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SGA's Star Ocean: Till the End of Time (PS2)
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| [March 5, 2008 02:59:52 PM]
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Gameplay:
Apparently the two main characters are apparently related, well at least Sophia called Fayt's mother aunt so I guess they are relatives, maybe I miss herd what was said. Hopefully I did because they seem a little to "close". I have begun the second game section after the computer has told your main character that your hotel is under attack.
The game is quiet humorous at this point, although it is not done intentionally. As the attack begins the characters that surround your characters still have not reacted to the attack. There is a kid looking at something in the lobby the other adults are also walking around without a care in the world. After you have run out of the lobby, everyone reacts.
After you run out of the lobby you make your way through some a teleport machine you meet your parents. Then the enemy army attacks and you make your escape, you lose your parents and end up at the refuge site. After gaining some info about the different things happening in the surrounding sector of space you activate another evacuation to another location.
During the first evacuation you get to fight off some enemies. This fighting comprises as both of the main characters running around the enemies, Fayt smacks them with a big stick and Sophia uses her mental points to attack the enemies.
Design:
This game is a pretty good, it has many design qualities that endear it to early RPG's. Like the style in which the game's story-line unfolds. Many of the early RPG's failed to give step by step instructions on what is player should do to further their game state, but Star Ocean uses a very interesting game mechanic to replace the step by step instructions. By interacting with bystanders in the game, the player learns vital information which triggers story events. Not everything that is communicated to you during your gathering of information is useful to the furthering of the game but they are interesting snippets of info about the backstory of the game. Even though the requirements of the game mechanics cause you to have to wander around aimlessly for a while, the interactions with other characters in the game make up for the extra time the game requires you spend between game events.
The game also has another unique game mechanic that is not seen in many RPG's now days. The fact that you can choose what dialog you can say during certain events in the game suggests that you can manipulate the direction in which the game unfolds.
In respect to my earlier comment about the game becoming humorous during the most dramatic bits of the story-line, it is not actually the designers fault. It is caused by the limitation of the known programing techniques during the development of the game. The characters in the game have very bad human emotions. In one scene the entire family is standing by a couple of soldiers who are immediately shot as they defend the civilians, but none of the family react to the fact that some other characters have just died. Also the voice acting in the game is pretty bad, the voices also lack emotion. Everything seems to be said in monotone even if the subject pertains to something that would cause high emotional reactions. Even though these would usually be negatives in a game, the player has to remember when the game was made. It actually made me enjoy the game more because it brought humor into the game, while also reminding me how far games have developed from even five to six years ago. (The programmers and the designers were simply restricted by game technology that they had access to)
There arn't really varied levels, just varied locations in which the game occurs. Although the game doesn't really have level segmentation the designers successfully split the game into smaller tasks by restricting the story to the current location of the main characters. A small portion of the story is revealed as the player explores the location and interacts with all the bystanders of the location. I found this a interesting way to segment the game.
The game hasn't frustrated me yet, which is interesting because usually there are a couple of game mechanics that infuriate me. I hope to find time to further my progress in this game.
This entry has been edited 4 times. It was last edited on Mar 6th, 2008 at 00:47:48.
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| [March 5, 2008 11:31:22 AM]
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Summary:
Star Ocean: Till the End of Time is a RPG, that follows the interactions of a couple of kids named Fayt and Sophia. Two kids on vacation on a resort called Hyda. The resort is attacked by unidentified space ships and they must escape. Game play occurs when encountering enemies. To defeat enemies the player must either physically attack, or use mental points (equivalent of magic in most RPG's).
Gameplay:
When the game begins you are immediately introduced to the main character Fayt, who apparently finds games more interesting then his friend who he stood up at the beach. His friend, Sophia, completely has him tied around her little finger. SHe is able to manipulate him with ease.I found this quiet humorous because the game is essentially like many other RPG games. Were childhood friends appear to be more then just friends, the boy always being the strong male who knows how to fight protecting the damsel in distress.
The game although like many modern RPG games is also slightly different the respect that the player gets very little direction in what action they are to take to trigger the main story of the game. The only thing that you are told is to go look around the hotel. The radar that you follow doesn't tell you what room you are entering so you randomly barge into peoples rooms. If you talk to them after walking into there room, they tell you off then tell you some information that pertains to the main story line.
It is an interesting way to suggest interaction with bystanders.
The story hasn't developed much yet, obviously something bad happens to ruin the vacation, this disaster comes in the form of an attack on the complex. The story is getting more interesting as it unfolds. The game does take a while to start moving, this is impart to the fact that you have to trigger the right events. Meaning that I did wonder around for quiet a few minutes wondering what I was suppose to do. Although the game is kind of fun I think that once more of the story is revealed then it will become more entertaining.
This entry has been edited 1 time. It was last edited on Mar 5th, 2008 at 11:33:20.
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SGA's Star Ocean: Till the End of Time (PS2)
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Current Status: Playing
GameLog started on: Wednesday 5 March, 2008
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