Wednesday Update rundown.

Alright, I have a grab-bag of goodies to go over, so let's begin.

Resident Evil: Mercenaries 3D Contains Permanent Save Data


So in an attempt to curb used game sales, Capcom has intergrated a new save system into their latest Resident Evil game.  They will not allow you to reset your save data on the cartridge.  This means, no matter what, you cannot delete your save info from the game (through default means, mind you).  This means, if you buy a used copy, everything will already be unlocked for you.  It'd be like starting a New Game + right our of the gate.

It's an interesting idea, but I can already see some people getting up in arms about this.  Hopefully it doesn't create a backlash like the Ubisoft fiasco.


More Details About Final Fantasy XIII-2


So, this will be mainly gameplay changes I'll cover here.  First, you can talk to people again, like classic Final Fantasy games.  Second, the world is far more open, with branching paths with treasures and monsters.  I cannot tell you how much the first game screwed this one up.  I'm glad to see that the sequel is not so chokingly linear as FFXIII was.  Third, the combat system from the first game in completely intact.  I actually REALLY enjoyed the combat in Final Fantasy XIII, and I only played for about 20 hours (About the time when all the good stuff gets unlocked).  The combat has a definite flow to it that makes it very satisfying when you take down a difficult boss.  Hell, the combat was fun for another reason, there were no easily stompable enemies.  Every fight could potentially bring you down.  To compensate for the tougher fights, they allowed your HP to recover after every fight, and it worked.

One of the newer features though, is the ability to actually actively get Pre-emptive strikes on the enemy.  When one appears, you have a timer appear, if you engage when the timer is green, you get a pre-emptive strike, and the enemy is slowed, or you're buffed, or whatever.  Engage on the red though, and your party is surprised, and now has to fight buffed enemies.


There's a ton of crap I could write about, but for some reason, I haven't had the spark to write an opinionated piece about the news I'm reading.  Maybe I just need to fire up the PS2 and play some RPGs or whatever and make a review or liveblog of a game.  Yeah, that sounds pretty relaxing actually.