For whatever reason, Burger King decided to release a handful of XBox/XBox 360 games. I put the slash there since they managed to put native versions for both consoles on a single disc. Anyway, the three games are Sneak King, Mini Bike Racer, and Big Bumpin'. For $3.99 with a value meal each, I couldn't really resist. Worst comes to worst, I'm out less than breakfast. At Burger King.
SNEAK KING
Sneak King is the best of the bunch in my opinion. The basic premise is that you play as the Burger King, sneak up on people, and give them food. That's it. But you know what? It's a lot of fun. To be sure, the people have sight cones that make Metal Gear Solid guards seem realistic, but that's okay. When you surprise someone to give them food, a meter pops up on-screen, similar to in a golf game, and the higher you get, the better the surprise and the more points you get. You get combos which increase the points for the goals you get as long as you're not seen. Additionally, there's hiding spots which you can go in to jump out at the people which increases the points even more. And that's all it is. A points game. The graphics are good enough. Not state of the art, but they suffice. The sound works perfectly for the game, and has no faults. For $4, you can't really lose here.
MINI BIKE RACER
Mini Bike Racer is basically an average kart racing game. Only instead of gokarts, the characters drive minibikes (as the title would suggest). It really offers nothing new that hasn't been done, and better, by any of a dozen kart racers. Still, for $4, I can't really complain. There's a pretty big cast of playable characters ranging from the Burger King to a Whopper Jr. to...Brooke Burke. Yeah, her. There's a handful of bikes to choose from, but only two to start. It's pretty tough. The AI is good, without cheating.
BIG BUMPIN'
Big Bumping is the worst of the lot. It's a bumper car game. You drive bumper cars and have a life meter that seems to go down on its own. The controls are kind of silly in that it's an overhead view and you move in the direction you press. I was expecting something like Rock n Roll Racing (as far as controls go). The gameplay's shallow, and the cars are kind of small, which makes seeing things a bit rough. The $4 is almost too much for it, really. It may be better in multiplayer, but I don't really know.
In other news
It took roughly 15 hours, but I'm finally enjoying Final Fantasy XII. I finally stopped resisting the battle system, and set gambits for everyone, including the party leader. It basically lets you just walk towards some enemies, then put down the controller. I also started differentiating the characters, so they're all a bit different now. I'm trying to get some set roles for them, which I think I'm doing okay with. Well, three pairs of roles, at any rate. Once I got past all that, it became a lot more fun.
Tuesday, November 28, 2006
Friday, November 17, 2006
PS3 release day
Today Sony released the Playstation 3, after a couple years of hype. I didn't get one. In some of the bigger markets, people have been lined up for days to get one. Here? Not so much. There were lines, but not nearly as long. I went to Wal-Mart last night, and the line was 15-20 people long at 9:30 PM. It was a 24 hour store, so they were going on sale at 12:01 AM. I could have gotten one if I felt like it, I think. That's one of the few nice things about this area -- there doesn't sem to be *quite* that many gamers. Case in point: I got Contact for DS a week after release, when internet people were having trouble getting it the day after. Still, it was fun reading about all the crap that happened to people waiting in lines for PS3s: robberies, shootings, and so on.
As it is, I'm not really interested in the PS3. The release titles don't interest me at all, and there doesn't seem to be anything I'm really interested in coming out for a few months in the least. Metal Gear Solid 4 and Final Fantasy XIII being the big ones. There's really nothing much more, since it seems like everything else is a shooter of some sort. The first-person type which I only like sometimes. My entire collection has maybe a half dozen FPS games, which I don't play terribly often. Anyway, the point is that I'm not really interested in it. Contrast that with the Wii where a large number of the games seem like things that are just fun. I know I'll be one of those dorks waiting in the cold at 9 tomorrow night.
As it is, I'm not really interested in the PS3. The release titles don't interest me at all, and there doesn't seem to be anything I'm really interested in coming out for a few months in the least. Metal Gear Solid 4 and Final Fantasy XIII being the big ones. There's really nothing much more, since it seems like everything else is a shooter of some sort. The first-person type which I only like sometimes. My entire collection has maybe a half dozen FPS games, which I don't play terribly often. Anyway, the point is that I'm not really interested in it. Contrast that with the Wii where a large number of the games seem like things that are just fun. I know I'll be one of those dorks waiting in the cold at 9 tomorrow night.
Wednesday, November 15, 2006
God Hand
This is the only game I've bought since I started this blog, and I bought it solely based on the developer, despite rather poor reviews across the board. GameRankings has it with a 75% average rating, which I guess is average. Anyway, it's developed by Capcom's Clover team, who are responsible for such gems (no sarcasm here) as Viewtiful Joe and Okami. Of course, since Capcom's shut them down, I guess it's the LAST game from them, which is terribly unfortunate. I've actually only just completed the first stage, but that took about two hours and many continues (you have an unlimited supply) to do so. It's tough.
God Hand is essentially a modernized version of an old-school side scrolling beat em up, like Final Fight, or The Simpsons Arcade. Instead of being a sidescroller, God Hand has a behind the back view, which it holds to as much as possible. The camera is fixed behind Jean when moving and doing basic attacks, the main character, but will change for special attacks. It's a little difficult to deal with. There's no jumpling at all, and a dazed enemy will allow you to do special attacks which generally require you to mash buttons as quickly as possible. You find and buy new attacks in a wide variety of styles, even drunken boxing, which is always fun to use. You can, of course, change your attacks to use more powerful ones at any time. You have a God hand meter, which fills as you attack and kill enemies. Once it's full, you can trigger your God hand, which makes you incredibly fast, strong, and unblockable. While in use, the meter drains, and you lose it once it's gone. When you die, you keep your meters, powerups, and money, which is handy. At the end of each section of a stage, which usually consists of a dozen or so enemies, you can save the game, go shop, fight in the Extreme Fighting Arena, and gamble in a casino for more money. When you die, you simply restart the section, hopefully learning from your mistakes.
From what I'm told, the game is intended to be a parody of the beat em up genre. Everything is very over the top, including the enemies. The first stage midbosses are a pair of flamingly gay black men. In thongs. The boss of the level is a very fat man who smokes a cigar. As far as I can tell, Jean is lacking in motives, and just goes through the motions.
Graphically, it looks very nice. It's certainly modern for the PS2, so no complaints there. The music is very repetative. It doesn't change at all in the first stage. It has a bit of a country/western twang to it, which at least fits. The voice acting is better than Resident Evil, but still over the top. It does the job.
There's really not much to say about the game, since it's frankly incredibly shallow. I'm not really sure if I'd recommend it as anything other than Clover's take on Final Fight. Of course, it's $30 brand new, so that's always a good thing.
God Hand is essentially a modernized version of an old-school side scrolling beat em up, like Final Fight, or The Simpsons Arcade. Instead of being a sidescroller, God Hand has a behind the back view, which it holds to as much as possible. The camera is fixed behind Jean when moving and doing basic attacks, the main character, but will change for special attacks. It's a little difficult to deal with. There's no jumpling at all, and a dazed enemy will allow you to do special attacks which generally require you to mash buttons as quickly as possible. You find and buy new attacks in a wide variety of styles, even drunken boxing, which is always fun to use. You can, of course, change your attacks to use more powerful ones at any time. You have a God hand meter, which fills as you attack and kill enemies. Once it's full, you can trigger your God hand, which makes you incredibly fast, strong, and unblockable. While in use, the meter drains, and you lose it once it's gone. When you die, you keep your meters, powerups, and money, which is handy. At the end of each section of a stage, which usually consists of a dozen or so enemies, you can save the game, go shop, fight in the Extreme Fighting Arena, and gamble in a casino for more money. When you die, you simply restart the section, hopefully learning from your mistakes.
From what I'm told, the game is intended to be a parody of the beat em up genre. Everything is very over the top, including the enemies. The first stage midbosses are a pair of flamingly gay black men. In thongs. The boss of the level is a very fat man who smokes a cigar. As far as I can tell, Jean is lacking in motives, and just goes through the motions.
Graphically, it looks very nice. It's certainly modern for the PS2, so no complaints there. The music is very repetative. It doesn't change at all in the first stage. It has a bit of a country/western twang to it, which at least fits. The voice acting is better than Resident Evil, but still over the top. It does the job.
There's really not much to say about the game, since it's frankly incredibly shallow. I'm not really sure if I'd recommend it as anything other than Clover's take on Final Fight. Of course, it's $30 brand new, so that's always a good thing.
Tuesday, November 14, 2006
Dragon Quest Heroes: Rocket Slime
Today I'm doing something new. I'm going to talk about a game I've ACTUALLY FINISHED. This probably won't happen too often since, well, I don't finish many games. Anyway, Dragon Quest Heroes: Rocket Slime is a Squeenix spin-off of the long-running Dragon Quest/Warrior series (Dragon Quest VIII is the first one we've gotten as Quest, not Warrior) for the Nintendo DS. Rocket Slime features one of the lovable slimes from the series, named Rocket in his own adventure to save all his friends.
The game basically features two types of gameplay: a Zelda-like main game, and a series of tank battles. Yeah, you heard me. TANK BATTLES. The game starts with Rocket's town being attacked by the evil Platypunks, who kidnap all his friends and destroy the town, like any good villains. You run around a series of levels solving an occasional puzzle and progressing the story. Most levels have various parts unlocked as the story moves forward. Rocket's main attack is a slingshot-like attack. You hold a button and press the direction on the D-pad that you want to slingshot, then release, and he goes flying. It takes a few hits to kill most enemies, BUT when you hit one, and many items throughout the game world, then move underneath it, you can carry it around, and throw. Throwing enemies at eachother is a pretty effective way of killing them. Alternately, you can throw them on any of the many carts throughout the game that sends them back to your town, where they apparently give up their evil ways and live happily ever after. Throwing an item on a cart lets you use it later in your tank. Oh yeah, tank battles...
Throughout every level are several midbosses and one main boss who challenge you to a tank battle. Rocket's tank naturally looks like a giant slime-shaped castle. The tank battles are pretty simple, but fun. You run through your tank and grab pieces of ammo, all of which have different characteristics. Most simply get shot to the enemy and do damage, but they do different amounts of damage and move at different speeds. Some have other effects. There's a bottle of oil that creates a blanket of fire in the enemy's gunroom. There's some shields, which naturally block enemy fire, and mirrors which reflect it. Later on, you get the option of having a crew of two to help you out, which is extremely useful. The crew can fire cannons, infiltrate the enemy tank and steal their stuff, and heal you. The strategy in the battles is pretty simplistic, but that's okay. They get very, very hectic.
The game is FULL of puns. One of the first town members you find is a platypunk named Ducktor Cid. Yeah, Squeenix is using him in DQ games now. There's a vampire slime named Dragoola, and things like that. It's silly, but fun. The graphics are purely sprite-based, but fit the game very well. The sound is nothing special, but does its job, so no complaints. The plotline isn't terribly special. It's pretty much just there to get you to the next point in the game, but it does the job admirably. Over all, Rocket Slime doesn't really show off the abilities and power of the DS, but it's a ton of fun for the 20 or so hours it lasts. I highly recommend it to anyone who wants something that's simply fun.
The game basically features two types of gameplay: a Zelda-like main game, and a series of tank battles. Yeah, you heard me. TANK BATTLES. The game starts with Rocket's town being attacked by the evil Platypunks, who kidnap all his friends and destroy the town, like any good villains. You run around a series of levels solving an occasional puzzle and progressing the story. Most levels have various parts unlocked as the story moves forward. Rocket's main attack is a slingshot-like attack. You hold a button and press the direction on the D-pad that you want to slingshot, then release, and he goes flying. It takes a few hits to kill most enemies, BUT when you hit one, and many items throughout the game world, then move underneath it, you can carry it around, and throw. Throwing enemies at eachother is a pretty effective way of killing them. Alternately, you can throw them on any of the many carts throughout the game that sends them back to your town, where they apparently give up their evil ways and live happily ever after. Throwing an item on a cart lets you use it later in your tank. Oh yeah, tank battles...
Throughout every level are several midbosses and one main boss who challenge you to a tank battle. Rocket's tank naturally looks like a giant slime-shaped castle. The tank battles are pretty simple, but fun. You run through your tank and grab pieces of ammo, all of which have different characteristics. Most simply get shot to the enemy and do damage, but they do different amounts of damage and move at different speeds. Some have other effects. There's a bottle of oil that creates a blanket of fire in the enemy's gunroom. There's some shields, which naturally block enemy fire, and mirrors which reflect it. Later on, you get the option of having a crew of two to help you out, which is extremely useful. The crew can fire cannons, infiltrate the enemy tank and steal their stuff, and heal you. The strategy in the battles is pretty simplistic, but that's okay. They get very, very hectic.
The game is FULL of puns. One of the first town members you find is a platypunk named Ducktor Cid. Yeah, Squeenix is using him in DQ games now. There's a vampire slime named Dragoola, and things like that. It's silly, but fun. The graphics are purely sprite-based, but fit the game very well. The sound is nothing special, but does its job, so no complaints. The plotline isn't terribly special. It's pretty much just there to get you to the next point in the game, but it does the job admirably. Over all, Rocket Slime doesn't really show off the abilities and power of the DS, but it's a ton of fun for the 20 or so hours it lasts. I highly recommend it to anyone who wants something that's simply fun.
Monday, November 13, 2006
Castlevania: Curse of Darkness
As of this year, Castlevania has been in the US 20 years. I was four when the first CV game came out for the NES. It may be a little older in Japan, but I don't really know. Still, 20 years. That's a pretty long time. Anyway, I'm not sure whether Curse of Darkness or Dawn of Sorrow came out first, but the former is the main topic today. CoD is the most recent console release in the Castlevania series. It reuses the 3D engine first developed for Lament of Innocence, a PS2 exclusive. I haven't played LoI, but most of the impressions I've gotten were "at least it's not Castlevania 64." That doesn't really inspire confidence in the title. As an aside, Konami's current subtitling system of "* of *" is getting a bit redundant. Hell, even Squeenix stole it for FFVII: Dirge of Cerberus. At any rate, CoD is the first one I can think of where you play a bad guy...not including Alucard's appearances.
CoD is a follow-up to Castlevania III for the NES, which featured Trevor Belmont. In this one, you play as Hector, one of Dracula's Devil Forgemaster. What's a Devil Forgemaster? One who forges devils, of course! Basically, Hector can summon demons, called Innocent Devils, to help him on his quest to find the OTHER Devil Forgemaster, Isaac, who killed the love of his life. Like every CV game since Symphony of the Night (with the exception of Castlevania Chronicles, a remake of an earlier game), you run around a completely connected map, beating up enemies, earning experience, and getting new weapons. Well, not so much the last bit. Another part of being a Devil Forgemaster is making weapons. Throughout the game, you collect various materials that allow you to build new, more powerful weapons. The map is layed out such that every area is connected somehow, but you may need new abilities to access new areas. There's the usual backtracking if you couldn't get something, as well as the usual need to level properly to get to new areas.
Playing the game is a lot like playing pretty much any modern action game. You have a bunch of enemies in a room, and can attack, block, and dodge them, obviously hoping to kill them all. And that's where the game mostly fails. It's generic. Other than Trevor showing up for an unwinnable fight (I HATE THOSE), and the enemies, there's really nothing that feels properly Castlevania about this game. Don't get me wrong, though, I'm not saying it's by any means BAD, it's just that it could be any game. There's some of the classic CV enemies (no Medusa heads that I've seen yet, thankfully), and the same types of music, but it's just...generic.
Either way, I'm still enjoying it. I like the weapon building system, although it's one of those things that often drives me crazy since it makes me very reluctant to sell or combine anything. I don't want to combine that early sword when it could be used as the ULTIMATE WEAPON at the end of the game. Not that that's ever the case, but you never know. I know if I was designing games, I'd do it, just to piss people off. But I'm a horrible person, so my game ideas probably aren't for the best. Along with the weapons, the Innocent Devils level up, and eat crystals that can eventually evolve them, like a demented Pokémon. The problem here is how it's done. When you kill enemies, they'll often drop crystals. The color of crystal depends on the weapon type (sword, axe/club, spear, knuckle, special) that you use. Different crystals level the Innocent Devils in different ways, but there's no way to tell what a given evolution will do. So you wing it. Hopefully, they'll grow up to be a nice, strong Innocent Devil. But maybe not. I just use the weapons I want, rather than try to level them in certain ways. I figure they'll turn out okay.
Anyway, it's a fun enough game. Not the best in the series, but it's not like SotN is going to be beaten any time soon. I'm glad the series is evolving into the new era, but still really prefer the 2D games. What I'd really like to see is a really old school, level-based game. No backtracking, multiple paths, and no RPG elements. I know it won't happen, but it would still be fun. Oh well.
CoD is a follow-up to Castlevania III for the NES, which featured Trevor Belmont. In this one, you play as Hector, one of Dracula's Devil Forgemaster. What's a Devil Forgemaster? One who forges devils, of course! Basically, Hector can summon demons, called Innocent Devils, to help him on his quest to find the OTHER Devil Forgemaster, Isaac, who killed the love of his life. Like every CV game since Symphony of the Night (with the exception of Castlevania Chronicles, a remake of an earlier game), you run around a completely connected map, beating up enemies, earning experience, and getting new weapons. Well, not so much the last bit. Another part of being a Devil Forgemaster is making weapons. Throughout the game, you collect various materials that allow you to build new, more powerful weapons. The map is layed out such that every area is connected somehow, but you may need new abilities to access new areas. There's the usual backtracking if you couldn't get something, as well as the usual need to level properly to get to new areas.
Playing the game is a lot like playing pretty much any modern action game. You have a bunch of enemies in a room, and can attack, block, and dodge them, obviously hoping to kill them all. And that's where the game mostly fails. It's generic. Other than Trevor showing up for an unwinnable fight (I HATE THOSE), and the enemies, there's really nothing that feels properly Castlevania about this game. Don't get me wrong, though, I'm not saying it's by any means BAD, it's just that it could be any game. There's some of the classic CV enemies (no Medusa heads that I've seen yet, thankfully), and the same types of music, but it's just...generic.
Either way, I'm still enjoying it. I like the weapon building system, although it's one of those things that often drives me crazy since it makes me very reluctant to sell or combine anything. I don't want to combine that early sword when it could be used as the ULTIMATE WEAPON at the end of the game. Not that that's ever the case, but you never know. I know if I was designing games, I'd do it, just to piss people off. But I'm a horrible person, so my game ideas probably aren't for the best. Along with the weapons, the Innocent Devils level up, and eat crystals that can eventually evolve them, like a demented Pokémon. The problem here is how it's done. When you kill enemies, they'll often drop crystals. The color of crystal depends on the weapon type (sword, axe/club, spear, knuckle, special) that you use. Different crystals level the Innocent Devils in different ways, but there's no way to tell what a given evolution will do. So you wing it. Hopefully, they'll grow up to be a nice, strong Innocent Devil. But maybe not. I just use the weapons I want, rather than try to level them in certain ways. I figure they'll turn out okay.
Anyway, it's a fun enough game. Not the best in the series, but it's not like SotN is going to be beaten any time soon. I'm glad the series is evolving into the new era, but still really prefer the 2D games. What I'd really like to see is a really old school, level-based game. No backtracking, multiple paths, and no RPG elements. I know it won't happen, but it would still be fun. Oh well.
Sunday, November 12, 2006
Final Fantasy XII
I've played most of the games in the FF series to at least SOME extent. I've only finished a few, and watched another couple get played by others. I've played lots of other RPGs, as well, which has led me to desire more than Square has been giving us in the previous few installments. From what I can tell, an FF game can be split into three main componants: story, battle system, and levelling/ability system. I'm putting levelling and abilities together because in a most cases they're in separable. So let's look at FFXII.
STORY
I haven't really gotten too far along in the narrative, so it's hard for me to make that great an assessment, but from what I've seen so far, it rivals FFVI in complexity and scale. It seems to be a story of various kingdoms fighting over the world they all inhabit. It's actually very similar to FFT in that regards, which makes sense. It needs a glossary and summary page like FFT had, though. The characters seem okay, if a bit generic. None of them are terribly annoying.
BATTLE SYSTEM
FFXII is the first single-player Final Fantasy where battle take place on the main screen. Presumably FFXI Online is the same, but I haven't played it, nor do I intend to. It doesn't take you off to another battle screen with differently rendered characters. You run around and start wacking away at anything you see. Or you can fairly easily run from them. The system allows (well, requires) you to set up "Gambits" for all the characters which are basically if...then statements telling your party what to do. in a given situation. For example, you can set it such that Fran will cast Cure any time anyone gets below 70% HP. I haven't purchased many Gambits, yet, but I can already see how this could be a very handy tool. Each character has a time bar, similar to an ATB bar from previous games, that shows you what they're doing and when they'll do it. Pretty much everything has a charge-up time before it can be performed. Items are nearly instant, and spells usually take a few seconds, as do attacks. You can switch members in and out of your party at any time, as long as they're not being targeted, which is a nice feature borrowed from FFX. It's fun and fast paced, and definitely a step up from what we've seen before.
Up till this point, the ATB system was the most innovative the series has gotten. Admittedly, the ATB in FFX-2 was so fast, it was almost real-time, but it was still essentially the same ATB we've been using since FFIV. I'm not knocking it, mind you, but variety is the spice of life, after all. At least it's not Dragon Quest VIII, which uses basically the same turn-based combat system Enix has been using since the first Dragon Quest. There's a series that doesn't move forward. I don't know, I think I've just been spoiled by more active combat systems like in the Tales and Star Ocean series.
Anyway, I'm enjoying the combat. It brings back from selecting options to feeling like you're taking a part in the battle. Of course, with a good Gambit setup, you can basically set the controller down and do something else while it plays itself.
LEVELLING/ABILITY SYSTEM
As far as levelling goes, FFXII returns to the standard XP system. Gain enough XP, and you gain a level, with some increased stats. Where it diverges is in the abilities. The new License system is kind of like FFX's Sphere Grid on speed. Every enemy gives you LP, which you spend on the License Grid, to buy the ability to use spells, techniques, weapons, armor, and accessories. This thing is, you only buy the ability to use them. You still have to buy the actual spells and weapons with actual Gil, which is exceedingly scarce in the game. Enemies don't drop it, for the most part. Human enemies do, but not creatures. They drop loot which can be sold for Gil. Anyway, every character starts at almost the same places on the board. They're not really more than a few spots apart. Naturally, this makes it pretty simple to create a bunch of identical characters, something I've never really liked. At least with the Sphere Grid, the characters started at different areas that didn't really converge for a long time. The grid is pretty big, and I doubt I'll fill it out for anyone. I think I need to start specializing characters, but the problem is that even if I give someone a bunch of spell types, I still need to BUY the actual spells. Grind, grind, grind.
The graphics are amazing, all around. It seriously looks better than some of the next-gen stuff I've seen. The music is prety good, but nothing too memorable yet. The voice acting is acceptable, however, the sound quality of it is pretty poor. Basically, the whole game sounds like it's being spoken through a walk-talkie. Overall it's a neat game, but I still haven't decided if I like it, which kind of scares me.
NEW PURCHASE
God Hand
STORY
I haven't really gotten too far along in the narrative, so it's hard for me to make that great an assessment, but from what I've seen so far, it rivals FFVI in complexity and scale. It seems to be a story of various kingdoms fighting over the world they all inhabit. It's actually very similar to FFT in that regards, which makes sense. It needs a glossary and summary page like FFT had, though. The characters seem okay, if a bit generic. None of them are terribly annoying.
BATTLE SYSTEM
FFXII is the first single-player Final Fantasy where battle take place on the main screen. Presumably FFXI Online is the same, but I haven't played it, nor do I intend to. It doesn't take you off to another battle screen with differently rendered characters. You run around and start wacking away at anything you see. Or you can fairly easily run from them. The system allows (well, requires) you to set up "Gambits" for all the characters which are basically if...then statements telling your party what to do. in a given situation. For example, you can set it such that Fran will cast Cure any time anyone gets below 70% HP. I haven't purchased many Gambits, yet, but I can already see how this could be a very handy tool. Each character has a time bar, similar to an ATB bar from previous games, that shows you what they're doing and when they'll do it. Pretty much everything has a charge-up time before it can be performed. Items are nearly instant, and spells usually take a few seconds, as do attacks. You can switch members in and out of your party at any time, as long as they're not being targeted, which is a nice feature borrowed from FFX. It's fun and fast paced, and definitely a step up from what we've seen before.
Up till this point, the ATB system was the most innovative the series has gotten. Admittedly, the ATB in FFX-2 was so fast, it was almost real-time, but it was still essentially the same ATB we've been using since FFIV. I'm not knocking it, mind you, but variety is the spice of life, after all. At least it's not Dragon Quest VIII, which uses basically the same turn-based combat system Enix has been using since the first Dragon Quest. There's a series that doesn't move forward. I don't know, I think I've just been spoiled by more active combat systems like in the Tales and Star Ocean series.
Anyway, I'm enjoying the combat. It brings back from selecting options to feeling like you're taking a part in the battle. Of course, with a good Gambit setup, you can basically set the controller down and do something else while it plays itself.
LEVELLING/ABILITY SYSTEM
As far as levelling goes, FFXII returns to the standard XP system. Gain enough XP, and you gain a level, with some increased stats. Where it diverges is in the abilities. The new License system is kind of like FFX's Sphere Grid on speed. Every enemy gives you LP, which you spend on the License Grid, to buy the ability to use spells, techniques, weapons, armor, and accessories. This thing is, you only buy the ability to use them. You still have to buy the actual spells and weapons with actual Gil, which is exceedingly scarce in the game. Enemies don't drop it, for the most part. Human enemies do, but not creatures. They drop loot which can be sold for Gil. Anyway, every character starts at almost the same places on the board. They're not really more than a few spots apart. Naturally, this makes it pretty simple to create a bunch of identical characters, something I've never really liked. At least with the Sphere Grid, the characters started at different areas that didn't really converge for a long time. The grid is pretty big, and I doubt I'll fill it out for anyone. I think I need to start specializing characters, but the problem is that even if I give someone a bunch of spell types, I still need to BUY the actual spells. Grind, grind, grind.
The graphics are amazing, all around. It seriously looks better than some of the next-gen stuff I've seen. The music is prety good, but nothing too memorable yet. The voice acting is acceptable, however, the sound quality of it is pretty poor. Basically, the whole game sounds like it's being spoken through a walk-talkie. Overall it's a neat game, but I still haven't decided if I like it, which kind of scares me.
NEW PURCHASE
God Hand
New blog here!
Well, I've got an LJ, which I'll keep for personal stuff, which this blog will not be about. This will be solely about my video game playing, and thoughts on stories I see around. I spend a good bit of time playing video games, and have way more than I can reasonably finish. Probably ever. But you know what? That won't stop me from being horribly opinionated about them anyway! I'll try to post daily, but we'll see about that. I don't quite play games daily for various reasons. I'll keep a list of games I'm currently playing at least some. I currently own a GameCube, XBox, Playstation 2, Nintendo DS, and Dreamcast, but I've been playing games since the Atari days (although a NES was my first console). I also play some PC games, but nearly as many as I play console games.
CURRENTLY PLAYING
Final Fantasy XII
Megaman ZX
Contact
Castlevania: Curse of Darkness (XBox)
Guitar Hero 2
CURRENTLY PLAYING
Final Fantasy XII
Megaman ZX
Contact
Castlevania: Curse of Darkness (XBox)
Guitar Hero 2
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