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Jan 10th, 2007 at 23:38:50 - Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest (DS) |
[Part I]
Characters
Much of the cast of the second movie in the Pirates of the Caribbean trilogy are available to play in the DS installment of the game. Each level places the player in control of one character with a unique special attack. In the first, Jack Sparrow (sorry, *Captain* Jack Sparrow) armed with his trusty pistol and ricochet ammunition (clearing enemies on the screen). In the second, Elizabeth Swan dual-wielding swords (to clear a line of enemies). The third features Will Turner (with enough throwing axes hidden on his person that American Dad's "Ocupado" rings in my head). Beyond these I cannot say with my limited time playing the game, although a "Mortician" (generic guard of the prison), Lord Beckett (the East-India Trading Company entrepeneur featured as a villain in the movie), a tribal warrior, a "Voodoo Doll," "Captain Pirate," and Former (and once again?) Commodore Norrington are named in the unlockables menu as potential characters.
Also, alternate outfits are available for the characters including Jack's tribal chieftain (god?) costume and Swan and Turner's wedding clothes. An interesting and notably unique aspect of the game is that once a character/alternate outfit is unlocked you can switch freely to that character during a level. For example, using *Chieftain* Jack Sparrow to complete Elizabeth's Swan's level. There isn't much difference, play-wise, amongst the characters but the option is interesting and it only just occurs to me that I believe I missed some cutscenes when I did just that.
Story
The game delves into the path of the Matrix video game licenses by supplementing the movie rather than reliving it as an obstacle course. In the film, Jack Sparrow is introduced evacuating a coffin he'd utilized to escape a prison wherein he'd stolen a drawing of a key. No screen time is used to extrapolate on the experience. The game begins with the player in control of Jack Sparrow migrating from a cell of the prison to the location of the drawing and ultimately to the boss battle that gives Jack the method he needs to escape.
Likewise, Swan's adventure extrapolates an urban chase and Turner's an exploration of a jungle island in search of Sparrow. It adds an interesting element as each level opens and closes with dialogue from the movie but works a play experience (swashbuckling exclusively) into the gaps.
Gameplay
Y, Y, Y. Theoretically there are are other buttons that may even do things like kick or block, but I've seen no need for them. Occasionally I'll add in some Left trigger action if the opponent likes to block, but that comes up far less often than one would think.
It's a shame, one of the many unlockables are combos of buttons leading to leaping attacks, eye gouges, spinning attacks, and all sorts of piratey nonsense -- but with that handy Y slash, there isn't really any need. Well, to be perfectly honest I've used the "eye gouge" with Elizabeth for my own entertainment as her variation is a slap.
Another wasted element of the game is the amazing variety of weapons, from swords to spears to guns to the almighty parasol... each of which is defined by nothing more than a visual change and a difference of dealing light, medium, or heavy damage (with a porportionate decrease in attack speed). I don't quite see how a cleaver deals heavy damage while a cutlass deals light or any other logic as to how weapons were assigned their damage values... but que será será~ (I will be mildly aggravated if the accents on the 'a's do not display properly) Also, as weapons decay after a only a few swings, attachment to a single one isn't conducive to play.
Meanwhile, Rum restores health (what lesson are we teaching our children?), blue rum restores the special attack bar (who knew they had Midori in the Caribbean?), and bags of coins drop from chests, barrels, pirates, and crows ("No girl can resist a sparkly" - somehow I foresee this reference falling flat).
Innovation
I didn't get the game because I wanted a quality entertainment experience and stimulation of otherwise dormant braincells. I have the game because it is Pirates of the Caribbean. Savvy?
It's a side-scrolling swashbuckling game offering nostalgia for the SNES Turtles in Time and essentially boils down to three enemies appearing on screen who must be killed... before three more invariably spawn. Once the waves of charmed ones are completed, you get to walk a few paces to something resembleing a change of scene (slightly differently shaped fighting area) and repeat the process. Y, Y, Y.
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Jan 10th, 2007 at 21:26:45 - Neverwinter Nights 2 (PC) |
[Part V]
Flow
The game flows smoothly enough, offering new quests and reward over the next ridge (metaphorically speaking) or in the next zone (literally speaking). A bit of momentum goes a long way towards a lost night, completing just one more quest or clearing one more forest of lizard men and spiders to gather the goodies they store in poorly protected crates and suspiciously abundant chests. (I notice my commentary grows ever shorter as the overall entry lengthens and the sun sets. Alas. I will also take this moment to apologize for my wordiness to anyone that has actually read this far and thank the very same for doing so - commentary appreciated... and all that jazz.)
Social Interactions & Cutscenes
I'll group these as they are mostly related. The cutscenes ar rendered in the game engine and are basically dialogues without options for the player to decide on a response. Either way, I find that more often than not rapid clicking to move to the next caption (I read far faster than I listen) and fast forward through the scene overpowers my interest to follow the voices. Likewise, scanning the dialogue options for the response that is least offensive or most likely to open an otherwise hidden zone and then selecting the next response without actually listening to or reading the dialogue is more common than not. If I happen to pick up a quest in doing so, it will appear in the quest log with more than enough information and if a zone is unlocked, it will appear on the world map.
The dialogue is witty enough with the personalities involved and some inside humor for the genre will give me a decent chuckle, but no scene or dialogue has been rewarding enough to merit repetition to revisit the joke.
A Final Gripe
One quest I was assigned involved ignited three flammable nodes (a wagon and 2 stacks of crates) to burn down the city watch. Having just recieved a fire-specialized sorceress in my party, I thought I'd be clever and have her stealth just ever so carefully outside of view of the patrols and use the Combust spell (range 30 yards or more).
1) Casting magic apparently breaks stealth as the spell begins casting.
2) In this instance, the combust spell would only work at touch range.
3) The combust spell *did* light the stack on fire aesthetically but did not meet the programming trigger criteria which apprently requires you to use a torch.
4) When I was fed up with the quest not allowing my cleverness and just walked up in front of a guard and lit the wagon on fire, the guard didnt respond.
5) When the last guard finally did respond at the third node when I lit the crates right in front of him, I nimbly succeeded in my Bluff attempt and told him I was just getting ready to report the blaze having just innocently wandered by. He bought it. I must be a darn good liar - then again I d have Beguiling Influence (Warlock spell granting +6 to such checks for 24 hours...or until you change zones.)
Final Final Gripe r.e. GameLog
1) Apparently I talk too much, needing to break my single entry into 5 seperate posts due to a maximum url post length of which I was not forewarned. I am profusely thanking the Muse that advised me to backup the post in Word before sending. Offerings of rice... or maybe a firstborn may be in order.
2) The posts apparently don't keep my paragraph indentation which makes them *even more* difficult to read.
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Jan 10th, 2007 at 21:21:16 - Neverwinter Nights 2 (PC) |
[Part IV]
Brainstorming
Because this game has nothing to offer the genre that hasn't been done, it does little to spark the imagination. At best, it offers me some quest ideas for the next tabletop roleplay session I lead - and that is only if none of the players has tried the game... and assuming they are new to roleplaying in general as "the oldest trick in the book" rehased tends to fail in an experienced group with infinite options.
Emergence
It is the largest d20-based digital game to date with the most complex story and some interesting magical items (although nothing so entertaining as the cursed girdle of sex-change in Baldur's Gate). It creates a digital representation of one of the long-standing Dungeons & Dragons world, Faerun adding flesh to characters and places previously restricted to writing, stationary illustrations, and tabletop imagination.
Only the level designer which allows for live online play comparable (if only barely) to a live gaming session is likely to leave a mark on the industry as a whole. Again, I haven't sampled that aspect as so will reserve commentary for the time being.
Reward Structure
The typical RPG leveling system allows reward in that aspect of increased power and options. Likewise, magical items increase in power and frequency to reward the player for advancing the plot and wandering off the the required paths to wade through optional encounters. The d20 system allows for (and encourages) a high degree of "twinking" - gathering equipment and abilities to master a niche role and abusing that power with gusto. It is not my idea of a good time, but I know a number of people who find it to be rewarding.
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Jan 10th, 2007 at 21:20:48 - Neverwinter Nights 2 (PC) |
[Part III]
Conflict
"If it breathes, we can kill it." - Cpl. Hicks
If it has a talk bubble, use magic to increase your conversation skills and talk to it. If it has a sword icon, increase you combat skills and kill it. Occasionally an ambush will "surprise" you but if it does, you can just reload and prepare your party an retrigger it.
People are good, monsters are bad -- it's all very cut and dry and the voice acting will usually betray a traitor long before they turn. (Ah yes, there is decent voice acting for major characters - which immediately informs you which ones are the most important characters likely to reappear later on).
There is also token conflict within the adventuring party (no one seems to like anyone else, except the protagonist, and they will initiate small cutscene dialogues -- I imagine later in the game, one must choose between one or another in different cases based on who you like and whether you respond to the world in a manner befitting "good" or "evil."
Intrerest
As I've just installed Windows on my Macbook, I've been rather starved of any game outside of World of Warcraft of late and my roommate happened to have Neverwinter Nights II lying around - making it the perfect candidate as a game to pick up an play. I've a vested interest in tabletop gaming and a number of Dungeons & Dragons books in my collection (which have been gathering a rather stifling coat of dust) to have initially viewed the game with both blind vigor and expectant cynicism. True to form, it is entertaining enough as a whole and a nice variety from grinding reputation with the Timbermaw tribe in World of Warcraft but nothing special the underlying history of gaming (tabletop or digital). I'll continue playing a little more to complete this portion of the story arc but will likely move on to something else before long.
Proposed Change
Use the World of Darkness storyteller system rather than d20, keep d20 roleplay to the tabletop realm, don't reiterate every fantasy archetype, incorporate z-axis... all wishful thinking.
Well, z-axis is the one feasable change that would would change the game immensely and all for the better increasing feelings of immersion in the dungeon and living true the roleplay experiences of spiders on the ceiling and being limited in light sources and other perceptions (note that every race in the game except human can inherently see in the dark).
Also, a forgiving system is nice but also poorly aligned to the genre and the heritage. Arguably, there should be no ability to save the game at all - or at least a reward for not doing so in flavor of the tabletop sessions.
Also, in vein of the forgiving system, there is no recorded passage of time. There is no penalty attached to holding off on saving the townsfolk as you take time to loot their homes - they'll usually be invincible if you need to talk to them and doomed to die regardless of intervention otherwise. Also, the pressing task of delivering the artifcact that forms the basis of the story is not quite pressing enough to encourage the party to refrain from looting every room in the irrelevant bandit camp or lizard man temple - or slaughtering the drunken sailors with big mouths just before petitioning the village elder for aid.
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Amehdaus has been with GameLog for 17 years, 10 months, and 13 days |
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