Finally, I have beaten the first Shining Force!
I picked up the GBA remake again after having sold it years ago. I'm not sure what stopped me from playing it through back then; I had beaten Shining Force 2 several times and this time, I really enjoyed playing through the vast majority of the game. I'm going to break the game down as best I can.
First, this game probably has some of the most interesting maps in the series. The standouts are peppered through the game: the Laser Eye battle, Colossus, the battle against Chaos, and some others. The Colossus and Laser Eye are probably my two favorite fights in the game. For the Laser Eye fight, the enemy army has set up a Laser Eye on the far end of a narrow bridge the Shining Force must cross. The problem is, the Laser Eye can fire a laser every six turns that damages everything in front of it. It's range covers pretty much the entire lengthy bridge, so the player must plan carefully if he is to cross while not taking too much damage from the Laser Eye and avoiding other enemy attacks. It's a challenging battle made better by the turn limit the game sets that gives you a reward if you beat it in a certain number of turns.
I think adding in the turn limit was a great idea for this reason. The rewards don't break the game as far as I know, but they help a little bit and usually the weapon you get helps quite a bit in the next battle or two. They are totally optional and for those maps that just give you gold coins, you can safely skip them without worrying about missing anything important (gold coins are a pretty terrible reward anyway, since you get coins every time you defeat an enemy. Egressing back to town means you can just grind for coins if you absolutely need them).
As for the Colossus battle, I had a really good time because of how my choices affected the enemies. There is a very narrow bridge right at the beginning of the battle, and the whole battle has mostly flying enemies. Given the past few battles, I thought I could figure out where the flying enemies would go and sent most of my guys quickly across the bridge, leaving my hero Max, a healer, and a gladiator behind to deal with who I thought would be scragglers.
I was wrong.
The flying enemies all flew down the sides of the map and came after Max. The problem was, most of my units were engaged with enemies north of the bridge, and bringning them all back to Max would have dragged all the enemies they were fighting with them. So I sent one or two units down to Max to help out, and did my best to clean up the enemies to the north. Max came close to dying twice - a few lucky turn placements for my healer and and an inexplicable choice from an enemy Blue Dragon to attack my gladiator as opposed to Max helped. I ended up ekeing out a victory while only losing Tao, one of my mages.
Here's my problem with Shining Force, though: the game is very strangely balanced. The early game is pretty difficult, in that most characters can be killed fairly easily. Once your characters start getting close to level 10 and beyond, by that point in the game it would be tough for the player to lose a battle due to how much damage their units can take. Due to some advice I received on Talking Time, I decided to level up my characters to 15-18 and then promote, rather than promote at level 10 when the option first became available. I'm not upset with my decision, given how challenging the last few fights are, but I wish I could have promoted at 10 and still had the exact same difficulty at the end. As it was, once I leveled my characters to level 12 after promotion, the game was an absolute cakewalk. I barely used any strategy or gave much thought to unit placement until the final 3 battles, and even then, I didn't use a ton. Tao dying in the Colossus battle was the only character death I had from Balbazak (where I grinded out those levels) until the end! I've been told that the game is a little more challenging if you don't grind for most of the latter half of the game, and then quite difficult in the final few fights. I'm not sure which version I'd prefer to play. Frankly, I'd like a version that remains somewhat challenging throughout.
...Which is why I think I like Shining Force II better. The game doesn't have as many memorible fights in terms of map design, but it has a much smoother difficulty curve. The maps aren't as claustrophobic as in the first game which is to their detriment (Shining Force II has a lot of outdoor world map fights which are pretty boring, as are the few that are in the first Shining Force), but unit placement matters throughout the whole game because the enemies don't start doing 1 HP damage for most of the latter half of the game. The original Shining Force tries to counter the weirdly balanced DEF stat by having a bunch of enemies that either cast spells or who breathe ice or fire at the player in order to cause magic damage. That helps give the game a bit of challenge, somewhat, but giving the computer AI the option to either damage player units either this way or with a regular physical attack is dumb. A lot of times, the enemy would hit one of my units with a physical attack for 1 HP damage, when they could have done 15-30. Odd!
No need to go into the story, other than to say that I enjoy that there is time travel, robots, surprise family members, and a sacrifice or two along the way. More crazy stuff than in Shining Force II, though I consider that game to have a more well-handled story, if it is a little more cookie cutter.
Of course, it's a shame Sega no longer makes proper Shining Force games. One day I will beat Shining Force CD and III as well, though those games aren't going to be as enjoyable to get through as the first two, from what I've played.
Thursday, May 1, 2014
Sunday, March 30, 2014
Final Fantasy X
Final Fantasy X is in the top tier of the Final Fantasy series, in my opinion. I absolutely adore the battle system, and I even like the story, which is where most people seem to point when talking about the weaknesses of the game.
The story has its problems, sure. What happens to Tidus at the very end could have been foreshadowed better than it was. Also, explicitly saying what is going to happen to you right before it happens sort of hurts the dramatic tension, Tidus! Also Square shouldn't have let the player name Tidus. It would have been better had the characters referred to him by name rather than various pronouns or whatever.
But the overall story, Spira's story, is really good, in my opinion. The thousand year stalemate caused by Yevon is handled quite well, I think.
This playthrough was my third playthrough of the game total. Some things stand out this time, which I don't remember feeling at the time, but seem glaring now. For example, the game is one giant hallway. There is a path, there is an arrow telling you which way to go down the path, and it lasts the whole game. Not a whole lot of deviation, there. The Calm Lands are pretty open, but honestly there is still only one place to go. It would be interesting to play XIII again someday and compare it to this.
I love the graphics, though, especially in HD. The art produced for FFX still holds up, and taking all the bluriness out of it is nice. The characters are designed a little weird (Lulu is jut a pair of tits with a doll, Tidus wears lederhosen, etc.) but still aren't totally jarring just because they CAN be (see: FFXIII). I also don't mind the voice acting, although the laughing scene is still painful. I get what they were going for but the voice actors failed miserably at it.
As for the gameplay, I think this is Square's finest turn based battle system they've ever made. Note that doesn't include active time battle. But, I like how different moves affected your turns, and how you could think about what you wanted to do and how Square put some difficulty behind the battles!
...If you play on the regular sphere grid, that is. If you know the game somewhat well and use the expert grid, you may find yourself gliding through the game with no challenge, as I did this time around. I only died on two battles: Seymour III and Braska's Final Aeon, the last boss in the game. Seymour just required some HP grinding, while BFA requires a whole bunch just to be able to do enough damage before he just smashes you. As always, late game Final Fantasy sucks, because after you climb Mt. Gagazet, go through Zanarkand and beat Yunalesca, you get control of the airship and can enter Sin after you fight him and knock off his wings for some reason. Sin's innards aren't very interesting and make for a poor final dungeon. Also, the crappy minigame you have to play to even GET to the final battle is annoying. The camera rotates around and you can't control it, and it moves SLOWLY. You have to grab 10 items that appear and disappear, while dodging the icicle spears that cause battles when you touch them. Sucks if you get hit with a battle with a fiend that can cast Bad Breath!
The minigames throughout the game are pretty weird, too. You can tell Square was trying to repeat FFVII in that regard - they are many, and they are tough. I managed to beat the Chocobo race this time around, and didn't hate it too much. Dodging lightning bolts proved too annoying for me to keep at, after I dodged over 160 of them, then got hit, meaning I'd have to start over. At least that stuff is optional.
The music is phenomenal from start to finish. I do not understand why people don't like X's tracks but hold up the entirety of VII as excellent when half of VII's were boring one note songs. X's melodies are beautiful and the remixes in the HD version grew on me. The fact that they didn't touch Otherworld is good, though. That song works perfectly as is.
Well, on to X-2, a game I have never given a fair chance. I can play it with headphones now, so if I start to feel embarrased (and given the intro, I will!), I can pop them in and not worry about how awful it can be. Everybody says the battle system is really good, so let's hope so.
The story has its problems, sure. What happens to Tidus at the very end could have been foreshadowed better than it was. Also, explicitly saying what is going to happen to you right before it happens sort of hurts the dramatic tension, Tidus! Also Square shouldn't have let the player name Tidus. It would have been better had the characters referred to him by name rather than various pronouns or whatever.
But the overall story, Spira's story, is really good, in my opinion. The thousand year stalemate caused by Yevon is handled quite well, I think.
This playthrough was my third playthrough of the game total. Some things stand out this time, which I don't remember feeling at the time, but seem glaring now. For example, the game is one giant hallway. There is a path, there is an arrow telling you which way to go down the path, and it lasts the whole game. Not a whole lot of deviation, there. The Calm Lands are pretty open, but honestly there is still only one place to go. It would be interesting to play XIII again someday and compare it to this.
I love the graphics, though, especially in HD. The art produced for FFX still holds up, and taking all the bluriness out of it is nice. The characters are designed a little weird (Lulu is jut a pair of tits with a doll, Tidus wears lederhosen, etc.) but still aren't totally jarring just because they CAN be (see: FFXIII). I also don't mind the voice acting, although the laughing scene is still painful. I get what they were going for but the voice actors failed miserably at it.
As for the gameplay, I think this is Square's finest turn based battle system they've ever made. Note that doesn't include active time battle. But, I like how different moves affected your turns, and how you could think about what you wanted to do and how Square put some difficulty behind the battles!
...If you play on the regular sphere grid, that is. If you know the game somewhat well and use the expert grid, you may find yourself gliding through the game with no challenge, as I did this time around. I only died on two battles: Seymour III and Braska's Final Aeon, the last boss in the game. Seymour just required some HP grinding, while BFA requires a whole bunch just to be able to do enough damage before he just smashes you. As always, late game Final Fantasy sucks, because after you climb Mt. Gagazet, go through Zanarkand and beat Yunalesca, you get control of the airship and can enter Sin after you fight him and knock off his wings for some reason. Sin's innards aren't very interesting and make for a poor final dungeon. Also, the crappy minigame you have to play to even GET to the final battle is annoying. The camera rotates around and you can't control it, and it moves SLOWLY. You have to grab 10 items that appear and disappear, while dodging the icicle spears that cause battles when you touch them. Sucks if you get hit with a battle with a fiend that can cast Bad Breath!
The minigames throughout the game are pretty weird, too. You can tell Square was trying to repeat FFVII in that regard - they are many, and they are tough. I managed to beat the Chocobo race this time around, and didn't hate it too much. Dodging lightning bolts proved too annoying for me to keep at, after I dodged over 160 of them, then got hit, meaning I'd have to start over. At least that stuff is optional.
The music is phenomenal from start to finish. I do not understand why people don't like X's tracks but hold up the entirety of VII as excellent when half of VII's were boring one note songs. X's melodies are beautiful and the remixes in the HD version grew on me. The fact that they didn't touch Otherworld is good, though. That song works perfectly as is.
Well, on to X-2, a game I have never given a fair chance. I can play it with headphones now, so if I start to feel embarrased (and given the intro, I will!), I can pop them in and not worry about how awful it can be. Everybody says the battle system is really good, so let's hope so.
Sunday, February 16, 2014
Sonic Generations
It amazes me how attached I am to the Sonic series, considering there hasn't been a game I've absolutely loved since Sonic Adventure 2 Battle on the Gamecube back in 2002 (and that game only partially holds up as great now, mind). But playing through Sonic Generations was, for the most part, a blast.
The premise of the game is that some time monster is erasing time and now classic Sonic and new Sonic have to team up to stop it. That's all you need to know; like any Sonic game, the story is dumb and irrelevant. What it does is set up a reason for two different types of Sonics, alongside their own type of gameplay, to run through heavily remixed levels from the whole series.
Sega did a fantastic job on many aspects of this game. First of all, the music is 100% great from start to finish - not one complaint on any of the remixes. Hell, my least favorite level of the game (the only level I would argue is actually really BAD, but I'll get to that later) has awesome music. If I could, I would buy the soundtrack to this game, and that's only partially because of the remixes present - the stuff I hadn't heard before is great, too.
The level designs themselves are very well done, for the most part, as well. Anyone who has played the games the levels are from will appreciate the lengths Sega went to to both reference the original levels and put a twist on them. I won't spoil it, but 3D Sonic's Chemical Plant Zone level is worth the price I paid for the game alone ($10, admittedly, but I would recommend the game even at $20). It goes both ways, too - Classic Sonic's City Escape is probably my favorite level for him, mostly because of what they do with the truck from Sonic Adventure 2 throughout the whole level. Absolutely brilliant.
But, this IS a Sonic game, meaning it has faults. The bosses are pretty terrible, save the Silver the Hedgehog and Metal Sonic fights. As much as I like the game he's from, the Shadow fight is boring, lengthy, and stupid. And every one of the Robotnik/Eggman fights are slogs, too. The final boss is easy and boring. Now that I've beaten the game, I never have to play those fights again (at least, I don't think I will - if I go for 100%, I'll probably have to get S ranks on those stupid things too).
But, the most egregious level in the game comes from Sonic Colors (not even the Sonic Heroes level was the worst - who'd have thought?!). Planet Wisp has turned me off from playing either version of Sonic Colors because that level is so godawful it makes me cringe. I've never played Sonic Colors, but it seems to me from the level that Sonic collects little things called Wisps that grant him temporary powers he can use to traverse the level, such as a rocket which launches him very high vertically, or a spike ball thing that allows him to attach himself to walls and ceilings. These are the two wisps in the game, and Sega uses them to create puzzles the player must solve to advance in the level. I'm going to break it down by Sonic, here:
Classic Sonic:
The Wisp classic Sonic gets is the spiky ball one, which allows him to attach to certain surfaces and move gears and such. When you press Y, it uses the Wisp, and then Sonic has a limited time to solve whatever puzzle he's doing. First problem - there is no indication how much time Sonic has while using the Wisp. Hope you solve the puzzle before time runs out! Also, the controls in spike mode are very laggy (I'm not sure if that's by design or from poor programming, or both), and considering all the missiles and stupid crap the game throws at you, missing a jump will cost you. This is the only level in the game where Sonic has to solve puzzles like this, and unlike a Mario or Yoshi's Island or something it is not fun. It slows the pace down to slower than even a water level. Yes, I would rather play through Labyrinth Zone any day than play this monstrosity of a level again.
3D Sonic:
The level starts out good, then the back half of it is this awful slog running around using the rocket Wisp. It's not AS slow as Classic Sonic's version, but if you screw up on the last rocket puzzle and take too long, as near as I can tell, it is absolutely IMPOSSIBLE to beat. You have to die and try again. Long story short, Sonic has to grab the final rocket Wisp, get to the center of the area, and rocket up. My first time playing this section, I wasn't sure where to go, so I wandered around trying to figure that out. There is a ceiling coming down that destroys platforms if it gets to low, but it can be pushed back up using the rocket Wisp. Problem is, the platforms don't come back, making the center of the stage impossible to reach! If there was a way to do it, I couldn't find it, so I let the ceiling crush me and tried again. The game gave me no indication save me running around for boring minutes on end trying to figure out if I could proceed. Awful, just awful.
That aside, I enjoyed most of the game quite a bit. I would say it's definitely the first good Sonic since SA2:B, but I think I want to go back and grab Sonic Unleashed - I've heard mixed things (I don't want to be a stretchy Sonic werewolf, for example), but the level in Sonic Generations from that game is fantastic and the little clip they showed of it in the credits looked pretty good, too. Sonic Colors and Sonic 06 are not games I'll be looking into, though. And maybe I should try to beat Sonic Adventure 1 one of these days... Nah, I don't want to play crappy Dreamcast-era fishing minigames.
Anyway, I think I'm going to poke around doing some of the challenges in Sonic Generations before I shelve it. If I ever get a Wii U, I might look into Sonic Lost World, too - it looked like it would be pretty fun, though I don't know much about it.
Lord help me, I'm a Sonic fan.
The premise of the game is that some time monster is erasing time and now classic Sonic and new Sonic have to team up to stop it. That's all you need to know; like any Sonic game, the story is dumb and irrelevant. What it does is set up a reason for two different types of Sonics, alongside their own type of gameplay, to run through heavily remixed levels from the whole series.
Sega did a fantastic job on many aspects of this game. First of all, the music is 100% great from start to finish - not one complaint on any of the remixes. Hell, my least favorite level of the game (the only level I would argue is actually really BAD, but I'll get to that later) has awesome music. If I could, I would buy the soundtrack to this game, and that's only partially because of the remixes present - the stuff I hadn't heard before is great, too.
The level designs themselves are very well done, for the most part, as well. Anyone who has played the games the levels are from will appreciate the lengths Sega went to to both reference the original levels and put a twist on them. I won't spoil it, but 3D Sonic's Chemical Plant Zone level is worth the price I paid for the game alone ($10, admittedly, but I would recommend the game even at $20). It goes both ways, too - Classic Sonic's City Escape is probably my favorite level for him, mostly because of what they do with the truck from Sonic Adventure 2 throughout the whole level. Absolutely brilliant.
But, this IS a Sonic game, meaning it has faults. The bosses are pretty terrible, save the Silver the Hedgehog and Metal Sonic fights. As much as I like the game he's from, the Shadow fight is boring, lengthy, and stupid. And every one of the Robotnik/Eggman fights are slogs, too. The final boss is easy and boring. Now that I've beaten the game, I never have to play those fights again (at least, I don't think I will - if I go for 100%, I'll probably have to get S ranks on those stupid things too).
But, the most egregious level in the game comes from Sonic Colors (not even the Sonic Heroes level was the worst - who'd have thought?!). Planet Wisp has turned me off from playing either version of Sonic Colors because that level is so godawful it makes me cringe. I've never played Sonic Colors, but it seems to me from the level that Sonic collects little things called Wisps that grant him temporary powers he can use to traverse the level, such as a rocket which launches him very high vertically, or a spike ball thing that allows him to attach himself to walls and ceilings. These are the two wisps in the game, and Sega uses them to create puzzles the player must solve to advance in the level. I'm going to break it down by Sonic, here:
Classic Sonic:
The Wisp classic Sonic gets is the spiky ball one, which allows him to attach to certain surfaces and move gears and such. When you press Y, it uses the Wisp, and then Sonic has a limited time to solve whatever puzzle he's doing. First problem - there is no indication how much time Sonic has while using the Wisp. Hope you solve the puzzle before time runs out! Also, the controls in spike mode are very laggy (I'm not sure if that's by design or from poor programming, or both), and considering all the missiles and stupid crap the game throws at you, missing a jump will cost you. This is the only level in the game where Sonic has to solve puzzles like this, and unlike a Mario or Yoshi's Island or something it is not fun. It slows the pace down to slower than even a water level. Yes, I would rather play through Labyrinth Zone any day than play this monstrosity of a level again.
3D Sonic:
The level starts out good, then the back half of it is this awful slog running around using the rocket Wisp. It's not AS slow as Classic Sonic's version, but if you screw up on the last rocket puzzle and take too long, as near as I can tell, it is absolutely IMPOSSIBLE to beat. You have to die and try again. Long story short, Sonic has to grab the final rocket Wisp, get to the center of the area, and rocket up. My first time playing this section, I wasn't sure where to go, so I wandered around trying to figure that out. There is a ceiling coming down that destroys platforms if it gets to low, but it can be pushed back up using the rocket Wisp. Problem is, the platforms don't come back, making the center of the stage impossible to reach! If there was a way to do it, I couldn't find it, so I let the ceiling crush me and tried again. The game gave me no indication save me running around for boring minutes on end trying to figure out if I could proceed. Awful, just awful.
That aside, I enjoyed most of the game quite a bit. I would say it's definitely the first good Sonic since SA2:B, but I think I want to go back and grab Sonic Unleashed - I've heard mixed things (I don't want to be a stretchy Sonic werewolf, for example), but the level in Sonic Generations from that game is fantastic and the little clip they showed of it in the credits looked pretty good, too. Sonic Colors and Sonic 06 are not games I'll be looking into, though. And maybe I should try to beat Sonic Adventure 1 one of these days... Nah, I don't want to play crappy Dreamcast-era fishing minigames.
Anyway, I think I'm going to poke around doing some of the challenges in Sonic Generations before I shelve it. If I ever get a Wii U, I might look into Sonic Lost World, too - it looked like it would be pretty fun, though I don't know much about it.
Lord help me, I'm a Sonic fan.
Thursday, January 30, 2014
Devil Survivor 2: First Complete Playthrough
I just wrapped up Daichi's ending of Devil Survivor 2. As the credits roll by, I want to reflect on the game, given how much I enjoyed the first one.
First, the differences. The first game has a much better overall story. I won't spoil either game, but suffice it to say DS2 is basically a traditional mainline Megaten story whereas DS1 is its own thing. Not that DS2s story was bad - it's just not as original as the first one. I also thought the enemy was far less interesting than the enemy in the first game.
The Fate system, though, is where I feel like the game sort of falls apart. I was excited for this mechanic when I first heard about the game because it takes one of my favorite aspects of Persona 3 and 4 - social links - and grafts them onto Devil Survivor's structure. I can see what the developers were going for but because the story doesn't make too much sense unless you already know what is happening, it falls apart.
You see, I used a guide for this game, and not for a single battle - not one! I used a guide when I got to the second day because the game does an extremely poor job of hinting which story events will advance your Fate level with a character, and which ones are largely pointless. The Nicaea website, which shows you a clip of someones death before it happens, can be difficult to decipher too, because you have to be in the right place at the right time or else the person you are trying to save will die (which is likely as intended - the characters don't know when/where these events happen either). In practice though, it's just frustrating and stressful. So, I used a FAQ to tell me which options to pick so I didn't lose anybody and so I could focus on my favorite part of the game, battles and demon fusion.
Both are improved over DS1. Gone is the weird magnetite system from DS1 that most players don't use much, and in its place is a system that will occasionally reward the player with items that will allow them to fuse demons differently. For example, when fusing, I can attach the "Fire Set" item to the new demon, which allows it to pick moves of the fire type that I've unlocked. This is great when I have a demon that is otherwise perfect, but weak to fire - slap the fire set on it, pick Null/Repel/Drain Fire, and fuse! There are other types, too, such as items that boost demon stats, remove moves the demon comes with you don't like, remove stat caps from the fusion ingredients, etc. etc. This is by far my favorite addition to the game.
They also added a few new demon powers as well as made some of them "evolve" and get stronger when you level up your demons enough. One of the evolutions allows the demons team to attack up to seven squares away for sacrificing some MP - this got heavy use from me at the end of the game. It made those types of demons actually useful for once, because I can stay out of range, still attack, but not have to worry about getting murdered since the enemy can't reach me!
They did some balancing, too. There are more useful physical moves in this game, as opposed to the Pierce/Deathbound in the first, although that is still extremely viable. Drain got nerfed a bit, but Holy Dance still hits hard. The game also gives you a fairly stable set of characters so you aren't stuck with a set that sucks.
It really is too bad the story is so boring, because given the gameplay enhancements in DS2, I could see it beating out DS1 as one of my absolute favorite games. DS2 is still really good, and I will probably do some New Game + stuff throughout the year, since I enjoyed that mode so much in the first game. I really could spend a decent amount of time picking out why the story feels so half assed, but there'd be plenty of spoilers and I'm sure it has been done elsewhere better than I could. I'd still recommend Devil Survivor: Overclocked over this one.
Here's looking forward to Devil Survivor 3, though. This series is a very close second to Persona 3 and 4 as my favorite sub-series of SMT for sure.
First, the differences. The first game has a much better overall story. I won't spoil either game, but suffice it to say DS2 is basically a traditional mainline Megaten story whereas DS1 is its own thing. Not that DS2s story was bad - it's just not as original as the first one. I also thought the enemy was far less interesting than the enemy in the first game.
The Fate system, though, is where I feel like the game sort of falls apart. I was excited for this mechanic when I first heard about the game because it takes one of my favorite aspects of Persona 3 and 4 - social links - and grafts them onto Devil Survivor's structure. I can see what the developers were going for but because the story doesn't make too much sense unless you already know what is happening, it falls apart.
You see, I used a guide for this game, and not for a single battle - not one! I used a guide when I got to the second day because the game does an extremely poor job of hinting which story events will advance your Fate level with a character, and which ones are largely pointless. The Nicaea website, which shows you a clip of someones death before it happens, can be difficult to decipher too, because you have to be in the right place at the right time or else the person you are trying to save will die (which is likely as intended - the characters don't know when/where these events happen either). In practice though, it's just frustrating and stressful. So, I used a FAQ to tell me which options to pick so I didn't lose anybody and so I could focus on my favorite part of the game, battles and demon fusion.
Both are improved over DS1. Gone is the weird magnetite system from DS1 that most players don't use much, and in its place is a system that will occasionally reward the player with items that will allow them to fuse demons differently. For example, when fusing, I can attach the "Fire Set" item to the new demon, which allows it to pick moves of the fire type that I've unlocked. This is great when I have a demon that is otherwise perfect, but weak to fire - slap the fire set on it, pick Null/Repel/Drain Fire, and fuse! There are other types, too, such as items that boost demon stats, remove moves the demon comes with you don't like, remove stat caps from the fusion ingredients, etc. etc. This is by far my favorite addition to the game.
They also added a few new demon powers as well as made some of them "evolve" and get stronger when you level up your demons enough. One of the evolutions allows the demons team to attack up to seven squares away for sacrificing some MP - this got heavy use from me at the end of the game. It made those types of demons actually useful for once, because I can stay out of range, still attack, but not have to worry about getting murdered since the enemy can't reach me!
They did some balancing, too. There are more useful physical moves in this game, as opposed to the Pierce/Deathbound in the first, although that is still extremely viable. Drain got nerfed a bit, but Holy Dance still hits hard. The game also gives you a fairly stable set of characters so you aren't stuck with a set that sucks.
It really is too bad the story is so boring, because given the gameplay enhancements in DS2, I could see it beating out DS1 as one of my absolute favorite games. DS2 is still really good, and I will probably do some New Game + stuff throughout the year, since I enjoyed that mode so much in the first game. I really could spend a decent amount of time picking out why the story feels so half assed, but there'd be plenty of spoilers and I'm sure it has been done elsewhere better than I could. I'd still recommend Devil Survivor: Overclocked over this one.
Here's looking forward to Devil Survivor 3, though. This series is a very close second to Persona 3 and 4 as my favorite sub-series of SMT for sure.
Saturday, January 11, 2014
Link Between Worlds
The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds is fantastic from start to finish.
Really, I could end the whole post there if I wanted. The game is just pure fun. It gets you right into the action right away - no boring tutorials, no awful villagers you need to talk to for hours before you get your sword, no learning how to pilot a boat/train/bird, it's just "Hey, here's your sword, go fight and explore."
My favorite thing about the game is how open it is. At anytime, you can go do whatever you want. I thought the item renting thing would be kind of a letdown at first, since you just have all the items for the most part right away, but I actually wasn't bothered by it at all. It allows the designers to just make the dungeons and overworld as they see fit, and not have, say, the hookshot be the key to get to this part of the world, the hammer be the key to this part, etc. The world switching thing is fantastic and is an excellent mechanic (Link being able to flatten himself onto a wall and then walk along it makes for some fun puzzles). Even the sidequests are fun!
I put a solid sixteen hours plus into the game, which includes beating the game and finding everything (and I mean everything). There are bonus treasure chests in every dungeon, and they all contain a power up for Link, which adds to the exploration aspect. There are 100 little things to find scattered throughout the overworld, and every ten you find allows you to upgrade an item of your choice - again, the game acknowledging that every player may like to use certain items to fight. I used the Hookshot quite a bit throughout the game, but many players swear by the Wind Rod thing. It was pretty useful for the very fun battle gauntlet, but that was really the only place I used it much.
The fighting mechanics are spot on, too. Swordplay is just as fun as in LttP, if not better, and the secondary items are fun to use too. I went through the battle gauntlet three times - three times! - in a row, with pleasure, to unlock everything you can get from it. I talked to all the NPCs (not that many of them have anything revelatory to say, but they often hint at secrets). I thought the story was pretty fun, if kind of basic.
Probably the best part about the game, though, is how it uses Link to the Past's world not only for level design but for putting nice twists on old areas for veterans of the old game. There was one particular item that I did not get until after I beat story mode - despite being able to get it almost right off the bat! This is because Link Between Worlds inverts an old puzzle from Link to the Past, so that I didn't think I could complete it until I found the item I'm referring to. I should have seen it coming!
The music is amazing, as well. Link to the Past really has good music, and this game remixes it to great effect. The Dark World theme in particular really shines as probably my favorite tune in the game, despite the Hyrule Forest music being present and as always, fantastic. Despite some people's complaints about the graphics, I found them fine. At no point did I stop and think to myself "Wow, this game is ugly," so people who say the graphics are terrible are exaggerating. Are they as gorgeous as LttP's spritework? No, but they also aren't bland, boring New Super Mario Bros-esque, either.
I absolutely loved the game, and alongside Animal Crossing which I remain addicted to, will likely go back and play Link to the Past. Link Between Worlds made me realize I have a lot of nostalgia for that old game, despite not beating it until highschool, ten or so years after it came out. Who knows if it'll hold up as well compared to the new game - a curiousity that surprises me, considering how good the old game is. Link Between Worlds is just that good.
Really, I could end the whole post there if I wanted. The game is just pure fun. It gets you right into the action right away - no boring tutorials, no awful villagers you need to talk to for hours before you get your sword, no learning how to pilot a boat/train/bird, it's just "Hey, here's your sword, go fight and explore."
My favorite thing about the game is how open it is. At anytime, you can go do whatever you want. I thought the item renting thing would be kind of a letdown at first, since you just have all the items for the most part right away, but I actually wasn't bothered by it at all. It allows the designers to just make the dungeons and overworld as they see fit, and not have, say, the hookshot be the key to get to this part of the world, the hammer be the key to this part, etc. The world switching thing is fantastic and is an excellent mechanic (Link being able to flatten himself onto a wall and then walk along it makes for some fun puzzles). Even the sidequests are fun!
I put a solid sixteen hours plus into the game, which includes beating the game and finding everything (and I mean everything). There are bonus treasure chests in every dungeon, and they all contain a power up for Link, which adds to the exploration aspect. There are 100 little things to find scattered throughout the overworld, and every ten you find allows you to upgrade an item of your choice - again, the game acknowledging that every player may like to use certain items to fight. I used the Hookshot quite a bit throughout the game, but many players swear by the Wind Rod thing. It was pretty useful for the very fun battle gauntlet, but that was really the only place I used it much.
The fighting mechanics are spot on, too. Swordplay is just as fun as in LttP, if not better, and the secondary items are fun to use too. I went through the battle gauntlet three times - three times! - in a row, with pleasure, to unlock everything you can get from it. I talked to all the NPCs (not that many of them have anything revelatory to say, but they often hint at secrets). I thought the story was pretty fun, if kind of basic.
Probably the best part about the game, though, is how it uses Link to the Past's world not only for level design but for putting nice twists on old areas for veterans of the old game. There was one particular item that I did not get until after I beat story mode - despite being able to get it almost right off the bat! This is because Link Between Worlds inverts an old puzzle from Link to the Past, so that I didn't think I could complete it until I found the item I'm referring to. I should have seen it coming!
The music is amazing, as well. Link to the Past really has good music, and this game remixes it to great effect. The Dark World theme in particular really shines as probably my favorite tune in the game, despite the Hyrule Forest music being present and as always, fantastic. Despite some people's complaints about the graphics, I found them fine. At no point did I stop and think to myself "Wow, this game is ugly," so people who say the graphics are terrible are exaggerating. Are they as gorgeous as LttP's spritework? No, but they also aren't bland, boring New Super Mario Bros-esque, either.
I absolutely loved the game, and alongside Animal Crossing which I remain addicted to, will likely go back and play Link to the Past. Link Between Worlds made me realize I have a lot of nostalgia for that old game, despite not beating it until highschool, ten or so years after it came out. Who knows if it'll hold up as well compared to the new game - a curiousity that surprises me, considering how good the old game is. Link Between Worlds is just that good.
Sunday, January 5, 2014
Animal Crossing: New Leaf
So after putting over 200 hours into Animal Crossing: New Leaf, I have come to the conclusion that it is the finest entry in the series and, here in January of 2014, one of my favorite games of all time.
The Animal Crossing series was good to begin with, back in the original English release on the Gamecube. It was a sideways take on the Sims, which had been released about a year earlier (the first version having come out in Japan only on the Nintendo 64 in 2001). In it, you played the (seemingly) only human character to move into a village of talking animals, and worked to build a bigger house, obtain more clothing and furniture, and make friends with the animals. It is now somewhat simplistic compared to the versions that have come out since - to visit another person's town, you inserted your town's memory card into the second slot on the Gamecube, after which your friend could go visit, all by their lonesome. There was no simultaneous multiplayer until the DS version, Wild World, which contained improvements such as new items and things to do.
City Folk, on Wii, wasn't too much of an improvement over Wild World, and to be honest, I barely touched it and thus don't remember too much of it other than thinking the town proper felt strangely empty because most of the shops had been moved to the downtown area to the north of the rest of the town.
New Leaf, released June 9th, 2013, is the first game to truly feel complete. I wonder where they could take the franchise from here - everything just seems so thought out and well designed. Take, for example, the fact that the downtown area from City Folk remains - but is completely fine because now, as mayor, the player can customize his town and make it seem not empty, but vibrant and - most importantly - his own. Never before have I felt as much attachment to my town then in New Leaf, and this is largely due to the fact that when you walk around my town, it is unmistakably mine. The tiny main street area I erected with sidewalks, street lights, and statues, fountains, and gardens does not exist in anyone else's town. Yet, when I visit other towns, I feel truly away from "home" - their towns are laid out differently and have very different features (I've seen tire benches and other unidentifiable buildings, some of which I want, some of which I think are very strange). Now, visiting someone else's town isn't just to see the layout and contents of their home, but their town, as well.
Having played during two seasons of New Leaf - summer and winter - I feel confident enough to say that Nintendo added a bunch of content to spruce up activities when in earlier games the player would get bored. There are season-exclusive furniture sets as well as some activities that aren't in other seasons. Winter in particular is better than I remember it, because even in addition to the Christmas set, there are two sets of furniture to get from snowmen as well as (as far as I'm aware) several items to win from playing bingo with the snowmen you build (unfortunately, when you start bingo, the player receives a bingo card that cannot be removed from their inventory until a bingo is obtained, which is dumb. The player should be able to leave the bingo card in their house, and go get it when they need it, not be screwed out of inventory slot for untold days until bingo is obtained).
I'm impressed with the mini games Nintendo added on the island as well. They are pretty simple, but all are fairly fun and all fit in the Animal Crossing engine pretty well. One of them tasks the player with entering a bunch of random houses and finding items for a scavenger hunt - something that seems so obvious to include in the series in retrospect. I do wish there were more exclusive items to get on the island, and that most of them weren't locked away on the multiplayer version of it (not too huge a problem, mind you, because you can earn medals alone for it, but sometimes actually connecting to the island takes forever and really kills your enthusiasm for it, especially when you get there and its just the cabana bookcase AGAIN).
Villager interaction is better, too. They've added several tasks the villagers request of the player, almost all of which are pretty simple and fun. One of my favorites is hide and seek, where three villagers hide around town and the player has to find them within the time limit. Long gone are the times when animals would just take items right out of a players inventory, although that was limited to the Gamecube version, if I recall. Now, if a villager wants an item, they ask to buy it or trade for it. Also, the villagers suggest new public works projects for the mayor to undertake, which actually makes the villagers important to the town since without them, the mayor would get nothing done.
Nintendo has also added what would otherwise be called achievements in the form of badges the player gets from a new character that shows up in town whenever they accomplish some hidden task. Most of them are things like "fish a lot," or "play the game a lot," but some of them encourage tasks as a subtle way of nudging the player to do certain things. Had I not seen one of my friends had gotten a badge for earning a ton of medals on the island, I'm not sure how much of that I would have explored. Sadly, I now want to collect all the badges, which will likely be an exercise in frustration because I'm sure plenty of them involve some crazy amounts of play time to get.
Overall, I am extremely impressed with the game. I'm sure they'll think of something, but I am sincere when I say I don't know what they will add to the next one other than maybe refining some of the very few rough spots in this version. Unlike Wild World, where ultimately I decided I liked the original better, I can say with confidence that New Leaf is the best version of Animal Crossing to date by a landslide, NES games or no.
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