the flying squirrel

From: BlackRose
Subject: What do you...

do what when you're in your room? Don't just play games, you should go out and work out. You'll get fat. =)

I just got that email from BlackRose. Not to me, per se. It was sent to my character in .hack://infection. It's quite startling, seeing as pretty much the only thing I've done all day (and for a large chunk of yesterday) was play games.

I traded in a bunch of my old PS2 and GameCube games at EB yesterday. In return, I got two new games: .hack://infection and Disaster Report.

Disaster Report is wonderful. It was released in Japan as Zettai Zetsumei Toshi which, according to my Japanese dictionary, means something like "Absolute Death Capital City." I'm sure "Disaster Report" was chosen 'cuz it's a bit catchier in English. I was a bit sad to see the Americanization of the game, but after a while it didn't bother me so much. The dubbing isn't bad, and it seems to me the soul of the game is intact. I'm terribly happy with it. It reminds me a lot of Tomb Raider, actually, except that it's actually got a coherent plot (the lack of which turned me off Lara... I guess we're expect to be distracted by her, er, other assets). Tycho writes a better review than I can. I have to say that I find that, with the city falling apart all around you, it's wonderful that you can take the time out to put on a cowboy hat. It's a cool hat.

When I bought it, the cashier helpfully pointed out that she thought the girl on the cover (seen right) looked like one of the Olsen twins.

I'm a little less certain about .hack. I picked that up on a spur-of-the-moment whim. I was looking for Disaster Report, but I had some extra credit from my trade-ins and I have this weird almost subconscious quirk where I don't like to buy just one thing when I'm in a store. I was thinking something along the lines of an RPG, but I was kind of leaning towards the Zelda GBA game. I think what sold me on .hack was that you get a bonus anime DVD (which was pretty cool, really), and something about a "simulated MMORPG" on the back cover.

I don't like the idea of massively multiplayer online games. Mostly because the vast majority of online gamers are absolute dicks. But a simulated MMOG might just be cool. And actually it is. In .hack you're playing a character who's playing a video game. It's supposed to be the hottest video game in years—The World—and everybody loves it. You run around talking to other players and playing the game. It's odd, though, that the greatest game in years from several years in the future really blows. It's dull. I can take your standard hack-em-up, but this one is pretty pointless. I suppose it would be a bit distracting to have two interesting and complicated games going on at once, but for the amount of time you spend playing The World, the least they could have done was make it more interesting.

I think my biggest problem with .hack is that it's obviously a game for RPG otaku. And I'm not. I don't play RPGs that often. I played Golden Sun on the GBA until I got stuck and couldn't be bothered to figure my way out. Before that, Diablo II, I guess, and before that was Exile III on my sister's Mac when I was at home for a summer. The only Final Fantasy game I've played was on the NES. Maybe Zelda would have been a better idea.

But .hack slowly growing on me anyway. The fact that they (optionally) kept the Japanese dialog is cool. And the surrounding idea is pretty compelling. I figure I'll see where it goes. I'll probably finish Disaster Report first, though.

Then again, I should probably go out and get some excercise, too...