Well, it's been a month and a half since my last post. That's what happens when you get a grown up job where you work lots of 12 hour days, I suppose.
However! I have still been playing games. I never did finish Super Princess Peach, although I'd like to someday. Since then, I've played some weird stuff. I'll try to be brief for each of them.
I picked up Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII right before I started the new job (so like, late May?). I put in about ten hours, and I thought it was pretty neat! The combat system was getting a little repetitive, but I suppose that's because it reminds me a little bit of Kingdom Hearts. A little. There are differences, and I think Crisis Core is better, but it still boils down to mostly mashing X while healing every once in a while. The story seemed neat, though, so I'd like to go back to it sometime. I never did finish Final Fantasy VII, so it's kind of neat to see Sephiroth before he became all evil or whatever. I wish more game prequels had you traveling around with the ultimate bad guy of the original game. I think it's a neat narrative idea (one that has been admittedly played out in movies and books but not in videogames yet, outside maybe Bowser in the Mario RPG games).
I also started playing Nostalgia, a recently released RPG for the DS, published by Ignition Entertainment. I'm a huge fan of Shane Bettenhausen, who works for Ignition now, and he pimped Nostalgia on an episode of Active Time Babble a while back, and it sounded neat. I'm really glad I bought it, because it reminds me of a few old RPGs: Final Fantasy IV, Final Fantasy X, and some random early PS1 RPG.
It is Final Fantasy IV in the sense that the story is ridiculous, dramatic, and over-the-top (and pretty dumb), but ultimately enjoyable. The battle system is like FFIV as well, without the ATB gauge. That, actually, is where the FFX influence comes in - there is a list of turns on the bottom screen that includes both player characters and enemy characters, and certain actions taken will change turn orders, dramatically altering battle, just like in FFX. The random early PS1 RPG element comes from the graphics, which are a crisp, smoothly displayed set which comes across like a mixture of FFVII's simple polygons and FFIX's more complex character designs.
I'll likely have more to say about Nostalgia! I really like it so far, have put about 11 hours into it, and will hopefully beat it soon.
But I'd like to talk now about this great little handheld system I picked up last weekend in East Lansing - the Neo Geo Pocket Color. I got it and Sonic the Hedgehog Pocket Adventure for $20 - a steal, considering on eBay the system alone sells for like $60. The guy gave me $10 off for not having a watch battery in it, but I picked two up for $5 and I'm all set now. It's a well designed little system - the joystick/d-pad thing is very comfortable and responsive. The ergonomics fit the hand very well. My only complaint is the A button is near the screen, while the B button is away - and A, like other systems, confirms selections, and B cancels them. Dammit. If this little thing had been backlit, it would have been better than the original GBA, in my opinion.
Sonic the Hedgehog Pocket Adventure, by the way, is the best portable Sonic game ever made. It is like a remix of Sonic 2 with music remixes of Sonic 3 and Sonic and Knuckles. It plays well, and baddies don't knock you off balance so quickly like in other Sonic games. You actually have a chance to react to them, because they move slowly at you at first when they first come on the screen. It's a little hard to explain but it works. The graphics look really nice too.
I have more NGPC games coming in the mail, too, as I got a really good deal on them in that always awesome Trading Time thread over at GameSpite, so I'll probably write about a few of those as well, hopefully soon, if I can find the time.
Tuesday, June 29, 2010
Saturday, May 15, 2010
Thoughts on Super Princess Peach pt. 3
Well, that ice world was a slog.
I just reached World 7, Giddy Sky, in Super Princess Peach, and it's a welcome change of pace from the last world. First of all, why does every platformer have to have some stupid ice world to traverse? It was old in Super Mario Bros. 2, and has not gotten any better since. I mean I understand the developers want to create some sort of tension between players and their comfort with the controls, but there has got to be a better way. "Woo, slippery!" Always fun when you see that. And Super Princess Peach put it's ice level near the end of the game, so they can put more difficult ice platforming in there than they could during the easier portions of the game.
At least the boss was a pushover so I could move on.
In terms of puzzles, they aren't getting much more difficult. I've found as time has gone on, it's become increasingly difficult to keep coming back to Super Princess Peach - I think this is due to the lack of interesting puzzles. You see, I could deal with mediocre platforming so long as the extra stuff, the puzzle parts, were interesting, but they really aren't. What few changes have been made over the course of the game are beaten into the player's skull that as soon as he sees the beginning of one type of puzzle, he can almost immediately solve it and move on.
Compare this to Warioland's puzzles, and you'll see a much better difficulty curve. They start out relatively easy, but by the end of the game (I'm speaking mostly of 2 and 3, here), you're practically pulling your hair out trying to figure out how to solve puzzles. This is good, though. I would much rather try to do that than to simply blow through some lame attempt at a puzzle easily.
The continued nods to Super Mario World are keeping me entertained, though. The Mario World-styled Hammer Bros. are in it! This is sweet.
Going back and forth between Super Princess Peach and Fallout 3 is pretty jarring, to be honest, but I'm enjoying both overall. Anyway, my next Super Princess Peach post will likely be the last, since I'm a world and a half away from what I presume to be the end.
I just reached World 7, Giddy Sky, in Super Princess Peach, and it's a welcome change of pace from the last world. First of all, why does every platformer have to have some stupid ice world to traverse? It was old in Super Mario Bros. 2, and has not gotten any better since. I mean I understand the developers want to create some sort of tension between players and their comfort with the controls, but there has got to be a better way. "Woo, slippery!" Always fun when you see that. And Super Princess Peach put it's ice level near the end of the game, so they can put more difficult ice platforming in there than they could during the easier portions of the game.
At least the boss was a pushover so I could move on.
In terms of puzzles, they aren't getting much more difficult. I've found as time has gone on, it's become increasingly difficult to keep coming back to Super Princess Peach - I think this is due to the lack of interesting puzzles. You see, I could deal with mediocre platforming so long as the extra stuff, the puzzle parts, were interesting, but they really aren't. What few changes have been made over the course of the game are beaten into the player's skull that as soon as he sees the beginning of one type of puzzle, he can almost immediately solve it and move on.
Compare this to Warioland's puzzles, and you'll see a much better difficulty curve. They start out relatively easy, but by the end of the game (I'm speaking mostly of 2 and 3, here), you're practically pulling your hair out trying to figure out how to solve puzzles. This is good, though. I would much rather try to do that than to simply blow through some lame attempt at a puzzle easily.
The continued nods to Super Mario World are keeping me entertained, though. The Mario World-styled Hammer Bros. are in it! This is sweet.
Going back and forth between Super Princess Peach and Fallout 3 is pretty jarring, to be honest, but I'm enjoying both overall. Anyway, my next Super Princess Peach post will likely be the last, since I'm a world and a half away from what I presume to be the end.
Friday, May 14, 2010
War. War never changes. (part 1)
So I struck up a deal with Kyle. He plays through (and beats!) Persona 3, and I do the same with Fallout 3. As excited as I am for Kyle (he's going to love that game), I must say I'm enjoying Fallout so far.
The reason I'm enjoying the game right now is exactly the reason I thought I would - exploring. Since the game takes place in a post-nuclear apocalypse, the landscape has changed and humans must eke out a living in a very, very dangerous world. Exploring this world has brought me great joy - I've found a dog (who my character apparently names Dogmeat) and helped him survive, and he will help me find ammo or other items I'm looking for. Granted, there's not much to find out in the middle of nowhere, and the dog is incredible fragile so he's not worth taking into any dangerous areas, I just like finding stuff like that.
Scrounging around in this world is much, much more interesting than Oblivion, for me. I think the reason for that is items that I see are somewhat recognizable - I see fridges and cash registers and pop machines and cars, but they are all ruined and are worthless. I think it's a nice touch that bottlecaps are the currency of Fallout 3's world; you can find "Pre-War Money," but it's worth very little.
Where I'm struggling to like the game is the combat. I mean, I like it; the V.A.T.S. system allows me to eschew normal shooter gameplay most of the time, which is fantastic because I hate that crap. However, you get limited AP with which to use V.A.T.S., so sometimes you have to fall back on your shooting skills. Mine? Not so good. Which I know, says more about my skill than anything else, but I just don't like that kind of gameplay much.
So far, though, the world is drawing me in. And dammit, I'll at least beat the game so Kyle beats Persona 3, because that's something that needs evangelizing. And I want to talk about that game with someone in person rather than on the Internet, dang it.
So anyway, I just reached Level 4 in Fallout 3, and I gave myself the Comprehension perk, which gives me an extra 3 bonus points to apply towards my stats per level. I've beaten the first set of quests Moira gives you at Megaton, where you fill out the first chapter of her book - I beat all the extra optional stuff for them, too. I haven't started helping her with the second chapter yet, since I'm helping some kid rid some little town of Fire Ants - which are incredibly annoying because when you get close to them they spew very damaging fire at you.
Anyway, sorry for the abrupt end but I'm tired. More next time.
The reason I'm enjoying the game right now is exactly the reason I thought I would - exploring. Since the game takes place in a post-nuclear apocalypse, the landscape has changed and humans must eke out a living in a very, very dangerous world. Exploring this world has brought me great joy - I've found a dog (who my character apparently names Dogmeat) and helped him survive, and he will help me find ammo or other items I'm looking for. Granted, there's not much to find out in the middle of nowhere, and the dog is incredible fragile so he's not worth taking into any dangerous areas, I just like finding stuff like that.
Scrounging around in this world is much, much more interesting than Oblivion, for me. I think the reason for that is items that I see are somewhat recognizable - I see fridges and cash registers and pop machines and cars, but they are all ruined and are worthless. I think it's a nice touch that bottlecaps are the currency of Fallout 3's world; you can find "Pre-War Money," but it's worth very little.
Where I'm struggling to like the game is the combat. I mean, I like it; the V.A.T.S. system allows me to eschew normal shooter gameplay most of the time, which is fantastic because I hate that crap. However, you get limited AP with which to use V.A.T.S., so sometimes you have to fall back on your shooting skills. Mine? Not so good. Which I know, says more about my skill than anything else, but I just don't like that kind of gameplay much.
So far, though, the world is drawing me in. And dammit, I'll at least beat the game so Kyle beats Persona 3, because that's something that needs evangelizing. And I want to talk about that game with someone in person rather than on the Internet, dang it.
So anyway, I just reached Level 4 in Fallout 3, and I gave myself the Comprehension perk, which gives me an extra 3 bonus points to apply towards my stats per level. I've beaten the first set of quests Moira gives you at Megaton, where you fill out the first chapter of her book - I beat all the extra optional stuff for them, too. I haven't started helping her with the second chapter yet, since I'm helping some kid rid some little town of Fire Ants - which are incredibly annoying because when you get close to them they spew very damaging fire at you.
Anyway, sorry for the abrupt end but I'm tired. More next time.
Monday, May 10, 2010
Thoughts on Super Princess Peach pt. 2
Whoa! Two blogs in one day! Craziness!
But I'm loving this Super Princess Peach game, you see. Having gotten past the somewhat sexist parts of it, I've come to discover its charms.
I'm two levels into the third world, you see. The second world starting throwing some simple puzzles at me. It started when I noticed a waterwheel, unmoving, in a gushing waterfall in one of the early world 2 levels. I made Peach cry into it, and it starting spinning, which caused a pipe to appear elsewhere in the level, allowing me to find one of the Toads for that level (the "Level Collectable" in this game are captured Toads). The world put a few more twists on this theme, with a windmill one where I spun it to unlock doors, etc. One of the more interesting ones was where you make Peach cry, which causes her to not only spout water, but run extremely fast, allowing you to get across a quickly-collapsing bridge to find another Toad. I had to avoid Koopa Troopas while I did it, as well, which added a little (but not much) challenge to the game.
As an aside: Dry Bones are in this game. Yesssssssssssss
Having played the Wario Land games within the past two years (and chronicled them here!), I've noticed that Super Princess Peach plays a lot like a Warioland 5, for example. It's very, very easy so far, but if the difficulty ramped up and some harder puzzles appeared, it would seem as though this was just a Wario game where the Wario just wears a pink dress and cries from time to time (yeah, don't think about that). The different abilities of Peach coupled with her ability to, well, die if she loses enough health, really makes me think of the first Warioland, to be honest.
So I suppose what I'm saying is if this game gets harder soon, then it will make me very, very happy. Perhaps I'll float, allowing me to activate windmills...
But I'm loving this Super Princess Peach game, you see. Having gotten past the somewhat sexist parts of it, I've come to discover its charms.
I'm two levels into the third world, you see. The second world starting throwing some simple puzzles at me. It started when I noticed a waterwheel, unmoving, in a gushing waterfall in one of the early world 2 levels. I made Peach cry into it, and it starting spinning, which caused a pipe to appear elsewhere in the level, allowing me to find one of the Toads for that level (the "Level Collectable" in this game are captured Toads). The world put a few more twists on this theme, with a windmill one where I spun it to unlock doors, etc. One of the more interesting ones was where you make Peach cry, which causes her to not only spout water, but run extremely fast, allowing you to get across a quickly-collapsing bridge to find another Toad. I had to avoid Koopa Troopas while I did it, as well, which added a little (but not much) challenge to the game.
As an aside: Dry Bones are in this game. Yesssssssssssss
Having played the Wario Land games within the past two years (and chronicled them here!), I've noticed that Super Princess Peach plays a lot like a Warioland 5, for example. It's very, very easy so far, but if the difficulty ramped up and some harder puzzles appeared, it would seem as though this was just a Wario game where the Wario just wears a pink dress and cries from time to time (yeah, don't think about that). The different abilities of Peach coupled with her ability to, well, die if she loses enough health, really makes me think of the first Warioland, to be honest.
So I suppose what I'm saying is if this game gets harder soon, then it will make me very, very happy. Perhaps I'll float, allowing me to activate windmills...
Thoughts on Super Princess Peach pt. 1
I was finally able to pick up Super Princess Peach today. I have wanted to play this game for quite a while now, but never wanted to spend $30+ on it - and I was able to trade my copy of No More Heroes (which, let's be honest, I was never going to play again) away to a kind fellow on Gamespite.net.
And I'm glad I did! The game is fairly breezy so far, and is pretty enjoyable. I just beat the boss of the first world, and I have no idea how long this game is, but I hope the puzzle difficulty starts to ramp up because I enjoy the mechanics so far.
Well, mechanically, I do.
You see (and this will come as no surprise to anyone who actually knows anything about this game), Princess Peach has some power-ups available to her at any time in this game, so long as her power up meter has some juice left in it.
What are her powers?
Menstruation.
I'm only half-kidding. You use her emotions to change her abilities; so when she is sad, she cries huge waterfalls of tears that allow her to fill things and water plants and such, and when she is angry? She bursts into a pillar of flame, allowing her to kill enemies instantly and burn down wooden things. When she is happy, she is able to float, and when she "calms down" (which is another power you have to activate!), her health slowly refills.
Now I am not Mr. Politically Correct. I could care less if people are offended if something is most likely good-natured and teasing; and this may very well be the case with Super Princess Peach! I haven't met the developers, of course. But since I haven't I can't help but feel like this game is pretty darned sexist.
Which isn't to say I'll be boycotting the game - far from it, actually. I'm enjoying it so far! It's not as if the game is a total comment on supposed "emotional instability of women" - the powers are used, and you move on. Some might even argue that the emotions are actually part of Princess Peach's character, but whatever. Moving on.
Despite the weird presentation, I think Super Princess Peach has a lot going for it. The controls work really well, the graphics evoke a sort of simpler Yoshi's Island type of look, and there are nods to other Mario games throughout the entire thing that aren't annoying overt. The puzzles, so far, seem simple yet entertaining, and that first boss fight actually had a little challenge to it. The music is, well, simply okay so far.
I suppose I'll end my thoughts here. I'll get more into the specifics in my next post, as I don't have much more to say yet.
And I'm glad I did! The game is fairly breezy so far, and is pretty enjoyable. I just beat the boss of the first world, and I have no idea how long this game is, but I hope the puzzle difficulty starts to ramp up because I enjoy the mechanics so far.
Well, mechanically, I do.
You see (and this will come as no surprise to anyone who actually knows anything about this game), Princess Peach has some power-ups available to her at any time in this game, so long as her power up meter has some juice left in it.
What are her powers?
Menstruation.
I'm only half-kidding. You use her emotions to change her abilities; so when she is sad, she cries huge waterfalls of tears that allow her to fill things and water plants and such, and when she is angry? She bursts into a pillar of flame, allowing her to kill enemies instantly and burn down wooden things. When she is happy, she is able to float, and when she "calms down" (which is another power you have to activate!), her health slowly refills.
Now I am not Mr. Politically Correct. I could care less if people are offended if something is most likely good-natured and teasing; and this may very well be the case with Super Princess Peach! I haven't met the developers, of course. But since I haven't I can't help but feel like this game is pretty darned sexist.
Which isn't to say I'll be boycotting the game - far from it, actually. I'm enjoying it so far! It's not as if the game is a total comment on supposed "emotional instability of women" - the powers are used, and you move on. Some might even argue that the emotions are actually part of Princess Peach's character, but whatever. Moving on.
Despite the weird presentation, I think Super Princess Peach has a lot going for it. The controls work really well, the graphics evoke a sort of simpler Yoshi's Island type of look, and there are nods to other Mario games throughout the entire thing that aren't annoying overt. The puzzles, so far, seem simple yet entertaining, and that first boss fight actually had a little challenge to it. The music is, well, simply okay so far.
I suppose I'll end my thoughts here. I'll get more into the specifics in my next post, as I don't have much more to say yet.
Sunday, May 9, 2010
What I've Been Playing These Days - May 2010
So it has been quite a while since I've talked about what I've currently been playing here. Let's jump into it, shall we?
So I bought Shin Megami Tensei: Strange Journey and despite my best efforts, I don't like it all that much. The main problem is the combat system: it plays like a modified version of Nocturne's system, which I liked, but with a few key differences. First, your attacks do bonus damage based on your alignment rather than spell type or demon type.
That drives me insane.
Here's why: My main guy? He's neutral right now. It takes a while to change alignments, and so the only way I can get bonus damage through using my MC's attacks is if my demons are also neutral.
Perhaps it's because I'm only in the first two floors of the second zone, but there are very very few neutral demons. My MC is the best character because I can change around his attacks more easily than my demons, yet I can't get bonus damage or whatnot because of the reasons I listed above.
So I gave up on the game for now. I might go back to it at some point, as it's possible I just prefer Etrian Odyssey to it and had gotten off a huge sting of playing that, but who knows.
I bought, played, and beat Ace Attorney Investigations: Miles Edgeworth since I last posted here, as well. Overall, I enjoyed it! I'm not sure if I prefer it or Apollo Justice - I certainly do like the improvements made to the mechanics of the series in this iteration, though. The game limits you to whatever screen you have to be investigating and will not let you leave until you've finished. So there is no more wandering back and forth between 5-6 areas clicking on everything multiple times looking for the next plot point! Considering that was my biggest complaint about the previous games, it's a pretty big deal they fixed it.
As far as the story goes, I thought it was pretty good for being largely self-contained, although I would have liked to see a cameo from Maya. I want to know what the hell that girl is doing now after having ditched Phoenix!
But anyway, I enjoyed it quite a bit, and it was funny as hell just like the previous games. I particularly enjoyed the one character who couldn't take anything Edgeworth did seriously and laughed at almost everything he said. It was pretty meta, and I liked it.
Pokemon Heartgold and I have reached an impasse. I beat the Elite Four and am in Kanto, but I don't feel like playing much any more. I think it's because I have to level up a little bit to start beating the Gym Leaders over here, but there is ABSOLUTELY NOWHERE TO DO SO. So eff it. I could just send my Pokemon over to Diamond and grind them fairly quickly there, but that's a pain so whatever. I'll come back and plow through the rest of it someday.
I bought Rune Factory: Frontier for Wii and I like it, but I'm just not in the mood for a hack'n'slash right now. It also doesn't help that the story and characters are ridiculous and stupid beyond belief. Why can't the writing of these Harvest Moon games ever be as good as Harvest Moon 64? I mean it ain't Shakespeare, Natsume!
Half-Minute Hero is fuggin' awesome and I will beat it eventually. I suspect once I have my PSP out regularly (read: once Persona 3 Portable comes out) I'll be popping it in and out quite a bit. But because it's pretty action-y, I'm not really in the mood for it.
I picked up Glory of Heracles on the cheap yesterday and have put about two hours into it, and it has already amazed me at how rough around the edges this game is. The battle system is pretty neat, but everything from the graphics to the dialog to the music all seems like it was made on a very light budget. I'm kind of surprised Nintendo published it - it seems below their standards for presentation. That said, the battle system shows promise so I'll put a little more time into it and get back to you.
Final Fantasy IV Advance still contains the "You spoony bard!" line from the SNES version and that's all you really need to know in regards to the game's quality. This will be my RPG snack - I'll play just a little bit of this for a while, I believe.
I finally opened my copy of Final Fantasy Tactics: Grimoire of the Rift today as well, and have already dumped two hours into it (boy, days off sure are nice). This game is going to be loooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooong but I'm liking it so far. The battles could move a little faster (I'm used to the speed of Devil Survivor, so I'm somewhat spoiled), and the job system seems a little opaque, but that might just be due to my unfamiliarity with the previous FFT games. I've been itching to play another one of these since I finished Devil Survivor, so I'll definitely be putting more time into this one.
I think I'm all caught up now. Within the next week or so, I'll be receiving two games I got great deals on for DS: Super Princess Peach (which I've wanted to play for quite a while now) and Infinite Space (which I bought primarily because I think it's going to get quite expensive soon). I'll probably write about those soon.
So I bought Shin Megami Tensei: Strange Journey and despite my best efforts, I don't like it all that much. The main problem is the combat system: it plays like a modified version of Nocturne's system, which I liked, but with a few key differences. First, your attacks do bonus damage based on your alignment rather than spell type or demon type.
That drives me insane.
Here's why: My main guy? He's neutral right now. It takes a while to change alignments, and so the only way I can get bonus damage through using my MC's attacks is if my demons are also neutral.
Perhaps it's because I'm only in the first two floors of the second zone, but there are very very few neutral demons. My MC is the best character because I can change around his attacks more easily than my demons, yet I can't get bonus damage or whatnot because of the reasons I listed above.
So I gave up on the game for now. I might go back to it at some point, as it's possible I just prefer Etrian Odyssey to it and had gotten off a huge sting of playing that, but who knows.
I bought, played, and beat Ace Attorney Investigations: Miles Edgeworth since I last posted here, as well. Overall, I enjoyed it! I'm not sure if I prefer it or Apollo Justice - I certainly do like the improvements made to the mechanics of the series in this iteration, though. The game limits you to whatever screen you have to be investigating and will not let you leave until you've finished. So there is no more wandering back and forth between 5-6 areas clicking on everything multiple times looking for the next plot point! Considering that was my biggest complaint about the previous games, it's a pretty big deal they fixed it.
As far as the story goes, I thought it was pretty good for being largely self-contained, although I would have liked to see a cameo from Maya. I want to know what the hell that girl is doing now after having ditched Phoenix!
But anyway, I enjoyed it quite a bit, and it was funny as hell just like the previous games. I particularly enjoyed the one character who couldn't take anything Edgeworth did seriously and laughed at almost everything he said. It was pretty meta, and I liked it.
Pokemon Heartgold and I have reached an impasse. I beat the Elite Four and am in Kanto, but I don't feel like playing much any more. I think it's because I have to level up a little bit to start beating the Gym Leaders over here, but there is ABSOLUTELY NOWHERE TO DO SO. So eff it. I could just send my Pokemon over to Diamond and grind them fairly quickly there, but that's a pain so whatever. I'll come back and plow through the rest of it someday.
I bought Rune Factory: Frontier for Wii and I like it, but I'm just not in the mood for a hack'n'slash right now. It also doesn't help that the story and characters are ridiculous and stupid beyond belief. Why can't the writing of these Harvest Moon games ever be as good as Harvest Moon 64? I mean it ain't Shakespeare, Natsume!
Half-Minute Hero is fuggin' awesome and I will beat it eventually. I suspect once I have my PSP out regularly (read: once Persona 3 Portable comes out) I'll be popping it in and out quite a bit. But because it's pretty action-y, I'm not really in the mood for it.
I picked up Glory of Heracles on the cheap yesterday and have put about two hours into it, and it has already amazed me at how rough around the edges this game is. The battle system is pretty neat, but everything from the graphics to the dialog to the music all seems like it was made on a very light budget. I'm kind of surprised Nintendo published it - it seems below their standards for presentation. That said, the battle system shows promise so I'll put a little more time into it and get back to you.
Final Fantasy IV Advance still contains the "You spoony bard!" line from the SNES version and that's all you really need to know in regards to the game's quality. This will be my RPG snack - I'll play just a little bit of this for a while, I believe.
I finally opened my copy of Final Fantasy Tactics: Grimoire of the Rift today as well, and have already dumped two hours into it (boy, days off sure are nice). This game is going to be loooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooong but I'm liking it so far. The battles could move a little faster (I'm used to the speed of Devil Survivor, so I'm somewhat spoiled), and the job system seems a little opaque, but that might just be due to my unfamiliarity with the previous FFT games. I've been itching to play another one of these since I finished Devil Survivor, so I'll definitely be putting more time into this one.
I think I'm all caught up now. Within the next week or so, I'll be receiving two games I got great deals on for DS: Super Princess Peach (which I've wanted to play for quite a while now) and Infinite Space (which I bought primarily because I think it's going to get quite expensive soon). I'll probably write about those soon.
Monday, April 12, 2010
Why I Love Kraid's Lair
There is a thread over at Talking Time in which members of the forum nominate some of their favorite songs, and then vote for them in pairs to see which one comes out on top. I nominated Kraid's Lair from the original Metroid as my pick without even really giving it any thought. It has been one of my favorite videogame music tracks for as long as I can remember, despite clocking in at approximately 45 seconds.
Today it is up for voting again, and it looks like it is going to win, which makes me happy, obviously. But I've been thinking about why I nominated it - you see, my girlfriend recently played through Katamari Damacy and the soundtrack to that game is one of my favorites in a long, long time, but I still would have gone with Kraid's Lair over, say, Que Sera Sera or Angel Flavor's Present. But... why?
I could start with how Metroid was the very first videogame I ever played. And that would probably be enough to convince me, if it weren't for the fact that until I beat the game for the first time in highschool, I've had an almost religious connection to the game.
You see, the first video game I ever played was my cousin Mikey's copy of Metroid. I was probably 2 or 3 at the time, and he was probably only 9 or 10. He let me start the game and I remember him laughing because I couldn't even get out of the first room. He took over, and proceeded to get the Long Beam, some Missiles, and then the bombs, and then he got to where he had been stuck.
Kraid's Lair.
I remember watching him wander in that labyrinth for what seemed like hours. He had no idea where to go. I remember him telling me how awesome the game was, and how he liked how his little Metroid "guy" was so brave by going into this scary place to try to fight all the "aliens."
And I remember the music. Oh, the music. That droning, oppressive, scary, otherworldy music that was coming out of the TV was so weird, it felt like I really was with "Metroid" in "his" little low-color world. I eventually got my own NES and my own copy of Metroid, and it seemed like my playthroughs would always end in Kraid's Lair for one reason or another - I was too young to fully grasp where to go and the game was so darned obtuse I couldn't figure it out.
So I moved on, and so did Mikey. We would occasionally go back to that weird NES game, but never could get through it and I think we eventually lost our patience with it.
A few years later, when he was 15, my cousin Mikey decided he wanted to get high by huffing some paint in his dad's shed. So he did. He passed out, and ended up choking to death while out cold. It messed our family up something fierce, because he was such a great guy and we all loved him so much and it was heartbreaking to have to see how badly it affected my aunt.
When my mom explained to me how Mikey died, I was still too young to comprehend what he did. To me, it was if he was there, and then all of a sudden for reasons that didn't make any sense to me, he was gone. I remember thinking about all my favorite memories I had with him, and most of them involved us puzzling through videogames.
Including Metroid. I know he never beat it; they had put their NES in the attic a few years before Mikey passed anyway. Shortly after I died, I found myself back in Kraid's Lair, trying to get through it, trying to find that boss and kill him, for Mikey.
I failed. And failed. And failed. I just couldn't figure it out. That whole time, the music played and even now, when I hear it, it still evokes memories of Mikey and I lost in that place, trying to make sense of the weird depths of Kraid's Lair.
When my videogame skills improved in high school, I was finally able to push past Kraid's Lair. The boss himself took a few tries, but I was able to beat him. I was a man on a mission - I had to beat the game now. I pressed on, unable to stop, even though Ridley's Lair gave me no quarter and beat me down so hard I almost gave up. But I pressed on, and finally beat Mother Brain, and escaped Tourian, seeing the end credits for the first time.
I was 15; I cried like a 8 year old when I beat it, alone in my basement, thinking about Mikey. Had he still been alive, he probably wouldn't have cared; but since he was gone, I had all these memories of this game that he couldn't beat, and he seemed like the master of games. Here I had solved the game years later, and I felt like I finally lifted some weird weight off my shoulders. I had beaten the game for Mikey; I hadn't enjoyed playing Metroid much since I was little, and did it because I missed my cousin and wanted to pay tribute to him the only way I could think of.
So when I hear Kraid's Lair today, I have such a strong mix of emotions that I can't help but love the track. It is the perfect atmospheric 8-bit piece, so oppressive and lonely, and I can't help but think of my poor old cousin Mikey whenever I hear it. It's largely a happy track for me, too, now, despite it's somewhat morbid theme throughout my early life; I think this is because it evokes happy memories of falling in love with videogames while watching my big cousin play through them.
So rest in piece, Mikey. I wouldn't have fallen in love with this dumb little pastime if it weren't for you. I couldn't thank you enough.
Today it is up for voting again, and it looks like it is going to win, which makes me happy, obviously. But I've been thinking about why I nominated it - you see, my girlfriend recently played through Katamari Damacy and the soundtrack to that game is one of my favorites in a long, long time, but I still would have gone with Kraid's Lair over, say, Que Sera Sera or Angel Flavor's Present. But... why?
I could start with how Metroid was the very first videogame I ever played. And that would probably be enough to convince me, if it weren't for the fact that until I beat the game for the first time in highschool, I've had an almost religious connection to the game.
You see, the first video game I ever played was my cousin Mikey's copy of Metroid. I was probably 2 or 3 at the time, and he was probably only 9 or 10. He let me start the game and I remember him laughing because I couldn't even get out of the first room. He took over, and proceeded to get the Long Beam, some Missiles, and then the bombs, and then he got to where he had been stuck.
Kraid's Lair.
I remember watching him wander in that labyrinth for what seemed like hours. He had no idea where to go. I remember him telling me how awesome the game was, and how he liked how his little Metroid "guy" was so brave by going into this scary place to try to fight all the "aliens."
And I remember the music. Oh, the music. That droning, oppressive, scary, otherworldy music that was coming out of the TV was so weird, it felt like I really was with "Metroid" in "his" little low-color world. I eventually got my own NES and my own copy of Metroid, and it seemed like my playthroughs would always end in Kraid's Lair for one reason or another - I was too young to fully grasp where to go and the game was so darned obtuse I couldn't figure it out.
So I moved on, and so did Mikey. We would occasionally go back to that weird NES game, but never could get through it and I think we eventually lost our patience with it.
A few years later, when he was 15, my cousin Mikey decided he wanted to get high by huffing some paint in his dad's shed. So he did. He passed out, and ended up choking to death while out cold. It messed our family up something fierce, because he was such a great guy and we all loved him so much and it was heartbreaking to have to see how badly it affected my aunt.
When my mom explained to me how Mikey died, I was still too young to comprehend what he did. To me, it was if he was there, and then all of a sudden for reasons that didn't make any sense to me, he was gone. I remember thinking about all my favorite memories I had with him, and most of them involved us puzzling through videogames.
Including Metroid. I know he never beat it; they had put their NES in the attic a few years before Mikey passed anyway. Shortly after I died, I found myself back in Kraid's Lair, trying to get through it, trying to find that boss and kill him, for Mikey.
I failed. And failed. And failed. I just couldn't figure it out. That whole time, the music played and even now, when I hear it, it still evokes memories of Mikey and I lost in that place, trying to make sense of the weird depths of Kraid's Lair.
When my videogame skills improved in high school, I was finally able to push past Kraid's Lair. The boss himself took a few tries, but I was able to beat him. I was a man on a mission - I had to beat the game now. I pressed on, unable to stop, even though Ridley's Lair gave me no quarter and beat me down so hard I almost gave up. But I pressed on, and finally beat Mother Brain, and escaped Tourian, seeing the end credits for the first time.
I was 15; I cried like a 8 year old when I beat it, alone in my basement, thinking about Mikey. Had he still been alive, he probably wouldn't have cared; but since he was gone, I had all these memories of this game that he couldn't beat, and he seemed like the master of games. Here I had solved the game years later, and I felt like I finally lifted some weird weight off my shoulders. I had beaten the game for Mikey; I hadn't enjoyed playing Metroid much since I was little, and did it because I missed my cousin and wanted to pay tribute to him the only way I could think of.
So when I hear Kraid's Lair today, I have such a strong mix of emotions that I can't help but love the track. It is the perfect atmospheric 8-bit piece, so oppressive and lonely, and I can't help but think of my poor old cousin Mikey whenever I hear it. It's largely a happy track for me, too, now, despite it's somewhat morbid theme throughout my early life; I think this is because it evokes happy memories of falling in love with videogames while watching my big cousin play through them.
So rest in piece, Mikey. I wouldn't have fallen in love with this dumb little pastime if it weren't for you. I couldn't thank you enough.
Saturday, March 20, 2010
A Pokemon Retrospective
The experience I had with Pokemon Gold in 2000 was revelatory, and is really the reason I keep playing the main series to this day. I want to try to recapture the fun I had while playing it back then.
What did it for me was how there were a very good balance of new and old Pokemon, and how the old ones that were in Johto were some of the better designs from the original games made me think that they were really trying to refine the experience from Red and Blue. And when I beat the Elite Four and found out I could go back to Kanto and beat the original 8 gyms again I was enthralled. There haven't been too many moments like that in videogames for me; realizing that I was only halfway through a game in which I would have been satisfied already was a great feeling.
Thus, I expected bigger and better things when Ruby and Sapphire came out in 2003 for Game Boy Advance. I wasn't really interested in any of the new Pokemon, really. I was interested in how they would change the main game, and I was thoroughly disappointed. They stripped out the additional 8 gyms - you only had the 8 new ones they introduced in Hoenn, the new region. What new Pokemon were there seemed to be repeats of old Pokemon, and really the only thing I liked about those versions were the fairly involved quests to get the legendary Pokemon - they had entire areas devoted to getting them.
I played the FireRed and LeafGreen remakes a few times after Ruby and Sapphire and liked them well enough, but have since largely forgotten them. There was quite a break for me in regards to Pokemon until I bought Diamond in 2007 and delved into that game. This post from 2008 about how much I still loved the game a year after it had been released is basically what I can say about how much I liked Diamond.
So fast forward to 2010. Remakes of my favorite Pokemon games have come out, and I have purchased HeartGold. I didn't think I would be, but the Pokewalker excites me. I don't know what it is - I suppose the fact that I am raising Pokemon while working or rollerblading or whatever really makes me happy or what, but I love that little thing. I already even know how to change the battery in case it dies! As far as the game itself goes, I've only beaten two gyms so far and am playing Etrian Odyssey II much more since I got it last week. I'm not sure why, but I think it's because I'm getting very tired of the core Pokemon game experience. I've just done this same quest so many times (and I mean not just in Johto - all the Kantos, Hoenns, and Sinnohs all bleed together to me) that I just don't really care about beating Gyms any more. At least not right now. I would like to murder Red on top of Mt. Silver, and I probably will. I just think I'm going to play through this Pokemon much slower than I've played through the games in the past.
Strange Journey comes out in three days, but I'm not sure if I'll play that right away or hold off and beat Etrian Odyssey II first, since I've already started it and the games are very similar. I think I might need a SMT break as well, so I'll probably beat EOII and the Edgeworth game before I break open Strange Journey. I guess we'll see! After Strange Journey, it will be a while before I feel the need to buy a game at full price brand new for a long while so that will be nice on my wallet!
What did it for me was how there were a very good balance of new and old Pokemon, and how the old ones that were in Johto were some of the better designs from the original games made me think that they were really trying to refine the experience from Red and Blue. And when I beat the Elite Four and found out I could go back to Kanto and beat the original 8 gyms again I was enthralled. There haven't been too many moments like that in videogames for me; realizing that I was only halfway through a game in which I would have been satisfied already was a great feeling.
Thus, I expected bigger and better things when Ruby and Sapphire came out in 2003 for Game Boy Advance. I wasn't really interested in any of the new Pokemon, really. I was interested in how they would change the main game, and I was thoroughly disappointed. They stripped out the additional 8 gyms - you only had the 8 new ones they introduced in Hoenn, the new region. What new Pokemon were there seemed to be repeats of old Pokemon, and really the only thing I liked about those versions were the fairly involved quests to get the legendary Pokemon - they had entire areas devoted to getting them.
I played the FireRed and LeafGreen remakes a few times after Ruby and Sapphire and liked them well enough, but have since largely forgotten them. There was quite a break for me in regards to Pokemon until I bought Diamond in 2007 and delved into that game. This post from 2008 about how much I still loved the game a year after it had been released is basically what I can say about how much I liked Diamond.
So fast forward to 2010. Remakes of my favorite Pokemon games have come out, and I have purchased HeartGold. I didn't think I would be, but the Pokewalker excites me. I don't know what it is - I suppose the fact that I am raising Pokemon while working or rollerblading or whatever really makes me happy or what, but I love that little thing. I already even know how to change the battery in case it dies! As far as the game itself goes, I've only beaten two gyms so far and am playing Etrian Odyssey II much more since I got it last week. I'm not sure why, but I think it's because I'm getting very tired of the core Pokemon game experience. I've just done this same quest so many times (and I mean not just in Johto - all the Kantos, Hoenns, and Sinnohs all bleed together to me) that I just don't really care about beating Gyms any more. At least not right now. I would like to murder Red on top of Mt. Silver, and I probably will. I just think I'm going to play through this Pokemon much slower than I've played through the games in the past.
Strange Journey comes out in three days, but I'm not sure if I'll play that right away or hold off and beat Etrian Odyssey II first, since I've already started it and the games are very similar. I think I might need a SMT break as well, so I'll probably beat EOII and the Edgeworth game before I break open Strange Journey. I guess we'll see! After Strange Journey, it will be a while before I feel the need to buy a game at full price brand new for a long while so that will be nice on my wallet!
Thursday, March 11, 2010
SMT: Nocturne, part 1
I am about ten hours into Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne right now, and I'm enjoying it so far. The combat system seems to me to be a mix of Persona 4 and Devil Survivor (which is interesting because both those games came out after this one). This is because you have one human, and the rest of your party is made up of demons as in Devil Survivor. It is not a strategy RPG, of course, though, and battles play out using the "Press Turn" battle system, which was seen in slightly altered form in the Persona games. It is turn based, and places heavy emphasis on enemy weaknesses, and battles can sway from easy to extremely difficult very quickly if you screw up.
Similarities aside, the game does have a few problems, at least so far. What I had heard of the game's story before I played it made it sound amazing and dark; and I suppose it is, but it is presented very simply with very little exposition. You are one of (apparently so far) three or four human survivors of the apocalypse, and the world is being rebooted and the creatures left have to figure out how it will turn out. Since the overwhelming majority of creatures left seem to be demons, who knows how things will turn out?
Sounds like a pretty decent setting for an RPG, right? By and large, it is, but the story is so bare-bones I find I'm not very interested. Right now, I only care about the battle system, and leveling up my main character and demons, which again, works a lot like Devil Survivor.
As an aside, I really like how the SMT series plays with its mechanics. What I mean is, they don't stay the same from game to game, but build upon each other in interesting ways. You've got your live-action Devil Summoner stuff, your strategy RPG Devil Survivor stuff, and your dating-sim-like Persona stuff, all with demon fusing (and a little negotiation) thrown in. It makes the series very cohesive, even if the stories aren't related.
Anyway. March is looking to be like a very busy videogame month. Strange Journey comes out in two weeks, and Pokemon HeartGold/SoulSilver will be out in just a few days. I'm skipping out on Final Fantasy XIII for now because of these games, and I just ordered Etrian Odyssey II and the Miles Edgeworth games as well, which should both be here next week. Hopefully then I can write about something non-SMT for once this year!
Similarities aside, the game does have a few problems, at least so far. What I had heard of the game's story before I played it made it sound amazing and dark; and I suppose it is, but it is presented very simply with very little exposition. You are one of (apparently so far) three or four human survivors of the apocalypse, and the world is being rebooted and the creatures left have to figure out how it will turn out. Since the overwhelming majority of creatures left seem to be demons, who knows how things will turn out?
Sounds like a pretty decent setting for an RPG, right? By and large, it is, but the story is so bare-bones I find I'm not very interested. Right now, I only care about the battle system, and leveling up my main character and demons, which again, works a lot like Devil Survivor.
As an aside, I really like how the SMT series plays with its mechanics. What I mean is, they don't stay the same from game to game, but build upon each other in interesting ways. You've got your live-action Devil Summoner stuff, your strategy RPG Devil Survivor stuff, and your dating-sim-like Persona stuff, all with demon fusing (and a little negotiation) thrown in. It makes the series very cohesive, even if the stories aren't related.
Anyway. March is looking to be like a very busy videogame month. Strange Journey comes out in two weeks, and Pokemon HeartGold/SoulSilver will be out in just a few days. I'm skipping out on Final Fantasy XIII for now because of these games, and I just ordered Etrian Odyssey II and the Miles Edgeworth games as well, which should both be here next week. Hopefully then I can write about something non-SMT for once this year!
Wednesday, February 17, 2010
SMT: Devil Survivor - Fin
Today, I got the last ending in Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Survivor. I've gotten them all by now, and other than Yuzu's, I thought they were all pretty awesome. As far as which ending I prefer, I think I like Gin/Haru's or Atsuro's the best, because they seem to be what humans would do in that situation - make the best of things by themselves, without otherworldly interference. Or, at least, that's what I'd do.
One thing I'm disappointed in, though, is my inability to beat Lucifer. I probably could do it, but I never felt like grinding all my characters to 99 (including demons, which take much much longer to level up than humans) just to have a chance at beating him. The thing is a freaking BEAST (which I guess makes sense, seeing as how he's the devil and all) and Megidolaondyne is just unstoppable. Not to mention the fact that I would need a lot of luck to survive being raped by him anyway.
I was able to get all the demons, though, other than Lucifer of course, which is something I've never done in a SMT game. I also cracked all the skills other than Magic Yin, which doubles magic damage done (which would have been useful for Lucifer), but I don't feel like playing through the whole game again just to get that one skill. Maybe someday if I'm bored I'll play through it again but I think after five (!) playthroughs, I think I'm pretty much sick of the game at this point. Decent timing, too, because SMT: Strange Journey comes out in a few weeks, and I'm still fairly RPG hungry.
Oh, and after losing Keisuke during that first playthrough, I never let it happen again. Learned from that mistake, that's for sure! For my final playthrough, I ended with Nate at 99 with maxed Agility and Magic stats, Atsuro at level 99, Keisuke at level 99, and with the following demons at 99: Nyalathotep, Bishamon, Tao Tie, and Koumouku.
I suppose I don't have much else to say at this point about the game. It might be my favorite game of 2009, I'm not sure yet (New Super Mario Bros. Wii was fantastic, too, so who knows).
One thing I'm disappointed in, though, is my inability to beat Lucifer. I probably could do it, but I never felt like grinding all my characters to 99 (including demons, which take much much longer to level up than humans) just to have a chance at beating him. The thing is a freaking BEAST (which I guess makes sense, seeing as how he's the devil and all) and Megidolaondyne is just unstoppable. Not to mention the fact that I would need a lot of luck to survive being raped by him anyway.
I was able to get all the demons, though, other than Lucifer of course, which is something I've never done in a SMT game. I also cracked all the skills other than Magic Yin, which doubles magic damage done (which would have been useful for Lucifer), but I don't feel like playing through the whole game again just to get that one skill. Maybe someday if I'm bored I'll play through it again but I think after five (!) playthroughs, I think I'm pretty much sick of the game at this point. Decent timing, too, because SMT: Strange Journey comes out in a few weeks, and I'm still fairly RPG hungry.
Oh, and after losing Keisuke during that first playthrough, I never let it happen again. Learned from that mistake, that's for sure! For my final playthrough, I ended with Nate at 99 with maxed Agility and Magic stats, Atsuro at level 99, Keisuke at level 99, and with the following demons at 99: Nyalathotep, Bishamon, Tao Tie, and Koumouku.
I suppose I don't have much else to say at this point about the game. It might be my favorite game of 2009, I'm not sure yet (New Super Mario Bros. Wii was fantastic, too, so who knows).
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