I'm digging Etrian Odyssey a whole lot, it's got a ton of of game play in it and while it does occasionally touch on the monotonous it's leveling periods don't really take that long. It's not a game for those that like to swap out games in their DS often. You can't save just anywhere, and there are long moments when you really don't want to leave where you are and thus sleeping the DS is the only option. I've heard rumor of a level that insists you stay on it for a long stretch (many game days) and I'm planning ahead for the time when EO is the only game in my DS.
It's variety of characters to play is quite awesome, they are all each rather unique and the game does allow the player to form an experience unique to that player. The gem invites the player to write their own story, to ignore the character artwork even, if you desire and focus more on what is in you mind's eye. It inspires that very rare gift: imagination.
The inability to save within a dungeon lends itself to a much stronger feeling of anxiety surrounding some events. Dying wastes a lot of time and money so players really don't like it when it happens however the game seems quite happy with decimating the party given one wrong step. EO inspired topics listing turn based games that you could game over by death in fewest number of steps. I have a respect for games that invite that sort of comparison. It certainly proves that Save Anywhere systems lose some measure of effect. Especially when you're sweatin' it out on a fifth floor long haul because your stupid Bard forgot to buy a warp wire.
My party's first stalker killing is fresh in my memory because a previous incarnation of said party had been obliterated by one of those mantis shaped monstrosities only weeks before. We still lost our rogue in the fight but he enjoys that sort of thing and we had a feather to relight his flame, anyway.
I like the fact that you can search for "Etrian" at gamefaqs and it's the only hit.
I like all the fan stuff around the game, there's a lot of talent on board. IOSYS's tracks are something not to be ignored.
I wish the mapping feature would have been more appropriate and integrated (visually, a parchment and map completeness rewards) but my complaints of that element aside it is a near perfect game for what it set out to do (and I'm only five floors deep right now with tons of play ahead of me.) I highly recommend it to those who are tired of today's overabundant story-driven (such as the stories are) RPGs.
I'd like to see a game with EO's mechanics but a top-down rogue-like perspective...on a console...prefer a handheld. I thought D&D Tactics might be one of those but haven't had the time to focus on it yet, it's dungeons are pre-manufactured but I can deal with that if they're good and I really do appreciate line of sight taken into account in these things.
Bah, enough with the opinion, game on.
Sunday 23 September 2007
Saturday 22 September 2007
R-Type Tactics, Is It Wrong?
I can't help the feeling, when playing R-Type Tactics that there isn't something dark under the surface. I'm not talking about the overt, repetitive sinisterness in the BGM that I feel forcibly compelled to turn off. The in-game, interface sounds are also very edgy, techno and dark in their execution and it does say something to the game's credit that it manages to complete such a whole picture. It gives me the idea that everything aural in the game was seen to by a (the?) musician but also had someone keenly aware of what was going on as a whole interface wise. Sadly I don't think they were the same person.
What's odd to me is simply accepting that the game is supposed to be a strategy game because it looks and actually ends up feeling so much like a shooter. It's interesting just how this is played out in the game and has a real stroke of genius about it. There are two important elements. The first is that charged shots are the way to be, they only fire forward. That, in a very cool way, keeps things focused as they should be, ahead of the ship. An enemy behind you is a much nastier force to reckon with...it's fortunate that your other weapons have a 360° range because they're job is to essentially clean up the shredded remains of your charged shots.
There are plenty of things that make a lot of the game feel like a blitz, and an enjoyable one, at that. There is effective zone of control in place and I'm hoping we'll have fields of play that exceed the height of the psp's screen in later missions.
Terrain at the top and bottom of the screen plays an important role sometimes, as terrain in a strategy game typically would however R-Type reminds us yet again that we are a shooter and thus we can blast those loose rocks away to cut a path. Lost from the shooter feel is the time element. There is a turn limit and a faster game gets you a higher score (neat) but there isn't (or shouldn't) be any last minute panicking as the game is, of course, turn based in the classic sense (IGoUGo). You can retreat a ship fully back to the start of the play fields though as of yet I've haven't felt the desire to do so. I am hoping bosses inspire that kind of retreat behavior ^_^
There's also the element of powerups, leveling, etc that influence the typical strategy game but in a shooter fashion. It's all just kind of bizarre right now particularly since I've not translated much of them. They are definitely power ups of some sort though.
I hope that the game will show some immense depth in carrying out this shooter to strategy game transformation, so far the variety in weaponry and the power ups are fun and exciting, even the alien technology feels alien. All or most-of he fancy R-Type laser patterns are present. I'm sure these all have official names of which I'm blissfully unaware. The yellow/gold boxy beams and the violet, blue circle waves, they are all there. The battle animations when turned off play on the map and clearly represent the arsenal used rather than generic animations of, say, the SRW series. The backgrounds with their 3d & parallax techniques in FULL force blow anything SRW has thrown in our direction out of the water, so to speak, but they only have to work on a limited budget of movement in R-Type so each to it's own.
I hope all is immensely cool in the end. In that I haven't sat totally comfortable with the game's identity as a strategy game actually does say something to the game's credit, it means R-Type Tactics hasn't totally lost touch with what it truly is. I just hope it turns out to be brilliant instead of lingering in this bizarre zone. It does have potential, four stages in (hah!) I'll give it that.
Oh, and I guess the challenge hasn't really been felt yet but there is the option of deploying as small a force as you'd like, therefore the challenge is up to the player...which is kind of neat, of course.
Edit: it seems you can re-play previous stages at will. Haven't exercised this right yet though so unsure how new results factor in. Presumably units will level up more.
What's odd to me is simply accepting that the game is supposed to be a strategy game because it looks and actually ends up feeling so much like a shooter. It's interesting just how this is played out in the game and has a real stroke of genius about it. There are two important elements. The first is that charged shots are the way to be, they only fire forward. That, in a very cool way, keeps things focused as they should be, ahead of the ship. An enemy behind you is a much nastier force to reckon with...it's fortunate that your other weapons have a 360° range because they're job is to essentially clean up the shredded remains of your charged shots.
There are plenty of things that make a lot of the game feel like a blitz, and an enjoyable one, at that. There is effective zone of control in place and I'm hoping we'll have fields of play that exceed the height of the psp's screen in later missions.
Terrain at the top and bottom of the screen plays an important role sometimes, as terrain in a strategy game typically would however R-Type reminds us yet again that we are a shooter and thus we can blast those loose rocks away to cut a path. Lost from the shooter feel is the time element. There is a turn limit and a faster game gets you a higher score (neat) but there isn't (or shouldn't) be any last minute panicking as the game is, of course, turn based in the classic sense (IGoUGo). You can retreat a ship fully back to the start of the play fields though as of yet I've haven't felt the desire to do so. I am hoping bosses inspire that kind of retreat behavior ^_^
There's also the element of powerups, leveling, etc that influence the typical strategy game but in a shooter fashion. It's all just kind of bizarre right now particularly since I've not translated much of them. They are definitely power ups of some sort though.
I hope that the game will show some immense depth in carrying out this shooter to strategy game transformation, so far the variety in weaponry and the power ups are fun and exciting, even the alien technology feels alien. All or most-of he fancy R-Type laser patterns are present. I'm sure these all have official names of which I'm blissfully unaware. The yellow/gold boxy beams and the violet, blue circle waves, they are all there. The battle animations when turned off play on the map and clearly represent the arsenal used rather than generic animations of, say, the SRW series. The backgrounds with their 3d & parallax techniques in FULL force blow anything SRW has thrown in our direction out of the water, so to speak, but they only have to work on a limited budget of movement in R-Type so each to it's own.
I hope all is immensely cool in the end. In that I haven't sat totally comfortable with the game's identity as a strategy game actually does say something to the game's credit, it means R-Type Tactics hasn't totally lost touch with what it truly is. I just hope it turns out to be brilliant instead of lingering in this bizarre zone. It does have potential, four stages in (hah!) I'll give it that.
Oh, and I guess the challenge hasn't really been felt yet but there is the option of deploying as small a force as you'd like, therefore the challenge is up to the player...which is kind of neat, of course.
Edit: it seems you can re-play previous stages at will. Haven't exercised this right yet though so unsure how new results factor in. Presumably units will level up more.
Thursday 20 September 2007
What have I been playing lately?
Sega Ages 2500 Vol 9: Gain Ground - JPS2 - Played through to the last epoch and gave up. I don't wanna talk about the number of lives lost or continues used. Still, it's immensely fun and I think whoever did the work did right by the game. It's a little tough to determine the exact hit location of projectiles in 3D but it's not a bother most of the time. I'm not sure if I'll keep the game or not, I mean, I have the old school version in Sega Collection and it seems a waste for a whole PS2 disc to be occupied with this one not-so-mindless excursion. I would like to unlock Extra Mode eventually too. I just need to learn to keep Cyborg alive over the course of the game though he does pop up more than once.
Penny Racers - EUGBA - Thought I'd give Choro Q for GBA a run for it's money on emulator and it is definitely neat. I love the Choro Q games and this one lives up to the moniker. I breezed through the first circuit and changed my car around a bit in doing so. I think I'm going to enjoy this. Actually ordered the Euro version of Road Trip for PS2 because I know my son will get a real kick out of it. My completed game save is for the NA version of the game but I won't mind playing it all again with him.
Mother 3 - JGBA - I so totally love the combat system in this game, the music is great and rhythm fighting adds a lot to the experience IMO. A real work of art this thing and not having played Mother 1 and 2 it makes me realize where the inspiration for Popolocrois came from...there are a lot of similarities in art style between the two titles (but of course that is where the similarities end...it's enough though to make one wonder).
Oh wait! Where's the DS in all this?!
It's still got Super Robot Wars W in it from earlier. Finally an SRPG!!! Anyway, I still hold the opinion that this is the BEST damn super robot wars to date. I think I'm going to take that out tho and put in Etrian Odyssey for bed.
Penny Racers - EUGBA - Thought I'd give Choro Q for GBA a run for it's money on emulator and it is definitely neat. I love the Choro Q games and this one lives up to the moniker. I breezed through the first circuit and changed my car around a bit in doing so. I think I'm going to enjoy this. Actually ordered the Euro version of Road Trip for PS2 because I know my son will get a real kick out of it. My completed game save is for the NA version of the game but I won't mind playing it all again with him.
Mother 3 - JGBA - I so totally love the combat system in this game, the music is great and rhythm fighting adds a lot to the experience IMO. A real work of art this thing and not having played Mother 1 and 2 it makes me realize where the inspiration for Popolocrois came from...there are a lot of similarities in art style between the two titles (but of course that is where the similarities end...it's enough though to make one wonder).
Oh wait! Where's the DS in all this?!
It's still got Super Robot Wars W in it from earlier. Finally an SRPG!!! Anyway, I still hold the opinion that this is the BEST damn super robot wars to date. I think I'm going to take that out tho and put in Etrian Odyssey for bed.
Friday 14 September 2007
Another Japanese Strategy Game...Sigh
Just been messing about with the Sentou Kokka series, in particular the Kai: Improved edition for Japanese Playstation. I converted it to PSP (as I do with all my Playstation games these days) and it looks SOOO much better. Anyway, it's a nice challenge though I'm still working on translations of some tricker items.
It's a nice relief from the ugliness that is Global Defence Force Tactics which has not gotten any better despite me being several missions in.
I did play a bit of Advance Wars Dual Strike as well. I know, the game has been out forever, but alas I've just not put time into it. I'm on Mission 9 or some such silliness.
Anyway, not much news to report here, sorry. I'll try to get a little verbose in my next posting. Cheers all!
Wednesday 12 September 2007
The aliens are here, and they are ants!
Okay, so I beat Luminous Arc. A roller-coaster of challenge right up to the very last battle. Yawn. Definitely an SRPG to play and forget. I may get around to that extra dungeon one day, then again, I may not.
Currently on my plate are Global Defence Force Tactics, a futuristic alien invasion strategy game (I use the term strategy very loosely there); Daisenryaku VII Exceed, a fantastic modern era strategy game that is getting the localization treatment from (shudder) Valcon games; and Romance of the Three Kingdoms XI, yet another in the illustrious and long-running series by Koei.
Global Defense Force Tactics is, in a word, mindless and that is something you really don't want your strategy games to be. I personally like a good challenge. I'm still early on in the game so the jury is essentially still out but things are not looking good. I do like the grading at the end of a battle so if the challenge increases things could look better. You are rated on:
- Turns Taken
- Units Destroyed
- Strongholds Overpowered/Destroyed
- Formation Bonus
Essentially the game tells the story of an alien invasion and, well, the aliens are giant ants, spiders, and other insectoid creatures. The visuals and the music capture a 1950's B-movie feel very well though probably not as good as Sandlot's action games in the same reality. I'm not sure how far I'm going to play this game but we'll see.
Saturday 8 September 2007
Region Free Strategy Gaming and MORE
I love the fact that handheld gaming devices are for the most part region free. This means you can play Japanese games in US handhelds, European Games in Japanese handhelds, US games in European handhelds, and so on. There aren't the restrictions that are placed on consoles.
A few Japanese strategy games really stand out as quite good. There are FAQs available for some of these games but if you're a strategy game fanatic like myself you won't need them. Here's a rundown as well as a source to buy them.
Daisenryaku Portable and Daisenryaku Portable 2 - PSP - These are modern era strategy games set on a hexagonal grid. With hundreds of units spread across six countries in Daisenryaku Portable and seven in Daisenryaku Portable 2 there are many hours of strategy game pleasure spread between these two games. The first is set in Southeast Asia though geographical accuracy takes a back seat to fun. The second is set forth in a hypothetical Middle East. There are FAQs for each of these games at GameFAQs.
Daisenryaku DS - Nintendo DS - Yes, another Daisenryaku game. This one is essentially Daisenryaku Portable 2 for the DS. It's set in the Mid East and the modern era. It's far deeper than Advance Wars so if AW left you wanting for more I assure you that Daisenryaku delivers in spades.
Super Robot Wars W - For your giant robot strategy needs you need look no further than Super Robot Wars. Two of the series starring Banpresto Originals were localized for a US audience. While those were good games, you can't compare them to the real-deal. SRW W contains mecha from dozens of anime series and the animation blows anything we've seen in a 2D SRW game before away. It's great fun.
I'll cover some more titles in my next posting. For now I want to leave you with something special. It's an action game but don't turn the page yet. I am not a huge fan of action games but this one really and severely captured my attention. It's called Chou Soujuu Mecha MG (Mecha MG for short).
Basically there are 140 Mecha in the game and each has it's own very cool control panel. For example, a sword wielding Mecha might have 4 direction joystick for swinging the sword horizontally or vertically. There are other controls as well for that Mecha for other functions. It's all very intuitive and can be played with no knowledge of Japanese. I am loving it!
Friday 7 September 2007
The Action Gamer In Me
Weeelll, today I didn't do much Luminous Arc though I did advance the game one chapter lying in bed with my son. Most of my gaming today (and yes, I've been very fortunate lately to have a lot of time to do that) was spent in Wonder Boy, the Sega Ages 2500 remake for the Japanese Playstation 2. What a wonderful collection the Monster World Complete Collection is.
Sentou Kokka Kai Improved arrived today as well so that little collection is complete. I plan on starting one of that series as soon as I wrap up Luminous Arc so stay tuned! Sorry this is so short but I'm only up for a moment before crashing again. Cheers all!
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