Blogging the experience of gameplayhttps://www.gamelog.cl/gamers/GamerPage.php?idgamer=266https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=1390For my second session playing Soul Calibur III, I decided to try out the tales of souls mode. I once again went with a character I was familiar with in choosing Kilik. Playing the tales of souls mode, it became quickly apparent that this was a story mode for each of the characters. However, unlike traditional matches in a vs mode or arena mode, each fight in tales of souls mode is only comprised of one battle, instead a best out of two scenario. After each fight the game narrates the character's story and traces the progress on a world map. I found it somewhat amusing that my character effortlessly traveled from Western Europe to Japan in no time. The fights itself were rather easy, as the computer difficulty did not seem too high. For Kilik's story, he is basically traveling to pursue the soul edge carried by Nightmare. After countless quick fights, Kilik finally reaches Nightmare, and after I defeated him, Zasalamel, who you encountered once before, appears and transfromers into Abyss. However, I found that defeating Abyss proved much easier this time. This variance in difficulty of the boss from the arena mode was probably due to having to only defeat him one round. Overall, I found this game mode to be rather unappealing, as it with very repititive and annoying in some respects. However, the game mode itself had some nice cut scenes through the fights and a longer cut scence at the end of the story. As far as my gaming preferences go, I ultimately enjoy the multiplayer aspects of fighting games the most. Fri, 23 Feb 2007 18:29:26 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=1390&iddiary=3070https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=1390This is actually my first time playing Soul Calibur III, but I have played Soul Calibur II before, so I am somewhat familiar with the combat system in this game. As far as 3D fighters go, I find that the Soul Calibur series is top-notch, so I have rather high expectations going into this gaming session. One of the first things I decided to try out in this version of Soul Calibur was obviously the new characters. In starting up the game, I quickly noticed that there are an abundance of game types to choose from. I decided that the simplicity of a quick arena game would allow me to easily test out the new characters. Predictably, I choose to be Zasalemi first, and quickly found that his fighting style is not to my liking, as it resembles that of Nightmare and Siegfried; two characters that I hav never been particularly fond of. After a few games, I decided to give Tira a try. Tira quickly reminds me of Taki's fighting style. Although I have never been really good with Taki in the previous versions, I enjoy using the fighting style that Tira and Taki employ. After trying to get the hang of Taki in many quick arena matches, I decided to stop testing out the new chracters. I'll try out Setsuka another time. I decided to try out Mitsurugi, one of my favorite chracters in previous versions. I quickly found that he has most, if not all of the same moves from the older versions. I piloted Mitsurugi quickly through a series of arena matches, and only found the computer operated Setsuka a little difficult to defeat. Coming to round 8, I come to face a new character named Abyss, who appears to be a boss. As I was unfamilar with this new character, it took me various attempts to figure out an effective strategy to defeat Abyss.Fri, 23 Feb 2007 04:34:37 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=1390&iddiary=2944https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=1270For my second session playing the DOTA custom map on Warcraft III, I choose yet again to play in a 5 v 5 ar setting. This time however, the game started out much less smoothly, as a player was disconnected after the game was started. So on that note, that game was quickly disbanded. My next attempt in joining a new 5 v 5 ar game proved more sucessful. The character I received this time was the Lich King. As an intelligiance hero, the Lich specializes in casting spells. However, the Lich excells in the early game with his ice spells that are used as nukes on enemies. Coupled with his ability to sacrifice an ally creep unit to regain mana quickly, the Lich is really easy to abuse early on while the enemy heros are vulnerable in their low levels. The Lich's sacrificial ability also serves as a dual purpose in denying the opposing heros in your lane precious experience early on. Needless to say, I was off to a quick start in using the Lich's nukes to harass enemy heros in my lane. I managed to get two kills when I reached level 6, through Lich's mass nuke. Ultimately, the Lich's role in a team is to slow down the opposing heros in gaining experience and money as the Lich is much weaker compared to other heros in the late game. Yet again my team was rather compentent at this map, and with my character at level 14, my team as a collective group pushed the center lane and took out enough of the enemy's base (front tower and two barracks) for the opposing team to concede. At that point, the opposing team was too far behind to have any real chance in coming back. Ultimately, beyond operating your own hero correctly, DOTA is a game that requires team cooperation in order to suceed.Fri, 09 Feb 2007 18:51:00 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=1270&iddiary=2707https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=1270For this gamelog, I choose to to play a custom map on WarCraft III called DOTA. It is the most popular online custom map on WarCraft III currently. The game involves two teams called the scourge and the sentinal. The default map setting has five players on each respective team. There are variations on the game, but I choose to play a 5 v 5 ar match. An ar match means that each player's character is choosen randomly from the combined pool of sentinal and scourge heros. On a default setting, a player can only choose a hero to play as from the pool of heros that are available to their respective team. I managed to get into a game without much complications. This is not usually the case, as sometimes players drop from the game queue at the last minute. For my randomly picked character I received the Centaur Warchief. In ar mode a player can repick his/her hero for the cost of a portion of their beginning gold, but I choose not to repick this time as I was fine with my hero. The goal of the game is to help the computer operated units of your team push to the base of the opposing team with your hero and eventually destroy their main building. The game play of DOTA revolves around utilizing your hero correctly through its abilities and the types of items you purchase for your hero. Your hero progressively gains levels through experience gained from killing the computer operated creeps and opposing heros. The appealing aspect of this game is that there are a variety of technical aspects of the game to master. This includes utilizing the terrain of the map correctly, utilizing the various abilities of your hero correctly, and buying the correct items for your hero. Each hero has its own unique abilities and attributes. For this game with the Centaur Warchief, a strength-based character, I managed to gain a quick lead by killing the enemy hero in my lane several times before I was able to purchase a blink dagger which allowed me to further abuse the Warchiefs abilities. Around level 17, with my team dominating at 18 kills to 6, it becomes apparent that the skill levels of the players on each team are drastically differant. At the same time, one of the players on the opposing team quits, thus starting a chain reaction of other members of the opposing team to quit too. With that, the game ended on an unfinished note, but that is usually how game online end anyways.Fri, 09 Feb 2007 18:36:53 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=1270&iddiary=2701https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=995In my second session playing Kirby's Adventure, I have found that my previous claim that the game lacks difficulty is incorrect. Although Kirby does possess many useful abilities, the fast nature of the gameplay requires such an assorment of abilities. The terrain in this platformer also adds to the difficulty of the levels since odd landscape designs helps shelter the enemies from kirby's attacks. However, I have also learned that Kirby has some additonal abilities that I was not aware of during my first session playing the game. For one, Kirby is able to absorb an enemy's abilities by sucking them up and pressing down. Most enemies possess some form of unique abiltiy that Kirby can harnass ranging from swords to fire. My favorite ability so far is the wheel ability that allows Kirby to spin through the landscape in a Sonic-like manner. Another ability I have discovered is a slide that allows kirby to attack enemies straight or in diagonal direction. It also allows Kirby to break through certain walls. Overall, I feel that Kirby's Adventure is an excellant platformer that has its own unique pace of play. Like most other platformers, it has the necessary bonus levels, bonus shops, and secret areas. The difficulty in this game of progression has gradually increased through the various levels. I have found some difficulty in defeating the boss of the second area, but like in most platformers, a little practice is all that is ultimately needed. However, I have found that the game is still largely forgiving as even if you run out of lives you can begin in the current area that you are in without having to redo all the levels you have completed.Wed, 31 Jan 2007 02:10:08 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=995&iddiary=2163https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=995As I have never been an avid fan of platformers, besides standouts like Super Mario World, I am not very familiar with the Kirby series. My first impression with the game was that it was rather easy due to the very robust and abusable features of kirby such as sucking up enemys and using them as bullets, and the ability to suck up wind and float through obstacles. The game seems to be also rather forgiving in that you are given 6 points of health before you are dead. With the flexibility of 4 lives to start with, it seems that this platformer is accomdating to players of all skill levels. Of course, since I was only able to make it through to the second area in my first session, it is hard to tell whether the game features truly hinder the difficulty of the game. Hopefully I will be able to provide a better analysis of the game in my second session.Wed, 31 Jan 2007 00:42:26 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=995&iddiary=2146https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=755My second session playing Gradius also proved rather unsucessful. Either my gaming skills are lacking or the gameplay of Gradius is rather challanging. However I have noticed differant patterns in the game sequence of the game. After multiple times flying through the first level, it becomes apparent that the enemy ships and gunfires come at preset instances. Based on this premise, one should be able to master each level given a certain amount of time. Another element of the game that helps alleviate the difficulty is the differant points of respawning in a given level. Perhaps with an actual controller instead of a keyboard, Gradius may prove a bit easier. However, playing Gradius has definitely reinterested me in the Shmup genre. Despite Gradius' difficulty, it is nonetheless addicting and fun as the path to beating a given level is clear, though mastering the path through the level is definitely challanging.Fri, 19 Jan 2007 06:18:11 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=755&iddiary=1751https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=755As I really enjoyed playing shmups when I was younger i decided to choose Gradius off the classics list. However, I must admit that I haven't played a shmup in long time. Starting up Gradius i immediatly noticed it was a horizontal shooter. To say the least, I was a bit unconfidant in playing Gradius since I was more familiar with vertical shooters like the Raiden series. My first session with Gradius was quite embarassing. I crashed and burned on the first level repeatedly. Coupeled with my inability to figure out the purpose of the octangular pods that you collect along the level, I was quite frustrated with my first experienced playing Gradius. However, I managed to get through the cave area of the first level and past the exploding rocks after many futile attempts. However, once I reached the boss I was immediatly blasted away. After a few more attempts I was still unable to reach the boss again. Hopefully I will be able to make a little more progess in the game in the next session.Fri, 19 Jan 2007 01:14:46 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=755&iddiary=1682https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=522To add to my last blog entry: I want to also note that in the SFII series, there is a much smaller margin of error then its newer counterparts, as there are no massive supermoves to bring you back into the game when you are behind. With a smaller arsenal of moves in general, I feel that you have to play much tighter in order to be sucessful.Fri, 12 Jan 2007 05:02:16 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=522&iddiary=1359https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=522In my second session playing SFAC, I tried out the Street Fighter II compilation. As I grew up playing SF II and SF II Turbo, I was hoping this would be a somewhat nostalgic experience. I really appreciated the play style options of either super turbo, super, turbo, champ ed., or origonal SFII, that the game offered. I settled on playing the game play style of SFII turbo. I was actually lucky enough to convince one of my housemates to play against me during this session. For the most part, I opted to use Ken and Ryu, with the occasional change to Vega. The game play in general is definitely a change of pace from the newer series of SF that I am more familiar with these days. However, one element of the SFII series that definitely stands out is the music. After a few matches against my roommate, I was reminded of how good the music was in the SFII series. Despite the more simple nature of the SFII series in comparison to SFIII Third Strike and later series, I feel that the gameplay in SFII has a more subtle element to master then its later counterparts. Fri, 12 Jan 2007 04:58:04 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=522&iddiary=1358