February 09, 2014

Flappy Bird RIP 2014-2014 (gaming thread)
— Gang of Gaming Morons!

Death of a crappy clone of Copter (which it self was a one of many clones of the game) with stolen Super Mario Brothers 3 art. Though not to despair, after just a few days on the market, Threes has started to take it's place. It's currently $2 and worth the money.

That being said, what ever the guy spent on bots, that was money well spent as it was pulling some nice ad revenue.

This week is gonna be real short as I've been gorging myself on some Olympics through CBC (FU NBC and the crappy site that is even more broken than the London one).

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What I've been playing this past week

Bravely Default (3DS) - Through and through, if you like RPGs, you owe it to yourself to play this thing. If I say so myself, it's the best RPG that Square has brought over to the US since Dragon Quest 9. Game is almost perfect so far. Only fault I've found so far is the OST isn't the greatest.

The Quest: Elemental Astroids (iOS) - The best first person RPG series out today keeps trucking (think Elder Scrolls Daggerfall), kinda at least as this is more or less a rejiggered version of the original Escape of the Astroids expansion which I already beat. Would have liked something new and would have liked something harder (it says it's recommended for level 17 but you would do okay with being level 15 or so). That being said, it's interesting in how they've tweaked it visually and it's an interesting romp still. Now, like all of the expansions, you can play it as a stand alone but I wouldn't recommend it. Just buy The Quest Gold (main game and three expansions and start from there). Still one of the best bang for the buck purchases around (15-20 hours each one).

Threes (iOS) - What can I say, it's fun and simple and a huge time sink. Move the board left, right and up and down all the while of adding two cards together (start with a basic 2+1 together, add 3+3 together to get 6, 6+6=12 so one and so on). And of course, each direction adds more cards until you can't move no more. It's simple, it's dumb and a lot of fun.

Fables: The Wolf Among Us: Smoke & Mirrors (PS3,360,PC and iOS) - It's been four months since the release of the first episode and the second episode not only went nowhere, it has to be the shortest episode that TellTale has released as it barely clocked in at an hour. I hope we don't have to wait another 4 months to get the next episode.

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Videogame Music

Music, one of the bigger componets to gaming that is also one of the most over looked aspects of it. Sure, you can throw in some liscensed music call it a day but it always feels hallow to me. Figure I would throw some of my favorite music up. And as a bonus, if you dig symphony and classical, it's a great avenue to check out some good stuff.

In the sake of not having this section filled with nothing but stuff from the Falcom Sound Team J.D.K., I'm limiting it to two songs (seriously, Falcom has the best composers in the biz).

Start it off with the extended version of Beyond The Beginning from YS Origin


If you want some real 8-bit ish, this ditty from Sorcerian (my current ringer on my phone)

And the extended version of Memory of Light from Final Fantasy X-2

Maybe not from one of my favorite games but the sound track to Chrono Cross was really damn good. This is one of the best songs from it, Dream of the Shore Near Another World.

For the amount of killer music in Fire Emblem Awakening, "And What if I Can't? What if I'm Not Worth of Her Ideals?" is probably my favorite piece.

Though "........."

and "Don't speak her name" are both very much worthy listening to

Gonna share one of my favorite pieces from Hitoshi Sakimoto, Remembrance from Vagarant Story.

And it wouldn't be worth mentioning videogame music if you didn't talk about the Final Fantasy 12 OST. Now, everyone expects Time of Rest but I personally preferred White Room

And that's just a glint of some awesome music from videogames. I may or may not make this a running feature.

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New Releases

Eschalon: Book 3 (PC) - There are some big games coming out this week but I have to say that this is the biggest release for me. I absolutely first two games in this old school cRPG series and I can't wait to see how Basilisk wraps this up. If you dig what Jeff Vogel and his Spiderweb crew does, you really need to check this series out

Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc (Vita) - For the saner people, this is probably the big release (Lighting who?) of the week. It's a psychotic visual novel with strong hits of the Phoenix Wright series. This was originally released on the PSP and then on iOS and Android in Japan but this is a more fleshed out version of it. Everyone who has gone through say it's really damn good. Still, it comes down to if you're an unlucky sap like myself who owns a Vita and if you're interested in something like this.

Final Fantasy XIII: Lighting Returns (360, PS3) - The final chapter in the story of Motomu Toriyama's spunk rag, Lighting. Do you understand the story of the FF13 series? I kinda get it (it takes some serious mental gymnastics) and it's a load of crap. And though Lighting is a cutie, she still doesn't have the personality for me to care about her. Thankfully they threw in a lot of fanservice and cheesecake outfits for her. Hopefully FF15 doesn't suck.


yeah, this isn't my typical regurgitating the news post but wanted to do some thing different.
Catch me on twitter

Posted by: Gang of Gaming Morons! at 11:14 AM | Comments (53)
Post contains 1018 words, total size 8 kb.

1 Hi gamers!

Posted by: Y-not on the phone at February 09, 2014 11:15 AM (3+F34)

2 bring on the bitching that I didn't include your favorite piece from a videogame

Posted by: The Dude at February 09, 2014 11:16 AM (bStrg)

3 Wife and I beat Boardlands 2 last night. Not a fan of that final boss battle. I'll say this, I doubt we'll pick it up again (though we got the $7 we paid out of it for sure) but if I play BL3, I'm getting at least 3 maybe 4 people . And FFS, they need a way you can create a level appropriate character to join a game in progress (that doesn't involve 3rd party hacks.) my used copy of AC3 is on it's way. It'll be here about the same time as my new printer/All-in-one. (Fuck you inkjets you haven't been worth the trouble.)

Posted by: tsrblke, PhD(c) (No Really!) at February 09, 2014 11:18 AM (GaqMa)

4 The Elder Scrolls Online is having a beta stress test this weekend. It is unpleasant and boring. I like both TES and MMO's and this fails at being either. No freedom - theme park rails - so Elder Scrolls fans will dump this like a bag of rancid vomit and unfun PVE with 2005 mechanics, a lying developer, and saddled with 59 dollar box plus subscription means most MMO players will avoid this until the inevitable Free To Play conversion. Avoid.

Posted by: Inspector Cussword at February 09, 2014 11:19 AM (FApZx)

5 I'm rather surprised by how much I like the music for World of Warcraft. Not enough to pay the asking price for CDs, but enough to notice while I play.

Posted by: Polliwog the 'Ette at February 09, 2014 11:20 AM (GDulk)

6 Posted by: Inspector Cussword at February 09, 2014 03:19 PM (FApZx) Yikes! Thanks for the heads up.

Posted by: Polliwog the 'Ette at February 09, 2014 11:22 AM (GDulk)

7

Posted by: Inspector Cussword at February 09, 2014 03:19 PM (FApZx)


yeah....due NDA, I'll just say that Rock, Paper Shotgun and PC Gamer are about right on the money

Posted by: The Dude at February 09, 2014 11:22 AM (bStrg)

8 Posted by: The Dude at February 09, 2014 03:22 PM (bStrg) I have not even activated my Beta account. I'll just stay away.

Posted by: tsrblke, PhD(c) (No Really!) at February 09, 2014 11:23 AM (GaqMa)

9 Nothing beats a good game of 'Poppit' on Google Chrome.

Posted by: P. D. Easy at February 09, 2014 11:25 AM (zeKub)

10 3 The Warrior battle is a lot easier if you have a fire immunity shield (look in the medical vendor machines.) The other thing is look for the two wide stones to the right of the stage (as you enter) and use them as cover. If you hide around those it helps a lot at avoiding a lot of his attacks. Plus if you are standing between the two stones when he slams the ground you will be popped straight up instead of getting smacked into the lava. One of the stones has an overhang so if he is in the right spot you can avoid his attacks and avoid getting smacked into the sky at all.

Posted by: Aetius451AD at February 09, 2014 11:25 AM (TGgNi)

11 and no, first person nor over the shoulder cam does not work for an MMO. Especially not when all of the areas are extremely small

Posted by: The Dude at February 09, 2014 11:25 AM (bStrg)

12 I am basing my opinions entirely on publicly available videos and streams, of course. If I were in the beta I would of course abide by the NDA. But I played WoW this weekend and got to level 31 - now it's off to Southern Barrens to kill orcs, trolls, and other monsters. Because Horde are all monsters. Because they are. So there.

Posted by: Inspector Cussword at February 09, 2014 11:26 AM (FApZx)

13 Dude, are you watching the CBC through an online stream or some other way?

Posted by: DangerGirl at February 09, 2014 11:26 AM (GrtrJ)

14 Seconding Inspector Cussword. The crafting system shows some promise, but overall it's not on my "would consider playing after beta" list.

Posted by: Brother Cavil at February 09, 2014 11:27 AM (m9V0o)

15 Posted by: Aetius451AD at February 09, 2014 03:25 PM (TGgNi) Eh we beat it eventually. We were only level 29 and 30 respectively (which may have been a bit low.) The hardest part may have been when we hit a level 32 "Super Badass Loader" that kept healing 100% every time we died . And of course he was between us and the next checkpoint so we couldn't just run past him.

Posted by: tsrblke, PhD(c) (No Really!) at February 09, 2014 11:27 AM (GaqMa)

16 5 For me I think the music was the best for the zones from the third expansion, Wrath. I have not played since the new expansion dropped so have not heard any of that.

Posted by: Aetius451AD at February 09, 2014 11:27 AM (TGgNi)

17 Unless it's bejeweled blitz on facebook

Posted by: P. D. Easy at February 09, 2014 11:27 AM (zeKub)

18 Posted by: Inspector Cussword at February 09, 2014 03:26 PM (FApZx) Sorry I've been on so little. Real life has gotten in the way of returning my malfunctioning PC and I can't play much until that happens. The plan is to call tomorrow and get the return stuff to print out so hopefully it won't be much longer.

Posted by: Polliwog the 'Ette at February 09, 2014 11:29 AM (GDulk)

19 Dude, are you watching the CBC through an online stream or some other way?

Posted by: DangerGirl at February 09, 2014 03:26 PM (GrtrJ)


through CBC's site through a VPN (Tunnelbear which is $5 a month)

Posted by: The Dude at February 09, 2014 11:29 AM (bStrg)

20 15 Finding a good corrosive weapon and having it updated is key in that game for the loaders.

Posted by: Aetius451AD at February 09, 2014 11:30 AM (TGgNi)

21 Thanks, appreciate it.

Posted by: DangerGirl at February 09, 2014 11:31 AM (GrtrJ)

22 oh, if you have an iOS device, Warhammer Quest is on sale for a buck and well worth it for SRPG fun. Play on Hardcore for maximum fun

Posted by: The Dude at February 09, 2014 11:32 AM (bStrg)

23 Old and Busted: People The New Hotness: water voles, greater water parsnips, silver diving beetles

I remember the time when AoSHQ was in English.

Good times, good times.

Posted by: weft cut-loop[/i] [/b] at February 09, 2014 11:33 AM (cxs6V)

24 Posted by: Aetius451AD at February 09, 2014 03:30 PM (TGgNi) I had a high level corrosive shotgun actually that was from the golden key chest, but the loader was (according to the game denoted by the skull next to it) outmatched for us, and often killed us in one hit. Eventually I got my turret down and it took it down enough we were able to snipe it to death.

Posted by: tsrblke, PhD(c) (No Really!) at February 09, 2014 11:33 AM (GaqMa)

25 24 Yeah, some of the enemies seem to level if you die to them. Kind of gets into a bad feedback loop.

Posted by: Aetius451AD at February 09, 2014 11:39 AM (TGgNi)

26 The best pieces of music in Final Fantasy 12 were those that came from earlier Final Fantasies (the opening music, Battle on the Big Bridge). No discussion of video game music, focused on jRPGs as this one is can possibly be complete without mention of Final Fantasy 6 and 7. Terra's theme (pretty much the most remixed video game music on the planet), Dancing Mad, One Winged Angel... I could go on, but I'd be typing for a long time. The fact that Nobuo Uematsu's name did not come up in your discussion is disheartening.

Posted by: ChrisValentine at February 09, 2014 11:40 AM (42vqa)

27 My Threes high score is a piddly 2439 :/

Posted by: The Dude at February 09, 2014 11:40 AM (bStrg)

28

Posted by: ChrisValentine at February 09, 2014 03:40 PM (42vqa)


yeah, it was a case where I started linking to pretty much my whole videogame OST folder and had to pair it down to what it's currently at.

Posted by: The Dude at February 09, 2014 11:44 AM (bStrg)

29 No videogames for me this week. Boardgames are a different story. Buddy and I played a game with the new Lords of Waterdeep: Scoundrels of Skullport expansion. Very cool and fun expansion to an already excellent worker placement game.

Posted by: BornLib at February 09, 2014 11:45 AM (zpNwC)

30 Here is a Olympic event id like to see: Curling with Bob Costas wig

Posted by: Avi at February 09, 2014 11:48 AM (wCFnS)

31 World of Warcraft also has some really good orchestrated music.

Posted by: Roadrunner at February 09, 2014 11:50 AM (xMSfj)

32 Video Game music.  Zelda.

Posted by: buzzion at February 09, 2014 11:51 AM (LI48c)

33 Does anyone else start rooting against the athlete that NBC just wasted 10 minutes doing a biopic upon?

Posted by: Avi at February 09, 2014 11:52 AM (wCFnS)

34 bring on the bitching that I didn't include your favorite piece from a videogame

Posted by: The Dude at February 09, 2014 03:16 PM (bStrg)


It's a travesty that the only FFs you mentioned were the execrable X-2 and XII, particularly when VI has the best videogame soundtrack ever composed.

Posted by: DKCZ at February 09, 2014 12:06 PM (kDEap)

35 as much as I loved FF6's music, that sure as hell isn't the best OST, that would be Ys 2

Posted by: The Dude at February 09, 2014 12:08 PM (bStrg)

36 If you want a tap to flap bird game with some pizzaz, try A Bird's Journey. It's pretty much on everything, iOS, Android, Windows x86/RT. It's free to play with some upgrades requiring real money. A serious time waster.

Posted by: Epobirs at February 09, 2014 12:14 PM (bPxS6)

37

bring on the bitching that I didn't include your favorite piece from a videogame


Posted by: The Dude at February 09, 2014 03:16 PM (bStrg)

You didn't include a cosplay girl either.

Posted by: twit of the year at February 09, 2014 12:22 PM (cBuip)

38 tsrblke "And FFS, they need a way you can create a level appropriate character to join a game in progress (that doesn't involve 3rd party hacks.)" Exactly. One of my buddies leveled way past me 6 months ago and I've been trying to catch up ever since. What a PITA.

Posted by: pilot141 at February 09, 2014 12:28 PM (nPwzA)

39 I would like to put in a plug for "Assault Android Cactus" on Steam. It is a twinstick shooter with a "Cave Co." aesthetic. Runs 60 fps, great pick up and play style. Check it out if you love Smash T.V. and the like. There is a free demo to try.

Posted by: Codec717 at February 09, 2014 12:29 PM (jXG+o)

40 This:

Posted by: twit of the year at February 09, 2014 04:22 PM (cBuip)

Three weeks in a row!  Where am I going to find hot wimmens dressed up as vidya peeps? 

Maybe NDH can help us! 
Ia! Ia! Ia!

Posted by: sithkhan at February 09, 2014 12:32 PM (F7qjM)

41 And since I seem to be the only one who ever talks about racing games - grab Grid 2 the next time it goes on sale. It feels just right, the career mode is varied with a lot of different disciplines and the online component is seamless - your Steam friends just show up on a list in the game, and your lap times are compared to them automagically. I've got 40 hours in the game in about a month.

Posted by: pilot141 at February 09, 2014 12:33 PM (nPwzA)

42 Been playing the Marvel Puzze Quest game lately.   F2play game, but it has the Puzzle Quest game mechanics down.

Main downside is that you run out of single player pretty quickly, and then it's only PvP events that provide you advancement.  

Posted by: ConservativeMonster at February 09, 2014 01:23 PM (AjiwO)

43 What Chris Valentine said. Final Fantasy VI has the best soundtrack in the history of video games, though there's some games (e.g. Xenogears, Betrayal at Krondor) that are pretty close. Seriously, it's got something like a dozen masterpieces (Terra's theme, Celes' theme, Shadow's theme, Edgar/Sabin's theme, Cyan's theme, Kefka's theme, the Veldt music, the battle music, the boss music, etc., etc.) just on that one game. Uematsu at his finest.

Posted by: John at February 09, 2014 02:02 PM (yp/39)

44 I suppose I would care more about Lightning returning if I had felt any need to finish FF13-2. I'm honestly looking forward more to the HD X/X-2 (when I have time for it).

I don't know if it counts as a best of, but the music in the first cavern in FF2 (IV, I know) continues to stick in my memory as the one that most blew me away when I heard it the first time.

And the abandoned city where Cloud and the flower girl part ways-that track sticks with me, too.

Posted by: Methos at February 09, 2014 02:09 PM (hO9ad)

45 What, no cosplay chick?

Posted by: CanaDave at February 09, 2014 02:13 PM (kPpHE)

46 41 And since I seem to be the only one who ever talks about racing games - grab Grid 2 the next time it goes on sale. It feels just right, the career mode is varied with a lot of different disciplines and the online component is seamless - your Steam friends just show up on a list in the game, and your lap times are compared to them automagically. I've got 40 hours in the game in about a month.

Posted by: pilot141 at February 09, 2014 04:33 PM (nPwzA)


Howdy.  Always glad to chat with another aficionado of the virtual carbon footprint.  If you've played Gran Turismo 6 or Forza 5, I'd dig your impressions.

I'm looking forward to playing Grid 2.  It's in the hopper.  I'm already working on "Tales of Xillia", but I suspect that I could fit in quick Grid 2 sessions amidst the RPG workouts.


Posted by: JR at February 09, 2014 02:20 PM (bKxJO)

47 Hey if any fellow morons on the fps side play CS:GO, I run a clean server where we have a lot of fun. A lot of us are conservatives (at least for a gaming server) and we are a free speech server. Check us out at http://abmgaming.com if you want.

Posted by: p0sTpWnEd at February 09, 2014 02:41 PM (OEZl1)

48 JR, I have not sprung for one of the new consoles so I can't speak to GT6 or Forza 5. I played the heck out of Forza 4, and Grid 2 has a similar feel. The cars feel just right, the menus are not clunky like some games, and it is easy to pair up with your friends. If you grab Grid 2, hit me up on Steam. Name there is the same as here.

Posted by: pilot141 at February 09, 2014 03:15 PM (nPwzA)

49 Ah, game music.  One of my favorite subjects!

First, we're getting VGL (Video Games Live) here in Phoenix again next month!  I went a couple years ago, it's an awesome show.  Definitely go if it's in your area!

Good choices you have in the post. I know of a couple that used Memory of Lightwaves as their wedding theme.

Posted by: Jabari at February 09, 2014 03:19 PM (eLSfW)

50 I haven't played lotro in close to a month now, but the music Chance Thomas did for it is fantastic. been getting into hearthstone a good bit this week, and while its still my opinion that it is, as a game, quite inferior to magic: the gathering, it is still quite enjoyable. less than 2 weeks till Thief comes out!

Posted by: tintex at February 09, 2014 06:53 PM (n36K8)

51 Oh - TheDude you should definitely make the music thing a running feature.  I actually really like it when people post things that are "not my favorite" because it exposes me to stuff I haven't heard before.

(As opposed to Uematsu's stuff, which IS my favorite but I've heard it all!)

Posted by: Jabari at February 09, 2014 09:12 PM (eLSfW)

52 Seen some new Morons playing Eve, which is cool. Remember the channel is AoSHQ Zelda has great music. Love the Fire Emblem stuff. Really should get back to playing the new one. Good Stuff Dude, even though there was no cosplay chick

Posted by: Zakn at February 09, 2014 10:41 PM (N6437)

53 Awww. I've just finished playing a second runthrough of Fire Emblem: Awakening. Man, when "Don't Speak Her Name" starts playing, I cry buckets. It's all I can do not to get snot on my 3DS XL. The whole thing with the rain and the battle and the music and what just happened in the game hits me. It's only the second time I've cried because of a game. It's brilliant and my favorite game ever. The music is amazing. I wish I could get my hands on the soundtrack.

The music from Bravely Default is great. I've just finished the demo and I'm about to start the game. Looks to be a good one, judging from the demo.


Posted by: Prudie at February 09, 2014 11:20 PM (FsIyi)

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