Blogging the experience of gameplayhttps://www.gamelog.cl/gamers/GamerPage.php?idgamer=468https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=3021Gamelog #5 Session #2 for CMPS 20 Start Time: 3:00 pm End Time: 5:00 pm Assignment due 3/5/08 GAMEPLAY Emotionally, this game is very satisfying. In addition to not using all standard archetypes for game characters, much of the content is pleasing to the senses. As I mentioned before, the secluded beach really relaxes me. The beach has an atmosphere not used frequently in games; when it is, it often fails to be done well enough to produce the desired effect. Though the cutscene visuals are often not wonderful, they're usually pretty good and they conform to a much better standard than does Chrono Trigger, this game's predecessor. The game's art is semi-realistic and pretty stylized, but the art is done purposefully and has a bright or dark color scheme as appropriate. I really like this game's art style and creative assets. An additional complication to the battle mechanic is that you can execute different percentage attacks. Depending upon the percentage, which typically varies from 60 to 99 percentage points, you may attack more or less successfully with less or more damage dealt, respectively. Fortunately, it sounds a lot more complicated than it really is. In other words, this complicated-sounding addition makes the game more fun and interesting. I'm glad there are more options in this game than in Chrono Trigger. This game was very fun to play. The battle mechanic is fun, and there is also a puzzle element to the gameplay that lends itself well to this RPG. The story was absorbing enough that I could probably tell it enthusiastically with lots of expression. Tales of Symphonia is an RPG, but its story is hugely complex and confusing. The story in Chrono Cross, in contrast, is simple but satisfying. I like the story, gameplay, and characters much more in this game than in Tales of Symphonia or in Chrono Trigger. The game was interesting to play. I had a few frustrations, despite my overall enjoyment of this game. One major frustration was technical difficulty/unfamiliarity, as mentioned previously. Another frustration that I didn't have personally was that the game is relatively slow-paced. I thought that Chrono Cross didn't drag at all and that the pacing was deliberate. However, it's not difficult for me to understand the general frustration some people have about these aspects. This game's flow was superb. The pacing was very good, not too fast or too slow. Character development in-game wasn't rushed. As compared to Chrono Trigger, you really care about Kid when she gets hurt in Chrono Cross, unlike how much you cared about Marle in Chrono Trigger when she vanishes. In Chrono Trigger, that story arc had a major plot hole as far as what Crono's motivations for going after Marle were. In Chrono Cross, in contrast, it's usually pretty clear what everyone's motivations and aspirations were. Even though much of this was preprogrammed, I much prefer the flow of story in this game to that of Chrono Trigger. Spatially, there are puzzles that are spaced apart very well so that the game doesn't become unnecessarily complicated but at the same time poses enough challenge to keep you hooked. DESIGN The battle system and story were the most innovative aspects of this game, although it was groundbreaking in other ways as well. There was innovation in the color-based battle system, the percentage-based hit success and hit damage, and the inverse relationship of hit success and hit damage. The story has the most innovative characters out of any game I've played. Their personalities vary greatly from the standard archetypes, except for Serge, maybe, who is a silent protagonist. The levels are varied in terms of look, feel, type of related puzzle, environment interaction, and organization. In other words, there are LOTS of variations in levels. The tone of the gameworld is similar to that of Chrono Trigger: epic. The look and feel of the game varies greatly and is much improved upon Chrono Trigger. The level look and feel are not arbitrary at all; they largely depend on the climate, which vary from lush and soft, to rocky and arid, to sterile and metallic. All of the puzzles are environment-based, similar to how battles in Shadow of the Colossus are environment-based. I didn't have social experiences with other players; this game doesn't have multiplayer options. I have a feeling that, for the most part, I had to just watch, I wouldn't enjoy it or be satisfied. Luckily, there were no bystanders to be dissatisfied. I was having a really good time playing. The game itself was very rewarding, and I didn't really notice the passage of time. I never felt lonely or isolated while playing because I was absorbed in the game. I think that's a good thing as far as game involvement goes, but I imagine it could hurt one's social life. My game that I'm currently making isn't nearly as complex as this game is. However, on a future game project, I may have a more text-based version of this game. I don't think it would be a very good idea, though, because a text-based version of Chrono Cross is hard to imagine being done well. It would have be on some open-source game console if I were to make a game like this as a freelancer without being text-based. As is, it might be possible to make a game with a similar story with the engine from Facade at interactivestory.net (go check it out if your haven't already!) with story elements like Chrono Cross, but then it wouldn't play like Chrono Cross. I doubt I'll really be able to make a game like Chrono Cross on my own or in a pair. I would definitely need a team of four or more people. However, it would have helped this game to increase the amount of button labelling. I found myself frequently forgetting which buttons to press. I think that is one valuable lesson to take away from playing for creating my own game. I didn't really care for the cutscenes of Chrono Cross. They served a purpose, and they served the purpose of storytelling pretty well, but they lagged a bit while playing and had bothersome textures much of the time. I much preferred non-cutscene parts of the game to the cutscenes. The non-cutscene parts were more interactive and were frequently more pleasing to all the senses. This is counterintuitive, though, and it probably would have been better to omit the cutscenes altogether. The designers clearly spent more time on most of the rest of the game instead of on the cutscenes, and to me, it shows. That's it! If I ever come back to this site, you can expect a looser style from me, because it won't be graded! BWAHAHA! Although, I have my own standards; I won't start writing terribly. (This entry has been edited5 times. It was last edited on Thu, 06 Mar 2008 06:10:59.)Thu, 06 Mar 2008 00:53:54 CSThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=3021&iddiary=5794https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=3021Gamelog #5 Session #1 for CMPS 20 Start Time: 2:00 pm End Time: 3:00 pm Assignment due 3/5/08 SUMMARY After the events in Chrono Trigger, (presumably), Serge and Leena are two teenagers who have been childhood friends growing up on a small tropical island. They made a promise to each other long ago that they intend to keep that depends upon their budding relationship. As they are about to fulfill the mysterious promise upon the shores of the island, a huge tidal wave crashes over them as the fabric of the space-time continuum rips. Serge wakes up alone, and finds Leena, who doesn't recognize him. Serge claims rightfully to be Serge, but Leena takes great offense; the boy called Serge died long ago under mysterious circumstances. With this backstory, you embark on an adventure as Serge to right all wrongs caused by the rip in space and time. GAMEPLAY An important lesson: get a memory card to play this game. It's impossible to play this game with any kind of satisfaction without a memory card, so you better make sure you have at least that before trying to play it. Having a memory card allows you to save your progress through the game and story without having to start over from scratch each time. This should be expected with a PlayStation generation or newer console RPG, but it wasn't obvious to me at first; it doesn't warn you when you first play that you really ought to play with a memory card. Now that I know, I am enjoying this game much more than I did the first time around. With the memory card, I am really able to enjoy the story, so I am enjoying it. In terms of story, a lot of ground is broken by innovations in character. Before Chrono Cross, if you had a childhood friend, she wasn't a romantic interest. If you got rescued by someone, you wouldn't be able to pay them back. If you could have an optional character, it usually didn't help you strategically to have them help you. In Chrono Cross, all these norms are broken: your childhood friend is your main romantic interest, your rescuer needs your help to be saved from death, and the optional party member helps you hugely right from the get-go. The only thing that is normal in this game is that, being from Square, the main protagonist is silent. The gameplay is pretty good. I enjoyed playing, and the controls were just difficult enough that it was interesting to play without being frustrating. The way battles work is that you run into an on-screen enemy, which triggers a battle or series of battles. You then select a regular attack, special move/element, defend, or run away. A regular attack is an attack with your equipped weapon. A special move is either magic or a consumable. Magic can be offensive, defensive, or something else. Consumables are used like items, and can be used up. Depending on who executes a move and what move they execute, the battle area gets filled with a certain color, which makes characters with the same color association more powerful. The battle system is somewhat automated by fitting gear according to who best uses it. I am very grateful for this feature, which speeds up gameplay and configures your whole battle system optimally with just one menu command. In addition to all of this, you can equip, make, disassemble and sell weapons, armor, and accessories. This is a fairly complex battle system that I like a lot. The visuals are usually good and sometimes are stunningly beautiful. Interestingly, the more beautiful parts are often the ones with less activity, less animation, and less overall complication. For example, the secluded beach where the rip in space and time takes place doesn't usually have very many enemies or much going on besides the peaceful scenery, which reminds me of a beach you might see in a screensaver, or if you're very lucky, in hard-to-get-to places in Hawai'i. It gives me the same peace of mind when playing as Ocarina of Time's Lon Lon Ranch did. For me, this is an interesting simplicity that few games are able to feature at all, so I'm pretty happy that there is such a place in Chrono Cross that can provide a refuge of sorts from in-game as well as real-life stress. As far as characters go, character design and execution are very good. Serge, the main character, is a typical silent protagonist, an archetype that lends itself well to the game's story. Leena, Serge's childhood companion, is reserved but happy and calm when Serge is around. She acts shy, but it's clear she feels strongly about Serge. However, after space and time rip, all that change. Kid is really outgoing, brave, and headstrong, and she helps you when you fall victim to a gang of ruffians who want to haul you off to jail. However, she falls victim to poison after a boss battle; you can save her with antidote. Poshul is a pink dog who is surprisingly tough as your first ally, though she is an optional character. The character art is really good, and the characters all have other attributes, such as fitness level and gender, in addition to fighting abilities. That's it for this entry. I will continue after I play some more. (This entry has been edited3 times. It was last edited on Thu, 06 Mar 2008 00:49:58.)Wed, 05 Mar 2008 19:09:06 CSThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=3021&iddiary=5679https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=2627Gamelog #4 Session #2 for CMPS 20 Start Time: 4:00 pm End Time: 5:00 pm Assignment due 2/20/08 GAMEPLAY The narrative progression was kind of bumpy. It had lots of sudden twists and turns, with hit-or-miss quality cutscenes. A lot of the time, the animated cutscenes seemed to go on forever, which was neither desired nor necessary. Cutscenes were arbitrarily tied to play at the same time as some music, for the duration of the music, with no way to skip them. As such, the cutscenes overall were pretty annoying. Unfortunately, they were a major part of gameplay, communicating much of the storyline. Chrono Trigger was sort of fun to play, but I kept having technical failures. I would have liked it better if there had been autosave prompts sprinkled throughout steps in the story to prevent massive loss of progress. As it was, it was difficult to remember to save, which severely impeded gameplay. I had to repeat all of the tedious battles from before, so I enjoyed myself even less as compared to the first time around. As for the main gameplay, I much preferred the puzzle mechanic to the battle mechanic. I thought the game was hyped up a little out of proportion. Based on friends' opinions, I had expected the game to be interesting enough to blow me away; it didn't. The music was excellent, yes, but I have two CDs of the music from this game: one basic, one arranged instrumental. If the game had lower quality music or art, I wouldn't have bothered playing. As it was, the game had about the same entertainment value per minute as a minute of daytime TV. Listening to the CDs of the music from this game is much more entertaining than playing the game. That's terrible. Socially, I was isolated in terms of players and spectators both. Chrono Trigger is a single-player game, and I felt alone while I was playing. This game was also largely boring, which made the lonely feeling worse. There were no spectators, either, so I was waiting to be finished playing while I was playing. Chrono Trigger has a following, but I won't be part of it. I prefer RPGs with better character development and more interesting gameplay. I usually need characters in an RPG to be believable with realistic personalities to be satisfied. Chrono Trigger just doesn't deliver it. Lucca comes to your rescue at one point in the game, but instead of Crono rescuing or falling in love with her, Crono arbitrarily falls in love with Marle, who seems to throw herself at you. If Crono had spent more time with Marle beforehand, that would have made more sense. This is another trend in RPGs; if a silent protagonist has a childhood friend of the opposite sex, the silent protagonist will probably fall for someone else, doubly so if the childhood friend rescues the silent protagonist. I hate that. DESIGN The main innovation of this game was the battle system. All allies and enemies in-game have an element affiliation, which gives them the power of that element and makes them weak to the opposite element. Then, there are weapons that can only be equipped by allies who can wield them. For example, Crono can only use katana-type weapons, Lucca can only use gun-type weapons, Marle can only use crossbow-type weapons, etc. Finally, special attacks require magic and two or more allies can team up to execute a super-special attack. Unfortunately, I didn't get to any interesting battles where any of that mattered. I didn't like this game much as compared to how much my friends liked this game. I found the battles to be tedious and the characters to be superficial. I would have also liked an autosave feature. I only really liked the creative content from this game. I think, as it was, I would have enjoyed Chrono Trigger: The Movie much more than the game. I think Chrono Trigger could have been vastly improved in terms of pacing if it has been designed and implemented as an action RPG instead of an outright RPG. The way to do it is any place you activate the battle actionAnother thing that would have helped was if Chrono Trigger had a way to skip cutscenes and skip/automate battles. The levels don't vary very much from the get-go. They are pretty much made up of linked rooms with enemies littered throughout. There are tons of enemies in each level, and often I found myself forgetting what I was doing or what I was supposed to do. Although I liked the basic gameplay, in the scheme of the game, it was analogous to treading water, the same way fun gameplay is analogous to swimming. In other words, I would have had fewer but tougher battles that made you level up faster without the tedium. This game exhibits progressive complexity with some emergent characteristics. I would expect to find mostly walkthroughs for this game for players to play out different scenario sequences in this gameworld. There would also likely be some strategy guides to direct players to use different techs appropriately. There may also be strategy guides for basic playing mechanics. In other words, Chrono Trigger is mostly a game of doing the right things in the right order, but there are a few different strategies to get to an ending. That's it for this entry! Keep playing! (This entry has been edited9 times. It was last edited on Thu, 21 Feb 2008 03:06:26.)Sat, 16 Feb 2008 00:50:26 CSThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=2627&iddiary=4984https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=2627Gamelog #4 Session #1 for CMPS 20 Start Time: 3:00 pm End Time: 4:00 pm Assignment due 2/20/08 SUMMARY Chrono Trigger is an RPG developed by Square, back in 1995 when Square was not yet Square Enix. Chrono Trigger is the first RPG in a series of loosely related RPGs including Radical Dreamers and Chrono Cross. The main themes, supported by the excellent music and visuals, are time/space/dimensional travel and parallel/serial world interaction. The main way the story of Chrono Trigger plays out is that changing the world in an earlier setting has some sort of effect on the world in a later setting. Combine this mechanic with the music, visuals, and battle gameplay and you get Chrono Trigger, a very cool game. GAMEPLAY I liked the game itself, but I was pretty bored playing. Although the battles are never random, they get overwhelmingly boring very quickly. It was boring because it didn't challenge me at all. All you have to do to win a battle is not die and kill all the enemies. Although this mechanic is used in nearly every single RPG, the execution of this is particularly boring in Chrono Trigger. There's no way to automate any part of the battle, and the enemies never revive their fallen party members. Almost every single one of the many battles play out exactly the same. The pathetic battle variation comes nowhere near breaking the overall tedium of the game. Another disappointing thing about Chrono Trigger is the reward system. The battles' main reward is ending the battle; the battles are that bad. However, the secondary reward in most cases is a piece of storyline that is easily forgotten. It would be good if you could review the story so far in-game, but if you lose your way, you have to be stubborn, persistent or armed with a walkthrough to finish the game. Otherwise, you have a better chance being happy if you can move on to another game. An interesting side-mechanic is puzzles in the environment. For example, a switch thrown in one room in a level will lower the spikes in another room in that level so that you can access a new area. In other words, completing puzzles is rewarded. Not only that, but the puzzle completion is usually generously rewarded, varying in reward from secret area access, items, bragging rights, or improved abilities. Overall, the puzzles, not the battles, made Chrono Trigger worth playing. The characters of Chrono Trigger are pretty good overall. The art for the ones I've encountered so far are consistently pretty, crisp, and fluid. Crono, the main character, is a katana-wielding, spiky-haired teen who is the main player avatar. Lucca, a pretty but crazy girl inventor, invents a machine that accesses wormholes in the time-space continuum. Marle, a princess-in-disguise tomboy, has a pendant that reacts badly to Lucca's invention, sending her to an unknown location back in time. From this more-or-less starting point, Crono and company go on a wild adventure to prevent disasters from destroying the world. Even though I like the characters, I get the feeling that character development was rushed. I think that that led to my not getting attached to the characters very much at all. As such, it's kind of difficult to understand the characters' motivations. For example, why would Crono follow Marle into an abyss when he barely knows her? Why would anyone? The way the scenarios played out, the characters' personalities seem like they were an afterthought, rather than being central to gameplay. That seems like an amateur mistake for making RPGs. That's it for this entry. Keep playing! (This entry has been edited7 times. It was last edited on Thu, 21 Feb 2008 02:06:19.)Sat, 16 Feb 2008 00:47:58 CSThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=2627&iddiary=4983https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=2431Gamelog #3 Session #2 for CMPS 20 Start Time: 7:00 pm End Time: 9:00 pm Assignment due 2/8/08 GAMEPLAY I really enjoyed the story of L:SSSC. The characters, as I've mentioned, were absorbing and entertaining. When you play certain scenes outside of cutscenes, the faces of the characters speaking show up in various moods and emotional states. This furthers plot progression and is more interesting than text alone. When I last played the game, I had just begun on a story arc past the first major conflict. I suspect the game supplies many more conflicts, and that this is just the beginning. I really want to keep playing to find out. The game was a lot of fun to play. A lot of that was because of content other than gameplay. This was kind of strange for me; usually the gameplay is what matters in a game. However, the music was original, the art was consistently good, and the animated cutscenes really make this game unique. They all made me want to play more of the game. It also didn't hurt that the gameplay, which could have been neglected, was awesome. With this game's scope as vast as it is, leaving things less than great was a distinct possibility, and I'm pretty relieved it didn't happen. The game was interesting to play. Besides offering interesting characters and story, there were puzzles where you had to observe how your environment would respond to certain actions. It took me a while to figure out how to clear the path in the first cave, but after I figured it out, I was fine. Besides that, I didn't even get frustrated with the puzzles because I was gaining experience, leveling up, and gaining new abilities. In other words, the rewards in-game more than balance out the puzzles' difficulty. Even when you're technically stuck, you're usually having a great time. However, there's not much social interaction while you're playing. The game has a small but devoted following that enjoys discussion of the game, but, there is no multiplayer option. That doesn't mean that observers don't get absorbed in the game right along with you, though. While I was playing, several people stopped what they were doing to watch me play. It has a pretty cool effect on people. Just passing by, they go from not caring to wanting to watch you play, if not play themselves. The storyline has a strong but linear flow. I experienced a little bit of flow while playing the game. Playing the first few hours of this huge game, I got a sense that there was some urgency involved in the story. It was a little bumpy, though, in terms of coherence. Specifically, in one scene, the main characters are preparing for a festival in honor of their goddess, Althena. However, after you retrieve a treasure from the nearby cave, you make plans to depart right away. This was a little strange, considering that some of the main characters had been preparing for something they weren't going to follow through on. Real people probably wouldn't forget something like that as easily. Despite its minor flow issues, I really liked this game. DESIGN Some of the innovative things in this game were the previously mentioned technical achievements. I'm still amazed that you can play a game with this scope on a PlayStation. They crammed a whole lot of game onto two discs. I have a feeling this was made possible by cutting corners on the main gameplay graphics, which are solely in 2D. Cutting corners in this way, however, was surely an early game design decision, rather than one coming from a poorly managed schedule or budget. I was pretty impressed with this game. The tone of the gameworld is excited and adventurous. The use of mostly bright colors helps with the tone. You never feel a sense of despair playing this game. The characters also have a huge emotional expressiveness. That always appeals to me. Some emotions the characters have displayed so far include the basic happiness and sadness, but also embarrassment, shock, worry, and anger. The wide expressive range of the characters helps to flesh them out and make them seem more like real people. Some ideas this game gives me for my own project is using resources wisely. It's not necessary to have lots of hours of gameplay on a game so long as the game is fun and interesting. It helps to decide with certainty on what style to use for creative content. I may eventually make a game with cutscenes, but I won't worry about having cutscenes that look like the main gameplay. A lot of games brag about that, but most gamers don't really care. The styles on L:SSSC vary a lot, but they're always high-quality and appropriate for the tone of the game. This game is pretty much non-emergent. There are some basic moves involved in gameplay, but it is definitely an RPG. As such, I would expect to find a walkthrough for this game more easily than I would find a strategy guide. There is a user manual for if you can't figure out the basics, but it's not really necessary. It would be even easier if the choices you could make were labeled with buttons to press beside them, but they didn't choose to do that in this game. The cutscenes were really impressive. They support gameplay by contributing to the flow and tone of the game. The visuals and audio were always pleasant to the senses, and so I enjoyed playing more. The cutscenes don't really interfere with gameplay at all; the cutscenes are short and they're only used when the story needs an extra boost of creative expression. They are not used overly much; they are not abused. I really, REALLY liked Lunar: Silver Star Story Complete. I would recommend it to anyone. Keep playing! (This entry has been edited4 times. It was last edited on Fri, 08 Feb 2008 22:43:24.)Fri, 08 Feb 2008 21:02:21 CSThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=2431&iddiary=4655https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=2431Gamelog #3 Session #1 for CMPS 20 Start Time: 5:00 pm End Time: 7:00 pm Assignment due 2/8/08 SUMMARY Lunar: Silver Star Story Complete is a beautifully crafted game. It boasts anime cutscenes, varied and plentiful voice acting, and old school RPG gameplay reminiscent of a 2D RPG by Square/Square-Enix. The story is pretty compelling, and it's really interesting what can be done on a mere PlayStation in terms of artistic achievement and interesting gameplay. If you ever get the chance to play this game, drop whatever you're doing and play this one. It's that good. GAMEPLAY Emotionally, I was totally absorbed in this game and loving it. The art in-game is really beautiful; it really fits the story and capabilities of the PlayStation system well. Even though the main initial puzzle of the game took a long time to figure out, I didn't get frustrated. I did get a little tired of looking for clues, but I was rewarded enough for my effort that I didn't really mind. Furthermore, the solution to the ice puzzle was pretty novel and interesting. I didn't get lonely because I was so absorbed in the game, despite the game's lack of a multiplayer aspect. The characters in the game include Alex, Nall, Luna, Ramus. Alex is the green-eyed protagonist who dreams of becoming a DragonMaster like his idol, the hero Dyne. Nall is a white-and-gold daemon with a high-pitched voice in which he speaks the same language in spite of not being human. Nall resembles a winged cat, and he tends to blab with unfortunate consequences. Luna is a girl with a beautiful singing voice with magical properties. Blue-haired Luna has been raised by Alex's parents, but Alex and Luna's relationship is not quite brother-sister; there's a little bit of romantic tension between them. Ramus is a nerdy boy who is a little greedy and a little chunky. Even though he has brown hair in the cutscenes, the action scenes show him with blue hair. I really liked these characters, which is good; you spend roughly three hours or more with only them in your party. The characters caught my interest, and they seemed pretty well fleshed out. I was laughing out loud when playing sometimes; the characters are easy to relate to and it's fun to play through the story. There are some interesting story arcs, but it's important to note that, at least in the start of the game, the game flows linearly. In video games, I like female characters who sing. Marin from Z:LA is a notable example. The singing is usually an important story element, but it takes time to make music for a game. You wouldn't make a character sing unless it was important. When a female sings in-game, it tends to signal that she will become more important later or that she is a love interest, usually both. Luna follows this paradigm. She is important as a character, but she also is Alex's main companion and one of the most prominent love interests for Alex. Even though the singing is an important cue, it's also very rare for a singing character to be left by the wayside. The characters were pretty convincingly executed. The voice acting was appropriate. The art made it more interesting to look at, which also improved how much I stayed interested in the game. In an RPG, the character development is usually crucial. There is a bit of humor in the game, but it's usually situational and dependent upon the characters, rather than being slapstick, potty humor, sarcasm, or satire. The characters seem to care about each other and be motivated in non-arbitrary ways. In other words, I really liked these characters for being well-developed and deep. I think they're pretty cool. (This entry has been edited5 times. It was last edited on Fri, 08 Feb 2008 21:54:15.)Fri, 08 Feb 2008 21:01:44 CSThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=2431&iddiary=4654https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=1982Gamelog #2 Session #2 for CMPS 20 Start Time: 5:00 pm End Time: 6:00 pm Assignment due 1/25/08 Note: Whoops, this got posted to the front page. LOL, how embarrassing! Anyway, there ought to be a way to get this format template for 20/80K posted somewhere. It would be convenient. GAMEPLAY Gradius started out as sort of fun to play and turned into a chore. I couldn't get past the first level; a spewing volcano of sorts got in the way. The game doesn't have a tutorial, which makes you feel silly if you can't figure out the complicated weapons system when there's really only two buttons (it's the NES version). Out of boredom with the game, I tried to see how long I would last simply holding down the "shoot" button. Surprisingly, it was comparable to how long I lasted when I was actively trying to play well. This was immensely discouraging. Some of the more difficult aspects of the game which were difficult to the point of destroying the fun of the game were evading enemies and figuring out how to use the power-ups effectively. Evading enemies of normal size was okay, but trying to evade multiple "baseballs of doom" was really difficult. The boss volcano that spewed brown "baseballs of doom" looked really unpleasant and was really difficult, if not impossible, to get by. The power-ups were often more of a hindrance than a boost. One of the power-ups also shoots bad guys, but effectively makes you a bigger target, making it more difficult to pass levels where you have to squeeze into certain areas. Not only that, it absorbs most of the accumulated bonuses, making it difficult to get something else that will help you. One very sad thing about Gradius is that you are thrown into a situation, without any reason to care about the outcome. Usually, compelling story and characters would do this for a game. The development that would go into story and characters could be pretty minimal, such as a scant few lines of text that names a few character names. No such thing is in Gradius, which means that after I quickly tired of the gameplay itself, there were no characters or story to keep me coming back. Looking through other reviews of the game, the major thing going for this SHMUP is that it's a classic. That good point can only persuade someone to try a game, not to stick with it. Many other reviews had similarly negative tone; my bad experience is not unique. I don't recommend this game to anyone but someone who 1) is a hardcore SHMUP-player, and 2) has access to the manual and/or walkthrough. Although the game has a two-player option at the beginning, I didn't have the opportunity to try it. Besides, I'm not sure I would subject any of my friends to Gradius. DESIGN Gradius creates conflict, but mostly not the kind you want or expect. The challenges are mostly how to not get bored, frustrated, or angry playing this game. The game didn't bother to keep things interesting. With no story, few characters, poor gameplay, and huge difficulty, Gradius doesn't keep me interested in the least. This game could be hugely improved with tutorials and narrative, which it lacks completely. The steep learning curve and complicated power-up system make this a bad game. Gradius has a following, but it's not part of the typically mainstream audience and market, and the learning curve and complications are likely why. I enjoyed this game for the first ten minutes, but every 10-minute interval after that, I had learned nothing and basically repeated the same game experience, which was pretty awful. Despite all its faults, Gradius makes pretty good use of space within the gameworld. The whole screen is filled with baddies and the environment for much of the time. The sky is filled with stars rather than being a plain, empty black. Good use of space might be a good feature in a game. However, the good use of space in this game serves only to make the game more difficult than it originally was, which hurts the design of the game. The tone of the music and the tone of the gameworld conflict hugely in my opinion. The tone of the music sounds like you're exploring and making revelations. The tone of the gameworld makes it seems as though you have a clear mission to destroy bad guys. However, the tone of the music and gameworld both conflict with what's really going on. For example, death in-game resulted in a jubilant ditty being played. The tone is therefore mixed and confused, which is pretty disappointing. I would change a lot of things about this game. If something is not obvious, I would have a tutorial so it's not necessary to keep a manual. Paper manuals are frequently lost, even for games which require some explanation. It's not that the controls of Gradius themselves are complicated; it's just complicated and confusing when there's no explanation given. Knowing this information changes gameplay from an experiment into an experience, I think. The one thing this very frustrating experience has taught me about games I will make are: have explanations handy in-game. Not only does it simplify things and ease the learning curve, it can make or break a game. That's it for this entry. Keep gaming! (This entry has been edited8 times. It was last edited on Sat, 26 Jan 2008 02:43:56.)Wed, 23 Jan 2008 19:44:23 CSThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=1982&iddiary=3882https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=1982Gamelog #2 Session #1 for CMPS 20 Start Time: 7:00 pm End Time: 8:00 pm Assignment due 1/25/08 SUMMARY Gradius is a game with very little backstory. That's probably a good thing, considering that Gradius is a SHMUP. Even though it's not story-oriented or character-driven, Gradius is somewhat compelling for the music and gameplay. This is the first Gradius game, and all of the games that follow don't deviate from the essentials set forth in this game. Developed by Konami, Gradius takes place in a hostile science-fiction outer space environment as you navigate the land and shoot anything that moves. GAMEPLAY As far as my emotional response goes, I sort of enjoyed this game. Although the rules are fairly simple, the upgrade system is kind of complicated and not really obvious as you start to play the game. I probably was less enthused about the game than someone would have been when Gradius first came out, but the music is familiar to me and helped me to enjoy this game. The gameplay mechanic is deceptively simple. You simply shoot and avoid collision with everything on-screen as best you can. The upgrade system is where the game gets complicated. You have five levels of level-up, which require more and more power-ups to attain. They are: speed up, missile, double, laser, option, ?. Speed up is self-explanatory, or it would be if it was more obvious what thing it's speeding up; I couldn't figure it out. Missile shoots a bullet-like projectile diagonally down and ahead. Double shoots twice as much as normal in varying directions. Laser shoots little beams of laser across the screen. Option and ? give you sentinels and forcefields, though during gameplay I got them so rarely I cannot reliably tell them apart. As someone whose first SHMUP is the original Gradius in 2008, this does not surprise me. I first heard the music of Gradius as a symphonic, orchestrally-arranged suite. Hearing it now in its original, true form is an interesting twist on nostalgia. I recognize the melodies some of the time, but as far as I can tell the music sometimes lacks the expression and depth of the symphonic version. This is likely because at times the music seems to cut out. This hurts the usually immersive effect of the game simply because it sounds terrible. I don't know the characters in this game. That's not to say that there aren't any, but I had to look up the game on Wikipedia to find the name Vic Viper to describe the name of the ship. The ship is the protagonist, surprisingly; the pilot is nameless, or nonexistent. Even the existence of a pilot is a mystery. As a game, the lack of certainty and depth doesn't really hurt the game overall; it also didn't help. I really enjoy games with a compelling story, and you just won't find such a thing in Gradius. It would be one thing if the story was bad, but not having any whatsoever is just terrible. I didn't have any interaction with other players during gameplay. That made the game difficult to endure; I almost got lonely. It would be one thing if the game was absorbing and compelling. Playing a game for that long when I don't really enjoy the gameplay is a chore. This is my first SHMUP, and I gave it a chance. Unfortunately, the game was repetitious and frustrating; I didn't make it past the first level and the game played a jubilant ditty when I died. In short, I don't particularly care for this game. That's it for this entry. I will continue after I play some more. (This entry has been edited4 times. It was last edited on Sat, 26 Jan 2008 02:26:33.)Tue, 22 Jan 2008 22:52:51 CSThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=1982&iddiary=3870https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=1604Gamelog #1 Session #2 for CMPS 20 Start Time: 2:00 pm End Time: 3:00 pm Assignment due 1/14/08 Note: Gah, I really dislike this system. I wrote no less than 10 more paragraphs on KA(NES) when this system deleted it all... Take my advice: SAVE EARLY AND OFTEN! Or it could happen to you, too... Another note: It deleted my outline as well. This is after it deleted all those paragraphs. I am trying to keep my cool, but this is really frustrating. GAMEPLAY After reading some critical reviews and looking over my own enthusiastic review, I recognized that I agreed with many of the opinions of people who thought Kirby's Adventure was nothing special. The things drawing the most complaints were the overall difficulty, the music, and the minigames. The overall difficulty depended largely on how well-prepared you were. Being well-prepared made the game easy, if not boring. For example, one boss jumps up and down, jumps over you, and spits little enemies at you. Although this boss could be defeated by swallowing little enemies and spitting them out at the boss until the boss dies, you could also have the laser ability, stand in the corner and avoid the boss, and shoot at the boss constantly until the boss dies. The second tactic, though ingenious, makes the game trivial; in a sense, this game rewards failure. The music is basically the same melodies, harmonies, and instrumentation as it has been ever since this first game. Though many people say the best music is the kind you can recognize immediately, many people also say recognizing the same music is the best way to tire of it. Either way, you do hear an awful lot of the same songs in this game, over and over again. It is uncertain whether this is good or bad. The minigames in Kirby's Adventure are a lot of fun. There are quick draw games, crane games, egg-eating games, and many others. However, you only get to play each instance of minigame once. This is because you play for extra lives. Although having unlimited lives could hurt gameplay, this point is rendered moot by the unlimited supply of game-continues with no penalty. Keeping this in mind, it may have been better to just allow minigames with unlimited play. Although these are valid complaints, I still think Kirby's Adventure is a great game that can withstand the scrutiny. DESIGN There's a lot of innovation in this game. My favorites are the main game mechanic, the overworld navigation, and the windy levels. The overworld consists of doors leading to levels, minigames, and bosses. Instead of static paths and chirps of like Super Mario World, this earlier game has overworlds built like miniature levels. In other words, you can use any of the abilities you have in each level in the overworld map. The windy levels remind me of parts of certain parts of DKC2: Diddy's Kong Quest. In the windy levels, wind pushes Kirby around, creating a bit of a challenge when navigating. It takes some skill to use the wind to your advantage, but it is definitely possible. The tone of this game is light, funny, and fluffy. The skit cutscenes had me laughing out loud; I like slapstick humor in games like this, and there's plenty of it in Kirby's Adventure. The cutscenes are also really cute and lend themselves to emphasizing the tone very well. There is also no blood-and-guts gore in this game, so it's approachable for people who have never played a game and are intimidated by the supposed violence. A major weakness of this game is that there is no multiplayer option. As such, this game does not innately support socialization. The only socialization might come from a group of gamers who have all played the game and like its music, graphics, or some other feature of the game. Even so, there is little chance for socialization during gameplay. Another weakness was the lagging during the game. The lagging had the potential to make the game frustrating because it was unpredictable when the lagging would start or stop. Although I recognize that this could be viewed as a shortcoming of the console, not the game, it does seriously hurt gameplay when it happens. Playing this game has given me a few ideas for my own project. If at all possible, I would like to create a multiplayer game. I would also like to not have any lagging. Increasing the number of enemies on-screen and increasing their difficulty would have helped this issue. I would also like to have players develop their abilities as the game progresses, rather than having most of the abilities available for use immediately. This would reward players for playing more. Finally, a good way to satisfy gamers' desires to play minigames more for my own project could be to wager lives in minigames, so there's some risk involved. That's it for this entry. Keep gaming! (This entry has been edited4 times. It was last edited on Mon, 14 Jan 2008 11:39:14.)Sun, 13 Jan 2008 19:57:45 CSThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=1604&iddiary=3421https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=1604Gamelog #1 Session #1 for CMPS 20 Start Time: 2:00 pm End Time: 3:00 pm Assignment due 1/14/08 SUMMARY Kirby, a pink puff of a hero, is a versatile, iconic video game character, and this is his first game. Developed by HAL Laboratory, Kirby's Adventure takes place in a fantasy world filled with characters as bouncy and whimsical as Kirby. Unfortunately for Kirby, in this game, all those bouncy characters other than himself are enemies. Luckily, Kirby is armed with a powerful weapon: himself. His body has the ability to copy the abilities of most of his enemies, and with that power, he will hop, bounce, fly, and imitate his enemies in order to restore the dreams of his friends in Dream Land. GAMEPLAY As far as my emotional response goes, I really enjoyed this game. The characters are simple and iconic, but they show an emotional complexity that is still not made use of in many state-of-the-art games. I probably enjoyed this game a little bit more than someone new to the Kirby franchise would; I was previously familiar with the main gameplay mechanic of absorbing enemies' abilities and with the main character, Kirby. The gameplay mechanic seems simple at first, but its complexity surfaces just watching the attract mode. All you do to get a new ability is to swallow an enemy who has that ability. You can also get rid of a currently adopted ability. Both of these actions are very easy to do. During the attract mode, many abilities are showcased: flame, freeze, parasol, sword, fireball. All of these abilities can be used within the first half hour of gaming. Although Kirby's friends have not yet appeared in the game as I'm writing this, the music stays upbeat and catchy so the player feels happy, not lonely. It's also fun to watch Kirby bounce around the screen, defeating enemies. It's even fun when he doesn't defeat an enemy; the gut reaction to losing isn't despair, just a hope of doing better next time. The story is very simple: retrieve pieces of the dream-giving Star Rod from bosses to give everyone in Dream Land dreams again. The story doesn't enter into the gameplay much, but this isn't really a bad thing. You do get a piece of a Star Rod from every defeated boss, but this is pretty much the only part of the story that's visible to a player. It's good that text doesn't dominate gameplay because Kirby's Adventure is an action-packed platform game; text would be distracting. There is only enough text to explain to the player what to do when the goal isn't obvious. The flow from one game world to the next, however, is practically non-existent. This isn't terrible; I didn't mind at all. I enjoyed seeing how Kirby would react to very new situations, and the action binds the game together by staying inherently the same throughout the game. The lack of flow is not severe enough to matter to me; it's only really noticeable if you stop to think about it. That's it for this entry. I will continue after I play some more. (This entry has been edited19 times. It was last edited on Mon, 14 Jan 2008 11:27:27.)Fri, 11 Jan 2008 18:13:38 CSThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=1604&iddiary=3323