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.
Monday, January 28, 2013
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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