Blogging the experience of gameplayhttps://www.gamelog.cl/gamers/GamerPage.php?idgamer=159https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=1014I have failed to really discover any particularly striking nuances of Final Fantasy. I think my true appreciation of this game is greatly clouded by having played the later installments, and many many other later RPGs. I was also wondering about its real innovation. I seem to remember older D&D computer RPGs that came out at least before the United States release of Final Fantasy. My second hour of gameplay consisted of more wandering and fighting, and acquiring a pirate ship, and then becoming bored with the game. Maybe it doesn't stand the test of time? Although I probably will continue playing out of sheer curiosity. Question: Why aren't there any PC games on the classics list?Wed, 31 Jan 2007 17:22:38 CSThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=1014&iddiary=2321https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=1014Began Final Fantasy. I tried playing it about a year ago and got frustrated with it, but upon coming back to it, I found it to be an enjoyable experience to play it, and compare with later installments. I like the fact that the player can choose which character classes to have in the party. While the party I created is (I feel) balanced with a fighter, black belt, red mage, and white mage, I like to have the option of making a party of four fighters. It took me a while to catch on to some details of the battle system, like the fact that the player characters don't automatically attack the next enemy after one is killed. I haven't encountered a clear storyline, but it doesn't detract from the gameplay so far. I find a good deal of enjoyment in just wandering around battling enemies. The battle system doesn't seem as antiquated as it might, leaving me to appreciate the game very much. So far the enemies seem more like the Tolkienesque type found in American RPGs. The rate of random encounters feels right. I don't feel like I'm constantly being interrupted by attacks, and when I want to fight, it's not like I have to walk around forever. The lack of a world map, or clear direction as to what I'm doing adds a certain element of mystery that I find appealing, as I sometimes grow weary of linear RPGs. Hopefully as I play more, I'll be able to find more nuances of the game to pick apart.Wed, 31 Jan 2007 03:21:43 CSThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=1014&iddiary=2179https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=843Second hour of Shadow of the Colossus was spent solely on the ninth colossus. I spent a great deal of time trying to find it, completely missing the huge cave that it resided inside. Made me feel pretty dumb. After trying to evade its missiles on foot and dying twice, I concluded that riding the horse would be the best way to stay clear of heavy damage. It also became apparent that the geysers would be useful in beating the colossus. Since it didn't appear to have any accessible weakness, I assumed, correctly, that my strategy would involve luring the colossus over the geyser to flip it over(its turtle-like shape also gave it away). With some help from a friend, it was revealed to me that I would have to shoot the beast's feet as well. After a long, long time of luring the colossus over the geysers, and failed attempts at shooting its feet, I finally managed to climb on top of it. After that it was easy going. I'm coming to realize that the actual killing of the colossus is not the difficult aspect of the game, so much as finding each colusses' weakness, and then managing to find a way on top of it.Fri, 19 Jan 2007 19:04:50 CSThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=843&iddiary=1892https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=843Started playing Shadow of the Colossus a few months ago, and then restarted today. I restarted where I had saved at a shrine on the way to finding the seventh colossus. I really enjoy the format of this game. I initially found myself bored with running around from colossus to colossus, but I soon became enveloped in the procedure. When I think about it, most adventure games involve traveling to an area, fighting a series of weaker enemies, and then a boss. Shadow of the Colossus simply eliminates the weaker enemies. This is appealing because the boss fight is always the most fun part of a dungeon to me. The game mechanics are also very good. The protagonist (I don't know his name, or if he has a name, I'm kind of in the dark on the back story) is very easy to control. The system of jumping and grabbing works very well. It's very easy for me to imagine a game where the player is often cursing at the fact that he/she knows that they pressed the grab button, only to find the character falling to the ground. That doesn't happen in Shadow of the Colossus. I reached the seventh colossus fairly easily. It was the most difficult so far, as it was a fishlike creature that swam in the water, and I always find water levels in any game to be the most difficult. It took me several tries before I was able to grab onto the beasts tail, and I died on my first run. On my second try though, it was the familiar procedure of grab, run, grab, and wait, before victory. During my first hour, I also fought and defeated the eighth colossus. This was an interesting battle, and relatively fun due to the multiple steps of provoking the colusses, shooting its feet, and then stabbing its weak points. Fun game, second entry pending.Fri, 19 Jan 2007 17:54:25 CSThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=843&iddiary=1859https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=368Or not.Thu, 11 Jan 2007 23:07:14 CSThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=368&iddiary=1253https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=368So I progressed my second hour into FF6. I found the gameplay this second hour to be more compelling, and the storyline more interesting as more elements were advanced. I encountered some trouble in the Kolt Mountains when I, in my eagerness, neglected a usual tenet of Japanese RPGs by not first leveling up my characters. This was remedied, however, when I encountered the save point on the mountain, and proceeded to beat Vargas with relative ease after a few rounds of random encounters, followed by using a tent at the save point, making my characters just that much stronger. One particular aspect of the game I am beginning to notice that I find negative is the lack of a clear protagonist at this point. It could be argued that the role of protagonist is occupied by Terra, as at the moment she seems to be the character that the story most revolves around, and has received the most play time. She, however, does not possess some of the attributes that made characters such as Squall in FF8, strong lead characters. This is also due in part to the lack of player participation in dialogue. Whereas in FF7 and FF8 the player often had the opportunity to choose which specific statement Cloud or Squall would use, I have encountered no such interaction in FF6. Not to harp too heavily on a classic, but the battle system is also growing tiresome for me. This is most likely, though, because I haven't gotten very far in the utilization of artifacts, which seem to be FF6's token innovation, akin to materia, careers, or the GF and junction system. While I am finding that many of my other favorite RPGs are superior to FF6 at the outset, I am enjoying playing it, and I'm sure it will grow better as I progress and become more immersed in the game, and emotionally attached to the characters.Thu, 11 Jan 2007 23:06:27 CSThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=368&iddiary=1252https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=368I seem to have written over my first gamelog...Thu, 11 Jan 2007 23:05:46 CSThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=368&iddiary=1251https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=368I decided to go old school and started a new game of FF6. I found that I had forgotten quite most of it, and so the after leaving Figaro castle, most things seemed new to me. Although I'm enjoying playing it, the game does seem enormously dated after playing newer installments in the Final Fantasy series. The most obvious lacking is in the graphics. The older graphics don't take away from the gameplay, but they can make the story advancing dialogue sections seem very slow. At this point I don't have much to reflect on. It was interesting to see certain elements used in newer Final Fantasies that I hadn't recognized before, though. The music used in the first caverns is the same as that in the town of Timber in FF8. I doubt that's esoteric knowledge, or that it is even supposed to be, but I enjoyed recognizing it. One other thing I noticed is that the dialogue seems a lot weaker than I remember it. I don't see how this is purely a product of age, as I find other old SNES RPGs to have better dialogue, such as Chrono Trigger, or the second Secret of Mana. More as I progress in the game.Mon, 08 Jan 2007 20:40:36 CSThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=368&iddiary=1049