Demon's Souls

(Amazing cover artwork.)

Demon's Souls 

Review 

               What is Demon's Souls? Well to put it simply it's an RPG that was brought to Europe in 2010, although Sony was skeptic about how the game will sell, that's when publisher Namco Bandai brought the game despite the odds being against them and to Sony's surprise it was a huge success. The game got won a Game Of The Year Nomination on Gamespot and got good reviews overall from IGN, 1Up, Gametrailers, Edge, Euro Gamer Etc.  

               After playing this game for several frustrating hours my deepest respect went to the creators of this game and the publishers that worked so hard for it being released in every region of the world. The nostalgia gates have quickly opened when I started playing  because the game immediately reminded me of games with similar experiences such as: Baldur's Gate, Sacred and Shadows of the Colossus.    

               One word in particular comes to mind when the title of this game is heard and that is: Difficult. Sure it is one of the most difficult games of this modern console generation and for a good reason it punishes you fairly often for every simple mistake, but live long enough and you learn how to improve yourself, to the point where the slightest twitch of a major boss can mean a instant advantage for your next final blow. (I make it sound easy but trust me this game will go out of it's way to make your life incredibly hard)

(They said I can become anything so I became O.P.)

              Punishing as it may be Demon's Souls has a tendency of getting you sucked in with a harsh grasp that defies reality. To you it might seem that you just finished one boss fight but in the real world it has been about an hour and thirty minutes. What I'm trying to say is this game will end up being a huge time spender even tough the world is formed only of 20 some levels and boss fights, but that's exactly what makes the experience so damn rewarding every time you slay a boss of a world and you take his soul and consume it for some more upgrades or stats, or even learn a nifty new spell.

(One of the most amazing boss fights in the game.)

              The constant frustration that you may get is worth it at the end of the trail. The general story is not the best story ever told but it gives a lot of context to the kingdom of Boletaria, and it's king also it does explain why you are ruthlessly hunting down souls. A few boss fights in particular have some very well presented cinematic's with beautiful ambient orchestral music that give this game a very old perspective that appeals to any gamer of the 90's, and like every single gamer kid that grew up in the 90's can tell you most of the problems you will face in this game are regarding the flying enemies. (That's if you didn't make the smart choice and actually chose a character that has some spells or if you aren't a very dexterous character when it comes to wielding a bow)

(So i heard you like spells taste my Soul Arrow b&%*h!!!)

                The best advice I probably can give anyone that starts the game is to chose one of the easier classes such as Royalty, Priest or Magician, because from the beginning spell damage is pretty over powered, but once you had a proper look at the game and see what needs to be done I actually advise you to go ahead and  check the gameplay with some of the melee based characters such as Knight, Soldier of even the Barbarian or Thief, because that is definitely a good challenge. The game does have a new game plus option which is very helpful. Because you might want to  backtrack the miss-able collectibles equipment you couldn't get due to the fact that you were either overburdened or didn't have a proper world tendency that will either open up new ares with loot or give you enemies you might kill for better loot, none the less the option is there if you want it.

                 So what did I learn from my time with Demon's Souls: be careful with your surroundings, be careful of every enemy and for god's sake please play this game with headphones on because the slightest sound will keep you aware of the upcoming dragon's, black phantoms, giant spiders or even rats that hunt in a pack and it will give you a slight upper hand in battle.

(One of the most annoying monsters ever in the most annoyingest cave ever.)

                  

                On that note I will end this weeks review segment and stay tuned for more Delirium in Games during Christmas when I will be posting more reviews for you guys. Feel free to follow me on the Twitters: @GrafRiMaGo, Facebook: Grafrimago and the G+: Grafrimago, and don't forget to message me with any questions you might have.

                Also if you have some time go check out some of the co-hosting stuff I do with my friends Asare and Wiliiam over at: 

AfroNinjaX: 

http://www.youtube.com/user/afroninjax

DefianceChanel:

 https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL-TN9NVX-v21obrAdYuxwPIcaZgE7mbFm&feature=view_all

Overall Score:

9.2/10.0 

+ The Boss Fight

+ The general Dark Atmosphere

+ The combat system

+ The Soundtrack (especially during the boss fights)

+ The open world environment

+ No checkpoints or quick saves

- The frustration it causes you when you eventually die

- The fact that you lose your precious souls easily 

- The one hit one kill Boss fights

- The bad platforming puzzles 

Assassins Creed III

Assassins Creed 3 Review

The first sentence of this review shall stipulate my full emotions towards this franchise: 
Ubisoft never learns.

As I'm farely sure most of you are aware of a Ubisoft's Assassins creed series, and their evolution from Assassins creed to Assassins creed 2. If you have no awareness of that difference I suggest you play the first 20 minutes of each game and you will understand.
Of course on the other hand you might want to chose the easy way out, then I recommend you watch some video reviews and you will arrive to the same result: Assassins creed was a prototype and Assassins creed 2 was the game that touched all the stones Ubisoft wanted to and also delivered a fine game-play to the consumer, but in my opinion Brotherhood and Revelations added more improvement one the basic Structural plan. During the past 3 installments of the game we fully saw a evolution of Etzio, the adventurous adolescent to master assassins and overall bad-ass who is easily able to be a one man army, and in the latest installment we have Conor.


The main protagonist Conoor has one of the most hart breaking story's in video gaming history: his village gets burned, his mother dies in front of him and he's powerless to help her, then he gets transformed in the ultimate loner wolf that gets treated like shit by most people, and the ones that don't treat him like shit just help him out because they want him to do other things on their behalf, while he's on a crazy mission to kill all the Templar's and surpass his daddy issues.(Talk about your emotional baggage.) 

Connor's character is very complex and often I found relating to him the most because, Etzio had his mother, sister and uncle still alive, Altair had the creed, but this kid is left all by himself and he does the best he can in a crappy situation, he knows he isn't weak and he knows that he has a thirst for blood and that motivates him as much as it did Kratos.

So gameplay wise is where all the problems appeared for me. I had to restart several missions due to the Npcs blocking the characters I meant to follow, the target of one of my assassinations just disappeared in the ground once, and the new alert system screwed with me until I realized that it feels more Batman Arkham City like than Assassins creed.
I prolonged this review more than usual because i needed to replay the game to give my full opinion.

So here it goes: The new game mechanics are okay once you remember how to play games like: Batman or Sleeping Dogs, but it really fucks with you for the first 4-6 sequences. Connor is a brilliant character that i would love to know in depth more than Etzio but instead of having more gameplay with him we get a back story of his parents which is cool in itself but there is absolutely zero reason why that is stretched for 4 main mission sequences. Second of all this game makes you feel like the ultimate killing machine once you learn the new control scheme. Far less weapons than i would love but it's okay we have a bow like every mainstream game this year (yes i fucking said it, and if you don't believe me just check the list of gametrailers with bows: TombRaider, Crisis 3, Assassins Creed, Far Cry 3, Dishonored well the last one technically has a crossbow but never the less this is the year of the bow), but the most fun that i had with the game was hunting down animals for their skins and running around the frontier, and when i wasn't doing that i was freaking blowing up ships like a pirate of the seven seas. The game trows half way trough this a managing resources and marketplace which is never properly explained and is pretty much useless because you never feel like using it.

The end is a sucker punch in the face and makes me feel like Ubisoft is really pushing it's luck with the hardcore fans that they have surrounded themselves over the past 6 years. In the very end the last mission is a disappointment altogether with both Desmond and Connor, and it gives me the impression that the game was cut short, and i do feel like the King George Washington DLC should have been part of the main game, but maybe that's just the nostalgia of having another franchise fucking up with their own creation. In conclusion I would recommend you don't buy it but rent it or borrow it from a friend, or wait until the game of the year edition appears, and maybe then buy it.

Overall Score:
7.2 out of 10.0


Plus:-More Assassins Creed-Soundtrack-Brutal Kills-Connor-Amazing navy battles -Free runing at it's finest



Minus:-Unfinished Story-Changed mechanics-Buggy Npc's-Slow progression

What happens next? 

First of all thank you to all who actually take time and read the random quarrels I have with games, the people who make them and the consumers that spend money on them.

Truth be told I never wanted to pick up writing again, after a bad experience I had about 3 years ago when, I created a Sci-fi/Post Apocalyptic script, but my main means of expression always will be writing and sketching, no matter how hard I try to delude myself from being mediocre at best.  

Yet here I am and here you stand reading all the nonsense written on the invisible papyrus that is the inter-web, why you might ask? Well playing video games is a hobby, so normal brain logic:  Why don't I just combine both of the things I am relatively mediocre and see if becomes something more?

So here I stand confident and determined to make my voice be heard about this subject and promise to deliver you guys content related to these matters. At the moment I am still enjoying what is left of my unemployment and finishing up some backlogged games such as MassEffect 3 (and it's DLC), Borderlands 2's DLC, Lollipop Chainsaw (for that mighty Platinum Trophy) and Deus Ex Human Revolution (yep I know, I know trust me).

So this month I plan on making a review of Assassins Creed 3 (I know kind of late right) well that's because I literally had to finish that game twice to form a proper opinion (Actually let's not lie it's because I suffered a stroke while I finished the game the first time), and then I will post a video commentary of TellTale's Walking Dead (God damn that game), and the last but not least at the end of December I will make a new save of Fallout 3 GOTY edition and post the footage on the YouTube channel and let the viewers decide the main decisions of that affect the game. (Game of the year , game of the year, yeah right you heard me it's the game of the year, game of the year...)


So if you like what you read and think of any other games you want my opinion or want me to do a review on please let me know by leaving a comment down bellow or on Facebook or Twitter.

See you guys next time and let your delirium be heard.

P.S (the channel isn't set up yet but I will make a link to it somewhere on this atrocious place)

Fight or Flight

In the 22 odd years I have lived, I have seen 2 generations grow, I have moved 14 times out of which twice I had to relocate to a different country, and I have passed trough the golden age of gaming, which means I still remember every console from the SNES, and SegaMegaDrive till the modern PS3, Xbox360, and Nintendo WiiU.

The old Super Nintendo...  

Some of my best memories.

When people ask my personal opinion I admit I become, cautious. Why? Well due to the fact that ever since I was 6 years old I gamed and I had the pleasure of having a dad that was how should I put it, a carbon copy of a giant Geek. He had shown me everything that made Geek culture thrive from Star Wars & Ghost Busters to Space Invaders & Contra to Spiderman & Batman to the PS2 era. ( get to the point already)

The PS1 

The point is dear reader that I believe that games have become better over time and that games will become even more greater over the next 10 years. But Cris how come you say this when companies like THQ are now becoming almost bankrupt and registering a loss? Well it's simple let's take back a trip on old memory lane shall we.

The PS2

The PS3

Graphics in games have improved at an astonishing rate. In the past 10 years games like Contra  lay'd down a path for games like Battlefield 3, plus  if you haven't noticed games have a lot more variety in them now. Oh and let's not forget the studios that bring us hours of great story material such as BioWare, Bethesda, Ubisoft etc.(suck it Activision) Sure some of the legendary games still preserve their essence, such as Shadows of Colossus, the old Jack and Dexter series, and the Metal Gear Collection, but this is all due to the HD Remakes that they have received. (which I had embraced with joy) Don't get me wrong but during the 90's we had some of the best games possible, and I hope that, the foundation that those games created is solid enough to carry the wild aspiration of the people who are passionate about them now. Why do I say this? Well I say it because this year has showed us a lot of pain ... THQ, EA and 38 Studios have suffered due to the fact that their games need to sell impossible figures, (i.e Darksiders needed to sell 4 Milion copies world wide, Dead Space 3 needs to sell over 5 Milion copies world wide to get another installment,  Kingdoms of Amalur which in general needed to sell like pancakes to become a success, even tough a lot of critics gave it high praise for what it did) and then you have some hundred of layoffs that happened during the year to diverse studios such as IrationalGames (creators of Bioshock) etc.

Contra

Battlefield 

Is this all bad news? Yes, it is! Should we care about it? Obviously you should. But how do we solve this? Simple by putting your money where your mouth is. If you love so much a game created by one of the developer or publisher that you strongly support just go and buy it. Support those publishers by buying their merchandise and games.

Shadows of the Colosus
(if you haven't played it you haven't lived )

It pains me to see good studios forced to lay off all their staff members and selling all of their assets and domain names to pay the bank, and it pains me even more to see that Call of Duty still sells more in a single year than all these other Studios who have by far a superior product ... 


I cannot even imagine how it is to be the head of a Development team or a Publisher during this age, therefore I would like to place my deepest sympathies to all of the studios and teams that have provided me with all the necessary entertainment over the years, and I wish that all the gaming studios out there good luck and my best regards.

The most amazing boss fight ever.

On that note I will finish today's DeliriumInGames session and leave you with a question: If there was a gaming studio you supported and suddenly became bankrupt would you do anything to support that studio? And if yes what would you do?



 I wish you well and stayed tuned for more delirium in games and fun facts, if you have any questions please leave a comment bellow and I will respond as quick as possible.

Graf out.

Why Bethesda ... Why?

You have indeed fallen from grace Elder Scrolls. 

Well years have passed since I first decided to put pen on paper for the first time and actually write down something that is consistent or can be of value. (yeah right)

I know I haven't done this in a while now so just f*%$ing  bare with it alright?!
Everyone can call me by my real name if they wish which is Cris (and no that isn't a typo), or you can simply call me by my Pen name which is GrafRimago. Some people might know me, or know someone who knows of me since lately I have step'd back in the 'spotlight' with the ANX movement ... a.k.a Afro Ninja X ... a.k.a    Mildly Disabled Gamer, but that's all besides the main point of the topic that is at hand here.

I have an issue that has been bothering me somehow along the way for the past 6 months or so now ... (here he goes again ... sigh)... That issue Skyrim and it's DLC .... (what you on about bro' the DLC's are awesome  why you bee hating on Skyrim) ... Well motherf&%$r I wouldn't be if they would just bloody patch the living hell out of it for the PS3(which is the only version I have).

So why is this a big deal okay let's analyse the facts here people:

Even Count Dracula would be jealous of that helmet.

1. Vampires
2. I want to make my own Forsaken Fortress of Solitude 
3. Who in their right minds wouldn't want to ride a Dragon in that game are you freaking kidding me?

I generally don't mind giving Bethesda some of my money for content that is worth it ... I give a little bit to them and they supply me with a few hours of entertainment ... (ahahahah I couldn't have been more wrong on that one). But seriously after a couple of months you would think they could have figured it out and made a public state announcement in which they would have said: Hey you PS3 owners who bought our game we're sorry we gave you a fundamental copy that is overall horse piss, and we can't fix it no matter how much we try. Here take a voucher for 5£/5$ and get it on the Steam sale or something.

Why did I give her the spare key to my house? 

No matter which way I look at this, it still seems that PS3 owners pulled the short straw for this specific 3A tittle.

When did a major league gaming company like Bethesda lose it's professionalism or is it me and more and more gaming studios this year have gone under than the previous years? Is this a sign that warn's us that the future of gaming will be bleak?
 ( I doubt it but i'm heading towards the climax) Or are we just being paranoiac and expect to much out of the gaming studios we grew up along with during this shitty economic crisis that seems to be prolonged by a force of nature?

I'm Davy Jones Cousin ... 

For me personally it wouldn't make a world of difference right now even if Bethesda would take their time and actually fix the problems at hand with the PS3 version, because, as much as I would love to spend countless hours to explore every stone and dungeon in Skyrim, that game is at the very end of the giant pile of games I need to backtrack.

Was it worth hanging on to the game I spent 50£ on the release date? Nope. Why did I do it anyway? Well because I'm a sucker for large open world environments that let me fool around. Do I regret not trading it in for some money on the first opportunity I had? Oh boy I do but something tells me that summer will be long and painful and a game like this is required to keep my attention under lock and key for most of the summer.

Enough said for now, I have to go play some more games and draw some more sketches, but I will be back here tomorrow and they days from here on out to add some more bits and pieces to the modern day Delirium so until next time you giant man-babies keep on gaming, also if you want me to do a review of one of the games you are at the moment playing write it down in the comment section bellow or tweet me: @GrafRimago, find me on the books of faces: GrafRimago (just don't poke me, unless you are a woman aged in between 18 and 26 then I approve that you poke me as much as you can).

Graf out! Peace!

Ain't he just adorable? 

P.S Before I go here is a picture of a cute puppy to make up for the loss of your first horse in Skyrim. (he meant nothing to you)

The fuck you doing Silver? We ain't got time to be horsing around.