Mindless Fun

It's practically April now and living here in Montreal guess what we get? A nice layer of snow! Now I love winter and snow; going out to parks and playing ice hockey whenever you want is awesome, so is skiing and drunk tobogganing... but once it hits April, I think everyone has just about had their fill and this trend needs to end.

On the topic, one trend I'm quickly not becoming a fan of is the lack of booklets accompanying my games. Currently none of the Ps4 games I own come with a physical manual... or so I thought. I picked up Dynasty Warriors 8 Extreme Legends and to my pleasant surprise, there it was! I barely skimmed it of course but it's Dynasty Warriors; of all the games to get a manual it's probably the only one that doesn't need it.

My Booklet!

Way back when, it wasn't really customary to have any sort of heavy tutorials in games (especially if we're talking Ps1/N64 days). If you were playing an RPG, it was almost mandatory to read the literature. I was going over my old Ps1 games last week, trying to organize the chaos, and I was astonished by the amount of games that were one disc but still needed the double jewel case just because the manuals were crazy thick. Skip ahead a few generations and booklets are becoming extinct. Now the way things are going, I can understand, but in my mind this is more about tradition: you buy a game, you get a book!

Now I don't know when this happened to the series, but they started taking some pretty huge liberties when it comes to crazy stuff they add. I've mostly played story mode and the way stages are set up, you have a choice between 3-5 different characters (there are like 80 in total, it is nuts). One level there was this big burly dude with a beard called Huang Gai, who looked cool so I took him. Each character has 2 weapons they bring into battle: a primary weapon, which is character-specific, and secondary weapon, which can be chosen by the player. Looking at this guy’s little weapon icon, I swear it looked like a canoe but all I could think was "it can't be can it?!". Low and behold, this guy goes into battle beating people up with a boat. HE EVEN STARTS SURFING IT! It was crazy and I couldn't stop laughing... He is currently my favorite character.

Land Surfing!

Moving on, there isn't a whole lot else I can say about Dynasty Warriors 8 (if you've played one than you've pretty much played them all). If you are unaware of the series, it is pretty much a beat 'em up, button mashing bonanza and if mindless fun doesn't bother you, it's one of the best ones out there (competition in the genre is slim though). Aside from the Dynasty Warrior Gundam series, I haven't touched a DW game since maybe the 4th one on Ps2 about 10 years ago.

Story wise, all of the DW series revolves around an ancient Chinese novel called Romance of the Three Kingdoms, which is part true and part legend. Unless you know anything about that sort of thing, it is pretty hard to follow I'm not going to lie. Fortunately if you care at all, the game comes with an incredibly extensive encyclopedia which has all kinds of information about the provinces, characters, weapons, wars, etc.

Of course this type of game isn't for everyone. Aside from different looking environments, they might as well be interchangeable. There is a huge amount of content in here, multiple story campaigns, a challenge mode, even something called ambition mode which see's you build an empire to compete against other empires. All that sounds amazing but much like the environments, everything is pretty much interchangeable.  Characters do all act differently though, and with the massive amount of weapons in the game, you'll always have something new to see. And hey, if you've never seen someone beat people up with a boat, now is your chance!

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Mind Grapes

Hello, my name is Sean, and I enjoy writing almost as much as I enjoy playing video games. Really, it’s the marriage between both passions that’s possessed me to commit some of my time to writing about my weekly exploits with a medium I’ve grown fond of.

A little about me: I’m 25 and much like Adam and Brandon, am born and raised in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. I’ve just recently graduated and am looking for permanent work. Besides writing and playing video games, I enjoy reading, cooking and jogging. 

Contrary to Brandon, I consider myself a relatively hardcore gamer: I often play most titles on the hardest difficulty, and have a passion for games of any size or genre. That said I often find myself drawn to Japanese RPGs, which embody a perfect mix of escapism, challenge and purpose that I don’t often find in other genres. My platforms of choice are the PS3, 3DS and VITA.

My backlog is sizable: at last count I have Soul Hackers (3DS), Etrian Odyssey IV (3DS), Bravely Default (3DS), Dead Space 3 (PS3), Assassin’s Creed IV (PS3), Lone Survivor (VITA), and Killer Is Dead (PS3), among other less pertinent titles that are waiting for me whenever I get around to them.

I just recently finished To The Moon, which I felt was touching. My current playlist is comprised of Spelunky (VITA) and Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII (PS3).

My history with FFXIII has been spotty. I enjoyed FFXIII, mostly because of its combat; felt FFXIII-2 was unchallenging, and lacked a clear identity; and am currently enamoured with Lightning Returns’ challenging mess of an existence. Perhaps I am contrarian. Likely I am contrarian. Maybe I enjoy this new entry because so many vocal members of the internet have been so singular in their attempts at destroying any credibility which this trilogy has built for itself? Or maybe I simply wish to play Majora’s Mask and, lacking both the hardware and willpower to procure a copy myself, have instead transferred all wonder and excitement toward this mess of ideas? Video games can become complicated mirrors of self-inflection, and discourse on this topic can often be used to create satirical rants. This is the power of blogs, I guess.

I don’t feel as though I need to touch on To The Moon any more than I already have. But I will, if only to stress how perfectly it managed to stir feelings of sadness in me. I guess video games are powerful outlets of emotional catharsis.

Spelunky feels right in a lot of ways. It’s infuriatingly random, and strangely gripping. Similarly to Demon’s/Dark Souls, it is a game which rewards patience and learning. All of this is presented to the gamer in the form of a procedural and platform-based title, in which the objective is to reach an exit while avoiding all manner of danger. But then that doesn’t really do the game any justice. I guess that video games are sometimes very difficult to explain to people, if only because they are meant to be played.

I guess video games are a lot of things to me: they are quiet moments of reflection and immediate and brief instances of distractions. And on that note, welcome to the existential basement of my inner consciousness, where my intentions will never be clear, and my words jarringly structured. You’re welcome. 

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TBT Ring of Red

When I think of rare games, my mind always seems to end up fixate on Japanese titles for some reason; and that's why for the most part, I don't think I will have that sort of collectable feeling towards many ps3 games outside of maybe games like Ni no Kuni. My first game to share on TBT will be Ring of Red. Released in Japan in September 2000 (March 2001 in NA), it was out pretty early into the life cycle of the ps2.

Ring of Red is an interesting strategy game because it has a pseudo action segment mixed in with the turn based strategy. It takes place in an alternate history in the 1960's, which sees Japan turned into a modern day Korean. After World War II, Japan didn't surrender, and the U.S. took over the south side, while Russia took over the North. Boarders were drawn, and you can see where the Korea reference comes in. Now the other part of the alternate history that comes into play is the best part, skirmishes involve giant walking tanks, which is pretty bad ass.

I remember playing this game a good 10 years ago when I found it lying around a game store used. As you will come to learn about me, I love my mech games (I am a huge Gundam fan), so the theme drew me in. Anyway, back then I had a bit of trouble with the game. It ain't easy, and having recently played it again, I can say I didn't approach the game properly the first time. Think about any RPG you've played...  Alright, now who is the strongest character in that game? It's the main character right!? Wrong. Ring of Red is actually quite balanced when it comes to the mechs. There are 4 difference types: short range light-armoured recons, mid-range balanced types, long-range slow guys, and melee units. They all work in a rock-paper-scissors sort of deal, but none of this is really explained to you… but I suppose it's kind of obvious.

So as I've said, I recently replayed it, and I can say it isn't as hard as I remember it being; but man, most missions are long. Once you obtain all your units (which is a total of 8, 2 of each type) you are constantly outnumbered as you are in most turn-based  games, but I don't remember any other game sending so many reinforcements at you. It felt like they sent them every single mission. Missions take anywhere between an hour near the beginning of the game to about 2-3 hours near the end, and this is in large part due to the pseudo action combat.

Pseudo action combat.

The way the combat works is mainly for flair haha--it does look cool though! Each mech has its own ideal range, and in combat you are on a dueling plain where you can move forwards or backwards. Pretty simple: you want to stay inside your optimum range, while avoiding your enemies. Your best bet is to do match ups (long range vs. melee for instance). You sort of move back and forth on the plain until your cannon is loaded, then you go into this sweet looking aimer view, and wait for your hit percentage to go up and then shoot. While the developers went through the trouble of making combat look cool, that is in fact all it is since if you clearly hit X while the reticule is off the enemy mech, you can still hit it because it's only using the percentage... Bummer I know (hence why I’ve coined combat as being “pseudo” action-like). Battles are suppose to be about 90 seconds, but they can last a while longer once everyone starts using special abilities, and when there are like 20-30 enemies you have to fight, it can take a while to complete a mission. At least you're able to save and quit mid mission.

In the end, this game will always be a classic. The setting is interesting, the walking tanks are pretty original and there is just so much they put into the game, I didn't even talk about the soldiers you get to bring with you, adding a layer of customizability to your individual mech strategy. If you're a fan of turn based strategy, I would highly recommend picking it up. It was actually made available on the PSN in 2011 ($9.99 in NA). If you have a ps3, go play it!

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Gamers Anonymous

Hi, my name is Brandon, and I’m a gamer.

A little bit about me: I’m 25, born and raised in Montreal, Canada, and have recently graduated. I have many hobbies, but for this blog I’ll concentrate on games.

I've never considered myself a casual nor hardcore gamer: I follow gaming news quite a bit, and love reading about and watching new games, be it indie or mainstream. On the other hand, I don’t play through too many games, and usually play them on normal. I have a backlog of at least 30 games that were never truly played, so most of them collect dust (I guess I like to collect).

I just recently beat Pokemon X, which oddly enough, I’ve put 80 hours into. I’m on a huge nostalgia kick, because I’m also wasting time on Roller Coaster Tycoon 2 and Age of Empires II HD. I also have Zelda: A Link Between Worlds lined up.



I first played Pokemon when Pokemon Red/Blue came out. I didn’t even own a GameBoy, so I borrowed my friends GameBoy Pocket and he was nice enough to let me erase his file so I could play the game all the way through. I must’ve gone through a ton of AAA batteries. Besides Pokemon Red, I never played through and beat another game in the series until X. Post game and I’m still having a ton of fun with it. I’m not someone who cares much about EV/IV training or playing for competition, but I love the trading system itself. Currently I’m just breeding and trading for other starters from the past few games.

As for Zelda – same story. I only played through Ocarina of Time in full. All other games in the Zelda franchise seem great, but I half-assed tried playing them and never took much interest.

As for Roller Coaster Tycoon 2, I don’t remember winning all of the maps, but I loved drowning people! Anyway, I started playing it because I saw PeanutButterGamer play through it and it brought back good memories.  They should totally do a HD remake. Redo all the textures and add new maps, pretty simple. I would gladly fork over $20 for those minor improvements.

Speaking of HD remakes, Age of Empires II HD isn’t all that good. It doesn’t feel like much of an upgrade, but then again I don’t really remember. All I remember was that I was playing the free demo that came on my Windows 98 (second edition of course, i.e. the best version of Windows ever) when I was 12. I remember being absolutely horrible at it. Back on topic, I don’t feel like any textures were really upgraded, but rather upscaled and given widescreen support. I only paid $5 for it so I guess I can’t really complain. So far I’ve played about 5 hours of just random single-player maps, and it’s already paid for itself, in fun.

That totally reminds me: Red Alert 2 was amazing. I should totally play that next so that I can brush up on my Russian accent.

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Welcome to the Basement

Welcome, this is the Basement Gamer blog. My name is Adam, but it can also be Duomtl if you've joined my stream on Twitch or maybe saw me on the Steam forums on behalf of Artifice Studio. I wanted this to sort of be a mini introduction to myself and my fellow friends and gamers who will be joining me on this blog.

I may be the only one of the group who actually is a part of the video game industry, but we are all quite passionate about games. I myself have an incredibly broad range of tastes when it comes to games (and a large tolerance too haha), but we're all different. My best friend Sean and I started our friendship many years ago over a common love for Final Fantasy Tactics. While I can still enjoy a good RPG, Sean almost seems to go out of his way to play nearly all of them haha. Brandon, the jokester I would say, it's actually a funny story of how he joined the group, since we all knew him way back when, but only since have become great friends with him. He and I are much the same when it comes to our taste in games: we play pretty much anything. Campeau (his real name is Matthew, but that is the only time you will ever hear him called that) is actually my brother's best friend, but over the years, we've all sort of mixed together at parties and whatnot. I've played my fair share of MMO's, but I can easily say that I have never quite scratched the surface of them compared to Campeau—this guy fiends them.

I really want this blog to be a very personal account of our time with our games. I used to work in a video game store here in Canada called Microplay. It was sort of like a Gamestop/EB games but friendlier, and much of my time over the years, although not as much anymore, was spent collecting rare games (or at least what I deemed rare). I don't have a crazy collection by any means, but it's fairly comprehensive. Largely filled with ps1/ps2 games, there are a number of Nintendo products lying around as well. Along with talking about new games I've been digging my teeth into, I want to share this collection with everyone in the hopes of reminding someone of a past gem, or maybe opening their eyes to one for the first time.

Around 70 games. A modest collection.

Everyone's tastes evolve over time, mine sure have, but the connection you make with some games can last a life time (just try not to revisit some of them though haha, some games have a bad habit of tarnishing your fond memories of them as the years pass on). 

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