Blogging the experience of gameplayhttps://www.gamelog.cl/gamers/GamerPage.php?idgamer=147https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=1480Okay! Beat the first level dungeon, and my great rewards were; a piece of heart, to increase my total life, and a shiny triangle (I know form my other Zelda adventures that it is the TriForce, but there is no attempt at explanation in this version so far). After I won there, I tried very hard to travel along the coast. That didn't work out so well. I wound up using around 20 lives trying to get past both the sea monsters and the sand monsters. After I decided I was out of my league, I chose a different path, and wound up climbing a mountain. I walked under a waterfall and found a mountain crone of some kind, who asked for money in exchange for information. What did she have to say? "Go up, up the mountain!!" As if that weren't what I was already up to. So far, I'vce used up thirty one lives, and I've only got four hearts. Not so impressive. Again, my Dad is just laughing at me.Sat, 24 Feb 2007 02:02:00 CSThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=1480&iddiary=3118https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=604OMG. I hate Seymour. HATE. He tried to marry Yuna, and I was forced to hurt him. The storyline continues to be all sorts of wonderful. The romanticism involved often surprises me, though, since I only know boys who have actually played through the whole game. The mushiness, apparently, is quite effecttive. I only bring it up because, last I saved, I had just witnessed the rather long and beautiful cut scene in which Tidus and Yuna kiss. I rather predicted that this might happen eventually, but it still caught me offguard.Sat, 24 Feb 2007 00:55:40 CSThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=604&iddiary=3109https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=1480Started the original Zelda game on the suggestion of my father (who, of course, delights in the fact that I am now playing the only RPG he's ever completed - not only completed, but several times). I am slightly surprised at the level of difficulty involved in the game - I'd seen it played, but never actually tried it. So far, it's only good stuff. The varying enemies and different locales create a solid game-world that is just incredibly engaging. So, I started out with nothing. It took me a life or two to figure out that I need to go into the first cave to get the sword. This made my Dad laugh. A lot. Beat up some vicious monsters already, though I've made no real progress as far as story or map exploration. I've used up twelve lives, and I've discovered different things in several different directions - in one way, there's a dungeon, another way is a healing spring, and another way yet is a whole ton of sand monsters that are insanely hard to get past. I think I'll try the dungeon first.Sat, 24 Feb 2007 00:51:09 CSThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=1480&iddiary=3107https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=1292And an hour later, I have managed to get Elise from Rookie to Contender. This time around was MUCH more difficult. I had to try the final race four or five times before I placed third - the competitions before then weren't difficult at all. I am slowly discovering the point behind doing all these tricks. There is a meter on the side of the screen that fills up when I do particularly well, and I tend to be in first place whenever I do a lot of tricks. Therefore, I am making the assumption that more tricks leads to a faster speed, and a higher position. I must assume all these things because my little sister lost the handbook that came with SSX. XD Anyways, there's a handy dandy tutorial for tricks that I've just figured out. Comes in very handy, too, to know what will get you the big points. There are a couple of annoying things about this game; the characters are able to shove each other while racing, everyone talks during the race, and the 'cut scenes' upon completing each run are extremely short in number and quickly turn repetitive.Sat, 10 Feb 2007 01:31:48 CSThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=1292&iddiary=2762https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=1292Well, this is fun! Alrighty, this is a game that starts out with half-developed characters and allows the player to improve each character's skills and items. I picked Elise to begin with (she happened to be the first girl in the lineup), but there are around 11 other folk to choose from. The only way to find out anything interesting as far as storyline or relationships is to play in the World Circuit. (The other option is single event, which is exactly what it sounds like.) Overall, this is an exceedingly easy game to pick up and start playing, up until you have to learn 'tricks.' Each trick is a different feat of button-mashing-memorization, though some are simpler than others. I have a nagging suspicion that some of these are actual snowboarding moves, but I don't know for sure. In the hour I've been playing I completed a round in the world circuit, and progressed Elise from a Newbie to a Rookie. I chose to race in the world circuit (which consists of three individual runs, and you only progress if you're in the top three), but there's also a mode called 'showoff,' which just tests your trick skills. I won second in the first race, third in the second, and first in the last. I've noticed that the races actually do get harder - the last one took me a couple of tries, while I placed in the first race on my first run.Sat, 10 Feb 2007 00:43:37 CSThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=1292&iddiary=2750https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=604Wow - gotten through a lot more in this game since that last entry. I've already played my first blitzball match (and lost, 3 to 2), and been witness to a tremendous massacre on the part of Sin. Met this suspicious dude with blue hair by the name of Seymour - I just can't lilke him, even though he's a Maester. Maybe it's cause he's always hitting on Yuna. Anyways, I'm improving a lot in the battles. I've solved the mysteries of magical weaknesses and strengths, since it really didn't stick from the tutorial. I've just finished up in Djose's temple, and have just been introduced to one of those weird elephant-ish things. Heard the story about how Jecht came to stop drinking. That is both sad and funny, that he wouldn't stop when his kid asked him to, but he did when it caused him to lose all material possessions. I'll probably be playing this one a lot more - the story has me hooked. Some parts are slightly predictable, but I like being proven correct. :DWed, 31 Jan 2007 18:26:45 CSThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=604&iddiary=2355https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=1100WOW. Okay - I have played little pieces of this gaem before, but I've never actually witnessed the opening cinematics or the tutorial. It does kind of drop you in the middle of nowhere first thing; you are a guy who is trying to revive his dead girlfriend. To do so, he has brought her to this forbidden land to some voice in the sky named Domin. Domin tells him to defeat all the collosi in the land - there are 16. A few innovations I love in the game are the ways to move and the life meter - it is both simple and original. There's this pink dot in the corner, and the longer you are hanging onto something, the smaller it gets. When the pink dot is gone, you're REALLY SCREWED. It's pretty funny, being up against this giant minotaur, probably 300 times my size, and when I finally climb all the way up to his head to stab him, I come crashing back down to earth. Because, I guess, my hands were sore. It's pretty nifty, actually, having some kind of limit on the guy's insane physical powers. My only complaint is that the dude takes FOREVER to get up when he is knocked down. FOREVER. I've gotten collosus-squished several times already in my first hour of play. I find this game to be slightly easier when a group of people is around. Each collosus (or, I suppose - I've only beaten the first two in the first hour) is a kind of puzzle. You must find and stab the glowing blue areas on the giant grey-brown beastie. The only trick to it is that the glowing areas move, and many are exceedingly difficult to get to. Most, apparently, require climbing - and I have already revealed the frustrating and amazing points of the infamous pink dot. Anyways, managed to beat a minotaur dude and a giant bull dude. Both fights were rather desperate and frantic - lots of screaming, running around, and jumping. And then there's climbing. And that damned dot. After I beat each collosi, these curious dark tendrils escape from the fallen body and (I guess) kinda kill me. Anyways, I always wind up back at the temple where I started. It'll be interesting to see how this progresses.Wed, 31 Jan 2007 18:20:41 CSThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=1100&iddiary=2351https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=771Alrighty, today I am a little late on updating, but I got about two hours of play time in. Defeated the poison spiders infecting the Deku Tree. Learned about the Three Goddesses, and met Princess Zelda, who told me a little bit about the triforce and the Ocarina of Time. I also got an ocarina of my own from Saria, and I've learned three songs - Zelda's Lullaby, the Sun Song, and Saria's Song. I love this game more and more the longer I play it (which is actually why this is late - lost track of time!). The puzzles are my favorite part. Finding a way around the guards, pushing boxes to their correct locations, and finding all the chickens - that is my expertise. I am not-so-gifted in the actual battles, but I have won a few so far. I had a little help beating the first boss; both my boyfriend and a hallmate were present and yelling helpful things. The kind of things that stupid Navi doesn't address. Did you know you could kill the siper-lettes right after the boss drops them? While they're still in egg form, they're really easy. Anyways, I have found that the age of the game itself becomes a social event among my friends. Many of them have played all the way through the end multiple times, and they still have fun recounting the story. Today my main issues revolved around distance. The depth perception in the game is difficult for me to master, and, as a result, I tend to jump right into enemies when I attack. Which is a problem. Because that stings. And usually costs half a heart. And really, who likes to give up their hearts? Fri, 19 Jan 2007 19:46:25 CSThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=771&iddiary=1910https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=771This is the grand master of all role playing games. Seriously. Dude. Had some fun today by starting a new game, and played for a full hour. Managed to work my way through the upper layers of the Deku Tree. It took a while to find a sword... And, when I got it, I found its use a little awkward. The battles are marvelous, but it took me a while to pick up the use of the targeting button. Then there are the other challenges - the puzzle aspects of OoT are ingenius, though occasionally frustrating (I don't really like having to run around looking for the right treasure chest, but I kinda have to to make any progress). My whole xperienced was both enhanced and simplified by the other people chillin' in the room while I was playing (it seems like every other gamer in the world has seen this Zelda through to its finale). There were hints and cheers galore, though I would not otherwise consider OoT to be a particularly social game (not in the same way as, say, Guitar Hero or DDR). Fri, 19 Jan 2007 03:28:06 CSThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=771&iddiary=1713https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=604Had this lovely detailed entry all typed up, and for some reason, it did not submit. So here I go again - Got myself out of Besaid today. Spent about half an hour fighting Sin on a boat, and managed to save the crew, though sin went on to pillage our port of destination. Got all the way to the top of the last summoner's magic place (a couple more boss battles), he was this dude named Ohalland, and managed to get through a rather nasty puzzle. Lots of character development, which I absolutely love about RPGs. It's so much more interesting to have characters with human emotions and reactions. Yuna is my favorite character so far, for this reason. Tidus is endearing, in a lumpish oaf kind of way. There was probably an hour's worth of cut scenes in today's session. A little bit frustrating, since watching is not playing. Still, it is satisfying to see the animations and such. The 'Sending' scene was particularly well done. (I really wish I could find that first post...) I find the most frustrating thing about the game to be that you cannot power through any of it. There are paths you must take, and rules (sometimes not quite rules - more like hints, though you can't beat the boss without knowing that he is sensitive to fire magic) you must follow. The sphere grid irks me the most. It is so separate from the other elements of the game... you can go from a great magical battle to a boring gray control screen in no time. I enjoy leveling up, and I enjoy the ability to chose in which direction I want them to be skilled. I do not enjoy the unusual way I have to break away from the storyline and objective to further my battle skills. Can't remember what else I had written... But I covered most of my points. (This entry has been edited1 time. It was last edited on Thu, 18 Jan 2007 03:11:44.)Thu, 18 Jan 2007 03:05:09 CSThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=604&iddiary=1587