Episode 21: Phil all by his self

Oh and you cant hear Rob on there because it does not pick up the webcam people LOL great.

Oops, two weeks of show Archives just for you.

Sorry, I was lazy, but here are the last two shows for you.

Episode 19: Lost half of it because a browser crash, sorry.



Episode 20



and pt 2

Tech and Games Podcast

At around 6 PM CST the tech and games podcast with Ravensdolphin will begin. He has two very special guest Phil-n Rob. From your favorite stickam video cast, Phil-n Rob'd Games.

You can go right here to watch us make fools of ourselves.

Tech And Games

Lost Odyssey: First Impressions

I am sitting here this evening depressed. My 360 died. And the worst part there is something I am wanting to play terrible bad. A game that makes me want to run out and buy a second 360 console just so I can continue this adventure.

If you heard all the bad things about LO. Ignore them. This people are trolls and haters. If you like the way a game like ffX, then you will like LO. There is so much greatness in this 4 disc package that I think it killed my 360 because I was up til 3 am playing it, and did not want to stop.

Forget Blue Dragon. That game was a mistake. It may be one of the worst RPGs I have played looking back. LO is a more mature game. The package is just awesome. Wy do I think this. Well let me tell you what this game does.

The very first boss you fight in the game is hard. You may think a boss in a turn based RPG can't be hard. Well you would be wrong. The few bosses I fought took strategy. I did something I have not done in an RPG since fighting a boss in FFIV. I used the defense option.

The combat is fun, because it does take that extra strategy to play it. And I also think 1up.com and the 1up show did a great disservice to the game when they said the load times were long. And they show this 15 second clip of a battle loading up. That is one battle in the brief time I got to play the game. After that, battles take about 3 seconds to load up. Bosses may take a little longer.

Next up is the story. I am not too deep in yet, but what I have played I enjoyed. Its one of the first games that had me laughing out loud do to Jansen, and had me tear up after reading a short story...

Yes I said short story, there are times when you will enter into a conversation and the game tels you that a memory escapes your heart, and then gives you the option to read a short story. And these are some of the best stories I have ever read. These are powerful, moving pieces of fiction. Most are depressing, but go to tell a story of who your character is.

Please, if you like RPGs, buy this game. It is awesome, it is the best rpg I have played since Final Fantasy 10, and I am anxious to get to play it again. There are a few minor gripes (a stealth section that may leave you scratching your head) and some minor agitation with enemy encounter rates. But its a damn good game.

My 360 Died

Here is a video of the 7 stages of grief I went through.

Devil May Cry 4: The Review

Alright I will try to keep the story spoiler free, but there are a few things I need to bring up about game play and pacing, so if you dont want any kind of spoiler please return to wence you came.

I liked the game up until you play as Dante. Yes I liked playing at Dante but the game decided at this point that you have to know walk all the way back to the begining of the game. Sure things are a little diffrent, but its still the same place.

Worse you have to fight the same 4 bosses as Dante, but then the next to last stage you have to once again fight the bosses one more time. Ughh, come on this game has been in development for 2 years. You thik they could have come up with new areas for Dante. Too much back tracking.

The combat is fun. And I never minded fighting the weaker enemies, and I enjoyed trying to get the SSS rating in battles. This rarely happened. I found myslef going back to previously levels trying to get a S ranking, most of the time with little luck. But I will keep trying.

The story is filled with more plot holes than swiss cheese. You understand the theme of love, but why the hell is Dante helping Nero. Why does Nero look like Dante. This is never really explained. But playing through Dante's stage is quite hilarious. Especially the Shakespear-esq scene before fighting one of the bosses.

I liked the game, but its lackig in some areas. The graphic are great, and the combat is entertaining, but I wanted more substance.

B+

Phil-n Rob'd Moment: Really fighting the same bosses 3 times, really.

Phil-n Rob'd Games Episode 18: Arcade Classics

We talk about the King of Kong and our old Arcade stories and favorite games

Gamestop coupon 2/8/2008

The Gamestop coupon is Any used XBox 360 & Xbox Games 25% off! Very, very good deal. See ya!

Phil

WTF!? My review of Indigo Prophecy (Xbox)

The Xbox Originals, available for download, is not my type of thing. I like the fact that I can go and buy them at your local Gamestop. One day last month, my Gamestop weekly special flyer had a coupon for buy one get one free on any used Xbox game. I picked up Fable and the game that I am going to review to you now, Indigo Prophecy.

Story – My name is Lucas Kane; and I'm a murderer. That is the tag line from the game and the first 3 minutes will show you why. Indigo Prophecy (known as Fahrenheit in Europe) was developed by Quantic Dream. This company brought us Omikron: The Nomad Soul for the Dreamcast. Tyler kills a man in a diner bathroom and you don't know why you did it. You felt like you were possessed. The game begins after that. You must find a way to cover up your actions and leave before you get caught. Afterwards, two cops (Carla Valenti and Tyler Miles) investigate the murders and things begin to turn from that. I really do not want to get too deep into the story because that would ruin your experience. The story in this game is a big part. The story is told through 3 characters: Lucas Kane, trying to run from the cops and figure out what the hell is going on; and Carla and Tyler investigating the crime to find out who did this. Throughout the game, you have the ability to determine what you can do to cover up your actions or catch the suspect. A very engaging story will make you want to help you both the cops and Kane. A lot of things unfold in this and it is very interesting. The only problems that I have with the story is that, within the last ¼ of the story, it gets really disjointed and bad. It seems like the developers did not enough space on the disc and just threw the ending on this. I will just say that enemies will become friends in the span of 5 minutes. Horrible, but forgivable. Overall, the story is very engaging, but a little rough around the end.

Grade – B

Graphics – The graphics in this game is very good. The characters act as any person would. The voice does match the persona and everything does seem to flow the way it should. New York City in 2009 looks very real. The environments in this game are really well done and that is good, because you will be inspecting every nook and cranny in this game. That is the only way that you can do it right. There is one part, though, that truly pisses me off. The name Indigo Prophecy is different from the European Fahrenheit in one way...nudity. With such a good story, sometimes sex can be involved. The European version has sex a prevalent, and visual component. The US version, however, has blurred pixels and parts of scenes cut out because sex is being performed and you can see women's nipples. I do not like it when you can see a man stab another one, or see two people being killed in a game. Then, to be a fucking hypocrite, blur out a nipple because it offends people. Grow up society, goddamn it.

Grade – B-

Controls – Controls, for the most part, serve this game well. The left thumb stick moves the characters around while the right thumb stick will help you interact with objects. When next to a yo-yo, for example, press the right thumb stick to the left (an icon appears on the top of the screen and the direction you need to get the yo-yo) and you will pick up the yo-yo. Sometimes, you will need to move the right stick in a certain way to proceed. With some of these, you will need to do this in a short period of time, but it is good that it shows you how to move to stick. Action sequences are not the usual fare in this game. Instead of using the A button to punch, actions are done two ways. Two circles will appear on the screen. When the top part of the left circle glows, you must press up on the left analog stick. Sometimes, the glows can get pretty hectic and difficult, but not anywhere near impossible. There will be times when a meter with L on the left and R on the right and you must mash the the LT and RT as fast as possible to move the meter from the left to the right. Sometimes that can get tiring and you need to move fingers over to help compensate, but it is very, very good to do. Sometimes, when people try to innovate, they over-innovate. This is a very well done control scheme and they should be commended. One small blemish is that when you have to deal with the two circles, you must concentrate on the circles, even when actions are taking place. You will only be able to see the events in you peripheral vision.

Grade – A

Sound – The sounds definitely delivers. Characters sounds like you would see from normal everyday life. You can turn on a radio and hear music (though mostly unknowns) and everything is synced just right. Wind noises and echoes are done with real great care. I always say that if you nothing bad to say, don't say anything at all. That is a lie, this is just great.

Grade – A

Extras – The extras in this game is really damn good. You can earn bonus cards by looking for them throughout the game. They give you 5 to 20 bonus points that you can use to purchase items from the bonus menu. There are pictures, the soundtrack, and video shorts. The video shorts give you shots from the development part of Indigo Prophecy. There is also a strip tease, an ice skating mini-game, as well as some grinding done by some of the characters. Very funny. There is also the ability to go back to previous chapters to go through a scene differently. It really does not affect the ending because you can get all 3 endings by completing the final chapter differently. It is a very good amount of extras.

Grade – A-

Challenge – The challenge in this game comes from asking the correct question. Ask the wrong questions and your character can get a little more depressed until you flat out lose it and it is game over. You only have a short amount of time to ask a question that you think is the best one, and hopefully it is. You can do simple things like drink some water to raise your emotional level back up. The circle presses are easy, if you do not look at anything else. There are other challenges like keeping the L/R meter as close to the middle as possible. There are pretty fun to deal with, but if you just concentrate on the task, you'll be fine. There are three different settings (Easy, Normal, and Hard) and they are mostly cosmetic.

Grade – C+

Overall, Indigo Prophecy is a very solid and different gaming experience. A great, but flawed, story; great cast of characters; terrific sound; really great control; a ton of extras make this a must buy. It will take you around 10 hours to get through and it is all worth it.

Overall grade - B

Phil-N Rob'd Moment: This game was really great; but there is definitely somethings that got on my nerves badly. It was when the game did a complete 180 ¾ through the game. I don't want to spoil it, but that part just flat out fucking blew. I did not like it and I was scratching my head until the end of it.

The following film is what is cut out of the American version. You can show people getting stabbed and mutilated, but show one fucking nipple or one sex scene and it has to be removed. Go fuck yourselves US Government.



As a special feature, Kush will also write a review for this to give two different perspectives on this incredible game.

Phil

And now...better thought than Rob's

Every other week, when I get paid, I try to go and get some games that I can go through and put up on Youtube and review for you here. I picked up 3 Gamecube games (Starfox Adventures, Viewtiful Joe 2, and Resident Evil 3: Nemesis). I also picked up Freedom Fighters for the Playstation 2 (really wanted to play that), NCAA Football 2005/Top Spin for the Xbox (it was $.99) and Wartech for the 360. Wartech is probably going to suck (I bought it for $9.99 brand new at Gamestop). I have never played a Viewtiful Joe game and thought I would try to play through that one. I have previously played through Startfox Adventures and Resident Evil 3: Nemesis, but I would like to go through them again because I thought they were very good.

From what I remember, Starfox Adventures had, by far, the hardest boss that you could go through. The boss was the same boss that you had to fight in every game there is, Andross. If he would suck you into his mouth, you would have to start the entire fight over again with him at full health and you at where you were and it was frustration as fuck. It took me 4 hours to complete a 10 minute fight because I kept dying. I hope to have it up on Youtube sometime soon, when I go through it, of course.

Something that I did want to touch on is Gamestop. I do think in some small way, Gamestop does screw game companies from their money, but I am still going to go there and buy games. Well, I subscribe to their newsletter and they send me a weekly deals newsletter and at the bottom, they have a coupon. The past couple of week, those coupons have been nothing but great. The one that is on this week's is for any used Gamecube or GBA games 25% off. I purchased Resident Evil 3, Starfox Adventures, and Viewtiful Joe 2 (used) and used the coupon as well as my Edge card. The total before the coupons would have been 41.97, but with the coupons it was down to 27.27 and I was happy. If you don't like Gamestop because they are damaging companies or if they are monopolizing the game store market, at least they are trying to use Vaseline.

Phil

The Stream of Conscienceness for Friday Feb. 1st

Okay a few lines to describe my feelings on games, podcast and stuff.

Final Fantasy 12: Finished it today actually,very happy with the ending. I am glad I went back to finish it. So my total of Final Fantasy Games I have not completed is 2. Final Fantasy 8 and 11 (which barely counts as a FF game)

Call of Duty 4: I keep thinking I am going to get to the point where I can not finish this game on vetran. And then amaze myself when I get a little further. I think I can do it... maybe

Burnout Paradise: Wow, awesome game, especially when playing with the allgames.com crew. Its always better to play a game like that with people you know.

Turok: Rubber Dinosaurs, really...

Turning Point Demo: I want this game to be good. The developers came out and said the demo was bad. I will rent this one because I love the story line for this game.

Devil May Cry 4: I want this one, but since Lost Odyssey comes out the week after, and I want a good rpg, it wins out.

Lost Odyssey: Please Mistwalker, let this be the RPG that FF want on X360 and we will forgive you for the ultra kidish Blue Dragon.

Tomb Raider Underground: I cant wait, give Uncharted its due, but that game was not Tomb Raider. There is only one Lara Croft, and her name is not Nathan Drake.

Super Smash Brothers Brawl: The more I read about the story to this game, the more interested I become in it.

No More Heros: No copies for rental... anywhere

Allgames.com: My friends at allgames listn to the podcast if you have not. So funny you might spill coffee all over your laptop.

Cagcast: Cheapassgamer.com has a great podcast every week. Cheapy D and wombat keep you entertained with stories about games, fatherhood, and sometimes shitting in alleys.

Well thats all I can cram into this Stream of Conscienceness.