Blogging the experience of gameplayhttps://www.gamelog.cl/gamers/GamerPage.php?idgamer=72https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=304Wow, need to come back more often! Anyway! I have completed Contact as of last week--but I'm not quite done with the game just yet. The final area proved itself to be quite brutal, with both extremely powerful enemies and a chain of bosses to finish everything off. There were save points and HP restore items, yes, but that didn't make anything much easier. The game makes it hard for you to deal with multiple enemies at once and sometimes it's impossible to even get by without luring them away to deal with them one by one. It doesn't help matters much that the only way to restore Tech Points is to defeat enemies without using techs on them--one of the flaws of this game. As I said somewhere else--I wanted to love this game, I really did. However I couldn't--I merely liked the game. It's a good game, but nagging things and a few battle system flaws kept me from really loving it. The plot towards the end of the game fell flat--I felt nowhere near the captivation I had when I was running around Ft. Eagle and trying to stop the military base. And had it not been for the Professor's letter at the end of the game, I probably wouldn't have liked the ending either. Contact defenitely has its quirky benefits, its creativity, and doesn't take itself too seriously at any point. But be weary if you're expecting anything cinematic. I believe I'll make another closing statement when I pour through the optional quests later on.Fri, 10 Nov 2006 11:20:26 CSThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=304&iddiary=961https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=304Geez! Nearly forgetting to update! I've taken down quite a few bosses since, and now the game isn't as hard as it was during my run on Ft. Eagle. Right now I'm trying to build up my magic skills to impress a girl (yes, one thing you can do is impress girls in the game! Build up a stat and bring them certain items and they'll join you on the ship.) The enemies of the game also aren't being massive losers, and with the exception of the sacophages in the desert land Aegis nothing has been severely difficult outside of Ft. Eagle. The game is progressing nicely, and on Thursday I'll be able to show off what I've experienced to other fellow gamers! This is a fairly rare title gamers can't afford to miss out!Wed, 01 Nov 2006 00:11:58 CSThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=304&iddiary=946https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=304Two more runs through Contact since we last talked. This game's faults are growing a bit more apparent, but that makes this game's strengths still shine hard. It's still nowhere near addicting, and I've gotten lost on more than one occasion. As well, although battle is simplistic, some bosses are nasty (I've fought three thus far). Two of them I've had to heal up fully from near death, and one took me two tries. The good news about this game though, is the fact that the storyline is defenitely amping up. We've got cosmic terrorists, a massive damage reference, and evil organizations exploiting the masses! You can attack anyone on the game! (but it does you no good because innocent people don't drop anything and it murders your karma stat). I've seen enough MMORPGs to know this game plays rather similarly to one, and a good one at that. The suits have their uses, but so far only two seem to be incredibly useful: Mr. Cuisine and Knuckle Moe. Mr. Cuisine allows you to cook food you find and mix them, while Knuckle Joe amps your hp and attack. The other suit (Aqua Shot) seems to serve no purpose other than water element, and there doesn't seem to be many water weak monsters. I still have five other suits to find--maybe they're a bit more useful? We'll see as I go on. Perhaps something new will emerge?Sat, 28 Oct 2006 16:51:46 CSThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=304&iddiary=943https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=304Contact is something different, to tell you the least. Once I booted up the game, I was treated to an eccentric professor who asked me a few things about myself. As soon as I had finished, the alarms blared on his 8 bit screen, and I found him being chased by an enemy ship. Cut to our protagonist Terry (I didn't change his name because he's considered a separate character from me). He's snoozing, only to find a strange radioactive gem. The jolly prof comes in, bringing the gem (and Terry) back with him. Unfortunately, enemy ships chase them, and they crash land on a strange planet. It feels strange having a TON of stats rather than just a few in RPG games I usually play like Pokemon and Kingdom Hearts. Terry has a whooping 26 stats, each built up not by levelling up in the traditional sense but by developing those skills to the situation (getting hit increases defense, running around increases speed, etc.) Despite all this the gameplay is simple enough: run around, instruct Terry to pick fights, run away, or collect items by tapping the screen or pressing B (or A, depending on the situation). I got creamed by trying to battle with a creature way ahead of me in strength, but I would've appreciated the tutorial that came up just a little sooner than the professor told me about. Unless getting my butt kicked actually WAS supposed to happen... In any case, this game lacks the ability to draw me in to addiction just yet. I'm not hooked, but I'm certainly impressed. I'll be playing this game later tonight to see if anything else changes. Also, much love for the soundtrack.Fri, 27 Oct 2006 18:04:11 CSThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=304&iddiary=942https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=266My third thirty minute playthrough! If there's one thing that makes this game a glaring flaw, it's that nonsensical text still garners no appropriate reaction. I've taken my teacher's challenge and gone through the entire game, only saying one word like a zombie: Brains! Although they react to me strangely at first, eventually I'm flat out ignored in favor of them continuing as normal. As a matter of fact, Grace eventually left just like she did my second time around. What drastic shame! It looks like programming something open-ended such as this is much harder work than one would seemingly imagine. Overall, Facade is an amusing experience, but not one I would consider a video game. Had I not heard of this beforehand, I would have been even further frustrated from not seeing the elusive good ending I was told of by saving their marriage. For some strange reason open ended games like these quite simply don't mesh with me well. Much like a few other people on this site, my claim to fame is all about the set goals and reading a story... something as interactive as this doesn't quite tickle my fancy. For this game? The average gamer should skip it. Nothing amusing lasts more than five minutes on this one. A person with social graces, however, just might find this game enjoyable.Fri, 13 Oct 2006 16:10:17 CSThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=266&iddiary=896https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=266Second round of Facade. I fared a little better this time. I managed to NOT get kicked out, but unfortunately I talked to Grace too much. She reached a conclusion and walked out of the house. Ouch. jp was right... Facade takes several playthroughs, and no two experiences are alike. Such a shame though, that Facade's atmosphere doesn't seem to suit me. I have to be especially fast just to get a *proper* word in. And even then they didn't understand when I talked to them. Something about this game still puts me off. It could be my losing streak, but at the same time that never angered me like it did in PC freeware Cave Story, and adversely never pushed me to try and finish it. Perhaps open-ended games are just not my thing. It was also amusing to note that an earlier attempt actually ended my game in EXACTLY 15 seconds... I pushed the elevator button and my game ended. What kind of loser clause was that!?Thu, 12 Oct 2006 23:21:41 CSThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=266&iddiary=866https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=266...Right now I'm totally confused. While Facade has some great merit and genius put behind it, it as a game for a gamer... it fails spectacularly. Someone not so into the average gaming scene might benefit from this, but I find the scene spectacularly confusing, perhaps only if I lack the social graces to properly "play" the game. For those of you who don't know, Facade has you pick a name and talk with a troubled couple as they degress into an argument. Unfortunately the game is tricky to figure out--the average gamer seeks a certain solution, and this story's open ended-ness seems to confound and confuse me. The situation itself doesn't help--it's way too tense but at the same time less that brilliant... the arguing sounds both too strained and... set up to seem believeable. Maybe my poor playthrough might be one of the things that disjointed my game, but another playthrough later might suffice. At least it was worth a laugh.Wed, 11 Oct 2006 23:09:23 CSThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=266&iddiary=839