deKay's Lofi Gaming

Eternal Sonata (360)

Really enjoying this. Even the (some would say) tedious repetitive battles. But they’re fun! It took me at least another hour to figure out how to get out of the fort (the switches move a room that acts as a bridge – aha!), and had to fight a bit armoured wolf boss thing on the way, who wasn’t exactly easy, but was certainly more manageable than all the other bosses I’ve fought so far! It’s all that leveling up, I …

Eternal Sonata (360)

Spent just over an hour wandering round the inside of the fort, pressing switches and stuff. Found a sign that said there were five switches, one “that goes back”, which I’m assuming is the “reset” one I found but didn’t touch. I think I’ve hit the other five now – I just need to make it back to a door that was locked before (and, I’m assuming unlocked now). Had some real trouble to start with, as the baddies in …

Eternal Sonata (360)

Played about an hour more of this, not realising that my previous “two hours” were actually nearer three and a half. Time sink! I’ve made it to a fort, which is full of mice. I’m pleased to see that standard RPGisms are in full force, with the same baddies as earlier in the game, only harder and a different colour. Reminds me of the Chirpers from Phantasy Star III. Oh, and I now have five people in my party, as …

Eternal Sonata (360)

I’ve not been feeling too well today (no, not drinking excess from last night – I had this before them, just not so bad), so didn’t fancy anything fast-paced to play or camera-swingingly nauseating (I recall some badness when playing Crackdown whilst unwell once), so I didn’t pick up Mario Galaxy or Psychonauts, instead opting for this, which I got for Christmas. The first thing that hits you about the game is how gorgeous it looks. I don’t think I’ve …

Eternal Sonata (Demo) (360)

After the shady doings of t’other day (where I used a US XBL account to download Aegis Wing), I followed up with a Japanese XBL account to get hold of the Eternal Sonata demo from the Japanese marketplace. “But why?” I hear you all cry, “It’s a Japanese RPG! How on earth will you understand it?”. Well, because when you play it using a UK account, it’s all in spangly English! Hurrah! And a little strange! So I played it …

Child of Light (Wii U): COMPLETED!

If there’s one negative thing to say about Child of Light, it’s the diabolical dialogue. All of the conversations and narration take the form of terrible rhyming couplets. Rhyming couplets that are forced, contrived, often don’t rhyme, and very rarely even scan. At first it feels clever and cute, but after a few minutes you’d rather everyone just spoke properly and it grates for the next twelve or so hours until it’s complete. Which, yes, it is complete. Thankfully, there’s …

Things I’ve been playing recently

Roundup time! Hyrule Warriors (Wii U) With over 80 hours racked up now, this became my most played Wii U title some time ago. No matter how repetitive it seems to be, even playing exactly the same mission over and over with the same character, it never gets boring. I have now at least started the Master Quest from the first set of DLC, albeit to just play about four missions to see what they were like. Since then, there’s …

Kingdom Hearts: Dream Drop Distance (Demo) (3DS)

I have never played a Kingdom Hearts game. I recently bought the DS Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days (worst title ever) game, but haven’t played it. After the DDD demo, I don’t think I’ll bother. It was terrible. The voice acting, the controls, the stupid Jet Set Radio style rail grinding, the camera which insists on pointing in exactly the wrong way at all times, and the seemingly complex fighting system (that appeared to be a bit like that in Eternal …

Completed 2008

Eternal Sonata (360 11/01/2008) Tony Hawk’s Proving Ground (360 20/01/2008) Assassin’s Creed (360 03/02/2008) Geometry Wars Galaxies (Wii 10/02/2008) Half-Life 2: Episode One (360 12/02/2008) Half-Life 2: Episode Two (360 16/02/2008) Tomb Raider Anniversary (360 09/03/2008) Commanders: Attack (360 19/03/2008) Undertow (360 25/03/2008) Beautiful Katamari (360 27/03/2008) skate. (360 14/04/2008) Me and My Katamari (PSP 26/04/2008) LocoRoco (PSP 02/05/2008) Nodame Cantabile (DS 04/05/2008) Grand Theft Auto IV (360 07/06/2008) Link’s Crossbow Training (Wii 14/06/2008) Assault Heroes (360 05/07/2008) Zack and …

The games of 2008

For four years now, I’ve kept a diary detailing the games I play. Part of the reason was to see how many games I buy (and to reduce this number), and how many I complete (and to increase this number). 2008 saw a drop in completed games – 33 compared to 61 in 2007. I don’t think this is bad, when you look at the games I’ve been completing. In 2007, there were quite a few shorter games, including 5 …

My 360 RIP, part III

I got another reply today. Hello Andy, Thank you for writing Xbox Customer Support! I understand that your “Viva Pinata” and “Eternal Sonata” game discs got scratched even if your Xbox 360 console was not moved in any way, and now your disc won‚Äö?Ñ?¥t play properly. I deeply apologize for the inconvenience that this might have caused you. Andy, we are very sorry to hear about what happened. Movement of the console or strong vibration while the console is reading …

My 360, RIP

Like 16% of other Xbox 360 owners, I too now have a dead console. Unusually, mine doesn’t suffer from the “red ring of death”, but instead seems to dislike playing games. You might recall the problems I was having a couple of months ago with Eternal Sonata, crashing and freezing. Well, a couple of nights ago, Viva Pinata Party Animals started doing the same thing. Last night, it froze completely, and will no longer play at all. Here’s what I …

Dewy’s Adventure (Wii)

My Wii has had a quiet time of things recently (Eternal Sonata, Tony Hawk and Assassin’s Creed saw to that), but with both Geometry Wars and Dewy arriving today, it’s had a bit of a renaissance. First impressions are… confused. The opening sequence is exactly the same graphical style as Eledees, with the same boy in it, and the same voice actor. The game itself, however, is totally different. It lies somewhere between Mercury Meltdown and, erm, something else. You …

Tony Hawk’s Proving Ground (360)

With Eternal Sonata now complete, I started something else. I love Tony Hawk games. If you’re a long-time reader of this gaming diary, you’d know this. I went through pretty much every single available TH game, even the crap Game Boy Colour ones, a couple of years ago. It was amazing. Anyway. This version seems to have taken a step away from the fantastic (and complete return to form) Tony Hawk’s Project 8, instead looking a bit more like Tony …