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Jan 24th, 2008 at 20:32:56 - Shadow of the Colossus (PS2) |
SUMMARY
I'll gladly admit that I'm a sucker for any action-adventure game that includes Shrines of Worship, forbidden lands, and a main character intriguingly named Wander. Now add a noble stallion, a colossal map of expansive wilderness, and sixteen colossal colossi, and you have Team Ico's Shadow of the Colossus. In this PS2 title, you play a warrior named Wander who is attempting to resurrect a young woman with the aide of a disembodied entity named Dormin. The backstory of the game resides in as enigmatic a shadow as the creation of the colossi. All you know as the player is that in order to save the lady, you must raise your sword into the path of the sunlight and follow its concentrated reflection to where each colossus dwells.
GAMEPLAY
SotC (my shorthand for the game) is definitely not a party-pleaser. It takes a certain elemental mood to immerse yourself in the loneliness and solitary of Wander's quest. In the game, you never encounter other characters with which to socially interact, or different areas and towns to explore. You essentially have Agro, the colossi, and Dormin. The vastness of the map is also a lonely sea of grass, hills, and shrubbery.
Although classified as an action-adventure game, I find SotC to encompass more puzzle-game aspects, since there aren't very many enemies to fight, and the only "action" happens when confronting a colossus. The process is languid and thought-provoking. Wander must find and exploit the colossi's weakness in order to substantially damage the massive creatures, doing so by holding up his sword and allowing the sun to reveal the glowing weak spots on its body. Instead of button-mashing, the player must discover the best route to climbing the giant and attacking its weak areas.
Another unique element of gameplay is the lack of items and weapon upgrades available. During the game, the only resources Wander has are his hands, a sword, a bow and arrows, and Agro. For the first few colossi, Wander mainly uses his sword to pierce the weak spots as he scales each colossus. He has a life bar and a stamina circle, which alerts you if Wander's grip becomes weak while he climbs the colossus. If it does and you are not on a flat surface of the creature, Wander can fall off, damaging his health. As he grabs the hair matter on the colossus' body, he then stabs the weak spot, where black blood spews out. The background music, scenery, and gameplay thus far make SotC a majestic and entertaining game to play on a rainy evening.
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Jan 14th, 2008 at 00:07:49 - Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 3 (PS2) |
GAMEPLAY
The story just keeps getting juicier as I further delve into the world of Persona 3. The protagonist and all his friends that use personas have just been informed that regardless of the shadows they've defeated, the world will soon end. Yikes! They can either fight Nexus, the ultimate shadow of Death, or they can have their memories erased. This news of hopelessness affected the game, and I wasn't able to take my party to Tartarus for the following week - everyone was too depressed.
I was a bit frustrated that I had no control over not being able to level up my characters in Tartarus, but the terrible realization also saddened me. I've grown attached to this game and I would hate to see it end with the world dying. I have decided that when the choice comes, my character will not have his memory erased, but continue to battle the shadows!
That is one of the most enjoyable features about this game - the dual nature of its gameplay. Either mindlessly level up your party(which is therapeutic and an awesome sleep aide), strengthen social links outside of Tartarus, or sit back and watch the elaborate story unfold. I'm stoked to see how my character will save the world - i'm just sure he will.
DESIGN
The random shadow battles is one of the greatest elements of Persona 3's fighting design. It is a classic turn-based RPG where you can use items and assign your party members certain tactics. You also have the option of using a melee attack and hitting the shadow with whatever weapon you choose or find. However, the innovation of personas as key "weapons" creates a multi-faceted fight. Each persona has strengths, weaknesses, and different elemental attacks that change with levelling up. For example, one persona may have strong fire skills, while another is more lightning-based. By having a choice of which persona to use, you can choose the one best fit for the shadow you're fighting. But first, you must discover the shadow's weakness.
Once you find the shadow's weakness, however, fights get boring and repetitive if a floor in Tartarus has a lot of the same shadow on it, which happens frequently. Since you know its weakness, the challenge is gone and that's when it becomes mindless work. Still, the pros outweigh the cons - not to mention the personas have very pretty attacks.
After you defeat a shadow, the reward structure is also unique and, in a way, its own mini game. After a battle, you are given five cards at random that either have a new persona, extra experience points, health points, money, or new weapons on them. The cards flip over and then shuffle very quickly, so you have to keep a close eye on a card if you specifically want it. Little quirks like this add to the freshness of a game's design by keeping it random. It adds replay value.
The tone of the Persona world is unusual and dark. Its macabre themes make it great to play late at night and adds a gothic appeal. However, its darkness is offset by the light-hearted day work of hanging out with friends and paying attention in class at Gekkoukan High. Such contrasts are refreshing because it keeps the game safe from falling into monotony. It also keeps you as the player safe from boredom. Way to go, Atlus!
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Jan 13th, 2008 at 13:33:15 - Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 3 (PS2) |
SUMMARY
Atlus's Shin Megami Tensei series has established its niche in the Playstation RPG world since 1992. One of the title's several spinoffs is the Persona series. In the August 2007 release of Persona 3, you play as a new student attending Gekkoukan High School. During the day, you lead a typical teenager's life, creating social links and building academics, charm, and courage. However, at midnight, your school transforms into a labyrinthine dungeon filled with random turn-based battles with "shadows." During these battles, you and your party have Personas, powerful beings that are summoned by shooting yourself in the head.
GAMEPLAY
Disturbing, right? Atlus is known for its unusual RPGs and Persona 3 is by far no exception to that reputation. It has an alluring and continually engaging storyline (and I have 82 hours logged into this puppy so far) and enough levels in your dungeon/school Tartarus to keep any classic turn-based fan happy. The game is unique in a variety of ways (i.e. the Russian Roulette Dark Hour thing), such as its time scheme. The game is played based on a day-to-day calendar, which guarantees a lengthy RPG, since you play for a whole academic year. Each day offers a plethora of activities and areas to explore in the town, as well as numerous people to meet. The more people you meet and the more "social links" you create, the more powerful your Personas become.
As the protagonist, you have the ability to create multiple Personas, and this is directly related to your social links. Each new social link is designed to follow the Minor Arcana cards in a Tarot deck. That's a lot of people to meet! As you hang out with these different links, your Persona's power grows. You can even fuse personas together to create brand new ones.
At midnight, while the rest of the world assumes an unconscious "Transmorgification" mode (they are all embedded in effervescent coffins), you and your team have to defeat shadows in this Dark Hour. Throughout Tartarus, there are random battles, random items to find, and boss battles every 11 floors or so. Tartarus is also a maze,and never the same each time you enter it. Also, every full moon of the month, there is a major boss battle outside of Tartarus. These battles can be insanely challenging, and often impossible to win if you don't have some type of strategy guide available.
Being an RPG fan, I love the unique twists on the fighting style of this game and its interweaving with the daytime Japanese Sims. The characters are well developed and I care for them like they were my friends as well! A sense of intimacy is created in the characters' relationships with the cut scenes of anime intermittently shown during the game. Persona 3 is enthralling to the point of obsession, and though it may completely absorb your true social life, it's too fun to create social links in the Shin Megami life.
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BRI-3PO has been with GameLog for 16 years, 10 months, and 9 days |
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