Saturday 9 February, 2008

Gameplay:

I completed the task that Leena sent me on, for a relatively simple game it is surprisingly difficult to accomplish the tasks. This is because the game doesn't give you any guidelines of what buttons do what. The story progressed somewhat , it did not proceed a great deal but enough to keep me interested. I collected three scales for a neckless.

The story between Leena and Serge is very interesting. I kept picking the mushy answers to the sections where you were given a choice in how you want the conversation to turn out. A love story began to unfold, but a strange incident occurred and the moment was ruined. Next thing that you know is that you are alone and asleep on the beach. A person comes to tell you not to sleep on the beach and where to find Leena.

Design:

The game world is not very expansive from what I have seen. This could also be due to the time period it was made in. Seeing as the game was made for the Playstation 1, this was probably the major component of why the designers made the game into the style that they did. The fights are all set in the same location even if the places where the fights are activated are not near each other. This was created this way so that the memory necessary to story the game was not ridiculous.

The cutscenes develop the story in a unique style. The game's story-line was probably created in this way to create a sense of curiosity around the game, in other words- to keep the player intrigued and playing the game. I can only assume that the character's story's come into play later on in the story, so that the designers can keep a strong hold on how much the player is aloud to know.

Seeing as the graphic components of the game are not that great, older games must have a different type of engagement. This game has its main plot-line but also has a very unique style in which the main character engages bi-standards. The bi-standards themselves have engaging stories and aspirations for their own lives and even contemplate alternative pathways that they could have taken.

This game is most certainly a game of progression. There are not very many alternative activities that you can engage in besides the main plot. This was also due to the limitations of the first Playstation console. So this game has far less emergent behaviors then modern RPG's, but I think the developing story more then makes up for this. This a game for its time is also very impressive.

The reward system in this game is much like in any other game, you get rewards that are just found, you also get rewards for accomplishing tasks, and for defeating bosses. This game has many aspects of a modern RPG and uses all of the things that make those games great in its own gameplay experience. (It reminds me a lot of a Final Fantasy game)

I look forward to seeing what happens next.

This is perfectly acceptable, just about what we're looking for. Both gameplay and design sections are fine, though some more detail, especially on how you accomplished the tasks, would be nice for the gameplay section. Still, this is fine.

Amy Leek (grader)

PS - A bystander is someone standing nearby. I don't know what a 'bi-standard' is. Also, I'm slightly confused by what you mean by 'type of engagment'. Random encounters?