Metroid II: Return of Samus was released on 3DS Virtual Console this week, and I promptly grabbed it on Wednesday. Three hours and twenty minutes of gameplay later, I've finished it for probably the third or fourth time in my life.
This game is considered by many to be the black sheep of the Metroid series, and, as much as I like it, that is probably correct. It's an oddball little game, that's for sure. But it is not a bad game, which is what many people paint it as. It certainly has some issues, but the game is worth playing overall.
One of the issues with making games for the 8-bit Game Boy back in the early 90s was that despite its (relative) power, the screen resolution was tiny. This meant that although the system could display pretty detailed sprites, they either had to be incredibly small or way too large. One of the primary complaints people have about Metroid II is that Samus' sprite is way too large on the screen, which means that the player has a limited amount of time to react when enemies appear. While this is true, Metroid II does mitigate this by being predictable - and not in the "oh I know what is going to happen, BORING" way, but in the way where the player can recognize the room and enemy type and predict what things he'll likely encounter. The game will occasionally throw you for a loop, but most of the time you can predict what sorts of things will happen given the room. This fits with the overall theme of the game, as well - you are exploring a wild planet, after all, and you are a foreigner invading an ecosystem that has creatures who have behavior patterns and follow rules (the designers of the game, though, most likely just made the enemies behave the way they do to, again, mitigate the problem of there not being enough screen real-estate for the player to react to them).
Another major complaint about the game is the lack of free form exploration. In Metroid II, Samus is tasked with obliterating the Metroid species on SR-388, and so the whole point of the game is to track down every last Metroid and kill them all. There is a counter in the bottom right of the screen that tells the player how many Metroids are left. Also, when paused, that counter switches to tell you how many Metroids are left in your current area. "Areas" are divided into sections where the player must kill a certain number of Metroids, after which the planets lava will drain a little, allowing Samus to explore deeper into the planet. This doesn't really make any sense - why does the death of a certain species cause lava to drain? - but because of this, the player is limited to these areas until they clear out the Metroids.
This wouldn't be much of a problem to most people, I'm sure, if the level design wasn't so odd. It's unclear if the designers really were trying to make the underground caverns of SR-388 feel natural to the point that there are very few landmarks and thus it's very easy to get lost, or if they were constrained by the shortcomings of the Game Boy (probably a little of column A and a little of column B). The player will encounter very tight passageways filled with enemies that are hard to hit (depending on their current beam weapon, anyway) and then all of a sudden they'll be in a wide open cavern with very few enemies and tons of empty space they can jump through. These rooms are usually where players get disoriented, and they are actually my biggest complaint about the game. Because they are so large and empty, it's easy to confuse one room for another, and most of the time, they have little to no background - which means you can't tell how far Samus is falling when she jumps off a ledge into the blackness. This disorientation is further exacerbated when you realize that each of these enormous rooms are slightly different, but not in immediately obvious ways. So you might think you're in one large room, and start heading in a certain direction, when you are really in a different room. This is why an in-game map would be great, which is another complaint people have (myself included).
The 3DS version, though, is nice because you have the ability (as with any 3DS game) to go to the main menu by hitting home, hopping on the internet, and pulling up a map of the game (which I did when I got lost right at about the halfway point - didn't need to use it again after that, though). You also have the ability to use savestates, which make the battles against the Omega Metroids a bit more manageable (bastards). It is for this reason that I'd say this is the best version of Metroid II - sure, it's not the Super Game Boy version, but who cares? I played through this game on my original brick Game Boy when I was a kid, and if I could beat it on that impossible to see screen, anyone can beat this game on their beautiful 3DS screen.
My favorite thing about Metroid II, though, is the atmosphere. This is a creepy game. The few actual songs the game has are great, but most of the time there is just this weird set of atonal beeps and bloops. It sounds as alien as one could imagine. Since there are sometimes seconds long periods of silence, where you can only hear Samus' footsteps, the fact that Samus is alone in the middle of nowhere is really driven home, even more so than in the original Metroid, which I also think is good at reinforcing the feeling of loneliness. And when you encounter a Metroid, it is genuinely scary - they usually pop out of an egg or mutate when you first see them, and then they come at you with everything they have while creepy music plays. The game won't let the player control Samus as they mutate, so they are forced to watch this grotesque evolution play out (the player is allowed, however, to switch to missiles during this time). The power of the Metroids is also readily apparent, what with the fact that every other enemy in the game is some small, easily swatted away insect that probably only survives on SR-388 because the Metroids have no interest in eating them. There are a few larger creatures, but they are usually heavily armored and can only be damaged by shooting them from one side, suggesting that these enemies developed some sort of defense against the predatory Metroids.
The game is also really challenging. Not just because it's easy to get lost, either - as you get farther into the game, the Metroids get tougher and tougher. The Omega Metroids take a whopping 40 missiles to kill, and they spend a lot of time flying around the screen erratically! Luckily, they too have patterns, so if the player is observant they can be exploited.
Metroid II is also, as far as narrative is concerned, the most important game in the series. It's ending is the catalyst for Super Metroid, Metroid Fusion, and Metroid: Other M - which is near half of the entire series created up to this point, including the Metroid Prime series. If you take that series out of the overall narrative (as the Japanese creators of the series apparently have at this point) Metroid II's events are crucial for the narrative of all the rest of the following Metroid games. Pretty neat for a little black and white Game Boy game, huh?
Saturday, November 26, 2011
Sunday, November 6, 2011
The Nintendo DS: Part Five
The 3DS has been out for 3/4 of a year, but that doesn't mean I can't stop eulogizing the original DS! Oddly enough, there have been a great game or two released for the system since I wrote the last post in this series, even. But anyway! Back to the saga of the DS!
(part 1) (part 2) (part 3) (part 4)
---
Since its debut in the fall of 1996, the Pokemon series has always been a juggernaut for Nintendo. Each version in each "generation" of core Pokemon games sell well into the millions. The GBA versions of Pokemon were good, but that generation was the first in which Nintendo was criticized for "going through the motions" with the series. Cries of "the Pokemon designs are too similar to the old ones!" or "the designs are stupid" spread like wildfire on message boards across the internet. It probably didn't help that Nintendo released the first of the Pokemon remakes, FireRed and LeafGreen, which were upgraded versions of the 1996 Game Boy games. "Obviously, Nintendo is out of ideas when it comes to this series," many said. "What could they possibly do different in the future?"
Astute observers, though, would have noticed where Nintendo was likely going to go if they paid attention to how they released the aforementioned remakes. FireRed and LeafGreen both came with wireless adapters, so players could trade Pokemon wirelessly with each other, eliminating the need for each player to have their own cords and all that. If you owned FireRed or LeafGreen, you had a wireless adapter and were thus ready to go. No extra cost, no extra trip to the store for mom and dad, you can just trade with your friends right now. The only thing the adapter didn't let you do was go online to trade your Pokemon.
Nintendo's next generation handheld fixed that. Sporting wireless connectivity right out of the box, the time was right for Nintendo to implement some new functionality to the series before it became stagnant. It was time to allow players to trade their Pokemon with anyone in the world.
And that is exactly what they did. There were now almost no barriers to entry to playing and fully enjoying Pokemon like there was in the past - so long as you had the system and the game, you were on a pretty even field with everyone else. You would not have to buy two versions of the same game to be able to get all the Pokemon - you could simply trade with someone on the internet to get the ones you were missing. You didn't have to buy a separate cord to be able to hook up with a friend. And, despite the collective internet losing its collective mind about the implementation of Friend Codes, the DS Pokemon games only made you enter them to trade with individual friends. You could trade to people on the internet without having to waste your time typing in a long code each and every time you made a trade.
The level designs in Pokemon Diamond and Pearl were a huge step up from the GBA games as well. Gone are the underwater sections from that game, which were ugly mazes that you could only get to by using a HM move (a move taught to your Pokemon that was usually useless in battle, but took up one of your precious four move slots so you could get around the world map). Some areas of the world had dynamic weather, which would change the way the player can move about - and also changes which Pokemon might appear. You could also bring your Pokemon from the previous generation up to the new one by utilizing the GBA slot on the DS.
Also, with just a few exceptions (the obligatory new version of Pidgey - the Starly evolution line, among a few others), the new Pokemon designs were interesting again. Battles were a bit easier to get through as well, because the player could use the touch screen to issue commands to his Pokemon in addition to being able to use the buttons as before.
Nintendo eventually released Pokemon Black and White, also for the DS, this year. They fixed some of the complaints people had about Diamond and Pearl, most notably how slow the battles moved even with animation turned off. Black and White added even more weather effects, and the world was navigated with a bit more visual flair as well. The story had a bit of a darker tone to begin with and was thus a bit more interesting than usual, despite veering into familiar territory near the end.
But the Pokemon series could not exist as it does today without the DS hardware. There will not be a mainline Pokemon game released at any point in the future without the ability to trade over the internet. But not every game would need such features. Some games were meant to be deliberate throwbacks to simpler times. Nintendo had been hinting at looking back at some of their older titles already on the GBA with the E-Reader versions of classic NES games, along with the Classic NES Series. But it had been a long while since their most important franchise returned to the realm of 2D...
(part 1) (part 2) (part 3) (part 4)
---
Since its debut in the fall of 1996, the Pokemon series has always been a juggernaut for Nintendo. Each version in each "generation" of core Pokemon games sell well into the millions. The GBA versions of Pokemon were good, but that generation was the first in which Nintendo was criticized for "going through the motions" with the series. Cries of "the Pokemon designs are too similar to the old ones!" or "the designs are stupid" spread like wildfire on message boards across the internet. It probably didn't help that Nintendo released the first of the Pokemon remakes, FireRed and LeafGreen, which were upgraded versions of the 1996 Game Boy games. "Obviously, Nintendo is out of ideas when it comes to this series," many said. "What could they possibly do different in the future?"
Astute observers, though, would have noticed where Nintendo was likely going to go if they paid attention to how they released the aforementioned remakes. FireRed and LeafGreen both came with wireless adapters, so players could trade Pokemon wirelessly with each other, eliminating the need for each player to have their own cords and all that. If you owned FireRed or LeafGreen, you had a wireless adapter and were thus ready to go. No extra cost, no extra trip to the store for mom and dad, you can just trade with your friends right now. The only thing the adapter didn't let you do was go online to trade your Pokemon.
Nintendo's next generation handheld fixed that. Sporting wireless connectivity right out of the box, the time was right for Nintendo to implement some new functionality to the series before it became stagnant. It was time to allow players to trade their Pokemon with anyone in the world.
And that is exactly what they did. There were now almost no barriers to entry to playing and fully enjoying Pokemon like there was in the past - so long as you had the system and the game, you were on a pretty even field with everyone else. You would not have to buy two versions of the same game to be able to get all the Pokemon - you could simply trade with someone on the internet to get the ones you were missing. You didn't have to buy a separate cord to be able to hook up with a friend. And, despite the collective internet losing its collective mind about the implementation of Friend Codes, the DS Pokemon games only made you enter them to trade with individual friends. You could trade to people on the internet without having to waste your time typing in a long code each and every time you made a trade.
The level designs in Pokemon Diamond and Pearl were a huge step up from the GBA games as well. Gone are the underwater sections from that game, which were ugly mazes that you could only get to by using a HM move (a move taught to your Pokemon that was usually useless in battle, but took up one of your precious four move slots so you could get around the world map). Some areas of the world had dynamic weather, which would change the way the player can move about - and also changes which Pokemon might appear. You could also bring your Pokemon from the previous generation up to the new one by utilizing the GBA slot on the DS.
Also, with just a few exceptions (the obligatory new version of Pidgey - the Starly evolution line, among a few others), the new Pokemon designs were interesting again. Battles were a bit easier to get through as well, because the player could use the touch screen to issue commands to his Pokemon in addition to being able to use the buttons as before.
Nintendo eventually released Pokemon Black and White, also for the DS, this year. They fixed some of the complaints people had about Diamond and Pearl, most notably how slow the battles moved even with animation turned off. Black and White added even more weather effects, and the world was navigated with a bit more visual flair as well. The story had a bit of a darker tone to begin with and was thus a bit more interesting than usual, despite veering into familiar territory near the end.
But the Pokemon series could not exist as it does today without the DS hardware. There will not be a mainline Pokemon game released at any point in the future without the ability to trade over the internet. But not every game would need such features. Some games were meant to be deliberate throwbacks to simpler times. Nintendo had been hinting at looking back at some of their older titles already on the GBA with the E-Reader versions of classic NES games, along with the Classic NES Series. But it had been a long while since their most important franchise returned to the realm of 2D...
Thursday, November 3, 2011
In case you hadn't picked up on it yet... I am a huge fucking dork
I haven't done a sort of "what I've been playing" brain dump of a bunch of games I don't have much to say about in a while, so I thought I'd write one of those here. I also scored some awesome deals the past few weeks so I thought I'd throw them up here, too.
First off, I scored pretty big in Mt. Pleasant last weekend. The local game shop had Xenosaga III (PS2) mint for $17.99, the lowest price I've ever seen it, so I grabbed that along with a mint The Legendary Starfy (DS) for $11.99 and near mint Star Ocean: The Second Story (PS1) for free (part of their constant B2G1 free sale, probably my favorite thing about that store). I haven't played any of those yet, but I was intrigued because it was the first time I had ever seen the PS1 Star Ocean game and I had just bought Star Ocean: First Departure (PSP) for a song the previous week (a Target coupon for $5 off their online store netted me the game for about $4 shipped brand new).
The previous week had been pretty good to me as well. My "requests" list on Goozex has started to bear fruit, and I received notice I would be getting Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan! (DS) in the mail in a week or so for 650 easily earned points (I will not be missing an extra copy of Izuna 1 (DS), Tales of Phantasia (GBA), or the battered copy of Mega Man (NES) I had received off Goozex once already - and I still have 900 points left over from those trades!). I've played four songs on it already, and despite not being able to read the language or understand what the songs are saying or what's really going on on the top screen, this feels like more Elite Beat Agents which is pretty much exactly what I've wanted since laughing my way through that game. The Ouendan are just as ridiculous and goofy as the Agents were, so I'm sure I'll play my way through that game, and maybe someday Goozex will send me the sequel, which sports a title including the words "Hot-Blooded."
Strangely, I've been getting ridiculously lucky on Glyde lately as well. I grabbed Mario Hoops: 3 on 3 (DS) for $12.99 shipped as soon as I saw it, as that is about ten or fifteen bucks cheaper than I have ever seen it anywhere since it came out like five years ago (right now on Glyde, the game in the same exact condition - "excellent" - I got it for is $27.99). The game will probably arrive in the next few days. I was also able to score Harvest Moon DS for $9.49 shipped in excellent condition, which I was thrilled about because I wish I never would have sold the thing a few years back in the first place and that's as cheap as I've ever seen it. There isn't currently an "excellent" condition copy available on Glyde, but right now a "good" copy is going for about $14 shipped. I got the Gamecube Warioware in excellent condition for $6.83 shipped, which is cool because that game is multiplayer Warioware on a big screen (and isn't like forty stupid dollars like the Wii version has been for years). I got Sim City DS for $6 shipped and Orcs and Elves (DS) for $5 shipped, neither of which are great games but I've been kind of interested in both since they came out and I figured they won't get any cheaper than that.
Probably the cream of the recent crop, though, is what I was able to snag a few days ago. I decided to log into my Gamestop rewards account for no apparent reason and discovered I could spend 6000 of my then 15000 points on a coupon for $10 off any used game. Since that coupon is usually 10000 points and the deal is only going on this week, I printed one out and went to the store. Lo and behold, someone had sold back a copy of Aliens: Infestation (DS) already! It was listed as $24.99, way more than I'd be willing to pay for the game, but at $14.99 plus my ten percent discount, I figured that was a good deal so I grabbed it.
Now I can actually talk about a game! I was interested in A:I because I had heard it was shockingly similar to side-scrolling Metroid. Since there hasn't been a new side-scrolling Metroid since Fusion, I have been dying for some of that so I read some reviews and put it on my to-buy list. First of all, this game is hard. The Aliens do not go down easy, and can kill you fairly quickly. When you play Metroid, you feel pretty much like a badass, because not much can stop you except maybe a boss. Not so in Aliens. Your marine guys are way weaker than Samus, cannot take much punishment, and are way less agile. The little guys who try to jump on you and suck your brains out or whatever are quite dangerous, because they can stop you in your tracks as you take damage from the big guys running around, who are VERY fast and can sometimes take quite a few hits to take down. You also have limited ammo for everything besides your handgun - and your handgun sucks! You can upgrade your weapons by finding upgrade kits strewn about the levels like missile tanks in Metroid, but they seem to be much rarer here.
I might write more about the game in the future, as it does some interesting things (such as how if one of your guys dies, they are dead forever - unless of course you power down your system before your next save or before the next time you beat a boss), but I must go play some more Balloon Kid (GB). It just came out on the 3DS VC, and it's a sequel to Balloon Fight with (gasp!) actual level design! Plus my girlfriend totally owns an actual cartridge. Prior to seeing her copy, I had no idea it even existed. I probably won't write about it here (there's not much to say - you travel left, collect balloons, and avoid dying) but it's pretty fun, and easily worth $2.99.
And thus ends a post in which I write a thousand words about damn near nothing.
First off, I scored pretty big in Mt. Pleasant last weekend. The local game shop had Xenosaga III (PS2) mint for $17.99, the lowest price I've ever seen it, so I grabbed that along with a mint The Legendary Starfy (DS) for $11.99 and near mint Star Ocean: The Second Story (PS1) for free (part of their constant B2G1 free sale, probably my favorite thing about that store). I haven't played any of those yet, but I was intrigued because it was the first time I had ever seen the PS1 Star Ocean game and I had just bought Star Ocean: First Departure (PSP) for a song the previous week (a Target coupon for $5 off their online store netted me the game for about $4 shipped brand new).
The previous week had been pretty good to me as well. My "requests" list on Goozex has started to bear fruit, and I received notice I would be getting Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan! (DS) in the mail in a week or so for 650 easily earned points (I will not be missing an extra copy of Izuna 1 (DS), Tales of Phantasia (GBA), or the battered copy of Mega Man (NES) I had received off Goozex once already - and I still have 900 points left over from those trades!). I've played four songs on it already, and despite not being able to read the language or understand what the songs are saying or what's really going on on the top screen, this feels like more Elite Beat Agents which is pretty much exactly what I've wanted since laughing my way through that game. The Ouendan are just as ridiculous and goofy as the Agents were, so I'm sure I'll play my way through that game, and maybe someday Goozex will send me the sequel, which sports a title including the words "Hot-Blooded."
Strangely, I've been getting ridiculously lucky on Glyde lately as well. I grabbed Mario Hoops: 3 on 3 (DS) for $12.99 shipped as soon as I saw it, as that is about ten or fifteen bucks cheaper than I have ever seen it anywhere since it came out like five years ago (right now on Glyde, the game in the same exact condition - "excellent" - I got it for is $27.99). The game will probably arrive in the next few days. I was also able to score Harvest Moon DS for $9.49 shipped in excellent condition, which I was thrilled about because I wish I never would have sold the thing a few years back in the first place and that's as cheap as I've ever seen it. There isn't currently an "excellent" condition copy available on Glyde, but right now a "good" copy is going for about $14 shipped. I got the Gamecube Warioware in excellent condition for $6.83 shipped, which is cool because that game is multiplayer Warioware on a big screen (and isn't like forty stupid dollars like the Wii version has been for years). I got Sim City DS for $6 shipped and Orcs and Elves (DS) for $5 shipped, neither of which are great games but I've been kind of interested in both since they came out and I figured they won't get any cheaper than that.
Probably the cream of the recent crop, though, is what I was able to snag a few days ago. I decided to log into my Gamestop rewards account for no apparent reason and discovered I could spend 6000 of my then 15000 points on a coupon for $10 off any used game. Since that coupon is usually 10000 points and the deal is only going on this week, I printed one out and went to the store. Lo and behold, someone had sold back a copy of Aliens: Infestation (DS) already! It was listed as $24.99, way more than I'd be willing to pay for the game, but at $14.99 plus my ten percent discount, I figured that was a good deal so I grabbed it.
Now I can actually talk about a game! I was interested in A:I because I had heard it was shockingly similar to side-scrolling Metroid. Since there hasn't been a new side-scrolling Metroid since Fusion, I have been dying for some of that so I read some reviews and put it on my to-buy list. First of all, this game is hard. The Aliens do not go down easy, and can kill you fairly quickly. When you play Metroid, you feel pretty much like a badass, because not much can stop you except maybe a boss. Not so in Aliens. Your marine guys are way weaker than Samus, cannot take much punishment, and are way less agile. The little guys who try to jump on you and suck your brains out or whatever are quite dangerous, because they can stop you in your tracks as you take damage from the big guys running around, who are VERY fast and can sometimes take quite a few hits to take down. You also have limited ammo for everything besides your handgun - and your handgun sucks! You can upgrade your weapons by finding upgrade kits strewn about the levels like missile tanks in Metroid, but they seem to be much rarer here.
I might write more about the game in the future, as it does some interesting things (such as how if one of your guys dies, they are dead forever - unless of course you power down your system before your next save or before the next time you beat a boss), but I must go play some more Balloon Kid (GB). It just came out on the 3DS VC, and it's a sequel to Balloon Fight with (gasp!) actual level design! Plus my girlfriend totally owns an actual cartridge. Prior to seeing her copy, I had no idea it even existed. I probably won't write about it here (there's not much to say - you travel left, collect balloons, and avoid dying) but it's pretty fun, and easily worth $2.99.
And thus ends a post in which I write a thousand words about damn near nothing.
Saturday, October 29, 2011
"A painting... of the soul!" Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin
I decided randomly a few weeks ago that I wanted to play a Castlevania game, and not one that I've beaten a thousand times (such as Dawn of Sorrow). So I picked Portrait of Ruin, a game that I didn't get very far in when I first got it and haven't played since probably 2006.
Coming right off Dawn of Sorrow (still my favorite in the series), PoR is somewhat a disappointment. There's no Soul System, so killing enemies only nets you experience and the occasional dropped item like usual, rather than thousands of different powers you can use. You do have two characters to switch between, Jonathan and Charlotte. They each play a little bit differently, as their attacks are of different types - Jonathan's attacks are what I'll call "physical" and Charlotte's are what I'll call "magical" (the game might have terms for these, but I never saw what they were). Most enemies will take damage from both kinds of attacks, but some enemies will take significantly reduced damage from a particular type (bosses are often guilty of this - they seem to be built around the developers wanting to force the player to beat them with one of the two characters in particular). What I find interesting about this system is how it was iterated upon in the sequel a few years later in Order of Ecclesia, where there are multiple kinds of weapons and specific enemy types are weak to specific types of weapons (swords, whips, axes, etc.). I just find it kind of neat how you can draw a clear line of evolution from this game to that one, despite being awfully different in many respects.
As different as they are, though, I must say OoE is pretty much the spiritual sequel to PoR. Though they do not star the same characters, I think OoE improves upon PoR's ideas in every way. The levels are split up into different maps in both games - PoR has levels divided into "paintings" that are basically just warp points, whereas OoE is one continuous world divided into discrete levels (for example, you can travel from the town to the forest to the lighthouse in OoE, where in PoR, you'd have to hop into different paintings for each of these). The battle system has similar ideas, because in PoR, you have two different characters and can "call" the other person in to help you fight (the ally AI is pretty crappy, but it IS an option) or can switch between the two on the fly. OoE has only one playable character, but she can switch between three different equipment sets on the fly, which changes which weapons she has equipped so it's similar to PoR ally-swapping. There are weird little missions you can get in both games, too - in PoR, they come from "Wind," and you can only take on five at a time and you cannot even SEE any other ones until you start completing them, whereas in OoE you get them from the villagers you save in the individual levels, and you can pick and choose which ones you want to do at any time. The nice part about OoE is that the missions make sense - one mission you get tasks you with finding the cat of one of the little kids in town. The missions in PoR are random and arbitrary most of the time. One of them is creepy - "Wind," a dead ghost, asks Charlotte to come back wearing three maid items to complete the mission. Gross.
Anyway, Portrait of Ruin plays pretty well for most of the game and the levels are fun, right up until the last third of the game. You get to a point where you have to go through "dark" versions of levels you've already beaten with slightly altered maps and harder enemies. For a Castlevania game, this is a terrible idea. You already travel through these levels enough as it is looking for stuff and the way to go and all that, and you force me to do it again?! With less save points? Ugh. One of them in particular, the dark counterpart to the Nation of Fools, is like torture. It's difficult to figure out where you're allowed to even go, much less figure out where you should go. Oh and there's also yellow Medusa Heads around. Not fun. Also boring!
I do really enjoy the bonus mode you get for beating the game, though. You can play as Richter Belmont and Maria through the entire game, without any story scenes or missions or anything like that. They level up just like Jonathan and Charlotte, but they don't get new equipment or anything like that - Richter always has the Vampire Hunter whip and the normal assortment of Castlevania subweapons, and Maria has her awesome bird attack that shoots out at an upward arc really fast and does tons of damage quickly, assuming the enemy takes decent damage from magic attacks. Richter and Maria are a blast to play as and frankly would be a great bonus mode in any Castlevania, honestly.
So Portrait of Ruin is the worst DS Castlevania, but it is still absolutely worth playing. I had a blast playing through it and if it has been a while since you've played a decent Castlevania, pick it up and play through it.
(Click here to read my Order of Ecclesia post from earlier this year. It's pretty good!)
Coming right off Dawn of Sorrow (still my favorite in the series), PoR is somewhat a disappointment. There's no Soul System, so killing enemies only nets you experience and the occasional dropped item like usual, rather than thousands of different powers you can use. You do have two characters to switch between, Jonathan and Charlotte. They each play a little bit differently, as their attacks are of different types - Jonathan's attacks are what I'll call "physical" and Charlotte's are what I'll call "magical" (the game might have terms for these, but I never saw what they were). Most enemies will take damage from both kinds of attacks, but some enemies will take significantly reduced damage from a particular type (bosses are often guilty of this - they seem to be built around the developers wanting to force the player to beat them with one of the two characters in particular). What I find interesting about this system is how it was iterated upon in the sequel a few years later in Order of Ecclesia, where there are multiple kinds of weapons and specific enemy types are weak to specific types of weapons (swords, whips, axes, etc.). I just find it kind of neat how you can draw a clear line of evolution from this game to that one, despite being awfully different in many respects.
As different as they are, though, I must say OoE is pretty much the spiritual sequel to PoR. Though they do not star the same characters, I think OoE improves upon PoR's ideas in every way. The levels are split up into different maps in both games - PoR has levels divided into "paintings" that are basically just warp points, whereas OoE is one continuous world divided into discrete levels (for example, you can travel from the town to the forest to the lighthouse in OoE, where in PoR, you'd have to hop into different paintings for each of these). The battle system has similar ideas, because in PoR, you have two different characters and can "call" the other person in to help you fight (the ally AI is pretty crappy, but it IS an option) or can switch between the two on the fly. OoE has only one playable character, but she can switch between three different equipment sets on the fly, which changes which weapons she has equipped so it's similar to PoR ally-swapping. There are weird little missions you can get in both games, too - in PoR, they come from "Wind," and you can only take on five at a time and you cannot even SEE any other ones until you start completing them, whereas in OoE you get them from the villagers you save in the individual levels, and you can pick and choose which ones you want to do at any time. The nice part about OoE is that the missions make sense - one mission you get tasks you with finding the cat of one of the little kids in town. The missions in PoR are random and arbitrary most of the time. One of them is creepy - "Wind," a dead ghost, asks Charlotte to come back wearing three maid items to complete the mission. Gross.
Anyway, Portrait of Ruin plays pretty well for most of the game and the levels are fun, right up until the last third of the game. You get to a point where you have to go through "dark" versions of levels you've already beaten with slightly altered maps and harder enemies. For a Castlevania game, this is a terrible idea. You already travel through these levels enough as it is looking for stuff and the way to go and all that, and you force me to do it again?! With less save points? Ugh. One of them in particular, the dark counterpart to the Nation of Fools, is like torture. It's difficult to figure out where you're allowed to even go, much less figure out where you should go. Oh and there's also yellow Medusa Heads around. Not fun. Also boring!
I do really enjoy the bonus mode you get for beating the game, though. You can play as Richter Belmont and Maria through the entire game, without any story scenes or missions or anything like that. They level up just like Jonathan and Charlotte, but they don't get new equipment or anything like that - Richter always has the Vampire Hunter whip and the normal assortment of Castlevania subweapons, and Maria has her awesome bird attack that shoots out at an upward arc really fast and does tons of damage quickly, assuming the enemy takes decent damage from magic attacks. Richter and Maria are a blast to play as and frankly would be a great bonus mode in any Castlevania, honestly.
So Portrait of Ruin is the worst DS Castlevania, but it is still absolutely worth playing. I had a blast playing through it and if it has been a while since you've played a decent Castlevania, pick it up and play through it.
(Click here to read my Order of Ecclesia post from earlier this year. It's pretty good!)
Tuesday, September 27, 2011
DQM: Joker 2 - Complete
So I beat Joker 2 today, or at least the first part. I beat the final boss, which then allowed my airship to travel again, and I flew to the tournament we were originally going to anyway and won. I like how they did it, too - since I had just played the game for 25 hours, the game skipped all the low level fights and took me right to the championship bout - which was relatively easy (it wouldn't have been if I didn't have a monster with Armor Seco Rain, which completely heals everyone in 2 turns).
Disappointed you don't get to participate in an actual tournament like in the first game? Don't be! After the credits roll, your character and the crew of the ship fly back to the island they crashed on, where the moles are holding the official ORIGINAL Scouting Championship. It also unlocks some more monsters around the island, and it also lets you SCOUT THE GIANT MONSTERS THAT HAVE BEEN HOUNDING YOU THE WHOLE GAME.
They're very difficult to scout, though. I've only scouted the very first one so far (the giant worm, who takes up three party spots so you can only use him at any given time). I'm raising his levels right now, to fully unlock his unique abilities. I'm not quite sure what will happen if I fuse him - will I be able to scout another one? - but his stats are already kind of low compared to my highest leveled monsters (I have an A+1, the giant worm is only a D). So I'll probably fuse him eventually.
I think the biggest compliment I can give this game is that I still want to play it, even after 25 hours of monster grinding. I probably won't go nuts and get every monster or even beat the scouting challenge (lots of games are coming out for the next few months, you see) but I sure would like to catch all those giants. When I beat Pokemon White earlier this year, I was relieved to just finally be done. I had very little desire to keep exploring the world and raising monsters. Like I said in my last post, I think it comes down to exploring the world... Actually seeing how big these monsters actually are, and avoiding getting slaughtered really makes the world seem more organic and interesting. (By the way, like in all Dragon Quests and Pokemon, when you lose a battle, you get sent back to the ship minus half your gold. There's a bank on the ship that lets you mitigate losses by depositing gold before you venture out).
So, yeah, I want there to be more Joker 2... Square Enix recently announced a 3DS remake of the GB Monsters game (which I actually own, but haven't played), so I'll probably just wait for that (and Rocket Slime 3DS!).
This has also made me want to go back and actually finish Dragon Quest V or IX, too. They're the only two DS Dragon Quest games I haven't beaten (besides the original Joker, but screw it, Joker 2 is better in every way so it doesn't count).
Anyway, Joker 2 is amazing, and is highly recommended to anyone who likes games like Pokemon - even if you aren't necessarily a Dragon Quest fan.
This means you, Kyle.
Disappointed you don't get to participate in an actual tournament like in the first game? Don't be! After the credits roll, your character and the crew of the ship fly back to the island they crashed on, where the moles are holding the official ORIGINAL Scouting Championship. It also unlocks some more monsters around the island, and it also lets you SCOUT THE GIANT MONSTERS THAT HAVE BEEN HOUNDING YOU THE WHOLE GAME.
They're very difficult to scout, though. I've only scouted the very first one so far (the giant worm, who takes up three party spots so you can only use him at any given time). I'm raising his levels right now, to fully unlock his unique abilities. I'm not quite sure what will happen if I fuse him - will I be able to scout another one? - but his stats are already kind of low compared to my highest leveled monsters (I have an A+1, the giant worm is only a D). So I'll probably fuse him eventually.
I think the biggest compliment I can give this game is that I still want to play it, even after 25 hours of monster grinding. I probably won't go nuts and get every monster or even beat the scouting challenge (lots of games are coming out for the next few months, you see) but I sure would like to catch all those giants. When I beat Pokemon White earlier this year, I was relieved to just finally be done. I had very little desire to keep exploring the world and raising monsters. Like I said in my last post, I think it comes down to exploring the world... Actually seeing how big these monsters actually are, and avoiding getting slaughtered really makes the world seem more organic and interesting. (By the way, like in all Dragon Quests and Pokemon, when you lose a battle, you get sent back to the ship minus half your gold. There's a bank on the ship that lets you mitigate losses by depositing gold before you venture out).
So, yeah, I want there to be more Joker 2... Square Enix recently announced a 3DS remake of the GB Monsters game (which I actually own, but haven't played), so I'll probably just wait for that (and Rocket Slime 3DS!).
This has also made me want to go back and actually finish Dragon Quest V or IX, too. They're the only two DS Dragon Quest games I haven't beaten (besides the original Joker, but screw it, Joker 2 is better in every way so it doesn't count).
Anyway, Joker 2 is amazing, and is highly recommended to anyone who likes games like Pokemon - even if you aren't necessarily a Dragon Quest fan.
This means you, Kyle.
Thursday, September 22, 2011
Dragon Quest Monsters: Joker 2 is Great
So I bought Dragon Quest Monsters: Joker 2 because I played a few hours of the first one, and was somewhat impressed. I say somewhat because the first game has some flaws in its presentation, which I'll get to at the end of this post.
So, the DQM:J series is similar to Pokemon, in that you go around a world and collect and train monsters to beat some competition. The difference between this series and Pokemon, though, is that you can "synthesize" monsters together to get a new one, and carry over powers and some stats to the new guy.
This, of course, reminds me of the Shin Megami Tensei series, wherein you fuse demons together to carry over powers and stats to the new ones. The mechanics are very similar, actually, with only a few differences. First, to "synthesize" monsters in the DQM:J series, both monsters must be at least level 10. This is annoying early on, when raising your guys to level 10 takes forever, but eventually you can do that in a few minutes even without the help of a metal slime.
What the DQM:J series needs to take from SMT, though, is the idea of a "compendium." In SMT, this allows you to repurchase old demons, in the interest of using them to fuse new ones or just to get them back if you don't like the demon you got as a result of a borked fuse. DQM:J doesn't have anything like this; once you fuse a monster, it's gone forever. The only way to get another guy is to raise more monsters, go all the way through the evolution trees, and get the new guy, or just catch a (slightly worse) one in the wild. Sure, leveling up to level 10 is easy when you have access to the later areas, and it's nice that three backup monsters (I.E. monsters not currently in your active party, but still with you) gain experience too. I just wish I could cut out the middleman and get back to raising some awesome monsters.
The DQM:J series does have a leg up on SMT, though. Each monster has a family tree going back a few generations, so you can see which monster came from what (for example, I currently have a tyrannosaurus rex with a giant hammer, and he is the result of several generations of synthesizing, and actually descends from my starting monster). Also, you can choose which sets of powers you want to carry over to the new monster, along with half the ability points (which work exactly like in Dragon Quest VIII). Half the points may sound bad, but keep in mind any freshly synthesized monster starts out at level 1, so you actually have the opportunity to earn way more ability points this way.
DQM:J also keeps track of monsters with a handy rating system, which serves to tell you how good a monster is. The rating system starts at F, and goes up through E, D, C, B, A, S, and X. I'm twelve hours in, and my best monster (the aforementioned t-rex) is a B+4 - also the highest rating I've seen. The + denotes a boosted rating a monster gets from being synthesized, so I'd imagine the best rating you could get would be X+4 or something like that. Anyway, ratings are handy when deciding how to fuse, because you don't want to synthesize a good monster into a lower level crappy one (the game indicates the results of synthesis before you commit to it, to cut down on crappy combinations).
So I really like the structure and system of the DQM:J series. What I didn't like about the first one was how the game played out. You start out as this ugly kid (with a wallet chain! ugh) on some random thief's island, and you set out to win the Monster Scout Challenge. To leave your home island, and to get anywhere in the game at all, you ride a waverunner.
In Dragon Quest.
You don't control it, either. They basically just serve as warp points, because guess what? You can't just hop on a waverunner and pick which island you want to go to. Oh, no. Each waverunner, spread around all the islands, goes to a DIFFERENT ISLAND. So you have to walk across an entire island to get to a different waverunner, which for no apparent reason can only go in a straight line to that specific island it's pointing at.
This gets tedious very quickly.
The world isn't very interesting, either. Now, maybe I didn't play far enough into it (about five hours), but generic and boring best describe pretty much every location I saw in that game.
Which are all reasons why I like Dragon Quest Monsters: Joker 2. First of all, the entire world is contiguous - you can walk from one place to another. Don't feel like walking all the way from the starting point to the farthest area? Why, pick it from a map menu and you're good to go! No stupid waverunners to deal with here.
Also, the world seems much more alive. There are monsters roaming around just like in the first game, but this time there are some giant monsters that will scare away all the other monsters when they show up. You can engage these monsters if you want, but it's best not to until you're leveled up a bit and probably with some better monsters, so you should just avoid them. I love them, though, because they make the world seem so much more vibrant.
It also helps that the levels are better designed, too, and the map is much easier to read. I haven't gotten lost in the game yet, and have actually enjoyed exploring every nook and cranny to find hidden treasure. Exploring is made much more enjoyable with good music, too (although they need more than one battle theme - I'm a bit sick of that now).
I will end this post with this: I am having more fun playing Dragon Quest Monsters: Joker 2 than I did earlier this year with Pokemon White.
Startling, isn't it?
So, the DQM:J series is similar to Pokemon, in that you go around a world and collect and train monsters to beat some competition. The difference between this series and Pokemon, though, is that you can "synthesize" monsters together to get a new one, and carry over powers and some stats to the new guy.
This, of course, reminds me of the Shin Megami Tensei series, wherein you fuse demons together to carry over powers and stats to the new ones. The mechanics are very similar, actually, with only a few differences. First, to "synthesize" monsters in the DQM:J series, both monsters must be at least level 10. This is annoying early on, when raising your guys to level 10 takes forever, but eventually you can do that in a few minutes even without the help of a metal slime.
What the DQM:J series needs to take from SMT, though, is the idea of a "compendium." In SMT, this allows you to repurchase old demons, in the interest of using them to fuse new ones or just to get them back if you don't like the demon you got as a result of a borked fuse. DQM:J doesn't have anything like this; once you fuse a monster, it's gone forever. The only way to get another guy is to raise more monsters, go all the way through the evolution trees, and get the new guy, or just catch a (slightly worse) one in the wild. Sure, leveling up to level 10 is easy when you have access to the later areas, and it's nice that three backup monsters (I.E. monsters not currently in your active party, but still with you) gain experience too. I just wish I could cut out the middleman and get back to raising some awesome monsters.
The DQM:J series does have a leg up on SMT, though. Each monster has a family tree going back a few generations, so you can see which monster came from what (for example, I currently have a tyrannosaurus rex with a giant hammer, and he is the result of several generations of synthesizing, and actually descends from my starting monster). Also, you can choose which sets of powers you want to carry over to the new monster, along with half the ability points (which work exactly like in Dragon Quest VIII). Half the points may sound bad, but keep in mind any freshly synthesized monster starts out at level 1, so you actually have the opportunity to earn way more ability points this way.
DQM:J also keeps track of monsters with a handy rating system, which serves to tell you how good a monster is. The rating system starts at F, and goes up through E, D, C, B, A, S, and X. I'm twelve hours in, and my best monster (the aforementioned t-rex) is a B+4 - also the highest rating I've seen. The + denotes a boosted rating a monster gets from being synthesized, so I'd imagine the best rating you could get would be X+4 or something like that. Anyway, ratings are handy when deciding how to fuse, because you don't want to synthesize a good monster into a lower level crappy one (the game indicates the results of synthesis before you commit to it, to cut down on crappy combinations).
So I really like the structure and system of the DQM:J series. What I didn't like about the first one was how the game played out. You start out as this ugly kid (with a wallet chain! ugh) on some random thief's island, and you set out to win the Monster Scout Challenge. To leave your home island, and to get anywhere in the game at all, you ride a waverunner.
In Dragon Quest.
You don't control it, either. They basically just serve as warp points, because guess what? You can't just hop on a waverunner and pick which island you want to go to. Oh, no. Each waverunner, spread around all the islands, goes to a DIFFERENT ISLAND. So you have to walk across an entire island to get to a different waverunner, which for no apparent reason can only go in a straight line to that specific island it's pointing at.
This gets tedious very quickly.
The world isn't very interesting, either. Now, maybe I didn't play far enough into it (about five hours), but generic and boring best describe pretty much every location I saw in that game.
Which are all reasons why I like Dragon Quest Monsters: Joker 2. First of all, the entire world is contiguous - you can walk from one place to another. Don't feel like walking all the way from the starting point to the farthest area? Why, pick it from a map menu and you're good to go! No stupid waverunners to deal with here.
Also, the world seems much more alive. There are monsters roaming around just like in the first game, but this time there are some giant monsters that will scare away all the other monsters when they show up. You can engage these monsters if you want, but it's best not to until you're leveled up a bit and probably with some better monsters, so you should just avoid them. I love them, though, because they make the world seem so much more vibrant.
It also helps that the levels are better designed, too, and the map is much easier to read. I haven't gotten lost in the game yet, and have actually enjoyed exploring every nook and cranny to find hidden treasure. Exploring is made much more enjoyable with good music, too (although they need more than one battle theme - I'm a bit sick of that now).
I will end this post with this: I am having more fun playing Dragon Quest Monsters: Joker 2 than I did earlier this year with Pokemon White.
Startling, isn't it?
Saturday, August 20, 2011
Everyone's Favorite Tech Demo Series - Pilotwings: Resort
So I was able to take advantage of a neat K-Mart deal where all their 3DS games were $30, and I picked up Pilotwings: Resort using some leftover Paypal funds I had.
Now I loved Pilotwings 64. I spent a ton of time with that game, just exploring the levels and seeing all the neat little things the designers hid in there (like shooting a missle at Mario's nose to change him into Wario in the Little America stage). I also really enjoyed trying to master the controls to get medals on all the missions. My favorite part of Pilotwings 64 is probably the music, surprisingly enough. Tracks like this (read the comments for that video, the writer of that particular song comments on it!) and this are some of the most relaxing videogame tracks I've ever heard.
The missions were almost an afterthought, really. I mean I enjoyed them, but didn't play them too much. I spent most of my time exploring Little States. Even though it wasn't exactly right in every place (Michigan is a sort-of hand-like stump without the upper peninsula, for example), it seemed enormous and filled with personality and hidden stuff.
...Which is why Pilotwings Resort is such a letdown in retrospect. On its own merits, its an entertaining game, and I certainly had fun with it and will likely revisit it every once in a while, but Pilotwings 64 eclipses it in almost every way. The music is merely okay. It sounds a lot like a lame rip-off of Pilotwings 64, to be honest. The missions are about what you expect - there were no missions where you use the "missile" function of the plane to shoot anything besides targets or balloons, for example. I mean it's not like I'd expect them to put anything in there that you'd have to shoot down, but come on - no Mario/Wario transformation, or anything like that? LAME.
Another problem I have is how Free Play mode is timed. Why do they time a mode that is CALLED "Free Play?" Because there isn't much to explore, really. The entire game takes place on one island (okay, one and a half). Wuhu Island is fairly small, and maybe I would appreciate it more had I played much of Wii Sports Resort, but I shouldn't have to play some other game (that doesn't even remotely play like Pilotwings!) to enjoy the setting here.
I mean it's okay. Sure, I enjoy using the Turbo Jet to shoot down the volcano and come out the side entrance, but that's only fun for a minute or two before you get bored. I enjoyed finding the balloons hidden around the island, but forcing me to collect them only if I'm piloting a certain vehicle seems dumb to me. I understand that they want you to play with every vehicle, but I just don't like hang-gliding much (the Pedal Glider helped, but your very quickly depleting stamina meter sort of renders it moot). I would have rather used the Turbo Jet and Super Rocket Belt the whole time! I do enjoy the stuff you collect for each vehicle, though. The gold rings almost (almost!) made the hang-glider worth using, and why you collected presents with Mii Trophies in them with the Rocket Belt didn't make sense to me, but forcing you to do a barrel roll or fly upside-down through a Stunt Ring was a lot of fun with the planes. I'll probably get all those some day.
I know a lot of this seems negative. Like I said, Pilotwings Resort is only a letdown in retrospect. On its own, I enjoyed it quite a bit. While I still had missions and tons of stuff to collect in Free Play, I couldn't put the game down. The controls in Pilotwings: Resort are probably the best in the series. Landing with a plane seems more finicky (I always hit the water too hard, according to the game, but I have no idea how to counteract that), but other than that I have no complaints. I even got the hang (no pun intended) of landing the hang-glider. Still, I'll probably never get perfect scores on all the missions. If only I could land that damn plane effectively, I might go for it, but failing to land properly after flying a perfect run for 2-3 minutes and having to start over sucks.
Put it this way: I'm glad I got the game for close to free due to some judicious trades on the internet. If I actually had to put a dollar value on the game... Fifteen bucks would easily be worth it, but if you saw it for $20 you should probably pick it up. Hopefully it comes down in value someday so more people can play it.
I just hope Nintendo makes another one someday, and gives us a new place to explore, instead of some recycled areas from an unrelated game. That is, unless they want to make like Pilotwings: Twilight Princess or something, which, let's be honest, would be totally rad and not dumb as hell. Right...?
Now I loved Pilotwings 64. I spent a ton of time with that game, just exploring the levels and seeing all the neat little things the designers hid in there (like shooting a missle at Mario's nose to change him into Wario in the Little America stage). I also really enjoyed trying to master the controls to get medals on all the missions. My favorite part of Pilotwings 64 is probably the music, surprisingly enough. Tracks like this (read the comments for that video, the writer of that particular song comments on it!) and this are some of the most relaxing videogame tracks I've ever heard.
The missions were almost an afterthought, really. I mean I enjoyed them, but didn't play them too much. I spent most of my time exploring Little States. Even though it wasn't exactly right in every place (Michigan is a sort-of hand-like stump without the upper peninsula, for example), it seemed enormous and filled with personality and hidden stuff.
...Which is why Pilotwings Resort is such a letdown in retrospect. On its own merits, its an entertaining game, and I certainly had fun with it and will likely revisit it every once in a while, but Pilotwings 64 eclipses it in almost every way. The music is merely okay. It sounds a lot like a lame rip-off of Pilotwings 64, to be honest. The missions are about what you expect - there were no missions where you use the "missile" function of the plane to shoot anything besides targets or balloons, for example. I mean it's not like I'd expect them to put anything in there that you'd have to shoot down, but come on - no Mario/Wario transformation, or anything like that? LAME.
Another problem I have is how Free Play mode is timed. Why do they time a mode that is CALLED "Free Play?" Because there isn't much to explore, really. The entire game takes place on one island (okay, one and a half). Wuhu Island is fairly small, and maybe I would appreciate it more had I played much of Wii Sports Resort, but I shouldn't have to play some other game (that doesn't even remotely play like Pilotwings!) to enjoy the setting here.
I mean it's okay. Sure, I enjoy using the Turbo Jet to shoot down the volcano and come out the side entrance, but that's only fun for a minute or two before you get bored. I enjoyed finding the balloons hidden around the island, but forcing me to collect them only if I'm piloting a certain vehicle seems dumb to me. I understand that they want you to play with every vehicle, but I just don't like hang-gliding much (the Pedal Glider helped, but your very quickly depleting stamina meter sort of renders it moot). I would have rather used the Turbo Jet and Super Rocket Belt the whole time! I do enjoy the stuff you collect for each vehicle, though. The gold rings almost (almost!) made the hang-glider worth using, and why you collected presents with Mii Trophies in them with the Rocket Belt didn't make sense to me, but forcing you to do a barrel roll or fly upside-down through a Stunt Ring was a lot of fun with the planes. I'll probably get all those some day.
I know a lot of this seems negative. Like I said, Pilotwings Resort is only a letdown in retrospect. On its own, I enjoyed it quite a bit. While I still had missions and tons of stuff to collect in Free Play, I couldn't put the game down. The controls in Pilotwings: Resort are probably the best in the series. Landing with a plane seems more finicky (I always hit the water too hard, according to the game, but I have no idea how to counteract that), but other than that I have no complaints. I even got the hang (no pun intended) of landing the hang-glider. Still, I'll probably never get perfect scores on all the missions. If only I could land that damn plane effectively, I might go for it, but failing to land properly after flying a perfect run for 2-3 minutes and having to start over sucks.
Put it this way: I'm glad I got the game for close to free due to some judicious trades on the internet. If I actually had to put a dollar value on the game... Fifteen bucks would easily be worth it, but if you saw it for $20 you should probably pick it up. Hopefully it comes down in value someday so more people can play it.
I just hope Nintendo makes another one someday, and gives us a new place to explore, instead of some recycled areas from an unrelated game. That is, unless they want to make like Pilotwings: Twilight Princess or something, which, let's be honest, would be totally rad and not dumb as hell. Right...?
Wednesday, July 27, 2011
What a Nightmare: Catherine, part 1
Catherine is fucking with me.
I figured that was a wholly appropriate way to begin writing about Atlus' new 360 and PS3 game, Catherine. This is the Persona Team's latest release, and you can see the influence their prior games had here - even down to the basic structure of the story. Like in Persona, Catherine spends its gametime exploring time, not space. There are a limited number of places the player can go, but it is how they act and the choices they make in those places that affect the story.
The main "game-y" portions of Catherine are basically puzzles. The player is tasked with climbing to the top of a giant tower, night after night, and the only way to do so is to move around and manipulate the blocks to create paths to the top, while avoiding enemies and not falling off. This is harder than it sounds, because time is limited - the bottom floors of the stage fall off as time goes on, so you can't dawdle to figure out how to progress. The "boss" stages also have some giant monster chase you, while using attacks that can really mess you up - one of them I encountered reversed your controls, another knocks you down a few levels, and yet another just outright kills you. This adds an even more frantic pace to the puzzle levels, and they tie into the main story, as well - typically the bosses are metaphors for the main characters current predicament.
But I'm here for the story. Catherine is about a middle aged man named Vincent Brooks, who has been dating his girlfriend Katherine for something like five years. She wants to get married soon, and Vincent is having trouble coming to grips with the idea. To further complicate things, he gets drunk one night and begins an affair with a girl named Catherine, a much younger, seductive girl who has no idea Vincent is already spoken for. The main point of the game is to guide Vincent through his relationships with these two women, and (I presume) ultimately come to a decision over which one to stay with (or, if the game really has balls, neither - but I haven't beaten it yet, so I have no idea at this point).
I really have trouble with this game, and I'm not even talking about the puzzle bits. When Vincent is awake, he is constantly getting texts from the two women, and the player is responsible for responding to them. You have a few options in how to word your text, and, like in real life, you have to try to send a text that doesn't screw up your relationship with the girl you want. As much as I want to scream at the TV "Tell Catherine about your longtime girlfriend and dump her NOW!" you don't really get that option. The player is more like Vincent's conscience, rather than in complete control of the man himself.
The game also has some neat online integration, as well, because in between puzzle levels, the player is asked questions like "Does life begin or end when you get married?" All the other players' answers are all tallied up online and shown after you answer. The answers that are displayed are also the ones people said when they first played the game, so you know what most people really think (because I'm sure when I'm done with this playthrough, I'll play again and go after the young Catherine to see how the story changes).
I just beat the fourth night, and am growing increasingly conflicted as I play. I know I want to repair Vincent's relationship with Katherine, but I don't want to hurt the feelings of Catherine, either, because she seems innocent to me at this point. It seems like that's how Vincent feels, too, which might be why he can't bring himself to tell either woman what is going on.
They'll find out soon enough, I bet. And I bet Vincent's nightmares that night will be demented as hell. I can't wait.
I figured that was a wholly appropriate way to begin writing about Atlus' new 360 and PS3 game, Catherine. This is the Persona Team's latest release, and you can see the influence their prior games had here - even down to the basic structure of the story. Like in Persona, Catherine spends its gametime exploring time, not space. There are a limited number of places the player can go, but it is how they act and the choices they make in those places that affect the story.
The main "game-y" portions of Catherine are basically puzzles. The player is tasked with climbing to the top of a giant tower, night after night, and the only way to do so is to move around and manipulate the blocks to create paths to the top, while avoiding enemies and not falling off. This is harder than it sounds, because time is limited - the bottom floors of the stage fall off as time goes on, so you can't dawdle to figure out how to progress. The "boss" stages also have some giant monster chase you, while using attacks that can really mess you up - one of them I encountered reversed your controls, another knocks you down a few levels, and yet another just outright kills you. This adds an even more frantic pace to the puzzle levels, and they tie into the main story, as well - typically the bosses are metaphors for the main characters current predicament.
But I'm here for the story. Catherine is about a middle aged man named Vincent Brooks, who has been dating his girlfriend Katherine for something like five years. She wants to get married soon, and Vincent is having trouble coming to grips with the idea. To further complicate things, he gets drunk one night and begins an affair with a girl named Catherine, a much younger, seductive girl who has no idea Vincent is already spoken for. The main point of the game is to guide Vincent through his relationships with these two women, and (I presume) ultimately come to a decision over which one to stay with (or, if the game really has balls, neither - but I haven't beaten it yet, so I have no idea at this point).
I really have trouble with this game, and I'm not even talking about the puzzle bits. When Vincent is awake, he is constantly getting texts from the two women, and the player is responsible for responding to them. You have a few options in how to word your text, and, like in real life, you have to try to send a text that doesn't screw up your relationship with the girl you want. As much as I want to scream at the TV "Tell Catherine about your longtime girlfriend and dump her NOW!" you don't really get that option. The player is more like Vincent's conscience, rather than in complete control of the man himself.
The game also has some neat online integration, as well, because in between puzzle levels, the player is asked questions like "Does life begin or end when you get married?" All the other players' answers are all tallied up online and shown after you answer. The answers that are displayed are also the ones people said when they first played the game, so you know what most people really think (because I'm sure when I'm done with this playthrough, I'll play again and go after the young Catherine to see how the story changes).
I just beat the fourth night, and am growing increasingly conflicted as I play. I know I want to repair Vincent's relationship with Katherine, but I don't want to hurt the feelings of Catherine, either, because she seems innocent to me at this point. It seems like that's how Vincent feels, too, which might be why he can't bring himself to tell either woman what is going on.
They'll find out soon enough, I bet. And I bet Vincent's nightmares that night will be demented as hell. I can't wait.
Friday, July 8, 2011
Etrian Odyssey III: Tales of the Metroid Guild, Epilogue
The main force of the Metroid Guild stepped off the raft and onto the small shore, carefully hopping over the lava. The new Hoplite, Jaha, seemed somewhat nervous as he fidgeted in his armor. He, as well as everyone else, knew that his talents were crucial to surviving the ordeal ahead. The original founders of the guild had recruited him specifically to learn a technique of their own design. It was suitable for use only by someone who had experience as a Hoplite due to the defensive nature of that particular study.
It wasn't an offensive move, at all. In fact, it was a skill designed to keep up to five people alive in very specific, extremely dangerous circumstances.
It also had never been performed against anything that could prove its worth.
Marth, the battle-hardened Prince who had joined the Metroid Guild upon hearing of their accomplishments, patted Jaha on the back. "Fear not, my friend," he said as the other three looked on. "This will work. We trust in your skills. Shadow trained you well."
Nathan, original founder and current leader of the Metroid Guild, shook his head. "We have no time for this. Jaha, you're ready. Let's go." After readying his sword, he began walking over the crest of the island.
Behind him, Yukiko, the senior Monk who had also been an original founder of the Metroid Guild, looked at Kyle, also an original founder and senior Zodiac. "I hope you taught the prince well," she mused. "If he doesn't keep that Hoplite from passing out, I'm not sure my healing qi will be of much help if I'm dead."
"We'll see, I suppose," the diminutive magician said. Yukiko nervously cocked an eyebrow at him before catching up to the others on the crest of the island. She had never heard her old friend second guess himself before, and it worried her. Every person had a very specific job to do, and if any of them failed, every single one of them would die.
It was too late to back out now, though. As the rest of the five members reached the top of the small crest, they watched as their target became aware of their presence. It got up on its back legs, clawing at the charred dirt beneath it. It raised its enormous head to the sky as it roared, blasting pebbles and dirt past the guild as they stood there, in awe of the magnificent beast before them.
The beast settled down on its haunches, and the five brave souls threw themselves at it. Before they could even reach it, it bellowed a searing blaze of fire at them, large enough to engulf all five of them and then some. Jaha was ready. He threw up his rather large shield and chanted a few words, and the fire was fully absorbed by the enchanted shield.
Marth let out a celebratory holler. "Well done, Jaha!" he shouted as he and Yukiko started casting some protective spells to prevent heat exhaustion, confusion, and fatigue. Nathan did what he always did, and taunted the enormous creature - albeit nervously, because he wasn't sure he'd be able to stand up to too many focused attacks by it. The rest of the team would have to take some hits themselves. He worried about Kyle more than the rest, mostly because his small frame didn't lend itself well to much physical punishment. He would have to rely on Jaha for that...
Before the dragon composed itself, Jaha began using his familiar Line Guard skill, which helped mitigate the damage his friends would take. He threw a twist on his old standby, though, by utilizing Bunshin, a technique taught to him by Shadow, the veteran Ninja of the Metroid guild. It allowed him to spread his techniques to the entire party.
But the dragon, surprised his fire breath hadn't handled his attackers like it had always had, flew into a rage. It charged his small enemies, well aware how easily it could crush them.
It was again surprised to learn that these fellows were ready for him. It was stunned when the smallest one, dressed in black, shot two extremely cold, extremely painful spears of ice directly at his face.
It had been a long, long time since this ancient beast had felt pain.
They had the full attention of the entire Stratum now. Around them, the beasts in the cavern hid behind rocks or simply fled in terror at the battle unfolding before them. None, not even the large (at least not when compared to the beast now embroiled in battle) Poison Dragons dared participate. They watched in silent awe as the small humans fought valiantly against the Wyrm of the Molten Caves.
Nathan had given up on provoking the dragon, as the beast had gone completely out of control. It was throwing everything it had at them by wildly swinging its limbs at anything that dared come near it, while spewing fire in every direction every chance it got, and it when it wasn't spewing fire, it was spouting as much smoke as it could to try to befuddle the five humans.
The Metroid Guild weren't exactly in great shape, either. All five of them were covered in burns, and most of them were cut fairly deeply by the maniacal beasts claws. Yukiko had entered a healing frenzy, healing every one of them as often as possible, with no regards to her stamina. Once in a while she had to eat an amrita or two, to summon the mental acuity needed to keep her companions healthy.
Jaha hadn't had a coherent thought in a half hour. He didn't have time. He was a mess, but he showed no signs of falling. He was taking as much damage for his compatriots as he could, and his shield, thank the Goddess, was holding up admirably.
Kyle had been taking a beating like he had never had before. He felt as close to death as he had ever felt the whole time, as Yukiko's healing spells seemed to hit him as late as possible just before he was torn asunder by the beasts claws. He got angrier and angrier as he threw every ice spell he knew at the damned Wyrm; sharp ice seemed to flow from both of his hands constantly.
Marth was rattled. The prince had seen many battles in his time, and had fought against some tough adversaries, but nothing like this. This seemed a force of nature to him. He wasn't sure he and his compatriots would make it, and was worried that if they failed, the beast would continue to frenzy out of control, leaving the cave and killing anybody it found. He was chanting as fast as he could, occasionally striking the beast when he saw an opening, but at one crucial moment, right when they thought the beast might fall, he forgot to chant a spell to keep Jaha from passing out from confusion.
All four of them knew what happened instantly. They had no time to berate him, as the dragon let loose a flurry of smoke, disorienting Jaha and making him break away from the group. He knew he had to regain his composure or he and his friends would die. The dragon swung one of its giant claws and struck Kyle directly, finally landing a clean hit on the small wizard. The powerful spellcaster was sent flying, and he landed with a thud several feet away after splitting his head open on a rock. His main adversary downed, the dragon roared, and stood on its haunches as it prepared to finally take down these pesky, though worthy, adversaries.
Yukiko, already casting healing spells as hurriedly as possible, tried to make up for the lack of defense from Jaha by chanting every spell she knew for her compatriots. She upped Nathan's strength in the hopes he would down the dragon. She tried to help Jaha regain his composure and bring him back to the rest of the group. She tried vainly to revive Kyle, as his body lay lifeless several feet away from them.
Nathan began to panic. His sword lately had seemed to barely do anything to the dragon, and the beast seemed to have gained a bit of confidence and strength when it killed Kyle. He still madly swung his blade at the beast, in the vain hope he'd be able to save his remaining comrades.
Jaha had regained composure and charged back into battle, defending his friends as best he could. Without Kyle, the battle had come to a stalemate at best, and the four Metroid Guild members knew the dragon could outlast them. They still fought, courageously hoping they'd be able to somehow survive.
Just when Jaha felt he had no more strength and Yukiko had long since run out of amritas, the dragon began to lunge at Marth. Right before his jaw clenched down around his torso, the dragons head was sickeningly rocked backwards as an enormous bolt of ice shot through its left eye socket. The dragon reeled backwards, and with a pained cry, finally spent its last breath.
Nathan turned around. "Kyle!" he laughed. "I thought you were dead!"
The wizard certainly looked it. He needed to be treated, fast, and the party had little means to comfort him. Jaha and Marth looted what they could from the enormous corpse, while Nathan and Yukiko tended to their old friend.
"You did it, Kyle!" Nathan told him. "We killed the Wyrm. We're going to be legends."
"We're already legends, you fool," he sputtered back.
. . .
The strong wizard was right. A little over two years ago, they had saved the town of Armoroad from an ancient and evil threat. They had mapped the Yggdrasil Labyrinth beneath the town, and had slain many dangerous monsters in the meantime. Tales of their valiant efforts had spread, and hundreds of warriors had come from all over the world to join their ranks. They had long since assured their financial well being, and decided to spend the rest of their days taking whatever challenge they could find.
They scoured every cave, every ruin, every haunt they could find. They were recognized as legends in their own time. Their tales would even be collected in a series of books that would become classics in their own right, making their authors and their heirs rich.
The title of the book is "Etrian Odyssey."
It wasn't an offensive move, at all. In fact, it was a skill designed to keep up to five people alive in very specific, extremely dangerous circumstances.
It also had never been performed against anything that could prove its worth.
Marth, the battle-hardened Prince who had joined the Metroid Guild upon hearing of their accomplishments, patted Jaha on the back. "Fear not, my friend," he said as the other three looked on. "This will work. We trust in your skills. Shadow trained you well."
Nathan, original founder and current leader of the Metroid Guild, shook his head. "We have no time for this. Jaha, you're ready. Let's go." After readying his sword, he began walking over the crest of the island.
Behind him, Yukiko, the senior Monk who had also been an original founder of the Metroid Guild, looked at Kyle, also an original founder and senior Zodiac. "I hope you taught the prince well," she mused. "If he doesn't keep that Hoplite from passing out, I'm not sure my healing qi will be of much help if I'm dead."
"We'll see, I suppose," the diminutive magician said. Yukiko nervously cocked an eyebrow at him before catching up to the others on the crest of the island. She had never heard her old friend second guess himself before, and it worried her. Every person had a very specific job to do, and if any of them failed, every single one of them would die.
It was too late to back out now, though. As the rest of the five members reached the top of the small crest, they watched as their target became aware of their presence. It got up on its back legs, clawing at the charred dirt beneath it. It raised its enormous head to the sky as it roared, blasting pebbles and dirt past the guild as they stood there, in awe of the magnificent beast before them.
The beast settled down on its haunches, and the five brave souls threw themselves at it. Before they could even reach it, it bellowed a searing blaze of fire at them, large enough to engulf all five of them and then some. Jaha was ready. He threw up his rather large shield and chanted a few words, and the fire was fully absorbed by the enchanted shield.
Marth let out a celebratory holler. "Well done, Jaha!" he shouted as he and Yukiko started casting some protective spells to prevent heat exhaustion, confusion, and fatigue. Nathan did what he always did, and taunted the enormous creature - albeit nervously, because he wasn't sure he'd be able to stand up to too many focused attacks by it. The rest of the team would have to take some hits themselves. He worried about Kyle more than the rest, mostly because his small frame didn't lend itself well to much physical punishment. He would have to rely on Jaha for that...
Before the dragon composed itself, Jaha began using his familiar Line Guard skill, which helped mitigate the damage his friends would take. He threw a twist on his old standby, though, by utilizing Bunshin, a technique taught to him by Shadow, the veteran Ninja of the Metroid guild. It allowed him to spread his techniques to the entire party.
But the dragon, surprised his fire breath hadn't handled his attackers like it had always had, flew into a rage. It charged his small enemies, well aware how easily it could crush them.
It was again surprised to learn that these fellows were ready for him. It was stunned when the smallest one, dressed in black, shot two extremely cold, extremely painful spears of ice directly at his face.
It had been a long, long time since this ancient beast had felt pain.
They had the full attention of the entire Stratum now. Around them, the beasts in the cavern hid behind rocks or simply fled in terror at the battle unfolding before them. None, not even the large (at least not when compared to the beast now embroiled in battle) Poison Dragons dared participate. They watched in silent awe as the small humans fought valiantly against the Wyrm of the Molten Caves.
Nathan had given up on provoking the dragon, as the beast had gone completely out of control. It was throwing everything it had at them by wildly swinging its limbs at anything that dared come near it, while spewing fire in every direction every chance it got, and it when it wasn't spewing fire, it was spouting as much smoke as it could to try to befuddle the five humans.
The Metroid Guild weren't exactly in great shape, either. All five of them were covered in burns, and most of them were cut fairly deeply by the maniacal beasts claws. Yukiko had entered a healing frenzy, healing every one of them as often as possible, with no regards to her stamina. Once in a while she had to eat an amrita or two, to summon the mental acuity needed to keep her companions healthy.
Jaha hadn't had a coherent thought in a half hour. He didn't have time. He was a mess, but he showed no signs of falling. He was taking as much damage for his compatriots as he could, and his shield, thank the Goddess, was holding up admirably.
Kyle had been taking a beating like he had never had before. He felt as close to death as he had ever felt the whole time, as Yukiko's healing spells seemed to hit him as late as possible just before he was torn asunder by the beasts claws. He got angrier and angrier as he threw every ice spell he knew at the damned Wyrm; sharp ice seemed to flow from both of his hands constantly.
Marth was rattled. The prince had seen many battles in his time, and had fought against some tough adversaries, but nothing like this. This seemed a force of nature to him. He wasn't sure he and his compatriots would make it, and was worried that if they failed, the beast would continue to frenzy out of control, leaving the cave and killing anybody it found. He was chanting as fast as he could, occasionally striking the beast when he saw an opening, but at one crucial moment, right when they thought the beast might fall, he forgot to chant a spell to keep Jaha from passing out from confusion.
All four of them knew what happened instantly. They had no time to berate him, as the dragon let loose a flurry of smoke, disorienting Jaha and making him break away from the group. He knew he had to regain his composure or he and his friends would die. The dragon swung one of its giant claws and struck Kyle directly, finally landing a clean hit on the small wizard. The powerful spellcaster was sent flying, and he landed with a thud several feet away after splitting his head open on a rock. His main adversary downed, the dragon roared, and stood on its haunches as it prepared to finally take down these pesky, though worthy, adversaries.
Yukiko, already casting healing spells as hurriedly as possible, tried to make up for the lack of defense from Jaha by chanting every spell she knew for her compatriots. She upped Nathan's strength in the hopes he would down the dragon. She tried to help Jaha regain his composure and bring him back to the rest of the group. She tried vainly to revive Kyle, as his body lay lifeless several feet away from them.
Nathan began to panic. His sword lately had seemed to barely do anything to the dragon, and the beast seemed to have gained a bit of confidence and strength when it killed Kyle. He still madly swung his blade at the beast, in the vain hope he'd be able to save his remaining comrades.
Jaha had regained composure and charged back into battle, defending his friends as best he could. Without Kyle, the battle had come to a stalemate at best, and the four Metroid Guild members knew the dragon could outlast them. They still fought, courageously hoping they'd be able to somehow survive.
Just when Jaha felt he had no more strength and Yukiko had long since run out of amritas, the dragon began to lunge at Marth. Right before his jaw clenched down around his torso, the dragons head was sickeningly rocked backwards as an enormous bolt of ice shot through its left eye socket. The dragon reeled backwards, and with a pained cry, finally spent its last breath.
Nathan turned around. "Kyle!" he laughed. "I thought you were dead!"
The wizard certainly looked it. He needed to be treated, fast, and the party had little means to comfort him. Jaha and Marth looted what they could from the enormous corpse, while Nathan and Yukiko tended to their old friend.
"You did it, Kyle!" Nathan told him. "We killed the Wyrm. We're going to be legends."
"We're already legends, you fool," he sputtered back.
. . .
The strong wizard was right. A little over two years ago, they had saved the town of Armoroad from an ancient and evil threat. They had mapped the Yggdrasil Labyrinth beneath the town, and had slain many dangerous monsters in the meantime. Tales of their valiant efforts had spread, and hundreds of warriors had come from all over the world to join their ranks. They had long since assured their financial well being, and decided to spend the rest of their days taking whatever challenge they could find.
They scoured every cave, every ruin, every haunt they could find. They were recognized as legends in their own time. Their tales would even be collected in a series of books that would become classics in their own right, making their authors and their heirs rich.
The title of the book is "Etrian Odyssey."
Wednesday, June 22, 2011
Dead Money: To Begin Again
Today, I beat the first add-on pack for Fallout: New Vegas, the Dead Money expansion. I must say, I enjoyed myself quite a bit, despite absolutely hating it the first time I gave it a shot.
At about level 23 or 24, I had beaten the main story of the game, and decided to go see what was going on over in the Sierra Madre casino. Once I got there, everything I owned was taken away, and I was given some paltry weapons and light armor and basically told what to do by the mysterious Father Elijah. What sucked was that he put a bomb collar on me, making me do his bidding until the casino was properly raided.
But the bomb collar had a drawback (besides, you know, being a bomb). Radio interference would cause it to beep for about 10 or 15 seconds, at which point it would blow up, blowing the player's head off. So you have to either get out of range of the radios or speakers, blow them up, or deactivate them (some speakers are armored, and cannot be blown up and must therefore be deactivated at a computer terminal somewhere nearby).
Compounding this problem was the Cloud floating around the Villa, where the player starts in Dead Money. It's poisonous, and will rapidly drain your health if you remain in it. It also appears as a sort of fog, making it difficult to see things like speakers you have to destroy so your head doesn't get blown to bits.
Also, there were these guys running around the Villa, dressed in ancient metal haz-mat suits who threw spears at me and swiped long pole-arms at me, causing me and my light armor great damage. They also were tough to kill - once knocked down, they would get back up again, with full health, unless I managed to cut off one of their limbs or head, at which point they would be dead for good. Since I had, at the beginning of Dead Money, very few options for weapons (most of which were Melee, which my character has little skill in), killing these guys was incredibly difficult. I didn't have any of my Stimpaks, either, so regenerating my health was hard because I also couldn't sleep anywhere besides the Police Station in the Villa, which was quite out of the way most of the time.
For these reasons, I ultimately quit playing Dead Money, and went back to the main New Vegas area in a previous save, and leveled up some more. Once I reached level 31 and felt a bit bored with what was left of the main game (I certainly didn't complete everything in it, but finding new stuff to interact with was becoming more and more rare), I decided to give Dead Money another try.
Armed with a little bit of knowledge of the nature of the Sierra Madre, and with level 100 lockpick, science, and speech skills, I was able to arm myself much more quickly this time around. I knew the utility of the vending machines and how they worked, and I knew to look for Dean's Secret Stashes (marked by a glowing hand pasted on the wall near one of them) to stock up on healing supplies and ammo early on. I also went hog wild, not caring if I took damage, and ended up being able to kill the Ghosts much more quickly and permanently, at the cost of a decent amount of health. Once killed, though, they stayed dead, and subsequent trips through their territory wouldn't be as difficult (until much later, anyway).
So I eventually completed the old man's quests, and made my way into the casino proper. After turning the power on and locating all my comrades (whom had helped me get into the casino in the first place), it was time to enter the vault of the casino. I encountered the old man, killed him, and ran out of the vault, Metroid style, avoiding my own death via bomb collar, activated by the old man upon his death.
I skipped, in there, a whole bunch of story, which was actually quite good. I don't want to spoil it (there's really no point), but I do want to point out something I'm experiencing for the first time, here: narrative continuity between an add-on pack and the regular game. Typically, when I've played add-ons in the past, they are either pseudo-sequels to the main story, or completely divorced from it altogether. And while much of the story of Dead Money is separate, many of the characters in it have a lot to do with characters in the main story (one is even directly affected by the events in Fallout 1!). The ties to the main story are well done and subtle, and maybe aren't even obvious if you don't pay attention. I also liked how the main story, without even downloading the Dead Money add-on, references it, as well.
Overall, the add-on was worth my ten bucks, and I downloaded Honest Hearts, the second add-on, today. I've heard much about the Burned Man in my travels in the Mojave, and I bet I'll meet him in Utah.
What a great game.
At about level 23 or 24, I had beaten the main story of the game, and decided to go see what was going on over in the Sierra Madre casino. Once I got there, everything I owned was taken away, and I was given some paltry weapons and light armor and basically told what to do by the mysterious Father Elijah. What sucked was that he put a bomb collar on me, making me do his bidding until the casino was properly raided.
But the bomb collar had a drawback (besides, you know, being a bomb). Radio interference would cause it to beep for about 10 or 15 seconds, at which point it would blow up, blowing the player's head off. So you have to either get out of range of the radios or speakers, blow them up, or deactivate them (some speakers are armored, and cannot be blown up and must therefore be deactivated at a computer terminal somewhere nearby).
Compounding this problem was the Cloud floating around the Villa, where the player starts in Dead Money. It's poisonous, and will rapidly drain your health if you remain in it. It also appears as a sort of fog, making it difficult to see things like speakers you have to destroy so your head doesn't get blown to bits.
Also, there were these guys running around the Villa, dressed in ancient metal haz-mat suits who threw spears at me and swiped long pole-arms at me, causing me and my light armor great damage. They also were tough to kill - once knocked down, they would get back up again, with full health, unless I managed to cut off one of their limbs or head, at which point they would be dead for good. Since I had, at the beginning of Dead Money, very few options for weapons (most of which were Melee, which my character has little skill in), killing these guys was incredibly difficult. I didn't have any of my Stimpaks, either, so regenerating my health was hard because I also couldn't sleep anywhere besides the Police Station in the Villa, which was quite out of the way most of the time.
For these reasons, I ultimately quit playing Dead Money, and went back to the main New Vegas area in a previous save, and leveled up some more. Once I reached level 31 and felt a bit bored with what was left of the main game (I certainly didn't complete everything in it, but finding new stuff to interact with was becoming more and more rare), I decided to give Dead Money another try.
Armed with a little bit of knowledge of the nature of the Sierra Madre, and with level 100 lockpick, science, and speech skills, I was able to arm myself much more quickly this time around. I knew the utility of the vending machines and how they worked, and I knew to look for Dean's Secret Stashes (marked by a glowing hand pasted on the wall near one of them) to stock up on healing supplies and ammo early on. I also went hog wild, not caring if I took damage, and ended up being able to kill the Ghosts much more quickly and permanently, at the cost of a decent amount of health. Once killed, though, they stayed dead, and subsequent trips through their territory wouldn't be as difficult (until much later, anyway).
So I eventually completed the old man's quests, and made my way into the casino proper. After turning the power on and locating all my comrades (whom had helped me get into the casino in the first place), it was time to enter the vault of the casino. I encountered the old man, killed him, and ran out of the vault, Metroid style, avoiding my own death via bomb collar, activated by the old man upon his death.
I skipped, in there, a whole bunch of story, which was actually quite good. I don't want to spoil it (there's really no point), but I do want to point out something I'm experiencing for the first time, here: narrative continuity between an add-on pack and the regular game. Typically, when I've played add-ons in the past, they are either pseudo-sequels to the main story, or completely divorced from it altogether. And while much of the story of Dead Money is separate, many of the characters in it have a lot to do with characters in the main story (one is even directly affected by the events in Fallout 1!). The ties to the main story are well done and subtle, and maybe aren't even obvious if you don't pay attention. I also liked how the main story, without even downloading the Dead Money add-on, references it, as well.
Overall, the add-on was worth my ten bucks, and I downloaded Honest Hearts, the second add-on, today. I've heard much about the Burned Man in my travels in the Mojave, and I bet I'll meet him in Utah.
What a great game.
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