 |
|
Mar 6th, 2008 at 02:27:55 - Legend of Dragoon (PS) |
Gameplay
After a bit more gameplay, I've taken notice to the Rewards system in this game.
The experience system is very similar to most Role Playing Games. YOu defeat
a monster and then you gain an appropriate number of experience points and
once you gain enough, you gain another level and your numbers increase. There
are more innovative parts of the rewards system that I find nicer. Dragoon
skills are gained when spirit points are earned. You get a certain amount of
spirit points per attack and once you've earned enough, a new skill is learned.
There is also the Addition level up system. The idea is to do a move 99 times
to unlock the next move and then repeat until you've learned them all.
The music is very nice in my opinion. Nice but standard. I can't get over how
average this game is when you ignore the battle system. The soundtrack is
appropriate at all times and does the job well done. I find myself putting
some of the tunes in my ipod at the risk of getting mocked by my peers.
The level design is done very nicely. The towns look very busy and vast while
the dungeons have many winding paths that lead to treasures and traps. It's
also visually appealing considering it is a ps1 game.
Design
The only thing unique about this game is the battle system. By allowing the
player to be more active during normally mundane battles, the player is forced
to be more engaged in the game and actually concentrate. It really is the main
appeal to this game that makes it stand out from the crowd of cookie cutter
role playing games that come out every year.
The rewards system is also related to the battle system and makes a normally
bland thing a little bit more interesting. By forcing the player to learn new
moves through mastery of the prerequisite move, the player is being rewarded
to actively take part in battles and use the unique battle system. These two
complement each other very well and probably would not be very well done if
they were created individually for two different games.
There is also the Dragoon Transformation aspect which I like to think of as
the Super Hero Transformation mode. It allows the player to be alot stronger
and makes you think every character is awesome at fighting when they can just
transform. I don't think I've played any other role playing game with something
like this before so I'm going to say that this is the first of its kind and is
therefore innovative.
read comments (1)  - add a comment  - read this GameLog  |
|
Mar 6th, 2008 at 02:09:20 - Legend of Dragoon (PS) |
Overview
Legend of Dragoon is a role playing game that tells the story of a teenager
who is on his quest to avenge his parent's deaths by killing the "Black
Monster" who attacked his town many years ago. It is quite unique in that it
introduces the Addition battle system. THe system basically allows the
character to choose a preset combination attack and then if the player presses
X at the right moment during the attack, the attack can continue.
Gameplay
The characters in my opinion, are very cliche. Every single one of them are
stock characters from many Role Playing Games before it was created and
certainly after it was created. You get to use the Youthful teenage leader,
the love interest, the dark and mysterious girl, the hyper and cheerful girl,
the best friend, the buff guy and the martial artist. I feel that it's not
bad that the characters are generic, it is just not good at the same time. It
didn't throw anything new to the table from what I can tell.
The story is elaborate as most Role Playing Games are. It starts off as a
boy and his quest to kill the one who ruined his life but then it soon spirals
out of control as more characters get involved in his life and distract him
from his original goal. Very shortly into the game, the hero gets sidetracked
and has to overthrow an empire and then unlock the mysteries of Dragoon Spirits.
I felt that it was nice and original as far as Role Playing Games go. I always
enjoy a good plot twist to take me by surprise and get my excitement going.
The gameplay is very different from most Role Playing Games. The Addition
system really spices up battles and keeps it from becoming completely monotonous.
The ability to also transform into a Dragoon, a Dragon Warrior is also very different
from most Role Playing Games. It makes me feel kind of like a Super Hero because
of the ability to change into a super power being that gives many new skills
add a comment - read this GameLog |
|
Feb 21st, 2008 at 02:51:05 - Chrono Trigger (SNES) |
Gameplay
On my second time today through chrono trigger, I have taken a small break from the main story and I am just enjoying the atmosphere of the game. This game is renowned for having one of the greatest soundtracks on the super nintendo and I decided I would just appreciate that. The soundtrack contains many catchy tunes that I will find myself humming tommorow and is very fitting. It's hard for me to describe music through text but the music is never inappropriate. Sad tunes play during sad moments, exciting and upbeat tunes play during chase scenes, it really makes the game much easier to get into.
Doing nothing to advance the story in this game is still rewarding. The people who you can talk to are interesting and have distinct personalities that they are able to express through 1 or 4 lines of text. Theres the annoyed girl that would rather spend time at the fair, the mean drunk, the gambler, the happy old man who gets mad if you eat his lunch. It is nice to know that this game offers more than just a story for players.
Design
The level design for this game is very well done. They not only look nice, but are fitting to the current time period such as peaceful present to the grim future. The paths that you can take are mostly linear but with occasional dead ends that contain items.
This game has a few bits of innovation in it that seperates itself from the massive library of RPGs on the SNES. One aspect is the Active Time Battle system itself. I know a couple of games have this now but back in 1995, this was the first I have ever seen of this kind. The system basically made it so that if the player did not move or input any commands during a battle, the enemy monsters were free to attack again instead of taking turns like in traditional RPGs.
One bit of innovation that I've seen is the 8 way run. It is surprising that something so obvious wasn't implemented sooner. Most RPGs that I have played in the past restricted my character to moving up,down,left or right but this game decided that 4 directions was not enough. While this is a staple in any RPG today, it was not there for alot of games back in the 16 bit era.
The reward structure is pretty generic for RPGs. It is basically once you destroy enough monsters and collect enough experience points, you gained a level and all your statistics increase by a bit. This is boring and overdone even back then. The only thing that I found amusing was that if you grabbed an item in the present and then go back in time, you can grab the item again. I guess that somewhat rewards you if you kept in mind some time travel logic.
This game is very satisfying to play and I would not change much to this game. Besides the boring level up system, there isn't much to complain about. Like many fans, the only thing I can really gripe about is why does this game have to come to an end?
read comments (1) - add a comment - read this GameLog |
|
Feb 21st, 2008 at 01:50:14 - Chrono Trigger (SNES) |
Overview
Chrono trigger is an RPG chronicling the adventure of a silent hero protagonist and friends as they embark on an adventure through time. This is an interesting game as it is very different from the other games taht were made at the time. It had an active time battle system, 8 way run and the concept of time travel that they presented.
Gameplay
The characters that I have encountered seem pretty interesting, not counting the hero crono(Who is silent). The characters are well developed and fill roles in the team that no other character could have. There is the girly girl, the tech savvy girl, the medieval heroic frog knight, a robot and few more. I admit it was kind of weird to see characters from different time periods interact with one another but it was satisfying because now I know or at least have some idea of how it might turn out.
The story is very interesting to me. It may just be my weakness to time travel but I always love it when the idea of time travel is thrown around. It basically starts off as a boy excited to go to a fair but gets sucked into a situation where he has to go back in time which leads to another situation where he has to go through time again. Through playing around with time, he learns that a disaster happens in the future and that somewhere at sometime, there is a way to save the world.
The gameplay is pretty standard as far as Role Playing Games go. You select a command and the character will do it. However, I find that they added slight twists to battles that make it seem a bit more interesting than Final Fantasy battles such as the ability to see where enemies are instead of random encounters. Another cool thing about battles is that 2-3 characters can combine their abilities to form even more abilities. That leads to the battles not looking so monotonous.
add a comment - read this GameLog |
|
|
 |
| mp3ksc's GameLogs |
|
mp3ksc has been with GameLog for 16 years, 10 months, and 6 days |
view feed xml
|
| Entries written to date: 9 |
|
