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Jan 31st, 2007 at 16:29:42 - Gradius (NES) |
After an attempt at playing though a much to be desired shmup for the super nes I decided to try my newbie skills on the classic Gradius for the NES.
With in the first seconds I noticed the customization avaliable to me though the control of my power bar. This is a awesome feature compared to the previous shmup's i've played as it allowed me to customize the game to my playing style.
After starting the game and playing a little while I became aware that shmup's are really challanging. I now appeciate the fatastic gameplay displayed in class.
While the side scrolling game play and level design is of Gradius is really great. It feels fresh ever few seconds and so there is little bored time there are a few things I dislike.
One, it takes to long to reappear after you died. If I die I want to be back in the game as soon as possible.
Two, bullets and enemys can go though terrain. This to me was simply annoying an as a new player it also cost me a few lives.
Three, A difficulty setting would be nice.
This game was very difficult for a new player like me. I had a very rough time even making it though the first level with in my initial game session. Of course I am completely new to shmup's and so that created more difficulty in the game play. But seriously, I feels like the game was completely designed for experianced players.
This brings up a important point, make a game which appeals to all skill levels.
Lastly, I would like to mention some interesting attribute of Gradius. It seems to have a frustrating addiction quality. Its something I have not felt since I was a little kid and use to want to throw my controller. There is this super frustration you experiance while playing that only makes playing the game more addictive. It seems this is much less common in present games.
And now I begin another frustrating yet fun session of Gradius.
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Jan 29th, 2007 at 22:19:08 - Acrobat Mission (SNES) |
Note* this log is just for fun not for grade.
Acrobat mission is a fast paced vertical scrolling Shmups. Its special lay to fame is a charging ability that changes depending on the power up.
I tryed this game because it was the only shmup avaliable to me. It is a good example of a bad game.
There is a lack of power ups. As far as I can tell only 2 weapon upgrades and a super bomb. The super bomb does a screen clearing action. The power ups do stack to 4 with enhances your weapons power. There is also a charging ability you gain with a weapon upgrade which allows for an additional special attack.
Whiles this is neat its not very interesting and it gets boring quickly as nothing new is added during the course of the game.
The part of this game that I feel is most important to discuss is the frustration I felt while playing. It is simply very very difficult right from the start. I was able to make it to the boss of the second level and this took about collective hours of game play. To make matters worse I was cheating by using a save state feature on my emulator so I could save and restart when I wanted. I reloaded from my saved state on the second level boss about 30 times and yet I still never came close to beating it. Granted there is a pattern and so its possible to beat it is very difficult.
The other element in the game which is lacking is a way of gaining lives. You are given 3 lives in the beginning of the level and this must last you the rest of the level. This proves to be nearly impossible.
So in closing Acrobat Mission for the Super NES is a reasonable addictive game because of its difficulty but the difficulty comes on way to hard and there is a lack of creativity and novalty in the game.
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Jan 21st, 2007 at 00:47:06 - Final Fantasy (PSP) |
Well Ive logged about an additional 1.5 hours since my previous log. The stratagy of the game is now becoming apparent. One of the main goals for me now like many rpg's is to aquire more money so that I can buy better equipment and armor.
This method of game design in which the play has to work towards a financal goal of aquiring money so that better items or spells can be bought is a common one in present times. Its very effective as it cause the game to become addictive. A play really wants to get that better spell and stronger armor.
My player can also now board and navigate a ship. This allows map travel across the seas and opens up a host of new sea enemys. One of the best aspects of this game seems to be its suprises and vast collection of enemys. The player needs to build a good memory so that he/she knows how to combat all the different enemys.
Another aspect of this game that is fun is the exploring aspect. The game map is huge, even by todays standards. This allows for lots of game play as the world is explored.
The complexity of game play, the size of the map, the vast array of ememys and wide assortment of weapons, armor, and spells is really what makes Final Fantasy I a great game. Its a great game by todays standards and a amazing game if you consider the time in which it first came out. While the story is a little thin like most games of the time. The immersion factor is great.
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Jan 20th, 2007 at 22:05:08 - Final Fantasy (PSP) |
This is my first attempt at playing any game from the famous and greatly loved Final Fantasy Series. I personally have always been a PC gamer and Zelda fan so while I have played many RPG's in the past I have yet to attempt the great series known the world over.
To start the log off let me just give a basic summery of the game.
The game is what would now be considered a pretty typical RPG. Nothing suprising or new was found within the first hour of game play. But with consideration of the time of the games publishing, 1987 the game seems to be well done by there standards.
The first hour got me though what seems to be a tutorial like phase of the game in which you rescue the kings daughter from an evil witch. This is fairly simple task and the difficulty is low enough that it really requires little stratagy to complete. I think this was done simply to allow the player to become comfortable with the game play. I must say that the frustration in playing the game lies in the slow speed you are force to play the game. I noticed that in the Game Menu there seems to be something that suggest it is possible to speed the game up. I will further explore this on my next session.
Some aspects I noticed about the game is that there is a wide range of styles of play. You can choose your parties classes which are made up of the typical DnD assortment. Theres the warrior, thief, Blackbelt or Ninja, and 3 mages. This wide range of mages suggest to me that mages play a important role in the game so I choosed to have 2 in my party. A white mage and a black mage. One of the difficulties I found with playing the game is that there is not help or information screens in the game. Because of this I had to guess as to what the various items and spells did. Being that I have played many RPGs this was easy but for a new gamer this learning curve could make the game a real challange.
After further play I managed to complete my first quest and save the princess. This allowed me to go further on the map. In this way the game mantains a linear story line while still seeming open ended to the player. Most players do not like being forced into actions by the game but rather like to make decisions such as where in the game to go for themselves.
After I left what I am going to call the newbie island I was attacked in a random encounter by a very powerful creature relative to my current lvl of 2. In this battle I lost my thief.
I further explored the map after this not sure as to what I should do when I was attacked again. This time I lost my white wizard. By now my frustration with the game is rising. As a player I do not like to have no idea what to do and I do not like dieing. This does show that the difficulty of the game rises and stratagy is required to advance which is a good quality though.
On next session I will go back to the main town and buy additional supplies so I can last longer in the dangerous world. This of course shows that the game has resource management in both the form on money and health.
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ucscdude has been with GameLog for 17 years, 10 months, and 29 days |
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