Fallout 3 and other ramblings

So I have been playing with Fallout 3 as of late, picked up the Game of the Year edition for 360. I had the PS3 version previously, but since I heard that the game is better on 360...at least in terms of the graphics. Everything else about the game seems to be the same. I never beat it, and now I figure is the right time to do so...or at least play it after I get through FFXIII. Which itself is quite the ordeal.

In other news, I went over to a friend's house and played a prototype Neo Geo game.The game is quite amazing. A game called Ironclad, a sidescroller shmup that is quite awesome. Divering routes like in Darius and a unique powerup system.

With my friend's permission, I may do photo posting of his little arcade. We shall see.

First Impressions of Final Fantasy XIII

After playing through the first 3, and the middle of chapter 4, the first impressions that I got of this game was how gorgeous it actually is. Nobody does graphics like Squaresoft, and its quite evident in this game. Playing this game on my PS3 thus far has been a visual treat.

Its everywhere else this game seems to suffer. For starters, the game so far has just been funneling me through basically a tunnel in each area, as I can really only go one direction to progress through each map. Secondly, the game has limited the battle system, ramping up complexity with each successive chapter completion. I can see the makings of a great battle system, but I am unsure how well its going to all come together once they give me full control. To me it seems more time has been put into the battle system than anywhere else.

Story seemingly has been put on the way side when it comes the game. Its clear Square wants to tell you a story, but you are thrown into the middle of it. The player must take the time to look at a "Datalog" within the menu system to get the any sense of a coherent story. While other games do this (i.e. Mass Effect), they at least given it as an option should want to know more about the world around you. For the most part in the above mentioned game, you learn enough about the world through the story itself and have a great idea of how things are working. In Final Fantasy XIII, I found myself scratching my head more often than not at what the hell an Il'Cie is and what a fal'Cie is (did I even spell those right?). There is no explanation at all at how the world works, why everything is the way it is, or why events are happening. Its all one giant fiasco.

Now...off to play some more Final Fantasy XIII, and confusion!