PixlBit

damn dude that scythe is FUCKING AWESOME!

Glad to hear u are doing well, and you've got music for your game now. 

Yeah Matt,it feels liberating to have royalty free music and good music at that. No more possibilities of weird nasty legal stuff. lol. Glad you like Lucian's scythe!

That's cool that you got the soundtrack redone. Also, for a game that probably will get (or already has) the...what the hell was Mackey's girlfriend's name again?...up in arms, check out the game I just reviewed.

Oh no, "clan Mackey" out on the prowl again,Tam? lol. I'll read your review gladly!

 Firstly: If you need more tracks, let me know. I've got at least 2 that you can use. If not, it's cool. Just letting you know you've got options.

 Secondly: If you want to be truly offended, look for the visual novel Song of Saya. A) It's amazing, feeling like Silent Hill but more disturbing, with rape, paedophelia (perceived anyway) filicide, and so much more in disturbing content. I was okay with most of the sex scenes because they were't for titilation, they were there to disturb and actually add to the plot, but one is a bit silly, with a rape scene that actually made me laugh with how stupid it is. Other than that, check it out, I think you'll like it. I loved it to be honest, but it is fucking heavy.

Doesn't Song Of Saya play out like an interactive novel murder mystery,Blake? I'm getting pangs of familiarity. 

Funny you should mention "music" because Gutterdelve will be having a sequel. If you're willing to share a couple of tracks I'm all for it!

Lastly, "Deadly Premonition" has a good plot of sex,murder,and messed up paranormal strangeness too. The best version is the Director's cut on the PS3 but I think it's on Steam too. (Though is not as stable based on what I read) I have the first release for the 360 and it's sad the price for that version has kind of sky rocketed.

 I'd love to lend some tracks! Oh, and I already have Deadly Premonition.

 No, Song of Saya is pure psychological horror. Very Lovecraftian, very, very dark. 

I love psychological horror so I'll probably check it out. Between Saya and a few more times playing Cry Of Fear I'll probably be a broken man and a thrall to the old ones! 

 I have to warn you though... I LOVE the genre, but there were moments that were so dark I actually had to go outside.

I feel you,Blake. I was like that with Grave Of The Fireflies. Good anime but mostly sad and tragic. I'll step away from Saya if I have to at certain points but I might endure it for the good story.

Hehe..Glad to see you around here Ben..~

Sorry I haven't been as active lately,Alc. LIfe has just been all over the place the last few months!

Heheh,it's fine..I kinda understand ever since starting on a request from deviantart that has pretty much become a collaborative effort.(Along with finishing a request from a friend.)I've pretty much barley kept up with most other hobbies..~

It's good you've been able to work on your art though! I often "disappear" during projects too. lol.

I figured you would like Lollipop Chainsaw. I liked it well enough, but figure it wasn't worth the $65 I paid for it. Ah well. I probably was just desperate for something different at the time. Nice job on Lucian, Ben.

I agree,Aaron. It's probably not worth $59.99. But for $19.99 total it was a sweet deal! 

I don't understand the misogyny claims for the first one at all, and I still remember that FoxNews The Five panel discussing Mass Effect that you referenced. What upset me most is my dad took their side, despite my explanation of how unlikely it was you'd get to that PG-13 cutscene at all (I have never played it, but I know how vidja games work). 

As for Lollipop Chainsaw, I can at least get where people are coming from, but its offensiveness is part of its charm for me, though I have not played it, either. Eh.

I couldn't belive Fox went after Mass Effect. Compared to many other games ME is so tame. That and the female characters in it are very positive. (Except that annoying reporter chick who doggedly pursues Shepherd across the universe!)

  As for Agarest War it's pretty mild. There's fan service but no more than you'd get from a comic book in the 90's. You're also not much of a "man whore" considering you settle down with one woman before creating your offspring.

  Then there's Lollipop Chainsaw which when you think about it is not nearly as offensive as the majority of the stuff you do in GTA 5 or Saints Row 4. I find it unfair how western game journalists do not criticize their own games that have raunchy offensive humor too harshly yet it's always open season on Suda 51,compile hearts, or Hideo Kojima. Why do such people can so much about pseudo moral superiority? It baffles me,Joe! 

It's part of the American Puritan/Calvinist mentality. "Suggestions of sex - evil; gratuitous violence - good."

Lollipop Chainsaw is great. Probably my favorite Suda 51 game to date. It's not Bayonetta, but I like its style and it plays well enough.

Agarest War is from Red Entertainment, the folks who made the hugely popular Sakura Wars games on Saturn, Dreamcast, and PS2. The PS2 Sakura Wars is one of my favorite games of all time. These games aren't quite up to that standard, but they aren't bad, either. I will admit they have the obnoxiously bobbing breasts in the visual novel scenes, but other than that, I don't see why people would bitch about it.

After exposure to the breast physics brought to me by Team Ninja Agarest war doesn't phase me,Andrew. lol. Actually, the first game doesn't have any jiggle physics I've seen so far. (Though yeah, the artwork can be very suggestive at times)

As for Lollipop Chainsaw,it is really fun! Not saying it's "Game Of The Year" but it's a nice change of pace from the usual 3rd/1st person shooters. Most of the humor in it wouldn't even offend the majority of my female friends though I guess my female friends are not all the typical "Girly gurls" or "Social justice warrior" types. (A fact for which I'm grateful. lol.)

I know about the Puritanical U.S. response to sex in media, I've been saying since high school or earlier that it's a bit insane; I meant the way Ben described it, I wasn't really picking up on that much for Puritans to find offensive, but granted I did skim. 

What I meant is that it's ingrained in US culture. Even those of us who are less uptight about sexual content are subject to it, to a certain degree. Gears of War had gratuitous blood and gore, nobody batted an eye. Mass Effect had a sex scene but little violence, Fox News had a cow. Even the ESRB ratings reflect this. A game with gratuitous blood and gore is on the top rack in Wal-Mart with a M rating and would be advertised heavily by Microsoft or Sony as the must-have game of the holiday season. A game with explicit sex scenes, even with zero violence, would be an automatic AO rating and would not even be approved for release by Sony, Nintendo, or Microsoft. It's a cultural thing in this country. We've always glorified war and fighting and been ashamed of sex.

Like I said, I know, I'm aware of everything you said, I've been aware of it for a long time now. 

I just was not reading anything in Ben's description that would warrant backlash even from out culture, but now, reading "oral pleasure to certain food groups" after re-reading, I think I'm getting it. 

It's also intensified,Joe. I remember when comic books wouldn't catch much flak for sexy poses and sexual content (within reasonable PG 13 standards) but now you have folks rallying against such content with the mockish Hawkeye initiative.

I'm not saying all content should be "kinky" and "pandering" but I do think it should be allowed to exist. I'm all for evolving gaming as art and entertainment but no genre should be sacrificed for that goal. (Afterall, even films have grindhouse midnight movies!)

1. Agarest:  I've really been wanting to play this game. I've been on a strategy RPG kick ever since I reviewed Disgaea D2, so I think it's only a matter of time before I pick this up.

2. Lollipop Chainsaw:  Great game! Still kind of short though. I managed to save all of the students and I believe I gathered all of the collectibles (they're not too tough to find) on my first playthrough, and I think it only took me about 10 hours total.? Either way though, I still had a lot of fun, and I'm sure you'll enjoy it as well!

1. Agarest war has a great battle system. However Disgaea's cheeky writing and sense of humor are hard to beat. In contrast,Agarest War takes itself more seriously. But I was surprised how good the narrative actually was. It's translated rather well!

2. I should have gotten LC sooner but I was afraid about the length. However, a friend assured me there's plenty to unlock. Embarassingly enough I let one student die in the beginning. The cowardly guy who locks you out then gets confronted by a bunch of explody zombies. Because of a weird camera angle I didn't get to him in time. Oops! (troll-face)

Nice to see ya Ben.

I did heard of Agarest War and I remember when I used to frequent GameSpot that the site gave it an actually positive score, though I did never heard of the controversies you said. Good thing it's all just exageration. Since it's on Steam, I wouldn't mind playing it.

Good to see you too,Alejandro!

Agarest war never came under attack for being a tactical rpg. It more came under attack for the female art designs and the dating/marriage mechanics. IGN gave it a pretty good score too. 7 out of 10 is not too shabby at all for a game like this to receive!

My only gripe is it lags a little bit during the "exploration dungeon" parts. However, it's not so terrible it made me hate the whole game.

That's something I'll never understand when it comes to games, sometimes at least. Show all the violence you want, that's fine, but don't you dare even so much as allude to a romantic relationship or have female characters show some skin!

Yeah,it perplexes me too,mate. Personally I'm not big on torture scenes and needless human sacrificing but ironically those types of themes do not get much critical back-lash. But if there's "implied sex" or the violence in question happens to a woman instead of a man the journo shitstorm will cometh!  

If Record of Agarest War appears on a Xbox Live sale, I'm getting it. I love Strat RPGs. And Sakura Wars. I have one on Wii that I need to get to. I believe someone important on the Valkyria Chronicles team did work on that one. 

It's a good game but very long. However, most tactical rpgs are lengthy out of the gate.

I remember Argarest War.  While it's no Final Fantasy Tactics, I thought it was a fun game.  I made it to the second generation before something pulled me away.  I picked up the second Argarest War on Amazon when they were having a sale, but I'm still waiting to finish the first one (Oh pile of shame, how you keep growing.)...  The biggest piece of controversy surrounding that game was the mouse pad with the breast wrist rests that was included in the box (from what I can remember).

I really enjoyed Lollipop Chainsaw.  It's one of the best playing Suda 51 games I've played.  I hope you enjoy it too.

Agarest was is surprisingly good but it's so long I can see how easy it would be to get distracted,Ceva!

And yeah, Lollipop Chainsaw is pretty friggin sweet! I'll likely snap up Shadows Of The Damned at some point too!

What?!?1 In that game I get to be a DAD?!?!?!

Don't take this the wrong way but I want to get these games now!

I'm debating about Lollypop for this year's Octoberween gaming. Will need to see.