My Rant about Collector's Editions

No, i'm not gonna bitch about price. Why? Cause enough people bitch about price. If I cant afford one, I don't buy it, or I wait and hope there will be some later on when I can afford it.

Prime examples of the waiting game?
Bioshock 2
Alan Wake
Deathsmiles
Catherine
Force Unleashed 2
Witcher 2 PC CE
Otomedius Excellent
Record of Agarest War Zero
Lord of the Rings War in the North

Those 2 I bolded, Italicized and underlined are 2 I just received last night. I will be taking pics of their contents and unboxing them during my next Youtube video which will probably happen tonight or tomorrow.
Those 2 right there, well one of them in particular has led to my current rant....



ok...publishers need to seriously figure this out...

NO MORE FUCKING PLAYING CARDS FOR CHRISSAKE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Look, I was down with the Fallout New Vegas ones, cause every card had an image, the backs were from all the different Casinos. Pretty sweet. of Course the down side of that is...who's gonna actually USE them to play cards? you dont wanna ruin those. So rather than using them or displaying them they sit in my CE box.

Then came Fable 3 CE...
What a lovely case. Appealed to the game and book collector in me. I open it and i love that little pull out drawer with that lovely guild seal coin (love it so much I'm planning on getting the Fable Guild Seal tattooed on my lower back..on the side, not  a tramp stamp.) and next to this coin?
Playing Cards....i carefully open the box and take the cards out to look at them and....only the face cards have images, the rest are standard cards...really?
Not only do they give me playing cards I'm not going to play with because...again...collector's item...but they half ass it with only the face cards having artwork, unlike the gorgeous cards that came with New Vegas.
Disappointed :(
There they sit, in their box, in the CE box.

Now..on the flip side real quick...I DID buy a set of Hakuoki playing cards that I will never play with probably because I love Hakuoki. but those were like $5...I'm actually thinking of buying a second pack so me and the kids CAN play cards with them and save one pack... The CE for the game brought a gorgeous artbook and a BEAUTIFUL soundtrack. Man, I can't rave enough about Hakuoki...

btw..new Hakuoki games has been announced and unlike Fleeting Blossom which was a choose your own adventure Otome game, this one will be an action game with actual combat. WOOT!!!!

ok back on topic....

Yesterday I open up my new games and Record of Agarest War Zero brings a lovely box lined with purple satin in which sit nestled 2 small boxes.
One, a set of collectible skill cards...for...well, to collect.
the other box contains...you guessed it..PLAYING CARDS!!!!!!!!!! and again, not the NV kind but the face cards have images only type. *sigh* Another set to sit in a box never to be used...At least the box is pretty?

Now..you might ask... Well Sihaya, No one made you buy the damn CEss right? So why bitch? Not only that BUT CEs tend to tell you what they contain in them before you buy them, so if you have a collection of playing cards its kind of on you.

And I would say, "Fuck you very much for being a smart ass" and after that I'd say "yes you're right..sort of..."

See I bought the above mentioned CEs for numerous reasons, playing cards weren't really factored into that.
What was it that led to me buying them?
Artbooks, Soundtracks, DLC, Making of Videos etc. However, those playing cards take up space and money that could have gone to something more...useful or at least aesthetically pleasing and displayable. So it bugs me.

I guess there's only one thing left to do...

Combine all the packs of playing cards I've gotten. finally learn Caravan and start gambling!

Final Fantasy 13-2 has arrived!

Normally when i post a CE I snap a few pics on my phone and upload them directly from there to here.But, this time, I felt like commenting as I take apart my new game. There are ups and downs.
First I was like YAY!!!!!
Then I was like...wha-??
and then I was like *sigh*



So here it is...my pretty new game:

Front of outer sleeve

Back of outer sleeve

Front view of outer box

Side view of the "book" the game comes in

The actual front cover with a beautiful Amano illustration of Lightning

Back cover with an Amano Illustration of new villain Caius

opening the book you find the disk holders folded and showing some lovely art work

On the left the game disk, on the right the 4 disk Soundtrack

OMG! an actual GAME MANUAL!!!!! Seriously, these days i'm always filled with glee when I open a game and it actually contains a manual...especially if it has more than 1 folded sheet of paper. This one has a pretty thick manual as you would expect a Final Fantasy game to have.

There's another little booklet in there with  a list of all the songs on the soundtrack which I thought was a nice touch.

So far I'm pleased as punch with the CE....then I stopped to look at the Art Book...I am disappoint :(

I have not been this disappointed with an art book since Deus Ex Augmented Edition. The book is actually just a few pages attached to the actual case/book. Two of the illustrations are actually "sketchy" version of the 2 pictures on the folds of the case as you can sorta see below...

The rest are fairly bland environments, followed by drawings of 3 weapons and 2 "monsters" that's it.

didn't I just see these two pictures? Deja vu.....

Overall, its lovely packaging, and a half hearted inclusion of some drawings. I don't consider this an "art book" more like an "art leaflet"
Can't complain I guess since the Soundtrack alone retails for $34.99, the game for $60 and the CE is $79.99. (I had a $10 credit from Amazon so I actually paid $69.99 which soothes the burn a little)
I wasn't expecting much but even with low expectations that is a poor excuse for "art".
There's more beautiful art to admire in the Game Guide which set me back another $20 or so.

Not sure when I'll get to the game since I'm still trying not to hate Final Fantasy 13.


So there you go, the Final Fantasy 13-2 Collector's Edition. If you got it, well, none of this means jack to you and if you didn't...aside from some music you can totally torrent (I didn't say that!!!!) you aren't missing much.


Alright... no more putting it off...Next post will be that horrid Dragon Age Review...


and now....
to wait for Kingdom's of Amalur to get here!! (sadly I couldnt afford the CE to that. $275 is too rich for my blood)

Ain't I lucky?

So I had ordered the Assassin's Creed: Revelations ultimate bundle which came out to $111 and some change.
I did surveys like a mad woman to get a $25 gift card which I used to knock the price down a tad.
Today when my package arrived and I opened it...Surprise! I somehow ended up with 2 copies of the game. Awesomesauce!
This weekend I'll have to get hubby to hang my flying machine above my desk. Cool beans.