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Feb 13th, 2007 at 00:35:17 - Zone of the Enders: the Second Runner (PS2) |
Going back to ZOE:2, again, I think some of the level design is not very good. I spent a good amount of time running around in circles in one level just because everything looked the same and i could not get out. Additionally, alot of the game features extremely linear challenges of the format "defeat x enemies to progress"
Which works for the game, but is nothing extremely new or interesting. The game also has massive sometimes crippling camera problems. The way the autotargeting defaults to selecting an enemy, even when they are in the far distance and nowhere near where you are facing often makes simply navigating extremely hard. Also, only be able to sort through your targets unilaterally makes it very awkward to select enemies that are causing you to die, which often gets you killed. For all that, the aformentioned sense of speed and shooter like aspects make for a very entertaining experience when technical issues aren't getting in the way.
Finally, there is a fight near the very end that manages to communicate a sense of epic Warfare so extremely effectively I think it is likely one of my top ten moments in gaming.
So, this game, while extremely flawed, still provides a very satisfying experience, at least for me.
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Feb 13th, 2007 at 00:29:26 - Zone of the Enders: the Second Runner (PS2) |
The first thing that stands out about this game is that it looks absolutely amazing for a ps2 game. additionally, it manages to pull off a sense of speed that gives the game a very cool feel.I played this game in the past, and bought it because of some fond memories of truly awesome moments had in this game.
In alot of ways, I feel like this game has alot of the feel of a vertically scrolling shooter except in 3D; the mass numbers of small enemies that come in waves, the boss fights, and the configuration of some of the weapons all add to this.
also, on a neat sidenote, one of the characters pilots a robot called "vic viper" which transforms into a plane (vic viper is the name of the pilot in gradius, and the ship's weapons are modeled after gradius's)
Given all that, some of the scripted events in this game are extremely frusterating in their difficulty and occasional lack of interesting action.
One aspect of the game i had forgotten about that is less endearing then the rest is the ridiculously poor voice acting. The story is not very compelling, simply because the dialogue is badly written and terribly delivered.
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Jan 31st, 2007 at 14:08:54 - Final Fantasy XII (PS2) |
After playing Final Fantasy 12 for a while, I did start to get back into it. its true that the story is linear and often segmented into little sections of a format where the player fights some monsters till they get to location x, hears a blurb of story, then does it again; however, some of the fights are challenging, which is always entertaining, the quickening system is enjoyable though ridiculous, I was finally able to get out of the dungeon i had been stuck in.
Though I certainly enjoy this game and got over my initial problems after coming back to it, i think it has some glaring flaws compared to the rest of the series, in its weak main character, nigh-on useless summons, and occasional tedium.
Also, from a design perspective i think its ridiculous to put in unlockable items that a player could NEVER figure out how to find on their own (read: the zodiac spear) NOT opening chests is the most ridiculous mechanic in an RPG I've ever heard of. Finally, I ended this segment of playtime by fighting a boss (king bomb), and i found that fight extremely frustrating and unsatisfying; the boss keeps healing himself, and pretty much the only way to prevent it is to wait for him to run out of mana, which is extremely tedious. in addition, the fact that his life bar keeps going back to full makes the player feel like they aren't making any progress.
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Jan 31st, 2007 at 13:53:10 - Final Fantasy XII (PS2) |
I had been playing through Final Fantasy 12 with a friend, and so hadn't played since i last saw her, which was about a month ago. Upon coming back, i was very surprised by a few things. To begin with, the game seemed alot less engrossing then i remembered it; when i think about it the format it follows is a fairly standard one for an RPG, but it feels extremely linear. additionally, the character building has seemed sort of out of sync; all of my characters have pretty much every liscence they could ever need, but just the same i can't keep up with new gear.
All in all, my preliminary experience when coming back to this game was extremely unsatisfying. The average battle in this game feels alot like a fight in an MMORPG, and i'm not sure i like that.
Finally, the story feels very segmented, and I don't like the way the main character seems to have no reason to be there or real roll in the plot.
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lklavens has been with GameLog for 17 years, 10 months, and 11 days |
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