Blogging the experience of gameplayhttps://www.gamelog.cl/gamers/GamerPage.php?idgamer=511https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=2951GAMEPLAY I played the game for another two hours or so, and I started to notice more things. First off, there is only one Hit Point(referred to as HP from now on) meter, and thats for Mario. I believe this to be a huge departure from other RPGs. And aside from one HP Meter, which isn't shared, there is a shared Flower Point (FP) Meter. The FPs serve the same idea as Magic Points. So instead of the other team members having an HP meter, if they are hit (which seems rare), the amount of damage they recieve puts them out for that number of turns. And where normally you can switch teammates during your turn, it is also disabled. I really havent liked having to share flower points with my partners. I wouldn't mind except I am given very little flower points. This was made, as best a guess as I have, so you have to really think whether its wise or not to use a certain special move. Because some of the special moves are really powerful. Especially the ones that attack multiple enemies at once. One thing I have enjoyed a lot is the different characters in the game. There are, at least up to the point in the game that I have played, five different sidekicks. There's Goombario, which is a good Goomba that's also one of Mario's biggest fans. He's also a know it all, so you can ask him about an enemy and from that point forward an HP meter will appear under that enemy. Second was Kooper, he's a good Koopa Troopa. His specialty is Mario can jump on him and he'll spin on his shell retrieving items that are just out of Mario's reach. Third to join the party was Bombette. She's a good Bomb-omb. Her specialty is being able to explode, and if done next to a wall with a crack, she'll blow a hole in the wall. Third to join the group was Para-Karry. He's a flying Koopa Troopa Mailman. His specialty, aside from delivering mail, is being able to carry Mario across gaps that are a certain distance. The most recent person to have joined my group was Bow, which is a good female boo. Her specialty is being able to make Mario transparent so no one can see him. These characters have made the game interesting to play because as I progress different puzzles are put in requiring the use of the different characters in a certain order. And because I like using characters that are normally associated as being on Bowser's side. DESIGN This game was made in typical Mario fashion. Where really bright colors are used. And the only places that a darker palette is used is where there is supposed to be a scary area, or where there is a mysterious area. Although some people don't like it, all the Mario games have shown that using the bright colors is in fact a winning element in the Mario Series. One thing I have come to appreciate about this game is that it really keeps the player interested. In fact, I ended up playing this game for six hours according to the game clock. But what the game does to keep the player interested is to immerse the player in the world. They do this by unfolding the story as you go. Initially you don't know what is going on. Or why the Star Rod is so powerful. But as you go you learn that it has the power to grant wishes. There is also alot of short term goals in the game. You have to ____ in order to do ___, or in order to acquire ____. All those short term goals kept me interested as the long term goal of defeating Bowser was looming. I feel like this game has a really upbeat feel to it. This is achieved through the use of the bright palette and the characters. The bright palette is something people associate with light, and light is usually associated with happiness. It is also achieved by having everything be in the day. I almost get the feeling that this game is taking place in the middle of summer. Only certain things take place in darker environments. And as I said earlier this is usually places that are meant to be scary, or mysterious. All in all, I really liked this game. But there are a couple of things I would change. 1) Make it so my team members have their own hit points. I don't like the fact that everyone goes for Mario. And this is only because he's the only one with HP. This sucks because once Mario runs out of HP, Game Over. I cant even use a revive or nothing. 2) Only two of my team can fight at a time. This really sucks because I have to face upwards of four bad guys at a time. I usually come out on top, but it sucks because they get four chances to attack me, where I only get one. But besides that, this was another well made game by Nintendo. Mario games have usually been associated with quality. And this game only adds to that reputation.Mon, 03 Mar 2008 04:42:00 CSThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=2951&iddiary=5577https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=2951SUMMARY In Paper Mario, the player controls Mario, the hero of the Mushroom Kingdom who must once again save Princess Peach from the claws of Bowser. Although this time Bowser has stolen the "Star Rod", which is whats used to grant wishes, and has locked up its seven wise star protectors. The only way for Mario to even remotly have a chance to beat Bowser is to free the Seven Stars and with their help face him. GAMEPLAY The people at Nintendo once again created a fun game with Paper Mario. Its the same basic story line as any other Mario Game, but in my opinion that doesn't make this game any less fun to play. Although I am wondering what kind of incompetent security Peach has, and why she hasn't invested in better security. But things don't necessarily have to make sense in a Gameworld. The story here follows a very similar story to Super Mario RPG. But deviates enough that the game can be seen as creative and not just a carbon copy of a previously successful game. It is similar in the fact that in game the player needs to locate seven star somethings. In Super Mario RPG, these somethings were Star Pieces, and in Paper Mario the somethings are Star Spirits. Also there's another similarity I noted. In Super Mario RPG, the Star Pieces were part of the Star Road which was needed to grant wishes. In Paper Mario, Bowser has stolen the Star Rod, which is what the Seven Star Spirits use to grant powers. I just thought that it would be nice to note these similarities in the story. I have really enjoyed the battles in this game. Its basically RPG Style fights. Where instead of fighting there and then, the screen changes, and the fights are turn based. I haven't really played many other RPG's, but I feel like this one has added a few things to make it unique. For one, you can only have one partner to fight with you at a time. In other RPG's I remember it being possible to fight with a party consisting of people that you decide belong in these parties. I could be wrong, but I remember some RPG's being your avatar and three other characters. A second thing is that you have timed hits. This makes it so that if you do a certain number of things, or thing timed right, your attack points momentarily increase, or your defense will increase momentarily. Depending on whether you are attacking or defending. Thats all I have for now. Mon, 03 Mar 2008 03:14:33 CSThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=2951&iddiary=5573https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=2666GAMEPLAY I played this game again, and once again was very happy with my experience. The way the story has progressed has been exciting. Initially I knew that an evil man was trying to take over the world, and was told the story about how the world was created and about the triforce. When I went to Princess Zelda, she told me more of the story, she told me that the triforce was stored in the Secret Realm. More of the story was revealed. But my main point is that I like how doing certain things leads to more of the story being revealed. This in a way can be seen as a sort of reward. While playing this game I felt pretty happy. Maybe its cause all the kids in Hyrule Forest only have smiles on their faces. Or cause all the citizens of Hyrule seem so happy. I don't know what it was about this game but it made me feel pretty happy. It could be cause everything seems so vibrant when Link is a kid. But this of course changes as he gets older. Hyrule looks ugly and destroyed. But beforehand I feel happy. I like how its pretty difficult to get lost. Every so often a giant owl will come along and tell you where to go next. And if you happen to be running around for a long time without doing nothing your little fairy guardian will remind you of what you are supposed to be doing or where you are supposed to be going. DESIGN I really think Nintendo did an excellent job with the camera in this game. It seems that they took Super Mario 64's camera, and improved it dramatically. Where SM64 would frustrate me with its camera Angles it seems that Zelda only makes me happy. It could also be that I don't need the camera in the same ways that I needed it in SM64. The tone of the Gameworld is initially happiness. Like I stated earlier, everyone and everything is happy. Dogs are running around, people are in the town center talking, there's a couple looking in love. Everyone is just happy. But as you progress and go seven years into the future, everything changes. The world goes from happiness to ugliness. There is no longer people hanging out in the town center, and to make things worse everything is destroyed. The game does a good job of conveying this by using alot of brown. Where everything was once full of life and color, seven years later in the game the town center is in ruins and full of dirt. As has become standard in my game logs, I shall summarize my likes and dislikes. First off the stuff I like: I love the camera. Its always, at least up to this point, where I want it to be. In fact, as I have been playing I have forgotten about the camera. Where in Super Mario 64 where I was constantly shifting the camera, here its like that set it and forget it infomercial. I also enjoy the "z-targeting". I have now come to believe that GTA:SA in fact took their targeting system from this very game. And if that is not the case, then Rockstar is years behind. But I enjoy being able to target a specific enemy and then killing him, or being able to fight multiple enemies at once without getting hurt too badly. It has also made the boss battles I;ve had so far a hell of a lot easier to finish. I like how this game took the puzzle elements of the original Zelda games, and brought them to the world of 3D. How you might ask do they bring into the 3D world. Well at least in the very first dungeon, the deku tree, you have to fall from the third floor onto a web covered hole on the first floor to break the web and access the basement floors. There you go, one puzzle in the bag. Some of my dislikes. Having to run across the land. It takes so long. Not having Epona really makes this portion slow. So I actually figured a way to traverse the gameworld faster. I use "z-targeting" and face perpendicular to the path I need to take. I then jump sideways which seems to be a hell of a lot faster. I don't think I should have gone through all this trouble. But aside from that I don't know anything else I haven't liked so far. It could very well be that that's my only obvious dislike. Because of this, I believe this game was very deserving of its perfect or near-perfect scores when it was reviewed back when it was released. Wed, 20 Feb 2008 02:10:52 CSThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=2666&iddiary=5058https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=2666SUMMARY "Legend Of Zelda: Ocarina Of Time" is an action-adventure game that has puzzle elements within its dungeons, and RPG elements in which you have to find stronger weapons and can equip or unequip weapons as you choose. The player controls Link, a kid from Hyrule Forest whose mission is to save the world. He must travel throughout Hyrule collecting the necessary items to battle the evil villain. GAMEPLAY First and foremost, this game is pretty cool. I remember a friend of mine, who is 28 now, telling me that this game single-handedly brought him back into the world of video games. Link is a very interesting character. From talking with the different Kokiri, basically children of the forest, Link is different from them. While everyone has a fairy guardian, he has none. And visually, everyone else has a greenish tint to their complexion, while Link doesn't. So he has been from the start different than all of them. But, it seems that Link is different because he is destined to save the world from evil from his birth. So he's been born with that mission. Until his mission in life was revealed did he get a fairy guardian. And to the "Kokiri" boss' disbelief. While playing this game thus far I have had a sense of exploration. I like trying to see what each map has to offer. So far since I've only been in Kokiri Forest and Hyrule Castle Town, thats all I've explored. But this game is so immense that not exploring would almost be like cheating oneself. As common with most of the games I've played thus far, one player mode is all thats offered. This means that although people can watch me play, they haven't the same sense of fun, or control as I have. So sadly, this experience has been a personal one. Sadly because this is a fun game for all. (This entry has been edited1 time. It was last edited on Wed, 20 Feb 2008 02:12:48.)Tue, 19 Feb 2008 21:24:41 CSThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=2666&iddiary=5043https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=2399GAMEPLAY The story driving this game is typical Mario Bros. Basically Bowser has kidnapped Princess Peach and its up to our hero Mario to save her. This is basically what every Mario Game has been; Saving Princess Peach. Although this game does make it interesting in having to collect stars in order to access different levels in search of the Princess. But here's a summary of some of the things I've enjoyed: The easy control Scheme. As I said in the last log, this control scheme is great. Its pretty reminiscint of Super Mario Bros on the NES where only A and B were used. I also believe that using the analog stick is the only way to play a 3D game like Super Mario 64, using the D-pad would be pretty ridiculous. How would I spin Bowser by the tail so nicely without the little stick? So the Control Scheme is wonderful. The different Caps. There's a Flying Cap, a invisibility/zero mass cap, and a metal cap. The flying cap makes it so you can fly. This is reminiscint of the leaf in Super Mario Bros 3, or the feather in Super Mario World. The invisibility/Zero Mass cap is a new feature, at least I dont remember seeing anything similar to it. You basically are invisible and can go through certain objects with this cap, be it walls, obstacles, or some enemies. With the Metal Cap, you become a metallic Mario with a high density. Metal Mario sinks when in water, doesn't get burned, doesn't get hurt, and doesn't need to breathe. This is important in certain areas, such as the gas maze (where breathing the gas depletes life) in one of the levels. Some of the things I haven't enjoyed so much: The Camera. As I stated earlier, and what still remains true, the camera angles suck sometimes. I'm told by the camera crew ingame that I have full control of the camera. If they are truly going to give me control of the camera, give me full 360 degree control. If I can't make the camera face how I want, then give me zero control. Otherwise all that arises is frustration. And that's happened a few times. The caps have have a limited time period. I was kinda dissapointed by this. But it does make sense. This is the first game to introduce a life system. Where before Mario could be hit depending on what item he had. If he had just a mushroom, he could get hit twice before dying. If he had fire or flying powers, he could get hit a max 3 times. This was of course assuming no items were used before. But now they are temporary. Although this adds a new element where a certain objective must be completed before the times up. But I still like being able to fly as I please. DESIGN First and foremost, this is a very well made game. The levels are all varied, and are interesting to play. There are levels in an ice world, water world, lava world, desert world, and combinations of these. There's also a level where you fight ghosts. The earlier levels had levels dedicated to certain elements, but as the game progresses these different levels are combined in certain ways. It could very well be that the first levels served as tutorials, or that as in any good game, they increased difficulty by combining different elements, or rules. Almost like in a game of emergence. The challenges have been good ones thus far. Each level, or course, is broken up into 6 challenges, seven if you count having to find 100 coins. There's races, having to find red coins, fighting sub-bosses, and other challenges according to the course. My favorite kind so far have been the ones where I get to punch stuff. Be it enemies, or objects. Aside from Camera angles, there isn't anything I would change about this game. Perhaps making it easier to get extra lives. Since chasing the 1-up mushrooms is a bit difficult. That and make it a two-player game. Sort of similar to Super Mario Bros 3, and Super Mario World. It would be kinda difficult though. Otherwise, I feel this game was solidly made. (This entry has been edited1 time. It was last edited on Fri, 08 Feb 2008 14:48:03.)Fri, 08 Feb 2008 14:38:44 CSThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=2399&iddiary=4567https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=2399SUMMARY In Super Mario 64, a 3D platformer, the player controls Mario, an italian plumber who must once again save Princess Peach from the clutches of Bowser (aka King Koopa) who has stolen all of the castles stars locking in all of its inhabitants. Mario must go into the castles different paintings, which have been transformed into portals to different worlds created by Bowser, and recover stars. Mario must recover enough stars to unlock different rooms, and ultimately enough to unlock Bowser's Room and save the princess. GAMEPLAY I started playing Super Mario 64 and it was like getting back on a bike. The control scheme is really easy, and kinda reminds of the old days of small sets of buttons to remember. A is to jump, B is to punch/kick, and Z is used to crouch. The C-controls are all used to control Laikitu who is news reporter covering your mission to save Princess Peach. Those are the basic controls, and there are a few advanced moves that is basically a combination of these buttons. The advanced moves are actually needed to beat certain levels. But the advanced moves are also fairly easy. Hold Z, then press A to long jump. Jump three times to super jump. There's a side jump. A back flip. A butt stomp. And the wall jump, which is basically jumping into a wall and pushing off to jump higher. I do remember as a kid feeling frustrated because some of these moves, especially the wall jump and long jump, were hard for me to master. But as I was playing it again, it felt really easy to access higher areas in any level with ease. Maybe it was all those hours of frustration that made it so easy now. Although I did like the control scheme, the camera angles could use a bit of fine tuning. I would prefer it to stay fixed behind my Mario's back for the most part. There are times that I like to take advantage of being able to peek around corners using the different camera angles. But other wise I would have preferred if the camera angle stayed fixed. The reason they have it floating around, well at least my best guess why, is that since Mario's journey is being recorded, the news crew wants to make it as cinematic and dramatic as possible, and having a fixed camera limits the dramaticness. So far though the game has been entertaining to play. Although this game seems really easy. That might have a lot to do with the countless hours I spent in my youth playing this game. So far all the stars in the beginning levels have been easy to collect. I'll write more as I play more. This is all for now.Fri, 08 Feb 2008 11:49:33 CSThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=2399&iddiary=4560https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=1685GAMEPLAY: This game has done a really good job of keeping me addicted in the 2+ hours I've played it. I have really enjoyed the rewards that this game never ceases to reap. I have literally dedicated my time to fully exploring each sector searching for anything that looks out of the ordinary, this could be a differently colored block, a crack on the floor, or two areas on a screen blocked off by a center wall. There have been times that I didn't have the right suit upgrade to get through, so I took note and returned to find my upgrade later when I had the right upgrade for it. Most of these upgrades have been for the missile carrying capacity, and an occasional life capacity enhancer. I don't believe this is a necessary in any way shape or form to finish the game, but it has made battling bosses and room monsters much, much easier. Maybe too easy, since my first real boss battle only took one try to beat. The one thing that I have disliked about this game is the story. There doesn't seem to be one aside from the first 10 minutes of gameplay. Since then I have not run across any references to the main story. Had I not sat through that introduction the first day, I could very easily think this is a treasure hunt. Where searching for upgrades is the reason Samus went to planet Zebes. So far this game has been really fun to play. I have yet to become fully stuck in any area. There have been times that I entered an area, and a door closes behind me, and I realize I must just continue forward and search for an exit elsewhere. This has been especially satisfying because I literally stopped playing Kingdom Hearts because I got stuck in one area for two days straight and decided to stop playing it all together. So I am especially pleased with this game for that factor where getting lost is not really an issue, an exit is usually a bomb ball, missile, or jump away. The player just has to learn to look for areas where to bomb stuff. DESIGN: I especially enjoyed the design of the levels. There is always a way out of anywhere as long as you look for it. This could be a very deep expedition into an area, or just searching for something out of the ordinary to blast. I also like that enemies keep re-appearing after exiting and re-entering a room, so if the player is low on health, he or she could very easily enter and exit a room to kill enemies and collect health regenerators. It does add some difficulty if the current weapon that Samus has doesn't do much for a certain enemy. So avoiding rooms has also become my practice until I can find weapon upgrades, or if I really need to enter it. As I have mentioned, I really love the rewards system. I love searching high and low for weapon upgrades, life upgrades, any upgrade. It makes feel a sense of satisfaction when my hard work spelunking through innards of Planet Zebes leads me to a higher missile carrying capacity or a new suit upgrade. In fact, this aspect of the game has replaced my initial desire to play it which was to see what a metroid was. This reward system also helps to deal with the harder enemies as the game has progressed which makes me feel not so overwhelmed in certain chambers. There is something I don't care much for in this game. More specifically the story line as I have mentioned before. I would have preferred a story where the Metroid Larva has been discovered to be somehow crucial to the survival of the universe. So when it is stolen by the Evil-Purple dragon, Samus gives chase only to be shot down in Planet Zebes where she crash lands, and everything but her basic suit is scattered around Planet Zebes upon impact. She must at once locate all her missing suit pieces in order to recover the Metroid Larva and save the universe. This would also give way for an introductory level where Samus must use all her weapons to get through the Space Colony. Although this introductory level would remove all sense of surprise I have encountered at locating certain weapons. Although this would also eliminate the initial frustration I felt when playing this game, which was the controls. (This entry has been edited5 times. It was last edited on Tue, 15 Jan 2008 00:58:55.)Tue, 15 Jan 2008 00:21:28 CSThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=1685&iddiary=3667https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=1685SUMMARY: In Super Metroid (a side scrolling platformer), the player controls Samus Aran, a bounty hunter that (from what I gathered from the intro) needs to recover a baby metroid (some type of alien life form) stolen by an evil-looking purple dragon. The game takes place on Planet Zebes, and the player must build Samus' suit up from upgrades scattered (by whom?) around the aforementioned planet. The main object of the game is to search Planet Zebes for the stolen metroid larva, but in order to do so the player must find the suit upgrades required to reach areas not accessible otherwise. GAMEPLAY: When you start a new game you're given some back story by Samus herself. This was very helpful for me since I have never played the precursors of Super Metroid, and made me feel like I wasn't going to miss out on something because of it. In a sense it helped throw me into the world of Metroid. You begin the game on a space colony where a distress signal was sent by scientists studying a Metroid larva. This was sent shortly after what I can only assume was the end of Metroid 2. Eerie music plays in the background as you explore the ship, leading to a sense of caution. Going through the ship you discover an evil-looking purple dragon waiting to battle, and it escapes with the Metroid!!! It is now your job to recover the Metroid. And Planet Zebes is the first stop. I got through playing Super Metroid for an hour, and it was a bit frustrating initially. There's no tutorial that shows you how to control Samus, or anything that provides insight on the controller layout (well aside from the options to change the layout), so I found myself having to experiment a bit at first. Maybe its just me, but I would have preferred if it had an introductory level introducing the control scheme similar to the one in Half-Life. The reason that there is no tutorial could be because this game has a simple control scheme -- shoot is X, run is B, and jump is A -- but I would have preferred to have known at the onset what button corresponded to whatever action. I don't know what Y does and I blame it on the lack of a crash-course. I did find myself pressing B when I wanted to jump, which led me to lose more health that I should have initially, I started to think that this wasn't a very intuitive button placement for jump, but then I remembered that holding B to dash makes long jumps easier (ala Super Mario Bros for NES) than holding A to dash then awkwardly pressing B, but seeing as how I didn't discover that I could dash until much later, it felt odd at first. I did like having to look for the suit upgrades and learning where and how to use them. I always felt really good when I went out of my way to explore a room, and be rewarded with a map layout of the area. I also felt really rewarded when I discovered that different weapons unlock different areas according to the door color. In fact I felt that this game kept reaping rewards. If the player doesnt have 99 health, or the max number of missiles, then any enemy kill gives you any items that would replenish low stocks. So if you are player that likes to be rewarded, this game is definitely for you. I found it pretty cool to know I was playing as a female. I didnt know this until I died, the suit broke apart, and out popped a girl in a black two-piece bikini. It was pretty funny when I saw this, and whoever thought of this was a genius. I can imagine the sense of shock, when this twist was presented in the Original Metroid. I can imagine this being somewhat similar to finding out Darth Vader was Luke Skywalker's father. Sadly though this game is a solitary confinement. Just you and the game, no room for outsiders. But then again this is also genius, since its just Samus and no one else that can recover the Metroid larva, and this feeling is felt by the player and his solitude. (This entry has been edited3 times. It was last edited on Tue, 15 Jan 2008 00:58:30.)Mon, 14 Jan 2008 01:48:08 CSThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=1685&iddiary=3497