So now that I have keyboard access again, I thought I'd write a blog about some of what I've been playing since May (7 months?!). A lot of it is a bit rusty upstairs so I'll write what I can.
The first game I got absolutely addicted to since Soul Hackers was Animal Crossing: New Leaf, which I played every day pretty much until August, after which I didn't pick it back up until December 5th. I've gotten re-addicted to it, though. That was kinda the idea when I bought the game digitally. Stupid as it may seem, I knew I wasn't going to remember to go grab the cart when I wasn't playing because I wouldn't remember to, meaning when I get addicted to a new game (like the next game I'll talk about) Animal Crossing probably would be done forever.
But I kept playing. What's nice about this Animal Crossing is it lets you customize the town as well as your house and clothes and all that. What this means is you can not only plant flowers and trees but also erect statues and buildings and illuminated arches and fountains etc. This is great because now, every time you visit someone elses town, there really is a lot of variety. When I go to a buddy's town, I may see some structures I'd never seen before and think "Wow, I would like one of those for myself!" This pretty much happened to me when, after I picked the game up again for the second time, a buddy of mine was randomly online and made me visit his town. He had played quite a bit since I had last played with him and his town was quite customized. I was jealous and wanted to make my town as good as his too. This has (apparently) happened to another buddy of mine after visiting my town, too. This is great because I would really like to complete the museum and paintings are SUPER hard to find and having mulitple friends play means more chances to exchange duplicate paintings.
Anyway, Zebes is chugging along just fine. I've put about 178 hours and 15 minutes into the game as of this post, which is an additional 45 or so hours since I stopped playing back in August. I'll probably easily crest over 200 hours in early January. I've been customizing my town pretty heavily since I redid my house and stuffed it full of custom furniture from Cyrus, another feature I've fallen in love with. The idea that there are several variations on the "modern" line of furniture, for example, is great because now my favorite furniture lines can become even more my own rather than seeing someone else's house and going "Oh, you have the modern set too... Yay."
I just realized I wrote a couple paragraphs about interior design, gardening, and architecture in a video game. I'm going to change subjects now before some jocks bust in the door and start beating the hell out of me.
Sometime in July, Shin Megami Tensei IV came out, and I alternated between it and Animal Crossing but mostly played SMT IV. The game grabbed me right at the beginning, with quite a high level of difficulty early on but with some pretty cool story hooks and the demon fusing I've come to love so much. I haven't played it since late July/early August so I'm a bit foggy on the details, but I remember really enjoying trying to trick out my demons. Like in Persona 4 Golden, you get to choose which abilities pass on to fused demons, meaning you don't have to reroll them every time hoping for a perfect combination like in Nocturne (that game would probably be one of the best games EVER if they made it so you could choose which moves to pass on). This meant that I quickly tried to create demons that couldn't even be touched by certain types of attacks, something that was pretty hard to do before you could choose which abilities to pass on. It resulted in several demons that couldn't be hit by anything besides debuffs and Almighty attacks, which can never be blocked anyway. Since the turn system meant that every time one of the enemies whiffed an attack they lost a turn, this quickly made most of the game a cakewalk, besides the occasional difficulty spike here or there. After you get to a certain point about ten, maybe twelve hours in, the game gets pretty easy, which is disappointing because it's still such an interesting setting and has a pretty cool story. I quite liked unlocking more and more demons, too, and tricking them out as much as I could, which is something I've really only done in SMTIV and a little in Persona 4 Golden.
Next up, after messing around with getting a perfect game in Wario Land 3 which had come out on Virtual Console as well as the two Oracle Zelda games, I played Pokemon Y. This was the first Pokemon game since, well, Diamond to make me think I liked Pokemon again! I doubt there will ever be a situation where I catch them all again, unless they stop doing that crap where you have to live in Japan and go to certain events to get certain Pokemon, but oh well. The single player game itself was a breeze, the Exp Share spread experience between all the Pokemon, and if I were into competitive battling, the functions they added would have helped the awful grind that portion of the Pokemon experience has. Alas, I beat the one player game and moved on, not really looking back too hard because, well, meh to the competitive stuff.
I then started a new game in Fallout: New Vegas in Hardcore mode, and was able to finish it in that mode, getting the achievement (one of the rare times where an achievement actually made me want to play a game different, which only took them, what, 8 years? Grats, Microsoft!). I played as a primarily unarmed fighter, because I was going for the "Do 10,000 Points of Unarmed Damage" achievement as well, which I got. It made the hardcore mode of the game probably quite easier since I didn't have to worry about ammo or worry about the fact it had weight now. Really, managing the sleep/hydration/hunger meters wasn't too difficult, it was the fact that stimpaks and food didn't instantly heal me anymore - I couldn't just slam a bunch of needles into my arm anytime I was getting brutalized, meaning I had to play smarter. This was a good thing, since the game actually had challenge again, since all my previous playthroughs besides the first weren't too difficult since for the most part, I knew what was coming.
Fallout: New Vegas is definitely my favorite 360/PS3 game by a wide margin, that's for sure. All I have left achievement-wise is the stupid Caravan card game stuff, which I probably will never do, and some of the DLC ones, mostly in the later DLC that I kind of rushed through the one time I played it.
And finally, I just began playing Zelda: A Link Between Worlds, which is hitting all my nostalgia nodules for Link to the Past pretty squarely. I just pulled the Master Sword out of the Lost Woods, and have quite enjoyed everything the game has thrown at me so far. I don't want to say too much about it yet, other than after you pull the Master Sword from the pedestal, when you re-enter the Lost Woods, the FANTASTIC MUSIC STAYS, which is one of the few complaints I have of LttP, because it's one of my favorite video game tunes of all time.
Whew, that was a lot. The keyboard performed pretty well throughout this update, so hopefully I'll write many more blogs in 2014 than I did this year. Glad I could pump out one more.
Friday, December 27, 2013
Friday, May 17, 2013
Hack You!! SMT: Soul Hackers
I just wrapped up Soul Hackers, and I have to say I really quite enjoyed it. I suppose it helps that I went into it with pretty low expectations - it sure isn't a pretty game - but I think the game has several things going for it.
As with any SMT title, the demon fusion and battle system are the main draws, and while this one is a bit more simplistic with regards to raising demons, the game still retains strategy and depth. The demons themselves don't level up, only your two human characters do, so when it comes time to get stronger demons, you fuse the ones you have away. This isn't too different from Persona 3 and 4, really, because since it takes so long to level demons up manually in those games you really shouldn't do it anyway. I do miss the ability of demons to learn new moves via level ups, though, because trying to keep attacks that I want across multiple fusions was quite a pain in Soul Hackers. Zeed, the weird demon that costs no MAG to summon nor keep in your party unlike every other demon in the game, was also interesting, albeit confusing to keep on par with my human characters. When you fuse demons to him, he absorbs some of their attacks, stats, and even levels. He can be leveled down, though, and he sort of evolves into cooler looking forms the higher you get his level. I could not, though, for the life of me figure out how to keep certain moves on him. I would go through long stretches of the game with him vastly underleveled because I wanted to keep Tarukaja on him (this spell boosts the party's attack and is stackable up to four times, meaning if I can get four of them off I am doing TONS of damage with regular attacks).
The other demons weren't used too often, to be honest, because I was scared of the cost of having them in my party. MAG is a resource that you gather as you beat demons, and you can even buy it. It is important because summoning demons into your party costs a significant amount of MAG, and each step you take while a demon is summoned in your party drains MAG at a slow drip. Have four demons summoned, though, and that drip can become a waterfall. Luckily, MAG becomes less and less of a worry as the game goes on, to the point where I wasn't worried about it at all like halfway through the game. I do like MAG, though, in that it makes sense thematically - demons will help you, but there is a cost for their help.
The other reason I didn't run out of MAG very easily is that when you turn the difficulty down via the handy hacks you have, the cost of summoning old demons from the compendium goes down a lot. Those hacks might be my favorite thing about the game - they weren't in the Saturn version as far as I'm aware, and allow you to do several things at any point in the game by touching the touch screen. As I already mentioned, you can turn the difficulty down or up at any time (causing battles to become easier or harder and shop prices to go up or down), make the dungeon maps completely visible at all times or to only become visible when you explore them space by space, turn off alignment for summoning demons into your party (if you have a Law demon in your party, a Chaos demon would refuse to join you if you don't have this off), and allow you to see that HP, stats, movesets, and strengths and weaknesses of any demons you encounter. I played the game with the difficulty set to normal, the maps always visible, alignment off, and without the ability to see the stats of the demons I fought right away. I feel like this is the perfect balance for the game - I spent virtually no time wandering around dungeons any more than I wanted to because I could see the map, but I was still challenged because the battles weren't set to easy. The boss battles became sticking points, although even they weren't too bad because I would usually lose the first fight to them, reload, and then slaughter them (as is the grand ole SMT way). I also found an item that let me save anywhere pretty early on, which I made heavy use of. The nice part was, when I wanted to grind a little bit, I would knock the difficulty down, turn a podcast on, and go to town for some easy level ups.
I really enjoyed the setting and tone of the game in only a slightly ironic way. The game is so 90s it's ridiculous. The setting is like the idea of the future of the internet as seen in the early 90s. There is a company creating a virtual city where you can go to watch movies and shop and bank and chat with other people like some sort of magical place that doesn't exist ye- oh wait it's the internet. But it isn't cheesy on purpose though, nor is it overwrought. It's kind of cute, actually. The plot is alright, it's not really anything to out there as far as generic JRPG plots go, but it's not bad either.
Honestly, the whole thing kind of reminds me of Final Fantasy IV, in a way. A really breezy game if you let it be, with kind of a goofy plot with party members constantly coming and going, I kept thinking of FFIV as I played. It isn't exactly comparable - the battle systems are actually quite different - but I really feel like this game hit a good balance of goofy JRPG melodrama and neat battles while not being stupid hard or too grindy or anything like that. I had a good solid 30 hours of fun with Soul Hackers, and I may even revisit it someday.
That isn't something I thought I'd say about the game after the first thirty minutes, but that's a first impression for you.
As with any SMT title, the demon fusion and battle system are the main draws, and while this one is a bit more simplistic with regards to raising demons, the game still retains strategy and depth. The demons themselves don't level up, only your two human characters do, so when it comes time to get stronger demons, you fuse the ones you have away. This isn't too different from Persona 3 and 4, really, because since it takes so long to level demons up manually in those games you really shouldn't do it anyway. I do miss the ability of demons to learn new moves via level ups, though, because trying to keep attacks that I want across multiple fusions was quite a pain in Soul Hackers. Zeed, the weird demon that costs no MAG to summon nor keep in your party unlike every other demon in the game, was also interesting, albeit confusing to keep on par with my human characters. When you fuse demons to him, he absorbs some of their attacks, stats, and even levels. He can be leveled down, though, and he sort of evolves into cooler looking forms the higher you get his level. I could not, though, for the life of me figure out how to keep certain moves on him. I would go through long stretches of the game with him vastly underleveled because I wanted to keep Tarukaja on him (this spell boosts the party's attack and is stackable up to four times, meaning if I can get four of them off I am doing TONS of damage with regular attacks).
The other demons weren't used too often, to be honest, because I was scared of the cost of having them in my party. MAG is a resource that you gather as you beat demons, and you can even buy it. It is important because summoning demons into your party costs a significant amount of MAG, and each step you take while a demon is summoned in your party drains MAG at a slow drip. Have four demons summoned, though, and that drip can become a waterfall. Luckily, MAG becomes less and less of a worry as the game goes on, to the point where I wasn't worried about it at all like halfway through the game. I do like MAG, though, in that it makes sense thematically - demons will help you, but there is a cost for their help.
The other reason I didn't run out of MAG very easily is that when you turn the difficulty down via the handy hacks you have, the cost of summoning old demons from the compendium goes down a lot. Those hacks might be my favorite thing about the game - they weren't in the Saturn version as far as I'm aware, and allow you to do several things at any point in the game by touching the touch screen. As I already mentioned, you can turn the difficulty down or up at any time (causing battles to become easier or harder and shop prices to go up or down), make the dungeon maps completely visible at all times or to only become visible when you explore them space by space, turn off alignment for summoning demons into your party (if you have a Law demon in your party, a Chaos demon would refuse to join you if you don't have this off), and allow you to see that HP, stats, movesets, and strengths and weaknesses of any demons you encounter. I played the game with the difficulty set to normal, the maps always visible, alignment off, and without the ability to see the stats of the demons I fought right away. I feel like this is the perfect balance for the game - I spent virtually no time wandering around dungeons any more than I wanted to because I could see the map, but I was still challenged because the battles weren't set to easy. The boss battles became sticking points, although even they weren't too bad because I would usually lose the first fight to them, reload, and then slaughter them (as is the grand ole SMT way). I also found an item that let me save anywhere pretty early on, which I made heavy use of. The nice part was, when I wanted to grind a little bit, I would knock the difficulty down, turn a podcast on, and go to town for some easy level ups.
I really enjoyed the setting and tone of the game in only a slightly ironic way. The game is so 90s it's ridiculous. The setting is like the idea of the future of the internet as seen in the early 90s. There is a company creating a virtual city where you can go to watch movies and shop and bank and chat with other people like some sort of magical place that doesn't exist ye- oh wait it's the internet. But it isn't cheesy on purpose though, nor is it overwrought. It's kind of cute, actually. The plot is alright, it's not really anything to out there as far as generic JRPG plots go, but it's not bad either.
Honestly, the whole thing kind of reminds me of Final Fantasy IV, in a way. A really breezy game if you let it be, with kind of a goofy plot with party members constantly coming and going, I kept thinking of FFIV as I played. It isn't exactly comparable - the battle systems are actually quite different - but I really feel like this game hit a good balance of goofy JRPG melodrama and neat battles while not being stupid hard or too grindy or anything like that. I had a good solid 30 hours of fun with Soul Hackers, and I may even revisit it someday.
That isn't something I thought I'd say about the game after the first thirty minutes, but that's a first impression for you.
Sunday, May 5, 2013
Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon
Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon is a must play for any 3DS owner. The game was charming and fun as hell for pretty much the entirety of its run (save for one cheap boss, but oh well).
It eclipses it's predecessor by leaps and bounds, which becomes obvious pretty early on. I wasn't sure how I'd feel about the mission structure of the game, as I went in expecting to slowly unravel the mysteries of a mansion or two like in the first game. What you end up doing are (not-so-bite-sized as you might think - most missions take about 20 minutes each) missions wherein you have a general goal, and must figure out how to accomplish it.
Dark Moon is way more puzzley than it's predecessor, and is better off for it. You must not only *find* the ghosts, you must figure out how to capture them. It's not just a matter of blinding them with the flashlight than sucking them up with the Poltergust 5000 - you have to figure out how to lure them out of their hiding spots or figure out how to disarm them, etc. The environmental puzzles are fun, too - figuring out how to navigate the sometimes large mansions is a lot of fun. The mission structure also limits a lot of potential backtracking, because as soon as you complete an area, Prof. E. Gadd teleports you back to his lab and then will send you back right where you need to be most of the time.
I find the game is very well-paced, in that it starts with simple puzzles and easy combat and slowly ramps it up as you go along. The bosses got progressively more and more challenging and frankly, aside from one near the end (not the final boss), were excellent little puzzle battles. The team (apparently the same people who made Mario Strikers Charged, a game I was quite fond of back in 2006 or whatever, and also the recent Punch-Out!! for Wii) really took the vacuum suck/blow mechanic and ran with it. They pretty much give you every type of puzzle imaginable for those mechanics, and hide all kind of neat stuff to find. Having just beat the game, there's still plenty for me to go back and do. There is a Boo ghost hidden in every level, and I found not quite half of them while playing through the game. In all five mansions, there are hidden gems that you can find, which do who knows what if you find them all. The game ranks you on how well you beat missions, so at the very least you could always go back and try to beat your previous score. Having just played the single player mode to completion without going back to retry any of those levels or unlock everything, I clocked in at just over 12 hours. I paced myself over the past two weeks to really stretch out how enjoyable it was, and I'm glad I did, as I really didn't want the game to end.
One more thing is how charming Luigi is. I really enjoyed his comments and nervousness throughout the whole game. Charles Martinet really does an excellent job of making Luigi just a lovable guy who is scared yet courageous in his own way, as every time Luigi would quiver in fear he would make me laugh. I don't know exactly how to explain how much I love Luigi in this game, I really recommend playing it to see how well done he is. Next Level Games really knocked it out of the park on pretty much every level here.
It's another one of those games, too, that really uses 3D well - I found I needed it for a few boss fights, and the game felt weird without it turned on, so I played the majority of the game in 3D mode. I guess its this and Mario 3D Land so far for useful 3D games.
It eclipses it's predecessor by leaps and bounds, which becomes obvious pretty early on. I wasn't sure how I'd feel about the mission structure of the game, as I went in expecting to slowly unravel the mysteries of a mansion or two like in the first game. What you end up doing are (not-so-bite-sized as you might think - most missions take about 20 minutes each) missions wherein you have a general goal, and must figure out how to accomplish it.
Dark Moon is way more puzzley than it's predecessor, and is better off for it. You must not only *find* the ghosts, you must figure out how to capture them. It's not just a matter of blinding them with the flashlight than sucking them up with the Poltergust 5000 - you have to figure out how to lure them out of their hiding spots or figure out how to disarm them, etc. The environmental puzzles are fun, too - figuring out how to navigate the sometimes large mansions is a lot of fun. The mission structure also limits a lot of potential backtracking, because as soon as you complete an area, Prof. E. Gadd teleports you back to his lab and then will send you back right where you need to be most of the time.
I find the game is very well-paced, in that it starts with simple puzzles and easy combat and slowly ramps it up as you go along. The bosses got progressively more and more challenging and frankly, aside from one near the end (not the final boss), were excellent little puzzle battles. The team (apparently the same people who made Mario Strikers Charged, a game I was quite fond of back in 2006 or whatever, and also the recent Punch-Out!! for Wii) really took the vacuum suck/blow mechanic and ran with it. They pretty much give you every type of puzzle imaginable for those mechanics, and hide all kind of neat stuff to find. Having just beat the game, there's still plenty for me to go back and do. There is a Boo ghost hidden in every level, and I found not quite half of them while playing through the game. In all five mansions, there are hidden gems that you can find, which do who knows what if you find them all. The game ranks you on how well you beat missions, so at the very least you could always go back and try to beat your previous score. Having just played the single player mode to completion without going back to retry any of those levels or unlock everything, I clocked in at just over 12 hours. I paced myself over the past two weeks to really stretch out how enjoyable it was, and I'm glad I did, as I really didn't want the game to end.
One more thing is how charming Luigi is. I really enjoyed his comments and nervousness throughout the whole game. Charles Martinet really does an excellent job of making Luigi just a lovable guy who is scared yet courageous in his own way, as every time Luigi would quiver in fear he would make me laugh. I don't know exactly how to explain how much I love Luigi in this game, I really recommend playing it to see how well done he is. Next Level Games really knocked it out of the park on pretty much every level here.
It's another one of those games, too, that really uses 3D well - I found I needed it for a few boss fights, and the game felt weird without it turned on, so I played the majority of the game in 3D mode. I guess its this and Mario 3D Land so far for useful 3D games.
Sunday, April 21, 2013
Final Fantasy VIII
Has there ever been a final dungeon in the Final Fantasy series that wasn't an annoying painful slog through content that should have been optional? Because I certainly can't think of one. Final Fantasy VIII certainly doesn't fit into that category. Since the point of these blog posts is sort of to try to take a snapshot of my mindset during and immediately after I play a game, that's what I need to talk about right now.
It seems to happen at the end of every Final Fantasy game - I get to the final dungeon having fun, and then feel like I have to slog through a bunch of crap and cannot WAIT for the game to be over. Happened last year with Final Fantasy VII and Final Fantasy XIII, happened in X, it's particularly bad in IV, etc. Since it's not story related at all, let me explain why the final dungeon is a piece of shit in VIII:
As soon as you step foot in it, the game takes away your ability to do anything but your normal attack. I don't just mean in battles, either - you cannot use items or magic outside of battle at all either, without leaving the final dungeon. You have to earn the ability to use them again by beating bosses sprinkled throughout the dungeon. Here's the list of abilities you can't use:
Magic (all of it. No Curaga, no Haste, no Firaga)
Item (no Potions, no Phoenix Downs, nothing)
Draw (hope you don't fight the one boss in the dungeon with a new GF without this ability!)
Command Abilities (special abilities your GF give to your characters during battle, such as Treatment or Mad Rush, both of which I made heavy use of that were suddenly cut off)
Revive (THE WORST OF THE LOT. Even IF you have your magic or items again, you have to beat ANOTHER boss before Life or Phoenix Down will work on any of your characters! *kills self*)
GF (Summons.)
Save (That's right! You can't save in the dungeon until you beat a boss and pick this option! Have fun trudging back to the very beginning every time you beat a boss to save!)
Limit Breaks (The least offensive one to me, since I didn't use them much in VIII)
There might be one or two more, but those are the ones I can remember. Absolutely incomprehensible that anyone would design a game like that. There is literally no reason other than blatant padding that someone would do that in a game. Ugh.
Anyway! It may not seem like it, but I really do enjoy Final Fantasy VIII. It has some pretty good bits! The mechanics are quite fun, if a bit out there. Junctioning magic to your stats seems pretty complicated and annoying at first, but once you get the hang of it, tweaking your characters to be efficient fighters is really satisfying. For example, I turned Squall into a physical damage powerhouse, and routinely would cast Haste and Berserk on him to just crank out huge amounts of damage. But it isn't just your Strength stat that you can mess around with! You can also change your attack element, slap a status on your attack such as Sleep that causes your normal attack to inflict that status (and the more of that spell you have junctioned, the more likely it will stick). All of this is done by junctioning Guardian Forces to your characters and using their abilities to junction magic to different stats and abilities.
It sounds daunting, but it actually starts to make sense fairly quickly in game. The menus could be organized a bit better, though. It took a while to get used to figuring out which part of the menu let me junction magic to status attacks as opposed to stats, and the fact that you can't see what abilities a GF has in the Junction menu is stupid - you have to back out of the Junction menu and go to the GF menu AND press L1 or whatever to see which abilities that GF has. Ugh.
As clunky as Junctioning could be, it is my favorite part of the game. Really deep diving into the system and making my characters as strong as they could be was very satisfying. Then using some of the abilities to boost stats was fun, too (Str Up at level up was a fun one, since that made Squall or whoever gain a bonus strength point every time he leveled up). I enjoyed making my defense so good that Thundaga and Firaga did all of 200 damage to my 7000 HP characters. Nice!
As for the story... Well, it is full of holes. I ended up liking a big chunk of it though - he's kind of a pain to play as at first, but Laguna ended up being done really well overall. A lot of his story isn't really spelled out for you - you have to figure it out with the bits you have. But when you start to piece together what he was up to, it's actually pretty impressive. He's probably my favorite character in the game.
Not that the other ones are bad, though. Irvine didn't get much time to develop, nor did Quistis or Selphie or Zell, but none of them are offensive. Squall is a douchebag until disc 3, and Rinoa is fine I guess. Seifer's entire story arc doesn't make a lick of sense though. The payoff of the ending was fine, I suppose. Ultimately, there are parts of the story that are head-slappingly weird (the big one coming near the end of disc 2), but I still found even those parts enjoyable and charming. And even though there are parts of it that don't make any sense, I still enjoyed the story of VIII more than VII, as it's easier to follow.
I'm having difficulty placing VIII in the series as far as my favorites go, though. VI still has a deathgrip on the top slot, and it's probably still followed by X, but I have no idea whether I like VII or VIII better. I'm leaning towards VIII but I don't know. VII actually had a little challenge, whereas VIII was such a cakewalk I wonder if I'll ever have the urge to play it again.
Anyway, it's really weird that I've now beaten all the Playstation Final Fantasies (well, the PS1 ones, anyway. Still haven't even tried XII). As some more time passes, maybe I'll be able to rank them or something. Not sure which game I'll play next... I might jump into Luigi's Mansion, who knows.
It seems to happen at the end of every Final Fantasy game - I get to the final dungeon having fun, and then feel like I have to slog through a bunch of crap and cannot WAIT for the game to be over. Happened last year with Final Fantasy VII and Final Fantasy XIII, happened in X, it's particularly bad in IV, etc. Since it's not story related at all, let me explain why the final dungeon is a piece of shit in VIII:
As soon as you step foot in it, the game takes away your ability to do anything but your normal attack. I don't just mean in battles, either - you cannot use items or magic outside of battle at all either, without leaving the final dungeon. You have to earn the ability to use them again by beating bosses sprinkled throughout the dungeon. Here's the list of abilities you can't use:
Magic (all of it. No Curaga, no Haste, no Firaga)
Item (no Potions, no Phoenix Downs, nothing)
Draw (hope you don't fight the one boss in the dungeon with a new GF without this ability!)
Command Abilities (special abilities your GF give to your characters during battle, such as Treatment or Mad Rush, both of which I made heavy use of that were suddenly cut off)
Revive (THE WORST OF THE LOT. Even IF you have your magic or items again, you have to beat ANOTHER boss before Life or Phoenix Down will work on any of your characters! *kills self*)
GF (Summons.)
Save (That's right! You can't save in the dungeon until you beat a boss and pick this option! Have fun trudging back to the very beginning every time you beat a boss to save!)
Limit Breaks (The least offensive one to me, since I didn't use them much in VIII)
There might be one or two more, but those are the ones I can remember. Absolutely incomprehensible that anyone would design a game like that. There is literally no reason other than blatant padding that someone would do that in a game. Ugh.
Anyway! It may not seem like it, but I really do enjoy Final Fantasy VIII. It has some pretty good bits! The mechanics are quite fun, if a bit out there. Junctioning magic to your stats seems pretty complicated and annoying at first, but once you get the hang of it, tweaking your characters to be efficient fighters is really satisfying. For example, I turned Squall into a physical damage powerhouse, and routinely would cast Haste and Berserk on him to just crank out huge amounts of damage. But it isn't just your Strength stat that you can mess around with! You can also change your attack element, slap a status on your attack such as Sleep that causes your normal attack to inflict that status (and the more of that spell you have junctioned, the more likely it will stick). All of this is done by junctioning Guardian Forces to your characters and using their abilities to junction magic to different stats and abilities.
It sounds daunting, but it actually starts to make sense fairly quickly in game. The menus could be organized a bit better, though. It took a while to get used to figuring out which part of the menu let me junction magic to status attacks as opposed to stats, and the fact that you can't see what abilities a GF has in the Junction menu is stupid - you have to back out of the Junction menu and go to the GF menu AND press L1 or whatever to see which abilities that GF has. Ugh.
As clunky as Junctioning could be, it is my favorite part of the game. Really deep diving into the system and making my characters as strong as they could be was very satisfying. Then using some of the abilities to boost stats was fun, too (Str Up at level up was a fun one, since that made Squall or whoever gain a bonus strength point every time he leveled up). I enjoyed making my defense so good that Thundaga and Firaga did all of 200 damage to my 7000 HP characters. Nice!
As for the story... Well, it is full of holes. I ended up liking a big chunk of it though - he's kind of a pain to play as at first, but Laguna ended up being done really well overall. A lot of his story isn't really spelled out for you - you have to figure it out with the bits you have. But when you start to piece together what he was up to, it's actually pretty impressive. He's probably my favorite character in the game.
Not that the other ones are bad, though. Irvine didn't get much time to develop, nor did Quistis or Selphie or Zell, but none of them are offensive. Squall is a douchebag until disc 3, and Rinoa is fine I guess. Seifer's entire story arc doesn't make a lick of sense though. The payoff of the ending was fine, I suppose. Ultimately, there are parts of the story that are head-slappingly weird (the big one coming near the end of disc 2), but I still found even those parts enjoyable and charming. And even though there are parts of it that don't make any sense, I still enjoyed the story of VIII more than VII, as it's easier to follow.
I'm having difficulty placing VIII in the series as far as my favorites go, though. VI still has a deathgrip on the top slot, and it's probably still followed by X, but I have no idea whether I like VII or VIII better. I'm leaning towards VIII but I don't know. VII actually had a little challenge, whereas VIII was such a cakewalk I wonder if I'll ever have the urge to play it again.
Anyway, it's really weird that I've now beaten all the Playstation Final Fantasies (well, the PS1 ones, anyway. Still haven't even tried XII). As some more time passes, maybe I'll be able to rank them or something. Not sure which game I'll play next... I might jump into Luigi's Mansion, who knows.
Wednesday, April 3, 2013
Shin Megami Tensei: Digital Devil Saga 2
"Why do you like this game?"
It's such a simple question, one that I struggled to answer. It was asked in earnest, not in any way mocking me, by my roommate, who also likes games quite a bit. He wasn't saying the game was shitty - he probably thinks so, though - but he just wanted to know why I was playing it. "Just to play all the SMT games?"
I suppose that's part of it. It's hard for me to define aloud, though, so I'm going to attempt to do so here, even if it comes out stupid.
There's just something about weird stuff, to me. I don't like the anime crap that pervades so many Japanese RPGs these days - full of trope lines like "That's the power of friendship!" and other groan-worthy moments such as that. The truly weird stuff, though - the strange worlds they seem to create for those games is a big one for me. How many games have you played made by somebody outside of Japan wherein the last dungeon takes place on and IN the sun, that has you delving deeper within by jumping into lotus flowers all the while fighting progressively stronger demons from actual world religions?
Not many, I'd say.
I'm sure there are subtleties to the story of the two Digital Devil Saga games that I'd appreciate if I knew more about these obscure religions (or even the not obscure ones, like Hinduism). There were parts I thought were neat as it was! But not having that context stripped out quite a bit of meaning, I'm sure.
So why did I end up enjoying most of my playthrough?
Although the two games can be boiled down to pretty big grinds (you don't HAVE to play it that way, but it's probably the easiest way to get through it), I did enjoy customizing my characters quite a bit. I'd say that's something that Japanese RPGs still do very well for the most part - Etrian Odyssey, Persona, and yes, Digital Devil Saga all let me tweak my characters down to a very minute level. DDS even lets me switch moves in and out of my characters' move pools at will outside of battle which is always fun (and makes the bosses interesting, since it's assumed that the player will have varied skills by the time you reach them). But I talked about that in my last post about this series.
I don't know, though. It's hard for me to pin down why I feel the need to play through these games. It certainly isn't masochism, I wouldn't play a game if I hated it or even worse, if it was absolutely boring (like I think the DemiKids games are). Maybe I want to be able to notice callbacks in future SMT games or something to that effect (if there even are any. Who knows). I don't really consider it a "badge of honor" or anything like that, because who would be "impressed" that I played through these games? Who would even care?
I guess it just boils down to the fact that I like experiencing weird things. I like being presented stuff without much context and try to absorb it and figure it out. I like dreamscapes. I enjoy grinding levels and customizing characters. I guess that's it?
As for Digital Devil Saga 2, I'm glad I played through it and finished it. It was a very strange ride, and figuring out how to set my party up for the bosses was pretty fun (especially once I finally beat the last boss - I went from getting beat up pretty badly to winning pretty easily with some tweaks and no grinding - satisfying!). I doubt I'll ever play through them again, but you never know.
My next project, after maybe Soul Hackers on 3DS in a few weeks, will likely be the Devil Summoner games. I played quite a bit of the first one, but I feel like I should restart and see how far I get, considering I know this series a lot better now.
It's such a simple question, one that I struggled to answer. It was asked in earnest, not in any way mocking me, by my roommate, who also likes games quite a bit. He wasn't saying the game was shitty - he probably thinks so, though - but he just wanted to know why I was playing it. "Just to play all the SMT games?"
I suppose that's part of it. It's hard for me to define aloud, though, so I'm going to attempt to do so here, even if it comes out stupid.
There's just something about weird stuff, to me. I don't like the anime crap that pervades so many Japanese RPGs these days - full of trope lines like "That's the power of friendship!" and other groan-worthy moments such as that. The truly weird stuff, though - the strange worlds they seem to create for those games is a big one for me. How many games have you played made by somebody outside of Japan wherein the last dungeon takes place on and IN the sun, that has you delving deeper within by jumping into lotus flowers all the while fighting progressively stronger demons from actual world religions?
Not many, I'd say.
I'm sure there are subtleties to the story of the two Digital Devil Saga games that I'd appreciate if I knew more about these obscure religions (or even the not obscure ones, like Hinduism). There were parts I thought were neat as it was! But not having that context stripped out quite a bit of meaning, I'm sure.
So why did I end up enjoying most of my playthrough?
Although the two games can be boiled down to pretty big grinds (you don't HAVE to play it that way, but it's probably the easiest way to get through it), I did enjoy customizing my characters quite a bit. I'd say that's something that Japanese RPGs still do very well for the most part - Etrian Odyssey, Persona, and yes, Digital Devil Saga all let me tweak my characters down to a very minute level. DDS even lets me switch moves in and out of my characters' move pools at will outside of battle which is always fun (and makes the bosses interesting, since it's assumed that the player will have varied skills by the time you reach them). But I talked about that in my last post about this series.
I don't know, though. It's hard for me to pin down why I feel the need to play through these games. It certainly isn't masochism, I wouldn't play a game if I hated it or even worse, if it was absolutely boring (like I think the DemiKids games are). Maybe I want to be able to notice callbacks in future SMT games or something to that effect (if there even are any. Who knows). I don't really consider it a "badge of honor" or anything like that, because who would be "impressed" that I played through these games? Who would even care?
I guess it just boils down to the fact that I like experiencing weird things. I like being presented stuff without much context and try to absorb it and figure it out. I like dreamscapes. I enjoy grinding levels and customizing characters. I guess that's it?
As for Digital Devil Saga 2, I'm glad I played through it and finished it. It was a very strange ride, and figuring out how to set my party up for the bosses was pretty fun (especially once I finally beat the last boss - I went from getting beat up pretty badly to winning pretty easily with some tweaks and no grinding - satisfying!). I doubt I'll ever play through them again, but you never know.
My next project, after maybe Soul Hackers on 3DS in a few weeks, will likely be the Devil Summoner games. I played quite a bit of the first one, but I feel like I should restart and see how far I get, considering I know this series a lot better now.
Monday, March 18, 2013
Etrian Odyssey IV: Legends of the Titan
I just finished off the last main story boss of Etrian Odyssey IV. I want to put down my initial reactions to the game here for posterity.
So the first thing I want to say is that the game is really good. It seems well balanced (at least in the early game; unlike the first three games, it got easier as it went), the balloon is a much better idea and better executed than the ship from III, and many other things I'll get into.
But that "it gets easier as it goes" thing bothers me. I'm not saying the game has to be absolutely insanely hard; that wouldn't be very much fun either. But the fact that I was able to plow through most FOEs when I came across them as the game went on was disappointing; it wasn't like the first three in that FOEs were absolutely deadly until you outleveled them by quite a bit. There were exceptions, of course; many of the quests you got from the Dancing Peacock had areas with FOEs that were pretty brutal (Chameleon King and Baboon King can go to hell). Even the FOEs you encounter in the 4th Maze aren't tough at all on their own; I beat two of them at once the first time I encountered them. Strange!
The classes in this game are pretty fun, though. They did a very good job of giving each class quite a bit to do during battles. Each member of the Metroid Guild supported each other in many different ways. My Fortress was always busy. Whether reducing the damage characters take for a couple of turns to straight up taking the damage for them, to taunting the enemy so he got attacked more often, etc. My Night Seeker did so much damage, I ended up using her ailment throws less and less throughout the game, to the point where I'd only use them on bosses and when Spread Throw would auto-activate at the beginning of some random battles. My Runemaster did more and more damage as the game went on; I didn't think Origin Rune would be too useful because of it's insane TP cost, but because of Free Energy and its ability to do a TON of damage quickly if needed, I found it quite useful for the late game.
But my favorite class is actually a tie between Dancer and Arcanist. Dancers are fun because they are such fantastic supporting characters. I primarily used mine to keep my front line's HP up throughout the game - Regen Waltz was used quite often, and Chase Samba is quite possibly the most useful ability in the game. I had fun subclassing Dancer onto my Night Seeker, to occasionally have her Chase Samba along with my main Dancer for some attacks that went on forever (especially with Swords Dance, which is a passive skill that makes your character sometimes get 1-3 extra attacks in a turn). All of this combined with Mist Dance, which stuns the enemy (makes them lose a turn), meant my Dancer was a mainstay through the entire game (who made my Night Seeker even better because of all the extra attacks, subclass or no).
Arcanists are so useful, though, I'm not sure if I would have been able to beat the game without one. Maybe subclassing Arcanist onto a Medic would do in a pinch, but some of the abilities are so amazing I would want them maxed out (plus I can't imagine an Arcanist without the Class Ability that lets them regain spent TP whenever a circle dissipates). Apparently, Poison Circle is incredibly useful (and would really help a Night Seeker do an absolutely ridiculous amount of damage), but I didn't even put one point in it! My Arcanist was a binding machine, with maxed out Chain, Snare, and Hood Circles so I could bind the enemy at will. Having put Sniper as my Runemaster's subclass, whenever someone was bound he would hit them with a free Chase Bind, so that was a nice bonus as well. After casting a circle, though, my Arcanist would usually Dismiss Blow or Dismiss Blast (depending on the amount of enemies remaining) to do several hundred damage. I'm glad I switched out my Medic for an Arcanist - they are a lot more versatile and absolutely fun. I really enjoyed balancing keeping the Circles in effect for their passive healing or Dismissing them to do a lot of damage to an enemy. For the final boss, Dismiss Blast was critical.
Subclassing is interesting in Etrian Odyssey IV. I would like to go back and play III to remember all the things I did there for subclassing; one thing I don't like about IV is the inability to put more than half the points into abilities for subclasses as compared to main classes. I understand it's likely a balance issue; many of the classes in EOIV would be pretty much unstoppable, most likely, if they could max out their subclass (can you imagine a Night Seeker with pretty much full Dancer capability? Wow), but I enjoyed the flexibility of III. Also, I miss the ability to fill the sixth slot at will from III - either with a summoned animal or a Ninja clone. Sure, you could have guest characters join you on the third floor of the late mazes, but they were optional! I want to clone my Dancer for the back row, Atlus!
It's quite interesting to think about how the characters in the series have evolved from characters who all serve their own individual purposes and stand on their own to being pretty codependent on each other. I'm not sure if the Wizardry games (the inspiration for the series, according to the developers) did that to much degree. If not, it's a pretty interesting evolution!
I really enjoyed exploring in the balloon, though. Dodging giant FOEs on the overworld was challenging, and having some of them guard extra caves to explore was neat, too. The whole world felt a lot more coherent than any of the other Etrian Odyssey's because of the balloon, and I hope it returns for future games in the series.
The music was a bit of a mixed bag for me. On the one hand, the music in the 4th Maze is absolutely amazing, but stuff like the music in Tharsis is just awful. I mean it's good music, but I think I prefer the old school charm and mystery of the PC88 music from the first three games. Etrian Odyssey III had some gems in its soundtrack for sure.
I also miss the multiple endings of III - I'm not sure if your choices throughout the game really change the story much if it all in IV. I thought it was pretty fun in III that you had to choose sides, and I thought the same would happen in IV but it really didn't. If there are other endings in IV, I'm unaware of them! There does seem to be a New Game + option though, so perhaps I'm missing something.
All in all, though, I'd rank the games as follows, from best to worst:
1. Etrian Odyssey III: The Drowned City
2. Etrian Odyssey IV: Legends of the Titan
3. Etrian Odyssey
4. Etrian Odyssey II: Heroes of Lagaard
A lot of the reason that list reads the way it does is because III and IV are way more sophisticated than the first two. It would be interesting to go back and play them now; without subclassing, they would probably feel pretty light. Which is weird to think about, since I enjoyed them quite a bit!
I may delve into the postgame stuff a little; none of the postgames of the series have really captured me yet. I hear IV's is the most accessible. I guess time will tell.
I love this series. I'm already waiting for Etrian Odyssey V.
So the first thing I want to say is that the game is really good. It seems well balanced (at least in the early game; unlike the first three games, it got easier as it went), the balloon is a much better idea and better executed than the ship from III, and many other things I'll get into.
But that "it gets easier as it goes" thing bothers me. I'm not saying the game has to be absolutely insanely hard; that wouldn't be very much fun either. But the fact that I was able to plow through most FOEs when I came across them as the game went on was disappointing; it wasn't like the first three in that FOEs were absolutely deadly until you outleveled them by quite a bit. There were exceptions, of course; many of the quests you got from the Dancing Peacock had areas with FOEs that were pretty brutal (Chameleon King and Baboon King can go to hell). Even the FOEs you encounter in the 4th Maze aren't tough at all on their own; I beat two of them at once the first time I encountered them. Strange!
The classes in this game are pretty fun, though. They did a very good job of giving each class quite a bit to do during battles. Each member of the Metroid Guild supported each other in many different ways. My Fortress was always busy. Whether reducing the damage characters take for a couple of turns to straight up taking the damage for them, to taunting the enemy so he got attacked more often, etc. My Night Seeker did so much damage, I ended up using her ailment throws less and less throughout the game, to the point where I'd only use them on bosses and when Spread Throw would auto-activate at the beginning of some random battles. My Runemaster did more and more damage as the game went on; I didn't think Origin Rune would be too useful because of it's insane TP cost, but because of Free Energy and its ability to do a TON of damage quickly if needed, I found it quite useful for the late game.
But my favorite class is actually a tie between Dancer and Arcanist. Dancers are fun because they are such fantastic supporting characters. I primarily used mine to keep my front line's HP up throughout the game - Regen Waltz was used quite often, and Chase Samba is quite possibly the most useful ability in the game. I had fun subclassing Dancer onto my Night Seeker, to occasionally have her Chase Samba along with my main Dancer for some attacks that went on forever (especially with Swords Dance, which is a passive skill that makes your character sometimes get 1-3 extra attacks in a turn). All of this combined with Mist Dance, which stuns the enemy (makes them lose a turn), meant my Dancer was a mainstay through the entire game (who made my Night Seeker even better because of all the extra attacks, subclass or no).
Arcanists are so useful, though, I'm not sure if I would have been able to beat the game without one. Maybe subclassing Arcanist onto a Medic would do in a pinch, but some of the abilities are so amazing I would want them maxed out (plus I can't imagine an Arcanist without the Class Ability that lets them regain spent TP whenever a circle dissipates). Apparently, Poison Circle is incredibly useful (and would really help a Night Seeker do an absolutely ridiculous amount of damage), but I didn't even put one point in it! My Arcanist was a binding machine, with maxed out Chain, Snare, and Hood Circles so I could bind the enemy at will. Having put Sniper as my Runemaster's subclass, whenever someone was bound he would hit them with a free Chase Bind, so that was a nice bonus as well. After casting a circle, though, my Arcanist would usually Dismiss Blow or Dismiss Blast (depending on the amount of enemies remaining) to do several hundred damage. I'm glad I switched out my Medic for an Arcanist - they are a lot more versatile and absolutely fun. I really enjoyed balancing keeping the Circles in effect for their passive healing or Dismissing them to do a lot of damage to an enemy. For the final boss, Dismiss Blast was critical.
Subclassing is interesting in Etrian Odyssey IV. I would like to go back and play III to remember all the things I did there for subclassing; one thing I don't like about IV is the inability to put more than half the points into abilities for subclasses as compared to main classes. I understand it's likely a balance issue; many of the classes in EOIV would be pretty much unstoppable, most likely, if they could max out their subclass (can you imagine a Night Seeker with pretty much full Dancer capability? Wow), but I enjoyed the flexibility of III. Also, I miss the ability to fill the sixth slot at will from III - either with a summoned animal or a Ninja clone. Sure, you could have guest characters join you on the third floor of the late mazes, but they were optional! I want to clone my Dancer for the back row, Atlus!
It's quite interesting to think about how the characters in the series have evolved from characters who all serve their own individual purposes and stand on their own to being pretty codependent on each other. I'm not sure if the Wizardry games (the inspiration for the series, according to the developers) did that to much degree. If not, it's a pretty interesting evolution!
I really enjoyed exploring in the balloon, though. Dodging giant FOEs on the overworld was challenging, and having some of them guard extra caves to explore was neat, too. The whole world felt a lot more coherent than any of the other Etrian Odyssey's because of the balloon, and I hope it returns for future games in the series.
The music was a bit of a mixed bag for me. On the one hand, the music in the 4th Maze is absolutely amazing, but stuff like the music in Tharsis is just awful. I mean it's good music, but I think I prefer the old school charm and mystery of the PC88 music from the first three games. Etrian Odyssey III had some gems in its soundtrack for sure.
I also miss the multiple endings of III - I'm not sure if your choices throughout the game really change the story much if it all in IV. I thought it was pretty fun in III that you had to choose sides, and I thought the same would happen in IV but it really didn't. If there are other endings in IV, I'm unaware of them! There does seem to be a New Game + option though, so perhaps I'm missing something.
All in all, though, I'd rank the games as follows, from best to worst:
1. Etrian Odyssey III: The Drowned City
2. Etrian Odyssey IV: Legends of the Titan
3. Etrian Odyssey
4. Etrian Odyssey II: Heroes of Lagaard
A lot of the reason that list reads the way it does is because III and IV are way more sophisticated than the first two. It would be interesting to go back and play them now; without subclassing, they would probably feel pretty light. Which is weird to think about, since I enjoyed them quite a bit!
I may delve into the postgame stuff a little; none of the postgames of the series have really captured me yet. I hear IV's is the most accessible. I guess time will tell.
I love this series. I'm already waiting for Etrian Odyssey V.
Monday, January 28, 2013
Shin Megami Tensei: Digital Devil Saga
Now this is a job system.
Okay, so SMT: Digital Devil Saga's level up system isn't quite a job system. It's more like a Final Fantasy VI and Final Fantasy X Magicite/Sphere Grid fusion.
Which is everything I want in the world, turns out.
So when you win a battle in DDS, you gain experience for your characters, which allows them to level up and boost their stats. You also gain "Atma Points," which level up your "Mantra," which are basically Magicites that teach your characters new moves. Where the sphere grid comes in is the progression that you move between "Mantra." You can see the entire board from the very start, although you can't see specifically what each node teaches you. But, you can figure it out, because all the first nodes in each category are available from the start - the fire node starts with the weakest fire attack, the ice node starts with the weakest ice attack, etc. Once you "master" a particular Mantra, the next node in the category becomes available. To start learning a new node, you have to a pay a fee of Macca (in game currency also won from battles).
If you're worried about not being able to afford a new node, I don't know if that is ever really a problem. I'm grinding quite a bit, but I've never run into a problem with Macca, and don't think I would even if I weren't grinding.
Each character has their own grid, and move along it independently of the others. So, if you wanted, you could have every character in the game master fire magic exclusively. Not sure why you'd want to, but you could. So party customization comes into play pretty quick - who is going to be your primary physical attacker? Who is going to level up wind attacks? Who is going to heal your party? And so on. Eventually, if you did enough grinding, you could have everybody learn everything (hello further comparison to Final Fantasy VI).
What is different about DDS (and what feels so INCREDIBLY LIBERATING after Nocturne) is that at any point outside of battle, you can go into the menu and pick whatever moves you want your guys to have equipped in battle. Their movepool is any move they learned from the Mantras you've mastered. So, early on in the game I decided I didn't want to be instakilled by any dark or light magic, so I had Serph learn those spells which came with some Null Light and Null Dark party buffs, and found myself eventually up against a boss that used them. Because I came prepared, he was a pretty easy boss. After him, I didn't encounter any of those attacks for a while, so I switched in some wind magic and went on my merry way.
Because they brought back the basic structure of Nocturne's battle system (called the "Press Turn" battle system, if you'll recall), the fact that you can switch moves at will outside of battle is kind of crazy. See, when I was Null-ing that boss's Dark spells, he was losing turns, so I could attack/buff/heal more often. I'm sure every boss won't be as easy as that (spoiler from later in the game: they aren't), but it certainly makes the same battle system from Nocturne have a fun new twist.
So if it isn't especially clear, I absolutely love the battle system in DDS.
So far, the story is dumb. That's about all I have to say about that. I've heard it gets better, so I'll hold off on final judgement, but yeah, I'm in it now for the absolutely sublime mechanics.
It is a bit grindy, though, but the obsessive compulsive part of me doesn't mind because I'm learning like Bufudyne twelve hours into the game. YES.
I'm going to try to write another post about this game, because so far I'm having a pretty great time and would like to compare it to the other SMT series. Assuming the game doesn't get godawful at the end, I'll probably roll right into DDS2 next.
Okay, so SMT: Digital Devil Saga's level up system isn't quite a job system. It's more like a Final Fantasy VI and Final Fantasy X Magicite/Sphere Grid fusion.
Which is everything I want in the world, turns out.
So when you win a battle in DDS, you gain experience for your characters, which allows them to level up and boost their stats. You also gain "Atma Points," which level up your "Mantra," which are basically Magicites that teach your characters new moves. Where the sphere grid comes in is the progression that you move between "Mantra." You can see the entire board from the very start, although you can't see specifically what each node teaches you. But, you can figure it out, because all the first nodes in each category are available from the start - the fire node starts with the weakest fire attack, the ice node starts with the weakest ice attack, etc. Once you "master" a particular Mantra, the next node in the category becomes available. To start learning a new node, you have to a pay a fee of Macca (in game currency also won from battles).
If you're worried about not being able to afford a new node, I don't know if that is ever really a problem. I'm grinding quite a bit, but I've never run into a problem with Macca, and don't think I would even if I weren't grinding.
Each character has their own grid, and move along it independently of the others. So, if you wanted, you could have every character in the game master fire magic exclusively. Not sure why you'd want to, but you could. So party customization comes into play pretty quick - who is going to be your primary physical attacker? Who is going to level up wind attacks? Who is going to heal your party? And so on. Eventually, if you did enough grinding, you could have everybody learn everything (hello further comparison to Final Fantasy VI).
What is different about DDS (and what feels so INCREDIBLY LIBERATING after Nocturne) is that at any point outside of battle, you can go into the menu and pick whatever moves you want your guys to have equipped in battle. Their movepool is any move they learned from the Mantras you've mastered. So, early on in the game I decided I didn't want to be instakilled by any dark or light magic, so I had Serph learn those spells which came with some Null Light and Null Dark party buffs, and found myself eventually up against a boss that used them. Because I came prepared, he was a pretty easy boss. After him, I didn't encounter any of those attacks for a while, so I switched in some wind magic and went on my merry way.
Because they brought back the basic structure of Nocturne's battle system (called the "Press Turn" battle system, if you'll recall), the fact that you can switch moves at will outside of battle is kind of crazy. See, when I was Null-ing that boss's Dark spells, he was losing turns, so I could attack/buff/heal more often. I'm sure every boss won't be as easy as that (spoiler from later in the game: they aren't), but it certainly makes the same battle system from Nocturne have a fun new twist.
So if it isn't especially clear, I absolutely love the battle system in DDS.
So far, the story is dumb. That's about all I have to say about that. I've heard it gets better, so I'll hold off on final judgement, but yeah, I'm in it now for the absolutely sublime mechanics.
It is a bit grindy, though, but the obsessive compulsive part of me doesn't mind because I'm learning like Bufudyne twelve hours into the game. YES.
I'm going to try to write another post about this game, because so far I'm having a pretty great time and would like to compare it to the other SMT series. Assuming the game doesn't get godawful at the end, I'll probably roll right into DDS2 next.
Tuesday, January 22, 2013
Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne
A few minutes ago, I beat SMT: Nocturne, one of the most interesting games I have ever played.
I will start by saying I got what I can only think to be the most anticlimactic ending. Not necessarily a "bad" ending, really, like where everything turned out to be a dream or I died or something. Just... there. Regardless, I don't feel too bad about it, besides the fact that I didn't get to fight the actual last boss.
Anyway! I definitely beat it - a 48 hour game clock tells no lies (it also gave me a clear save to use if I want to start a New Game +). It certainly wasn't easy, either - the game pulls absolutely no punches. It says to the player, "Here are some tools and a few clues. Good luck..." and then sets you loose in what is probably the most oppressive environment I have ever seen in a game.
You play as the demi-fiend, a half-human, half-demon silent protagonist who, in order to survive, must join up with demons and use them to help create the world he wants. This is done by meeting up with the very few humans left, who come up with their ideal worlds and fight amongst themselves in order to win and create their own "utopia." Since you're a demon, you can't come up with what's called a Reason (the aforementioned possible "utopias"), and must instead back one of the humans and help them create their world.
The reason everybody is trying to create the world they want is because about fifteen minutes into the game, the world as we know it ends. What's left is called the Vortex World, a sort of fetal recreation of parts of Tokyo, which is infested with demons and monsters and is very dangerous. This world is only temporary; eventually, a new world will be created in it's place via one of the Reasons.
Anyway, this environment is interesting because it is the only time I can think of in which the near constant threat of random battles (yes, even in almost every town, save for a very few temporary ones) is justified. There are demons everywhere, who are trying to gather power! So, they try to kill other demons to gain their power. This is interesting because usually I cannot stand random battles, but they make sense here (it helps that the game wastes no time in getting them loaded and started, so it doesn't feel too slow paced).
The game is also pretty creepy. Other than the very few humans left, everyone else are scattered around as ghosts who the player can talk to. They usually give clues as to where to go next. The player can also talk to the various demons who wander about, but must be careful because some of them will attack.
Other than some story specifics, that's all I'll really say about the world of Nocturne. It's very bleak. Most places are decrepit versions of the pre-apocalypse and are grim reminders of the end you just witnessed. All these reasons are why I think Nocturne is such an oppressive feeling game.
But the mechanics! They are absolutely solid. Nocturne is the first game in the SMT series to use what is called the "Press Turn" battle system. During battle, each side gets one action for each party member on their side. They can use an attack or item, skip a turn, or return to the player's stock or escape. If they skip a turn, they only use "half" of their turn, meaning that the next demon in line gets to go and complete that full turn for them. It's a little difficult to explain, but basically, you can pass your turn to the next demon in line if you like.
The twist, though, comes with enemy weaknesses and strengths. If, say, you use a spell type that the enemy is weak to, you get a bonus turn. If you use a spell that they are strong against (as in, they take zero damage), you lose two turns. If they are able to absorb your attack or reflect it back on you, you lose all your turns. This applies to the enemies as well - if I have a stable of demons who reflect fire attacks, demons who use fire attacks will be absolutely steamrolled by me because they won't be able to touch me and won't get any turns.
This allows the game to have a very good back and forth during battles. If I have a good team setup, I won't have a particular element that will destroy my team. I may have a demon that is weak to electricity, but I'll also have one that will absorb it, so if the enemy uses an attack that hits the whole party with electricity, they'll lose the rest of their turns since that one demon I have absorbs it.
Neat, eh? My beloved Persona 3 and 4 use a modified version of this system where you do bonus damage to the enemy if you hit their weakness and "knock them down." If all the enemies get knocked down, you do a bonus unblockable attack for a huge amount of damage.
Demon fusion is probably at its most important in Nocturne, moreso than in Persona or even Devil Survivor. Your only means of survival is the demons you have, and you better fuse them smartly or you will be outclassed fast. In Persona, you can pretty much use whatever demon you want so long as they are near to your level and aren't weak to whatever element the boss you're fighting uses. In Devil Survivor, you gain access to new demons through fusion, but you can easily buy demons through the demon auction and usually start rolling in macca pretty quickly, unlike in Nocturne.
It's nice to see the fully animated demons in Nocturne as well, unlike the few frames you get in Persona 3 and 4 (which were probably ripped right out of Nocturne, it's hard to tell). There is also demon negotiation in this game, and while it is not as obtuse as in Persona 1 or 2, it's also pretty weird and I never really got the hang of it, besides just generally trying to please the demons I talk to (basically by giving them whatever item they're asking for, so long as it's not something precious like a Chakra Drop or something). Certainly an interesting mechanic, and one that really makes battles even weirder.
I don't like Nocturne as much as Persona 3 and 4, despite really having enjoyed myself. I feel like P3 and 4 have a much better narrative and I feel like they got the story/battle balance just right, and as a result created a much more interesting (and less oppressive) world to take part in. I also really identified with the characters, which is something I can't say for Nocturne since, you know, I haven't survived an apocalypse. To be honest, though, I kind of enjoyed the difficulty of the Nocturne battle system a little more than what Persona has, which surprises me. I still like Persona! But I feel like it's too easy and Nocturne hit that balance of difficulty and breakable systems just right. You either get demolished because you are unprepared, or you win the battle pretty handily, but usually when you win in Nocturne you get by by the scrape of your teeth. It's pretty rare to absolutely dominate a boss in Nocturne (I did it a few times - there was a boss late in the game who only used fire attacks, which was lucky for me since I had several demons who were immune to it). Although I remember when I first played Persona, I felt the same way about that game's difficulty. Who knows! Maybe I'm just getting better at SMT.
Regardless, I'm glad I played through this game. I'm definitely a MegaTen fan, so I need to be able to say I've beaten it. Next, I'm going to play the Digital Devil Saga series, which, I'm told, use the exact same "Press Turn" battle system from Nocturne. I figure it will be an easy transition.
On a related note, I'd like to make this year the Year of the Hardcore Backlog, with only a few exceptions. I will play Etrian Odyssey IV as soon as it comes out, and probably SMT Soul Hackers in April. Other than that, I'm going to try to beat some of the games I've owned for a while. I'm just starting with the SMT games (hence the "Hardcore" above).
Hopefully I don't burn myself out of RPGs.
I will start by saying I got what I can only think to be the most anticlimactic ending. Not necessarily a "bad" ending, really, like where everything turned out to be a dream or I died or something. Just... there. Regardless, I don't feel too bad about it, besides the fact that I didn't get to fight the actual last boss.
Anyway! I definitely beat it - a 48 hour game clock tells no lies (it also gave me a clear save to use if I want to start a New Game +). It certainly wasn't easy, either - the game pulls absolutely no punches. It says to the player, "Here are some tools and a few clues. Good luck..." and then sets you loose in what is probably the most oppressive environment I have ever seen in a game.
You play as the demi-fiend, a half-human, half-demon silent protagonist who, in order to survive, must join up with demons and use them to help create the world he wants. This is done by meeting up with the very few humans left, who come up with their ideal worlds and fight amongst themselves in order to win and create their own "utopia." Since you're a demon, you can't come up with what's called a Reason (the aforementioned possible "utopias"), and must instead back one of the humans and help them create their world.
The reason everybody is trying to create the world they want is because about fifteen minutes into the game, the world as we know it ends. What's left is called the Vortex World, a sort of fetal recreation of parts of Tokyo, which is infested with demons and monsters and is very dangerous. This world is only temporary; eventually, a new world will be created in it's place via one of the Reasons.
Anyway, this environment is interesting because it is the only time I can think of in which the near constant threat of random battles (yes, even in almost every town, save for a very few temporary ones) is justified. There are demons everywhere, who are trying to gather power! So, they try to kill other demons to gain their power. This is interesting because usually I cannot stand random battles, but they make sense here (it helps that the game wastes no time in getting them loaded and started, so it doesn't feel too slow paced).
The game is also pretty creepy. Other than the very few humans left, everyone else are scattered around as ghosts who the player can talk to. They usually give clues as to where to go next. The player can also talk to the various demons who wander about, but must be careful because some of them will attack.
Other than some story specifics, that's all I'll really say about the world of Nocturne. It's very bleak. Most places are decrepit versions of the pre-apocalypse and are grim reminders of the end you just witnessed. All these reasons are why I think Nocturne is such an oppressive feeling game.
But the mechanics! They are absolutely solid. Nocturne is the first game in the SMT series to use what is called the "Press Turn" battle system. During battle, each side gets one action for each party member on their side. They can use an attack or item, skip a turn, or return to the player's stock or escape. If they skip a turn, they only use "half" of their turn, meaning that the next demon in line gets to go and complete that full turn for them. It's a little difficult to explain, but basically, you can pass your turn to the next demon in line if you like.
The twist, though, comes with enemy weaknesses and strengths. If, say, you use a spell type that the enemy is weak to, you get a bonus turn. If you use a spell that they are strong against (as in, they take zero damage), you lose two turns. If they are able to absorb your attack or reflect it back on you, you lose all your turns. This applies to the enemies as well - if I have a stable of demons who reflect fire attacks, demons who use fire attacks will be absolutely steamrolled by me because they won't be able to touch me and won't get any turns.
This allows the game to have a very good back and forth during battles. If I have a good team setup, I won't have a particular element that will destroy my team. I may have a demon that is weak to electricity, but I'll also have one that will absorb it, so if the enemy uses an attack that hits the whole party with electricity, they'll lose the rest of their turns since that one demon I have absorbs it.
Neat, eh? My beloved Persona 3 and 4 use a modified version of this system where you do bonus damage to the enemy if you hit their weakness and "knock them down." If all the enemies get knocked down, you do a bonus unblockable attack for a huge amount of damage.
Demon fusion is probably at its most important in Nocturne, moreso than in Persona or even Devil Survivor. Your only means of survival is the demons you have, and you better fuse them smartly or you will be outclassed fast. In Persona, you can pretty much use whatever demon you want so long as they are near to your level and aren't weak to whatever element the boss you're fighting uses. In Devil Survivor, you gain access to new demons through fusion, but you can easily buy demons through the demon auction and usually start rolling in macca pretty quickly, unlike in Nocturne.
It's nice to see the fully animated demons in Nocturne as well, unlike the few frames you get in Persona 3 and 4 (which were probably ripped right out of Nocturne, it's hard to tell). There is also demon negotiation in this game, and while it is not as obtuse as in Persona 1 or 2, it's also pretty weird and I never really got the hang of it, besides just generally trying to please the demons I talk to (basically by giving them whatever item they're asking for, so long as it's not something precious like a Chakra Drop or something). Certainly an interesting mechanic, and one that really makes battles even weirder.
I don't like Nocturne as much as Persona 3 and 4, despite really having enjoyed myself. I feel like P3 and 4 have a much better narrative and I feel like they got the story/battle balance just right, and as a result created a much more interesting (and less oppressive) world to take part in. I also really identified with the characters, which is something I can't say for Nocturne since, you know, I haven't survived an apocalypse. To be honest, though, I kind of enjoyed the difficulty of the Nocturne battle system a little more than what Persona has, which surprises me. I still like Persona! But I feel like it's too easy and Nocturne hit that balance of difficulty and breakable systems just right. You either get demolished because you are unprepared, or you win the battle pretty handily, but usually when you win in Nocturne you get by by the scrape of your teeth. It's pretty rare to absolutely dominate a boss in Nocturne (I did it a few times - there was a boss late in the game who only used fire attacks, which was lucky for me since I had several demons who were immune to it). Although I remember when I first played Persona, I felt the same way about that game's difficulty. Who knows! Maybe I'm just getting better at SMT.
Regardless, I'm glad I played through this game. I'm definitely a MegaTen fan, so I need to be able to say I've beaten it. Next, I'm going to play the Digital Devil Saga series, which, I'm told, use the exact same "Press Turn" battle system from Nocturne. I figure it will be an easy transition.
On a related note, I'd like to make this year the Year of the Hardcore Backlog, with only a few exceptions. I will play Etrian Odyssey IV as soon as it comes out, and probably SMT Soul Hackers in April. Other than that, I'm going to try to beat some of the games I've owned for a while. I'm just starting with the SMT games (hence the "Hardcore" above).
Hopefully I don't burn myself out of RPGs.
Thursday, January 3, 2013
Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII
This is a shoehorned prequel done right.
That sounds more insulting than it should be. I don't think Square ever intended for Zack to have too much of a story, other than what happened in VII proper. But Crisis Core sure makes it seem otherwise, because I legitimately enjoy what they came up with for him.
The story can be a bit nonsensical at times (would it be a Final Fantasy game if it wasn't?), but overall it's much easier to follow than VII, and still just as good even though you know going into it how it's pretty much going to end. And what an ending! I won't spoil it, but one of the central gameplay mechanics of the game is used to amazing effect at the end.
The gameplay is quite fun as well. Crisis Core is Kingdom Hearts done right, I think - a lot less running around, a lot more strategy and positioning more than just mashing X over and over again until the enemy is dead. Actually it's funny - that's possible in Crisis Core to an extent as well, although it makes the game quite boring and more difficult than it needs to be. If anything, the Materia system really makes Crisis Core better, because of the way it lets you customize Zack. It isn't just his available powers - your standard Fire, Fira, etc. - but also buffs and status protection that you can add to him. For example, I was getting hit with Stun and Stop quite a bit in the last half of the game, and it was driving me nuts, so I fused some Materia to come up with something that prevented me from getting stunned, as well as giving me quite the health boost as well (I had 9999 health by the end of the game with the boosts from my Materia and items). To be honest, I could have explored the Materia Fusion quite a bit more, but by the end, I didn't really need to. Because I did so many of the missions, I feel like I was pretty overleveled by the end, as the final boss was a cakewalk for me.
Those missions are addicting, though. I could easily have seen myself beating every one of them had I not wanted to get to the end of the story and see how everything played out, besides wanting to play other games. They are bite-sized, and aren't risky - if you lose a mission, you still keep the items and experience that you found, you only have to start from the beginning. That's not too big a deal since most missions are very short, mostly just a walk from one end of a dungeon to the other fighting enemies and opening treasure chests. The only time it is a big deal is if you happen to spend an hour and a half doing the 1000 man gauntlet fight and they kill you somewhere around the 850th man with the stupid dynamite move (you get hit with dynamite, it brings you down to 1 HP no matter what, so if you get hit with anything else before healing you're dead). After I lost that mission I decided to go beat the game (which worked out because I was in the last dungeon anyway).
It's too bad there weren't more levels like the last dungeon, actually. There's a lot of stuff Crisis Core did very well, that I would like to see expanded upon, and a game made up of dungeons like the last one would be fantastic. The game was a bit linear up to that point - do a story mission, explore the limited environs of lower Midgar (with seemingly diminishing returns), or do a side mission for items and gil.
Anyway, the scene everyone wanted to see - what happens in Nibelheim - is done extremely well, and was both incredibly fanservicey and yet tastefully done. If you like Final Fantasy VII at all - and I'm not its biggest fan but I had fun with it - you need to play Crisis Core. Had I played VII in 1997 and then Crisis Core in 2007, I would have been very satisfied with what they came up with. Now I'm just jealous that more of the properties I love don't get this sort of fanservicey goodness.
Of course, next on my plate is Persona 4 Arena, so we'll see if Atlus in 2012 can do Square 2007 right. (Also, why isn't Crisis Core on PSN, Square Enix? It's one of the PSP's best games, and people would buy it, judging by how many people continue to buy FFVII on there!)
That sounds more insulting than it should be. I don't think Square ever intended for Zack to have too much of a story, other than what happened in VII proper. But Crisis Core sure makes it seem otherwise, because I legitimately enjoy what they came up with for him.
The story can be a bit nonsensical at times (would it be a Final Fantasy game if it wasn't?), but overall it's much easier to follow than VII, and still just as good even though you know going into it how it's pretty much going to end. And what an ending! I won't spoil it, but one of the central gameplay mechanics of the game is used to amazing effect at the end.
The gameplay is quite fun as well. Crisis Core is Kingdom Hearts done right, I think - a lot less running around, a lot more strategy and positioning more than just mashing X over and over again until the enemy is dead. Actually it's funny - that's possible in Crisis Core to an extent as well, although it makes the game quite boring and more difficult than it needs to be. If anything, the Materia system really makes Crisis Core better, because of the way it lets you customize Zack. It isn't just his available powers - your standard Fire, Fira, etc. - but also buffs and status protection that you can add to him. For example, I was getting hit with Stun and Stop quite a bit in the last half of the game, and it was driving me nuts, so I fused some Materia to come up with something that prevented me from getting stunned, as well as giving me quite the health boost as well (I had 9999 health by the end of the game with the boosts from my Materia and items). To be honest, I could have explored the Materia Fusion quite a bit more, but by the end, I didn't really need to. Because I did so many of the missions, I feel like I was pretty overleveled by the end, as the final boss was a cakewalk for me.
Those missions are addicting, though. I could easily have seen myself beating every one of them had I not wanted to get to the end of the story and see how everything played out, besides wanting to play other games. They are bite-sized, and aren't risky - if you lose a mission, you still keep the items and experience that you found, you only have to start from the beginning. That's not too big a deal since most missions are very short, mostly just a walk from one end of a dungeon to the other fighting enemies and opening treasure chests. The only time it is a big deal is if you happen to spend an hour and a half doing the 1000 man gauntlet fight and they kill you somewhere around the 850th man with the stupid dynamite move (you get hit with dynamite, it brings you down to 1 HP no matter what, so if you get hit with anything else before healing you're dead). After I lost that mission I decided to go beat the game (which worked out because I was in the last dungeon anyway).
It's too bad there weren't more levels like the last dungeon, actually. There's a lot of stuff Crisis Core did very well, that I would like to see expanded upon, and a game made up of dungeons like the last one would be fantastic. The game was a bit linear up to that point - do a story mission, explore the limited environs of lower Midgar (with seemingly diminishing returns), or do a side mission for items and gil.
Anyway, the scene everyone wanted to see - what happens in Nibelheim - is done extremely well, and was both incredibly fanservicey and yet tastefully done. If you like Final Fantasy VII at all - and I'm not its biggest fan but I had fun with it - you need to play Crisis Core. Had I played VII in 1997 and then Crisis Core in 2007, I would have been very satisfied with what they came up with. Now I'm just jealous that more of the properties I love don't get this sort of fanservicey goodness.
Of course, next on my plate is Persona 4 Arena, so we'll see if Atlus in 2012 can do Square 2007 right. (Also, why isn't Crisis Core on PSN, Square Enix? It's one of the PSP's best games, and people would buy it, judging by how many people continue to buy FFVII on there!)
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