Showing posts with label game. Show all posts
Showing posts with label game. Show all posts
Thursday, October 13, 2011
Final Fantasy XIII-2: New Trailer
I'm honestly really excited for this game. I'm a huge fan of Final Fantasy, and while I understand why some people really didn't like Final Fantasy XIII (it was different), I still thought it was a good game overall. That said, I'm really looking forward to playing this one. From the looks of things, they've fixed the biggest problems with XIII (excessive linearity, lack of NPC interaction), and I'm quite happy to be playing a new console Final Fantasy game in between this and Versus XIII. The new trailer looks awesome, click the link above (the title of the post) and give it a look!
Wednesday, October 12, 2011
Old Review- Battle for Middle-earth (PC)
The original BFME was my first RTS, and it's still one of my favorite PC games.
My Review- The Lord of the Rings: The Battle for Middle-earth (PC)
The Battle for Middle-earth is a real-time strategy game based on the LOTR films. Like The Third Age, it is a well-done game despite being a licensed product. The Lord of the Rings films are really a perfect for a strategy game, and BFME succeeds both as a LOTR game and as a quality RTS.
STORY
BFME’s story is split into two campaigns- the Good campaign, which more or less follows the events of the films, and the Evil campaign, which is an alternate scenario in which Middle-earth is conquered by Sauron. The story is conveyed through movie clips and short in-engine cutscenes before important battles, but otherwise, it’s pretty simplistic. The game assumes that you are familiar with the LOTR world and provides little background save the opening sequence, which is narrated by none other than Sir Ian McKellon. You progress through the story is a slightly nonlinear way- occasional story missions occasionally must be played to progress further, but you are otherwise able to choose which territories to conquer across Middle-earth and which of your armies to do it with. The game also takes a few creative liberties with the story, such as Boromir surviving the battle of Amon Hen and Gandalf successfully slaying the Balrog without dying. This doesn’t really bother me because the game is fun, and doesn’t sacrifice this fun in order to be more true to a story we already know.
My Review- Star Ocean: The Last Hope (PS3)
My Review- Star Ocean: The Last Hope (PS3)
NOTE- This is a review of the International version of SO4 that was released on PS3. The game was originally released on Xbox 360 in 2009. There aren’t very many differences between the two versions- the International version is on one Blu-ray instead of three DVDs, there’s a slight (miniscule) graphical update, and the option for Japanese audio, but that’s about it.
Tri-Ace is an interesting developer. Most of their games were published by Enix, and now are associated primarily with Square Enix. They’ve made numerous classic games over the years, such as Valkyrie Profile, but their most famous achievement is the Star Ocean series of action-RPGs. Beginning as a Super Famicom game that never saw release in North America, the Star Ocean series has seen installments on the PS1 (The Second Story), the PS2 (Till The End Of Time), and now the fourth game in the series, The Last Hope, see’s it’s release on the 360 and PS3. A prequel to the other Star Ocean games, how does Tri-Ace’s latest fare?
Tuesday, October 11, 2011
Final Fantasy V Progress
I made a bit of progress in Final Fantasy V yesterday. Now that Krile joined the party, we made our way to Castle Exdeath, which is one of the more difficult dungeons in the game. I got a lot of pretty cool loot in the dungeon (Twin Lance!), and after solving one of the most annoying puzzles in the game so far (figuring out which tiles led to the next area or which ones sent you into a pool of lava), I made it to Exdeath.
As far as Final Fantasy villains go, Exdeath is a cardboard cutout of a villain, but we haven't seen any motivation for him yet so I'll reserve my judgement on him. All I can say is that the boss fight against him was incredibly fun. He has a lot of HP and some nasty attacks, but he isn't cheap, so figuring out the proper strategy to defeat him was great. I ended up casting float on my Samurai/Ninja/Thief hybrid Faris, and on my White/Black Mage Lenna, while my Dragoon/Knight Bartz pummeled Exdeath from the air with our newly-acquired Twin Lance. After the battle, you're transported to the third main world map of the game, so it'll be interesting to see where the game goes from here.
On the Final Fantasy VIII front, I'm on the last part of Disc 2, the Garden War, which kind of marks a halfway point for the game. Recently, the Trabia Garden flashbacks provided some of the character depth i felt was mission from VIII, although not really enough. I think my problem with VIII's character's is that their function is to support Squall's character arc, rather than function as independent characters. Rinoa is really the only other playable character to have received significant attention (for obvious reasons). I'm still enjoying the game a great deal, though.
I'll keep posting my progress on games here the further I get. :)
As far as Final Fantasy villains go, Exdeath is a cardboard cutout of a villain, but we haven't seen any motivation for him yet so I'll reserve my judgement on him. All I can say is that the boss fight against him was incredibly fun. He has a lot of HP and some nasty attacks, but he isn't cheap, so figuring out the proper strategy to defeat him was great. I ended up casting float on my Samurai/Ninja/Thief hybrid Faris, and on my White/Black Mage Lenna, while my Dragoon/Knight Bartz pummeled Exdeath from the air with our newly-acquired Twin Lance. After the battle, you're transported to the third main world map of the game, so it'll be interesting to see where the game goes from here.
On the Final Fantasy VIII front, I'm on the last part of Disc 2, the Garden War, which kind of marks a halfway point for the game. Recently, the Trabia Garden flashbacks provided some of the character depth i felt was mission from VIII, although not really enough. I think my problem with VIII's character's is that their function is to support Squall's character arc, rather than function as independent characters. Rinoa is really the only other playable character to have received significant attention (for obvious reasons). I'm still enjoying the game a great deal, though.
I'll keep posting my progress on games here the further I get. :)
Monday, October 10, 2011
Personal Review Style
Just a quick blurb concerning how my reviews are organized. I'll have an example (one of my older pieces) later.
I write reviews in five sections. The first is an introduction, providing backstory on the game. The second is story, where I summarize the game's plot and then describe my thoughts on it. The third is gameplay, where I describe the game's systems and mechanics, and any flaws in them. The fourth is presentation, where I talk about the game's graphics, music, and voice acting. Finally, I have a concluding paragraph that summarizes the review. I do give the game a letter grade based on the number of flaws I find, but that's probably the least important part of the review.
I can't say any of the sections are more important than the others- story, gameplay, and presentation are equally important for making a game enjoyable. If one is lacking, the entire package suffers as a result.
If I'm posting an older review, I'll say so in the title, and I might include a small section before the review if my opinion of the game has shifted at all since I reviewed it. I also try to review a game as soon as I beat it, which on average takes me a month.
I should have my first review up on the blog soon.
I write reviews in five sections. The first is an introduction, providing backstory on the game. The second is story, where I summarize the game's plot and then describe my thoughts on it. The third is gameplay, where I describe the game's systems and mechanics, and any flaws in them. The fourth is presentation, where I talk about the game's graphics, music, and voice acting. Finally, I have a concluding paragraph that summarizes the review. I do give the game a letter grade based on the number of flaws I find, but that's probably the least important part of the review.
I can't say any of the sections are more important than the others- story, gameplay, and presentation are equally important for making a game enjoyable. If one is lacking, the entire package suffers as a result.
If I'm posting an older review, I'll say so in the title, and I might include a small section before the review if my opinion of the game has shifted at all since I reviewed it. I also try to review a game as soon as I beat it, which on average takes me a month.
I should have my first review up on the blog soon.
Sunday, October 9, 2011
Final Fantasy V- First Impressions
Final Fantasy V is one of the 'lost' Final Fantasies, one of three other games in the series that weren't localized when they first came out (the others being II and III). 16 bit RPGs are among my favorite games to play, so expiriencing the 'missing' counterpart to Final Fantasy IV and Final Fantasy VI (two of my all-time favorite games) is a real treat. The game has a few flaws, but so far it's very fun.
The story is pretty standard for the series- four warriors are chosen by the cystals to save the world from an evil force, so far so basic, but the story goes a bit further than usual for a game with this type of story. The main characters (Bartz, Lenna, Faris, and Galuf) are all very likeable and full of personality, making them far more fun to travel with than the cookie-cutter characters from III (the DS version). The game's writing is also very good, as well as quite humorous. The adventure is lighthearted, but so far hasn't degraded into complete silliness as many lighthearted RPGs so- it still is telling a good story, but the characters seem to be having fun with their travels, and so it becomes fun to experience their story. The game also looks and sounds great, as 16 bit games usually do to me.
Also very cool is the Job System, a class system that was introduced in III, but arguably perfected in V. In Final Fantasy V, characters can choose any of the Jobs currently available to them, and select one ability to use as well as the default ability the job has. Characters gain Job levels in battle, earning new abilities with each level and eventually mastering the Job. The great thing is, not only is there no penalty for switching Jobs, any ability learned by levelling up the Job can be selected for use by a new Job. For example, switching from a White Mage to a Black Mage doesn't mean you can't keep using healing spells- just have the Black Mage select 'White' as his skill, and he'll be able to use both 'Black' (his default ability) and 'White' magic.
One thing that I have noticed is that the game's battles have a LOT of lag. Usually the more enemies you're fighting, the more the game will lag- the ATB bars have frozen for almost twenty seconds once. I'm not sure if this is a result of the port to GBA or not, but it is a noticeable problem.
Final Fantasy V is so far a very enjoyable old-school RPG. I'm about halfway through it right now. More on it later!
The story is pretty standard for the series- four warriors are chosen by the cystals to save the world from an evil force, so far so basic, but the story goes a bit further than usual for a game with this type of story. The main characters (Bartz, Lenna, Faris, and Galuf) are all very likeable and full of personality, making them far more fun to travel with than the cookie-cutter characters from III (the DS version). The game's writing is also very good, as well as quite humorous. The adventure is lighthearted, but so far hasn't degraded into complete silliness as many lighthearted RPGs so- it still is telling a good story, but the characters seem to be having fun with their travels, and so it becomes fun to experience their story. The game also looks and sounds great, as 16 bit games usually do to me.
Also very cool is the Job System, a class system that was introduced in III, but arguably perfected in V. In Final Fantasy V, characters can choose any of the Jobs currently available to them, and select one ability to use as well as the default ability the job has. Characters gain Job levels in battle, earning new abilities with each level and eventually mastering the Job. The great thing is, not only is there no penalty for switching Jobs, any ability learned by levelling up the Job can be selected for use by a new Job. For example, switching from a White Mage to a Black Mage doesn't mean you can't keep using healing spells- just have the Black Mage select 'White' as his skill, and he'll be able to use both 'Black' (his default ability) and 'White' magic.
One thing that I have noticed is that the game's battles have a LOT of lag. Usually the more enemies you're fighting, the more the game will lag- the ATB bars have frozen for almost twenty seconds once. I'm not sure if this is a result of the port to GBA or not, but it is a noticeable problem.
Final Fantasy V is so far a very enjoyable old-school RPG. I'm about halfway through it right now. More on it later!
Final Fantasy VIII- First Impressions
I've been a huge fan of the Final Fantasy series for years, but I've never had the opportunity to play most of the games until recently. This year has been a blitz of gaming for me, as I've obtained and played through most of the series this year. I got all three PS1 FF games over the summer, and now that I've beaten VII, I've turned my attention to one of the more controversial games in the series, VIII.
I'm about halfway through Disc 2 (out of 4) right now, and I must say that I'm enjoying myself quite a bit. I really love the RPGs of past gaming generations, and the three PS1 FFs so far (haven't started IX yet) are great games. Final Fantasy VIII does have some strange elements to it, though. Like most FF games, it almost completely reinvents the wheel, featuring a number of changes such as a magic-based character growth system and level scaling. Yes, every enemy in Final Fantasy VIII outside of a few rare exceptions will be at the same level as your party. This creates an odd scenario in which leveling up isn't a very good thing, as your stat increases will be minimal and every enemy will have leveled up as well, making things more difficult for you. Characters also level up every with every 1000 experience points they earn, rather than an increasing amount. In order to combat the level scaling, mastering the Junction System is imperative. I won't go into too many details until I review the game, but suffice it to say that the Junction System, so far, is a massive headache. How it works is that every character stockpiles magic spells (up to 100 of each), and then, after equipping a Guardian Force (the iconic Summons of Final Fantasy), a character can 'Junction' a spell to any of their stats. The amount the stat is increased by is determined by the type of spell and how much of it you have (for example, 100 Curagas are good for HP Junctioning). That's all I'll say for now; the system is almost stupidly overcomplicated at times.
As for the story, Final Fantasy games are known for good stories, and Final Fantasy VIII still tells an engaging tale. I'm really digging the pseudo-modern setting of the game (sort of a cleaner version of FFVII's world, but not as sleek as XIII's), as well as the political situation concerning the evil Galbadian Republic. Having the main characters be mercenaries (SeeD special forces) is an interesting touch which adds a unique flavor to the typical 'evil empire' storyline JRPGs are so fond of. What I don't like is that, so far, Squall is the only playable character to have a major character arc. Aside from Laguna (a playable who you control for brief flashbacks), the rest of the party has so far been strangely lacking in character development, which is dissapointing for a Final Fantasy game. Hopefully they'll have more to do later in the story. I'm also rather dissapointed in what is arguably the most famous aspect of Final Fantasy VIII, which is the romance between Squall and Rinoa. Granted, I'm only two discs in, but so far Rinoa has got to be one of the least appealing love interests I've seen. Again, hopefully this aspect of the plot gets better, especially considering that the game's logo is the two of them embracing.
For now, I'm still enjoying FFVIII despite my criticisms. I'll have more on it later.
I'm about halfway through Disc 2 (out of 4) right now, and I must say that I'm enjoying myself quite a bit. I really love the RPGs of past gaming generations, and the three PS1 FFs so far (haven't started IX yet) are great games. Final Fantasy VIII does have some strange elements to it, though. Like most FF games, it almost completely reinvents the wheel, featuring a number of changes such as a magic-based character growth system and level scaling. Yes, every enemy in Final Fantasy VIII outside of a few rare exceptions will be at the same level as your party. This creates an odd scenario in which leveling up isn't a very good thing, as your stat increases will be minimal and every enemy will have leveled up as well, making things more difficult for you. Characters also level up every with every 1000 experience points they earn, rather than an increasing amount. In order to combat the level scaling, mastering the Junction System is imperative. I won't go into too many details until I review the game, but suffice it to say that the Junction System, so far, is a massive headache. How it works is that every character stockpiles magic spells (up to 100 of each), and then, after equipping a Guardian Force (the iconic Summons of Final Fantasy), a character can 'Junction' a spell to any of their stats. The amount the stat is increased by is determined by the type of spell and how much of it you have (for example, 100 Curagas are good for HP Junctioning). That's all I'll say for now; the system is almost stupidly overcomplicated at times.
As for the story, Final Fantasy games are known for good stories, and Final Fantasy VIII still tells an engaging tale. I'm really digging the pseudo-modern setting of the game (sort of a cleaner version of FFVII's world, but not as sleek as XIII's), as well as the political situation concerning the evil Galbadian Republic. Having the main characters be mercenaries (SeeD special forces) is an interesting touch which adds a unique flavor to the typical 'evil empire' storyline JRPGs are so fond of. What I don't like is that, so far, Squall is the only playable character to have a major character arc. Aside from Laguna (a playable who you control for brief flashbacks), the rest of the party has so far been strangely lacking in character development, which is dissapointing for a Final Fantasy game. Hopefully they'll have more to do later in the story. I'm also rather dissapointed in what is arguably the most famous aspect of Final Fantasy VIII, which is the romance between Squall and Rinoa. Granted, I'm only two discs in, but so far Rinoa has got to be one of the least appealing love interests I've seen. Again, hopefully this aspect of the plot gets better, especially considering that the game's logo is the two of them embracing.
For now, I'm still enjoying FFVIII despite my criticisms. I'll have more on it later.
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