 |
|
Oct 7th, 2012 at 11:50:44 - Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 4 (PS2) |
So for my next game on GameLog, I’m going to be talking about Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 4 for the Playstation 2. Unlike my previous log, I’m going take a more experience journal-like format instead of a review, since the game has been out for some time (in fact, there’s going to be a PSVita remake out near the end of the month) and so everyone should have played it or at least know a decent amount about it. What’s that? You haven’t played or heard about it before? Well get to it! Now! Go out and play it or research it then come back here. I’ll wait.
…
…
…
…
Okay, now that everyone is on the same page, I’ll begin my experience journal:
I have just recently begun my third play through of the game, and I am only just past the month of April, and with it the first dungeon. Although it is always a bit slow starting out each play through, it never gets old. For the record, I always play on Normal difficulty (I’m not confident enough in my skills to try Expert, and Beginner is for sissies) and I name my protagonist after his “official” designation from Persona 4 Arena and Persona 4 the Animation, Yu Narukami. On the Social Link side of things, I have only managed to establish 5 out of the 21 S. Links, but then again that’s all I can establish this early in the game.
This was a relatively short journal entry, but I promise to more than make up for it next time, when I recap the story so far and give my impressions on the game’s oh-so-lovable cast and mechanics. Until next time everyone!
add a comment  - read this GameLog  |
|
Sep 29th, 2012 at 11:20:11 - The Last Story (Wii) |
For my final entry on The Last Story, I am going to skip covering the game’s presentation (which is stellar, by the way) and go straight into my complaints about the game’s design.
Indeed, while I do love The Last Story for the most part, it isn’t all cupcake and rainbows in its design. I have three issues with it that wish to address. The first are its side quests. The game lacks a means of which to keep track of what side quests are available, which ones you are currently in the process of completing, and which ones you have completed. Actually, that’s not entirely true; the game does have a means of keeping track of side quests you’ve completed, as well as ones that are currently available, but it only hints at the later and is far from intuitive in any case, plus there is no way of monitoring what your current side quests are short of keeping track of them in your head. That said, all but really one side quest are so short and simple, that this isn’t much more than a simple annoyance.
The second issue is the game’s multiplayer component. Specifically, my issues is that there are a few select items and pieces of equipment that can only be obtained as prizes from the game’s multiplayer, and if you, like me, have no one to play against, you have no means of obtaining these items. This isn’t a deal breaker by any means, given that nearly all the online-exclusive items are novelties for the most part, but it is annoying.
Those first two issues are ultimately minor nuisances. The biggest deal breaker, and one that almost made me stop playing, is ironically New Game Plus. Typically, New Game Plus is designed to allow you to play through the game again with a bunch of stuff from your previous play through carried over, so that you start New Game Plus as an overpowered badass and can simply enjoy the narrative and feeling of empowerment early on, while gaining access to new challenges and content later on. But some one on The Last Story’s design team thought it would be a good idea to give EVERY boss in the game, plus some regular enemies, a MASSIVE power boost for New Game Plus. I steadfastly believe said design team individual deserves to be punched in the face repeatedly. The bosses in The Last Story’s New Game Plus are so overpowered that it’s not even funny. Nothing sucks the fun out of game faster than dying to the same boss six times in a row before finally getting lucky enough to beat it, or spending two hours straight whittling away at the final boss. I mean, yes there are ways to compensate for the power gap, but that doesn’t change the fact that every major battle in New Game Plus is almost a losing battle. Luckily, this all only in New Game Plus, so it’s not that bad.
And so, my log entries for The Last Story come to an end. I hope you all enjoyed them, that it made you want to go out and get this game, despite my above issues, and I will see you all next game!
add a comment - read this GameLog |
|
Sep 21st, 2012 at 17:46:45 - The Last Story (Wii) |
Continuing from my previous entry on The Last Story, I was covering the battle mechanics of the game, discussing the Gathering power and magic circles. One final facet of the battle system is that it incorporates certain FPS elements into the adventure-RPG mix. Crazy, I know! Specifically, protagonist Zael has crossbow, in addition to his sword, which can be drawn at any time to go into a first-person perspective and snipe enemies from afar with arrows. Your arrows are fairly weak, so this is used primarily to draw enemies to you or to soften them up before going in for the kill; however you can obtain specialty arrows that do extreme damage to certain enemies or cause status effects. On top of this, while in first-person mode, you can scope out destructible terrain that you can instruct your mages to target in order to bring it crashing down on the enemies’ heads, as well as hidden passages that lead deeper into the current dungeon. Speaking of terrain, the other FPS element is a cover system. In every room of every dungeon, you’ll find various bits of terrain that can be used as cover to find from enemy attacks, thus allowing you to snipe and target from relative safety, as well as launch surprise attacks on the unsuspecting enemies. Indeed, the battle system of The Last Story is so robust that its creators thought that it could support an optional multiplayer mode. Sadly, because I have no one to play against, I can not properly review the multiplayer.
Outside of the combat system, The Last Story is conventional adventure-RPG fare. In between dungeons, you’ll be able to run around the game’s hub city, doing the usual adventure-RPG stuff: buying and selling equipment, upgrading said equipment (note that there are no potions or other healing items in The Last Story, just equipment and stuff for upgrading/side quests), talking to NPCs, and taking on side quests. One last thing of note is that there is system that allows you to customize the appearance of your characters’ armor; purely cosmetic but cool nonetheless.
In my final post for The Last Story, I’ll talk about the game’s presentation, as well as level some complaints I have with it. Stay tuned!
add a comment - read this GameLog |
|
Sep 14th, 2012 at 19:22:11 - The Last Story (Wii) |
So, in my previous two logs about The Last Story, I discussed the game’s plot and characters. While this is all well and good, what’s a game without game play, am I right? Of course I am. Luckily, The Last Story delivers in spades.
The battle system for The Last Story is equal parts familiar and unique. At its core, it’s your traditional adventure-RPG battle system: You run around fighting enemies in real-time; hacking at them with your sword, blocking and dodging, while your A.I. controlled allies support you with swords and spells. It should be noted that there is no ‘magic point’ system with your mages; there is simply a charge-up period in-between spells, that if your mage is attacked during it, the spell is interrupted. So how do you keep your mages from being thwarted, you may ask? The answer lies with one of the unique attributes of The Last Story’s battle system: the mysterious power that the protagonist Zael possesses called Gathering. Gathering is easily activated and deactivated with the push of a button, and while active, it draws all attacks towards Zael i.e. the player. While this may seem to be a bit risky, and it can be, it also speeds up all allies’ casting times and slows down enemies for a time. This allows your mages to blast the enemy apart with magic easily. On top of all this, you can revive fallen allies while Gathering is active. Note that all characters will auto-revive a set number of times each battle before being knocked out for good, or in Zael’s case, getting a game over; but with Gathering, you can revive allies faster and with a temporary power boost as well!
On the subject of magic, spells work differently in this game than in most other RPGs. Instead of just hitting an enemy with a fireball or something, or simply healing an ally for that matter, all spells in this game will create a magic circle on the ground. This leads itself to different strategies involving magic. The first is simple: while an offensive magic circle is on the ground, any enemies inside will be continuously damaged and allies will be able to enchant their weapon with that magic’s element whenever they attack an enemy within said circle. Likewise, healing magic circles will continuously heal allies standing inside. So the obvious strategy is to use Gathering to lure enemies into offensive magic circles to rack up damage and retreat to healing magic circles when in danger. The other strategy revolves around a special skill Zael will learn that allows him to diffuse magic circles. By diffusing a magic circle, you will cause damage to all enemies, or heal all allies in the case of healing magic circle, as well as an added effect, like silencing enemy mages. However, the damage is a fixed amount, not continuous, though the added effect usually counterbalances that fact. You can also diffuse enemy magic circles in order to get rid of them, thus preventing further damage or preventing the enemy from healing. So the question is: which of these two strategies do you use? Both are equally valid, and you will usually use both during the course of a fight.
Speaking of strategy, since this is starting to be a bit drawn out, I’ll cover battle strategies and the rest of gameplay in my next post. Until then!
add a comment - read this GameLog |
|
|
 |
| Ragnarok's GameLogs |
|
Ragnarok has been with GameLog for 12 years, 2 months, and 24 days |
view feed xml
|
| Entries written to date: 14 |
|
