This past Friday I completed one of my all time favorite games on stream for charity. In fact, I do it every year. The game already meant a lot to me, because it was one of the first games I have fond memories of. It also touches on my writing sensibilities. It's both well written, and funny, which is harder than you'd think to pull off in a video game.
However, now it holds an all new meaning. The first time I streamed on Twitch for real I played through Grim Fandango while my friend Noukeo got to see it for the first time. I've come a long way since then, and it's cool that my yearly playthrough of the game can now be something more by raising money for charity.
One thing that never ceases to amaze me is that I still find new things in each playthrough of the game I have, When the HD re-release of the game came out I found out that if you show Glottis an item you would never normally show him he bursts out into song. So, there is a point in the game when you get a piece of paper that says the rusty anchor, and a number on it. You're supposed to bring it to the tattoo parlor, because it's referring to one of the sample tattoos in the book there. It's cool, because there's no real reason you'd ever show Glottis the item, but if you do you're treated to a delightful little sea shanty!
January is always a slow month for new releases, and this is one January where I am totally okay with that. I have a lot of games in my ever increasing backlog... Good thing I'm not playing them and have opted to play a ton of old games instead!
So, as you may have noticed, I've been streaming a lot more often lately. I am trying as hard as possible to share my love for Inazuma Eleven. I streamed all the way through the first game in less than a week and now I've moved on to the second. You can always check that out at Www.twitch.tv/drac96
I'm still working my way through Sunset Overdrive, but my interest is waning as the game goes on. That's the only "new" game I've been playing. I've spent a lot of time replaying old games this month. I replayed Pokemon Snap a few nights ago, and have been going through the original Super Mario. However, I will be writing here about the Donkey Kong Country series. I had never beaten the second one before, but now I have.
To go along with my more frequent streaming I did a playthrough of the Grim Fandango Remaster. Even though I played through it a few months ago for Extra Life, I still felt the need to play through the Remaster twice this past week. On my first playthrough I just wanted to see what it was all about, so I went through the game to get all of the trophies and listen to the director's commentary. I then went through it again on stream and beat it in under five hours.
Buckle up, it's game time!
Sunset Overdrive
It's official. I have been stricken with open world fatigue. Open world games are cool, but there is rarely anything compelling to do in the large open world, and the mission structure is almost always boring. Sunset Overdrive isn't really any different.
Yes, it has a whole load of style, but I just can't really ever get into it. The game is at its best when you're traveling seamlessly throughout the world. In terms of movement it reminds me of Jet Set Radio Future, but without roller-blades. For some reason the main character has magical shoes that allow him to grind on all surfaces, and he can inexplicably dash through the air. To me that's the best part of the game. The movement mechanics feel great, and make me as a player feel like I'm doing some legitimately cool stuff.
Traversing the world is fun, but shooting isn't.
Where it falls apart for me is that it is just another third-person shooter that takes place in an open world. Insomniac is great at creating zany weapons, but in the end you're still just shooting energy drink crazed monsters (basically zombies) with guns. It's even more frustrating, because almost every mission is a fetch quest, or deals with defending a single point. That sucks.
It's a shame the gameplay makes me feel this way, because I think Insomiac had some great ideas. The movement is amazing, and the world is filled with color and interesting characters. Normally these kinds of games keep me occupied, but I'm just getting a bit tired of them. I haven't played it in a few weeks, so hopefully when I boot it up later toady I'll feel refreshed. If not, I'll just have to take a break from open world games. It doesn't help that almost every release in recent memory has been open world...
Donkey Kong Country
During the SNES era I didn't personally own a lot of games, but I did rent a whole lot of them. I remember renting Donkey Kong Country one and two quite often. I personally was able to beat the first game, but never got a chance to do the second. For Christmas one year I was given Donkey Kong Country 3, which I still have now. I was also able to complete that.
New Years Eve Noukeo, Landers, and I were going to try and complete all three games on stream. However, Landers got sick, so we didn't go through with it. A few weeks later Landers and I decided to sit down and try to play through them all. We beat the first two games, but it took us nearly ten hours. We then went through the third game another day and that probably took us around two hours.
This isn't your Grandpa's Donkey Kong!
Just as I remember, these games are fairly difficult. Donkey King Country 2 is especially devious. The first two games took us a long time, because we weren't used to how the series handled at that point. If we did another run through, I'm sure we could do it much faster.
Prior to these play sessions I didn't like Donkey Kong Country 2 very much, but I've come around to it now. The music in it is incredible, possibly moreso than the other two entries in the series, which also have great music composed by Dave Wise. In fact, I'm listening to the song Klomp's Romp from the first stage of the game as I type this!
I feel that this series gets a lot of undeserved flak. People seem to think that the platforming hasn't aged well, and that the graphics look terrible. I still think the graphics look good, and they were top notch for their time. It's even more impressive when you think about how all three games were made within such a short time frame. The platforming is still some of the most satisfying I've ever played as well. It's something that's easy to learn, but hard to master. The series certainly ramps up in difficulty too. The first game starts easy and gets very hard. The second game starts easy and then immediately becomes punishingly difficult. We lost around thirty lives on a single level. After that we really had to step up our game. By the time we got to the third game I couldn't tell if it was much easier, or if your skills had just evolved from playing two.
This series is one that I have very fond memories of, and it was nice to see that reality matched up with my nostalgia for once. We're still planning on streaming it sometime, but we don't have any solid plans yet.
Grim Fandango Remastered
I'll say it before and I'll say it again, Grim Fandango is one of the greatest video games ever made. There are two games I attribute my continued video game obsession with, and they are The Ocarina of Time, and Grim Fandango. I first played Grim Fandango when I was around ten years old. It came out in 1998, and I played it a few years later. I was obsessed with Manuel Calavera and his journey through the Land of the Dead.
My dad worked in a computer store, and I would visit him there all the time and play a bunch of games. They mostly built computers and sold components, but they always had a shelf of software. It rarely ever sold, so the same games would mostly be there. One box that always caught my eye was Grim Fandango. Eventually I convinced them to let me play it, and I ended up with a burned copy of Grim Fandango. My dad left that job, but eventually went back to it a few years later. When he returned Grim Fandango was still there, and they decided to just give it to me. Sadly, I don't have the box, but I do have the original game discs.
I love all Grim Fandango related art.
It's been seventeen years since the game's original release, and now it has been remastered. The original publisher LucasArts was shut down when Disney acquired Lucasfilm. In a recent deal brokered by Sony the studio headed by Grim Fandango's writer Tim Schafer was given permission to remaster the game.
While I've played Grim Fandango countless times, many people have not. To make matters even worse it doesn't run easily on modern PCs. It only works, because fans have made programs and patches to get it to run. However, now anyone with a modern PC, PS4, or Vita can get in on the action. I've seen a lot of people complaining about this as a "lazy" port, but that's just plain wrong. As someone who's played this game recently I can tell you that the character models look a whole lot better. A whole bunch of lighting was added, you can play in 16:9, there are new camera-related controls, and director's commentary. Most important of all it's now available to many people in an easily approachable format.
I still think this would be the coolest tattoo ever.
I can't stress enough how much I think people should play this game. It is legitimately one of the best video game narratives I have experienced, which is helped by the fact that it's 90% narrative! The whole world comes together so well. Hell, it had incredible voice acting even in 1998! If you haven't checked this game out, you definitely should. At the very least you should watch my Extra Life stream where I played it.
Let the Hunt Begin!
There may have been no new games this month, there will be one in February. Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate comes out on February 13th. Due to GameStop sucking, I won't be getting it until at least the 23rd. I won't get into it, but there's some stupid reason that they had to order the Monster Hunter 4 New 3DS bundle through their website. So I had to pay in full and get screwed on shipping!
I don't really care when I get it, because I'll get plenty of use out of it no matter when it comes. Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate was my first entry into the series and I played it for almost 400 hours. This game has more content, and new mechanics! I bet I'll play it for even longer than Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate. I'm very excited.
Next month be prepared for some serious Monster Hunter 4 talk. See you guys next time.
I just finished playing Grim Fandango Remastered, and got all the trophies in a single playthrough. With my extreme love of the game and many full runs through the game let me tell you how to get them all! Beware, because this list contains spoilers! You probably already knew that though, because you're looking at a trophy guide.
Note: Some of the trophy names have typos in them on PSN, which is insane. I typed everything as it should have been here,
Number Nine Ticket (Platinum)
Get all other trophies in the game.
The Right Way (Gold)
In order to get this you need to play with the tank controls for the entire game. It defaults to the new movement options, so go into options and switch to tank controls. Then start a new game, and play through the entirety of this remastered classic. It will be awarded to you during the final scene.
"What I did back in the fat days is none of your business. You know the rules." (Bronze)
When talking with Eva ask her what she did to get stuck in the Land of the Dead.
"Gets the aggression out, doesn't it?" (Bronze)
Eva has a hole punch on her desk. Use it while Manny isn't holding anything.
"Scaring the living is technically against the rules, but we all do it." (Bronze)
During the poisoning Manny travels back to the Land of the Living. Before you slice open the object in the middle of the room, talk to all of the living people.
It's like I'm not happy unless I'm breathing in the thick, black, nauseating fumes..." (Bronze)
When talking to Glottis for the first time ask him why he doesn't quit his job.
"Lousy bony fingers!" (Bronze)
When talking to the balloon twisting clown have Manny yell bang. This causes the clown to pop a balloon.
"I squeezed down one of these tubes, like a pixie!" (Bronze)
Talk to Brennis the purple demon who fixes the tube machine. Ask him how he got in there.
"Well I could do something bad right now if that would help." (Bronze)
After bringing Meche back to his office Manny starts to question her. Have Manny ask every possible question before leaving to tell Don what you've done.
"Precisamente, amigo." (Bronze)
Once you're in the Lost Souls Alliance base have Salvador explain why the D.O.D. is corrupt.
"Join or Die! Again!" (Bronze)
In the Lost Souls Alliance base ask Eva if she has any messages.
"'ARROGANT FRAUD' doesn't work." (Silver)
When Manny sneaks into Domino's office have him interact with the computer. Each time you do he will guess a different password. Keep going until he guesses Arrogant Fraud.
"Run you pigeons! It's Robert Frost!" (Bronze)
Ask the balloon clown to make you Robert Frost. Before you scare away the pigeons on the roof of the D.O.D. run at them with the balloon out.
"The marrow of these trees, Manny, they suck it out, it's like cement!" (Bronze)
During the puzzle in the forest with the wheelbarrow talk to Glottis.
"We only have one mop." (Bronze)
When you run into Celso in Rubacava ask him if he knows where to get a job.
"...Used to scream like a banshee when the trade winds blew..." (Bronze)
During the initial interaction with Velasco ask him what's under his eye patch.
Year 1 (Silver)
This is automatically awarded during the cutscene following year 1.
"Great news -- we've discovered a new, secret talent of our tiny messengers!" (Bronze)
When year 2 starts go inside. On the desk near the door you can pick up a letter from Salvador. If you continue to interact with it Salvador will say many things. Eventually he will talk about a new talent the pigeons have.
"Plus, we look good in these clothes!" (Bronze)
While Glottis is still at the piano in the casino speak with him about leaving.
"Well, maybe just a sip..." (Bronze)
At the bar in the casino you can and have to pick up the Marillo de Oro. Have Manny drink it.
"We are all citizens of the same nation, and our king rides a pale horse." (Bronze)
Ask Chowchilla Charlie for a passport. He is in the roulette room in the casino.
"YOU'RE NOT EVEN LISTENING TO ME!!!" (Bronze)
Lupe is the door greater at Manny's casino. She will tell you about her new organizational system, but not go into detail. Ask her about it, and insist that you want to hear about it.
"It shone, pale as bone..." (Bronze)
You can see the moon above the dock where Velasco hangs out. Push square while looking at it to have Manny recite a sweet poem.
"Consider it an homage." (Silver)
In the Blue Casket have Manny get on the mic and make some poetry. When you're done ask Olivia to do some. She will copy whatever you did.
"We're straight stingers, you know?" (Bronze)
Talk to the sea bees about forming a union.
"Here, let me hold that metal detector for you while you cry..." (Bronze)
Carla is the one who checks passengers before they board the blimp in Rubacava. Drink the Marillo de Oro you got from Manny's casino and then try to go up the elevator there. You will be taken to the back room. While back there your goal is to get the metal detector from her. In order to get this trophy never choose the last dialogue choice dealing with the metal detector until she is crying and no longer telling the story.
"Manny, we've given up. All of us." (Bronze)
Membrillo is the local mortician in Rubacava. Ask him why he still hangs around.
"Come to see how the big boys play, eh Manny?"(Bronze)
Enter Maximino's VIP lounge. On the screen where you can see Nick there is a large red doorway in the background. Enter it and talk with Maximino.
"So, sorry, but I don't do... 'odd jobs.'" (Bronze)
In Maximino's VIP lounge speak with Nick and try to convince him you need a lawyer.
"Oh, yeah, I could take you down..." (Bronze)
This can only be gotten while Glottis is getting drunk in the VIP lounge, but before you get into the wine cellar. Aitor the green demon who works in the lounge will be waiting by the elevator to the wine cellar sleeping. Talk to him and exhaust all of his dialogue options.
"Oh Rusty Anchor" (Bronze)
Once you find Lola sprouted at the lighthouse, Manny receives a card with a tongue on it. Go back to the casino and give it to Lupe. She will then hand over a piece of paper that says rusty anchor on it. Before you rush out and give it to Toto, go downstairs and show it to Glottis. He will then serenade you with a sweet melody.
"ME, ME, ME-ME-ME!" (Bronze)
Once you have Nick get Terry out of jail he will be leading a chant where he originally was near the lighthouse. He will start, and then the bees follow. You need to interact and follow as well. If you do it too early or too late you will be chastised for not being in-time. Once you get far enough in the chant the bees will start to chant about Manny. When the entire chant is over it will begin to repeat. When you stop the trophy will be awarded.
Year 2 (Silver)
This is automatically awarded at the end of year 2.
"I wasn't always this color!" (Bronze)
When you meet Chepito for the first time ask him how long he's been under the sea.
*sniff* *sniff* (Bronze)
When Manny wakes up after being punched in the face by Domino there will be a cage of angels in front of him. Be mean to them until they cry. "Save your breath..." (Bronze)
Meche thinks you're working for Domino. Have Manny try to explain the whole situation to her.
"Okay, how much of this haven't you figured out, Calavera?" (Silver)
Go into Domino's office and have him explain what his racket is.
"IT'S A BUST-ALL!" (Bronze)
Before you trade anything with Chepito exhaust all of his dialogue options.
"Stop showing off for the girl!" (Bronze)
Manny will find himself on the octopus-submarine fighting Domino. Have him whip out his scythe and then proceed to run at Domino until you get the trophy.
Year 3 (Silver)
This is automatically awarded at the end of year 3.
"Happy trails, Captain." (Bronze)
Enter the waiting room to see Chepito walking around in a fountain. Speak with him.
"I could walk out of this world and not look back..." (Bronze)
In the room with Chepito have Manny try to walk down the tunnel.
"I'm getting out of here. This world's for suckers." (Bronze)
Let Bruno out of his casket.
"...so large." (Bronze)
This trophy is easy to miss. When Glottis falls down at the beginning of year 4 you will find him surrounded by smaller demons. Do not talk to Glottis! Make sure you talk to the little demons first and exhaust all of their dialogue. If you speak with Glottis first he will make a drawing on the wall and the little demons will move there and no longer have any available dialogue.
"Oh, Lola..." (Silver)
Upon your return to Rubacava climb up the lighthouse to where Lola was sprouted.
"THAT'S NOT FUNNY!" (Bronze)
Once you've frozen the lemonade and are walking towards the booby trapped Bone Wagon have Manny examine it. He will make a terrible joke and Glottis will get upset.
"Manuel! Is everything okay?" (Bronze)
In the Lost Souls Alliance HQ interact with the radio opposite where Eva is sitting.
Year 4 (Gold)
This is automatically awarded upon beating the game.
In case you were not aware I have been streaming much more frequently these past few weeks. This past Saturday started the real stream extravaganza, and there's a good reason for that.
I've been saying for months that I was going to get a capture card for my European 3DS in order to stream a whole bunch of Inazuma Eleven. I sent the 3DS in a week ago, and got it back this past Friday. I was amazed to find out that it works much better than I expected it to. As you may have heard I have a lot of trouble with my El Gato Gaming Capture HD. The video feed is always a few seconds delayed, and audio sync is a complete nightmare.
I got my 3DS capture card installed from www.3DSCapture.com. The guy who does it goes by Loopy and I've got to give him major props. This capture card works like a dream. A thin, black box is integrated into the back of the 3DS. A micro USB port is then used to hook it up to the computer. From the website all I had to do was download a driver, and some basic capture software. I then opened OBS and it started right up. You just capture the windows of the capture software and it goes. There is no delay and I can actually hear the audio through my headphones!
With my hot new capture card I've been streaming the majesty that is Inazuma Eleven. It's anime soccer. You should really check it out.
The reason I'm writing this is to tell you all what and when I will be streaming, because this week I've got a lot going on.
Tonight, mere minutes after I finish typing this, I will be streaming Inazuma Eleven until I beat the story. That should take me about two hours. That's mainly because I've streamed it for over 12 hours since Saturday...
After tonight I will be taking a break from streaming Inazuma Eleven until some unspecified time next week. I will then be starting the second game in the series.
For the past few weeks I haven't been streaming Thursday Throwback, but I am now starting it again. This past Thursday Landers, Noukeo, and I streamed Capcom vs. SNK 2 EO. This coming Thursday we will be doing Tatsunoko vs. Capcom. We're getting back on track, so look forward to some hot action every Thursday for the foreseeable future.
If neither of those interest you, then perhaps you'll want to show up on Saturday when I stream a full playthrough of Grim Fandango Remastered. I streamed myself playing the original a few months ago for charity, but this time it's not. I've played it a bit so far, and it seems pretty awesome!
So yeah, that's what's going on with my Twitch channel. I'm trying to do a lot, and I hope it works out.
Go to www.twitch.tv/drac96 and witness all the magic! Make sure to follow me on twitter @Manatron to see when I go live.
