Last Online: 10/16/07
TrueDarkFusion
My name is Dan, but over the years I have come to be known as TrueDarkFusion. Ever since I found my parent's old Atari up in the attic when I was little gaming has become a hobby. Over the years I have played many games, some for the moment and others that have become immortalized. As an individual I view gaming as an art. In order to make a successful game these artistic qualities become necessary and essential. Not only have games become a hobby, but they are a means to network with individuals all around the world who share common interests. Through the many years I have had encounters with several individuals whom I still talk to today and other interesting individuals who seem to have lost their minds completely. I look forward to many future games and run-ins with fellow gamers. Peace!
Beware of Panda
Go-On's
As a gamer I am constantly playing new games, some good some bad. In this section I will blog about what I am currently playing, post my opinions, videos, and other useful tidbits. The postings are organized by game and dated from most recent to least recent. *
Halo 3
With all the hype over Halo 3 it has become irresistible. I have tried to avoid posting anything about it, but now I am at the point where I have to. I will try to keep this page free of spoilers from campaign, but I will post MP information as it is found along with videos (i.e. tv ads) and pictures.
9/23/07
Female Spartan Voice Overs, View
9/22/07
9/21/07
9/23/07
Female Spartan Voice Overs, View
New armor Permutations via Sketch & Lukems
All of the Halo 3 emblems
9/22/07
New Halo 3 Believe Ad
Known Unlockable Armor Permutations
9/21/07
New H3 Vidoc from Bungie.net. The video features interviews about saved films and forge.
Blue Dragon
9/16/07
Well the last few weeks have been filed with some random gaming, but I have been working on my other achievements for Blue Dragon. Today I was able to max out all my character levels at 99 and now I'm working on bringing all the class ranks to 99 while searching for the remaining barriers in the game.
9/6/07
Well it appears that someone finally took the time to translate, subtitle, and upload the first episode of the Blue Dragon anime in Japan. It doesn't stay exact to the story from the game but is still a good watch. I have embedded the first part of the show below and will link to the second two parts.
Part 2
Part 3 *
9/5/07
Today I managed to acquire the currently unreleased DLC in the U.S., New Game +. Basically NG+ allows you to start a new game of BD with the same character levels and items from a previous saved game. This new option expands the replay value of the game immensely. If you also would like to download the NG+ for free create a sliver account along with a new e-mail/MS passport and set the region to Hong Kong. Enjoy! *
9/3/07
Well it seems I beat the game today. The ending was simply epic. So now I have moved onto cleaning up some of the additional achievements. Unfortunately a couple of the achievements entail beating some really strong creatures including a King Poo which is just a really large turd that can kill all your people before you can do anything... *
9/2/07
I finally unlocked the Merchat. Before I thought the world map was huge, but now I can travel from one end of the map to the other in a minute. I also received the introduction cut scene to the final area in the game. Strangely now that I have access to this area it feels like I still have roughly ten hours to go. I ended last night's story with Shu at level 58. *
Graphics: 9.5
I found that the graphics on Blue Dragon to be some of the best that I have seen in a JRPG in a long time. Although if you are not a fan of Akira Toriyama (Dragon Ball artist) you may not enjoy the style used as it mimics Dragon Ball Z.
Story: 9.0
The game delivers on a strong story. With a three disc game filled with cut scenes I don't see how you couldn't. The story is extremely dynamic as sudden plot twists take place and at times pulls at you heart strings. Although the game does contain many stereotypical JRPG characters the game developers set out to create simply another JRPG for the Xbox 360 and accomplished just that.
Audio: 7.5
Luckily the game creators gave the option of choosing the language of the voice overs in the game because the English voice overs are so incredibly painfully annoying to listen to that it makes me want to cry. In the same sense the voice quality redeems itself if you opt to pick Japanese as the voice language. The music in Blue Dragon tends to get repetitive. Upon entering Jibral you hear a catchy tune, but you better get used to it because you will be listening to it for the next two hours straight. Many of the songs are catchy but at the same time are so incredibly simple that they tend to get on your nerves if you listen to them for a prolonged period. The rock themed boss battle music by Deep Purple's Ian Gillan is indeed catchy but seems out of place. (See video)
Game play: 8.0
The game play in the actual game redeems itself from what many of us saw in the demo. The reason for the prior confusion in the demo was the developers threw a variety of skills and abilities at the gamer who had no idea what he was doing. Luckily the game starts off as a standard RPG in which the characters have no skills and they have to build and learn them. The dynamic class system in which class skills can be intermixed is not revolutionary but is nonetheless brilliant. The combat is pretty much standard turn based with a front row and a back row which can get repetitive. The best option included in Blue Dragon involving combat is probably the encounters. Instead of random encounters the player will see random monsters walking around the environment and has the option to either avoid them or to engage.
Replay Value: 8.5
The replay value is moderately high, but there's a catch. The replay value is for sale. The developers have already released DLC for Blue Dragon for 400 points. This DLC will randomly generate a dungeon and every time you enter the dungeon it will be different. I feel that this is a DLC package that is a must buy since it extends the game's life significantly.
Overall: 8.5
This game is one of the best JRPGs I have played in years. If I wasn't to break the game down by categories it would be significantly higher, but we live in a statistical based society so I have done the review in a calculated manner. I find the story extremely moving and believe that the game is well worth the sixty-dollar value for the story alone. Many times I will purchase a one game disc and feel that I wasted my money, but this time I received three discs for the same price and feel that this is probably the best value for a newly released game next to The Orange Box and Halo 3. If you need something to play while waiting for Halo 3 I highly recommend Blue Dragon as the three discs will keep you engrossed and entertained long enough for Halo 3's release. If the choice came down to Blue Dragon and Bioshock based solely on game length Blue Dragon's 50 hour main story line wins out against Bioshock's 8 hours. *
Well the last few weeks have been filed with some random gaming, but I have been working on my other achievements for Blue Dragon. Today I was able to max out all my character levels at 99 and now I'm working on bringing all the class ranks to 99 while searching for the remaining barriers in the game.
9/6/07
Well it appears that someone finally took the time to translate, subtitle, and upload the first episode of the Blue Dragon anime in Japan. It doesn't stay exact to the story from the game but is still a good watch. I have embedded the first part of the show below and will link to the second two parts.
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3 *
9/5/07
Today I managed to acquire the currently unreleased DLC in the U.S., New Game +. Basically NG+ allows you to start a new game of BD with the same character levels and items from a previous saved game. This new option expands the replay value of the game immensely. If you also would like to download the NG+ for free create a sliver account along with a new e-mail/MS passport and set the region to Hong Kong. Enjoy! *
9/3/07
Well it seems I beat the game today. The ending was simply epic. So now I have moved onto cleaning up some of the additional achievements. Unfortunately a couple of the achievements entail beating some really strong creatures including a King Poo which is just a really large turd that can kill all your people before you can do anything... *
9/2/07
I finally unlocked the Merchat. Before I thought the world map was huge, but now I can travel from one end of the map to the other in a minute. I also received the introduction cut scene to the final area in the game. Strangely now that I have access to this area it feels like I still have roughly ten hours to go. I ended last night's story with Shu at level 58. *
My Review
Graphics: 9.5
I found that the graphics on Blue Dragon to be some of the best that I have seen in a JRPG in a long time. Although if you are not a fan of Akira Toriyama (Dragon Ball artist) you may not enjoy the style used as it mimics Dragon Ball Z.
Story: 9.0
The game delivers on a strong story. With a three disc game filled with cut scenes I don't see how you couldn't. The story is extremely dynamic as sudden plot twists take place and at times pulls at you heart strings. Although the game does contain many stereotypical JRPG characters the game developers set out to create simply another JRPG for the Xbox 360 and accomplished just that.
Audio: 7.5
Luckily the game creators gave the option of choosing the language of the voice overs in the game because the English voice overs are so incredibly painfully annoying to listen to that it makes me want to cry. In the same sense the voice quality redeems itself if you opt to pick Japanese as the voice language. The music in Blue Dragon tends to get repetitive. Upon entering Jibral you hear a catchy tune, but you better get used to it because you will be listening to it for the next two hours straight. Many of the songs are catchy but at the same time are so incredibly simple that they tend to get on your nerves if you listen to them for a prolonged period. The rock themed boss battle music by Deep Purple's Ian Gillan is indeed catchy but seems out of place. (See video)
Game play: 8.0
The game play in the actual game redeems itself from what many of us saw in the demo. The reason for the prior confusion in the demo was the developers threw a variety of skills and abilities at the gamer who had no idea what he was doing. Luckily the game starts off as a standard RPG in which the characters have no skills and they have to build and learn them. The dynamic class system in which class skills can be intermixed is not revolutionary but is nonetheless brilliant. The combat is pretty much standard turn based with a front row and a back row which can get repetitive. The best option included in Blue Dragon involving combat is probably the encounters. Instead of random encounters the player will see random monsters walking around the environment and has the option to either avoid them or to engage.
Replay Value: 8.5
The replay value is moderately high, but there's a catch. The replay value is for sale. The developers have already released DLC for Blue Dragon for 400 points. This DLC will randomly generate a dungeon and every time you enter the dungeon it will be different. I feel that this is a DLC package that is a must buy since it extends the game's life significantly.
Overall: 8.5
This game is one of the best JRPGs I have played in years. If I wasn't to break the game down by categories it would be significantly higher, but we live in a statistical based society so I have done the review in a calculated manner. I find the story extremely moving and believe that the game is well worth the sixty-dollar value for the story alone. Many times I will purchase a one game disc and feel that I wasted my money, but this time I received three discs for the same price and feel that this is probably the best value for a newly released game next to The Orange Box and Halo 3. If you need something to play while waiting for Halo 3 I highly recommend Blue Dragon as the three discs will keep you engrossed and entertained long enough for Halo 3's release. If the choice came down to Blue Dragon and Bioshock based solely on game length Blue Dragon's 50 hour main story line wins out against Bioshock's 8 hours. *
The games I am most looking forward to
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These are my favorite games of all time
This is my all time favorite game. Many of you are going "wtf" right about now, but I have my reasons for this game. The amount of mods and new maps being released for this game at the time was phenomenal. Every time you played the game it was an entirely different universe. From role playing servers with artificial cash to skinning your own character to the dynamic light saber duels that the game promoted and hell if you got bored of light saber duels go download a couple of sword skins with added sound effects and blood.
Seriously one of the most epic and moving game experiences to date. The only reason it took second place was that I played Jedi Academy for a longer period. Although I did beat Ocarina twice when the game was released as a bonus for Gamecube when you reserved Wind Waker. Simply an amazing game from start to finish.
Bioware games are always amazing. This was my first Bioware game that I ever played, and man did they leave a good impression. They left such a good impression that I went back and beat it a second time through in order to get the good half of the story which in the end was more rewarding than the dark side. It's unfortunate that the second KOTOR was rushed and didn't turn out as well.
Although the campaign was not as enjoyable as Halo: CE, and some may argue that it was rather disappointing, Halo 2 is not on my list for the campaign but instead for the multiplayer. Halo 2 revolutionized Xbox Live and made it what it is today. For two years it was the most played game on XBL, and was [not] dethroned until Gears of War came along. [about 4 months later it was once again, and still is I believe, the most played XBL game on 360] This game was definitely what pushed me onto Xbox. The reason for Halo's survivability is simply the customization features [plenty of games have customization features, but few games have the robust, visceral, and balanced gameplay], as creative Halo fans invented such contraptions as Zombies along with its survival counterpart and Tower of Power.
Another game that happens to be on my list for customization reasons. Anyone was able to open up the map editor and make creative RTS scenarios such as Deity or Resource Race. Players could even create mini campaign missions complete with cinematic scenes.
The game that made Microsoft Xbox what it is today. If it wasn't for Halo I believe the Xbox would have completely failed. For the time the game was a revolutionary shooter despite the story being called somewhat generic by some critics. The game pitted two teams against each other in balanced yet chaotic team based games such as Capture the Flag.
The ultimate party game. Nothing beats pulling out the Gamecube, dusting it off, and searching for extra controls when a couple of buddies come over. SSBM in my opinion was and still is the best fighting game to date.
Many individuals may disagree with me on this choice, but I personally feel that Majora's mask does live up to the Zelda franchise. The story is compelling as you are transported into the world of Termina when suddenly Link is attacked by a skull kid and turned into a deku. It is up to Link to stop the moon from crashing into the earth with the assistance of several masks that transform him into the different residence of Termina. I personally enjoyed this game as an opportunity was given to play as characters other than Link to overcome the various puzzles that were presented.
This game is one of the best JRPGs I have played in years. I find the story extremely moving and believe that the game is well worth the sixty-dollar value for the story alone. Many times I will purchase a one game disc and feel that I wasted my money, but this time I received three discs for the same price and feel that this is probably the best value for a newly released game next to The Orange Box and Halo 3. If you need something to play while waiting for Halo 3 I highly recommend Blue Dragon as the three discs will keep you engrossed and entertained long enough for Halo 3's release. If the choice came down to Blue Dragon and Bioshock based solely on game length Blue Dragon's 50 hour main story line wins out against Bioshock's 8 hours.
When I first saw Animal Crossing in an issue of Nintendo Power years ago I couldn't figure out what the hell it was. Eventually the curiosity got the best of me when I bought it. Never again have I been the same person. The game is so strange that you just have to play it. I don't know if it's the weird dancing fire hydrant type gyroids that you find around the town or if it's the weird Morse Code sounds that the animals make when you talk to them. It became an addiction to simply collect all the furniture and expand my house. The game was so basic yet still compelling that my mother picked the game up and in fact she is still playing it on the Nintendo DS.
