Monthly Archive for November, 2006

Final Fantasy XII

Last Final Fantasy sequel in PS2, Final Fantasy XII still boosts strong characters and graphics.

Final Fantasy XII for PS2

The voice overs, whether it is the English or the Japanese are great. There goes the “Haha” that fills with ambigious meaning (sarcastic or real?). The in game graphics engine is as awesome as the CGI scenes. The transition is unnoticeable, and sometimes you might just admire the graphics with your jaws drop.

FFXII comes with the real time battle system, that means that you will no longer bumps onto random encounters and battle on. In FFXII, you can see your enemies while you are exploring around. Now you can avoid your enemies as and when you want or flank them hard. However, you will not see gigantic size monster appearing in front of you. The new introduction, Gambits are sets of instructions for the player’s AI party. It offers more powerful and alternatives to play the game with the real time system. Gambits are earned through each stages of the game, there will be better Gambits that will definitely help you out while you think, for example, heal dying allies first.

FFXII introduces a new skills system, called License. The new system replaced the FFX’s Sphere Grid System. This new system requires players to buy licenses to use items, spells or weapons. The downside of it, players have to rely on FAQs and mind games in order to buy the best licenses because the range of licenses revealed to the players are limited until you open some to reveal to the others.

FFXII will still be a great game. PS2 fans do not need to ditch their PS2 now for the soon to release PS3. Gamespot rated FFXII 9.0. The FAQ is available in GameFAQs.

Dark Messiah of Might and Magic v1.1 Patch released

GameBlog covered the demo and here is the patch for this new game.

- Crash fixed on Save/Load if player has an object in their hands.
- Health and poison effects are no longer displayed during credits.
- Player’s hands don’t appear behind the credits when you combine the Skull of
Shadows
with an equipped spell.
- All game menus are hidden when a video starts.
- Problem fixed when the player tries to switch between Xana mode and an
equipped scroll.
- Indestructible shields are now really indestructible :) - Crash fixed when the player tries to throw a dagger, then immediately jumps
and parries.
- Crash fixed when the player tries to switch between casting a fireball and
taking an
object.
- The DM fonts now support all Eastern European languages.
- Bug fixed. Player cannot re-use a scroll multiple times after switching to
Xana mode.
- Saving is now disabled during end game credits to avoid system anomalies.
- The player now dismounts correctly from the top of ladders, even when moving
backward.
- Leanna no longer shows the wrong animation when exiting from the giant
spider’s lair.
- Fixed a bug that could occur when saving a game at the end of level 12_A. The
chain
that allows you to exit from that part of the level won’t be shortened
(unusable) if you
reload at this point.
- Instantaneous spells (Magic Protection, Heal, Wizard Eye) no longer break
other spells
like Firetrap.
- Climbing NPCs can’t be charmed and fall if shrunken.
- Bug fixed that allowed player to break the planks from the last house of the
l07_a
without being inside the house.
- Bug fixed. When the player uses magic against Aratrok, his bodyguards now
react.
- Fixed getting stuck on door on Level 11, when jumping on a rope attached to
it.
- Fixed weapon being unequipped after jumping in certain conditions
- Fixed when pressing E multiple time in certain conditions would quicksave the
game
- Fixed when pressing E very quickly to get his backpack back at a specific
location, backpack was recovered but all objects were missing
- Localisation: while in game pressing esc and then switchwing to MP, the
confirmation window was not tranlsated.
- Fixed not being able to take any objects under certain conditions
- Fixed game crash after de-equipping a weapon in certain conditions
- Fixed a potential first person hands animation problems
- Fixed being stuck sometimes in some specific locations close to stairs
- Fixed looping dagger and staff sound when doing a power attack and parrying
in the middle.
- Fixed some scrolls that could be used several times (much like a spell)
- Fixed teleporting that could occur when using lockpick
- Fixed Fireball staying stuck to the player until it explodes
- Localisation: German: fixed improper wall signs
- Fixed the mission failed message not appearing when killing the wounded guard
on the island.
- Fixed, shrinked enemies are now sensitive to melee weapon
- Fixed a crashwhen killing a NPC with a fire weapon when he is knee deep in
the water
- Fixed Percy getting stuck in a window
- Fixed Percy not reacting properly to certain players choice (avoiding
spoiler)
- Fixed a certain NPC (still avoiding spoiler..) still looking Alive when he is
should be dead
- Fixed invisible wall present on level 7
- Fixed a crash when at the raggdoll in level 2 with a fire arrow spell
- Fixed collision disapearing on Trap behing the barn after a reload
- Fixed lockping becoming a weapon (melee animations played)
- Fixed Lighting bolt scroll not working
- Fixed issue with telekeninesis not always working as intended
- Fixed issues with “Adjust Brightness Level” still being in game after using
it in the menu.

You can download the patch from Gamespot or Filefront.

Football Manager 2007 Players

*NOTICE* (updated on 21 June) I’m going to create a new post soon and update with a new list of players I compiled. Please keep track of the main page for the updates.

I decided to compile a list of players that I think is worth signing in the game. Take note that I will update this page once in a while to consolidate recommendations.

Goalkeeper
Kasper Schmeichel (Man City) - You can buy him and get your first team GK to tutor him, it will be a great help.

Igor Akinfeev (CSKA Moscow) - One of the bargain keepers in FM 2006, but come with a higher price tag.

Scott Carson (Liverpool) - Good GK, 21 years old. Relatively strong, but can be improved.

Defender
Micah Richards (Man City) - 18 years old Wonderkid, great header. Come with a hefty price tag. Approximately more than 12 million pounds.

Anthony Vanden Borre (Anderlecht) -19 years old defender. Great right back, used as a rotation when Carragher is used as centre-back. Can be bought at around 3 to 4 millions pounds.

Leighton Baines (Wigan) - Strong left back. Comparable to Ashley Cole as a left back.

Marcelo (Fluminese) - A good left back, capable. I bought him at 9 million pounds in the 2nd season. Recommended by many FMers.

Eduardo Ratinho (Corinthians) - Recommended by many FMers also, defence stats are not top-notch, but the attacking stats are good, capable of being an attacking defender.

Dani Alves (Sevilla) - Right Back, stats aren’t fantastic but recommended by many FMers.

Midfielder

Yohan Mollo (Monaco) - 16 years old. Future prospect. Can be bought at around 1 million pounds.

Cristian Benavente (Real Madrid C) - 16 years old. Great stats, can be improved to world-class level. He comes with a minimum release clause, however he does not want to leave as he said he cannot improve before he leaves.

Sherman Cardenas (Bucaramanga)- 17 years old. Good young midfielder with potential. Price tag: 1 million pounds.

Forward/Striker

Michael Owen (Newcastle) - 26 years old. You can buy him at the end of the first season as he is not playing regularly due to injury. Still a great scorer. Price tag: less than 10 million pounds.

Craig Lindfield (Liverpool) - 17 years old. Young and full of potential to become better. Relatively slow, but can be improved.

Theo Walcott (Arsenal)- 17 years old superb talent, full of power and speed. Sometimes you can buy him from Arsenal at around 15 millions but sometimes 50 millions. Depends on your luck.

David Villa (Valencia) - 25 years old. Come with a minimum release clause which is much lower than the expected price. Great purchase.

Javier Saviola (Barcelona) - In Barcelona second team, you can get him for less than 10 million pounds. Capable of scoring regularly.

Nicolas Millan (Colo Colo) - Extremely young and capable scorer of his age. You can sign a youth contract with him only, but as he is young, you may encounter the work permit problem.

That’s all for today. Will update with more players. You can add to this list by commenting below.

EA’s Crysis

EA’s Crysis is one of the first DirectX 10 games to be available in the market. This game boosts superior graphics. The screenshots are absolutely stunning. You can see them here. The ultra-realistic graphics will be the next generation of games, where the looks and feels are important. You have seen the screenshots and there is a shocking news for this game, its system requirements.

The requirements are as follow:

Minimum (Pls take note that this is MINIMUM)

  • CPU: AMD Athlon64 3000+ or Intel Pentium IV 2.8 Ghz
  • Graphics: nVidia GeForce 6200 or ATi Radeon X1300 (At least models that support Shader Model 2.0)
  • RAM: 768Mb for Windows XP and 1GB for Windows Vista
  • HDD: 6GB
  • Internet: 256k+
  • Optical Drive: DVD
  • Software: DirectX 9.0c with Windows XP

Recommended

  • CPU: AMD Athlon64 X2 or Intel Pentium D
  • Graphics: nVidia GeForce 7600GT or ATi Radeon X1800GTO (Models that support Shader Model 3.0
  • RAM: At least 1.5GB
  • HDD: 6GB
  • Internet: 512k - 128kbps upstream
  • Optical Drive: DVD
  • Software: DirectX 9.0c with Windows XP

Well, do you have the recommended specs for this game? The era of single core CPU will be over soon, Dual-core and Qual-Core will take over the job and here come realism.

Crysis will be able to run on both DirectX 9.0 and 10. So Windows XP users are able to play this game, however you are unable to experience the power of the DirectX 10. Will Crysis be the benchmark for next-gen games?