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Friday 8 February, 2008
Gamelog #3 Session #2 for CMPS 20
Start Time: 7:00 pm
End Time: 9:00 pm
Assignment due 2/8/08
GAMEPLAY
I really enjoyed the story of L:SSSC. The characters, as I've mentioned, were absorbing and entertaining. When you play certain scenes outside of cutscenes, the faces of the characters speaking show up in various moods and emotional states. This furthers plot progression and is more interesting than text alone. When I last played the game, I had just begun on a story arc past the first major conflict. I suspect the game supplies many more conflicts, and that this is just the beginning. I really want to keep playing to find out.
The game was a lot of fun to play. A lot of that was because of content other than gameplay. This was kind of strange for me; usually the gameplay is what matters in a game. However, the music was original, the art was consistently good, and the animated cutscenes really make this game unique. They all made me want to play more of the game. It also didn't hurt that the gameplay, which could have been neglected, was awesome. With this game's scope as vast as it is, leaving things less than great was a distinct possibility, and I'm pretty relieved it didn't happen.
The game was interesting to play. Besides offering interesting characters and story, there were puzzles where you had to observe how your environment would respond to certain actions. It took me a while to figure out how to clear the path in the first cave, but after I figured it out, I was fine. Besides that, I didn't even get frustrated with the puzzles because I was gaining experience, leveling up, and gaining new abilities. In other words, the rewards in-game more than balance out the puzzles' difficulty. Even when you're technically stuck, you're usually having a great time.
However, there's not much social interaction while you're playing. The game has a small but devoted following that enjoys discussion of the game, but, there is no multiplayer option. That doesn't mean that observers don't get absorbed in the game right along with you, though. While I was playing, several people stopped what they were doing to watch me play. It has a pretty cool effect on people. Just passing by, they go from not caring to wanting to watch you play, if not play themselves.
The storyline has a strong but linear flow. I experienced a little bit of flow while playing the game. Playing the first few hours of this huge game, I got a sense that there was some urgency involved in the story. It was a little bumpy, though, in terms of coherence. Specifically, in one scene, the main characters are preparing for a festival in honor of their goddess, Althena. However, after you retrieve a treasure from the nearby cave, you make plans to depart right away. This was a little strange, considering that some of the main characters had been preparing for something they weren't going to follow through on. Real people probably wouldn't forget something like that as easily. Despite its minor flow issues, I really liked this game.
DESIGN
Some of the innovative things in this game were the previously mentioned technical achievements. I'm still amazed that you can play a game with this scope on a PlayStation. They crammed a whole lot of game onto two discs. I have a feeling this was made possible by cutting corners on the main gameplay graphics, which are solely in 2D. Cutting corners in this way, however, was surely an early game design decision, rather than one coming from a poorly managed schedule or budget. I was pretty impressed with this game.
The tone of the gameworld is excited and adventurous. The use of mostly bright colors helps with the tone. You never feel a sense of despair playing this game. The characters also have a huge emotional expressiveness. That always appeals to me. Some emotions the characters have displayed so far include the basic happiness and sadness, but also embarrassment, shock, worry, and anger. The wide expressive range of the characters helps to flesh them out and make them seem more like real people.
Some ideas this game gives me for my own project is using resources wisely. It's not necessary to have lots of hours of gameplay on a game so long as the game is fun and interesting. It helps to decide with certainty on what style to use for creative content. I may eventually make a game with cutscenes, but I won't worry about having cutscenes that look like the main gameplay. A lot of games brag about that, but most gamers don't really care. The styles on L:SSSC vary a lot, but they're always high-quality and appropriate for the tone of the game.
This game is pretty much non-emergent. There are some basic moves involved in gameplay, but it is definitely an RPG. As such, I would expect to find a walkthrough for this game more easily than I would find a strategy guide. There is a user manual for if you can't figure out the basics, but it's not really necessary. It would be even easier if the choices you could make were labeled with buttons to press beside them, but they didn't choose to do that in this game.
The cutscenes were really impressive. They support gameplay by contributing to the flow and tone of the game. The visuals and audio were always pleasant to the senses, and so I enjoyed playing more. The cutscenes don't really interfere with gameplay at all; the cutscenes are short and they're only used when the story needs an extra boost of creative expression. They are not used overly much; they are not abused.
I really, REALLY liked Lunar: Silver Star Story Complete. I would recommend it to anyone.
Keep playing!
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