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Feb 8th, 2008 at 22:26:24 - Monster Hunter Freedom (PSP) |
Gameplay
Monster Hunter Freedom has become addicting. You run about accepting quests trying to best whatever monster comes your way. The quests you can take up are separated into two different categories: gathering and slaying. Slaying quests, which are my favorite type of quests, involve you slaying some target monster or monsters. Gathering quests are quests where you go, find, and bring back whatever you are specified to find. The gathering quests can range from simple herb picking to sneaking into a wyvern’s nest and abducting one of its eggs. I find the quests where you have to retrieve wyvern eggs particularly suspenseful. When carrying an egg, your walking and running speed is decreased drastically, and if you get attacked by anything or fall off a high ledge the egg will break. Stealing eggs is just one example of the numerous carrying quests this game has to offer.
The game offers a wide variety of weapons, allowing players to choose a weapon class that really suits their personality. There are six different types of weapons to choose from and each type of weapon has a number of paths you can take when customizing your weapon. The good thing is that there are no limitations on how many types of weapons you choose to use. I often find myself switching between using sword and shields and great swords. It is also noteworthy to mention that there is no best weapon as you will need different weapons when hunting different monsters, namely wyverns.
Just as there is a large, and I mean large, array of weapons to choose from, the same applies for armor. Each piece of armor has its own set of skills. When enough pieces of armor that share the same skill is worn, then it will boost your character’s abilities. One example is the farsight ability. After I have assembled the necessary armor pieces with the farsight skill, I will be able to see a map of the area without have to carry a map with me. It is important to note that you do not have to complete a certain set of armor in order to obtain certain abilities. I often find myself mixing and matching armor pieces in order to get a desired ability.
There is more to the game than simply hunting and gathering. After you complete you first quest, you’ll unlock the Kokoto Farm. Here you can fish, farm, catch insects, mine for minerals, gather plants, and more. As you progress in the game, you will be able to renovate your farm. I have renovated everything possible. Now instead of fishing with a rod, I can catch fish using fishnets and a fishnet-casting machine.
Monsters Hunter Freedom also features a combination system. This allows you to combine usable and non-usable items together to create helpful items that will aide you on your quests. My personal favorite combination is the pitfall trap. This requires you make a net and a pitfall tool, and combine the two to make the pitfall trap. Note, there is only a 40% success rate for combining this item. The better or more advanced the item, the harder it is to make.
Design
Monster Hunter Freedom has to have by far, the best graphics I have seen on the PSP. The image of this game is simply stunning. The textures and environment is very well done. The game aims for a realistic feel where you are but one person in a large world. You can clearly see this as you are being chased around the map by giant wyverns.
The music for this game does a fine job of drawing you into the game. The music does well in complimenting the game. In other words, it matches the mood of the game. When in town, the music is rather calm and enjoyable. When you are out on a quest, there isn’t normally any background music. Instead, you will hear noises from your surrounding area, such as birds, crickets, other creatures on the field, and even the breathing of your character.
Monster Hunter Freedom has no dungeon, puzzles, or anything of that sort. Instead you partake in quests that take place in one of six maps. Each map has specific features, surroundings, and habitats. For instance, you can only find certain types of monsters in the jungle map and other monsters in the volcanic map. This requires you to know your surroundings. For instance, I have memorized all the locations of items that can aid me in my quests, such as where I can find herbs, which recovers health.
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Feb 8th, 2008 at 22:25:03 - Monster Hunter Freedom (PSP) |
Summary
Monster Hunter Freedom is a third person action game that takes place in pseudo-prehistoric time and place. You begin the game as a nameless hunter simply taking on jobs around the village. Your aim is simple, to be the top hunter in the village. You start as a novice hunter, but as you build up your skills and take on more difficult missions your status will grow rapidly.
Gameplay
Monster Hunter Freedom does a fine job of drawing you into the world. One of the ways the game gets you feeling as if you are part of the world is through character customization. You have free range over how your character will look and sound. You can change everything about you character from hair to the voice of your character. This allows you to make a character you feel resembles you, an identity in the world of Monster Hunter Freedom.
The game throws you straight into the world with no tutorials on how to play, no map to tell you where to go, and no lessons on the control. This leaves players to discover many things on their own such as where the stores and important locations are. I find this a good thing, as this offers you more freedom to explore and adds to the play experience. The town you start in is by itself small, but the other terrains are vast with tons to do. This game is mostly single-player, but up to four people can play with wifi. So you have the choice to either solo your quests or run around with a buddy. I played multiplayer with my friend quite a few times and can tell you that it further enriched the gameplay experience.
You start the game waking up from bed, a very typical RPG style opening. But it does not take long before players notice that the game is no typical RPG. In fact, the only role-playing you do is playing as a hunter living in a world swarming with monster. Though many of the creatures you encounter will resemble dinosaurs, you will also find yourself face-to-face with large wyverns and much more.
Once you start taking on quests, you will soon discover that the learning curve is in actuality quite high. For example the first couple quests will have you killing dinosaurs that are either harmless herbivores or carnivorous man-eating raptors, until you take on your first, what I call, real quest. What I mean by real quest is that you will have to slay your first fire-breathing wyvern. It took a good four to five hours before I was able to slay it. And that was not only the smallest, but the easiest wyvern in the game too. There is no level-up system in this game, no permanent stat increase, and definitely no such thing as being so overpowered you can kill a wyvern in a few hits. What this boils down to is that this is a game of skill. Know your opponent, avoid attacks, and know when to strike. These are essential things to know when hunting, for the smallest mistake can result in your character getting torn apart. This is not a simple game you can just master in a couple hours or even a couple of days.
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Jan 25th, 2008 at 23:27:52 - Chrono Trigger (SNES) |
Gameplay 2
There is a free range of what can be done in the game along with some limiting factors. For instance, you are free to pretty much do what you want and go where you want to go. The limiting factors are that even if you run off to do your own thing, you will eventually have to come back and finish the task at hand.
There are a ton of mini-games and side quests that you can take up. In some cases, the things you do will come back and either help you out or bite you in the butt. For example, I ate a man’s lunch box right off the table and later he came back and told the story of how I ate his lunch, making me seem like a bad person in front of the jury.
Though there are objectives to complete, it is often difficult to find your destination. The lack of hints makes it hard to proceed normally in the story. You are often wandering about the world map or searching around random houses clueless of where to go next.
I found the whole concept behind changing the future by altering events in the present and past rather interesting. In order to save the future from an untimely end, Crono and his friends work hard in trying to change the course of events by altering what has already happened or yet to happen.
Design
The story starts out rather slowly, but tosses you out into the world right off the bat. There are no tutorials as to how the battle and tech systems, which leaves players hanging there having to solve everything themselves. That however, is not a problem as the learning curve is rather low. Players will only need to engage in a single battle to understand the combat system.
The music presented in the game works well in complimenting the game. It is catchy and fits in well with the mood of the game. There are multiple tracks, which all have their own appeal to them. The music really sticks to you. I often find my friend and I humming to the music as we proceed through the game.
To add to the replay value, there are multiple endings, which players can unlock by playing through the game a second time and fighting the final boss at different intervals.
After playing this game I can see how it is a classic. Although the game is old I find myself enticed in playing it.
This entry has been edited 1 time. It was last edited on Jan 25th, 2008 at 23:43:33.
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Jan 25th, 2008 at 23:25:44 - Chrono Trigger (SNES) |
Summary
Living in a time of peace and prosperity, you take control of the main protagonist Crono. You start the game asleep, comfortably tucked into bed, when you hear someone yelling at you to get out of bed. Turns out that was your mom telling you to get ready to go to the Millenial Fair. After a series of events, Crono and friends discover portals that lead to different time periods, which include past, present, and future. You play the game traveling through these portals in an attempt to change the future by alering history.
Gameplay
An aspect of Chrono Trigger that I personally want to point out is that there are no random encounters. The monsters and enemies in the game can be clearly seen on the screen. When fighting or engaging in a fight, there are no wait. Combat starts as soon as Crono encounters an enemy. The characters will pull out their weapons and you will be thrown right into the battle.
Chrono Trigger does a well in keeping players engaged and actively participating in battles. The battle system is rather unique as it strays off the path of your typical turn-based RPG game. When engaging in a fight, the battle takes place in real-time. In other words, enemies will not just sit idly by as a player takes two minutes to make a decision. Each character has a meter that fills up as time passes. When the meter is full, you are then able to choose an action from the command list. Enemies in turn also have their own meter that fills and allows them to make a move. At the end of each battle, you gain exp, tech points, and maybe an item. After accumulating enough tech points, your character will learn a technique. There is a series of techniques that each character can learn. There are cases when combos involving two or even three of the characters can be executed for a deadly attack.
As far as difficulty goes, the game is pretty easy. Boss fights are rather simple and can be rather easy to overcome. For the most part all you have to do is monitor your health and attack away. There are some bosses that involve some more strategy, but nothing that is head banging difficult.
This entry has been edited 1 time. It was last edited on Jan 25th, 2008 at 23:44:15.
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