Blogging the experience of gameplayhttps://www.gamelog.cl/gamers/GamerPage.php?idgamer=515https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=3143Gameplay The save points in the game are sometimes difficult to find and scattered a bit far from each other. I found that this made the game more challenging as I cant just run through the areas getting hit by every enemy along the way and expect to make it to the next save point. The way the power ups worked in the game is that you would collect the souls of enemies you have felled. With the large variety of different monsters scattered throughout the map, I was really drawn into it anticipating what kind of ability I would gain after defeating a certain monster. The game separates the souls into three different categories. You are allowed to equip or use one soul from each category at a time, meaning you are able to equip three souls at once. This allows for combinations of souls and abilities. The main abilities that allowed players to go deeper in the castle came from boss fights. The bosses in the game were quite challenging and required more than just hacking and slashing. I found myself having to retry a certain boss quite a few times before I was able to best it. Defeating a boss also means having the right souls for the fight. Having souls that are effective in the fight really helps you out. Design The game is played on the lower screen while a map is displayed on the top screen. The map can be switched to show your character’s information as you make your way through the castle. In the menu screen, you are able to see how much of the castle you have explored. Though the map is large and you are free to choose where you want to explore next, the game actually does pretty well in keeping you going where they want you to go. there are blocked passages, obstacles, and areas that are inaccessible until you have obtained certain abilities. Castlevania also features multiple endings, which gives the game a greater replay value. I was unsatisfied with the ending I got so I found myself running around the castle grounds once again in hopes of achieving a better ending. Castlevania Dawn of Sorrow has some RPG elements embedded within it. Though it is clearly an adventure-platformer, it has a level up system and equipment system. You can increase your stats by leveling to make fights easier and you can also change the gear your character is wearing. Though Castlevania is a platformer, it does utilize the touch screen function. There are seals that need to be drawn on the touch screen after defeating bosses and there is an ability that allows you to break apart weak blocks by touching them on the touch screen.Thu, 06 Mar 2008 01:38:16 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=3143&iddiary=5835https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=3143Summary Castlevania Dawn of Sorrow is an action-platformer game on the DS. You run play as young protagonist Soma Cruz, who must stop an evil cult from resurrecting the Dark Lord, Dracula. Gameplay You start the game out being attacked by a group of monsters. You are given a weapon and no tutorials on how to play. This leaves players to figure out the controls while playing. I found this quite interesting. You either, pick up on the controls quickly and defeat the enemies, or you don’t and get beaten to death. I found that the controls comfortable and simple to grasp. The game features a large map bent on exploration. Within each map there are different areas with their own mood and setting to them. For instance, I would run around in a garden, pass a few doors and find myself in a clock tower filled with large moving gears and deadly spikes. The game does not tell you where you need to go next or what you have collect. Your objective is to stop the cult from resurrecting Dracula and that is all. In other words, you are free to roam the castle looking for the cult members and bosses that will grant you with new abilities, allowing you to reach places in the castle you couldn’t go to before. Not being told where really adds to the gameplay experience. Players truly feel like they are given free range to explore where they please. I thought that the no hint element worked well in the game as you are forced to find your own way through the castle. This really reminded me of the Metroid games I have played in the past. Lone warrior fighting your way through a hostile environment, not being told where to go, just you and the world your on.Thu, 06 Mar 2008 01:37:47 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=3143&iddiary=5833https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=2891Gamplay The game really gives you a sense of seclusion. You are the only person on the planet and you must battle through the areas alone, with no help or hints from the outside world. After hours of playing the game, I found myself quite addicted to it as I spent a large amount of my time searching for upgrades and returning to places that were previously inaccessible to me. As I entered new areas I noticed that there were different habitats. There were areas with water and others with plants and bugs. The game does a good job of keeping me busy. There is a ton to explore. You often have to run back and forth between areas in order to advance farther. For instance, after I received a new ability, I noticed that I could now proceed through places located near the start of the game that I was unable to enter before. A drawback for the game is that I often found myself stuck, not knowing where to go next. I would run back and forth between different areas until I finally notice that you can blow up the floor and go deeper in the area. The bosses scattered throughout the level proved to be difficult as I often found myself on the verge of dying before defeating them. The sense of defeating an enormous boss and collecting power ups was satisfying. Some of the bosses however, were complete disappointments. They were easy and can taken down with minimal effort. I found that this Design Super Metroid has to be one of the best adventure games I have ever played. It does an extraordinary job on level design. I loved playing through each sector and blasting enemies with my powered up weapon. There are no levels in the game. Instead you have a large map featuring areas with its own environment. You have to backtrack a lot and as you get farther in the game, creatures in previous areas will get stronger, giving you a feeling of progression, even if you are entering the same area again. The game is designed to give its player a very confined and solitary feeling. Although the map was extensive, tour movements were restricted in many ways. The game gave you a feeling of freedom but actually limited you in many ways, forcing you to fight certain bosses or fulfill certain events in order to advance. The music in the background is eerie and the levels are often dark which gives you a sense of seclusion. This only made the game all the more awesome as you get the feeling it is all up to you. Super Metroid offers a pretty standard reward system that is nonetheless fulfilling. After defeating a boss you will get a power up, which gives players something to look forward to. I never got tired of fighting bosses and anticipating what new ability I would get next. The reward system may seem pretty standard, beat a boss, get an upgrade, but it doesn’t stop players from getting a feeling of accomplishment. I can clearly see how this game is a classic and would recommend this game to anyone looking for a challenging game.Thu, 21 Feb 2008 02:27:03 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=2891&iddiary=5408https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=2891Summary Super Metroid is a 2D side scrolling adventure game set in a futuristic science fiction time period. You take control of intergalactic bounty hunter Samus Aran. Your task is to retrieve the last metroid in the galaxy from the Space Pirates. Gameplay You start the game exploring a research facility after receiving a distress call. There are no tutorials or explanations of where to go. Instead you just run through empty rooms getting used to the controls and game mechanics, such as jumping, shooting, and crouching. I found this to my liking, as you don’t have to sit through a tutorial learning how to play. Instead, you learn as you play. When you reach the last room, you find a floating mushroom, plankton like, thing, called a metroid. But soon after entering the room, a big purple dinosaur with wings snatches the creature away and starts attacking you. Turns out, this is a boss fight, and your first encounter with an enemy. After beating the boss, it runs off with the metroid and you’re told to evacuate the facility within a minute before it blows up. The whole time you are running back to the ship, enemies start appearing and the screen even shakes and tilts left to right. Getting out of the station safely and landing on a planet I can only assume is where the metroid is taken; this is where the game really starts. What an intro, unexpected and fun. Here you are given free range of what to do. You can go where you feel and explore wherever you can. It will not take long until you find out that there are places you cannot reach until later in the game. As you progress through the game, you will find power ups that empower Samus with some pretty amazing abilities, such as morph ball, the ability to roll up into a tiny ball, which allows Samus to roll through tight passages. The lack of direction plays a key role in adding to the gameplay experience. It really gives the players a feeling of being lost on a large planet and having to explore and actually search for the kidnapped metroid. The lack of hints and directions will send you all over the place, sometimes leading you to hidden power ups, or even large monstrous bosses.Thu, 21 Feb 2008 02:25:07 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=2891&iddiary=5403https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=2480Gameplay Monster Hunter Freedom has become addicting. You run about accepting quests trying to best whatever monster comes your way. The quests you can take up are separated into two different categories: gathering and slaying. Slaying quests, which are my favorite type of quests, involve you slaying some target monster or monsters. Gathering quests are quests where you go, find, and bring back whatever you are specified to find. The gathering quests can range from simple herb picking to sneaking into a wyvern’s nest and abducting one of its eggs. I find the quests where you have to retrieve wyvern eggs particularly suspenseful. When carrying an egg, your walking and running speed is decreased drastically, and if you get attacked by anything or fall off a high ledge the egg will break. Stealing eggs is just one example of the numerous carrying quests this game has to offer. The game offers a wide variety of weapons, allowing players to choose a weapon class that really suits their personality. There are six different types of weapons to choose from and each type of weapon has a number of paths you can take when customizing your weapon. The good thing is that there are no limitations on how many types of weapons you choose to use. I often find myself switching between using sword and shields and great swords. It is also noteworthy to mention that there is no best weapon as you will need different weapons when hunting different monsters, namely wyverns. Just as there is a large, and I mean large, array of weapons to choose from, the same applies for armor. Each piece of armor has its own set of skills. When enough pieces of armor that share the same skill is worn, then it will boost your character’s abilities. One example is the farsight ability. After I have assembled the necessary armor pieces with the farsight skill, I will be able to see a map of the area without have to carry a map with me. It is important to note that you do not have to complete a certain set of armor in order to obtain certain abilities. I often find myself mixing and matching armor pieces in order to get a desired ability. There is more to the game than simply hunting and gathering. After you complete you first quest, you’ll unlock the Kokoto Farm. Here you can fish, farm, catch insects, mine for minerals, gather plants, and more. As you progress in the game, you will be able to renovate your farm. I have renovated everything possible. Now instead of fishing with a rod, I can catch fish using fishnets and a fishnet-casting machine. Monsters Hunter Freedom also features a combination system. This allows you to combine usable and non-usable items together to create helpful items that will aide you on your quests. My personal favorite combination is the pitfall trap. This requires you make a net and a pitfall tool, and combine the two to make the pitfall trap. Note, there is only a 40% success rate for combining this item. The better or more advanced the item, the harder it is to make. Design Monster Hunter Freedom has to have by far, the best graphics I have seen on the PSP. The image of this game is simply stunning. The textures and environment is very well done. The game aims for a realistic feel where you are but one person in a large world. You can clearly see this as you are being chased around the map by giant wyverns. The music for this game does a fine job of drawing you into the game. The music does well in complimenting the game. In other words, it matches the mood of the game. When in town, the music is rather calm and enjoyable. When you are out on a quest, there isn’t normally any background music. Instead, you will hear noises from your surrounding area, such as birds, crickets, other creatures on the field, and even the breathing of your character. Monster Hunter Freedom has no dungeon, puzzles, or anything of that sort. Instead you partake in quests that take place in one of six maps. Each map has specific features, surroundings, and habitats. For instance, you can only find certain types of monsters in the jungle map and other monsters in the volcanic map. This requires you to know your surroundings. For instance, I have memorized all the locations of items that can aid me in my quests, such as where I can find herbs, which recovers health. Fri, 08 Feb 2008 22:26:24 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=2480&iddiary=4681https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=2480Summary Monster Hunter Freedom is a third person action game that takes place in pseudo-prehistoric time and place. You begin the game as a nameless hunter simply taking on jobs around the village. Your aim is simple, to be the top hunter in the village. You start as a novice hunter, but as you build up your skills and take on more difficult missions your status will grow rapidly. Gameplay Monster Hunter Freedom does a fine job of drawing you into the world. One of the ways the game gets you feeling as if you are part of the world is through character customization. You have free range over how your character will look and sound. You can change everything about you character from hair to the voice of your character. This allows you to make a character you feel resembles you, an identity in the world of Monster Hunter Freedom. The game throws you straight into the world with no tutorials on how to play, no map to tell you where to go, and no lessons on the control. This leaves players to discover many things on their own such as where the stores and important locations are. I find this a good thing, as this offers you more freedom to explore and adds to the play experience. The town you start in is by itself small, but the other terrains are vast with tons to do. This game is mostly single-player, but up to four people can play with wifi. So you have the choice to either solo your quests or run around with a buddy. I played multiplayer with my friend quite a few times and can tell you that it further enriched the gameplay experience. You start the game waking up from bed, a very typical RPG style opening. But it does not take long before players notice that the game is no typical RPG. In fact, the only role-playing you do is playing as a hunter living in a world swarming with monster. Though many of the creatures you encounter will resemble dinosaurs, you will also find yourself face-to-face with large wyverns and much more. Once you start taking on quests, you will soon discover that the learning curve is in actuality quite high. For example the first couple quests will have you killing dinosaurs that are either harmless herbivores or carnivorous man-eating raptors, until you take on your first, what I call, real quest. What I mean by real quest is that you will have to slay your first fire-breathing wyvern. It took a good four to five hours before I was able to slay it. And that was not only the smallest, but the easiest wyvern in the game too. There is no level-up system in this game, no permanent stat increase, and definitely no such thing as being so overpowered you can kill a wyvern in a few hits. What this boils down to is that this is a game of skill. Know your opponent, avoid attacks, and know when to strike. These are essential things to know when hunting, for the smallest mistake can result in your character getting torn apart. This is not a simple game you can just master in a couple hours or even a couple of days.Fri, 08 Feb 2008 22:25:03 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=2480&iddiary=4680https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=2207Gameplay 2 There is a free range of what can be done in the game along with some limiting factors. For instance, you are free to pretty much do what you want and go where you want to go. The limiting factors are that even if you run off to do your own thing, you will eventually have to come back and finish the task at hand. There are a ton of mini-games and side quests that you can take up. In some cases, the things you do will come back and either help you out or bite you in the butt. For example, I ate a man’s lunch box right off the table and later he came back and told the story of how I ate his lunch, making me seem like a bad person in front of the jury. Though there are objectives to complete, it is often difficult to find your destination. The lack of hints makes it hard to proceed normally in the story. You are often wandering about the world map or searching around random houses clueless of where to go next. I found the whole concept behind changing the future by altering events in the present and past rather interesting. In order to save the future from an untimely end, Crono and his friends work hard in trying to change the course of events by altering what has already happened or yet to happen. Design The story starts out rather slowly, but tosses you out into the world right off the bat. There are no tutorials as to how the battle and tech systems, which leaves players hanging there having to solve everything themselves. That however, is not a problem as the learning curve is rather low. Players will only need to engage in a single battle to understand the combat system. The music presented in the game works well in complimenting the game. It is catchy and fits in well with the mood of the game. There are multiple tracks, which all have their own appeal to them. The music really sticks to you. I often find my friend and I humming to the music as we proceed through the game. To add to the replay value, there are multiple endings, which players can unlock by playing through the game a second time and fighting the final boss at different intervals. After playing this game I can see how it is a classic. Although the game is old I find myself enticed in playing it. (This entry has been edited1 time. It was last edited on Fri, 25 Jan 2008 23:43:33.)Fri, 25 Jan 2008 23:27:52 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=2207&iddiary=4186https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=2207Summary Living in a time of peace and prosperity, you take control of the main protagonist Crono. You start the game asleep, comfortably tucked into bed, when you hear someone yelling at you to get out of bed. Turns out that was your mom telling you to get ready to go to the Millenial Fair. After a series of events, Crono and friends discover portals that lead to different time periods, which include past, present, and future. You play the game traveling through these portals in an attempt to change the future by alering history. Gameplay An aspect of Chrono Trigger that I personally want to point out is that there are no random encounters. The monsters and enemies in the game can be clearly seen on the screen. When fighting or engaging in a fight, there are no wait. Combat starts as soon as Crono encounters an enemy. The characters will pull out their weapons and you will be thrown right into the battle. Chrono Trigger does a well in keeping players engaged and actively participating in battles. The battle system is rather unique as it strays off the path of your typical turn-based RPG game. When engaging in a fight, the battle takes place in real-time. In other words, enemies will not just sit idly by as a player takes two minutes to make a decision. Each character has a meter that fills up as time passes. When the meter is full, you are then able to choose an action from the command list. Enemies in turn also have their own meter that fills and allows them to make a move. At the end of each battle, you gain exp, tech points, and maybe an item. After accumulating enough tech points, your character will learn a technique. There is a series of techniques that each character can learn. There are cases when combos involving two or even three of the characters can be executed for a deadly attack. As far as difficulty goes, the game is pretty easy. Boss fights are rather simple and can be rather easy to overcome. For the most part all you have to do is monitor your health and attack away. There are some bosses that involve some more strategy, but nothing that is head banging difficult. (This entry has been edited1 time. It was last edited on Fri, 25 Jan 2008 23:44:15.)Fri, 25 Jan 2008 23:25:44 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=2207&iddiary=4182https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=1636Gameplay Part 2 Out of all the time I invested in the game, I found most of that most of my time went into trying to get every recruitable person to join my party. And this is no simple task. There are NPCs who are recruitable in only at a certain time of the day. This is both tedious and addicting. If you are unable to talk to the person or complete their task on time, you had to wait an entire day until you are able to talk to them at the right time. Many may think that it is waste of time building up a list potential party members when you are only able to take three people with you on your journey. The key reason is variety. Each character has their own specialties and set of combos. No two characters have the same set of attacks. An incentive to have different characters tag along with you is that they often carry a different ability. These abilities vary and differ from a measly increase in defense to a major increase in strength. You are able to learn these abilities by simply having the character(s) with the desired ability in your party and using formations during combat. After a while, you will have the ability all to yourself and can boot the person from your party if you don’t like them. Leveling is an issue. The monsters tend to get really weak while the bosses get significantly more difficult if you are not at a high enough level or have a decent healer in your party. This especially applies to certain NPCs that require you to defeat them before they are willing to join your party or if you plan on heading into secret dungeons or fighting additional bosses outside of the main storyline. Design The story of the game itself isn’t anything too great, but is offset with its colorful cast of characters and their interactions. Humor combined with the characters “offbeat style of play” worked well in creating some comical scenes. The main character is witty yet far from being what you would call smart. In fact, he is probably just above the idiot level, which is something rarely seen in today’s hero character, but that's what makes him cool. The game lacks any of what you would call “dungeons”, but that does not take too much out of the game, as there is plenty else to do. Well, there are technically dungeons and forts and such but no real puzzles that have to be solved. There are tons of characters to recruit to build up your alliance and a wide variety of items to collect to enhance your character. Some things I found particularly noteworthy about this game are the recruitment function, ability to kick whatever you feel like, and the option of customizing your characters look with different sets of armor. The recruitable NPCs all follow their own schedule as they move about the world at their own pace, which will keep most people who strive for perfect completion playing for hours on end. Just as the NPCs will follow a set schedule and return home, sleep, shop, chat, etc., I found it interesting that the monsters on the map also followed a schedule. Like most RPGs, the monsters change depending on the time of day, but what caught my attention was the fact that the monsters you encounter during the day actually sleep. This makes it easier to avoid encounters if you are running low on health or just don’t feel like being pitted against weaker creatures that dish out practically no exp and only succeed in wasting your time. The voice acting and visuals are surely things to note within the game. The graphics stand out with an anime-look and vivid colors. The voice acting along with the facial and body language were done extremely well. The fluctuation between an almost a two-dimensional look and a three-dimensional feel really adds to the game’s effect. The game has its failings, but the overall game has a nice feel to it. Tue, 15 Jan 2008 01:23:10 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=1636&iddiary=3693https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=1636Summary A RPG set in the far-off lands of Radiata, Radiata Stories offers unique and interesting features. Starting off on the journey in the kingdom of Radiata, you play as the young protagonist Jack Russell. Jack enters a knight examination in hopes of becoming a powerful knight as his father once was. Gameplay The game begins at a nice pace. The tutorials are quick and easy to understand and the controls are easy to grasp. For players such as myself who hate reading paragraph after paragraph of explanations, I found it rather refreshing. The game deviates from the standard turn based systems in which most RPG games follow. Instead, the battle system is a mesh of Tales of Symphonia, Star Ocean 3, and perhaps some Kingdom Hearts. The game also replaces random encounters with enemies on the field in which you can choose to encounter or leave alone. Well done, is all I have to say about the battle system. Players can target entire mobs or single out enemies. You have the freedom to build up your own combos, stringing together attacks you deem worthy of using. With each stroke of the weapon, you accumulate points that can then be used to unleash powerful moves. There are also commands you can give to your allies along with formations you can get into to strengthen your defenses of offences. Managing your health is vital as in most RPGs, the death of the main characters means the dreaded “GAME OVER” sceen. The story of the game itself isn’t anything too great, but is offset with its colorful cast of characters and their interactions. Humor combined with the characters “offbeat style of play” worked well in creating some comical scenes. The main character is witty yet far from being what you would call smart. In fact, he is probably just above the idiot level, which is something rarely seen in today’s hero character. The game lacks any of what you would call “dungeons”, but that does not take too much out of the game, as there is plenty else to do. There are tons of characters to recruit to build up your alliance and a wide variety of items to collect to enhance your character. Some things I found particularly noteworthy about this game are the recruitment function and the ability to change your characters looks with different sets of armor. The recruitable NPCs all follow their own schedule as they move about the world at their own pace, which will keep most people who strive for perfect completion playing for hours on end. The voice acting and visuals are surely things to note within the game. The graphics stand out with an anime-look and vivid colors. The voice acting along with the facial and body language were done extremely well. The fluctuation between a almost a two-dimensional look and a three-dimensional feel really adds to the game’s effect. The game has its failings, but the overall game has a nice feel to it. (This entry has been edited1 time. It was last edited on Sun, 13 Jan 2008 02:45:26.)Sun, 13 Jan 2008 02:44:03 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=1636&iddiary=3372