Blogging the experience of gameplayhttps://www.gamelog.cl/gamers/GamerPage.php?idgamer=674https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=3173/GAMEPLAY/ session #2 The game was too hard on maximum setting, the computer fighters were reacting too quickly to every punch and kick I threw at them. Certain moves in this game will take priority over others, an example is an Uppercut from Ken, the move will cancel out the other opponents strike and the Ken will win the exchange. Turning the difficulty up made the game more rewarding how ever, fights became more intense and I had to play defensively and more strategically, even exploiting some of the games bugs. It took me about 45 minutes to finally beat the game on this maximum setting, and I think it made me better at the game. /DESIGN/ The game is a game of emergence, there are only a set number of actions you can take and it is the player’s job to string together a sequence that can enable them to win fights. Moving left and right, kicking and punching, jumping and blocking are the tools given to the player. The player’s buttons also correspond to the strength of the attack, such as strong punch or weak kick. I am not entirely sure how the priority (mentioned above) fighting system works, but it seems like on the ends of every kick and punch the attack will do damage if it literally touches the opponents sprite during the few moments after the attack is initiated. This is a design element that makes the game have a lot of depth, as players at a competitive level are going to need know when and where to attack. The overall graphics in the game are good for the Super Nintendo and are well drawn. The game is extremely similar to the other previous Street Fighter games and obviously the things that make this game fun are the things that make the others fun. New characters aren’t what make sequels better, it’s the technicality and understanding of the fighting system used. Thu, 06 Mar 2008 19:22:26 CSThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=3173&iddiary=6041https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=3173/SUMMARY/ Street Fighter Alpha 2 is a 2-D fighting game for the Super Nintendo and part of the Street Fighter Series. The game is very similar to its street fighter predecessors, sharing many of the same characters and abilities but adding special “super moves” and new fighters. Like all fighting games, you select your avatar and duke it out with either the computer or your buddies. /GAMEPLAY/ I have always been turned off by the “Alpha” series of Street Fighter games for some reason, I think it is because I never understood where they stood in relation to the games in the series. There is Street Fighter II, Street Fighter Alpha II, Street Fighter III: Third Strike and Street Fighter Alpha III and so on. Anyway, the game is good. I picked Ken because I always have since I first played Street Fighter; he’s got all of the basic moves and the uniquely powerful flaming uppercut. I tore through the game quite quickly; enjoying the cool fast passed retro 90’s game music along the way. The new “super combo” system is very enjoyable; as you deal and take damage your combo meter builds up, once you have a high enough combo meters, you release your energy in a devastatingly awesome move. Because I beat the game twice in one hour, I think I will turn the difficulty up and also change the “Turbo” option to make the gameplay speed increase as well.Thu, 06 Mar 2008 02:25:53 CSThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=3173&iddiary=5908https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=2895/GAMEPLAY/ Session #2 I played through the Millennial Faire sequence, carefully showing around the new character Marle (the love interest). She wanted to play some games at the fair and I obliged: drinking contests, sparring, and gambling. The setting was all very light hearted until Marle is sucked into another time period via an error in Lucca’s (the brained) invention. This is where the game begins to get interesting; the story took a drastic turn away from this merry setting and quickly became a “rescue the princess” type game. The element that makes it truly compelling is the notion of time traveling, and the amount of complex story elements that come from it. As I battled my through the monster infested forest I realize that this is the start of a truly epic journey. /DESIGN/ The controls of the game are very straight forward; you have full range of motion while you watch your avatar from bird’s eye view. The players are drawn as though you are seeing them head-on which give the perception of 3-D. The developers thought long and hard about how to break the mold of traditional RPG’s. The narrative is one of the most interesting pieces of story telling I have ever heard in my life. The video-game feels more like an interactive book or historical document from a forgotten age. The writers knew that with time travel, the game could go far beyond what any RPG has ever done: multiple world maps to explore, each with special characters and side quests. As far as an RPG goes the puzzles in the game were very much related to the story, frequently players will get stuck because they forgot a comment that a character had said. This design element forces the players to pay attention to every thing story wise, otherwise they can not progress. Aside from the narrative, the actual mechanics of the game were quite revolutionary. The battle system incorporated a break from traditional turn based fighting. The timer on each character added an emergent quality and forced players to make decisions because if they didn’t, they would be sitting ducks. Square also created a new type of battle system where the characters had “Dual” and “Triple” techniques. All of the characters had at least a move that they would perform together, dealing much more damage than normal. What this did was allow players to use their favorite characters and discover all of the special and hidden techniques that they could. Chrono Trigger is a game progression, there is a linear path to follow, but not always is it apparent where the path lies. The battle system is the part of the game that allows the player to improvise and strategize to their delight. Chrono Trigger is a classic through and through and a prime example of an RPG.Thu, 21 Feb 2008 02:38:56 CSThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=2895&iddiary=5433https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=2895/SUMMARY/ Chrono Trigger is a traditional style console RPG that was released in 1995 for the SNES. It is considered by many to be one of the best video games of all time and certainly one of the best for the Super Nintendo. Like most RPG’s, Chrono Trigger has a rich narrative and a large cast of characters. What makes Chrono trigger stand out is its ability to successfully create a compelling, complex and memorable story with a very fun and challenging battle system. /GAMEPLAY/ I haven’t played Chrono Trigger in years, I actually have purposefully refrained from playing it because it is one of my all-time favorite games and I don’t want to spoil it and constantly replay it. I created a new file and put the game on “Active Mode” which makes the game more challenging and realistic, in essence what it means is that when I am in an encounter the enemies will not wait to attack me. The game immediately brings me back to my childhood, in particular the music strikes me and is some of the most compelling for it’s time. Playing through the first sequence of events and following Crono around, I am drawn into the game world. In this part of the game, the landscape seems like an old English town, with local bars and inns scattered in the small town.Thu, 21 Feb 2008 02:28:48 CSThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=2895&iddiary=5410https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=2607/GAMEPLAY/ Session #2 After cleaning up the first half of the game, it took a corner and became downright challenging as I faced the boss, Mr. Sandman, reigning ass-kicker of the major circuit. His patterns were noticeably more difficult to predict, he had a plethora of attacks that were un-blockable, and he threw punches that were impossible to dodge unless you knew they were coming (which means fighting him four or five times over). The patterns have become more complex, creating a more rewarding experience every time I complete a fight. /DESIGN/ Session #2 The game feels like a game of emergence rather than a game of progression because of the limited amount of actions the player can take when presented with a direct challenge. It is a real time decision making game, ducking, dodging, blocking, punching are the tools that the player has. When you are attacked with, let’s say, a low left hook, you dodge right, block the punch, you can’t duck it, or you can try counter-punching your foe (a difficult undertaking). These rules never change. As the game progress, the player presents patterns that become un-predictable. Indeed some of the boxers have counter attacks of their own, and they begin to block and dodge punches more and more frequently. The AI improves in the latter stages as well, and the player must go beyond the skills they learned in early levels. The basic rules are unchanged, it is the way the player is forced to play that is changed. Pattern memorization is less important compared to “on-the-fly” tactics. This is a design feature that gives the player a lot of freedom when it comes to style of play and emergent strategy. This is a key characteristic of SPO that adds to the already fun game it is. The notion of being the underdog is also a very powerful theme through out this game; it gives the player a sense of self-worth and confidence, which is a powerful game design feature. Playing off the stereotypes from a “Rocky” type setting, there are glorious cut-scenes after defeating the bosses in each circuit, strengthening the players resolve to keep fighting! (This entry has been edited1 time. It was last edited on Sun, 10 Feb 2008 23:19:14.)Sun, 10 Feb 2008 19:28:07 CSThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=2607&iddiary=4948https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=2607/SUMMARY/ Super Punch-Out is boxing game that puts the player in the third person perspective behind a scrappy little blonde fighter who I personally named “Lulz”. You compete your way through the minor, major, world and eventually special circuits, going up against wild looking fighters who are much larger and more intimidating than you. The game plays like a game of emergence but has elements of progression. Each circuit has four boxers, the fourth being “the boss fight” and the reigning champ of the circuit. The bosses from each circuit are actually characters from the original Mike Tyson’s Punch-Out game for the NES, a nice allusion to the classic videogame. /GAMEPLAY/ I blasted the lights out of the first fighter Gabby Jay who apparently has won only once in his whole boxing carrier. I know this because before each fight, you are briefed with a short description of your next opponent, where you can see their boxing record and the trash talk they are dishing at you. The characters, Gabby Jay in particular, are extremely memorable and equally wild, indeed there are only a few fighters that you could actually imagine in a boxing match. For the most part, and this is why the game is so cool, you are fighting fat Canadian lumberjacks, mad clowns, old Chinese men who beat you with sticks and other crazy people. This keeps the game interesting as its not simply just dodging punches-- you are constantly confronted with new attacks every time you advance to the next stage. As I just finished TKO’ing Bald Bull, and am half way through the major circuit (where I fought a Bob Marley look a like boxer and a Bruce Lee imitator) the game has yet to really be too challenging, and the patterns have been quite predictable. (This entry has been edited1 time. It was last edited on Sun, 10 Feb 2008 19:27:44.)Sun, 10 Feb 2008 19:17:48 CSThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=2607&iddiary=4946https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=2032/GAMEPLAY/ Entry #2 (Super Metroid) I got stuck after fighting a giant cabbage looking alien that was swinging wildly like a ball & chain. At this point I had become less creeped out by the game and music and such, more than anything really I forgot that I was actually playing this for homework. I truly became lost in the game. As I gained more power ups, the game became much harder to navigate through. I had to remember rooms that I had visited an hour before, across the planet, that I had previously been unable to do anything in. My new Hi-Jump boots and Speed Run ability essentially expanded the world to three times it's size, I started needing to check my map, revisiting rooms, retracing my steps... I was immersed! As I gathered these items i realized that I was becoming more addicted to the game, I wanted to keep playing and not write about it, I wanted to fight the next boss so I could open those orange doors I see all over the place. /DESIGN/ I had to go play the game more, for a third time, before I could really write about it's design. The game is designed to become more challenging as it progresses, growing in depth as your repertoire of bounty hunter gadgets increases. When you begin the game, you are limited in what you can do; running, jumping, shooting, ducking. Once you gain your first item (morph ball), your world of control is changed, all of a sudden you can get into very small holes and the gameplay has taken on a new level of complexity. This is the pattern that develops: with each item you obtain, you must spend more time searching in each area for a place where you can use that item. As you collect more equipment, the more tricks the game can play on you and the more complicated the puzzles can be, in fact most of rooms require the use of multiple items. This is a very good quality in a game; it's addictive to find those hidden areas and furthermore it requires the player to think and act tactically, forcing them to be engaged. If the player is not thinking and is not being smart, they will not be rewarded, it's a clever game design trick. Being on an alien world and being an awesome bounty hunter is also a cool concept, it allows for a lot of freedom in creature design, weapon design, and level design. These things come together to set the tone for Super Metroid, and what is created is a very serious setting, a dark and curious and most of all foreign place. It's hard to think up anything really negative to say about the design of this game. (This entry has been edited5 times. It was last edited on Fri, 25 Jan 2008 07:34:47.)Fri, 25 Jan 2008 07:11:24 CSThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=2032&iddiary=4029https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=2032/SUMMARY/ Super Metroid is a 2-D adventure game where the player controls the interstellar bounty hunter Samus Aran. The game is riddled with violent alien creatures, rich non-linear game play, and sometimes agonizing puzzles. The games primary focus is on the collection of equipment upgrades that allow Samus to explore the vast alien planet, fighting bosses and collecting secret items along the way. Although the game has a somewhat linear progression, the option to explore and hunt for secret items creates an open ended-ness feel. /GAMEPLAY/ I was hesitant to choose SM for this logging entry simply because I remember it being difficult and quite creepy. For me, after an hour, this has not changed; even the title screen is ominous. The strange alien music, the weird bird statues that hold the special items (that sometimes come to life and attack you…), the mushrooms with twisted stalks… This game definitely has a “feel” to it, and it is still as compelling as it was when it was released in 1994. It’s great because there is no explicit direction you have to go, you can explore the world as you please (even though you are limited if you don’t have a lot of special items). There are little secrets all over if you take the time to explore all the nooks and crannies. The reward system is very nice because generally you have to solve some difficult puzzle or defeat some boss alien to get the power ups needed. Further more, as the player, you know that once you have that item, you can unlock a whole new region of the planet which is exciting. So far it’s not too difficult and I am progressing at a solid pace. Thu, 24 Jan 2008 21:45:35 CSThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=2032&iddiary=3941https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=1870/SUMMARY/ Donkey Kong Country 2 is a side scrolling adventure game where you play as the two younger apes in the Kong family: Diddy and Dixie. The core object of the game is to run, jump and maneuver your way through the levels, collecting bananas, coins, finding secret bonus stages, and fighting bosses. Your attacks are kart wheels, jumping, and monkey barrel throwing. /GAMEPLAY/ This game brings me back to when I was nine years old and waking up at 6:00 am on saturdays just so I could play it. I felt that nostalgia rush back when I popped in this game. The visuals still are compelling, the art direction and style is still very unique to the DKC series. The controls are easy to pick up, very straight forward, I like that. The two characters are pretty funny because they do a cool dance every time you beat a level, Diddy for example whips out a boom-box and starts dancing like some early 90's run dmc Ape. The levels were very well thought out, as the screen moves, the level seems to naturally become more and more difficult, with the midpoint barrels always a sight for the troubled player. Which brings me to another point, this game is not NEARLY as easy as I remember it. Something about being a kid and hyperactive made me think that the games obstacles were slow maybe. The music is actually what resonated with me the most, some how this 16bit game put together an extremely compelling and complex soundtrack, the music ranged from type of tribal indi-music to groovy funk tracks. Lot of fun. /GAMEPLAY/ Entry #2 The game continues to be fun, my characters have been running and jumping in many settings, climbing up pirate ship sails that seem endless, driving a mine cart through a pitch black cave and so on. The music continues to be the most compelling part. The soundtracks are fitting to each level I play. /DESIGN/ The Design of the levels is a series of smaller tasks that require a lot of patience to get past. I notice that frequently in the same level, obstacles are repeated and then subsequently elaborated. For example one puzzle will simply be to jump over a hole in the ground, on to the next small peace of land. But the next jump requires you to jump over a giant Wasp who could end your little monkey life. The third jump could require you to jump over 2 wasps, and the fourth and final could require you to jump over 3 Wasps. Generally I was rewarded with a type of coin or banana or extra life item after a tough sequence of obstacles. The levels were designed to have many rewards along the way, separate from the simple completion of that level. There is also a side to the game that rewards the more hardcore gamer, the one who takes the time to explore all of the nooks in the game, discovering the hidden passages and retrieving every coin. If you can collect and trade these elusive treasures to Klubba the bridge keeper, he will allow you access to the Lost World, where the levels are noticeably more difficult, lacking save barrels and extra life balloons. However this type of "hidden" world is an engaging way to attract people to continue playing, it's as though there is a higher calling than just going through the game and simply winning. The gamer can find extreme challenge and ultimately satisfaction through the discovery of these levels that require extra care and patience. This notion of a side quest or lost level is a clever idea in which to engage people in a higher level of gaming. (This entry has been edited2 times. It was last edited on Tue, 15 Jan 2008 05:10:01.)Tue, 15 Jan 2008 01:25:33 CSThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=1870&iddiary=3697https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=1854Mon, 14 Jan 2008 23:37:53 CSThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=1854&iddiary=3657