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Apr 23rd, 2009 at 22:34:15 - Suikoden (PS) |
Suikoden is a Japanese RPG developed in the mid 1990's, before FF7. This game has spawned sequels and prequels with the newest version being a Suikoden Tactics and Suikoden 5.
The gameplay for this game is exciting. The combat system is turn based. The player's party can have up to 6 characters. Sometimes, certain members have to be in the party for story reasons, but most of the time, the player has the final say on which characters can be in the party. Most of these usual fights are caused by "random" encounters the character finds on the map. Other forms of combat include one-on-one duels and full scale army vs. army battles. These are very similar in presentation. Each one plays out like a game of "Rock, Paper, Scissors" that allow you hints about what the enemy is planning.
The level design in this game is fairly simple. It is displayed as an isometric 2D environment. This allows for things like hidden passages and doors to be placed. The player usually has to navigate through some sort of dungeon filled with monsters and treasure. It can be difficult seeing what is coming because the camera focuses on the character usually, and the player cannot see far ahead or behind. I do think the levels were well thought out. Each one has a different feel to it.
The main selling point of this game, in my opinion, is the story. The storyline can easily suck you in. The main story points are very familiar (as we saw in my presentation), but the way the characters in the story discover secrets about each other and how they interact together is very interesting and fun to see. The authors of the story try to get the player to feel many different emotions to get the player to care about the story and keep playing to resolve the conflict. The conflict can become easier to resolve if the player recruits NPC's to assist in the rebellion. There are a possible 108 Stars of Destiny that can be gathered to win the game. The game offers bonus endings if the player gets all of the possible NPC's. This concept became very popular among players who enjoyed this game and this feature has been included in every Suikoden title to date.
The only thing that I found frustrating was the way items and equipment are handled. Each character in the party has a finite number of items they can hold. They also have a finite number of equipment slots to use. Their equipment takes up inventory slots. Throughout the adventure, items that are found are placed in the first available empty item slot. This is ok, since things are usually easy to find. But, if through the story one character is taken out of the party, anything they have on them is unavailable until you can either get them back in the party or completely strip them of everything, even equipment and magical crystals. These can be a pain to replace or reattach, especially if 5 other players have the same issue. I spent lots of time trying to get the equipment back to the way I wanted it after each major part of the story ended. I think that if the item and equipment was drag and drop or something more visual like that, it would be easier to manage.
This game is very fun to play, despite the annoying item manipulation. I was never bored with the gameplay. There was always something to do and something or someone to make better that you could work on. I would recommend fans of RPG's to check this game out. It is easily available from the PS3 store as a $9 download. It was originally a PS1 release and people still sell the disks on EBay.
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Mar 6th, 2009 at 22:58:20 - Uggggh (PC) |
I spent about 20 minutes each session playing Ugggh! Here are my thoughts.
1st session:
Ugggh! starts out with some powerful music that seems to pump you up as a player. The music choice was good, however, due to the number of times the player restarts, the music does get old after a while. The controls for this game are simple, which is good. It only takes a few minutes to learn what you need to stand half a chance of getting through alive. The first few minutes of playing, I was very surprised at how much I died. I kept having to restart at the beginning. It did get very frustrating. The furthest I got was to the ladder. 4 hits, you're dead. The very first thing that I thought of for a review was how hard it is to advance in this game. Difficulty aside, what I have seen in level design is very good, in my opinion. It has a classic console feel, which is one of my favorites. The sounds in this game seem to fit with the artistic environment. The sounds “fit” with the theme. The graphics are some of the best that have been presented so far. They are great for 3 weeks of development. Overall, the first session was, “Ooh, eye candy and cool sounds” at first and then, “I AM NOT doing this level again!”.
2nd session:
After a break, I played again. I decided to turn my speakers off so that I could concentrate. This time, I tried to be more careful. I waited for the archers to fire and timed it out. I waited and shot the walking bad guys instead of hand to hand. I lasted a lot longer, but the time kept running down. I did get a bit more frustrating with the collision detection. I always got hit by the enemy unless I found a “special spot” to swing. I would think that with a name like Ugggh!, which makes me think of a big, strong, barbarian type guy saying “Ugggh, me smash” and it dies. At least in the first level. I did get further, and who knows, if I played the game on a regular basis, I could get further.
Overall, I think this game is successful.
Graphics: 9 / 10
Sound: 7 / 10 – nice choices, but repetitive
Gameplay: 4 / 10 – too difficult, but learnable
Controls: 8 / 10
Level Layout: 8 / 10
Replayability: 5 / 10 – just out of sheer frustration
Improvements I would make:
1. Decrease the amount of damage that is dealt by enemies
2. Pick a song that is longer in the background or randomly play a song so it's not so repetitive
3. Make it easier for the character to actually engage in hand-to-hand combat
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Jan 20th, 2009 at 23:40:33 - Bowling (Other) |
BOWLING – Individual
On Monday, I participated in bowling three games for fun with a friend. The basic rules are the same, but the setup is different. Only one lane is used. Each player bowls their frame in turn. The winner can be the highest score, or no winner is also possible. It is determined by the players.
When I bowled on Monday, it was practice for my Sunday night league. My friend was with me. We were not seriously competing with each other, but we made jokes about it while we played. I bowled a 138, 119, and 133. My friend bowled a 95, 98, and a 99.
Bowling without competitive pressure is fun in another kind of way. The competition element was not there as much as it was on Sunday night. It can be a friendly way to socialize with friends.
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Jan 20th, 2009 at 22:16:49 - Bowling (Other) |
BOWLING – Team Setup in a League
On Sunday, January 18, I participated in a session of bowling with my partner in Sunday Night Mixed Doubles Bowling. There are a total of 10 teams and each week, three games are played. A “fourth” game is counted as total pins.
In team bowling, one team will bowl against another. Each player on the team has a calculated average, which is updated weekly. A handicap is assigned based on each player's individual average up to a total of 200 pins. An example is that if a player's average is 150, then their handicap would be 50 pins. When the game begins, the player will have a beginning score of 50. If the player bowls a 175 that game, then with a 50 handicap, the total for that game is a 225.
When play is ready to begin, two lanes are used for team play. Each team's players bowl one frame on the same lane. When all players are finished with the current frame, then the teams swap lanes. The same is repeated until all frames are bowled. The total number of pins are added up at the end of the game and the highest pin count is the winner of that game. All three games are bowled in this manner. The “fourth” game is calculated by assembling the total scores of the previous three games. The team with the highest score is the winner of the “fourth” game.
I have fun with this setup in the game of bowling. It is competitive and enjoyable. I find myself trying to improve my average each week and experimenting with various techniques in delivery and release of the bowling ball. I enjoy this setup better because the league's season continues over 30 weeks. The teams are ranked based on their win-loss records. Each week, the pressure is there to perform to the best of my ability. This week, I bowled 20 pins above my average the first game, 5 pins below my average the second game, and 17 pins above the third game. My partner bowled her average the first game, 10 pins below her second game, and 26 pins above her third game. We won the third game. That is the only one. Our opponents had a very good night.
This setup for bowling could be translated into a computer game that is fun. It could be a console game with muliplayer options. Network gameplay could help with a team structure, or players could be computer generated.
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