Whose brilliant idea was it to hide the fucking difficulty setting? Apparently I have to play this game for TWENTY-THREE MORE LEVELS before I actually start make any progress in terms of my character's strength.
Fuck you, Disney. You took what should have been an excellent game and completely shit all over it.
Kingdom Hearts can suck my ass.
Tuesday, November 2, 2010
Tuesday, October 26, 2010
Progress for October 25, 2010 - Kingdom Hearts
Nobody cares. Been playing it. About 15 hours in. Level 26.
Progress will be slow for a bit while I work on other projects.
Progress is really slow for FF8 as well. I'm about halfway into disc 2.
I want to play something more action-oriented next.. any suggestions?
Progress will be slow for a bit while I work on other projects.
Progress is really slow for FF8 as well. I'm about halfway into disc 2.
I want to play something more action-oriented next.. any suggestions?
Sunday, October 3, 2010
Progress for October 2, 2010 - Eternal Darkness - COMPLETED
Wheee! Well, technically. This game was fun as hell. But I still need to play through it 2 more times to get the true ending. I guess that'll be something to add to the 100% list.
Friday, September 17, 2010
Breath of Fire - Retrospective
Breath of Fire should come in a plain white box with JRPG stamped on it.
Not to call it a terrible game, but I can't remember the last time I was so underwhelmed and bemused by a game.
Well, maybe one time.
Breath of Fire follows such a generic RPG plot that you can almost play a drinking game with the number of cliches you find. Your character Ryuu is one of the last of a dying race *gulp* who is the only one that can defeat the big-bad. *gulp* You accomplish this by traveling all around the world from one town to the next *gulp* fighting progressively stronger monsters in each area *gulp* In most cases, you will be forced to solve the problem(s) of whichever town you visit before you can continue *gulp* Even while the evil dark lord is sitting in his tower brooding and listening to The Cure. Along the way, you must collect 6 McGuffins *gulp* (in this case Keys) in order to do.... something involving the goddess Tyr.
Honestly, I wasn't interested enough to care. After 6 shots, you'd be ready to pass out too.
Breath of Fire's only saving grace is the field abilities of the characters you acquire along the way, who just randomly HAPPEN to decide to tag along with you. This lends almost a metroidvania-like quality to the game, as your new abilities allow you to access previously blocked off areas. Bo can travel through trees unopposed and shoot his longbow and hunt roaming animals on the world map, Karn can pick locks and disarm traps and pitfalls, Ox can destroy walls and punch trees to collect fruit, etc. While this helps to give the characters much more identity beyond their in-battle skillset, it has the side effect of creating the most convoluted, twisted, backtracking, meandering, where-the-fuck-do-I-go-now? gameplay this side of Resident Evil 2. There are at least a dozen areas in the game where you have no choice but to talk to EVERY PERSON IN THE WORLD and simply HOPE they're the right person to advance the plot. And if that doesn't work, it's time to go searching the entire overworld map for glyphs and icons you may have forgotten about and see if it's time to play with them. And of course, this is all BEFORE you get the ability to fly around the world as a bird.
Breath of Fire is also WAY too easy. I understand that the GBA version (Which I played) is of a lesser difficulty than the original SNES version, but it's a problem that still requires addressing. The encounter rate in the game is brutally high, oftentimes forcing you into a battle every 10 steps, and watch the screen-fade/monster-appear/battle animation/victory/screen-fade sequence every time. If you stop to fight every one of these battles, you will be unfairly over-leveled for most of the entire game, which rarely makes enemies any threat to you. With an encounter rate so high, the only way to catch your breath and actually figure out the labyrinthine dungeons to get anywhere is to use the "mrbl3" item to keep enemies away for 100 steps, and I have a sneaking suspicion that's exactly what the developers intended, since the mrbl3 is one of the dirt cheapest items in the game. There were at least 2 times in the entire game where I simply dropped 300 gold pieces (a pittance) on mrbl3 items to avoid random battles for the entire dungeon, and STILL took the boss out without breaking a sweat, despite not gaining any experience along the way or actively taking time to grind for levels. You can even set the game to battle for you, which makes an already passive activity even less engaging, and once you manage to get Ryuu's final dragon spell, there is NOTHING in the game that can stop you.
Even control is clunky and unresponsive in this game. Navigating menus is uncomfortable, and even though the game was designed for the SNES, the L and R buttons are never used at all to my recollection, even though it would be a VERY welcome option to use them to navigate between party members from the status menu.
The whole of Breath of Fire just seems lazy. I can cut it some slack for being a SNES era RPG with a limited memory capacity, but Final Fantasy 4, 5, and 6 all came out on the same system, and they're all much better designed games with easier to follow, less-cliche storylines, more identifiable characters, and better music. The only tune I recall enjoying is the Big Fish music that plays when Gobi morphs underwater, and you almost never hear that anywhere else in the game.
The Good:
Not to call it a terrible game, but I can't remember the last time I was so underwhelmed and bemused by a game.
Well, maybe one time.
Breath of Fire follows such a generic RPG plot that you can almost play a drinking game with the number of cliches you find. Your character Ryuu is one of the last of a dying race *gulp* who is the only one that can defeat the big-bad. *gulp* You accomplish this by traveling all around the world from one town to the next *gulp* fighting progressively stronger monsters in each area *gulp* In most cases, you will be forced to solve the problem(s) of whichever town you visit before you can continue *gulp* Even while the evil dark lord is sitting in his tower brooding and listening to The Cure. Along the way, you must collect 6 McGuffins *gulp* (in this case Keys) in order to do.... something involving the goddess Tyr.
Honestly, I wasn't interested enough to care. After 6 shots, you'd be ready to pass out too.
Breath of Fire's only saving grace is the field abilities of the characters you acquire along the way, who just randomly HAPPEN to decide to tag along with you. This lends almost a metroidvania-like quality to the game, as your new abilities allow you to access previously blocked off areas. Bo can travel through trees unopposed and shoot his longbow and hunt roaming animals on the world map, Karn can pick locks and disarm traps and pitfalls, Ox can destroy walls and punch trees to collect fruit, etc. While this helps to give the characters much more identity beyond their in-battle skillset, it has the side effect of creating the most convoluted, twisted, backtracking, meandering, where-the-fuck-do-I-go-now? gameplay this side of Resident Evil 2. There are at least a dozen areas in the game where you have no choice but to talk to EVERY PERSON IN THE WORLD and simply HOPE they're the right person to advance the plot. And if that doesn't work, it's time to go searching the entire overworld map for glyphs and icons you may have forgotten about and see if it's time to play with them. And of course, this is all BEFORE you get the ability to fly around the world as a bird.
Breath of Fire is also WAY too easy. I understand that the GBA version (Which I played) is of a lesser difficulty than the original SNES version, but it's a problem that still requires addressing. The encounter rate in the game is brutally high, oftentimes forcing you into a battle every 10 steps, and watch the screen-fade/monster-appear/battle animation/victory/screen-fade sequence every time. If you stop to fight every one of these battles, you will be unfairly over-leveled for most of the entire game, which rarely makes enemies any threat to you. With an encounter rate so high, the only way to catch your breath and actually figure out the labyrinthine dungeons to get anywhere is to use the "mrbl3" item to keep enemies away for 100 steps, and I have a sneaking suspicion that's exactly what the developers intended, since the mrbl3 is one of the dirt cheapest items in the game. There were at least 2 times in the entire game where I simply dropped 300 gold pieces (a pittance) on mrbl3 items to avoid random battles for the entire dungeon, and STILL took the boss out without breaking a sweat, despite not gaining any experience along the way or actively taking time to grind for levels. You can even set the game to battle for you, which makes an already passive activity even less engaging, and once you manage to get Ryuu's final dragon spell, there is NOTHING in the game that can stop you.
Even control is clunky and unresponsive in this game. Navigating menus is uncomfortable, and even though the game was designed for the SNES, the L and R buttons are never used at all to my recollection, even though it would be a VERY welcome option to use them to navigate between party members from the status menu.
The whole of Breath of Fire just seems lazy. I can cut it some slack for being a SNES era RPG with a limited memory capacity, but Final Fantasy 4, 5, and 6 all came out on the same system, and they're all much better designed games with easier to follow, less-cliche storylines, more identifiable characters, and better music. The only tune I recall enjoying is the Big Fish music that plays when Gobi morphs underwater, and you almost never hear that anywhere else in the game.
The Good:
- Classic turn-based RPG style is familiar and easy to understand for veterans and beginners
- Field Abilities of party members add an interesting twist to an otherwise unremarkable game
- Cliche and boring story
- Poorly presented plot-progression requirements
- Unbalanced combat/leveling system
- When they named the minotaur character "Ox", did that decision take more or less time than deciding to name a dragon "Ryuu"?
- Watching the trailer for The Nutcracker 3D on youtube as the auto-battle took care of the final boss for me.
Friday, July 23, 2010
Progress for July 19, 2010 - God of War - COMPLETED!
Kinda snuck up on you this time, but who gives a fuck nobody reads this blog anyway.
expect a review whenever I get around to it. it's not like I have a deadline or anything.
expect a review whenever I get around to it. it's not like I have a deadline or anything.
Thursday, July 15, 2010
BioShock and Diablo 2 - Retrospective
You may feel cheated when I combine these games together into a single review, but when I stopped to think about it, they are actually very similar games. While they may follow very different control schemes, plots, storylines, are set in different fiction genres, and in fact belong to completely different game genres, the two games are actually quite similar in terms of basic thought processes.
You begin each game in a strange environment. People around you seem to have a vague idea of who you are, but you're more or less a stranger to them. However, they still need your help, and you are given a number of quests that you have to complete in order to progress.
As you play through the games, you will encounter various enemies. How you kill them is your own responsibility. The game does not discriminate against the way you choose to inflict damage, but certain enemies will be resistant or weaker to specific types of attacks. Switching methods of attack on the fly is key to defeating waves of enemies without too much headache.
When you kill enemies, they will give you loot. This loot is randomly generated and not fixed to any specific progression. Depending on what kinds of items your kills give you, you may choose to focus on a different method of attack; favor a different type of weapon. The difference between what weaponry enemies give you, what you choose to use, and what weapon is most effective against them is the general balancing act of the gameplay, mostly by choosing the most effective weapon for each situation, based on range, speed, strength, and ease of use. Necessity (or laziness), however, may tempt the player to focus on one or two main modes of attack, and only use others when absolutely necessary (or when bored).
The number of weapons you have access to in Bioshock is much, MUCH smaller than in Diablo, but the overall number of weapon types are more or less equal. Weapons can be infused with elemental properties: ice attacks will freeze enemies and make them easier targets, but fire and electrical attacks are also available. Certain enemies are much more vulnerable to particular elements, while others are resistant or even completely immune.
While Bioshock and Diablo both follow a more or less linear plot (You complete the same quests in more or less the same order in every playthrough) in Bioshock, every weapon and enemy you face appears in generally the same location every time, and in fact every map is identical to every playthrough. Every key item and weapon you find will be in the same location and found at the same point in the plot; in some cases these are even required in order to progress.
Diablo, however, gives you a wide selection of weapons. While any specific aspect of them can be simplified by attack speed, range, and whether it is used in one or both hands, these weapons are replaced with stronger varieties throughout the game, andyour choice of what you use is made more complex with the addition of magical modifiers. Magical weapons can be found that provide any number of bonuses, from increased attack rating, higher health and mana, elemental properties, and much much more.
Unfortunately, The majority of weapons you find will be completely worthless to you. Modifiers such as "low quality" "crude" "damaged" or "cracked" are just as common as an unmodified or "superior" weapon, and these weapons are generally not even worth picking up to sell back in town; they aren't even worth the space in your inventory. And even when you do find a magical item, odds are you won't be interested in the item's particular modifiers. But when you do finally get that perfect item you've been hoping for, it's one of the best endorphin rushes in gaming.
Replay value in Diablo 2 is made much higher than in Bioshock based purely on the sheer number of ways you can play through it. Every class has 30 skills, each of which has 20 levels of effectiveness. Since it's impossible to gain 600 levels, you will have to choose what skills your character will focus on for any individual playthrough. Multiply this by 5 classes (7 in the expansion) and the infinite number of maps that can be randomly generated, and Diablo 2 is a game that anybody can play through multiple times and never have the exact same experience.
But the burning question is: would you want to?
What Bioshock lacks in complexity, it makes up for in focus. While it doesn't do nearly as much as Diablo 2, what it does do is highly polished and enjoyable. It may not be as long, but the fact that it can be played through and experienced much quicker means the entire narrative arc can be enjoyed in a shorter amount of time, and gratification is easier to come across. The game is too short to become monotonous, and too focused to become diluted.
Diablo's enjoyment comes from the progression of your character and growing him/her based on your method of play. You become attached not only to your character, but even your items. You hesitate to throw away that awesome sword you found in act 1, that served you so well for two entire acts and matches your character's skills perfectly, even though it has been rendered obsolete by newer equipment and is taking up too many of your inventory slots. But eventually you bite your lip and sell it to the merchant with a heavy heart, replacing it with something that may serve you better, but has no nostalgic attachment... yet. But perhaps in time you will learn to appreciate this one just as much.
Which is a better game? Who can say. It's all a matter of how you play it.
You begin each game in a strange environment. People around you seem to have a vague idea of who you are, but you're more or less a stranger to them. However, they still need your help, and you are given a number of quests that you have to complete in order to progress.
As you play through the games, you will encounter various enemies. How you kill them is your own responsibility. The game does not discriminate against the way you choose to inflict damage, but certain enemies will be resistant or weaker to specific types of attacks. Switching methods of attack on the fly is key to defeating waves of enemies without too much headache.
When you kill enemies, they will give you loot. This loot is randomly generated and not fixed to any specific progression. Depending on what kinds of items your kills give you, you may choose to focus on a different method of attack; favor a different type of weapon. The difference between what weaponry enemies give you, what you choose to use, and what weapon is most effective against them is the general balancing act of the gameplay, mostly by choosing the most effective weapon for each situation, based on range, speed, strength, and ease of use. Necessity (or laziness), however, may tempt the player to focus on one or two main modes of attack, and only use others when absolutely necessary (or when bored).
The number of weapons you have access to in Bioshock is much, MUCH smaller than in Diablo, but the overall number of weapon types are more or less equal. Weapons can be infused with elemental properties: ice attacks will freeze enemies and make them easier targets, but fire and electrical attacks are also available. Certain enemies are much more vulnerable to particular elements, while others are resistant or even completely immune.
While Bioshock and Diablo both follow a more or less linear plot (You complete the same quests in more or less the same order in every playthrough) in Bioshock, every weapon and enemy you face appears in generally the same location every time, and in fact every map is identical to every playthrough. Every key item and weapon you find will be in the same location and found at the same point in the plot; in some cases these are even required in order to progress.
Diablo, however, gives you a wide selection of weapons. While any specific aspect of them can be simplified by attack speed, range, and whether it is used in one or both hands, these weapons are replaced with stronger varieties throughout the game, andyour choice of what you use is made more complex with the addition of magical modifiers. Magical weapons can be found that provide any number of bonuses, from increased attack rating, higher health and mana, elemental properties, and much much more.
Unfortunately, The majority of weapons you find will be completely worthless to you. Modifiers such as "low quality" "crude" "damaged" or "cracked" are just as common as an unmodified or "superior" weapon, and these weapons are generally not even worth picking up to sell back in town; they aren't even worth the space in your inventory. And even when you do find a magical item, odds are you won't be interested in the item's particular modifiers. But when you do finally get that perfect item you've been hoping for, it's one of the best endorphin rushes in gaming.
Replay value in Diablo 2 is made much higher than in Bioshock based purely on the sheer number of ways you can play through it. Every class has 30 skills, each of which has 20 levels of effectiveness. Since it's impossible to gain 600 levels, you will have to choose what skills your character will focus on for any individual playthrough. Multiply this by 5 classes (7 in the expansion) and the infinite number of maps that can be randomly generated, and Diablo 2 is a game that anybody can play through multiple times and never have the exact same experience.
But the burning question is: would you want to?
What Bioshock lacks in complexity, it makes up for in focus. While it doesn't do nearly as much as Diablo 2, what it does do is highly polished and enjoyable. It may not be as long, but the fact that it can be played through and experienced much quicker means the entire narrative arc can be enjoyed in a shorter amount of time, and gratification is easier to come across. The game is too short to become monotonous, and too focused to become diluted.
Diablo's enjoyment comes from the progression of your character and growing him/her based on your method of play. You become attached not only to your character, but even your items. You hesitate to throw away that awesome sword you found in act 1, that served you so well for two entire acts and matches your character's skills perfectly, even though it has been rendered obsolete by newer equipment and is taking up too many of your inventory slots. But eventually you bite your lip and sell it to the merchant with a heavy heart, replacing it with something that may serve you better, but has no nostalgic attachment... yet. But perhaps in time you will learn to appreciate this one just as much.
Which is a better game? Who can say. It's all a matter of how you play it.
Saturday, May 1, 2010
Progress for May 1, 2010 - God of War
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