zontan's GameLogBlogging the experience of gameplayhttps://www.gamelog.cl/gamers/GamerPage.php?idgamer=568Nights: Journey of Dreams (Wii) - Thu, 06 Mar 2008 03:59:44https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=3166GAMEPLAY: Alright, so it turns out NiGHTS is a guy. They called him 'he'. Who knew? I swear his voice is female. But whatever. Probably not important. On a different note, I beat not only that mission but that entire world, and got the White Ideya- which represents Purity, I think. I could be wrong. But yay. Go me. NiGHTS is actually considerably more versatile than I originally thought he was. Turns out he can become a boat, and a dolphin. And probably other stuff later. It's kinda random, but I like it. Makes the gameplay interesting. When you enter a level, you never really have any idea at all what you'll be asked to do. And besides, every game needs some measure of randomness in it, just because. Honestly, I seriously think I haven't played enough of this game to really talk about its gameplay. Every other level something new is thrown at you, and sometimes that completely changes things. Other times it just modifies what you were doing before. But it manages to keep it interesting. I approve. DESIGN: Just by looking at it, you can tell that a lot of NiGHT's design was put into how it looked. The worlds look awesome. Their art budget is way bigger than mine. Mainly because my game doesn't have an art budget. It sucks. Anyway, the game looks incredible. And that's only a small part of the level design. Making 3D worlds, even with only 2D cardinality, is no easy task. Especially when that 2D path changes every time you accomplish an objective. Also, it has characters! Most games, you hear about how they have an awesome story. Well, so far I'm not too interested in the story of this game. I'm interested in the characters. They're awesome and they have backgrounds and personalities and I love it. I want to know who NiGHTS is, why he's helping, what his relation is with the bad guy (who looks like a male version of NiGHTS. Yes, I know NiGHTS is a guy. He looks female, we already went over this). And the voice acting is excellent, and there are cutscenes before every single mission. Not just each world, but each mission. It's awesome. I likes. In short, this game intrigues me. It is quite possibly the first game I've played where I didn't play it just to beat it, or to do everything in it (Yes, I'm a completionist. So sue me). I find I want to play this game because I want to learn more about it. It intrigues me. And the fact that it intrigues me intrigues me more. Savvy?Thu, 06 Mar 2008 03:59:44 CSThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=3166&iddiary=5986Nights: Journey of Dreams (Wii) - Thu, 06 Mar 2008 02:24:14https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=3166SUMMARY: NiGHTS takes place in the world of dreams, Nightopia. You play as one of two main characters, either a boy or a girl, as they explore this dreamworld, which is on the verge of being taken over by the Nightmarens and the world of Nightmare. There to help you out is NiGHTS, a whimsical jester-like creature who you can control as he/she/it traverses the various levels accomplishing various tasks, all in search of the missing Ideya (pronounced eye-day-ah) that apparently all dreamers have but you lost, and must get back to save the world. Theirs, not ours. Or maybe both, I'm not sure yet, I haven't played that much. Confused yet? Yeah, well, bear with me. GAMEPLAY: For most of the levels (every level I've played so far, though I hear there are walking levels as well), you take control of NiGHTS (through some rather Dragonball-Z-esqe fusion ability NiGHTS apparently has) and control him/her/it... look, I don't know what gender NiGHTS is. Let's call it a her for the time being, because that's what he/she- whatever's voice sounds like. Sound good? Great. Anyway, you control her as you loop and fly through the levels, in a world that looks 3D but is really a 2D path on rails. You have a strange looping vacuum ability that you use as an attack- NiGHTS leaves a trail behind her as she flies, and if you make a complete circle with it, it makes a bubble that is simultaneously capable of defeating enemies and sucking up various powerup objects. Or, for most enemies, you can just grab an enemy and swing around it once, which accomplishes the same looping attack and is far easier to pull off. But let's talk about things being easy to pull off, shall we? There are letter grades on each mission, and so far I've never been able to pull off anything above a C because it's darn hard to pull off anything at all. I'm currently stuck on something like the third level because I have to save innocent little cotton-ball people from being sucked into a black hole by sucking them up with that looping attack and it's really frigging hard to pull off. And if five of them are sucked in, you lose and have to start over. And though it's structured kind of like Mario 64 in that there are various worlds, each with multiple missions in them, it insists you do them in a certain order, and therefore I cannot move on until I beat this one frustrating level. I call this bad game design, how about you? But aside from the frustration of controlling NiGHTS, it actually turns out to be rather fun. I mean, flying through a brilliantly colored world where you can do anything is everyone's dream, right? Or, at the very least, flying in 2D cardinality is this game's dream- world. Alright, I'll stop making bad jokes. But until I got stuck, I was enjoying myself. So perhaps I'll give it another go. (This entry has been edited1 time. It was last edited on Thu, 06 Mar 2008 02:45:25.)Thu, 06 Mar 2008 02:24:14 CSThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=3166&iddiary=5904Super Mario Galaxy (Wii) - Thu, 21 Feb 2008 04:54:38https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=2793GAMEPLAY: Huzzah. My faith in the Mario series has been restored. Turns out I was right to give them the benefit of the doubt- after the first observatory dome, the levels get considerably more interesting. Apparently they did actually have competent level designers. It's still Super Mario 64 in space- there's no point in even trying to deny that. But they have introduced enough new things for me to keep my interest even though they're using the same tired old plot again and again. Gameplay got significantly more interesting in the second and third observatory domes, including everything from blowing Mario around in a bubble to turning into a Boo to racing through space by pulling yourself along with Pull Stars. I became interested once again. Also, I actually got a plot piece- the Princess Peach look-alike, Rosalina, seems to actually have a story behind her. I am intrigued, because I really don't know anything at all about her and her Luma friends (the Luma are a race of little star people). However, I did notice some issues with it, as well- particularly in the controls and handling. It could be argued that Super Mario Galaxy comes as close to 3D cardinality as any game ever has. It's not just move around flat plane and jump. It's move around sphere, jump, get attracted to some other object's gravity field, and suddenly you're upside-down. Unfortunately, the Wiimote and Nunchuk are not really designed to handle 3D cardinality, and thus there are some control issues where it's hard to tell exactly which way I ought to tilt the controls stick to make Mario go where I want him to. Also, the camera is independent, and while you can override it to some degree with the control pad, it's a little awkward to actually do so, so occasionally there are camera issues. So far it's just cases of times when the camera won't point in the direction I want it to. I haven't seen any actual camera glitches yet, which is good. Another major thing I noticed about the gameplay: It's a Mario game. It probably does have a difficulty curve, but I hardly notice it. Especially on bosses, where I expect them to be difficult and then they're not. In my personal opinion, if a boss doesn't kill you the first time you face him, something is wrong with the boss. But this is merely a personal preference on my part- I simply prefer games which present a greater challenge than this one does. I am sure there are other people who would find Super Mario Galaxy to be just difficult enough for them. DESIGN: The basic design of the game seems to be centered around one idea: "Lol. We have gravity. What kind of crazy stuff can we do with it?" Answer: Lots of crazy stuff. In some cases, gravity is completely arbitrary and makes a 180 degree switch if you cross a certain point. Places like these will have arrows on the walls showing which way gravity is pointing where, though, just so it isn't completely impossible. There are other places where if you cross to a wall at a certain point, it becomes the floor- anywhere else and it's still a wall. Many other places are simply miniature planets, a simple sphere that you can stand anywhere on. Other times it's disks where you can be rightside up or upside down. And every so often it's platforms where if you walk off the edge you die. Usually this is shown with corners- if there is a corner, you'll fall off. If the edge is rounded, you can walk on it. Although this is not an absolute rule, it's pretty reliable. Level design was also a big thing in this game, because it has so many levels and they're all completely different. I've been in a beehive, a haunted house, a space junkyard, a mountain riddled with cannons, a figure-eight track of water suspended in midair, and a place that was essentially a giant bowl. Each level manages to have its own feel to it, while still remaining in the same style so they don't seem out of place being together in the same game. This is probably far harder to do than it sounds, and is definitely an integral part of level design- making levels that are different enough to be interesting, yet close enough that they don't violently clash with each other. Super Mario Galaxy does this quite well, I think. And this is probably the thing I'm going to think about when I make my own game, which has levels of its own, but rather lacks a complicated 3D gravity engine.Thu, 21 Feb 2008 04:54:38 CSThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=2793&iddiary=5480Super Mario Galaxy (Wii) - Thu, 21 Feb 2008 02:37:28https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=2793SUMMARY: In the latest installment of the Mario series, Mario has finally headed out to the final frontier: outer space. Princess Peach has been kidnapped (again) and it's up to Mario to save her. Trouble is, this time Bowser has a spaceship. Mario ought to get one of those. But since he doesn't have one, he is once again up to his old tricks of platforming through various planets and galaxies in search of Power Stars. GAMEPLAY: Super Mario Galaxy's opening cutscene is suspiciously familiar. A letter from Princess Peach brings Mario to her side, only to have the party interrupted by Bowser's untimely arrival and kidnap of Princess Peach. Mario tags along, but is quickly found and blasted into deep space. In an amazing lack of oxygen deprivation, he wakes up on another planet and is told by a Princess Peach look-alike that he must go to various galaxies in search of Power Stars to save the princess. Have you noticed it yet? Yup, it's Super Mario 64. In space. Almost down to the last plot device. I'm sure we're supposed to be very impressed with your gravity engine, Nintendo, but that's not an excuse to make the same game twice. After playing for about an hour and a half, I've beaten the first bowser challenge and have unlocked the next observatory, but I can't help but already be bored. It's standard-issue Mario platforming. They've added in a few new tricks, like sections where gravity is by no means fixed and you'll find yourself on the ceiling very easily, and the levels have changed from planes to spheres, but I can't help feeling like I've done it before. What new content there is they use well- but there's not nearly enough of it. Not to say that the game is bad- it's a standard Mario game, and they're almost never bad. And certainly if you've never played Super Mario 64 it will be a new experience for you. And I can give it the benefit of the doubt for now- it's entirely possible that the first set of galaxies are the easy ones, and it will get better in later galaxies. And the one bonus mission I played- Rocky Road in the Sweet Sweet Galaxy- was genuinely challenging and I liked it. So the game definitely has potential. But we'll see. Perhaps I shall find new challenges in the second observatory.Thu, 21 Feb 2008 02:37:28 CSThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=2793&iddiary=5431Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn (Wii) - Sat, 09 Feb 2008 03:25:48https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=2542GAMEPLAY For a game where losing even a single unit means Game Over, your units die way too frigging fast. Especially in levels where even in a defensive position, three units are exposed to enemy attack- Sothe and Nolan are fine. Sothe dodges everything and Nolan has enough HP that he can't be oneshotted, and can thus be healed every round. But who to put in the third slot? Edward? Tried that. Enemy walks up to him. Smacks him for 17 damage when he has 20 HP. Second enemy walks up behind first enemy. He has a Javelin, range two. Loldeath. Leonardo? He has better defense than Edward, but he has a bow. Which means no counterattacking. Which means bad guys walk up to him and he becomes utterly useless. Micaiah? She has magic. Range one or two. She can counterattack. She has magic. Meaning she's a mage. Mages die. End result: Game Over. It's frustrating to all hell and I'm just about ready to say "screw it." I really, really want to know what's going to happen in the story- especially after playing Path of Radiance- but if I die five times on every single level, it's not worth it. I don't care how good their story is, I'm not going to like it if I have to spend an hour repeatedly dying between every piece of it. On a completely different side note, I found Ilyana, a thunder mage, also from the previous game. Didn't use her much either. (*cough*Soren*cough*) And I found Aimee, who was the weapons merchant from the previous game. Wasn't expecting to run into her. I suspect that by the time the game is finished, I'll have pretty much everyone from Path of Radiance again. And there were like forty of them. Fire Emblem gives you a lot of units to work with. But not in the beginning, and it won't matter if every time a unit dies it's Game Over. In the last game it was only Game Over if Ike, the main character, died. Now it's everyone. Great. I should stop complaining, as you've probably already gotten the point. I'm still annoyed at it, though. DESIGN The level design of Fire Emblem is actually surprisingly diverse, considering how little it actually has to work with. Each level is just a combination of tilesets, after all. But with several possible goals (getting a certain character to the end, getting all character to the end, defeating the boss, or defeating everyone), and sometimes a time limit, and some tiles where you can step and some tiles where you can't, it manages to remain interesting. But just as much time is spent off the battlefield- Fire Emblem cutscenes are long. Always have been. If you play it, prepare for a lot of reading. But that's the style that Fire Emblem chooses for its games and I personally enjoy that style. It allows for a detailed story and intricate character relationships- which are furthered by Fire Emblem's support system, which, at least among the games I have played, is unique. The ability to have your units talk to each other (either on or off that battlefield, depending on which game you're playing- haven't found out for this one yet, I've hardly done anything), and for them to actually have reasonable conversations and then get stat benefits for doing so is a very interesting idea, and as a roleplayer, I approve of it. Relationships are good. Plus it provides a wonderful way to get to know all the characters- or at the very least, your favorites (Lethe). Have I mentioned that Lethe is awesome? Yes? Oh. Well, I'm doing it again. The difficulty could use some fixing, though. I'm playing on 'Normal' (and the only modes available the first time through are 'Easy' and 'Normal'), and I'm having forementioned dying problem. Your units are far too death-prone in the beginning and they get oneshotted far too often. It's very frustrating. Sigh. And on that note, I'm going to bed. Ciao.Sat, 09 Feb 2008 03:25:48 CSThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=2542&iddiary=4891Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn (Wii) - Sat, 09 Feb 2008 02:06:03https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=2542SUMMARY Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn takes place three years after the end of Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance for the GameCube. It assumes you won and that Daein has been defeated. In a rather interesting twist, the Begnion Empire, your ally in Path of Radiance, is now the enemy, as their occupation of Daein is by no means benevolent. You start out controlling the members of the Dawn Brigade, a group of Daein rebels who are trying to do what they can to make life better for the commoners of Daein and more of a hassle for Begnion. One of these members is Sothe, who was a very minor character in Path of Radiance (I never used him, ever- Volke is cooler). The other main member is Micaiah, who has the ability to heal allies with a touch by taking their wounds herself. She also knows how to speak the ancient language of the heron tribe. I am intrigued. The other three members are Edward, a Myrmidion (a swordmaster with cool critical things), Nolan, a fighter, and Leonardo, an archer. GAMEPLAY Radiant Dawn is a typical example of the Fire Emblem series. A turn-based strategy game in which you control a set of units, each with different abilities and weapons, and you can move them on the map and fight enemies. Each time you attack an enemy, you get to attack, and they they get to counterattack. (If your character is fast enough, you might get a second attack. Too slow, and they enemy gets two). The major thing that separates Fire Emblem from a lot of other games of its genre is that each character has a name, a personality, a piece in the plot, a death quote... as such, you become attached to all of them. For most true Fire Emblem fans, losing even a single unit is unacceptable and requires a restarting of the level. Unfortunately in this particular one, at the beginning you only have five characters- and they're all essential members of the Dawn Brigade. Losing a single one means Game Over. This is incredibly annoying when only two of them (Nolan and Sothe) are tough enough to survive more than two or three hits. And then your newest ally, Laura, can't even survive one. And if you accidentally leave her within range of an enemy, they will ALWAYS go for her. I've lost three times already and I'm only on the third mission. It doesn't help that the mission is completely impossible unless you figure out that your units can block one of the ledge accessways to where you start and still be considered two spaces away from the bad guys- and thus out of range. This, I might add, is not mentioned anywhere- you just have to figure out before you die enough times to be completely frustrated. Which brings up the next point- a complete lack of a tutorial. The game jumps straight into missions. No explanation of controls (although there's a helpful button function bar at the bottom), no practice fights, nada. Just boom, bandits. Go kill. Instead, everything you would usually learn in a tutorial is in the unusually thick instruction booklet- which I'm pretty sure no one except me reads. While this does allow you to theoretically get straight into the game, I do not think it is an improvement- you're likely to have to resort to the manual instead, or just die because of the aforementioned quirky terrain rules that aren't explained anywhere. Apart from this, it's still a Fire Emblem title. The story is sure to be epic (what I've seen shows the usual good writing of the series), the music is good, the opening cutscene is stupendously awesome, and it has lots of voice acting. Yay voice acting. Now give me Lethe, she's my favorite character. Excuse me while I go beat enough of the game to get her to join me.Sat, 09 Feb 2008 02:06:03 CSThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=2542&iddiary=4828Final Fantasy XII (PS2) - Sat, 26 Jan 2008 02:47:24https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=2171GAMEPLAY Alright, story things have happened. Yay. We're now off to get a Dawn Shard. I'm not sure what a Dawn Shard is, but apparently it can prove Princess Ashe is Princess Ashe. Technically Princess Ashe is supposed to be cooped up with the Marquis, nice and safe, but in another totally NOT cliched move, she decides to go wandering off on her own. Actually, she decides to try to steal Balthier's ship. So we end up tagging along. Well, technically we kidnapped her. That's the official story, anyway. And now I'm in a rather annoying area that has a save and restoration point at the very beginning, and then far too many battles afterward. People keep getting KOed. And then I run out of Pheonix Downs. And then they get Silenced, so they can't cast Cure. And I run out of Silence fixer-uppers and it NEVER WEARS OFF! Argh! So I have to go all the way back to the beginning! And all the enemies respawn! So I have to do it all over! Gah! Sigh. I feel like I'm probably going to be doing a whole lot of this. Consider it training, since I don't think I'm as a high a level as I'm supposed to be. Judging by the fact that the guest I got is four levels higher and utterly pwns everything. Sigh. My peoples die far too easily. I suppose that's to be expected in a game where death isn't even close to permanent, what with Pheonix Downs and full-restore save points, but it's still annoying. Especially when Pheonix Downs are expensive and the save points are far away. So I'm kind of frustrated at this point. But I'll keep playing. I'm sure I'll beat it eventually. DESIGN I like the new and innovative design things in FFXII. The License and Gambit system are new and original and interesting, and fiddling with them and deciding what to get and what to tell my party to do is a new mechanic that I've never done before. It makes for interesting new choices and new strategies, which makes me think and helps keep the game interesting, which I approve of. Unfortunately, there are limits to the Gambit system (especially since I have to buy all the Gambit targets before I can use them, and I have yet to find the 'Foe with lowest HP' target, which annoys me), and sometimes the AI has a bad habit of randomly switching targets, or attacking one foe until he's almost dead and then ignoring him completely, which is when I have to step in and say, 'No, you stupid moron, kill the almost dead guy before attacking the full HP one!' Also, you can't control the actions of the guest character at all, and sometimes he'll go and do something stupid and get himself killed. On the whole, though, I like the design. It turns what might have just been 'another Final Fantasy game' into something that's new that hasn't been done before. Also included in design, I suppose, is the narrative feel of the game, a classic of the FF series. It probably isn't a good thing for everyone, but I like it. The cutscenes help tell the story very well, even if you can't control what happens in them. It's a classic example of railroading, but I don't really mind, if it helps the game tell an actual story. Some other people might, but then, they shouldn't play FF games. Alright, I think that's it for this GameLog. Time for me to go to bed.Sat, 26 Jan 2008 02:47:24 CSThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=2171&iddiary=4355Final Fantasy XII (PS2) - Fri, 25 Jan 2008 22:21:42https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=2171SUMMARY FFXII is a fantasy adventure-RPG set in a fantasy world whose name I have forgotten, but mostly in the country of Dalmasca, which has been conquered by the Empire (because that isn't cliched at all). You play first as Vaan, a young thief from Dalmasca's capital, an orphan with dreams of being a sky pirate. Soon you are joined by five other party members (which is probably the maximum, judging by the amount of space in the menu and save screen). There's Balthier and Fran, who are actual sky pirates with rather large prices on their heads, Penelo, Vaan's childhood friend, Basch, a supposed traitor, and Ashe, the unrecognized princess of Dalmasca. None of which is cliched. AT ALL. It's only the 12th Final Fantasy, so clearly they must have made up all-new ideas, right? Anyway, your little group is off to save the world. Or at least your part of it. There's a whole lot of political intrigue and backstabbing and all that lovely stuff, most of which I don't fully understand. And I really don't have that much idea of where the game will go, which is pretty typical of a game this massive. But I'll certainly stick around for the ride. GAMEPLAY Though the plot may be cliched, Final Fantasy excels, as always, in its storytelling. It had loads of beautiful cutscenes that seem to pop up every five minutes, and voice acting. Yay voice acting. In the game itself, during those times that you are in control, all you really have to do is run around and fight things, but loads of games have gotten away with that. There are occasionally other things to do (like one section where you have to run around spreading rumors to get the attention of the people in charge), but for the most part what you're doing is battling the wide array of monsters the world throws at you. Not to mention Imperial Guards, bounty hunters, and Sand People. Unless Star Wars trademarked that, in which case they're called something else. But the fighting is certainly new and interesting. Unlike the traditional Final Fantasy style of turn-based battles, FFXII does its battles in real time. It's still feels turn-based, because all you do is select an action, wait for the bar to fill up (how fast it does so depends on the speed of the character), and then the character will do whatever it is you told them to do. But really, you don't have to tell the characters anything at all. You can use Gambits. Instead of resorting to AI, you can give each character a list of commands paired with conditions for when to do them. Once you get enough Gambit slots, your characters can perform very intricate strategies without you ever having to tell them to do anything. Another new thing is Licenses and License Points. You get LP (License Points) whenever you kill monsters, and you use them to unlock everything. Armor proficiencies, weapon proficiencies, item proficiences, magic, techniques, new Gambit slots, HP bonuses, MP bonuses, extra damage, new abilities, everything. Each character has a sort of map of abilities, and they start with a few, and you can buy any ability that's next to an unlocked ability. And when you buy it, the ones next to it unlock. Thus, every single character is completely customizeable and all of them can do pretty much everything. With an intricate, interesting story, and the previously mentioned cutscenes, playing a Final Fantasy game makes you feel like you're in a book. Which is just what they're going for. It rather limits what the player actually gets to do, but if you like games that tell great stories, Final Fantasy is the best one out there. So sit back and watch.Fri, 25 Jan 2008 22:21:42 CSThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=2171&iddiary=4144The Legend of Spyro: The Eternal Night (Wii) - Mon, 14 Jan 2008 04:35:20https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=1695GAMEPLAY: Well, I finally met the Chronicler in person, and he actually did tell me all I wanted to know. And I didn't even have to punch him. What did he tell me? Well, play the game and you'll find out. I'm not saying anything. Suffice to say that the Eternal Night is bad, and the Dark Master is more badass than I thought he was. About the gameplay now... well, remember when I said twenty enemies at once was hard? That's nothing. I hit the final dungeon and the difficulty about doubled. There were monsters that were invisible, monsters that teleported, monsters that buffed the other monsters, monsters that came back as skeletons when you killed them and had to be killed again, monsters that could only be damaged by a specific element... not to mention waves and waves of sub-boss level monsters, platforming in rooms so dark that it was basically jumping blind and hoping you hit that one patch of darkness that was darker than the rest, and one misstep meant a fall to your doom. Needless to say, it was intense. After the last major battle before the boss, when I finally beat it I had to just sit there for like thirty seconds, take a couple of deep breaths, and go, "Holy crap." Another major thing about the final dungeon: I finally noticed the music. It was epic. There is no other word for it. Dark and scary and speaking of impending doom... and in the chamber just before the boss, filled with nothing but a massive statue of the Dark Master himself, it swelled into a massive orchestral melody that just hit you and made you just stop and listen and watch in awe. It was epic. And then there was the boss battle itself. Introduced by a movie-quality cutscene, it was against the toughest boss I've faced in any game in a while. That's what I like about Spyro bosses. They are not the type that say, "I have no will to live, here is my weak point, hit it now." This boss had no weak point. It had no massive period of time where it just stood there and let you hit it. It had a period of maybe two seconds where it was safe enough to approach it without getting whacked. If you were lucky, you got in four hits. About an eighth of its health bar. And then, when you finally got rid of its health bar, just like Cynder before him, it completely refilled and you moved onto phase two. Which was also epic, but I'm not going to spoil it. And then phase three, which was incredibly awesome, even if it was incredibly easy. The first two phases more than made up for it. The only thing that minorly detracted from this dungeon was a few problems with the camera and it not wanting to go where I wanted it to go, making one major fight a bit harder than it was already. But other than that, I detected no flaws. A few things that were really, really hard, but nothing that was bad (although with the number of times I died, it might prove to be frustrating to some people, especially ones that aren't too good at video games). In short, the ending was epic. I've been saying that word a lot because it's TRUE, damnit. I'm just waiting impatiently now for the final game in the trilogy, where I have almost no doubt that we'll be facing the Dark Master himself. Bring it on. DESIGN: What I think is most unique about the design of the game is the idea of upgradeable breath weapons, as well as how Spyro approaches the idea of different elemental breaths. Most games that use elemental attacks have some kind of system where each specific enemy is weak or strong against each particular element. Spyro ignores this- you can use whatever element you like against whatever enemies you like, for the most part (occasionally, there were enemies that could only be hurt by one element. However, all these enemies were nice enough to be color coded). What differs is that each elemental breath is vastly different, used in a different way and useful in different situations. Each breath has two different styles, the breath weapon itself and some kind of elemental strike. For example, the fire breath weapon was the simplest- a simple cone-shaped burst of flame that did decent damage and damage over time, but the most important use of the fire breath was that it made enemies flinch away- and that could be vital to staying alive when Spyro is surrounded. The ice breath shot an ice ball that exploded on contact with anything, freezing any enemies it touched solid, removing them from the fight until they broke out, or making them into convenient targets. The electric breath was also a ball, but it shot out and rolled, shocking anyone it touched for minimal damage, until you pressed the button again to detonate it, at which point it shocked anyone nearby and catapulted them into the air, from which they fell prone and could be whacked. The earth breath was a ball and chain connected to Spyro, which could be swung around, whacking enemies nearby. However, it consumed magic incredibly quickly. I found a it far more useful to take advantage of the forceful way it emerged- using it over and over again quickly instead of holding it out could wear down even the toughest monsters incredibly quickly, though it drained magic just as fast. The elemental strikes were just as diverse, from turning Spryo into a jetting fireball or a spinning electric cyclone, to knocking enemies away or smashing them into the air for an aerial combo. Deciding when to use which breath was most of the strategy in the game, and mastering it was the only way to stay alive towards the end. The breaths are also upgradeable, as I mentioned before. There are four types of crystals in the game- red recovers health, green recovers mana, purple fills your Fury Meter, and blue acts almost like expereince that you can use to increase the power of your breath. Each elemental breath can be upgraded three times, each time making it not only look cooler, but be more effective. This is also unique to Spyro, I believe, and it is more interactive than some sort of arbitrary leveling system. Other than that, however, the game is a fairly standard action-adventure game, albeit with far above average dialogue and pretty good music. It just switches the normal sword and shield for a dragon's claws, teeth, wings, and elemental breath. It has a very steep difficulty curve, and at the end it is incredibly hard- hard enough that I wouldn't be surprised if quite a few people gave up in frustration. But persistence eventually pays off, and for me, even when I die, the combat is incredibly fun, possibly because it's so difficult and I have to be fast and clever to win, even with the powerful Fury Attacks in my reportoire. The game probably isn't for everyone, as a lot of people probably wouldn't be able to beat it, and there are other, easier games out there in this genre. But if you enjoy a challenge and can appreciate humor (and a love of dragons won't hurt either), then it's a great game and you should check it out. Though I recommend playing through A New Beginning first, as this game will be quite a bit more confusing if you haven't played it.Mon, 14 Jan 2008 04:35:20 CSThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=1695&iddiary=3568The Legend of Spyro: The Eternal Night (Wii) - Sun, 13 Jan 2008 19:29:19https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=1695SUMMARY: The Legend of Spyro: The Eternal Night is the continuation of the story of Spyro's beginning, started in the game The Legend of Spyro: A New Beginning on the Gamecube. In it, you play as a young Spyro, the foretold purple dragon that is master of all the elements, instead of just one. He is still learning how to use his powers, and as you go through the game you unlock new, upgradeable breath weapons to dish out more pain on the game's many enemies as you try to find out what is going on, guided by your mentors and a mysterious entity calling itself the Chronicler. GAMEPLAY: ***Spoiler alert: If you haven't played A New Beginning and you don't want to know, don't read this.*** The game starts off right where you left off from the last game: You've defeated Cynder, releasing her from the control of the Dark Master, and she's reverted back to your size and relative harmlessness. Kinda. Except that she might have succeeded in summoning the Dark Master, which is probably bad news. Oh, and it turns out she's your sister. Go figure. Anyway, in a rather convenient Dues Ex Machina, the final fight stripped you of all your powers. Sucks for you. Cynder, feeling like an outcast, is leaving, and Spyro is dropping unconscious at inconvenient times so a dude calling himself the Chronicler that speaks through dreams can teach him his abilities again. Needless to say, Spyro is confused and so am I. I found the story itself interesting, as it immediately made me want to know more, as I've played for several hours and I'm still not entirely sure what the Chronicler's motives are or what's going to happen. The breath weapons are new and interesting- like the earth breath, which manifests a glowing green ball and chain from Spyro's mouth that he can spin around and whack his enemies with. And Spyro's ultimate attacks, the Fury Attacks, still look totally kickass and I am a huge fan of attacks looking kickass. And killing everything in the room, which is useful. Cynder leaving kind of disappointed me, since I like her better than Spyro because my favorite character is usually the main female lead or supporting character, provided she's cool enough. And Cynder is cool enough, she was a frikking hard boss fight. Later, unfortunately, she gets kidnapped, which is so cliched. Sigh. The writing and voice acting is as good as ever, Spyro's loyal companion dragonfly Sparks still being as witty as ever. He's one of the few video game characters that can actually make me laugh. Most games like this have subpar writing, mostly being 'Go there, do this, rescue the princess, good job'. Spyro's characters have actual personalities and I like that. Because it's voice acting, you don't get to choose what Spyro says, but that's not really a bad thing. The fighting is also good, as nothing is more fun than hitting your enemy a few times, tossing him up into the air, and then jumping up and whacking him like six more times in midair, before smashing him halfway across the level into his buddy. Except perhaps using the flame breath and watching them run around with their butts on fire, which is always amusing. It's also fairly difficult, since it gets to the point where the game is sending twenty enemies at you at once, and Spyro's health bar isn't all that big. I've died. Repeatedly. Especially against one enemy type, which I don't know how to kill, since when it told me how, I just skipped it and Fury Attacked them. Not the brightest move, as they showed up like three more times, and have a habit of reviving every time you kill them unless you do something specific, and I don't know what that is. I still can't kill them consistently without using my Fury. Ah well. I only have two or three problems with the game, on the whole. The first is that Cynder getting kidnapped was rather cliched (although the rationale actually kinda makes sense, instead of the normal Bowser cop-out of 'because I can'). The second major problem so far was one level in the middle that just went on and on and on doing the same thing over and over and over and it got me to the point of thinking, "Jeez, is this stupid level ever going to END? I'm bored and tired of it." But other than that, the game is awesome. It has a wisecracking sidekick, epic boss fights, pirates with talking parrots, and a guide that I am going to punch in the face if he doesn't start telling me everything I want to know. Excuse me, but I think that I'll go see to that now.Sun, 13 Jan 2008 19:29:19 CSThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=1695&iddiary=3413