Throughout my long career working in the retail industry, I’ve noticed that people complain about the darndest things. That’s nothing ne; no one ever seems to be truly satisfied. What forever blows my mind is that people will gripe and complain, but still buy the products they’re complaining about. Why is that?

This week’s comic is a perfect example of a typical gamer attitude, and collectively transcribed from conversations I probably had over a hundred times. If you don’t like a plastic steering wheel then don’t buy it. I made the same remark last week about Okami. People complain across Internet messageboards everywhere about it being a straight, no-frills port. Instead of complaining, why not actually do something about it?

I’m not saying you shouldn’t buy games, but don’t buy the games in which you are generally disinterested. I’m nabbing Mario Kart Wii when it releases this month because I enjoy the franchise. I’m sure that the new Kart won’t be a huge improvement over the Gamecube version, but that doesn’t bother me. Now, I certainly won’t be buying three extra racing shells, unless the racing shell somehow reinvents the wheel (yuk yuk). Everything that I’ve read indicates that it won’t change the way you play and most seasoned players will stick with either a Gamecube or Classic controller.

On a portable note, I picked up Rondo of Swords last week. I’ve always enjoyed the art style of Atlus games and this one is no different. What has thrown me for loop is the gameplay. Being an avid Fire Emblem whore, I’m having a difficult time adjusting to the way the combat works. For instance, in Rondo your characters can maneuver a certain number of squares and will attack all the enemies along the movement path. This prevents the time-honored turn-based strategy of buffetting archers and mages behind more powerful fighter types.

I still haven’t figured out how to calculate damage yet. In most strategy games, you can move to attack an enemy and check a quick table to estimate how much damage you are going to deal. Not so in Rondo of Swords. Sure, everyone has an attack and defense value, but there is no way that I can see to determine out how much damage your weapon does without committing to an attack. Therefore, you have to guess how much damage you’re going to do. For non-numbers people, this apparent randomness might be a little more enjoyable, but it drives me nuts.

That said, I’m enjoying the game thus far. It’s just the new way to play that still sticks a little, and it’s going to take me a while to get into my groove. More on the game as I progress further.

- Dover

Popping in here to let everyone know that the Monday Night Crew has some good stuff nearing completion. Stuff that perhaps all of you will be able to see in the not-too-distant future. Also! Heroescon in June. We will be there! Hope that you will be too!

I have not forgotten about my weekly write-ups covering a new IP. I just think that our new digs might be a better area to introduce this stuff.

- Irving