In the spirit of role-play, inspired by some comments regarding that topic from a friend and an inspiration (and also to brush up on my storytelling skills), I've decided to blog about my party's exploits as though they are keeping a journal. Dorky? Yes, hella dorky. Also, kind of spoilery if you haven't yet happened upon the third stratum, so beware the green text if not.
The Metroid Guild continued to explore the strange labyrinth below the sea town of Arboroad, and had found their way down to the tenth floor. The unease the group felt on the ninth floor from the occasional pool of lava grew to full-blown terror once they stepped into what appeared to be an active volcano. Their armor seemed to grow heavier under the heat, and the perspiration on their hands and faces seemed to boil from it. As they carefully explored the area, Kyle cast light ice magic to use bits of ice to soothe the party's burns and provide some drinking water.
After thoroughly mapping the first room, the group pushed past the rock at the far end and entered an altogether different cave. There were pools of lava stretching as far as they could see, but that was the least of their worries; in the center of each pool lie an enormous dragon! As they stood there, mouths agape, some three foot tall living mushrooms who had sneak up on the Guild began spewing thick clouds of spores in their faces. Nathan found himself confused from the spores, and began swinging his sword wildly in hopes of ending the disorienting torrent. In his panic, he struck Yukiko's left leg, and she let out a yell in pain. As Kaitlyn began rapidly firing her pistol at the mushroom closest to Nathan, Kyle applied a healing salve to Yukiko's wound. Shadow, however, was barely even paying attention to the plight of his guildmates; the ninja had been eying the dragon who lay only fifty paces away, and watched as it made a beeline for his preoccupied friends.
"We should leave, now," he insisted. When his compatriots asked why, the stoic ninja merely pointed behind them to the lumbering dragon now only twenty paces away. Nathan had regained his composure, so the party began making their way to the room they had left mere moments ago. To aid in their escape, Shadow chanted a few arcane words and created a duplicate of himself to distract the mushrooms. As they pushed past the narrow door of rock, the dragon behind them let out a roar of disappointment. Her meal had escaped by a mere hair's breadth.
One of the things I love the most about the Etrian Odyssey series is the narrative. Not the narrative the game explicitly gives you, mind; the narrative you construct in your head for your tailor-made party. The game is largely scant on narrative detail, and even the graphics, although very good, contain fairly repetitive environmental design. But the design of the levels adds character to the otherwise bland environments. This is because the player knows the game on a systematic level; they know the rules of the battle system and the rules of the field map. How far they can stretch those rules safely becomes crucial almost immediately. However, the level design constantly changes those rules, forcing the player to adapt.
For example, take the Metroid Guild's first jaunt into the tenth floor, for example. None of that green text up there was ever stated in the game; almost all of it popped into my mind as an extension to what I was experiencing in game, so the above was very easy to write. When I had to run from those enemies, I did so not because I thought they were too difficult - I ran because I saw, on the bottom screen, two FOEs moving towards my group. One of the unwritten rules of Etrian Odyssey is: DO NOT ENGAGE A FOE ON YOUR FIRST TRIP TO A NEW FLOOR. It may be one of the most important rules, really, and there was no way I was going to break it. So I ran - but I did so knowing that eventually, I would be strong enough to come back and best those FOEs.
I don't know if I'll continue writing up my experiences in narrative style, although I had fun doing it, so we'll see. I had gotten to a pseudo-boss battle, and got destroyed pretty handily, so I'm going to grind a little, so back to it...
Tuesday, September 28, 2010
Sunday, September 26, 2010
Etrian Odyssey III: Part 1
I'll start by saying that so far, Etrian Odyssey III: The Drowned City is my favorite Etrian game, and that's saying a lot because I had a lot of fun with the first two.
Why? Well, first, they completely revamped all the classes. There is not one class in the third game that existed in the first two, so the game is a totally new experience - much akin to Etrian Odyssey 1, really, what with trying to learn party balance for the first time with a whole new set of classes. Sure, I'll miss my ridiculously powerful Ronin skills (well, Mideraba, anyway), but that broke the game, honestly. Also, you are allowed to subclass - which apparently means you can apply another classes skills to your party members, which is going to be awesome once I unlock it.
They also improved the interface: the skills, windows, town, and every way you interact with the game is streamlined very well. When you kill an enemy the correct way, for example, and get a special item, the game highlights it in yellow to let you know that hey, you did something special to get this item. This is helpful because I had no idea in the past how to get certain items. Also, the map scrolls faster, both on the top and bottom screen, there are more icons to put on the map that make sense, and there is an auto-route option. What this means is that you can lay down a bunch of arrows on the map, and when you hit the play button, your guys will automatically follow the arrows without needing to hit a button - they'll even go through doors and down stairs! This is pretty unnecessary and the game would have been fine without it but Atlus put it in because it is very clear they wanted this game to be the best in the series.
Speaking of things that are unnecessary but awesome, they included the ability to explore the ocean via sailing. Your guild is given a boat early on, and you're told to go explore what you can of the ocean, and help people out and find items and fish and stuff. This is a great way to make cash early on (and probably later on, too) and also gain experience. That's right, there are fights to find on the ocean! There are no random battles, but when you find certain locations on the sea, some quests there open up - you can accept them at any time for no cost, and they seem to be fairly difficult battles. You gain experience and usually items from beating them, too, and you can replay them if you want. You can even play these missions with a friend (or four), too! That's right, you can wirelessly participate in these battles and gain experience and items with other people you know with the game. It is local only, though, unfortunately, and since I know only one other guy with the game, it seems we're stuck just using our two best characters, since we can't figure out how to bring more.
None of that was in the first two games. I am so thrilled with all these improvements it is insane.
As far as where I am now, I'm stuck on the second stratum boss. He has this attack that puts me to sleep, and he always follows it up with an attack that will kill any of my characters that are affected by a status ailment or bound in any way. Which means I usually do great in the battle until the very end when he starts spamming these attacks! So I have to figure out how to kill him.
I will post more about this, for sure.
Why? Well, first, they completely revamped all the classes. There is not one class in the third game that existed in the first two, so the game is a totally new experience - much akin to Etrian Odyssey 1, really, what with trying to learn party balance for the first time with a whole new set of classes. Sure, I'll miss my ridiculously powerful Ronin skills (well, Mideraba, anyway), but that broke the game, honestly. Also, you are allowed to subclass - which apparently means you can apply another classes skills to your party members, which is going to be awesome once I unlock it.
They also improved the interface: the skills, windows, town, and every way you interact with the game is streamlined very well. When you kill an enemy the correct way, for example, and get a special item, the game highlights it in yellow to let you know that hey, you did something special to get this item. This is helpful because I had no idea in the past how to get certain items. Also, the map scrolls faster, both on the top and bottom screen, there are more icons to put on the map that make sense, and there is an auto-route option. What this means is that you can lay down a bunch of arrows on the map, and when you hit the play button, your guys will automatically follow the arrows without needing to hit a button - they'll even go through doors and down stairs! This is pretty unnecessary and the game would have been fine without it but Atlus put it in because it is very clear they wanted this game to be the best in the series.
Speaking of things that are unnecessary but awesome, they included the ability to explore the ocean via sailing. Your guild is given a boat early on, and you're told to go explore what you can of the ocean, and help people out and find items and fish and stuff. This is a great way to make cash early on (and probably later on, too) and also gain experience. That's right, there are fights to find on the ocean! There are no random battles, but when you find certain locations on the sea, some quests there open up - you can accept them at any time for no cost, and they seem to be fairly difficult battles. You gain experience and usually items from beating them, too, and you can replay them if you want. You can even play these missions with a friend (or four), too! That's right, you can wirelessly participate in these battles and gain experience and items with other people you know with the game. It is local only, though, unfortunately, and since I know only one other guy with the game, it seems we're stuck just using our two best characters, since we can't figure out how to bring more.
None of that was in the first two games. I am so thrilled with all these improvements it is insane.
As far as where I am now, I'm stuck on the second stratum boss. He has this attack that puts me to sleep, and he always follows it up with an attack that will kill any of my characters that are affected by a status ailment or bound in any way. Which means I usually do great in the battle until the very end when he starts spamming these attacks! So I have to figure out how to kill him.
I will post more about this, for sure.
Heavy Rain
I should start with this: there will be slight spoilers for Heavy Rain in this post. It is kind of hard to discuss this game without them, honestly, so beware. I won't reveal who the killer is, though.
The story in Heavy Rain is fantastic! The gameplay is terrible!
That's really all you need to know about Heavy Rain. I get what the developers were going for: an involving experience, utilizing the unique aspects of video games to present basically a murder mystery book that is interactive. And for the most part, they succeed; the game changes pretty much every time you play it, with different outcomes depending on the choices you made throughout the narrative. Which I applaud! These are great things.
But oh, how I wish the gameplay weren't so bad. You see, in Heavy Rain, the entire game controls as such: movement is similar to the first few Resident Evil games - you hold R2 to walk, and use the left stick to turn. That would be awful enough, but the rest of the controls are all played out with Quick Time Events. If you're unfamiliar with these, they are events that the player attempts to beat by pressing the button on the screen. For example, to open the fridge, you go up to the fridge and rotate the right stick clockwise from the right. To pick up an item off the desk, you push the right stick up. And so on.
What sucks about this is that all the activities that would usually be fun in a game (fighting a boss! Driving a car and avoiding traffic! Shooting guns!) are boring at best, and plain frustrating at worst. Sure, the events are kind of intense because you are so scared you'll screw up whatever weird button combo the developers came up with, but that kind of nullifies the point of them - you should be scared because you are playing the character and they are in a tough situation, not because you are scared of the controls.
My only other complaint is a stupid save system. The game is autosave only - you cannot create a save at any point. If you want to restart because you screwed up some retarded QTE - which will happen! - you have to try to reload your previous save before the game saves over it. Awesome!
The story itself, though... So good. You play as multiple characters, each twisting and winding around the same plot points. The Origami Killer is kidnapping little boys and drowning them, and you have to find out who. It is made somewhat clear off the bat that the killer is either one of the characters you play as or someone very close to them, so the game is always throwing you curveballs as far as character development goes. For example, for my playthrough, I was incredibly surprised as to the killer's identity, although it made sense when I went back and thought about what I had been doing with them throughout the game.
Anyway, many characters can die throughout the game, changing the outcome in several ways. I'll probably play through the game again someday, and see what changes as I go through.
I'll just have to suffer through those annoying damn QTEs.
The story in Heavy Rain is fantastic! The gameplay is terrible!
That's really all you need to know about Heavy Rain. I get what the developers were going for: an involving experience, utilizing the unique aspects of video games to present basically a murder mystery book that is interactive. And for the most part, they succeed; the game changes pretty much every time you play it, with different outcomes depending on the choices you made throughout the narrative. Which I applaud! These are great things.
But oh, how I wish the gameplay weren't so bad. You see, in Heavy Rain, the entire game controls as such: movement is similar to the first few Resident Evil games - you hold R2 to walk, and use the left stick to turn. That would be awful enough, but the rest of the controls are all played out with Quick Time Events. If you're unfamiliar with these, they are events that the player attempts to beat by pressing the button on the screen. For example, to open the fridge, you go up to the fridge and rotate the right stick clockwise from the right. To pick up an item off the desk, you push the right stick up. And so on.
What sucks about this is that all the activities that would usually be fun in a game (fighting a boss! Driving a car and avoiding traffic! Shooting guns!) are boring at best, and plain frustrating at worst. Sure, the events are kind of intense because you are so scared you'll screw up whatever weird button combo the developers came up with, but that kind of nullifies the point of them - you should be scared because you are playing the character and they are in a tough situation, not because you are scared of the controls.
My only other complaint is a stupid save system. The game is autosave only - you cannot create a save at any point. If you want to restart because you screwed up some retarded QTE - which will happen! - you have to try to reload your previous save before the game saves over it. Awesome!
The story itself, though... So good. You play as multiple characters, each twisting and winding around the same plot points. The Origami Killer is kidnapping little boys and drowning them, and you have to find out who. It is made somewhat clear off the bat that the killer is either one of the characters you play as or someone very close to them, so the game is always throwing you curveballs as far as character development goes. For example, for my playthrough, I was incredibly surprised as to the killer's identity, although it made sense when I went back and thought about what I had been doing with them throughout the game.
Anyway, many characters can die throughout the game, changing the outcome in several ways. I'll probably play through the game again someday, and see what changes as I go through.
I'll just have to suffer through those annoying damn QTEs.
Saturday, September 18, 2010
3D Dot Game Heroes: Best Zelda Since Twilight Princess
Let's start with this. Between these two images, which seems more like a Zelda over world?
The answer is the top one, despite not being a Zelda game while the bottom one is! Let's break it down, here. Both pictures do not have much going on in them; the first one has a hero and an enemy in the distance, and that's about it. The bottom one has the hero riding a train, and a vast empty space (with shitty textured grass, but I digress - my point here isn't about graphic fidelity).
At least the top one has something interesting to DO in the over world.
3D Dot Game Heroes is the best Zelda game in a long time. It may not be incredibly original (it cribs from the first Zelda quite a bit) but it is at least fun. I have beaten two dungeons already (and I've even DIED once! When was the last time you've died in a Zelda game?!) and there has not been any tedium whatsoever the entire time. The game is lean - there is not very much exposition, and what is there is pretty barebones. This is a gamers game. If you are playing this game, you're playing it because you like traditional videogames - not some weird FORCED touchscreen minigame that is completely removed from traditional series gameplay - and, most importantly, not fun at ALL.
To be clear, I'm talking about the train in Spirit Tracks.
I've bitched about the train before and I won't do it again. My point here is that I'm really enjoying 3D Dot Game Heroes.
Oh, and if you're wondering how I'm playing this, I now own a PS3. The games I have for it are 3D Dot Game Heroes, Valkyria Chronicles, Demon's Souls, Uncharted: Drake's Fortune, Heavy Rain, Red Dead Redemption, God of War III, Batman Arkham Asylum, and Resident Evil 5. I plan on trying out all of these soon, and plan on playing a TON of the first three.
Monday, September 13, 2010
Happy 25th Birthday, Mario.
I guess today marks the anniversary of Super Mario Bros. In honor of this pivotal moment in gaming history, I just beat the game. (I used the two warps, so it only took like 5 minutes, but whatever.)
Thanks you so much for letting me to play-a your game!
Thanks you so much for letting me to play-a your game!
SMT: Strange Journey, part 1
So I picked up Strange Journey again last week, after beating Etrian Odyssey II. I thought I didn't like it before, and while some of those criticisms still stand up (I still think bonus damage based on alignment is stupid) I'm finding myself largely liking the game.
By the end of Etrian Odyssey II I was sick and tired of mapping. I mean usually I like it, but when I'm trying to just get to the final boss as quickly as possible to finish the game I hate it. And when I started playing SJ again, I was glad I didn't have to map myself - I was trying to like the game mechanics, and had to fuss with them first and foremost.
The demon fusing is pretty streamlined, although costly. I really like the password feature - if I find myself stuck later in the game, I'll probably cheese my way through with some password-generated demon I find on the internet.
Does that make me a cheater? Yeah probably. I haven't done it yet, but I'm keeping that trick up my sleeve to prevent endless grinding if I can.
Speaking of which, I think that password thing is pretty damned awesome. Look here and here and here to see how fricking flexible the thing is. Have you fused a demon? Do you like it? Generate a password for it, and share it with your friends/the internet! I mean LOOK at some of Eirikr's demons - reflects all physical and magical attacks, and has Null Light and Dark. The only thing that can even DAMAGE those guys is Almighty damage!
Even if you aren't fusing ridiculous uber-demons who can kill God with their thoughts, the password system is still pretty useful. There are some secret passwords built into the game that Atlus put there for some useful demons (I've actually had a Mara sitting in my PWD hopper at level 86 or something because its a freaking penis monster given to me by the company who made the game!
Anyway, so I'm in the Delphinus sector, the fourth sector in the game, which is basically a trash heap so far. I had stopped in Bootes, the second sector, because I couldn't stand damage floors (still can't, actually!). I beat the boss of that sector, and then flew through Carina, the third sector, yesterday. I'm going to try to slow down, because I think I need to level up quite a bit to continue any farther. And I need to fuse some of these damned demons away - fricking Hathor has been around forever!
I really like how the story is presented in this game, though. Maybe I'm just naive to how the military works, but the way your characters progress through the story is very military-like. You are given orders to go do whatever, and when you do whatever, you are given more orders. This means there is no teenage celebration about victory like in almost every other MegaTen game - not to say I always hate that, but it's nice to not have to encounter it EVERY TIME. Also, all the characters are adults - which is nice, too, because you don't see that too often in RPGs. In fact, the main character looks like he is in his early 30s, MAYBE late 20s. I wish more RPGs were this way.
I'll have more thoughts as I play through it. It is definitely a weird game... It's basically Etrian Odyssey: Shin Megami Tensei. Sounds good, doesn't it? I think it's a little early for me to judge, but I think it brings both the good and bad qualities of those two series to the table. I'll probably talk about that next time if I still feel that way.
By the end of Etrian Odyssey II I was sick and tired of mapping. I mean usually I like it, but when I'm trying to just get to the final boss as quickly as possible to finish the game I hate it. And when I started playing SJ again, I was glad I didn't have to map myself - I was trying to like the game mechanics, and had to fuss with them first and foremost.
The demon fusing is pretty streamlined, although costly. I really like the password feature - if I find myself stuck later in the game, I'll probably cheese my way through with some password-generated demon I find on the internet.
Does that make me a cheater? Yeah probably. I haven't done it yet, but I'm keeping that trick up my sleeve to prevent endless grinding if I can.
Speaking of which, I think that password thing is pretty damned awesome. Look here and here and here to see how fricking flexible the thing is. Have you fused a demon? Do you like it? Generate a password for it, and share it with your friends/the internet! I mean LOOK at some of Eirikr's demons - reflects all physical and magical attacks, and has Null Light and Dark. The only thing that can even DAMAGE those guys is Almighty damage!
Even if you aren't fusing ridiculous uber-demons who can kill God with their thoughts, the password system is still pretty useful. There are some secret passwords built into the game that Atlus put there for some useful demons (I've actually had a Mara sitting in my PWD hopper at level 86 or something because its a freaking penis monster given to me by the company who made the game!
Anyway, so I'm in the Delphinus sector, the fourth sector in the game, which is basically a trash heap so far. I had stopped in Bootes, the second sector, because I couldn't stand damage floors (still can't, actually!). I beat the boss of that sector, and then flew through Carina, the third sector, yesterday. I'm going to try to slow down, because I think I need to level up quite a bit to continue any farther. And I need to fuse some of these damned demons away - fricking Hathor has been around forever!
I really like how the story is presented in this game, though. Maybe I'm just naive to how the military works, but the way your characters progress through the story is very military-like. You are given orders to go do whatever, and when you do whatever, you are given more orders. This means there is no teenage celebration about victory like in almost every other MegaTen game - not to say I always hate that, but it's nice to not have to encounter it EVERY TIME. Also, all the characters are adults - which is nice, too, because you don't see that too often in RPGs. In fact, the main character looks like he is in his early 30s, MAYBE late 20s. I wish more RPGs were this way.
I'll have more thoughts as I play through it. It is definitely a weird game... It's basically Etrian Odyssey: Shin Megami Tensei. Sounds good, doesn't it? I think it's a little early for me to judge, but I think it brings both the good and bad qualities of those two series to the table. I'll probably talk about that next time if I still feel that way.
Wednesday, September 8, 2010
Etrian Odyssey II: Complete
I just beat Etrian Odyssey II. I'm glad I did, too, because that last Stratum was quite annoying. Stupid Beamedge's everywhere, annoying layouts, etc.
The last boss probably would have been very tough, had it not been for my RIDICULOUSLY POWERFUL duo of Ronins - Kaitlyn and Shiren were insane. Mideraba is easily my favorite skill in the game.
Before I get to that, though, I changed my party makeup for the last few floors. Once I realized that the level cap is 70 for first time adventurers, I wanted to level them up some more or at least change around their Skills. To do this, you have two options: Rest a character, to allow you to re-spend their Skill Points in exchange for knocking down their level by 5, or Retiring them, which knocks their level down by forty levels, but allows you to both re-spend their Skill Points and earn one more once they level up enough. My complaint about this is that it's only one - I embarked on Retirement for all five of my characters because I thought they'd be able to level up to 75, which would give them 5 more Skill Points total. I was wrong - each time you retire, you only get to level up one more level.
I got those fuckers up to 71, noticed they couldn't level up anymore, and I said screw this, I'm beating the last boss now.
The upside to doing that, though, was that I streamlined the crap out of their skills. I got rid of all the extraneous stuff (like Mining, Taking, and Chopping, which was useless now that I could get a ton of cash easily) and even changed some classes around.
One of the nice parts about Retiring is that you get a level 30 character with 40 initial Skill Points, but you aren't restricted to whatever class that character was. For example, I was sick of my now useless Survivalist (Icarus), so I changed him to Protector, and changed my Landschneckt(Shiren) to another Ronin(Kaitlyn remained a Ronin through the entire game). I bought Shiren another Youtou (the ridiculously expensive Katana Kaitlyn had been using for a while now) and I went back into the forest.
The Metroid Guild was here to kick some ass. And boy, did it.
The final boss went down quick. Icarus spammed Provoke (make the enemy target him more) and Parry (high chance of dodging any attack), Shiren and Kaitlyn spammed the hell out of Mideraba (multiple sword strike for huge damage), Raidou spammed Ricochet (multiple gunshots for good damage), and Yukiko alternated between healing duties and CPR (which allows characters to survive mortal blows with 1 HP like 80% of the time). I beat both forms quickly, with only like three people dying for the first form, and no one dying for the second.
Overall, Etrian Odyssey II is a mixed bag. I really like the interface improvements it brings after the original was lacking a bit - particularly the bigger variety of map icons you have, which makes navigating quite a bit easier. The Force skills aren't quite as useful, but that's okay. I did a few more of the optional Quests this time around, but not too many because once they begin to get really confusing I just give up because I don't feel like running around in circles in the dungeon trying to figure out what to do. I had a lot of fun playing EOII, and even before I broke the game with my two Ronins-o-death, I felt like it was pretty well-balanced. Some of those skills sure are useless, though.
Etrian Odyssey III comes out at the end of this month, and I have it pre-ordered, and the guy said I'd get an art book for the entire series with it, and I damned well better. I'm ready for III - I've heard it is much better than I and II.
The last boss probably would have been very tough, had it not been for my RIDICULOUSLY POWERFUL duo of Ronins - Kaitlyn and Shiren were insane. Mideraba is easily my favorite skill in the game.
Before I get to that, though, I changed my party makeup for the last few floors. Once I realized that the level cap is 70 for first time adventurers, I wanted to level them up some more or at least change around their Skills. To do this, you have two options: Rest a character, to allow you to re-spend their Skill Points in exchange for knocking down their level by 5, or Retiring them, which knocks their level down by forty levels, but allows you to both re-spend their Skill Points and earn one more once they level up enough. My complaint about this is that it's only one - I embarked on Retirement for all five of my characters because I thought they'd be able to level up to 75, which would give them 5 more Skill Points total. I was wrong - each time you retire, you only get to level up one more level.
I got those fuckers up to 71, noticed they couldn't level up anymore, and I said screw this, I'm beating the last boss now.
The upside to doing that, though, was that I streamlined the crap out of their skills. I got rid of all the extraneous stuff (like Mining, Taking, and Chopping, which was useless now that I could get a ton of cash easily) and even changed some classes around.
One of the nice parts about Retiring is that you get a level 30 character with 40 initial Skill Points, but you aren't restricted to whatever class that character was. For example, I was sick of my now useless Survivalist (Icarus), so I changed him to Protector, and changed my Landschneckt(Shiren) to another Ronin(Kaitlyn remained a Ronin through the entire game). I bought Shiren another Youtou (the ridiculously expensive Katana Kaitlyn had been using for a while now) and I went back into the forest.
The Metroid Guild was here to kick some ass. And boy, did it.
The final boss went down quick. Icarus spammed Provoke (make the enemy target him more) and Parry (high chance of dodging any attack), Shiren and Kaitlyn spammed the hell out of Mideraba (multiple sword strike for huge damage), Raidou spammed Ricochet (multiple gunshots for good damage), and Yukiko alternated between healing duties and CPR (which allows characters to survive mortal blows with 1 HP like 80% of the time). I beat both forms quickly, with only like three people dying for the first form, and no one dying for the second.
Overall, Etrian Odyssey II is a mixed bag. I really like the interface improvements it brings after the original was lacking a bit - particularly the bigger variety of map icons you have, which makes navigating quite a bit easier. The Force skills aren't quite as useful, but that's okay. I did a few more of the optional Quests this time around, but not too many because once they begin to get really confusing I just give up because I don't feel like running around in circles in the dungeon trying to figure out what to do. I had a lot of fun playing EOII, and even before I broke the game with my two Ronins-o-death, I felt like it was pretty well-balanced. Some of those skills sure are useless, though.
Etrian Odyssey III comes out at the end of this month, and I have it pre-ordered, and the guy said I'd get an art book for the entire series with it, and I damned well better. I'm ready for III - I've heard it is much better than I and II.
Wednesday, September 1, 2010
Cave Story: Afterthoughts
So on a whim, I downloaded Cave Story for the Wii two nights ago. I beat it last night, and while it wasn't what I expected, it was very, very good.
First of all, before I played it, I thought Cave Story was a regular platformer, with a focus on stomping on guys heads and stuff. But it's not! It's more like a cross of Mario and Gradius (which is odd, then, since I've been playing a few "shmups" lately - Castle of Shikigami III and M.U.S.H.A. in particular). You acquire guns, and then use them to kill whatever enemies stand in your way.
Okay, so it's more like Contra. Having never been particularly fond of Contra, there's a particular reason why I like Cave Story so much:
It's a Metroidvania.
You acquire new items and weapons, and then use them to get to new places. You can find health and missile powerups throughout the game, as well (I didn't find too many, though, but it's possible I missed areas).
Whenever you acquire a new gun, you have to power it up, by collecting the goofy little triangle things enemies drop when they are killed. Collect enough, and your weapon will level up - but be careful! If you take damage, your weapon level may drop. It doesn't take too long to level your gun back up, of course, but this may prove hard while fighting bosses who don't drop the triangle things.
Anyway, I really like this mechanic, and some of the subtleties in this game really blow me away as well. The game never, ever tells you this is possible, but a fully powered up Machine Gun will actually allow your little guy to float if you shoot it down towards the ground! It serves as a sort of jetpack way before you actually get one in the game, and really augments it when you do.
I had heard the story was pretty good before playing the game, and while it certainly wasn't crap, I wasn't that impressed by it. It was told sparingly, sure, so it wasn't like I had much to latch on to, but I never really cared about Sue or any of the other characters. I just wanted to shoot crap and get to the next boss fight.
And man, is that last boss ridiculous. Four fights in a row where you don't get to heal or save in between? It was as if I was playing a Final Fantasy game or something.
Anyway, I hope Pixel makes another game. He probably is, but I really think people should support him by buying Cave Story on Wii. It's one of the best WiiWare titles for sure (right up there with the likes of Mega Man 9!).
First of all, before I played it, I thought Cave Story was a regular platformer, with a focus on stomping on guys heads and stuff. But it's not! It's more like a cross of Mario and Gradius (which is odd, then, since I've been playing a few "shmups" lately - Castle of Shikigami III and M.U.S.H.A. in particular). You acquire guns, and then use them to kill whatever enemies stand in your way.
Okay, so it's more like Contra. Having never been particularly fond of Contra, there's a particular reason why I like Cave Story so much:
It's a Metroidvania.
You acquire new items and weapons, and then use them to get to new places. You can find health and missile powerups throughout the game, as well (I didn't find too many, though, but it's possible I missed areas).
Whenever you acquire a new gun, you have to power it up, by collecting the goofy little triangle things enemies drop when they are killed. Collect enough, and your weapon will level up - but be careful! If you take damage, your weapon level may drop. It doesn't take too long to level your gun back up, of course, but this may prove hard while fighting bosses who don't drop the triangle things.
Anyway, I really like this mechanic, and some of the subtleties in this game really blow me away as well. The game never, ever tells you this is possible, but a fully powered up Machine Gun will actually allow your little guy to float if you shoot it down towards the ground! It serves as a sort of jetpack way before you actually get one in the game, and really augments it when you do.
I had heard the story was pretty good before playing the game, and while it certainly wasn't crap, I wasn't that impressed by it. It was told sparingly, sure, so it wasn't like I had much to latch on to, but I never really cared about Sue or any of the other characters. I just wanted to shoot crap and get to the next boss fight.
And man, is that last boss ridiculous. Four fights in a row where you don't get to heal or save in between? It was as if I was playing a Final Fantasy game or something.
Anyway, I hope Pixel makes another game. He probably is, but I really think people should support him by buying Cave Story on Wii. It's one of the best WiiWare titles for sure (right up there with the likes of Mega Man 9!).
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