Blogging the experience of gameplayhttps://www.gamelog.cl/gamers/GamerPage.php?idgamer=513https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=2962GAMEPLAY Similar to the last session, I enjoyed the platforming levels but disliked the levels that focused on challenges that completely changed the control scheme and play style. This world had two challenges like this, although admittedly I didn’t find them as difficult (and therefore as irritating) as the previous one. I noticed that these challenges required further suspension of disbelief than usual. In this case, one challenge involved a character being challenged to a race and then given a well-guarded item by the antagonists for winning, while the other involved sending a character with no combat or stealth skills after an item, forcing the player to provide him with cover fire. Apart from their divergence from the core game mechanic, I think I often disliked these levels because they were required to progress in the main game, giving me the impression that I was being forced to do something that reasonably shouldn’t have been required. I noticed this because I found some optional challenges to be much more rewarding. The timed challenges, in particular, were fairly difficult, forcing me to complete levels with near-optimal performance. However, they weren’t required to progress in the game; they simply unlocked developer commentary for the level, which, as a game design major, I enjoyed a good deal. (I even heard them mention in passing the observation on enemies that I had already noted for the design section.) DESIGN The game combines the usually cartoony style with a darker, more subdued atmosphere. The former is apparent through the character design, with colorful models of unusually-proportioned anthropomorphic animals, and through the crooked, angled appearance of a lot of the environment. (For example, the sides of the ladders are illogically jagged.) The colors in the environment, however, are darker and more uniform, and it is perpetually night or evening in the levels. The music is similarly rather soft and subtle, only picking up when you fight an enemy or set off an alarm. One interesting notes is that it is often apparent how an enemy will attack even before you are spotted. Close-range enemies carry large, conspicuous weapons, projectile users idly toss around their weapons of choice, and one enemy that attacks you with belly flops practices the attack while standing by. The bosses’ styles of attack are similarly apparent: the first actually tells you what he’s about to do, and the second predictably uses the pair of large guns he’s carrying. However, the first boss switches to a different attack style when he’s almost out of health (probably intended as a surprise), and it isn’t initially apparent in the second boss fight that the bullets are impossible to avoid without cover.Thu, 06 Mar 2008 01:58:59 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=2962&iddiary=5866https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=2962SUMMARY Sly Cooper is a 3-D platformer, focusing on the usual elements of moving and jumping to avoid obstacles and enemies, as well as a moderate stealth element that makes the game focus a bit more on avoidance than direct conflict. As the player completes linear levels throughout the game, more levels, and eventually the boss for the set of levels, become available. GAMEPLAY The character designs all looked slightly off to me, since I’ve become more used to the later two games in the trilogy, which changed the art a bit. The proportions and polygons were just a little different from what I was conditioned to expect. I’d also lost my touch a bit, as well; I died more times than I should have (i.e. ever, in the first few levels), and had to backtrack for some of the items I wanted to collect. Each first set of levels was introduced like an episode of a cartoon, complete with ‘titles’ for the levels rather than normal location names. (For example, I believe the first set was called “Tides of Terror.”) The story was pretty standard, though, and it mostly just served as an excuse to break up levels, teach the controls, and provide some moderate entertainment. It wasn’t a huge motivating factor for me; I was fighting a villain whose only interactions with me were a brief introduction at the beginning of the level set and a couple of loudspeaker announcements he made while I was playing. It did, however, give the optional items in the levels (pages of a book that teach you new abilities) a bit more of a personal feel, since they were related to the plot. The game was fun when I got used to the controls again. The stealth aspect wasn’t as strong as it could have been – most enemies, in particular, had to be dealt with directly – but the normal platforming elements were still enjoyable. The one level I didn’t like was essentially a minigame that focused on shooting things while in a submarine. It usually annoys me when I have to perform some task that is totally unrelated to the main game mechanic. I also encountered a few technical issues (slowdown, a freeze that forced me to replay the boss), though these may have been related to playing the game on a (backward compatible) PS3 rather than a PS2.Mon, 03 Mar 2008 03:10:07 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=2962&iddiary=5572https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=2678GAMEPLAY I noticed during this session that I tended to try to rush through levels, often to my detriment when it sent me straight into enemies or bottomless pits. I think this was because it’s impossible to unlock everything from most levels in one run, and trying to find everything on my first run is normally one of my main motivations to take my time and explore. However, I still did some searching in the levels that I knew contained paths to special switches (rather than the usual series of secret levels), since I knew these would impact the difficulty of the game later. I didn’t enjoy this session quite as much. I had enough other work that playing the game started to feel more like a chore, a feeling that was exacerbated by the fact that my cartridge didn’t keep my last save and I had to start over from the beginning. One interesting thing I noticed was that a good deal of the music was the same basic tune played in way that matched the scenery, a fact that had escaped me before. DESIGN Super Mario World keeps the player’s interest by regularly altering the appearance of the landscape and the style of play this requires. A level that involves passing through large groups of enemies might be followed by one that takes place primarily underwater, which may itself be followed by a Ghost House full of indestructible enemies and hidden passages. The bosses in each world that I played all required different strategies, though I recall that the bosses later in the game use more difficult versions of earlier patterns. The variation almost inevitably leads to certain challenges that aren’t as enjoyable as others; I remember disliking the first boss when I was younger because it had to be forced off a platform rather than dealt a particular amount of damage. There are a few issues surrounding the powerups. The cape can potentially make a number of levels very easy. It appears that this was intended in some levels where groups of coins are placed high in the air, but it might have been a good idea to place obstacles in the air to deter flight. A few too many of the abilities are mapped to the same button, which creates problems at times. For example, if the player release the Y button after catching a shell in Yoshi’s mouth, Yoshi will be unable to run without also spitting out the shell. Finally, while it is nice that the game allows the player to store an extra powerup if it isn’t needed, it is a bit annoying that mushrooms will overwrite either of the other two (superior) powerups when this happens.Wed, 20 Feb 2008 23:50:13 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=2678&iddiary=5234https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=2678SUMMARY Super Mario World is a two-dimensional platformer. The player controls the character, Mario, to navigate through levels while avoiding obstacles and defeating enemies, mostly through variations on running and jumping. The player can collect a limited number of powerups that allow Mario to take extra damage and give him special abilities, such as flight and projectile attacks. GAMEPLAY As it had been a while since I had last played this game, I was surprised by how demanding the early levels were. They weren’t extremely difficult, but they were certainly less safe than the tutorial sections to which I’m accustomed. Part of this probably stemmed from my instinct to try to defeat every enemy I encountered, though; Mario isn’t really built for combat in this game, with his low tolerance for damage and very limited repertoire of attacks. (Without powerups, it consists solely of the ability to jump on enemies.) Once I got used to the game, it was fun. My favorite levels were generally the more open ones that focused on navigating across platforms from left to right, as opposed to, say, the walled-in underground levels or the segments that focused on avoiding a pillar that was trying to crush me. The one problem with the open levels, though, was that it was tempting to abuse the cape powerup to simply bypass the entire level; the lack of obstacles often allowed me to fly straight from one side of the level to the other.Wed, 20 Feb 2008 01:34:04 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=2678&iddiary=5056https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=2511GAMEPLAY The customizable aspect of the game got a bit more interesting in this session, since I made enough money to start purchase some land and a chicken coop. I probably cared a bit too much about naming chickens, as this managed to stall the game a bit. I managed to establish a method for getting through a given day, though it occasionally got interrupted when new people move in. (I tried to move in a particular circuit so that I kept backtracking to a minimum and was at each building when it opened.) I realized that I chose relative easy girls to woo (Jamie and Maria), in the sense that I was able to access their preferred gifts without too much trouble. I cheated a bit in that I looked up what they liked, since trial and error is a bit of a pain with this aspect. Apparently, giving someone a present that they dislike but isn’t intrinsically bad is enough for them to immediately become less friendly with you. (This doesn’t, however, stop characters from taking the item anyway and depriving you of a shippable resource.) This was probably intended to add to the challenge of befriending characters, but there are enough characters that it takes a while anyway. DESIGN The story in this game is pretty clearly a way to include some extra rewards into the otherwise standard Harvest-Moon-style gameplay. Most musical notes end up appended to some task or event that you would normally participate in anyway, like going to festivals, wooing/befriending eligible singles, and using tools. Apart from collecting notes, the game is mostly built on goals that aren’t exactly required by the game, but are necessary to keep the game interesting. The player doesn’t need to get married, buy all of the property, get fully-upgraded tools, or reach the bottom of the mines, but without doing at least some of these, the game would likely feel boring and pointless. One thing that disappoints me in this game is the interaction with other characters. The dialogues isn’t particularly varied – the characters only have one line associated with a location, and will spend the rest of the day telling the player “goodbye” after speaking together once. A couple of these lines change whenever the player jumps whenever the friendship goes up a level, but this is gradual enough that it doesn’t really keep the day-to-day interactions from being monotonous. Little of the dialogue expands the character much, particularly when it’s used as an in-game tutorial, which happens relatively frequently.Sat, 09 Feb 2008 01:01:03 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=2511&iddiary=4773https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=2511SUMMARY In Harvest Moon: MM, the player controls a farmer (either male or female) and takes part in various activities such as growing crops, raising livestock, socializing, fishing, mining, and wooing members of the opposite sex. As the player completes various tasks (shipping particular items, whistling a certain number of times, etc.), the game awards musical notes used (somehow) to revive a local petrified deity. GAMEPLAY Unlike my last couple of games, I had played this one before, so it didn't quite have that 'freshness' that comes with a game that I'm not familiar with. Still, I enjoy playing Harvest Moon now and then, so it was fun for me. I at least knew exactly which of the three initially available properties I wanted (river). While I've often seen this praised as having more story than most Harvest Moons, it really just has a bit more of an obvious goal (reviving the Harvest Goddess), which doesn't really affect the open-ended gameplay very much. Apparently, people aren't nice anymore, so the Goddess turns to stone (on purpose?), and you must collect musical notes that appear for some reason when you do things. Every five notes turn into an instrument, and enough instruments will bring the Goddess back. The gameplay is entertaining, though it picked up pretty slowly in this session since I've never really mastered moneymaking. There's a lot to do in a day, especially if you're like me and try to cram in every possible kind of activity. (Talk to every villager, water/harvest crops, weed, mine, fish . . .) I usually pick up a particular routine to get everything done in these kinds of games, but it had been long enough since I played the game last that I wasn't immediately very efficient.Sat, 09 Feb 2008 00:03:54 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=2511&iddiary=4738https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=2084GAMEPLAY One thing I’ve started to notice is that the fairly basic premise – Mario collecting stars and rescuing Peach from Bowser – allows me to focus more on my usual 100% completion goal. I’m more willing to spend time finding every available star at a given point when I’m not really anticipating the next scene. The extra challenge types are a bit hit-and-miss for me. I enjoy playing as a bee, but not having to roll a ball around using the Wiimote. I guess this is because the former provides an alternate, and often more useful, set of abilities, while the latter mostly just gives me a new way to die. The bee suit also has the added virtue of appearing to be a shout-out to Mario’s animal-themed powerups from SMB3. DESIGN The levels are surprisingly linear for a game that appears to make strong use of all dimensions. In galaxies that require you to travel from planet to planet, you are usually only given one option as to where to go next at any time. Most other paths that appear available tend to either lead to a minor powerup and a dead end or, on one occasion per galaxy, a hidden star. The good side of this is that most of the individual missions in a galaxy place you in a completely different part area, so you aren’t just doing minor variations on the same thing in each mission. One of the more significant issues is the camera. It very frequently does not respond to player input, and while it is usually positioned satisfactorily, it will occasionally do things like point in the opposite direction of where the player is trying to go. The game often does not even allow first-person views, which can be a pain when trying to explore. Since the player is almost guaranteed to be stationary when using first person, it seems like allowing first person most of the time wouldn’t be particularly difficult. The entire game is essentially a series of small challenges, which means the rewards (i.e. stars) are provided with high frequency. This gives a good incentive to keep playing from moment to moment; the next star never seems that far away. The missions themselves often use numerous small challenges, like getting off the current planet, to keep the pace moving even more quickly.Fri, 25 Jan 2008 21:02:41 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=2084&iddiary=4113https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=2084SUMMARY Super Mario Galaxy is a 3-D platforming game that focuses on collecting stars from various areas (called galaxies in this game) primarily through exploration, boss battles, and navigating Mario through hazardous landscapes. Most of said navigation is done through running and jumping, with occasional missions involving things like swimming or riding rays. As the player collects more stars, more galaxies are unlocked, eventually allowing the player to access a final galaxy that marks the end of the game’s story. GAMEPLAY The game has been fun for me so far; I’m pretty fond of collection games, even if concept isn’t terribly original. While I played the game for a fair amount of time, I’m still not particularly far in it and therefore haven’t reached anything frustrating, though I could see things like platforming over constant bottomless pits becoming challenging later in the game. Most of the bosses so far have had pretty simple attack patterns, though it was at least kind of interesting leading Bullet Bills around on the one major boss. A few of the elements felt a little strange for me, mostly because of incorrect, unconscious expectations I had about the gameplay. In particular, I was a bit more careless about taking damage because I was used to being able to take five hits, as in the previous two 3-D Mario games, instead of the three hits given in this one.Fri, 25 Jan 2008 19:56:59 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=2084&iddiary=4104https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=1703GAMEPLAY Again, I was entertained without exactly being immersed. I think this is because the story simply doesn't really progress much over the course of a dungeon, in spite of the sizable amount of gameplay involved. I suppose I'm only really engrossed in an RPG when I play it for an unhealthy amount of time. While the scenes did not break the game up as much as it did during the prologue, the first puzzle in this session (getting into a treasury past some guards) felt a bit tedious to me. There was no combat involved during it, and having to backtrack and circle around halls made the puzzle take up more time than its fairly low difficulty really merited. I enjoyed being able to use characters with ranged weapons for the first time, though strategically this was probably a bad idea since enemies appear to target the player character and it's difficult to keep a distance while being pursued. At the end of what I realize now was the first boss battle, I was amused by the return of the usual victory music and poses from previous games. Given the lack of fanfare at defeating all other enemies up to that point, the scene devoted solely to telling me "CONGRATULATIONS!" seemed comical. DESIGN Character customization appears to play a major role in this game. Characters have the ability to access weapons or skills from a variety of classes, as opposed to being slotted into roles like "healer" or "swordsman" by the game. The price of the customization seems to be that you have to earn more attributes than usual. Equipment, spells, and extra commands for your allies' AI must be both purchased and licensed. The licensing system, however, applied to so many different abilities that earning any single license did not take very long, so victories are rewarded much more frequently than in games that rely more exclusively on level-ups. The game does a good job portraying the environments during gameplay. The first city is full of people and large areas, and the plains feel expansive without artificial walls built into it. In the latter case, though, I often found that I had to attend to the map a bit more than I would have liked; just because the 'walls' weren't obvious didn't mean they didn't exist, so what looked like a straight path to an area might contain a number of obstacles like small ditches or plants that constituted walls on the map.Mon, 14 Jan 2008 02:17:42 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=1703&iddiary=3516https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=1703SUMMARY Final Fantasy XII, like many RPGs, focuses largely on progressing an in-game story, primarily through combat but also through elements such as exploration. Combat takes place in real-time, with the player issuing commands to a party of characters fighting computer-controlled enemies. Battles are won by obtaining and managing the abilities and "Stats" (attributes controlling aspects such as the amount of damage dealt or received) of the various characters. GAMEPLAY While I was entertained by the game, it didn't have a very strong impact on me while I was playing. This was mostly just because of my mood, but the fact that the story hadn't really gotten very far (in spite of some lengthy cutscenes) probably also contributed to this. Also, there's nothing particularly new about the initial plot; while I might assume more twists will come later, there hasn't yet been much that grabbed me as something I haven't seen before. (e.g. The evil empire and the rebellious kid protagonist.) Still, I enjoyed the main gameplay. The lack of random or turn-based battles meant that there wasn't a whole lot of sitting around waiting for things to happen after the tutorial section. The system of powering up looks interesting, but I haven't gained enough money or experience to do anything particularly novel with it yet. Overall, the game was fun for me, and I look forward to the next session. (This entry has been edited1 time. It was last edited on Sun, 13 Jan 2008 23:28:42.)Sun, 13 Jan 2008 21:15:19 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=1703&iddiary=3432