Conflict

English might be one of my worse subjects but also one of my favorites to be able to express my thoughts and ideas on a sheet of paper. Not many teachers though shared my ideas as well as my grade 11 and 12 teacher. Who was probably one of the most open teachers I have ever met.

During the class she would always talk about conflict in the story. Which is basically six different kinds of conflicts that actually make the story. I am going to go talk about each of these conflicts and how they resemble some of the games I played that strongly resemble them.

Man vs Society

Bully

Going through the society ranks of school starting with Bullies and ending with Townies for the common goal that even the principle and staff of the school do not see. To bring down the school you have to attack each group and get them to form an alliance. To unify a school without ranks and groups where everyone has a role and no one is bullied.

Man vs Man

There is a lot of games where it's man who is pitted against his fellowman. Mostly all first person shooters are this sort of conflict.

Hitman

Is a good example of Man vs Man with the struggles of bringing down certain individuals for hire leaving no evidence at the scene is what makes this game really pop out for me.

Swat 4

One of my most favorite online shooter games that at one point I was highly addicted to. Being a swat member isn't easy when the sole purpose is to secure each area hand cuffing or killing if needed. The thing is that killing someone would deduct you points and can leave to a fail if they haven't tried shooting you first. Which is basically what would happen to cops if it ever happened to them. So this game is like being in swat using lingo and standard formations is a big part in this game and in real swat situations (I watch a lot of Dallas Swat.)

Man Vs Nature

Sadly there isn't enough games with this type of scenario out there I wish they would make more games where it's you vs nature. But there are two games that I really love both from the same company and both I really enjoyed and even with another one on the way for the Wii.

Disaster Report

The first one of the series pits you up against a fallen city in ruins as you must survive the elements and out run earthquakes and floods to escape the falling island. With multiple endings and awesome graphics that will leave you crapping in your pants from it all.

Raw Danger

The sequel to Disaster Report puts you against the forces of nature once again as you much escape a flood from the city. Unlike Disaster Report you get to play as different characters with their own scenarios and endings, once in a while they will run into previous or future characters you play. Sometimes changing the storyline depending on the actions you made.

Man vs Unknown

All horror games are all like this, the unknown is what makes horror games scary because what we don't understand scares us. That's what makes horror games so great so I will name a few games that I really like.

Silent Hill
Rule of Rose
Clock Tower
SIREN
Kuon
Cold Fear
Resident Evil
Fatal Frame
Alone in the Dark
Obscure

Man vs Machine

Metal Gear Solid

The whole basics of the game is to stop the machine known as Metal Ger from being used as a nuclear weapon used upon the world. With every new game a new Metal Gear is made, being different and sometimes similar to previous Metal Gears Solid Snake fights. Technology plays a huge role in the series and with Guns of the Patriots coming out it's going to probably be bigger then all the others.

.Hack

Another game would be the .Hack games. Mostly because it's about being on an online computer game trying to stop a virus that puts players into comas from spreading. This would be the technology part of it all. This series has been shown through games, anime, and manga. With sequels and a rumored online game of it's own coming out all with the single goal of stopping technology from controlling us.

Man vs Himself

Silent Hill 2

There is only one game that has this theme strongly held in a game and that is Silent Hill 2. The idea of looking for you wife in a town that reflects your life and as well as others lives around you makes it really deep and moving. With everyone experiencing the reality of what they done through reflection of their own demons and monsters. Making it have multiple endings depending on how you face yourself in this town. I am not a big fan of Silent Hill 2 but I do admit that the story line is pretty good and probably one of the best that defines this conflict the best.

Tales of the Abyss

This one also has a strong message about your identity despite what Yulia's Score a prophecy made for every person ever born to live by. Trying to find your own ground even if you're no more then a shadow in someone else's footsteps. Even the main theme song in it is called "Meaning of Birth" which the a lot of characters have to learn such as Luke, Natalia, and Asch. Which he learns at almost the end of the game, best way to describe is through this video. Spoilers!

Innocent LIfe

I had a day off today, I was planning to clean and do house work but instead I was too addicted to Innocent Life. Just like any Harvest Moon game I will become crazy addicted to it and will hardly put it down for anyone. I guess the fun care free life style of this game series makes it a lot more calming and easy to play compared to other games. This game takes place in the future where an island called Heartflame Island is on the edge of becoming over whelmed by lava from the Fire Spirit who rules the island. It all began in ancient time when the Spirit of the Forrest was deceived by humans who were trying to get the crest to win a war. The spirits then punished the humans and almost wiped out the entire race of Easter people. Even in the present of the game the people of the island was still feeling the wrath of the spirits.



A doctor came up with a way to save the people by making a robotic human which he prefers as an Innocent Life to save the people by unlocking the seals of Ancient Ruins and farming the old ways to prove to the spirits that not everyone has turned to technology as all the towns people have.



That is how your character is born they give him a name at the beginning in which you can change later on. I decided to keep the name which was Life. At the beginning you were taught the basics of farming and was soon sent to a 3 story ruins that kind of resemble an Aztec temple. Wish secret passages and 3 stories you can use for your own personal needs.



Later in the game when everything gets moving you get a buggy cart which you can drive all around the island and a robot to help you farm. It's sort of an advanced Harvest Sprite. There were a lot of things that I really enjoyed that I noticed that they changed from a lot of games such as if you drop something on the ground it wont disappear. If you don't water your plants they wont die the next day they will still live but you wont get as much money as for them. The only things I don't like is the lack of festivals and when a festival does come up if you don't do things properly you can miss the entire thing. It became very fusterating at times especially the ones that will actually get the story moving again. You also don't get married in this game sadly this is the second game I played that you don't get married the other one was Harvest Moon Save the Homeland. As well as there was some spelling mistakes I noticed in it but not as bad as Friends of Mineral Town. Also everyones houses are too big and it's easy to get lost in them! (I just quickly put that in).

Just like in any Harvest Moon you get a TV and you can watch a lot of interesting shows such as Cooking, Drama, and Anime. The Anime channel shows two series from what I saw one called "Cute Witch" and the other "Final Z Rangers." For Drama it's "Where's My Mommy?" and "Melancholy Woods." In Final Z Rangers there is an Alien who moves into a condo that you somewhat rent out at the bottom of your ruins. He is a really weird thing that kind of looks like a blue baby.



In the game you learn how to become human by getting your human status up from rising to a challenge to watching life and death happen to you. The more you understand them the more you truly believe you are human.

I recommend this game to anyone who enjoys Harvest Moon games, real farming might be boring but not Fantasy farming.

Metal Gear Solid Easter Eggs

Seeing how Easter is almost over I figured that I should do a special Easter Egg talk of some of my most favorite Easter Eggs. Some of my most favorite Easter Eggs happen in Metal Gear Solid series, even in Metal Gear Solid 2 Sons of Liberty under a desk next to the parrot you can see Easter Island statues to pose as an Easter Egg.

One of my favorite Easter Egg is in Metal Gear Solid 3 Snake Eater where at the end of the game you can see Ocelot through the window of the Presidents office giving you hand gestures. As well as throughout the game you can see Ocelot give you hidden hand gestures. As well as The Boss mocking him on his hand gestures in the torture room.

There is even a sexually hidden clip in Metal Gear Solid 3 is when you keep the transmitter inside you and escape from prison and meet EVA under the waterfall. Once there you can see a special hidden clip.

Another game that I notice had a mention of Metal Gear Solid was Hitman Blood Money when one of the missions said "Only pussies hide under boxes."

There is also Silent Hill posters that are all over Metal Gear Solid and even Silent Hill has quite a few references to Metal Gear Solid as well as the other Silent Hill series. At one area Heather finding Solid Snakes body inside a wall and she takes his silencer. As well as Heathers landing a certain way to make a reference to Solid Snakes pose at the beginning of Metal Gear Solid 2 when he jumps onto the tanker.

Easter Eggs will always be in movies, books and video games the best ways to find them is to explore and keep your eyes open for anything odd that comes your way.

Jeanne d'Arc

I just defeated Jeanne d'Arc it took me a while but I have to admit it was probably one of the best tactics game I played. I played quite a few tactics game and they abuse me with their leveling and just the whole movement of the game. But I think I found a game that didn't beat me bagging for me to stop until I cry and give up on the game.



The game at first was really in depth of the Joan of Arc story but once at a certain part it started it own little story leaving the tale of Joan of Arc behind. The ending I thought was okay there is hardly endings that I really like but it wrapped everything up leaving it so it could have a sequel if needed.



At the end of the game there is a free battle area that you can go to a cemetery and fight ghouls and ghost in. Other then that there is nothing really to do in it but repeat the ending over and over.



In the game you get to choose between two hidden characters either a whip girl named Rose or an aged witch that looks young named Claire. I went with Claire because I needed more magic users on my team and she helped a lot time and time again.



I don't usually latched onto a lot of female characters mostly because I feel that they always lack the will that I look for in characters. But Jeanne is probably one of those great characters I can respect to play as a female leader in the game.



It's a good game that I recommend to anyone who likes JRPG tactic games, it doesn't take too much to level and there isn't much of a grind you have to go through. So it's fairly easy to get through the game with little to no problem.

Final Fantasy X-2

It's been a long time since I played this game, I paid full price with this game and was very disappointed in it. This game shouldn't have been a sequel to Final Fantasy X, at best it should have been a Final Fantasy game of it's own. It wouldn't have been too hard to make it either.

"A young girl is in search of her love who died 2 years ago, she believed he was actually dead until she found a sphere. This sphere contain images to what might be her long lost love and is in search with her two friends and her new formed group the Gullwings to find answers by sphere hunting the world."



That would have been a good game on it's own but instead they made it a sequel to one of the best Final Fantasy's and making it a big mistake and almost ruining the series.

It wasn't a bad game it is quite good in it's own way, with the singing, the side missions, the jobs and the fighting combat. But it also had a lot of flaws such as "New Areas" that were some how hidden in the first game such as Wakkas hidden cave. I just couldn't believe they tried to pull something like that it was just really unbelievable. Not to mention a lot of the game had plot holes such as this "Ultimate Weapon Vegnagun" and Lenne trying to stop her boyfriend Shuyin from using the weapon on the world because he didn't want Lenne to go to war because she was a summoner. But wait. How can Lenne be a summoner? The first summoner was Yunalesca who defeated Sin, so Sin shouldn't come back for another ten years so there is no reason for Lenne to be a summoner. It's only been two years since it happened, and summoners don't go on the pilgrimage until Sin reappears. Maybe I missed something but that has to be a big plot hole right there. Just like in Final Fantasy X how Auron was able to go to Dream Zanarkand.



All in all I would never accept this as a sequel to Final Fantasy X the ending for it was just as good without this add on.

Destroy All Humans! Big Willy Unleashed

A while ago I defeated Destroy All Humans! Big Willy Unleashed it was a really fun game for the Wii and the first game I defeated for the system. At first I found the controlling really hard to do, mostly because I am not use to Wii remote and this adjustment took a while before I got the hang of it.

The game is about the 1970's where Pox started a fast food restaurant called Big Willy's using the dead human bodies that Krypto killed throughout the generations for DNA. Now the Colonel Kluckin the fast food rival to Pox discovered the secret behind it all and is trying to bring ruins to Pox's Big Willy.



Throughout the whole game they keep making puns about the "Big Willy" robot or restaurant. It was funny but a lot of the time disturbing. I was hoping for more humor around the Wii system and how this game wasn't on the Playstation. They also had a lot of missions one of them explains what happened to Kryptos love interest in Destroy All Humans! 2, Natalya.

Krypto now seems to be a lot more happier being on Earth then before in the first and second game all he did was call the humans stupid monkeys. As well as hated everything about them and wanted to destroy everything that they treasure most. Now Krypto seems to be warming up to the planet and wants nothing more then to get laid by a hot Earth girl.



Unlike Destroy All Humans! 2 all the places aren't real country's but resemble certain places like Vietnam.

There is an Island called Fantasy-Atoll which is a rip off of Fantasy Island and you see everything in there from Pirates to survivors from plane crashes.



There is a lot of new weapons as well as old ones my favorite is the Zombie gun which turns everyone you use it on into zombies and sometimes the people they bite as well. It's like play Resident Evil. As well as Big Willy the mascot of Pox's fast food restaurants which you can go inside and use attacks such as laser eyes and bad breath.



The bosses in it were awesome, my favorite as the stereotyped Asian who rode a bike throwing bomb strapped chickens at you.

It was quite entertaining chasing him around trying to blow him up while he makes cracks about Chinese food and Chickens.



The only things that I didn't like about the game was that it was too short and there wasn't enough talking amongst the people when they saw Krypto. In the other two games there was nothing but yelling, screaming and puns about Krypto or themselves.



The game itself is before Destroy All Humans! 3 Path of the Furon but at the end of the game they do lead up the it. Which I think is a good way to end the game, hopefully I will have a next gen system when Destroy All Humans! 3 comes out so I can play it.

I Have No Rhythm!

I just finished playing Unison a game I bought a day ago at a pawnshop. In high school my friend always talked about this game and how it was awesome dance game. I played it and I made it official I have no rhythm. Whether it's Mad Maestro, Dance Dance Revolution, Rayman Raving Rabbids, or Unison. One thing is for sure I have no rhythm in any of them any of them. I guess I am not meant to play these kinds of games. Perhaps it's my lack of memorizing that is the key issue.



I wish I could review more of this game and really get into it but I am stuck on the practice part and I think I need a C to complete stage. I did this for about half an hour and I need to go to bed soon so I doubt I will do anymore today.

Jeanne d'Arc

Growing up I heard many stories of Joan of Arc, a woman of only seventeen who lead France to many victories over the English in the name of God. After being injured and refusing to give up on the battles she was captured by the English and trialled. She was convicted of Heresy by the English courts and sentenced to death by burning at the stake. I idled her as a child when I saw her on TV with the show Wishbone.





There is a lot of stories, movies, and so on about her. To my surprise when I found the video game about her called Jeanne d'Arc (Joan of Arc in French). It's a tactics JRPG, about Jeannes adventures through the power of her holy amulet. So just by hearing that part you know they do mix fantasy into reality in this game. You can also use magic and there are animal-humans in it, but the story still sticks very closely to the plot.





There are anime cut scenes in it which I find really amazing. Mostly because everyone have French accents to make it really authentic. The only way it could be any better would to have French speaking and subtitles on the bottom.





The battle system is really good for people who like tactic games but hate the grind of it like me. Leveling is very easy because you gain experience doing anything from fighting, healing, magic, counter attacking, and living through the stage. The equipping makes it so you can make your character unique instead of having 4 classes of healers or 3 of warriors. You can equipped skills and magic to characters you desire and even have their elements of Luna, Sol, and Stella.



I really like this a lot it's one of the better tactics games I played. I'm already on the second chapter and I am not going insane from it.