Final Fantasy XIII-2 - 20 Hours In

Final Fantasy games were always pretty reliable: confusing story, random battles, hours of side quests, engrossing character development and Chocobos.  That was until the last iteration, Final Fantasy XIII came along and threw some babies out with the muddied bath water.  The gaming public did not approve.  Where were the side quests and the twee villages free from monsters but full of interactive NPCs?  Well they weren't there.  Instead there was a linear path through one brilliantly realised location after another and a battle system that didn't get going until you'd ploughed twenty hours into hitting the action button half a zillion times.

Story wise though, XIII was strong.  The best since FFIX and as engrossing as FFVII.  Personally I really enjoyed it and the way the game opened up after it finished was a great incentive to get to the end of the story and then really test yourself against some huge monsters in, y'know, hour long battles.  Maybe it was too westernised, too slick, but on lots of levels, if you had the patience, it was a great game.

Now I'm deep within the sequel.  It's set three years after the end of XIII, focusing on Lightning's sister Serah and new character Noel.  Final Fantasy XIII-2 is a time travelling mini opus with Lightning trapped in an unknown era and it's up to Serah and the her new companion (who's from the future) to find her.  Story wise it's lighter than FFXIII, but not as silly as FFX's sequel.  Graphically it's as breath taking as its predecessor and full of beautiful touches.  Rushing through areas is possible but more often than not you'll want to just stop and look.

Square have clearly listened to the gaming public and right from the off, after the quite stunning opening sequence, there are NPCs aplenty to chat to.  Some will even give you the odd fetch quest, or even send you off to kill a monster.  After Skyrim, initially at least, the freedom feels a bit superficial, but it doesn't take long for the cleverness of the time travel element to reveal itself.  Every time you complete an area in one time zone another is opened up.  Sometimes it's the same area in a different era or even the same area at the same time but with a different history.  Brilliantly you can close an area off and go back and play it all afresh again.  Apparently once the main story is completed this becomes a necessity to get a full complete.

The battle system borrows much from XIII, although randomness is back, but it is slicker and much faster.   There's masses of stuff going on while the battles take place and the ability to collect monsters and add them to your party is a nice, Pokemonesque, touch.  Levelling up is pretty simplistic and as per usual for the first hour you lament the changes made to the system from the previous game before realising that this is much much better after all.  Probably.

XIII-2 is going to do much to bring life back to the series even if the story feels like it is, at times, taking a back seat.  There's enough crowd pleasing elements, including Chocobo racing and gambling, to warm the heart of Sephiroth.

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Walk Alone

My Twitter bio, for a long time (although not currently) said, 'I forgive slow or not at all.'  This evening I've been forced too look at an institution I've loved for the best part of three decades and apply that truth.

Today was always going to be a difficult day for Liverpool Football Club.  However it was also one full of opportunities to put things right but I'd been fearing that it would fall into the traps before it and it did.

Liverpool are a club with a rich history, full of ups and downs and no one has been prouder than me to support them.  I mean that.  Liverpool will always be a part of me, they picked me up at the lowest point of my life when we lost dad and I will never be able to forget that.  Ever.  But loving something doesn't mean being blind to its faults or never admitting it's in the wrong.  The Liverpool fans who booed Evra today and during the FA Cup tie, or supported Suarez and his appalling decision to not shake the hand of Evra need to take a look at themselves.  Kenny Dalglish, a man who's integrity I would never have dreamed I'd be questioning, needs to take a look at himself.  I don't for a second think that he's a racist and the KKK tag being bandied about on Twitter was as unhelpful as anything I saw, but his naive support for one of his players needs to stop now.  I fear that it will not, because it is born from the belief that Liverpool are better than that.  Except suddenly we are not better than that and the only way we move forward from today is to accept it, deal with Suarez and move on.  Continuing to defend him is not an option.

Football is supposed to be my distraction from the real world, the bit of my week where I can be passionate about something and forget about all the crap we all have to deal with.  But for the last few weeks I feel like I've been taking punches to the gut because the side I love employs a man like Suarez.

It breaks my heart, but for now, I withdraw my support.  I'll continue to watch games, I'll probably watch more Spanish football than anything else to be honest, but this season is over for me.

I hate how Suarez has made me feel about my club.  And I promise you, I will never forgive him for that.

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Drive - Review

Has there ever been a cooler movie than this?  I DO NOT KNOW.  But fuck me, this movie is cool.  Proper cool, cool with substance and style.  Not throwaway cool.  (It is a bit violent though, I'll come back to that.)

Ryan Gosling is the 'driver'.  Never named, beyond being called 'the kid', which is, I think you'll agree, pretty god damn cool.  And of course he looks cool.  I'm not going to go on and on about the jacket, but it's so cool that it dripped some cool on the floor and made the floor cool.

Gosling is ace as the man who can do one thing.  Drive a car.  That's it, that's his purpose.  Sure he sort of falls in love with his married neighbour, has a pang of guilt that sort of kills his.... well that's saying too much, but essentially he's all about cars.  He seems to have a bazillion car related jobs, mainly driving them about and that, but also fixing them and stuff.  Aces.  Man's man.  Well sort of.  That's the thing, there's this weird child like thing about him.  He's sort of angelic, despite the get away driver sideline and it's not until the final third that we see him emote.  It's a very understated performance, every blink feels like it's been dripped in minimalism, every line of dialogue feels weighty because he doesn't say much at all.  But when he does there's a sense it matters.

The credit goes to director Nicolas Windin Refn for making a movie where every shot feels like it was crafted in a the coolest thing you could craft something out of.  Even the scenes where it explodes into violence don't derail you from how good this film looks.  But boy, does it explode into violence.  For some it'll be too much.  Too graphic, too eeuughhhhh!  But it plays it's part in bringing the central character to life and makes him more than just a man with a gift for driving cars really quickly.  Ok, it makes him someone with a penchant for killing with his feet (and driving cars really quickly) but hey, it's nice to have strings to that bow, right?

Drive is what I expected.  Beautifully made, brilliantly acted and with a soundtrack to die for.  What I didn't expect was a throwback to Eastwood and McQueen.  An anti-hero that as a bloke you wanna be like and as a woman you wanna sex with.  Apparently.

A visual treat.  Watch.  It.
★★★★★

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100,000

On February 19th 2009 I joined Twitter.  Nearly three years later I'm approaching, as I write this, my one hundred thousandth tweet.

It's worth pointing out that I actually passed that amount sometime ago as my original account (@Gray333) has 4989 tweets to its name.  @diaryofaledger started later in 2009 but because I'm all about things feeling proper, the 100,000 is up when I reach it on the account that you all know and the actual number appears.

How do I feel about it?  Well clearly I spend far too much time on Twitter...

Except I don't.  It hasn't cost me any relationships that existed prior to it, it's not prevented me, frankly, from doing anything.  In fact, it's done nothing but broaden my horizons.

It's easy to jump on the 'hive mind' band wagon, the, 'Ohhhh ffs everyone just makes puns,' bollocks, but frankly you can solve that with the unfollow button.  I think people forget that.  Twitter is a circle, find yours, find a few circles and then shut the fuck up about how people should or shouldn't use it.  And then, if you genuinely find you don't like it, leave.  And stay left.

Here endeth the lesson.

Gray x

PS. I love it as much today as I did on the 19th Feb 2009.

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KDR 1.15

I'm supposed to be a bit shit at Call of Duty.  The first Modern Warfare, despite my noble efforts and fourteen days (yes, in total days played) of my life, was a frustrating experience.  World at War, the WWII set follow up, was mildly better, but only just.  Then came Modern Warfare Two.  I died a lot.  Bazillions of times.  You see the thing we live by is not winning matches, no, we give not an ounce of fuck about that, it's our 'kill death ratio'.  Our KDR.

Suddenly, however, 2010's Black Ops was a different experience.  For once my KDR crept into the positives.  Not spectacularly by any means but never the less it was an improvement.  It took me fucking months.  I'd stay at around one hundred kills off, get close and then go on a spectacular streak of dying more often than plankton.  Then I'd pull it close again and eventually, sometime in 2011, I got over the line and stayed there.  I never got above a ratio of 1.11, but I can remember the punch the air moment of getting to 1.00, me and the cat leaping from the sofa etc.

I stayed away from Modern Warfare Three, not because I was still loving Black Ops but because I was consumed by dragons and that on Skyrim.  It was a pretty decent excuse for not dipping my toe in the water but it was never going to last.  Well it could have gone on forever, but the lag on PS3 and my silly 'it's nearly over, I don't want it to be over' brain malfunction bollocks meant that I asked for MW3 for Christmas and my lovely sister dutifully complied. 

And so here we are, two or so weeks on from me first slipping the disc in the PS3 and I have a positive KDR.  It's not just sitting still either, it's getting better and I have no idea why to be honest.  Map wise it's the best of the Modern Warfare franchise, there's not one where I think, 'Oh shit balls, I'm gonna die horribly here.'  Well unless I'm playing with @blindfumble and @maverick99sback, but that's a whole other story.  The kill streak rewards feel a bit less ridiculous too.  My KDR is 1.15 at the mo which by my standards is mentally brilliant.  By most other people's it's pretty average, but fuck it, I'm polishing my virtual medals.  SO THERE.

As a footnote to end on (and this will make no sense to anyone who's not played COD in the last few years) the FMG9 with akimbo will fuck you right off until you start using it and you become a killing machine.  Well a virtual one.  War is bad. Etc. 

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The Suarez Thing

Most of you will know how big a Liverpool fan I am.  One of the things I've always loved is the way the club conducts itself.  The quiet dignity, the knowledgeable fans (the envy of other clubs), the way Liverpool has always felt like the 'right' top club to support.  We accept bad decisions, don't see conspiracy when players get sent off and we take our knocks, get back up, heads held high.  Until now.  Now we can't accept the FA making, somewhat surprisingly, the right decision over the Suarez incident and we look awful because of it.

I see tweets everyday from supporters blinkered by their love of the club and I've seen 'fans' replying to the likes of Stan Collymore with the kind if racist bile that makes my blood boil.

The fact is what Suarez did was wrong.  In any other form of employment he may well of had private support from his bosses, but he almost certainly would've been suspended pending an enquiry.  Instead the club went on the defensive, attacked Evra and have damaged themselves and an institution that I love as a result.  

That Kenny Dalglish, one of my heroes as a kid, has been the spokesman for most of that has been distressing.  He looks out of his depth to be honest. 

It's not too late to put things right and it's time to publicly admit they've got it wrong.

In a season where the Premiership has been more watchable than ever, my love of the game is on the wain.  Spoilt by a young man who should learn to say sorry and then leave my club.  You can be as great a footballer as you like Luis but I for one don't want you at Anfield anymore.  

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2011

In a year of news, a year of unrelenting change, two stories, both personal, although one more public than another, intertwined.  The King returned to Anfield and although it may seem trite in a year that saw so much change around the globe, seeing him lead the side out at Anfield felt like a step back to a time when things were simpler.  When Liverpool's result defined a week rather than my actual life.  It came at the right time, that jolt back to the past.

There are lots of positives to focus on, lots of things I could talk about that, on reflection, would make the year sound like a good one.  2011 is forever tainted by the second story but it's not in my gift to tell you why.  In a lot of ways that awfulness has fuelled the positive: the giving up of the ciggies, the savings account, the photography and of course Tweetathon.  Obviously there have been good times this year, Bestival and Festival were both brilliant weekends and Twitterpubnic was a great, great day.  It just doesn't feel right to dwell on them.

I've met more and more of my friends from Twitter, lost a few along the way (because you really can't keep them all happy) and got better at just saying 'Fuck 'em,' when the unfollow button gets pressed, both by me and by others.

I think I'll look back on 2011 as the year I finally started growing up a bit.  It'll always be a year with a cloud over it but the person most affected by that cloud inspired me to get off my arse and sort my life out.  I was never more determined not to be a fuck up.  I think I did ok at that.

So rather than bang on about it for too long here's my best 'things' of 2011 in pictorial form.

At and I took the new camera out

Mike found a new home

Cowes Week

Isle of Wight Festival

Bubbles

Lego Club

I met Tippers!

Twitterpubnic

Zoo

Bestival

Tweetathon starts

And ends with a house full three days later

Christmas with family

Goodbye 2011.  In many many ways you shall not be in the least bit missed but you were a corner turned.

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Happy Christmas

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Prometheus: Trailer

Fucking hell!

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The Hobbit: Trailer

Only a year to wait....

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The Dark Knight Rises: Trailer

Bring it on...

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Final Fantasy XIII-2: A Guided Tour

Despite being derided Final Fantasy XIII was one of my gaming highlights of 2010.  Yes, it was linear, but the battle system, once the game let you off the leash, was quality.  The sequel, likely to get an early 2012 release in the west, looks interesting with what sounds like a lot being crammed in.

This new trailer shows some of the gameplay elements, which if you're a fan sound brilliant, but if not will have you running back to COD's aprons.

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The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim - Review

Skyrim is all about freedom.  When the game begins your character is a blank canvas, a blank canvas that you paint all over for the next two hundred odd hours.  Of course there's a story here, a good one at that, but Bethesda aren't telling just one tale with Skyrim, they are telling many.  Some are more compelling than others but nearly all include some form of choice, sometimes impacting on how the story plays out but more often than not the choice is how to approach the tasks the story includes.  As your character progresses, those choices become defined by your earlier decisions, your skill sets developing as you use them and thus becoming more powerful.

For those who enjoy getting lost in the heady numbers of a traditional JRPG Skyrim won't necessarily appeal immediately.  The stats stuff is there but it's in a beautifully designed development system that hardly uses numbers at all.  Your character grows steadily, the hard part is choosing which perk to unlock each time you level up.

Character progression is one thing, the world that character inhabits is another altogether.  I've never played a game that feels this alive, looks this beautiful or that feels so cohesive.  I tried to love Oblivion, but it wasn't like this.   Skyrim is a world you want to see every bit of because you're never sure what lurks behind the next hill or over the next river.  Its vastness never feels entirely over whelming although there are times when being attacked by a dragon and then being immediately set upon by a Wisp can feel a little unfair.  But that's the wilds of Skyrim: beautiful but unpredictable.

Playing the PS3 version of Skyrim has not been without its problems.  The lag/frame rate issue, which wasn't properly cleared up by the latest update, has been a niggle rather than a game breaker and the odd graphical glitch usually brings a wry smile rather than a fling of the pad.  A game this big, this detailed, was always going to ship with some bugs not getting spotted but kudos to Bethesda for being upfront on their blog  about what they're working on to improve the experience.

For the most part though the problems are forgiven because the game, overall, is a stunning achievement.  Everyone playing it is having a different experience totally defined by their actions within the game.  It is perfectly possible to ignore all the story stuff, after the opening sequence and go and become a blacksmith.

You make your own stand out moments in Skyrim: time a walk at night just right to catch the northern lights, climb one of the mountains on a clear day and just breathe in Skyrim, creep up on a sleeping dragon and sneak attack with your elven dagger.  Whatever you do in this vast open world, wherever you go, it keeps giving.

Game of the Year?  No question.  Best game ever?  Yes... (once those flaws are ironed out completely).
★★★★★

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Blood in the Snow

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Top Ten: November 2011

The Top Ten people I tweeted @ the most in November.

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