TwiddleGeek

I’m happy to say that some of my initial concerns with Overlord were indeed addressed as the game went further on, but others remained consistent throughout. For example, the overlord’s power grew rapidly when I got the 3rd tier armor and spells. I could literally take on just about anything in the dungeons solo using a powered up mace and some good health-regen armor. There’s just something amusing about striking something with your mace and seeing it light on fire, and more so using the inferno spell to incinerate pretty much everything in front of you. I love that spell.

Other problems never did go away however, such as your actions having any real consequence or the annoying voice-overs by Gnarl and the jester. I got so sick of hearing that jester prattle on every single time I went back to the tower that I avoided it as much as possible. Getting to control more minions was always fun, but I was rather disappointed by how little the minion upgrades actually did.

As I say in the review, I really enjoyed Overlord but it just could have been so much more. But if you’ve got a soft spot for Sacrifice-ish games, then you’ve at least got to give Overlord a try. It’s well worth a GameFly rental or something of that nature, but I’d be wary of purchasing unless you can find it rather cheap. The “Raising Hell” DLC pack just came out though, so if you do enjoy it — there’s some extra content to be had.

Here’s a game I’ve been wanting to try for awhile. Overlord has an amusing concept, restore your place as the evil ruler of a land by wrecking havoc with your hordes of minions. You start the game as the reincarnation of the previous Overlord, killed by heroes, his tower in ruins. As the new guy, its your job to get things back under your evil control. It has elements of an lesser known PC gem named Sacrifice in it, in that you run around and fight along side your minions, rather than controlling from on high.

Where the game shines is in the sense of leadership over the horde, as well as the humor. Minions go about smashing anything they’re unleashed toward, which is done by either the right trigger or using the right stick to sweep them in a pack. It’s great when the minions come back wearing a pumpkin helmet or a sword they picked up, which increases their combat ability just a bit. At the same time, their lives are easily replaced so they are still of little more worth than cannon fodder. The quests so far have proven interesting enough, and combat is tricky but fun. Building my tower and minion horde has been fairly rewarding as well. It’s off to a strong start.

The downside so far is that the controls are a bit clunky in other areas. Lock-on targeting of anyone is hit or miss at best, and the camera well… sucks. The bane of every 3rd person game, but it’s manageable. It’s a bit disappointing how little the townsfolk react as you mercilessly slaughter them. After a brief bout of panic and fighting back, they just stand there as you club them to death. You’d think getting smacked by an ax would warrant some reaction, or at least fleeing. I’m also unimpressed by your own power and spells thus far, but I just got access to the forge, so I’m hoping for good things. Now if only I could get Gnarl to just shut-up.

Lately I’ve been on a kick where I’ve been playing every game I start to completion (or at least the end credits) before moving onto the next. With Metal Gear Solid however, I’m done. Frankly, I’m just not having that much fun. The graphics looked far better on the box and screens then they actually do in the game, the gameplay is still mid-90’s bad, cutscenes are endless, and I just keep dying repeatedly. It’s not even a very long game, so I wanted to finish it… but there are better things to do, especially considering I already beat it for the PS1.

The last straw for me was right after fighting Psycho Mantis, where the dogs in the caves repeatedly attack. I’ve got 2 handguns, an automatic, several grenades, and decent hand-to-hand combat skills… and yet I still can’t fight off a pack of dogs. Shooting an enemy just to stun it, then having to wait before you can shoot the enemy again is just ridiculous. The controls are still PS1 era in their clunkiness, as in “the concept of analog sticks is still new to us” level of controls.

Maybe some day I’ll still try MGS2, but considering the bad reviews I’ve heard of the second half… it hardly seems worth it. MGS3 never struck me as that appealing, so I guess the stealth-action genre just isn’t my bag. I could never really get into Splinter Cell either for that matter, and Sam Fisher makes Solid Snake look like a joke so far as stealth goes. I still kind of want to try MGS4 some day, they’ve had a lot of time to learn from their mistakes and improve upon things, but it’s not going to sell me a PS3. — So yeah, I’m one of those who still has their fingers crossed for a 360 version some day.

I first tried Disgaea back on the PS2, but despite being a fan of tactical RPGs such as Final Fantasy Tactics, I just didn’t quite get Disgaea. It’s possible that I was simply put off by the depth of options and rather steep learning curve. Regardless of the reason, I’m giving it another shot on the PSP and I’m really enjoying the trip this time around. It’s been excellently ported with beautiful wide screen graphics, no more slowdown, and just an all around solid showing. The game’s play style fits perfectly on the PSP.

There really is an incredible depth of options, but most of it I will probably never make full use of. For example, the level cap is 9999 — but I don’t intend to power level my characters into the hundreds, much less the thousands. For those that do, there certainly are optional bosses leveled 6,000 and higher I hear. The ability to dive into every single item in the game and level it up by completing item world stages is a wonderfully unique mechanic, letting you grind both your characters and your equipment at the same time. Throw in stuff like the Dark Assembly, bribing senators, and raising in ranks… and it gets to be a lot to keep track of.

So for the most part I’m sticking to the main story, only indulging in extras like the item world as a way to make the occasional grinding far more interesting than most games. At the moment I’m busy training up my Fire / Ice / Wind Mages to lvl 5 so that I can create some Star Mages, as well as powering my warrior and brawler up to make some Ninja and Ronin. I’ve also just got a Scout (gunner), so I’m busy getting him some good equipment. My party is still fairly infantile, but Laharl on the other hand is growing in power fast enough to be worthy of his storyline arrogance.