Monday, August 31, 2009

Pokemon

Everyone heard about Pokemon some way or the other.

Maybe you collected the cards as a kid? Or maybe you played the old gameboy game?

Or maybe your a bit older and sat with your kids as they watched their morning cartoons eating breakfeast?

In short, everyone knows about this franchise.

But what not everyone knows is the depth of the games.

While most people most likely think of Pokemon as "that easy kids game", they could'nt be more wrong.

Sure I'll admit that the single player mode is kinda easy, but thats not the games strenght.
While playing it against human opponents, it more resembles chess than a childrens game.

Trying to remember speed tiers, what moves the opponent used, elemental weaknesses, trying to stop stat ups, trying to stop entry hazards, status problems, and generally try to outpredict the opponent is a really challenging thing.

I wont go into much detail in this post, as there is a write up that sums it up much better than I ever could:

Introduction To Comptetive Pokemon

There you can also learn of the basic strategies needed for competive battling, along with guidelines for each pokemon.

Do yourself a favor and at least check this out, you might like it.

Wednesday, August 26, 2009

Too Many Games

Don't you got a Love/Hate relationship with ordering too many games?

The good part is that you stocked up some nice juicy games to enjoy the next few weeks.

The bad part is trying to decide what one to start with.

It's even worse when all of the games are rpg games, where at least I like to finish one before starting another one.

But in the end, even with all that whining Im quite happy with my purchases of 3 new rpg games for my collection.

Sunday, August 23, 2009

The Not So Famous RPG Villains! -Warning this post contains spoilers!-

Villains are a important part of the story of any RPG, everyone that ever played one will agree on that.

Some villains are so famous you recognise them just by seeing their sillioute or hearing their theme song.

Sephiroth and Kefka are great examples of famous rpg villains, but this post is about another kind of villain, the ones that are constantly overlooked at polls, at forum discussions.

There's many reasons why a villain might be overlooked; his game might be relatively unknown or he might not be the main villain. This is just two reasons but I think you get the point.

So today I'll talk about some of my favorite rpg villains from great rpgs!


Dycedarg - Final Fantasy Tactics:
This game was until its psp remake sadly quite unheard of in europe.
Add the fact that Dycedarg isn't the main villain of the game and you can guess why hardly anyone mention him.

But why is he so great?
Well he's a fuckin dick thats why!

He is Ramza's brother and after their fathers death the head of the Beoulve family, a powerful noble family in the fantasy land of Ivalice.

How did he gain this position? He killed his dad! He also kills his friend and ally Prince Larg in his quest for the throne of Ivalice.

So patriacide aside, he also looks down on the common man, havin no qualms about sacrificing them for "the greater good" , tries to kill his brother Ramza, and is generally unlikeable.

As a person he is silver tounged, manipulative, sneaky and just a rat bastard! He dislikes takin the front, letting his underlings doing his dirty work. He is not above double crossing his allies if it benefits him. Being the head of the Beoulve Family, and by extention leader of the Northen Sky grants him one of the two largest armies in Ivalice.

Even with an army at his back and call, he is no weakling if forced into combat being both a master swordsman and an adept magican!

I can't really describe how horrible a person Dycedarg is, you need to play the game.. thats how disgusting he is! But that what makes him such a great villain.


Luca Blight - Suikoden 2

I'll be honest, this might be my favorite villain of all time, tied with Kefka.

While Dycedarg mentioned before prefers keeping in the shadows, Luca is the opposite, always being in the middle of the fight enjoying the bloodshed.

This guy is the Prince and later King of the Kingdom of Highland, a powerfull nation in the fictional suikoden world.

He is a terrible racist against people from Jowston Alliance, considering them to be worthless pigs that only deserves death. He enjoys killing to the degree that he takes the frontline to kill soldiers and civilians for the fun of it.

He like Dycedarg isn't above killing his father to attain greater power.

In combat he is a power house, able to singlehandely whipe out smaller battalions, his personal power never explained. He is tought to be one of the strongest people in the world, evident in the confrontations against him, where you use multiple parties against him, have aid from bowmen and then after beating the crap out of him, finnish him off with a 1on1 duel with the hero. One of the best boss battles ever.

In short, a racist bloodthirsty maniac king thats one of the strongest humans ever with one of the most powerfull armies in the world at his beck and call? Did I mention that he is devoid of sympathy? Thats a fearsome opponent and an awesome villain.


Mid Boss - Disgaea

Mid Boss, also known as "The Dark Adonis" is just as his name applies, a minor boss in Disgaea.
This guy is just awesome! Like most characters in Disgaea he's a demon, albeit a rather stupid one.

What really sets him apart from most demons are the fact that he's nice!

He's basicly the comic foil of the game, although its hinted at times that he's more than meets the eye.

First Post! Welcome to Nerd Rage!

Hello Internet and welcome to Nerd Rage!

This is a Blogg about video games, or more exactly, my experiences with said medium!

This blogg will be the place for my rants, my reviews and stuff like that.

Two words of caution:

English isn't my first language, so expect some misspelling and grammar mistakes here and there.

The other thing is, Im not objective nor will I try to be.

I hope you enjoy yourself here as I try my hand at blogging.