news, by the time the next entry rolls around, I will have started a new project, that project being Mario Party 7. Not going to talk about it much, as I'll wait for the first board to release before I do, but it should definitely be some good times. Whether that is sarcasm or not, I don't know, I guess we'll just wait and see. =P In Donkey Kong 64 news, I'm still chugging along collecting gold bananas, continuing to get closer to the end of the game. By the time the next entry rolls around, I should be about finished (or finished) with the 6th world, ready to start the 7th, and final of the main worlds. That's really all I have to say about that project though, so I guess you pretty much get the standard "Still moving along, still going well" update I usually give for that project. =P Anyways, I also need to make an update video pretty soon. I'm not sure if I'll do it though between this update and the next. It really depends on if I can get motivated to make one. I may just wait until after I'm finished with Donkey Kong 64, because I really don't have much to discuss.
Also, speaking of Youtube, as of today, I'm sure you guys have a lot of questions and congrats for me and my channel, in regards to its current state. At this time, I am not at liberty to divulge any sort of information now, or possibly ever, so I'm going to have to keep quiet on that front. However, I will say thanks for all the congratulations I have gotten thus far and will continue to get. It means a lot to me. =)
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Game Chat:
Metroid: Other M
I still remember my first reactions when this game was first revealed at E3 2009. It was right after being shown Super Mario Galaxy 2, the sequel to perhaps my favorite game of the last decade, and I was just wondering what this next big surprise was that Nintendo was going to reveal. Then entered Other M with its incredible graphics and design, unique looking gameplay and combat system, and the "Mysterious Black Dude" (as he was referred to as for several months) who asked the timeless question that hit the video game world by storm, "Remember Me?" despite him not ever showing up in a game prior to Other M. Safe to say, Other M made quite an impact on the World of Nintendo during that conference and throughout the next year.
When the next E3 rolled around, and with Other M still not ready to be released quite yet, quite a few other games ended up stealing the show and the spotlight that Other M had been comfortable in for the last several months. However, it was revealed that the game would be coming out very soon, and sure enough, it did within the next two months, so that still kept the excitement going. However, then the game reviews started coming out....
Now, let me make this straight right off the bat. First, I've NEVER been one to take game reviews with more than a grain of salt. After Nintendo Power's low score for Mario Party 8 (despite them not really saying anything negative about the game in the their review), and various other review sites' idiotic reviews and miscalculated scores for other games, I try not to listen to reviews very much until I have at least some experience with the game myself. Second, I'm not implying that Other M had any bad reviews...if anything, most of the reviews have actually been pretty positive, but with a few noticeable and almost insistent complaints and critiques. It's just that....ugh....the things they complain about sometimes, I just will never understand.
So, I'm just going to put this simply, and bluntly.....I think the game is awesome. In the long run, I think the game was made very well, the story, although somewhat odd for a Metroid game (especially in the personification of Samus), worked for what the game was, and just playing the game in general was just fun and an overall enjoyable experience. My only real gripe about the game is that it is actually pretty short. In terms of other Metroid games, it was about the same length (for a first, blind playthrough, mind you), probably even longer, but when you play those other, older games, and when you get to the end, it feels like the end. With Other M, it just didn't seem like it. I wasn't quite ready to put the controller down and I wanted more (and yes, this was after the ACTUAL ending, so I did beat the actual final boss and do the escape sequence). I guess it's because the game's story itself didn't really have much of a general direction. It was pretty much "let's sit down and watch the events unfold, and once everything does, we'll call that the end." While I don't think that is necessarily a bad thing, again, it did give me the feeling of wanting more, which you can interpret as a good thing, a bad thing, or both. In my case, it's both.
The story and the characterization of Samus Aran were the main things I've seen reviewers and game fanboys gripe about the most. As I said earlier, while I do admit that it was strange direction for Metroid and Samus Aran, I honestly think it was more strange because it was different than it was bad. I mean, if we take a look at the past, although Samus has not necessarily been a silent hero (as shown through Super Metroid and Metroid Fusion where she does have some dialogue and the journal entries), she's still a pretty quiet character, and because of this quietness, she kind of gets that "Female Badass - I'm Gonna Blow You Up Because I'm On Important Mission" kind of vibe. Other M ended up downplaying that vibe quite a bit actually, and because of that, I can kind of see why that didn't please the fans very much. On the other hand though, when you look at the facts, Samus's complete personality was still pretty much a stab in the dark, and I thought the attempt made by both Nintendo and Team Ninja ended up being a good one that worked for the game and the storyline. Yeah, Samus has some emotions, and yeah, she talks about her commanding officer and the crush she has on him for a large portion of the game, but no emotions and feelings only would have been worse. In fact, this game's characterization almost seems sensible when looking at Metroid Fusion, another Metroid game I'm really starting to appreciate after Other M, so I really don't see what the issue is. Just be thankful that Samus doesn't say "Ewwww! A Bug!" every single time she enters a room, if you are one of those complainers.
As for gameplay, obviously one of the main gimmicks is the way that you switch between 3rd-person and 1st-person perspective, and you do this by the position of the Wiimote (controller style for 3rd, remote style for 1st). This "change" is a bit awkward at first, but in the end, it works well and it is implemented pretty well. It's just something you have to get used to at first. A good thing about this feature is whenever you change into 1st-person (since you have to whenever you need to use missiles or your grappling hook), the game actually slows down a little so you can adjust yourself to the new perspective, which I think was a nice feature. You can tell that the game developers really tried to get you accustomed to the game mechanics, which I think is a plus for the gamer, and the developer.
As for extra features and replayability, since this is a Metroid game, you can expect that the game allows you to finish the game on your own terms with whatever items you have, but as a bonus, also encourages you to explore each area thoroughly to make sure you collect every item in the game. As usual, finding all of the items can be very tricky, and at times, very tedious, but keep in mind, you don't even have to play that way if you want. One of the things I noticed in this game is that whenever you leave a room, sometimes the game will mark the map if you missed something, and by the end of the game, everything is marked for you, so you don't have to worry about spending hours looking for one small indentation in the wall in each room of the game. This way, you can just go to the room where the item is in (or near) and just observe the surroundings. As for bonus features, when you fully complete the game, you get a Hard Mode that you can play, which I assume has areas with more enemies (or if not, tougher enemies that do more damage), and is just in general, harder to complete. I'm not sure if there is a prize for completing this mode (100%) or not, because I haven't attempted a 2nd playthrough yet, but I'll probably give it a try next time I decide to play through the game again. Also for unlockables, you can unlock some gallery art of the game and characters in the game, which is pretty cool, along with a Movie Gallery mode where you can watch every cutscene in the game. A cool thing about the movie gallery is that you can actually watch all of the cutscenes in one giant block, and it actually includes small little gameplay clips in between each cutscene, so it feels like you are actually watching a movie of the entire game, which I thought was a really cool feature.
Anyways, I think I've said all I needed to say about this game. Overall, it was a very neat experience and I enjoyed every bit of it, even though it was a little on the short side. Despite all of the criticism and negativity the game got (even though the reviews were generally pretty good), I don't think the "negatives" really got in the way of the actual game, if anything, I think they worked with what the game actually was and was intending to be, and that's why I enjoyed the game and could almost look past them. Although it's not a perfect game (not that any game is perfect) it's definitely one I would support, and on a review scale, I would give it a 4/5 (4.5 at most).
LP Possibility: Ok....so, will I LP this game? Well, in the grand scheme of things, if I ever did do a Metroid LP, first I would probably do Super Metroid, and then Zero Mission before I would even think about doing Other M, just because I've had more nostaglic moments with those games. But in the long run, yes, if I ever felt like doing Other M sometime in the future, I would, because it's a great game. Don't expect this to happen until much later though.....I'm talking months or even years from now.
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Well, that's about it for this entry! I'll talk to you guys next weekend and I'll see you throughout the week for my normal video updates and random twitter updates. Later folks!
-SlimKirby
Lot of excitement this week and the coming week(s) with a lot of major stuff happening in the world of games and the world of SlimKirby. So much that I don't even know where to begin....
First off, if the title isn't any indication, I have purchased Kirby's Epic Yarn at this point, as well as Wii Party. I unfortunately have not played either though, because I just returned from purchasing both games, and I need to get this blog done immediately because I have a group meeting in a few hours. After that, I should get some time to at least play one of the games (probably Epic Yarn), and then the other game tomorrow. I may give some updates about game progress through Twitter, but I probably won't talk about either games on the blog for a few weeks until I'm finished with them and when I can look at them and give my final thoughts. I have finished Metroid: Other M though, and will be talking about that game at the end of this entry.
Second, as for other things going on, I really don't have much to say. Things are going well, and are kind of calming down for the time being. I expect things to pick up and get more intense really soon, just from the nature of what my life is, but I'll be ready for it when the time comes!
In Youtube news, by the time the next entry rolls around, I will have started a new project, that project being Mario Party 7. Not going to talk about it much, as I'll wait for the first board to release before I do, but it should definitely be some good times. Whether that is sarcasm or not, I don't know, I guess we'll just wait and see. =P In Donkey Kong 64 news, I'm still chugging along collecting gold bananas, continuing to get closer to the end of the game. By the time the next entry rolls around, I should be about finished (or finished) with the 6th world, ready to start the 7th, and final of the main worlds. That's really all I have to say about that project though, so I guess you pretty much get the standard "Still moving along, still going well" update I usually give for that project. =P Anyways, I also need to make an update video pretty soon. I'm not sure if I'll do it though between this update and the next. It really depends on if I can get motivated to make one. I may just wait until after I'm finished with Donkey Kong 64, because I really don't have much to discuss.
Also, speaking of Youtube, as of today, I'm sure you guys have a lot of questions and congrats for me and my channel, in regards to its current state. At this time, I am not at liberty to divulge any sort of information now, or possibly ever, so I'm going to have to keep quiet on that front. However, I will say thanks for all the congratulations I have gotten thus far and will continue to get. It means a lot to me. =)
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Game Chat:
Metroid: Other M
I still remember my first reactions when this game was first revealed at E3 2009. It was right after being shown Super Mario Galaxy 2, the sequel to perhaps my favorite game of the last decade, and I was just wondering what this next big surprise was that Nintendo was going to reveal. Then entered Other M with its incredible graphics and design, unique looking gameplay and combat system, and the "Mysterious Black Dude" (as he was referred to as for several months) who asked the timeless question that hit the video game world by storm, "Remember Me?" despite him not ever showing up in a game prior to Other M. Safe to say, Other M made quite an impact on the World of Nintendo during that conference and throughout the next year.
When the next E3 rolled around, and with Other M still not ready to be released quite yet, quite a few other games ended up stealing the show and the spotlight that Other M had been comfortable in for the last several months. However, it was revealed that the game would be coming out very soon, and sure enough, it did within the next two months, so that still kept the excitement going. However, then the game reviews started coming out....
Now, let me make this straight right off the bat. First, I've NEVER been one to take game reviews with more than a grain of salt. After Nintendo Power's low score for Mario Party 8 (despite them not really saying anything negative about the game in the their review), and various other review sites' idiotic reviews and miscalculated scores for other games, I try not to listen to reviews very much until I have at least some experience with the game myself. Second, I'm not implying that Other M had any bad reviews...if anything, most of the reviews have actually been pretty positive, but with a few noticeable and almost insistent complaints and critiques. It's just that....ugh....the things they complain about sometimes, I just will never understand.
So, I'm just going to put this simply, and bluntly.....I think the game is awesome. In the long run, I think the game was made very well, the story, although somewhat odd for a Metroid game (especially in the personification of Samus), worked for what the game was, and just playing the game in general was just fun and an overall enjoyable experience. My only real gripe about the game is that it is actually pretty short. In terms of other Metroid games, it was about the same length (for a first, blind playthrough, mind you), probably even longer, but when you play those other, older games, and when you get to the end, it feels like the end. With Other M, it just didn't seem like it. I wasn't quite ready to put the controller down and I wanted more (and yes, this was after the ACTUAL ending, so I did beat the actual final boss and do the escape sequence). I guess it's because the game's story itself didn't really have much of a general direction. It was pretty much "let's sit down and watch the events unfold, and once everything does, we'll call that the end." While I don't think that is necessarily a bad thing, again, it did give me the feeling of wanting more, which you can interpret as a good thing, a bad thing, or both. In my case, it's both.
The story and the characterization of Samus Aran were the main things I've seen reviewers and game fanboys gripe about the most. As I said earlier, while I do admit that it was strange direction for Metroid and Samus Aran, I honestly think it was more strange because it was different than it was bad. I mean, if we take a look at the past, although Samus has not necessarily been a silent hero (as shown through Super Metroid and Metroid Fusion where she does have some dialogue and the journal entries), she's still a pretty quiet character, and because of this quietness, she kind of gets that "Female Badass - I'm Gonna Blow You Up Because I'm On Important Mission" kind of vibe. Other M ended up downplaying that vibe quite a bit actually, and because of that, I can kind of see why that didn't please the fans very much. On the other hand though, when you look at the facts, Samus's complete personality was still pretty much a stab in the dark, and I thought the attempt made by both Nintendo and Team Ninja ended up being a good one that worked for the game and the storyline. Yeah, Samus has some emotions, and yeah, she talks about her commanding officer and the crush she has on him for a large portion of the game, but no emotions and feelings only would have been worse. In fact, this game's characterization almost seems sensible when looking at Metroid Fusion, another Metroid game I'm really starting to appreciate after Other M, so I really don't see what the issue is. Just be thankful that Samus doesn't say "Ewwww! A Bug!" every single time she enters a room, if you are one of those complainers.
As for gameplay, obviously one of the main gimmicks is the way that you switch between 3rd-person and 1st-person perspective, and you do this by the position of the Wiimote (controller style for 3rd, remote style for 1st). This "change" is a bit awkward at first, but in the end, it works well and it is implemented pretty well. It's just something you have to get used to at first. A good thing about this feature is whenever you change into 1st-person (since you have to whenever you need to use missiles or your grappling hook), the game actually slows down a little so you can adjust yourself to the new perspective, which I think was a nice feature. You can tell that the game developers really tried to get you accustomed to the game mechanics, which I think is a plus for the gamer, and the developer.
As for extra features and replayability, since this is a Metroid game, you can expect that the game allows you to finish the game on your own terms with whatever items you have, but as a bonus, also encourages you to explore each area thoroughly to make sure you collect every item in the game. As usual, finding all of the items can be very tricky, and at times, very tedious, but keep in mind, you don't even have to play that way if you want. One of the things I noticed in this game is that whenever you leave a room, sometimes the game will mark the map if you missed something, and by the end of the game, everything is marked for you, so you don't have to worry about spending hours looking for one small indentation in the wall in each room of the game. This way, you can just go to the room where the item is in (or near) and just observe the surroundings. As for bonus features, when you fully complete the game, you get a Hard Mode that you can play, which I assume has areas with more enemies (or if not, tougher enemies that do more damage), and is just in general, harder to complete. I'm not sure if there is a prize for completing this mode (100%) or not, because I haven't attempted a 2nd playthrough yet, but I'll probably give it a try next time I decide to play through the game again. Also for unlockables, you can unlock some gallery art of the game and characters in the game, which is pretty cool, along with a Movie Gallery mode where you can watch every cutscene in the game. A cool thing about the movie gallery is that you can actually watch all of the cutscenes in one giant block, and it actually includes small little gameplay clips in between each cutscene, so it feels like you are actually watching a movie of the entire game, which I thought was a really cool feature.
Anyways, I think I've said all I needed to say about this game. Overall, it was a very neat experience and I enjoyed every bit of it, even though it was a little on the short side. Despite all of the criticism and negativity the game got (even though the reviews were generally pretty good), I don't think the "negatives" really got in the way of the actual game, if anything, I think they worked with what the game actually was and was intending to be, and that's why I enjoyed the game and could almost look past them. Although it's not a perfect game (not that any game is perfect) it's definitely one I would support, and on a review scale, I would give it a 4/5 (4.5 at most).
LP Possibility: Ok....so, will I LP this game? Well, in the grand scheme of things, if I ever did do a Metroid LP, first I would probably do Super Metroid, and then Zero Mission before I would even think about doing Other M, just because I've had more nostaglic moments with those games. But in the long run, yes, if I ever felt like doing Other M sometime in the future, I would, because it's a great game. Don't expect this to happen until much later though.....I'm talking months or even years from now.
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Well, that's about it for this entry! I'll talk to you guys next weekend and I'll see you throughout the week for my normal video updates and random twitter updates. Later folks!
-SlimKirby
Sunday, October 10, 2010
10/10/10 - That's A Lot of Tens!
Hello everybody, SlimKirby here! I hope you guys are having a pleasant 10/10/10! I wish I could say the same, but things have really only been average for the Slimster. Nothing bad, but nothing really that amazing or interesting either. I'm kind of just at that point in my semester where things are just "meh", wishing I could be doing something much more exciting, but unable to do just because I'm so stuck on my normal routine. But alas, I'm sure you guys don't want to hear me talk about that.
First off, I do have some great news! My Wii was actually returned to me quite a bit earlier than I was expecting! And after running some tests, things seem to be running well. What does this mean for the future? A lot of games I can play over the next few months, and the start (and return (CSS)) of some Youtube projects. I actually got to play some Metroid: Other M this weekend, and I gotta say....it's been a lot of fun and I am enjoying the game a lot. It's not the most perfect game (obviously), but what game is? I'll talk more about the game in the coming weeks when I've completed it (and maybe 100%ed it), but I am definitely glad that I purchased the game, despite all of the so-so reviews. This next weekend I am probably going to get both Wii Party and Kirby: Epic Yarn, so soon I'll probably have a lot to say about those games as well.
Speaking of games, and since I kind of mentioned "Youtube" in my last paragraph, I promised ShadowMario41 that I would give him a small plug in this entry (although I would have done it anyways). Do you guys remember The Maze Game? If not, the Maze Game was a short Let's Play I did back in 2008, a game that was actually created by ShadowMario41 through Game Maker. Although the game and project has been highly regarded as a joke through my videos and other projects, it was actually a pretty well-created game despite the limitations of what it could be. Anyways, the reason I am bringing this up is because The Maze Game has actually been remade. Teaming up with Blargg Pit graphics designer, MegaFreak400, The Maze Game has been repolished (to the extreme) and looks amazing. Of course, the game itself really isn't a new game, moreso a remake of the original (so you will see a lot of the same levels), however, the work these two put into the game is incredible, and they would both really appreciate it if you would give the game a try. Of course, for those wondering if I am going to replay the maze game (or rather, play the remake) for my channel, it is something that I will probably do eventually, but not this moment. Anyways, you can download the Maze Game from the following link....
The Maze Game Remastered
Since I'm kind of transitioning into Youtube stuff, I'll go ahead and talk about that next. Still, not much really worth mentioning, as I am still working on (and will probably continue to work on) Donkey Kong 64. At this point, I have fully recorded up to Video #35, and will probably have another session during the week so I can continue right along through that game. I'm still not sure what # I will end up at the end of the project (in terms of video #s), but now I'm at the point where I wouldn't be surprised if I end before Video #60, although that's still kind of unlikely. The recording for the 5th world actually went REALLY well....so well that I was actually shocked by the end of the recording. I swear, the 4th world of the game is just a nightmare....a nightmare I am glad to be finished with. Hopefully the 6th world (my least favorite BEFORE the playthrough) goes at least decently.
With my Wii back, it's also time to start planning Mario Party 7, and just as a small preview for those who read my blog, I actually plan to start the project in the next 3, or maybe even 2 weeks). There are just a few loose ends I want to take care of before I start the project (one more mini-game to unlock, and one more mode to fully complete). However, even if I don't, it's not going to be a big deal, as I can always do that while I'm in the midst of the Party Mode portion of the game. Still though, I'd at least like to have ONE playthrough of the game where I have everything unlocked before I start recording. Anyways, despite this game being my least favorite of the console games, I'm actually kind of looking forward to it now. Keep in mind, "least favorite" doesn't necessarily mean I hate it....I just like it less than the others. The game is definitely the most long-winded of the Mario Party games, in that it always takes forever to play one game. But yeah, that's about all I need to say about that....look forward to the playthrough VERY soon.
As for other projects to start after Donkey Kong 64, I have to admit that I am still having some issues trying to decide. There are a lot of different ideas in the air....but it's just choosing one that I would be set on doing. That is where I'm having my most difficulty. There is one idea I've kind of been throwing around in my head more than the others, so it will probably be that game in the end, but I'm still not ready to tell you guys.
And finally, for CSS, we are going to get back into discussion about the rest of TTYD and future projects within the next week, do not worry. We should finally be back on track soon. It's just that the Wii's repair (of mine) and a few other things kind of just got in the way of things and prevented us from really making any progress on that front.
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Game Talk:
Although not really a "game," last week I promised you guys that I would take a little bit of time during this entry to talk about the 3DS, the next handheld from Nintendo, which recently got quite a bit of information revealed. Don't expect this to be complete coverage or anything, just a few things I've heard about and will spend a little bit of time discussing from an opinionated standpoint...that's really about it. This really won't be that in-depth at all.
First up, the new system is rumored to be released in North America around March 2011. Although I am relieved that it isn't releasing this year (since I barely have any currency), it still seems like the release is just around the corner in only 6 months time (at least), and I'm not really ready for it. Don't get me wrong, the system itself looks amazing and I am definitely going to get one, no question about it, but still...it seems like we only just now got info on it. I was personally hoping for a release sometime at the end of 2011, at the very earliest. So yeah, I guess I got to start saving for that (after all the awesome Wii games coming out of course =D). Another thing I am kind of disappointed about was that I only got a Nintendo DSi last Christmas, and I was kind of hoping that would be around for a little while before the 3DS came out. Instead, it feels like I got that system, and then only a little bit later, something new was announced. Felt kind of like a wasted purchase...even though the DSi is awesome too.
Another thing that has kind of been turning heads (in a good way or bad way, that's up for interpretation) is the price of the system. The launch price for Japan was announced to be set at 25000 yen, which translates to about 298 dollars in American currency (if you are not American, sorry, I don't know all the exchange rates X_X). Now, while this may not be the exact price of the 3DS, I think it is safe to assume that it will still cost a pretty penny....a very pretty penny. Not everybody just has 300 dollars laying around (or even 200). However, when you look at the facts, they are using some high-tech stuff for this system, and it it is implementing a lot of different features, so the price is kind of understandable. If it were Sony releasing the system, you would be broke for even considering to purchase it. The price is indeed hefty, but as I said, it's at least understandable. Besides, as mentioned, the exchanges rates won't necessarily prove anything. The price could always go down for the final release.
One thing I actually got really excited about learning was that there is going to be a Virtual Console library for Game Boy games, which will definitely be a big hit among Nintendo gamers. Say what you want about the sparse updates for the Wii's Virtual Console, or the "Why pay money when you can emulate it?" excuse, Nintendo is still going to get a lot of money from this implementation, and die-hard Nintendo fans are still going to want to purchase the classic handheld greats. Super Mario Land and Link's Awakening are two of the titles that were announced to be the VC front-runners, but I'm sure there will be many other timeless classics to also grace the presence of the 3DS. Whether this library will include Game Boy Advance games...I don't know (don't remember), so if anyone does, please tell.
As for games, there is not much I really have to say. A new Kirby game was announced (which kind of reminds me as a cross between Amazing Mirror and Canvas Curse), which looks pretty sweet, but otherwise, there is not much I really have to say (that wasn't already talked about during my E3 discussions).
So far though, the system is looking to be pretty amazing, despite a things (early release and price), but those "negatives", if you could even call them negatives, are pretty minimal. If I find out some more information that I think is worth mentioning, I will be sure to post it.
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That's about it for this entry guys! I will see you next week for another adventure into The Mind of SlimKirby.
Later folks!
-SlimKirby
First off, I do have some great news! My Wii was actually returned to me quite a bit earlier than I was expecting! And after running some tests, things seem to be running well. What does this mean for the future? A lot of games I can play over the next few months, and the start (and return (CSS)) of some Youtube projects. I actually got to play some Metroid: Other M this weekend, and I gotta say....it's been a lot of fun and I am enjoying the game a lot. It's not the most perfect game (obviously), but what game is? I'll talk more about the game in the coming weeks when I've completed it (and maybe 100%ed it), but I am definitely glad that I purchased the game, despite all of the so-so reviews. This next weekend I am probably going to get both Wii Party and Kirby: Epic Yarn, so soon I'll probably have a lot to say about those games as well.
Speaking of games, and since I kind of mentioned "Youtube" in my last paragraph, I promised ShadowMario41 that I would give him a small plug in this entry (although I would have done it anyways). Do you guys remember The Maze Game? If not, the Maze Game was a short Let's Play I did back in 2008, a game that was actually created by ShadowMario41 through Game Maker. Although the game and project has been highly regarded as a joke through my videos and other projects, it was actually a pretty well-created game despite the limitations of what it could be. Anyways, the reason I am bringing this up is because The Maze Game has actually been remade. Teaming up with Blargg Pit graphics designer, MegaFreak400, The Maze Game has been repolished (to the extreme) and looks amazing. Of course, the game itself really isn't a new game, moreso a remake of the original (so you will see a lot of the same levels), however, the work these two put into the game is incredible, and they would both really appreciate it if you would give the game a try. Of course, for those wondering if I am going to replay the maze game (or rather, play the remake) for my channel, it is something that I will probably do eventually, but not this moment. Anyways, you can download the Maze Game from the following link....
The Maze Game Remastered
Since I'm kind of transitioning into Youtube stuff, I'll go ahead and talk about that next. Still, not much really worth mentioning, as I am still working on (and will probably continue to work on) Donkey Kong 64. At this point, I have fully recorded up to Video #35, and will probably have another session during the week so I can continue right along through that game. I'm still not sure what # I will end up at the end of the project (in terms of video #s), but now I'm at the point where I wouldn't be surprised if I end before Video #60, although that's still kind of unlikely. The recording for the 5th world actually went REALLY well....so well that I was actually shocked by the end of the recording. I swear, the 4th world of the game is just a nightmare....a nightmare I am glad to be finished with. Hopefully the 6th world (my least favorite BEFORE the playthrough) goes at least decently.
With my Wii back, it's also time to start planning Mario Party 7, and just as a small preview for those who read my blog, I actually plan to start the project in the next 3, or maybe even 2 weeks). There are just a few loose ends I want to take care of before I start the project (one more mini-game to unlock, and one more mode to fully complete). However, even if I don't, it's not going to be a big deal, as I can always do that while I'm in the midst of the Party Mode portion of the game. Still though, I'd at least like to have ONE playthrough of the game where I have everything unlocked before I start recording. Anyways, despite this game being my least favorite of the console games, I'm actually kind of looking forward to it now. Keep in mind, "least favorite" doesn't necessarily mean I hate it....I just like it less than the others. The game is definitely the most long-winded of the Mario Party games, in that it always takes forever to play one game. But yeah, that's about all I need to say about that....look forward to the playthrough VERY soon.
As for other projects to start after Donkey Kong 64, I have to admit that I am still having some issues trying to decide. There are a lot of different ideas in the air....but it's just choosing one that I would be set on doing. That is where I'm having my most difficulty. There is one idea I've kind of been throwing around in my head more than the others, so it will probably be that game in the end, but I'm still not ready to tell you guys.
And finally, for CSS, we are going to get back into discussion about the rest of TTYD and future projects within the next week, do not worry. We should finally be back on track soon. It's just that the Wii's repair (of mine) and a few other things kind of just got in the way of things and prevented us from really making any progress on that front.
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Game Talk:
Although not really a "game," last week I promised you guys that I would take a little bit of time during this entry to talk about the 3DS, the next handheld from Nintendo, which recently got quite a bit of information revealed. Don't expect this to be complete coverage or anything, just a few things I've heard about and will spend a little bit of time discussing from an opinionated standpoint...that's really about it. This really won't be that in-depth at all.
First up, the new system is rumored to be released in North America around March 2011. Although I am relieved that it isn't releasing this year (since I barely have any currency), it still seems like the release is just around the corner in only 6 months time (at least), and I'm not really ready for it. Don't get me wrong, the system itself looks amazing and I am definitely going to get one, no question about it, but still...it seems like we only just now got info on it. I was personally hoping for a release sometime at the end of 2011, at the very earliest. So yeah, I guess I got to start saving for that (after all the awesome Wii games coming out of course =D). Another thing I am kind of disappointed about was that I only got a Nintendo DSi last Christmas, and I was kind of hoping that would be around for a little while before the 3DS came out. Instead, it feels like I got that system, and then only a little bit later, something new was announced. Felt kind of like a wasted purchase...even though the DSi is awesome too.
Another thing that has kind of been turning heads (in a good way or bad way, that's up for interpretation) is the price of the system. The launch price for Japan was announced to be set at 25000 yen, which translates to about 298 dollars in American currency (if you are not American, sorry, I don't know all the exchange rates X_X). Now, while this may not be the exact price of the 3DS, I think it is safe to assume that it will still cost a pretty penny....a very pretty penny. Not everybody just has 300 dollars laying around (or even 200). However, when you look at the facts, they are using some high-tech stuff for this system, and it it is implementing a lot of different features, so the price is kind of understandable. If it were Sony releasing the system, you would be broke for even considering to purchase it. The price is indeed hefty, but as I said, it's at least understandable. Besides, as mentioned, the exchanges rates won't necessarily prove anything. The price could always go down for the final release.
One thing I actually got really excited about learning was that there is going to be a Virtual Console library for Game Boy games, which will definitely be a big hit among Nintendo gamers. Say what you want about the sparse updates for the Wii's Virtual Console, or the "Why pay money when you can emulate it?" excuse, Nintendo is still going to get a lot of money from this implementation, and die-hard Nintendo fans are still going to want to purchase the classic handheld greats. Super Mario Land and Link's Awakening are two of the titles that were announced to be the VC front-runners, but I'm sure there will be many other timeless classics to also grace the presence of the 3DS. Whether this library will include Game Boy Advance games...I don't know (don't remember), so if anyone does, please tell.
As for games, there is not much I really have to say. A new Kirby game was announced (which kind of reminds me as a cross between Amazing Mirror and Canvas Curse), which looks pretty sweet, but otherwise, there is not much I really have to say (that wasn't already talked about during my E3 discussions).
So far though, the system is looking to be pretty amazing, despite a things (early release and price), but those "negatives", if you could even call them negatives, are pretty minimal. If I find out some more information that I think is worth mentioning, I will be sure to post it.
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That's about it for this entry guys! I will see you next week for another adventure into The Mind of SlimKirby.
Later folks!
-SlimKirby
Sunday, October 3, 2010
10/3/10 - Attack of the Awesome All-Nighters!
Hello everybody, Messed-Up-ScheduleKirby here, and welcome to another week From the Slightly UnFocused Mind of SlimKirby! =P
Ok, not really sure what was up with that intro, but whatever. I'm really not that unfocused, just a little off balance. It's a weird feeling when there are only 7 hours left in the day after waking up, that's for sure. :P
Anyways, I guess should elaborate on what exactly I am referring to. I'm probably making this a bigger deal than I need to be, because this isn't exactly something that's really that foreign to people, but it's something that I haven't done very much, if not at all, and it happened twice in a period of 2 days. I'm referring to the act of "all-nighting," where you basically stay up all night. All-nighting is actually a pretty activity, especially for a college student like myself. You can really only afford to do it if you are good at planning around your normal schedule, and planning for a way to get back onto the schedule after doing it. I think I'm actually a pretty responsible individual, which is the only reason even thought about doing this. And the best part is, I had a lot of fun with it, because I wasn't alone. :P
On Friday night I was in a Skype call with good friend PowerToMario, and the always lovely and fierce MadameWario. We weren't really doing anything major, just chilling out enjoying our Friday nights to ourselves when we just decided to start a call. We really didn't expect it to last til 9 in the morning when we firs entered the call, but it totally did. We entertained ourselves by watching whatever was on TV at the time and commentating over it, whether it was paid programming commercials, a ridiculous cheerleading movie (PTM dreams of being a Clover), and even an episode of Pokemon Sinnoh. It was crazy, but it was also a lot of fun. And let me tell you, if PTM ever does an episode of one his LPs under the amount of weariness he was in....it would be the funniest, yet most incomprehensible LP episode ever. XD
Then, the following night, we pretty much did the same thing over again, this time joined by long-time LP video uploader ThePastaKing (try to find the obvious joke in that statement). We didn't just watch stuff this time, we actually got some games out and played (unfortunately no wifi or co-op though). Me and Madame stuck to our common ground, Mario Party (BIG SURPRISE!) and PTM did too at one point, but also played his Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn file while getting information from me and the King. We also watched more Pokemon at one point too. Anyways, this call went on a bit longer, but not too much more, but it was also a lot of fun. Madame and I laughed at and teased each other about our Mario Party 3 experiences we were having, PK went on and on and on and on about his strategy game knowledge, and PTM was.....once again, just all over the place. It was just so awesome and totally worth the weird schedule for this weekend.
One thing I started thinking about though after these experiences, was the possibility of capitalizing on this for a future event. I'm not saying we'll have just another random all-nighter and then record it for Youtube or a stream or something, but definitely the idea of doing a late night event of some sort, possibly live. I mean, I've done late night streams before, in that my streams usually end up lasting until around midnight or 1 AM my time, but I'm talking later than that. Of course, they'd have to be planned well in advance, and planned around the notion of actually being able to host something like that. Sometimes, especially for me, I just can't randomly decide "Ok, I'm doing this tonight." I'm one who usually likes to stay on a pretty consistent schedule. I'll start workshopping some ideas, and we'll see what happens in the future. In the mean time though....BRING IT ON! >=D And if any of my readers have had some awesome all-nighters before, go ahead and talk about them if you want. Kinda inviting some audience participation here. =P
Something else I briefly wanted to mention, that I probably should have talked about before, is that I've kind of dropped the whole heavily-structured blog format, and I think I'm going to keep it that way. I have more fun writing these entries when they are done from a free-writing perspective rather than a "I Have to Stick to the Format" type of perspective, and I guess, what's more fun for the blog is probably the better way to go. It makes me feel less stressed about updating, and I have a little more fun with it. Plus, I think these last few entries have actually been pretty good. So yeah, no more formal blog updates from now on.
In other news, still no information on the Wii, although I didn't really expect to get any information on it yet. I'd expect maybe getting it back this week and then picking it up when I'm briefly home for the weekend, but I can't make any guarantees. I wish I could get it back soon though so I can start playing some Wii Party and Metroid: Other M. I also need to buy Samurai Warriors 3, and Kirby: Epic Yarn when it comes out. When I get it back, there will be a big wiiaction (reaction) from me. :P
Besides that though, things are going well, I guess. I'm about at the half-way point for the semester and things are looking ok, I suppose. Nothing really terrible anyways, which I guess is a good thing. My classes are definitely a lot more difficult than I originally expected, but that's sometimes the case for people.
In Youtube news, Donkey Kong 64 is still chugging along. I had a very brutal recording session with the 4th world of the game (not the most exciting world, that's for sure, and it's actually quite tedious as well). I would explain what happens/happened, but I'm sure you will see this week when I release the videos. Water worlds have never really been that fun! :P
For those wondering about CrystalStarStudio, other members of the Blargg Pit who haven't been updating as much, and any announcements regarding future projects, I only ask you guys, once again, to remain patient. There really is a lot going on for me and ALL of us, and for some it's been difficult to keep up with everything due to other priorities. However, we're all doing our best for you guys, and we're doing all that we can. One of the main things holding this back, specifically on the announcements and CSS, is my Wii being gone, so those things should be addressed before too long. For anything else, just be patient, please! :P
Ok, well, I think that about does it for this entry. As I hinted in a prior entry, Game of the Weeks are now no longer going to be done weekly (so I guess I'll come up with a new name for that section). I apologize if you really loved that section, but just keep in mind that it isn't going away forever....just not going to happen every week.
And kind of as a preview for next week, I'll try to talk about the 3DS next time because there was some information revealed to the public this past week. I would talk about it tonight, but I'm running out of time! So yeah, have that to look forward to!
Anyways, see you guys next week! Later folks!
-SlimKirby
Ok, not really sure what was up with that intro, but whatever. I'm really not that unfocused, just a little off balance. It's a weird feeling when there are only 7 hours left in the day after waking up, that's for sure. :P
Anyways, I guess should elaborate on what exactly I am referring to. I'm probably making this a bigger deal than I need to be, because this isn't exactly something that's really that foreign to people, but it's something that I haven't done very much, if not at all, and it happened twice in a period of 2 days. I'm referring to the act of "all-nighting," where you basically stay up all night. All-nighting is actually a pretty activity, especially for a college student like myself. You can really only afford to do it if you are good at planning around your normal schedule, and planning for a way to get back onto the schedule after doing it. I think I'm actually a pretty responsible individual, which is the only reason even thought about doing this. And the best part is, I had a lot of fun with it, because I wasn't alone. :P
On Friday night I was in a Skype call with good friend PowerToMario, and the always lovely and fierce MadameWario. We weren't really doing anything major, just chilling out enjoying our Friday nights to ourselves when we just decided to start a call. We really didn't expect it to last til 9 in the morning when we firs entered the call, but it totally did. We entertained ourselves by watching whatever was on TV at the time and commentating over it, whether it was paid programming commercials, a ridiculous cheerleading movie (PTM dreams of being a Clover), and even an episode of Pokemon Sinnoh. It was crazy, but it was also a lot of fun. And let me tell you, if PTM ever does an episode of one his LPs under the amount of weariness he was in....it would be the funniest, yet most incomprehensible LP episode ever. XD
Then, the following night, we pretty much did the same thing over again, this time joined by long-time LP video uploader ThePastaKing (try to find the obvious joke in that statement). We didn't just watch stuff this time, we actually got some games out and played (unfortunately no wifi or co-op though). Me and Madame stuck to our common ground, Mario Party (BIG SURPRISE!) and PTM did too at one point, but also played his Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn file while getting information from me and the King. We also watched more Pokemon at one point too. Anyways, this call went on a bit longer, but not too much more, but it was also a lot of fun. Madame and I laughed at and teased each other about our Mario Party 3 experiences we were having, PK went on and on and on and on about his strategy game knowledge, and PTM was.....once again, just all over the place. It was just so awesome and totally worth the weird schedule for this weekend.
One thing I started thinking about though after these experiences, was the possibility of capitalizing on this for a future event. I'm not saying we'll have just another random all-nighter and then record it for Youtube or a stream or something, but definitely the idea of doing a late night event of some sort, possibly live. I mean, I've done late night streams before, in that my streams usually end up lasting until around midnight or 1 AM my time, but I'm talking later than that. Of course, they'd have to be planned well in advance, and planned around the notion of actually being able to host something like that. Sometimes, especially for me, I just can't randomly decide "Ok, I'm doing this tonight." I'm one who usually likes to stay on a pretty consistent schedule. I'll start workshopping some ideas, and we'll see what happens in the future. In the mean time though....BRING IT ON! >=D And if any of my readers have had some awesome all-nighters before, go ahead and talk about them if you want. Kinda inviting some audience participation here. =P
Something else I briefly wanted to mention, that I probably should have talked about before, is that I've kind of dropped the whole heavily-structured blog format, and I think I'm going to keep it that way. I have more fun writing these entries when they are done from a free-writing perspective rather than a "I Have to Stick to the Format" type of perspective, and I guess, what's more fun for the blog is probably the better way to go. It makes me feel less stressed about updating, and I have a little more fun with it. Plus, I think these last few entries have actually been pretty good. So yeah, no more formal blog updates from now on.
In other news, still no information on the Wii, although I didn't really expect to get any information on it yet. I'd expect maybe getting it back this week and then picking it up when I'm briefly home for the weekend, but I can't make any guarantees. I wish I could get it back soon though so I can start playing some Wii Party and Metroid: Other M. I also need to buy Samurai Warriors 3, and Kirby: Epic Yarn when it comes out. When I get it back, there will be a big wiiaction (reaction) from me. :P
Besides that though, things are going well, I guess. I'm about at the half-way point for the semester and things are looking ok, I suppose. Nothing really terrible anyways, which I guess is a good thing. My classes are definitely a lot more difficult than I originally expected, but that's sometimes the case for people.
In Youtube news, Donkey Kong 64 is still chugging along. I had a very brutal recording session with the 4th world of the game (not the most exciting world, that's for sure, and it's actually quite tedious as well). I would explain what happens/happened, but I'm sure you will see this week when I release the videos. Water worlds have never really been that fun! :P
For those wondering about CrystalStarStudio, other members of the Blargg Pit who haven't been updating as much, and any announcements regarding future projects, I only ask you guys, once again, to remain patient. There really is a lot going on for me and ALL of us, and for some it's been difficult to keep up with everything due to other priorities. However, we're all doing our best for you guys, and we're doing all that we can. One of the main things holding this back, specifically on the announcements and CSS, is my Wii being gone, so those things should be addressed before too long. For anything else, just be patient, please! :P
Ok, well, I think that about does it for this entry. As I hinted in a prior entry, Game of the Weeks are now no longer going to be done weekly (so I guess I'll come up with a new name for that section). I apologize if you really loved that section, but just keep in mind that it isn't going away forever....just not going to happen every week.
And kind of as a preview for next week, I'll try to talk about the 3DS next time because there was some information revealed to the public this past week. I would talk about it tonight, but I'm running out of time! So yeah, have that to look forward to!
Anyways, see you guys next week! Later folks!
-SlimKirby
Sunday, September 26, 2010
9/26/10 - So Many Games...So Little Time and Moolah
Hello everybody, SlimKirby here!
That's right! I'm actually hoping to get the blog out on time this week....mostly because I actually had time to work on it today. Anyways, another week has come and gone, and my fall semester is already 1/3 over. For those wondering about my classes and how I'm doing; let's just say I'm hanging in there. It's a lot of hard work, but I'm getting it done.
I don't really have anything to talk about or complain about this week, so I will save you guys from having to hear about it. Besides, things have been going pretty well for me regardless. My sleep schedule has been kind of messed up *glares and smiles at someone*, but it's cool. I'm still getting things done, and getting them done right.
In other news, the release of Wii Party is coming very, very soon. Unfortunately I don't currently have a Wii I could use, which I finally did get sent in for repairs (or at least tomorrow when I go by the post office), so hopefully I get that back before too long. Besides, I still have to play Metroid: Other M, purchase Samurai Warriors 3, and hell, even Epic Yarn might be out by the time I get it back. There are really a lot of games coming out in this one month period. Money for them isn't really a concern or anything, but still, it's a lot of games.
Anyways, I did want to talk about Wii Party specifically, because I've been looking at a lot of information about it, and being the Mario Party guy of Youtube, people have been interested in what I think about the game so far (from previews obviously), and the possibility of whether not I'll have a Wii Party video series on my channel. So far from what I have seen about the game, I can say for certain that it is definitely not going to be like Mario Party (besides the obvious similarities). However, I wouldn't say that is necessarily a bad thing. The game seems to be more oriented to the board game aspect, which I think is cool. I like board games after all. From what I've been hearing from reviews, it hasn't been scoring very highly, but neither have the other Mario Party games, and I've enjoyed them. Sometimes I think people put too much emphasis on the review scores rather than what is actually said in the reviews themselves. After all, there was that one case of a Twilight Princess review where the Gamecube version scored higher than the Wii version, despite the review telling everyone to get the Wii version because it was better. Anyways, I am very much looking forward to Wii Party despite all the criticism it has been getting. Not to mention I still don't see why Nintendo completely refuses to put online in these mainstream titles. It's really gotten to the point where it's not that Nintendo Wifi is bad...it's just that they refuse to use it, which kinda makes me mad. I don't think online play makes a game, but I do think that it enhances it for more playability, and it just doesn't make sense to why they refuse to put it in. As for a possible Wii Party project in the future, I'm definitely not going to count that out. Just let me finish the Mario Parties first! :P
Moving on Youtube, things are still going smoothly with Donkey Kong 64. At the time of this blog, I'm up to Episode #15 being uploaded, and in recordings I'm up to #23. In comparison with my old project, I'm about 7 videos ahead, which isn't that surprisingly given the time limit and such, but still, I'm glad that I'm making a pretty smooth progression through the game. I'm also having a lot of fun with it.
For future projects, these are still things I am thinking about. I have a few ideas at this time, but again, the big thing is figuring out when I want to bring them out. Right now, the only thing known for sure is Mario Party 7 which can be expected by the end of the month (assuming I get my Wii back ok). The same could pretty much be said for CSS as well. Don't expect anything right now, but once we get things figured out, we'll be sure to get moving on that as well.
I think that will about do it for this week's entry, but since I promised you guys a Game of the Week, I'll do that now.
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Game of the Week:
This game of the week has been something I've been meaning to do for awhile now, but I was unsure of whether or not it would be a project I would do in the future, since one of the things I try to do in these sections is talk about future project possibilities. However, a good friend of mine has recently started a project of a game that fits the same bill, so I figured that it might be a good time to talk about. So...in other words.....WELCOME TO MARIO GOLF!
Mario Golf (N64)
Next to the Mario Parties, and maybe Mario Kart, Mario Golf is probably my favorite sub-franchise, and I'm ticked they haven't brought it to the Wii yet. Either way, that's not the point, the point is I love Mario Golf. A lot of people wonder how Mario Golf could possibly be that much fun, just because it's Golf, but for some reason, it works....and it works well. Obviously, being Mario, you can't really expect a lot of realism, but when it comes to the gameplay, it feels authentic, which I think is a big charm of the game. Even though the sequel, Toadstool Tour (which is what ShadowMarioXLI is currently playing on his channel), improves on the formula of the series, I wouldn't say it really does that much extra to take away from the original. The original is definitely more challenging as your shots have to be precise, and you don't have the advantage of seeing your shot in action all the way. Plus you don't have the rather cheap "super topspin" or "super backspin either. Anyways, for awhile, this turned me off from the original since i got really into Toadstool Tour for a period of time, but recently in the last few years, I gave the original another try, and I got instantly hooked and had a really good time with it. Now I ironically think I'm better at the original than Toadstool Tour. XD
Now for those who haven't played Mario Golf, there really isn't that much to discuss. It's Golf with Mario characters and that is basically it. However, if you are only expecting just normal golf, that's not completely true. There are a variety of different modes you can play in addition. There is Speed Golf, where you are timed on how fast you can finish the courses, Ring Attack, where you have to hit your ball through rings scattered across specific holes and then score the par, Club Slots, where your club set is limited to just 3 clubs before you tee off (chosen via a slot machine), and even a fun little mini-golf mode (which I found kind of disappointing when they didn't bring it back for Toadstool Tour). So yeah, the fun doesn't have to stop at just the tournaments.
One of the biggest challenges of the game is unlocking all the characters. To unlock the characters, you have to play against computer-controlled versions of those characters and beat them in Match Play. From the get-go, you can probably expect how difficult these can be, especially since the characters are generally expected to hit the fall further than you and are programmed to at least play competently. You won't see them hit it out of bounds or in the water very often. They also have the ability to randomly get super long putts and ridiculous chip-ins that you normally wouldn't expect them to get so easily, but that's the downfall of playing against a random AI. Unlocking all the characters, I think, is one of the most rewarding challenges of the entire N64 library of games (not because of the characters, just the feeling of getting everything). Obviously it's not THE most rewarding, but still, when I did it for the very first time, I was very happy because of how difficult it was. Because of this, if I ever do a playthrough of the game, I won't be stupid enough to delete all the data (on my N64 cartridge or Virtual Console copy), so I will not unlock them all again....let's make that straight right away. =P
Overall though, for what the game is, it's really fun, and despite what it may seem, I think it has quite a bit of replay value. I often find myself playing a round or two just out of boredom. Of course though, if you aren't into golfing games, you might have trouble getting into the game, but you don't have to exactly be a golf enthusiast to enjoy it either. That's what I love about Mario games. They can make anything a lot more fun. =P If I had to give it a score, I would probably give it a 4/5.
Future Project Possibility: I will say right now that I am very interested in doing a Mario Golf project in the future (possibly this one), but it definitely won't be for awhile. I'm thinking that after I finish Mario Party (and Wii Party -_-), I might try to advance to some of the other Mario subfranchises, and Mario Golf will probably be one of the first ones I do.
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Ok, that's about it for this entry! See you guys next week! Later folks!
- SlimKirby
That's right! I'm actually hoping to get the blog out on time this week....mostly because I actually had time to work on it today. Anyways, another week has come and gone, and my fall semester is already 1/3 over. For those wondering about my classes and how I'm doing; let's just say I'm hanging in there. It's a lot of hard work, but I'm getting it done.
I don't really have anything to talk about or complain about this week, so I will save you guys from having to hear about it. Besides, things have been going pretty well for me regardless. My sleep schedule has been kind of messed up *glares and smiles at someone*, but it's cool. I'm still getting things done, and getting them done right.
In other news, the release of Wii Party is coming very, very soon. Unfortunately I don't currently have a Wii I could use, which I finally did get sent in for repairs (or at least tomorrow when I go by the post office), so hopefully I get that back before too long. Besides, I still have to play Metroid: Other M, purchase Samurai Warriors 3, and hell, even Epic Yarn might be out by the time I get it back. There are really a lot of games coming out in this one month period. Money for them isn't really a concern or anything, but still, it's a lot of games.
Anyways, I did want to talk about Wii Party specifically, because I've been looking at a lot of information about it, and being the Mario Party guy of Youtube, people have been interested in what I think about the game so far (from previews obviously), and the possibility of whether not I'll have a Wii Party video series on my channel. So far from what I have seen about the game, I can say for certain that it is definitely not going to be like Mario Party (besides the obvious similarities). However, I wouldn't say that is necessarily a bad thing. The game seems to be more oriented to the board game aspect, which I think is cool. I like board games after all. From what I've been hearing from reviews, it hasn't been scoring very highly, but neither have the other Mario Party games, and I've enjoyed them. Sometimes I think people put too much emphasis on the review scores rather than what is actually said in the reviews themselves. After all, there was that one case of a Twilight Princess review where the Gamecube version scored higher than the Wii version, despite the review telling everyone to get the Wii version because it was better. Anyways, I am very much looking forward to Wii Party despite all the criticism it has been getting. Not to mention I still don't see why Nintendo completely refuses to put online in these mainstream titles. It's really gotten to the point where it's not that Nintendo Wifi is bad...it's just that they refuse to use it, which kinda makes me mad. I don't think online play makes a game, but I do think that it enhances it for more playability, and it just doesn't make sense to why they refuse to put it in. As for a possible Wii Party project in the future, I'm definitely not going to count that out. Just let me finish the Mario Parties first! :P
Moving on Youtube, things are still going smoothly with Donkey Kong 64. At the time of this blog, I'm up to Episode #15 being uploaded, and in recordings I'm up to #23. In comparison with my old project, I'm about 7 videos ahead, which isn't that surprisingly given the time limit and such, but still, I'm glad that I'm making a pretty smooth progression through the game. I'm also having a lot of fun with it.
For future projects, these are still things I am thinking about. I have a few ideas at this time, but again, the big thing is figuring out when I want to bring them out. Right now, the only thing known for sure is Mario Party 7 which can be expected by the end of the month (assuming I get my Wii back ok). The same could pretty much be said for CSS as well. Don't expect anything right now, but once we get things figured out, we'll be sure to get moving on that as well.
I think that will about do it for this week's entry, but since I promised you guys a Game of the Week, I'll do that now.
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Game of the Week:
This game of the week has been something I've been meaning to do for awhile now, but I was unsure of whether or not it would be a project I would do in the future, since one of the things I try to do in these sections is talk about future project possibilities. However, a good friend of mine has recently started a project of a game that fits the same bill, so I figured that it might be a good time to talk about. So...in other words.....WELCOME TO MARIO GOLF!
Mario Golf (N64)
Next to the Mario Parties, and maybe Mario Kart, Mario Golf is probably my favorite sub-franchise, and I'm ticked they haven't brought it to the Wii yet. Either way, that's not the point, the point is I love Mario Golf. A lot of people wonder how Mario Golf could possibly be that much fun, just because it's Golf, but for some reason, it works....and it works well. Obviously, being Mario, you can't really expect a lot of realism, but when it comes to the gameplay, it feels authentic, which I think is a big charm of the game. Even though the sequel, Toadstool Tour (which is what ShadowMarioXLI is currently playing on his channel), improves on the formula of the series, I wouldn't say it really does that much extra to take away from the original. The original is definitely more challenging as your shots have to be precise, and you don't have the advantage of seeing your shot in action all the way. Plus you don't have the rather cheap "super topspin" or "super backspin either. Anyways, for awhile, this turned me off from the original since i got really into Toadstool Tour for a period of time, but recently in the last few years, I gave the original another try, and I got instantly hooked and had a really good time with it. Now I ironically think I'm better at the original than Toadstool Tour. XD
Now for those who haven't played Mario Golf, there really isn't that much to discuss. It's Golf with Mario characters and that is basically it. However, if you are only expecting just normal golf, that's not completely true. There are a variety of different modes you can play in addition. There is Speed Golf, where you are timed on how fast you can finish the courses, Ring Attack, where you have to hit your ball through rings scattered across specific holes and then score the par, Club Slots, where your club set is limited to just 3 clubs before you tee off (chosen via a slot machine), and even a fun little mini-golf mode (which I found kind of disappointing when they didn't bring it back for Toadstool Tour). So yeah, the fun doesn't have to stop at just the tournaments.
One of the biggest challenges of the game is unlocking all the characters. To unlock the characters, you have to play against computer-controlled versions of those characters and beat them in Match Play. From the get-go, you can probably expect how difficult these can be, especially since the characters are generally expected to hit the fall further than you and are programmed to at least play competently. You won't see them hit it out of bounds or in the water very often. They also have the ability to randomly get super long putts and ridiculous chip-ins that you normally wouldn't expect them to get so easily, but that's the downfall of playing against a random AI. Unlocking all the characters, I think, is one of the most rewarding challenges of the entire N64 library of games (not because of the characters, just the feeling of getting everything). Obviously it's not THE most rewarding, but still, when I did it for the very first time, I was very happy because of how difficult it was. Because of this, if I ever do a playthrough of the game, I won't be stupid enough to delete all the data (on my N64 cartridge or Virtual Console copy), so I will not unlock them all again....let's make that straight right away. =P
Overall though, for what the game is, it's really fun, and despite what it may seem, I think it has quite a bit of replay value. I often find myself playing a round or two just out of boredom. Of course though, if you aren't into golfing games, you might have trouble getting into the game, but you don't have to exactly be a golf enthusiast to enjoy it either. That's what I love about Mario games. They can make anything a lot more fun. =P If I had to give it a score, I would probably give it a 4/5.
Future Project Possibility: I will say right now that I am very interested in doing a Mario Golf project in the future (possibly this one), but it definitely won't be for awhile. I'm thinking that after I finish Mario Party (and Wii Party -_-), I might try to advance to some of the other Mario subfranchises, and Mario Golf will probably be one of the first ones I do.
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Ok, that's about it for this entry! See you guys next week! Later folks!
- SlimKirby
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