I love fantasy sports, love them. I am a stats dork and adore the idea of picking my favorite players and pitting them against my buddies for fantasy supremacy. Trades, clever waiver pick-ups, and getting production out of unknown rookies are all a joy and create the feeling that you are a real General Manager. But honestly, fantasy sports have ruined sports to the point of absurdity. ESPN.com ran a poll not to long ago that asked the question: would root against your favorite team in a meaningless game in favor of a player on your fantasy team? Now I may be plagiarizing somewhat from whoever wrote about this but the logical answer would be 100% no way. How could you root against your favorite team no matter what the situation? The results should be 100% no. I believe the poll results were something like 30% said yes and 70% said no. Now I feel that a lot of those people were lying or in denial that they could possibly root against their lifelong team. I would bet it is closer to 50/50. I find myself constantly doing this and I don’t think of myself as a fantasy sports addict (I feel like I should clarify addict here: you are in 5+ leagues for the same sport, you perform “mock drafts” before your real-fake drafts, you bet a large sum of money on said fantasy sports and this causes you grief/emotional distress, and you have lost or strained friendships over fantasy sports).
Now logic dictates “how can you root against your favorite team?” I have thought about this and came to the following conclusion. During a regular season game of little or no meaning, when your team has absolutely zero chance of coming back barring a historic performance, it is totally understandable to root for players on the opposing team that are on your fantasy team. In fact it’s almost expected, dare I say. Cruel and twisted isn’t it? Prime example: earlier this evening my beloved Red Sox were getting the snot kicked out of them by the Cleveland Indians. I get an IM from my good friend and fellow Sox fan Wig that went something like this:
Wig: Count it, I am kicking ass
Me: Dude, Sox are down like 11-2
Wig: Ya, but Victor Martinez is 3-4 with a two run homer
The weird thing was, I totally understood. I personally had no players going against my Red Sox but completely understood where Wig was coming from. Down by 9 runs late in the game there was no chance the Sox were going to come back. This is a meaningless early season game. Cheering for an opposing player’s good performance that is going to happen anyway is wholly logical in today’s world of fantasy sports. I even find myself during close games being not-too-sad about someone on the other team having a good game, as long as we are winning. To tell you the truth, this is a disturbing trend. I can only imagine the schizophrenic thought process that goes on in a fantasy sports addicts head. “Ok, we’re up by one in the bottom of the 9th. If Vernon Wells hits a homer we can go to extras and then win the game and I’ll get some points out of it!” Who knows, maybe someday we’ll switch jerseys in the middle of games to our favorite fantasy players. Although fantasy sports have subversively ruined the games they emulate, I still love them and will continue on loving them.
And Go Sox! Or A-rod, Teixera, Pujols, Vlad…
Friday, April 28, 2006
Wednesday, April 26, 2006
2006 MLB Season: The MVP's so far
I had originally wanted to write an analysis of each Major League Baseball team in every division for the first month of the season. After the AL East was a page and a half I figured I better go in another direction. Even though April is hardly an accurate barometer for success (remember the Nationals last year?) I think talking about who the MVP’s of the first month are may be interesting. This also means we can look back at the end of the season and see how dumb, or genius I am.
Albert Pujols-St. Louis Cardinals, 1B
The consensus best player in the game is proving he is just that. Pujols has gone deep 12 times in only 19 games and is by far (a bunch of people have 9) the leader in the majors in home runs. His 28 RBI’s, 21 runs scored, .969 slugging percentage, and 1.451 OPS all pace the majors. These are ridiculous numbers to start a season. What I don’t understand is why teams are still pitching to this guy, even this early in the year. I believe he has reached Bonds status; you walk him in any critical situation, and even some non-critical ones. Oh yeah, He plays gold-glove defense too. The Cardinals are still the team to beat in this division and this man is going to be the reason they win it.
Jim Thome-Chicago White Sox, DH
Thome has been reborn in Chicago. He has scored in every game the White Sox have played so far. At one point Thome homered in seven straight games. He ranks 3rd or better in home runs, runs, on base percentage, slugging, RBI’s, walks, and OPS. Jim Thome adds so much pop to this former “small-ball” type offense that they are almost guaranteed to go deep in the playoffs if he stays healthy. The defending champs look a lot scarier with Thome mashing for them
Chris Shelton-Detroit Tigers, 1B
Chris Shelton is the feel-good story of the majors so far. Not good enough to make the Pirates when he was drafted 25 year-old Shelton is tied for the AL lead in homers with 9. He is batting a cool .365, even after going 0-9 this past weekend. Chris Shelton ranks 6th in the AL with 18 RBI’s and is leading the offensive minded Tigers. I would say he is earning his $365,000 salary this year. It remains to be seen whether he can keep up this torrid pace and keep the Tigers in the tough AL Central.
Greg Maddux-Chicago Cubs, SP
Is there any doubt that Mad Dog is one of the best pitchers ever? He doesn’t have the power and flash of Clemens and rarely gets mentioned in the same breath as him. But at age 40 Maddux is putting up obscene numbers: 4-0 with a 0.99 ERA and WHIP of 0.73, all lead the majors. His batting average against is a microscopic .163 (also tops in the bigs) and he has walked only 5 batters so far. With Wood and Prior at home on the DL and the young Carlos Zambrano winless, Maddux is carrying the staff.
Johnathan Paplebon-Boston Red Sox, CP
I find it very difficult to award the most valuable player to pitcher, much less a relief pitcher. But this kid has been dynamite as Boston’s closer. Paplebon is a perfect 8 for 8 in save opportunities and has yet to let a batter cross home plate. The young flamethrower has been almost untouchable. Paplebon has shown true guts when runners are on base, getting crucial strikeouts or pop-ups. He has a scoreless innings streak currently over 11 innings, losing a bet with teammates that if he went 10 scoreless he’d sport his current killer Mad Max-ian Mohawk. The Red Sox wouldn’t have won all these one run games this early in the season without Johnathan Paplebon. Whether this kid moves to the rotation or keeps dominating in the closer role, things bode well for him and the Red Sox so far.
These are my top five MVP candidates in this young season. I will probably do another one at the all-star break and then again at the end of the year. Honorable mentions: Curt Schilling, Morgan Ensberg, Andruw Jones, Carlos Delgado, David Ortiz
*April 26, 2006, 4PM
Albert Pujols-St. Louis Cardinals, 1B
The consensus best player in the game is proving he is just that. Pujols has gone deep 12 times in only 19 games and is by far (a bunch of people have 9) the leader in the majors in home runs. His 28 RBI’s, 21 runs scored, .969 slugging percentage, and 1.451 OPS all pace the majors. These are ridiculous numbers to start a season. What I don’t understand is why teams are still pitching to this guy, even this early in the year. I believe he has reached Bonds status; you walk him in any critical situation, and even some non-critical ones. Oh yeah, He plays gold-glove defense too. The Cardinals are still the team to beat in this division and this man is going to be the reason they win it.
Jim Thome-Chicago White Sox, DH
Thome has been reborn in Chicago. He has scored in every game the White Sox have played so far. At one point Thome homered in seven straight games. He ranks 3rd or better in home runs, runs, on base percentage, slugging, RBI’s, walks, and OPS. Jim Thome adds so much pop to this former “small-ball” type offense that they are almost guaranteed to go deep in the playoffs if he stays healthy. The defending champs look a lot scarier with Thome mashing for them
Chris Shelton-Detroit Tigers, 1B
Chris Shelton is the feel-good story of the majors so far. Not good enough to make the Pirates when he was drafted 25 year-old Shelton is tied for the AL lead in homers with 9. He is batting a cool .365, even after going 0-9 this past weekend. Chris Shelton ranks 6th in the AL with 18 RBI’s and is leading the offensive minded Tigers. I would say he is earning his $365,000 salary this year. It remains to be seen whether he can keep up this torrid pace and keep the Tigers in the tough AL Central.
Greg Maddux-Chicago Cubs, SP
Is there any doubt that Mad Dog is one of the best pitchers ever? He doesn’t have the power and flash of Clemens and rarely gets mentioned in the same breath as him. But at age 40 Maddux is putting up obscene numbers: 4-0 with a 0.99 ERA and WHIP of 0.73, all lead the majors. His batting average against is a microscopic .163 (also tops in the bigs) and he has walked only 5 batters so far. With Wood and Prior at home on the DL and the young Carlos Zambrano winless, Maddux is carrying the staff.
Johnathan Paplebon-Boston Red Sox, CP
I find it very difficult to award the most valuable player to pitcher, much less a relief pitcher. But this kid has been dynamite as Boston’s closer. Paplebon is a perfect 8 for 8 in save opportunities and has yet to let a batter cross home plate. The young flamethrower has been almost untouchable. Paplebon has shown true guts when runners are on base, getting crucial strikeouts or pop-ups. He has a scoreless innings streak currently over 11 innings, losing a bet with teammates that if he went 10 scoreless he’d sport his current killer Mad Max-ian Mohawk. The Red Sox wouldn’t have won all these one run games this early in the season without Johnathan Paplebon. Whether this kid moves to the rotation or keeps dominating in the closer role, things bode well for him and the Red Sox so far.
These are my top five MVP candidates in this young season. I will probably do another one at the all-star break and then again at the end of the year. Honorable mentions: Curt Schilling, Morgan Ensberg, Andruw Jones, Carlos Delgado, David Ortiz
*April 26, 2006, 4PM
Sunday, April 23, 2006
Lightning Bolt Show
I recently made it one of my life goals to see one of my favorite bands, Lightning Bolt, live. Pathetic goal you say? Well when one considers that Lightning Bolt play mostly abandoned warehouses and peoples basements and have a knack for “secret shows” I think it becomes a little less pathetic. And I really love them. I like to think I am not very fan-boyish about anything, but Lightning Bolt breaks that rule. They are just that amazing. Anyway when it was brought to my attention by my Google-happy, lovely girlfriend Margot that they were playing Terrastock in Providence I had to go. Apparently Terrastock is 99% psychedelic/folk music, not my cup of tea. Regardless I figured paying $45 to fulfill a life goal was worth it. Boy was I right.
For those who don’t know Lightning Bolt are Brian Chippendale (drums) and Brian Gibson (bass). They are also in my top five favorite bands ever. In short they are absolute virtuosos on their instruments; if you want to read more they have a Wikipedia* entry that’s actually pretty good. If you are a fan of ridiculously badass noise/drums and bass check out their newest album Hypermagic Mountain. I had heard from my good friend Rich and from reading various articles that they didn’t really like to play on stage. And that they are really fucking loud live.
I had never seen so many patrons with earplugs than I did tonight. Everyone I saw had some form of ear protection. Everyone except me. Not only was this a new concert experience, but kinda scary. It’s like if everyone on a cruise ship had a life preserver on, but you didn’t. You aren’t sure if the boat is going to sink, but everyone else seemed to think so. Not just earplugs but more than a few people had on those ear muff things that guys working around airplanes use. Margot even went to the bathroom and crumpled up some toilet paper to use as makeshift earplugs. I apologized to my ears beforehand. The Brian boys were very prompt in setting up, especially with the 65 or so pedals Mr. Gibson uses. (I am going to try and give a mental picture of what the set-up looked like, for those curious people. If you are one of the lucky people who’ve seen Lightning Bolt or don’t care, scroll past these parentheses. You have about 8 speakers against a wall; drum kit right in front of it and pedals and other bass items to my left. Since they play on the floor with the crowd, a sizeable reflecting mirror was jerry-rigged behind Chippendale so that people not in the immediate front could see what was going on. I started about 3 people deep almost dead center.)
The crowd here seemed kind of on the older/hippie side so I wondered how frenzied the mob would be. I was shocked when the opening note didn’t make my ears bleed as I had feared. They started off slow and I didn’t recognize the song, so far the crowd was very tame, almost unimpressed. (Another aside: Chippendale “sings” through a walkie talkie like object that is very distorted and barely comprehensible. Oh yeah, and it was attached to the mouth of a creepy, serial kiler-esque, mask homemade out of what looked like old clothing tatters. Awesome.) About three songs in they finally played something I recognized, “Dead Cowboy” off of Hypermagic, one of my favorite songs. This set the crowd on fire. It was a flurry of shoving, punching, and jumping. I have to say playing on the floor, right with the fans of your music, is a fantastic idea. I had never felt so connected with a group than I did tonight. I will admit I occasionally had to wiggle a finger in my ear for minor relief from the sonic assault. During the last song (probably my favorite from the new album, Riiffwraith) Chippendale moved his drum set in the direct center of the crowd and went insane. It was a truly grand spectacle to behold and my favorite part of the show.
After playing a lot of the songs off Hypermagic and lasting a good hour the show was over. I ended up right in front of Chippendales drum kit and contemplated stealing a drum stick, but thought better of it. Me and a few other guys talked to him about what songs he should have played and how awesome the show was. And at the risk of sounding like a 14 year old girl at a Backstreet Boy concert, I got to shake his hand before he left (!). Overall a truly amazing show that I will never forget, maybe the best I have seen yet. I look forward to seeing them again. Maybe with earplugs next time.
*http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lightning_bolt
Official Lightning Bolt site: http://laserbeast.com
For those who don’t know Lightning Bolt are Brian Chippendale (drums) and Brian Gibson (bass). They are also in my top five favorite bands ever. In short they are absolute virtuosos on their instruments; if you want to read more they have a Wikipedia* entry that’s actually pretty good. If you are a fan of ridiculously badass noise/drums and bass check out their newest album Hypermagic Mountain. I had heard from my good friend Rich and from reading various articles that they didn’t really like to play on stage. And that they are really fucking loud live.
I had never seen so many patrons with earplugs than I did tonight. Everyone I saw had some form of ear protection. Everyone except me. Not only was this a new concert experience, but kinda scary. It’s like if everyone on a cruise ship had a life preserver on, but you didn’t. You aren’t sure if the boat is going to sink, but everyone else seemed to think so. Not just earplugs but more than a few people had on those ear muff things that guys working around airplanes use. Margot even went to the bathroom and crumpled up some toilet paper to use as makeshift earplugs. I apologized to my ears beforehand. The Brian boys were very prompt in setting up, especially with the 65 or so pedals Mr. Gibson uses. (I am going to try and give a mental picture of what the set-up looked like, for those curious people. If you are one of the lucky people who’ve seen Lightning Bolt or don’t care, scroll past these parentheses. You have about 8 speakers against a wall; drum kit right in front of it and pedals and other bass items to my left. Since they play on the floor with the crowd, a sizeable reflecting mirror was jerry-rigged behind Chippendale so that people not in the immediate front could see what was going on. I started about 3 people deep almost dead center.)
The crowd here seemed kind of on the older/hippie side so I wondered how frenzied the mob would be. I was shocked when the opening note didn’t make my ears bleed as I had feared. They started off slow and I didn’t recognize the song, so far the crowd was very tame, almost unimpressed. (Another aside: Chippendale “sings” through a walkie talkie like object that is very distorted and barely comprehensible. Oh yeah, and it was attached to the mouth of a creepy, serial kiler-esque, mask homemade out of what looked like old clothing tatters. Awesome.) About three songs in they finally played something I recognized, “Dead Cowboy” off of Hypermagic, one of my favorite songs. This set the crowd on fire. It was a flurry of shoving, punching, and jumping. I have to say playing on the floor, right with the fans of your music, is a fantastic idea. I had never felt so connected with a group than I did tonight. I will admit I occasionally had to wiggle a finger in my ear for minor relief from the sonic assault. During the last song (probably my favorite from the new album, Riiffwraith) Chippendale moved his drum set in the direct center of the crowd and went insane. It was a truly grand spectacle to behold and my favorite part of the show.
After playing a lot of the songs off Hypermagic and lasting a good hour the show was over. I ended up right in front of Chippendales drum kit and contemplated stealing a drum stick, but thought better of it. Me and a few other guys talked to him about what songs he should have played and how awesome the show was. And at the risk of sounding like a 14 year old girl at a Backstreet Boy concert, I got to shake his hand before he left (!). Overall a truly amazing show that I will never forget, maybe the best I have seen yet. I look forward to seeing them again. Maybe with earplugs next time.
*http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lightning_bolt
Official Lightning Bolt site: http://laserbeast.com
Wednesday, April 19, 2006
Dragon Quest VIII Review
Dragon Quest VIII (PS2) SquareEnix
A traditional turned-based RPG that doesn’t do anything ground-breaking, but everything just right
Graphics- 8.0
Sound- 8.5
Play Control- 9.0
Challenge- 7.5
Replay Value- 7.0
Game-play- 8.5
Fun Factor- 8.5
Overall- 8.1
The Dragon Quest series has a long and storied history dating back to the first game on the NES. Squaresoft (Final Fantasy series, Kingdom Hearts series) and Enix (Dragon Quest series) have long been the names in RPG’s and since merging have kept the tradition of great turned based role playing games alive and well. Before I get into the review I have to admit this is my first experience with a Dragon Quest game (I was always a Final Fantasy guy, and even then not until FFVII) so there won’t be any comparisons to previous installments. What I can say is that Dragon Quest VIII is an absolutely enthralling game filled with charm, humor, and whimsy that any RPG fan should thoroughly enjoy.
Story
Dragon Quest VIII has a story that some would call derivative, others would call it classic. Either way, the story is well told and engaging, if somewhat predictable and stale. It starts with our Hero (he has no in-game name, just the one you type in) and his companion, a toad-looking fellow. We come to find out early on that our Hero was a young guard at a castle that a terrible curse fell upon. The curse wrapped the castle in thorns and it seems only our Hero was unaffected. Your amphibious friend is the king of the castle; turned into a monster by the curse. Hero and King Trode head out to find whoever cast this curse upon the castle. Along the way you will battle an evil jester, recruit some colorful characters, and save the world from evil, once again.
Although a lot of this sounds very familiar, there are some clever twists along the way that keep things engaging. The best way to describe the story is to relate it to a fairy tale, you may have heard it dozens of times, but it is still a classic narrative. The characters in the game are very likeable and seem to have their own motives for joining in the quest. Since there are only four playable characters in the game they all feel very tightly-knit and cohesive. They make fun of each other, get angry with one another, and act in a very believable and human manner. Dragon Quest VIII doesn’t do anything revolutionary in terms of storytelling, but does a wonderful job of telling a classic adventure saga.
Game-play
DQVIII is a traditional (sometimes referred to as Japanese) turned-based RPG. What this means is that you enter in commands for your character(s), they execute them, and then your enemy does the same. This style of play is not for everyone as it can be slow, “boring”, and often boils down to stat number crunching. For those of us who do like this method, or can at least tolerate it, DQVIII does it to perfection and rather simply. There are only four basic commands for each character, attack, flee, item, and the new innovation, “psyche up”. Psyche up is akin to a charge up, in lue of other action for the turn your character raises his or her “tension level” by a certain increment. Each consecutive turn you psyche up your tension level jumps higher and higher. Tension augments attacks, certain spells, and item effectiveness and proper tension management becomes necessary as the game goes on.
The stats for your characters are pretty standard, physical attack/defense, magic attack/defense, speed, etc. Weapons, armor, hats, and the like simply increase these stats and are very easy to read (red is a decrease, green an increase) due to the clean menu screen. Leveling up in DQVIII is fairly linear but still interesting. At each level up you gain X amount of points in which to put into various categories. Each character has three weapon proficiencies (sword, spear, and boomerang for example) as well as a barehanded slot into which you can put points. Each character also has one unique stat that gains them equally unique abilities. Once a certain threshold of points is reached, a new ability is unlocked. For example when you get 15 points in sword you get “sword attack +5”. The most interesting thing about the system is that you don’t know how many points you need for the next skill. This encourages exploration of the different skills and finding what works best for each character.
There are those dreaded “random battles” in DQVIII. For the few of you still left reading they aren’t the tedious annoyance most people think they are. Fights are generally quick and when they aren’t (boss battles, very tough enemies) they can become very strategic. Staggering psyche ups, proper item usage, and figuring out what attacks work are all key in DQVIII. One thing that may scare off the faint of heart or RPG rookie is that you have to level up at certain points in the game. This means running around until an enemy attacks you, beating it, and hopefully leveling up after a few fights. There are points where if you haven’t leveled up a boss will dominate you. You will know when this happens after the third straight try you still get obliterated. Although this may sound bad it helps you in the long run. You learn the battle system, unlock more powerful skills, and get a feel for your characters strengths. The battle system is so smooth and fun that this minor annoyance is barely noticeable.
What RPG would be complete without side-quests? DQVIII offers up a lot of entertaining and challenging mini-games and side quests. These range from scouring the land for “mini medals” that you can redeem for great prizes, gambling away your hard earned gold at the casinos, and recruiting monsters for gladiator-style arena fights. But by far the best and most well designed distraction is the alchemy pot. With this item you can combine any two items to create something different and hopefully better. Alchemy recipes are hidden books, obtained by talking to non-player-characters, and blind luck. What makes the alchemy pot is a joy is the fact that the items you are trying to make are fairly logical. Want to make something sharper? Try a nail. How about a stronger herb? Throw two of the same type in there. Hunting around the map for rare items to alchemize and make even rarer items is a fun game in and of itself.
Graphics
DQVIII uses cartoon-like, almost-but-not-quite cell-shaded, graphics throughout the game. There are tons of bright colors, intricate buildings, and a world that seems lived-in. No details were spared, waving grass, falling leaves, worn-out wood, waving flags, there is nothing you will say that will make you say “that looks lame”. The “cut scenes” are the same visually as the rest of the game. This method works to keep the player drawn into the game, you aren’t really sure if this is a cut scene or not. For those fans of the popular Dragon Ball series and all its iterations the look of DQVIII will seem very familiar. This is because lead character designer Akira Toriyama is also behind the characters of the Dragon Ball series. Mr. Toriyama is notorious for having odd and outrageous characters and DQVIII echoes this. You’ll find townspeople who only reach up to your knees, others who are plump and jolly, and some who have been working out way too much. Every character you will find in the game is highly detailed from facial expressions to facial hair; it’s all here and looks great.
Sound
SquareEnix games have a stellar track record when it comes to music and sounds in their games. Dragon Quest VIII keeps this practice going, especially in the voice over department. Simply put these are some of the best voices I have heard in a game. Almost every character that you talk to, NPC or otherwise, has a voice in this game. What makes the voices really amusing is the fact that the townspeople speak with accents. These range from British to Australian to Italian and serve to make each and every person you talk to that much more real. Although it is questionable how all the inhabitants of this world have different accents they are believable and enjoyable nonetheless. The music in the game is appropriate, pretty much orchestral/classical, and the battle theme is pretty catchy. The soundtrack does its job by accenting the action going on and inflecting emotion where it is needed.
Challenge
DQVIII has one of the steeper learning curves of recent role-playing games. Your initial party of two will struggle if you get too ambitious or go wandering at night. The first few bosses may also take a few tries or some leveling before you can dispatch them. Once you get a firm grasp on the tension system and what direction you want your characters to go in, the game becomes easier. Items, weapons, and armor also felt very balanced as you will often have to decide how to divide your gold to make sure everyone gets something to go into battle with. This game is hard to peg as “easy” or “hard”. If you take the time to learn the battle system correctly, level up when things seems impossible, and have some good equipment, DQVIII should be fun and challenging.
There are some very tantalizing unlockables once you beat the main portion of the game. Among them include, a hidden dungeon to fight through with bosses that are exponentially harder than the boss of the game, a second and better ending, and some really mint weapons and items. In terms of play the main plot should take a solid 50 hours, and that would be rushing through. I logged in a good 80+ hours the first time through (my characters were only about level 55 and it goes to level 100!) and about 20 hours more messing around and completing extras. Like most RPG’s the more time you out into the game, the more enjoyment you’ll get out of it. There is so much to explore and do in this game that it is easy to get lost for 100 hours and upward.
Conclusion
Dragon Quest VIII had a sizeable amount of hype and expectations when it was announced. This is a game that managed to live up to hype and deliver a very solid gaming experience. When broken down into pieces it may seem unimpressive, but this is a game that defines the phrase “the whole is greater than the sum of its parts”. Featuring beautiful cartoon graphics, a good story, and seemingly endless hours of game-play Dragon Quest VIII is a testament to the turned based RPG genre.
A traditional turned-based RPG that doesn’t do anything ground-breaking, but everything just right
Graphics- 8.0
Sound- 8.5
Play Control- 9.0
Challenge- 7.5
Replay Value- 7.0
Game-play- 8.5
Fun Factor- 8.5
Overall- 8.1
The Dragon Quest series has a long and storied history dating back to the first game on the NES. Squaresoft (Final Fantasy series, Kingdom Hearts series) and Enix (Dragon Quest series) have long been the names in RPG’s and since merging have kept the tradition of great turned based role playing games alive and well. Before I get into the review I have to admit this is my first experience with a Dragon Quest game (I was always a Final Fantasy guy, and even then not until FFVII) so there won’t be any comparisons to previous installments. What I can say is that Dragon Quest VIII is an absolutely enthralling game filled with charm, humor, and whimsy that any RPG fan should thoroughly enjoy.
Story
Dragon Quest VIII has a story that some would call derivative, others would call it classic. Either way, the story is well told and engaging, if somewhat predictable and stale. It starts with our Hero (he has no in-game name, just the one you type in) and his companion, a toad-looking fellow. We come to find out early on that our Hero was a young guard at a castle that a terrible curse fell upon. The curse wrapped the castle in thorns and it seems only our Hero was unaffected. Your amphibious friend is the king of the castle; turned into a monster by the curse. Hero and King Trode head out to find whoever cast this curse upon the castle. Along the way you will battle an evil jester, recruit some colorful characters, and save the world from evil, once again.
Although a lot of this sounds very familiar, there are some clever twists along the way that keep things engaging. The best way to describe the story is to relate it to a fairy tale, you may have heard it dozens of times, but it is still a classic narrative. The characters in the game are very likeable and seem to have their own motives for joining in the quest. Since there are only four playable characters in the game they all feel very tightly-knit and cohesive. They make fun of each other, get angry with one another, and act in a very believable and human manner. Dragon Quest VIII doesn’t do anything revolutionary in terms of storytelling, but does a wonderful job of telling a classic adventure saga.
Game-play
DQVIII is a traditional (sometimes referred to as Japanese) turned-based RPG. What this means is that you enter in commands for your character(s), they execute them, and then your enemy does the same. This style of play is not for everyone as it can be slow, “boring”, and often boils down to stat number crunching. For those of us who do like this method, or can at least tolerate it, DQVIII does it to perfection and rather simply. There are only four basic commands for each character, attack, flee, item, and the new innovation, “psyche up”. Psyche up is akin to a charge up, in lue of other action for the turn your character raises his or her “tension level” by a certain increment. Each consecutive turn you psyche up your tension level jumps higher and higher. Tension augments attacks, certain spells, and item effectiveness and proper tension management becomes necessary as the game goes on.
The stats for your characters are pretty standard, physical attack/defense, magic attack/defense, speed, etc. Weapons, armor, hats, and the like simply increase these stats and are very easy to read (red is a decrease, green an increase) due to the clean menu screen. Leveling up in DQVIII is fairly linear but still interesting. At each level up you gain X amount of points in which to put into various categories. Each character has three weapon proficiencies (sword, spear, and boomerang for example) as well as a barehanded slot into which you can put points. Each character also has one unique stat that gains them equally unique abilities. Once a certain threshold of points is reached, a new ability is unlocked. For example when you get 15 points in sword you get “sword attack +5”. The most interesting thing about the system is that you don’t know how many points you need for the next skill. This encourages exploration of the different skills and finding what works best for each character.
There are those dreaded “random battles” in DQVIII. For the few of you still left reading they aren’t the tedious annoyance most people think they are. Fights are generally quick and when they aren’t (boss battles, very tough enemies) they can become very strategic. Staggering psyche ups, proper item usage, and figuring out what attacks work are all key in DQVIII. One thing that may scare off the faint of heart or RPG rookie is that you have to level up at certain points in the game. This means running around until an enemy attacks you, beating it, and hopefully leveling up after a few fights. There are points where if you haven’t leveled up a boss will dominate you. You will know when this happens after the third straight try you still get obliterated. Although this may sound bad it helps you in the long run. You learn the battle system, unlock more powerful skills, and get a feel for your characters strengths. The battle system is so smooth and fun that this minor annoyance is barely noticeable.
What RPG would be complete without side-quests? DQVIII offers up a lot of entertaining and challenging mini-games and side quests. These range from scouring the land for “mini medals” that you can redeem for great prizes, gambling away your hard earned gold at the casinos, and recruiting monsters for gladiator-style arena fights. But by far the best and most well designed distraction is the alchemy pot. With this item you can combine any two items to create something different and hopefully better. Alchemy recipes are hidden books, obtained by talking to non-player-characters, and blind luck. What makes the alchemy pot is a joy is the fact that the items you are trying to make are fairly logical. Want to make something sharper? Try a nail. How about a stronger herb? Throw two of the same type in there. Hunting around the map for rare items to alchemize and make even rarer items is a fun game in and of itself.
Graphics
DQVIII uses cartoon-like, almost-but-not-quite cell-shaded, graphics throughout the game. There are tons of bright colors, intricate buildings, and a world that seems lived-in. No details were spared, waving grass, falling leaves, worn-out wood, waving flags, there is nothing you will say that will make you say “that looks lame”. The “cut scenes” are the same visually as the rest of the game. This method works to keep the player drawn into the game, you aren’t really sure if this is a cut scene or not. For those fans of the popular Dragon Ball series and all its iterations the look of DQVIII will seem very familiar. This is because lead character designer Akira Toriyama is also behind the characters of the Dragon Ball series. Mr. Toriyama is notorious for having odd and outrageous characters and DQVIII echoes this. You’ll find townspeople who only reach up to your knees, others who are plump and jolly, and some who have been working out way too much. Every character you will find in the game is highly detailed from facial expressions to facial hair; it’s all here and looks great.
Sound
SquareEnix games have a stellar track record when it comes to music and sounds in their games. Dragon Quest VIII keeps this practice going, especially in the voice over department. Simply put these are some of the best voices I have heard in a game. Almost every character that you talk to, NPC or otherwise, has a voice in this game. What makes the voices really amusing is the fact that the townspeople speak with accents. These range from British to Australian to Italian and serve to make each and every person you talk to that much more real. Although it is questionable how all the inhabitants of this world have different accents they are believable and enjoyable nonetheless. The music in the game is appropriate, pretty much orchestral/classical, and the battle theme is pretty catchy. The soundtrack does its job by accenting the action going on and inflecting emotion where it is needed.
Challenge
DQVIII has one of the steeper learning curves of recent role-playing games. Your initial party of two will struggle if you get too ambitious or go wandering at night. The first few bosses may also take a few tries or some leveling before you can dispatch them. Once you get a firm grasp on the tension system and what direction you want your characters to go in, the game becomes easier. Items, weapons, and armor also felt very balanced as you will often have to decide how to divide your gold to make sure everyone gets something to go into battle with. This game is hard to peg as “easy” or “hard”. If you take the time to learn the battle system correctly, level up when things seems impossible, and have some good equipment, DQVIII should be fun and challenging.
There are some very tantalizing unlockables once you beat the main portion of the game. Among them include, a hidden dungeon to fight through with bosses that are exponentially harder than the boss of the game, a second and better ending, and some really mint weapons and items. In terms of play the main plot should take a solid 50 hours, and that would be rushing through. I logged in a good 80+ hours the first time through (my characters were only about level 55 and it goes to level 100!) and about 20 hours more messing around and completing extras. Like most RPG’s the more time you out into the game, the more enjoyment you’ll get out of it. There is so much to explore and do in this game that it is easy to get lost for 100 hours and upward.
Conclusion
Dragon Quest VIII had a sizeable amount of hype and expectations when it was announced. This is a game that managed to live up to hype and deliver a very solid gaming experience. When broken down into pieces it may seem unimpressive, but this is a game that defines the phrase “the whole is greater than the sum of its parts”. Featuring beautiful cartoon graphics, a good story, and seemingly endless hours of game-play Dragon Quest VIII is a testament to the turned based RPG genre.
Tuesday, April 18, 2006
NBA MVP
The NBA has one thing on all the other major American Sports, their MVP really matters. No one cares about the MLB most valuable player, same goes for the NFL. I think the reason for this has to be that basketball is an actual team sport; therefore being "most valuable" really means something. This coupled with the fact that there are often multiple worthy candidates makes the NBA most valuable player argument the most interesting in sports.
This year there are at least ten players who will (should) garner votes and can be argued for the MVP. They are in no particular order:
This year there are at least ten players who will (should) garner votes and can be argued for the MVP. They are in no particular order:
· Dirk Nowitski, Dallas Mavericks
· Steve Nash, Phoenix Suns
· Dwayne Wade, Miami Heat
· Carmello Anthony, Denver Nuggets
· Kobe Bryant, LA Lakers
· Elton Brand, LA Clippers
· LeBron James, Cleveland Cavaliers
· Chauncey Billups, Detroit Pistons
· Chris Paul, New Orleans/Oklahoma City Hornets
· Pau Gasol, Memphis Grizzlies
5. Elton Brand, LA Clippers
The Clippers have been the joke of the league for years, make that decades. This year they made some off-season moves, most notably acquiring veteran point guard and E.T. look-alike Sam Cassell. Elton Brand has always shown he can be a solid player, even an All-Star, reliably putting up 15-20 points and 8-10 rebounds most nights. Maybe it was Cassell in his ear, getting tired of all the jokes (LA Paper Clips anyone?), or something else, but Brand has been a monster all season. The numbers don’t lie: 11th in points (24.8), 7th in rebounds (10), 5th in blocks (2.55), and 8th in FG% (52.7%). He played very good interior defense, missed a total of four games all year, and shot a good percentage from the line (78%) for a big man.
For my money Brand is the best two-way player on this list. He clogs up the middle, can block shots, occasionally grabs a steal, and oh yeah, goes for 25 and 10 every night on the other end. Had the Clippers gotten a few more wins, especially against the elite of the West, Brand would be higher on the list.
4. Dirk Nowitski, Dallas Mavericks
I can say unabashedly that Dirk is among the top of my list of favorite NBA players. What’s not to love about a 7’ German with scraggly blonde hair, a killer jump shot, 3-point range, and a nasty disposition? This guy has improved his game every year, going from a long range “center” with no inside moves to an impossible match up for every team in the NBA without men named Artest and Bowen. Dirk is 8th in the league in scoring at a 26.6/game clip, augmented by his stellar free throw shooting (90% 4th in the league).
The Mavs had the third best record in the league at 60-22, many of those wins coming at the hand of Dirk. A 7’ power forward with range that can kill you from the line and has no fear about taking (and making) game winning shots? I’ll take him any day.
3. LeBron James, Cleveland Cavaliers
No player has had as much hype thrust upon him before he finished high school, not to mention before he played an NBA game. He was next in the long line of “next Jordan’s”. After living up to the hype and even surpassing it, LeBron is showing that maybe this time he is the next Jordan, Magic, or Oscar Robertson. Scoring 31.4 per game (3rd), dishing 6.6 assists per (13th), and grabbing 7 boards per game (30th), and trailing only Iverson in minutes/game (43 to 42) is something to behold. Averaging essentially 30-7-7 would nail down an MVP in almost any other season. With the injury to new sidekick Larry Hughes, an up and down Zydrunas Ilgauskas, and a young coach, without LeBron the Cavs would probably be challenging the Knicks for lottery supremacy.
If the Cavs could have squeaked out a few more wins or maybe LeBron not passed up on a few of those potential game winners, he could have made the case stronger than it already is. As it stands you can’t feel too bad for the kid, at 21 he has a tremendous, almost unheard of ceiling, and probably a couple more MVP caliber seasons left in him.
2. Steve Nash, Phoenix Suns
It is tough to follow up an MVP season, no matter how much maligned it was. The whole “black/white Shaq/Nash” thing seemed downright ludicrous to me. Nash won because he was more valuable than Shaq was, plain and simple. He didn’t win because a bunch of predominantly white sports writers wanted him to. I don’t know the inner workings of the MVP voting process, but I can guess if they wanted a white boy to win, John Stockton probably would have an MVP or two. Alright, enough ranting. The Suns lost Joe Johnson to the Hawks, Amare Stoudemire to injury, and had guys named Barbosa, Raja, and Diaw supporting. And you know what? The Suns didn’t skip a beat. They lead the NBA in scoring (108/game) and kept the run-and-gun style offense that brought them so much success last season. At 19 points and 10.5 assists per game Nash was the field general of a team of fairly inexperienced players.
No one would have blamed the Suns for being bad this season, but Nash lead the team to 53 wins and the #2 seed in the West. Nash had probably the best sidekick of any of the other five players on this list, Shawn Marion who undoubtedly made things a little easier for Nash. But he won the MVP last year with Marion and Amare and a better supporting cast. Nash has easily done “more with less” than everyone on this list except…
1. Kobe Bryant, LA Lakers
I am pretty sure the hierarchy of hated individuals in sports goes like this: #1 Bonds, #2 Terrell Owens, and #3 Kobe. When you take into account the sex scandal, getting Shaq out of LA, and the ball hoggedness, Kobe is the player everyone loves to hate. He is like a dark version of Jordan, evil Jordan if you will.
Black Mamba. Is there anymore badass nickname in all of sports? It’s so perfect for him too, brooding, deadly, quick, a loner. Kobe is the definition of a one man team. Impossible to guard, can go for 40 every night, and will jack up 30+ shots a game. All this seems negative but when you factor in that every team knows that it’s just Kobe out there and still can’t stop him is a testament to how unstoppable and dominant he was this year. His supporting cast was atrocious, Lamar Odom was the number 2 option and looks so angry when he is on the floor with Kobe it’s almost laughable. Kwame Brown showed flashes of averageness. Parker, Mihm, Cook, and George were the rest of the “watch Kobe destroy the other team” club. It was so easy for opposing teams to lock down the other players and let Kobe go crazy that he had to score 35/game (1st in the league by a full 2 points) for his team to sneak into the playoffs.
I can’t talk about Kobe without mentioning his 81 point game (better than Wilts 100 point game in my opinion, Wilt was a seven footer playing against a bunch of 5’6” white jump shooters.) against the hapless Raptors and 62 in three quarters against Dallas. The 81 point game is one for the ages, and the 62 point effort could have easily been 80+ if they weren’t blowing out Dallas. To put things in perspective the score after three quarters- Kobe 62 Dallas 61. After these mammoth efforts Kobe threatened to go for 50 every night, he was an absolute must watch for any basketball fan, no matter how much you hated him. If you take Kobe off this team, sure the Odoms and Parkers may score some more points but the Lakers wouldn’t be in the playoffs and would have struggled to win 25 games. Kobe Bryant’s season and countless spectacular games will be remembered all-time, whether you like it or not.
The Clippers have been the joke of the league for years, make that decades. This year they made some off-season moves, most notably acquiring veteran point guard and E.T. look-alike Sam Cassell. Elton Brand has always shown he can be a solid player, even an All-Star, reliably putting up 15-20 points and 8-10 rebounds most nights. Maybe it was Cassell in his ear, getting tired of all the jokes (LA Paper Clips anyone?), or something else, but Brand has been a monster all season. The numbers don’t lie: 11th in points (24.8), 7th in rebounds (10), 5th in blocks (2.55), and 8th in FG% (52.7%). He played very good interior defense, missed a total of four games all year, and shot a good percentage from the line (78%) for a big man.
For my money Brand is the best two-way player on this list. He clogs up the middle, can block shots, occasionally grabs a steal, and oh yeah, goes for 25 and 10 every night on the other end. Had the Clippers gotten a few more wins, especially against the elite of the West, Brand would be higher on the list.
4. Dirk Nowitski, Dallas Mavericks
I can say unabashedly that Dirk is among the top of my list of favorite NBA players. What’s not to love about a 7’ German with scraggly blonde hair, a killer jump shot, 3-point range, and a nasty disposition? This guy has improved his game every year, going from a long range “center” with no inside moves to an impossible match up for every team in the NBA without men named Artest and Bowen. Dirk is 8th in the league in scoring at a 26.6/game clip, augmented by his stellar free throw shooting (90% 4th in the league).
The Mavs had the third best record in the league at 60-22, many of those wins coming at the hand of Dirk. A 7’ power forward with range that can kill you from the line and has no fear about taking (and making) game winning shots? I’ll take him any day.
3. LeBron James, Cleveland Cavaliers
No player has had as much hype thrust upon him before he finished high school, not to mention before he played an NBA game. He was next in the long line of “next Jordan’s”. After living up to the hype and even surpassing it, LeBron is showing that maybe this time he is the next Jordan, Magic, or Oscar Robertson. Scoring 31.4 per game (3rd), dishing 6.6 assists per (13th), and grabbing 7 boards per game (30th), and trailing only Iverson in minutes/game (43 to 42) is something to behold. Averaging essentially 30-7-7 would nail down an MVP in almost any other season. With the injury to new sidekick Larry Hughes, an up and down Zydrunas Ilgauskas, and a young coach, without LeBron the Cavs would probably be challenging the Knicks for lottery supremacy.
If the Cavs could have squeaked out a few more wins or maybe LeBron not passed up on a few of those potential game winners, he could have made the case stronger than it already is. As it stands you can’t feel too bad for the kid, at 21 he has a tremendous, almost unheard of ceiling, and probably a couple more MVP caliber seasons left in him.
2. Steve Nash, Phoenix Suns
It is tough to follow up an MVP season, no matter how much maligned it was. The whole “black/white Shaq/Nash” thing seemed downright ludicrous to me. Nash won because he was more valuable than Shaq was, plain and simple. He didn’t win because a bunch of predominantly white sports writers wanted him to. I don’t know the inner workings of the MVP voting process, but I can guess if they wanted a white boy to win, John Stockton probably would have an MVP or two. Alright, enough ranting. The Suns lost Joe Johnson to the Hawks, Amare Stoudemire to injury, and had guys named Barbosa, Raja, and Diaw supporting. And you know what? The Suns didn’t skip a beat. They lead the NBA in scoring (108/game) and kept the run-and-gun style offense that brought them so much success last season. At 19 points and 10.5 assists per game Nash was the field general of a team of fairly inexperienced players.
No one would have blamed the Suns for being bad this season, but Nash lead the team to 53 wins and the #2 seed in the West. Nash had probably the best sidekick of any of the other five players on this list, Shawn Marion who undoubtedly made things a little easier for Nash. But he won the MVP last year with Marion and Amare and a better supporting cast. Nash has easily done “more with less” than everyone on this list except…
1. Kobe Bryant, LA Lakers
I am pretty sure the hierarchy of hated individuals in sports goes like this: #1 Bonds, #2 Terrell Owens, and #3 Kobe. When you take into account the sex scandal, getting Shaq out of LA, and the ball hoggedness, Kobe is the player everyone loves to hate. He is like a dark version of Jordan, evil Jordan if you will.
Black Mamba. Is there anymore badass nickname in all of sports? It’s so perfect for him too, brooding, deadly, quick, a loner. Kobe is the definition of a one man team. Impossible to guard, can go for 40 every night, and will jack up 30+ shots a game. All this seems negative but when you factor in that every team knows that it’s just Kobe out there and still can’t stop him is a testament to how unstoppable and dominant he was this year. His supporting cast was atrocious, Lamar Odom was the number 2 option and looks so angry when he is on the floor with Kobe it’s almost laughable. Kwame Brown showed flashes of averageness. Parker, Mihm, Cook, and George were the rest of the “watch Kobe destroy the other team” club. It was so easy for opposing teams to lock down the other players and let Kobe go crazy that he had to score 35/game (1st in the league by a full 2 points) for his team to sneak into the playoffs.
I can’t talk about Kobe without mentioning his 81 point game (better than Wilts 100 point game in my opinion, Wilt was a seven footer playing against a bunch of 5’6” white jump shooters.) against the hapless Raptors and 62 in three quarters against Dallas. The 81 point game is one for the ages, and the 62 point effort could have easily been 80+ if they weren’t blowing out Dallas. To put things in perspective the score after three quarters- Kobe 62 Dallas 61. After these mammoth efforts Kobe threatened to go for 50 every night, he was an absolute must watch for any basketball fan, no matter how much you hated him. If you take Kobe off this team, sure the Odoms and Parkers may score some more points but the Lakers wouldn’t be in the playoffs and would have struggled to win 25 games. Kobe Bryant’s season and countless spectacular games will be remembered all-time, whether you like it or not.
First post
Honestly, i thought (still think?) the whole "blog" thing was kinda dumb. I mean who really cares what normal people think? The main reason i decided to make a "blog" (i still hate that word) was to have an outlet and audience for what i am looking at as a career, journalism. Ideally i would love to be in the video game industry, writing reviews for a magazine/website but i am going to keep the topics broad (mostly video games, sports, and music, my three biggest interests). Deadlines and me don't really get along well so i figured this would be a nice way to practice. I promise not to whine about my feelings or petty things that happen in my life as i find that stuff boring. I will try and update often as i am constantly writing game reviews and griping/gushing about sports and music.
Alright enough of that
Alright enough of that
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