Blogging the experience of gameplayhttps://www.gamelog.cl/gamers/GamerPage.php?idgamer=491https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=2742GAMEPLAY I finally got to the best part of the game: Krazy Kremland. This world has all of the most memorable and innovative levels. The ones before it in Gangplank, Crocodile Cauldron, and Krem Quay became sort of redundant (true Krem Quay is pirate ship ruins, but still…). In Krazy Kremland you have areas like the hornet hole, where you get to climb up sticky walls and view an inside world of the evil Zingers. A lot of games have you enter the enemy’s territory, where you must stealthily move through the level to reach a save point. However, in happy DK Country, the Zingers let you climb their hive an get honey all in your little monkey fur! I still consider Target Terror the best and most unique level of the game. You have to ride this sketchy-looking rollercoaster with a huge skull on the front. The background of the level includes fireworks and scenes of a carnival, while you must jump off the tracks at precise times to avoid obstructions and hit the arrows to make them green (or sometimes avoid hitting the arrows). By turning the arrows green, it allows your coaster cart to pass through doors that were somehow placed on the tracks. Diddy and Trixie get very expressive in this level, covering their eyes and widening their mouths in glee, surprise, or fright…whatever a monkey would feel on a rickety rollercoaster. This world also includes the toughest – and my least favorite – level, which is Bramble Scramble. I am crazy unstable using Squawkers (and that may be due to my emulator and using keyboard controls) and always hit the damn bramble walls. Donkey Kong Country games are always a blast to play. They don’t take 90 hours to defeat, they aren’t too repetitive, and DK2 includes a lot more mini games and bonus levels (such as the Lost World). These positive additions also improve in Donkey Kong Country 3: Trixie’s Double Trouble. GAME DESIGN DK2 added quite a few innovative new features in comparison to the original Donkey Kong Country. One of these additions is a more varied and complex reward system. There are much more bonus levels that give you coins for completing them; the end of each level is a targeting system where you choose a reward; and you can transform into animals in addition to riding them. The Kongs’ animal buddies are used more prominently in this game and are essential to completing certain levels – they are no longer preserved for bonus levels. For example, in the bramble and some beehive levels, you must use squawkers to move up. In some underwater levels, you must use Enguarde. The reward system’s usage is also unique in the game’s design. In order to save your progress at Kong College, you must pay tokens. Also, Cranky gives you useful tips – for a fee, of course. If you want to find the Lost World and add more levels to the game, you have to pay Klubba. Nothing sure is cheap in DK2! The only main concern I had while playing DK2 was control usage. This seems to be a regular complaint for me, so maybe it is a personal issue. Still, I died a ridiculous amount of times over-estimating a jump or underestimating a barrel toss. I mostly blame this on my lack of gamepad controller. I used an emulator and therefore used my keyboard for character movement: definitely not something I recommend. This was my only issue, and it’s mainly one of personal preference and lack of coordination? I kept jumping instead of picking up a barrel, or vice versa. Playing DK2 now, it definitely fosters a certain pattern of social interaction: nostalgia, reflection, and memorable video game moments. My age group grew up with Donkey Kong Country and most of my friends played them at one point. When we talk about the game, it’s usually ways in which we’ve improved as gamers, how difficult a certain boss was when we were 10, or how we used to be better and are now just rusty. Playing games from the classic list is always pleasurable because it forces you to consider how you’ve culturally grown and how your interests and preferences in video game genres have changed. Thu, 21 Feb 2008 02:10:35 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=2742&iddiary=5383https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=2742SUMMARY Donkey Kong Country…with no Donkey?! Gamers who played the first Donkey Kong Country for SNES, or any Donkey Kong for arcade, Atari, or 8-bit, may question the validity Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy’s Kong Quest. How can a game take the name of DK without featuring the main ape himself? It can happen if Donkey is in fact “taken” by his arch nemesis, K. Rool! It is up to Diddy to rescue his uncle, with the help of his blonde and sassy ass-kicking girlfriend, Trixie. The two begin where DK Country left off: Gangplank Galleon. From there, they must find and defeat K. Rool on his Crocodile Isle in order to save Donkey Kong from his captors. GAMEPLAY Most platformers have a fairly simple style of gameplay: make your way through various stages within a world without dying, fight a final boss, and progress to the next world. Platforms are classis, quick-paced games that are enjoyable and generally easy. Donkey Kong Country 2 is a faithful platform game with a lively cast of characters. The storyline is fun and uncomplicated. It seems like today the more complex a video game is, the better the game’s interactivity is. However, replaying this mid-90s classic is a refreshing break from overly-detailed plot twists and extra mini games. I love the main ape characters in the game. Diddy is trendy with his red Nintendo hat and legit rap skillz at the end of a level. Trixie has the rocking hair whips down and doesn’t play around with the Kremling Krew. Cranky Kong is the stereotypical snarky grandpa who loves messing with the young’uns, and Donkey Kong represents the strong-willed hero, even though he is captured and not a huge part of DK2. The most prevalent emotion I feel while playing DK2 is nostalgia. I remember anticipating the second installment of the Donkey Kong series after watching my sister play the first one. Once I as finally old enough to play, Diddy’s Kong Quest had just come out, and it was my first Donkey Kong game to play through independently. The quirky, energetic Kongs are excellent protagonists that keep the game silly and light-hearted, even during a boss battle. While I was playing, my roommates decided to watch and reminisce with me because they, too, remember how it felt to hold that round-edged remote in your 7 year-old hands. Playing Donkey Kong in front of my roommates sparked a conversation of all the classic video games we used to play and love. Though there is a definite narrative to the game, it is not continually developed through the game by cut scenes or unlockable story add-ons. You simply know the situation from the beginning and what you must do to help Donkey Kong. Naturally, K. Rool is your antagonist, and Diddy and Trixie are the heroes. The game flows like any platform game: level by level. There are a bunch of great and innovative levels in DK2, such as the amusement park and beehives. Wed, 20 Feb 2008 20:47:45 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=2742&iddiary=5149https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=2380SUMMARY Travis Touchdown is one broke dude living in the No More Heroes Motel with his kitty Jeane in the free-roaming town of Santa Destroy. Good thing he's a damn good assassin, or there probably wouldn't be much to do besides pet his cat and ride his "Schpel Tiger" motorcycle. Thankfully, his status as 11th best hitman was brought to the attention of the sensual and bitchy Sylvia Christal (can't help the swear words - completely the game's influence) who is part of the United Assassins Association. The goals of the game are to defeat the ten best assassins ahead of Travis so he can be number one, make some cash executing dirty side jobs, and hopefully "doing it" with miss Christal. GAMEPLAY NO More Heroes is a unique, stylistic game full of quirky characters and innovative uses of the Wii controls. The tutorial was straight to the point, as was the introduction to the game. No BS. It's a fairly fast-paced action-adventure...with LOTS of action. The game begins by engaging in beam katana battles with a plethora of baddies who allow Touchdown to demonstrate his ultra gory, glorious skills. Each strike of the beam katana uses A, and then prompts the player to swing the remote in a direction selected at random to finish the opponent. There are also strategies you learn to use as you progress through battles, such as slashing high or low, or when to evade an attack. My personal favorite is violently - and suggestively - rocking the Wii remote back and forth to recharge the beam katana's battery. The over-the-top fight scenes, mixed with the retro slot-machine reward system, is a beautiful mixture of feeling both badass and hopelessly cheesy. The cut scenes are funny and definitely use adult humor: Travis is a raunchy, sex-obsessed egotist. The game is entertaining in its physical gameplay, as well as its crude jokes. One comment I must mention is its difficulty level. So far, the game is annoyingly simple. I know it's just the beginning, but even the first boss took less than 5 minutes to defeat. Hopefully the challenge will start to pick up as the game progresses. Also, I am not a huge fan of the GTA-type free-roaming maps - too easy to get lost. It took me forever to find the job center so I can earn some cash and continue the plot. Other than that, cool fighting, cool art, and cool protagonist. I feel cool after playing it. Fri, 08 Feb 2008 00:44:39 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=2380&iddiary=4526https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=1998GAMEPLAY As I continue pursuing the colossi, no more of the story has been revealed. It is a mysterious plot that continually peaks my curiosity to play. Each colossus becomes successively harder to defeat. It takes more than just climbing and stabbing as I progress. With each new colossus, you must utilize more resources, such as Agro and the environment. This difference began aorund the third colossus: you must climb a spiraling tower in the middle of the sea to reach him, and in order to climb the beast, you must get him to strike a stone platform so his armor is weakened. This reveals hairy areas for Wander to clutch. In later colossus battles, Agro is also key to defeating the giant. You must stand on top of his saddle and aim at the colossus' weak points with your bow and arrows, while remaining balanced on Agro's back. That way, you can keep up with the colossus and strike his weak spots. The mysterious storyline keeps me excited to play every time, hoping for a new plot twist. Although nothing significant has happened, other than every time a colossus is defeated, Wander's skin pales and the woman's skin glows brighter, it isn't as if the game is stuck in a rut. Each colossus provides a unique lair and enviornment with which to work, and a new challenge. DESIGN SotC has an interesting design. Put into laymen's terms, it sounds rather mundane: no character interaction, no separate "levels," no other playable lands, and no immediate reward system. Sounds boring. However, SotC instead transforms these aspects into a simple, goal-oriented game without excess confusion. It provides for a quick, challenging, and direct game: defeat shadows. This way, maybe you, as the player, will learn more of the mysterious story plot. The space within its gaming world is enormous and free of confinement. I could ride Agro around the map for hours and be satisfied looking at the gorgeous light rays, clouds, and scenery of the game. The colossus almost seem to be part of the scenery. Each colossus is more terrible and beautiful than the one before it. These open spaces are also difficult at times, since it is easy to get lost or barred by mountains. The game's realism is also striking. One realistic element is the movement of Wander and Agro. Wander's moves are not fluid, but awkward and humanistic - if he has the sword in his hand, he runs slightly lopsided, and when he jumps, he lands hard, as if he were truly leaping heavily. Wander is easy to control, however Agro proves more of a challenge. He is oftentimes very hard to turn around and change direction. You must continually press x for him to gallop as well, which is irritating. If you don't keep pressing x, he will slow down in a short span of time. Aside from these slightly irritating control schemes with Agro, the rest of the game's controls are fairly simple. The simplistic beauty of Shadow of the Colossus makes it a refreshing change from the typical action-adventure game. There is no button-mashing (unless you're riding Agro), no onslaught of mediocre enemies, and a whole lot of open wilderness. If you enjoy this game, I highly recommend its sequel, Ico. You get even more story development, shedding light on the shadowy game of enigmatic majesty. Fri, 25 Jan 2008 22:35:53 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=1998&iddiary=4152https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=1998SUMMARY I'll gladly admit that I'm a sucker for any action-adventure game that includes Shrines of Worship, forbidden lands, and a main character intriguingly named Wander. Now add a noble stallion, a colossal map of expansive wilderness, and sixteen colossal colossi, and you have Team Ico's Shadow of the Colossus. In this PS2 title, you play a warrior named Wander who is attempting to resurrect a young woman with the aide of a disembodied entity named Dormin. The backstory of the game resides in as enigmatic a shadow as the creation of the colossi. All you know as the player is that in order to save the lady, you must raise your sword into the path of the sunlight and follow its concentrated reflection to where each colossus dwells. GAMEPLAY SotC (my shorthand for the game) is definitely not a party-pleaser. It takes a certain elemental mood to immerse yourself in the loneliness and solitary of Wander's quest. In the game, you never encounter other characters with which to socially interact, or different areas and towns to explore. You essentially have Agro, the colossi, and Dormin. The vastness of the map is also a lonely sea of grass, hills, and shrubbery. Although classified as an action-adventure game, I find SotC to encompass more puzzle-game aspects, since there aren't very many enemies to fight, and the only "action" happens when confronting a colossus. The process is languid and thought-provoking. Wander must find and exploit the colossi's weakness in order to substantially damage the massive creatures, doing so by holding up his sword and allowing the sun to reveal the glowing weak spots on its body. Instead of button-mashing, the player must discover the best route to climbing the giant and attacking its weak areas. Another unique element of gameplay is the lack of items and weapon upgrades available. During the game, the only resources Wander has are his hands, a sword, a bow and arrows, and Agro. For the first few colossi, Wander mainly uses his sword to pierce the weak spots as he scales each colossus. He has a life bar and a stamina circle, which alerts you if Wander's grip becomes weak while he climbs the colossus. If it does and you are not on a flat surface of the creature, Wander can fall off, damaging his health. As he grabs the hair matter on the colossus' body, he then stabs the weak spot, where black blood spews out. The background music, scenery, and gameplay thus far make SotC a majestic and entertaining game to play on a rainy evening. Thu, 24 Jan 2008 20:32:56 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=1998&iddiary=3935https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=1651GAMEPLAY The story just keeps getting juicier as I further delve into the world of Persona 3. The protagonist and all his friends that use personas have just been informed that regardless of the shadows they've defeated, the world will soon end. Yikes! They can either fight Nexus, the ultimate shadow of Death, or they can have their memories erased. This news of hopelessness affected the game, and I wasn't able to take my party to Tartarus for the following week - everyone was too depressed. I was a bit frustrated that I had no control over not being able to level up my characters in Tartarus, but the terrible realization also saddened me. I've grown attached to this game and I would hate to see it end with the world dying. I have decided that when the choice comes, my character will not have his memory erased, but continue to battle the shadows! That is one of the most enjoyable features about this game - the dual nature of its gameplay. Either mindlessly level up your party(which is therapeutic and an awesome sleep aide), strengthen social links outside of Tartarus, or sit back and watch the elaborate story unfold. I'm stoked to see how my character will save the world - i'm just sure he will. DESIGN The random shadow battles is one of the greatest elements of Persona 3's fighting design. It is a classic turn-based RPG where you can use items and assign your party members certain tactics. You also have the option of using a melee attack and hitting the shadow with whatever weapon you choose or find. However, the innovation of personas as key "weapons" creates a multi-faceted fight. Each persona has strengths, weaknesses, and different elemental attacks that change with levelling up. For example, one persona may have strong fire skills, while another is more lightning-based. By having a choice of which persona to use, you can choose the one best fit for the shadow you're fighting. But first, you must discover the shadow's weakness. Once you find the shadow's weakness, however, fights get boring and repetitive if a floor in Tartarus has a lot of the same shadow on it, which happens frequently. Since you know its weakness, the challenge is gone and that's when it becomes mindless work. Still, the pros outweigh the cons - not to mention the personas have very pretty attacks. After you defeat a shadow, the reward structure is also unique and, in a way, its own mini game. After a battle, you are given five cards at random that either have a new persona, extra experience points, health points, money, or new weapons on them. The cards flip over and then shuffle very quickly, so you have to keep a close eye on a card if you specifically want it. Little quirks like this add to the freshness of a game's design by keeping it random. It adds replay value. The tone of the Persona world is unusual and dark. Its macabre themes make it great to play late at night and adds a gothic appeal. However, its darkness is offset by the light-hearted day work of hanging out with friends and paying attention in class at Gekkoukan High. Such contrasts are refreshing because it keeps the game safe from falling into monotony. It also keeps you as the player safe from boredom. Way to go, Atlus!Mon, 14 Jan 2008 00:07:49 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=1651&iddiary=3468https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=1651SUMMARY Atlus's Shin Megami Tensei series has established its niche in the Playstation RPG world since 1992. One of the title's several spinoffs is the Persona series. In the August 2007 release of Persona 3, you play as a new student attending Gekkoukan High School. During the day, you lead a typical teenager's life, creating social links and building academics, charm, and courage. However, at midnight, your school transforms into a labyrinthine dungeon filled with random turn-based battles with "shadows." During these battles, you and your party have Personas, powerful beings that are summoned by shooting yourself in the head. GAMEPLAY Disturbing, right? Atlus is known for its unusual RPGs and Persona 3 is by far no exception to that reputation. It has an alluring and continually engaging storyline (and I have 82 hours logged into this puppy so far) and enough levels in your dungeon/school Tartarus to keep any classic turn-based fan happy. The game is unique in a variety of ways (i.e. the Russian Roulette Dark Hour thing), such as its time scheme. The game is played based on a day-to-day calendar, which guarantees a lengthy RPG, since you play for a whole academic year. Each day offers a plethora of activities and areas to explore in the town, as well as numerous people to meet. The more people you meet and the more "social links" you create, the more powerful your Personas become. As the protagonist, you have the ability to create multiple Personas, and this is directly related to your social links. Each new social link is designed to follow the Minor Arcana cards in a Tarot deck. That's a lot of people to meet! As you hang out with these different links, your Persona's power grows. You can even fuse personas together to create brand new ones. At midnight, while the rest of the world assumes an unconscious "Transmorgification" mode (they are all embedded in effervescent coffins), you and your team have to defeat shadows in this Dark Hour. Throughout Tartarus, there are random battles, random items to find, and boss battles every 11 floors or so. Tartarus is also a maze,and never the same each time you enter it. Also, every full moon of the month, there is a major boss battle outside of Tartarus. These battles can be insanely challenging, and often impossible to win if you don't have some type of strategy guide available. Being an RPG fan, I love the unique twists on the fighting style of this game and its interweaving with the daytime Japanese Sims. The characters are well developed and I care for them like they were my friends as well! A sense of intimacy is created in the characters' relationships with the cut scenes of anime intermittently shown during the game. Persona 3 is enthralling to the point of obsession, and though it may completely absorb your true social life, it's too fun to create social links in the Shin Megami life.Sun, 13 Jan 2008 13:33:15 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=1651&iddiary=3375