Blogging the experience of gameplayhttps://www.gamelog.cl/gamers/GamerPage.php?idgamer=523https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=2961GAMEPLAY The second time around, I played with a friend, choosing the option to play cooperatively. This game is designed nicely for two people to play together. While the players are on the same side, there is still a feeling of competing with each other. The main reason for this is because there is a number in the corner of the screen keeping count of how many kills each player has gotten. Thus, each player contests to have a higher kill count than the other. Also, the game encourages more than one player by adding another bonus to the Mousou attack. If you and another player are near each other and both have full Mousou bars, then if you activate it at the same time, you both release a more powerful Mousou attack, doing tons more damage for a longer period of time. These were the main things that made two-player mode that much more fun for me. The game is constantly feeding the player rewards as well. Some of them are small and simple rewards of glory, such as if you've killed a specific number of people (50, 100, 200, etc) or if you killed a named officer, the sound effect of a crowd cheering plays and an allied general will shout their congratulations. Others are bigger, where at the end of each level, experience is tallied up for how many people you got and officers you took down, which causes you to level and gives you more attacks for your combos. Your bodyguards can level up as well, allowing them more access to different weapons and making it so you can increase there number, from 2 up to 8. As you complete more levels, you can also unlock new characters; in fact, practically every two levels, two or three more people are made available to play. This constant positive feedback is definitely part of what makes this game so addicting. The game also allows a fair amount of customization. Beyond being able to chose from dozens of different characters once you've unlocked them, you also get to chose what to equip your character with. These items have to be unlocked first as well, either by destroying boxes or through finding all named officers and killing them for loot, but once you have them, you have your fair amount of choices. You can choose several different orbs - which are weapon buffs - that can either do extra damage, freeze your enemy in place in a block of ice, and a lot more. You can choose what artifacts to where, which can increase your life, mousou bar, defense, jump height, speed, and so on. You can also chose what mount to start with, be it a horse or an elephant. Depending on what you equip often effects your style of play, thus it makes you feel like you have more control over the power of your character. I often change what I equip to my hero from level to level to see what the outcome is. Plus, I am encouraged to always explore each level thoroughly to see what new items I can discover. DESIGN While I have really enjoyed this game so far, I can tell it will eventually get repetitive. Though I can tweak my character quite a bit, that does not change the fact that every level is 90% the same exact thing from the last. You kill hordes of soldiers and a few all-powerful generals here and there. The goals vary a little, from killing the main baddy on the opposing side to protecting your own leader to defending an area for a certain amount of time. Also, there are a few random events here and there, like a triggered ambush or the boats your fighting on are set on fire. However, when you get right down to it, it's still just the same thing over and over again. The designers did a good job of packaging it, making it so it hooks the player in quickly, but it'll wear off eventually. It would have been nice if they had found a may to make each level feel a little more different from each other or make the events have more of an impact. I don't think they handled the story-telling very well. Most of the narrative is handled with tiny text scrolling up the screen in between each level and a screen shot of some place or person. It's probably talking about which army is advancing on which, but I am not certain, because I don't bother to read it. I don't really feel drawn into reading it because it is handled in such an unappealing way. Like I said, the text is tiny, and there's a lot of it. It just does not flow well with the rest of the game, when you've just completed a tough level, slaying thousands of enemies, and then being forced to slow down to read. They do, however, have a few cutscenes to introduce characters here and there, but they are short and often don't make sense. It may be because of the fact that I did not read the text, but I also think the cutscenes themselves were just not scripted well. I will say that they were beautifully rendered however. I do like how much thought they put into making each character fairly unique. With dozens to choose from, it's nice to see that each is not a repeat of one or another, even going so far as to have their own personalities. Each one looks entirely different from the other and you can unlock about 6 different costumes for each of them. They all have their own fighting styles, which is quite apparent and does not even depend on what weapon they have. For example, two men carry one hand swords, but fight entirely differently from each other, one swinging heavily and resheathing his weapon in between each attack while the other slices his gracefully through the air in an almost artistic manner. A different voice and different phrases are shouted by each character as well, giving each of them a distinct attitude. Each character belongs to a faction as well, so even choosing a certain character can give you a fairly unique gameplay for that specific character. True, the amount of flexibility is limited, for they all play the same maps. However, depending on the character you chose, it will start you off fighting for different armies and different objectives. You could play one character and have your goal be to kill a certain warlord, and then chose a completely different character afterwards and be given the goal to protect that vary same warlord.Wed, 05 Mar 2008 23:06:13 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=2961&iddiary=5743https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=2961Entry #1 SUMMARY Dynasty Warriors 4 is a real-time, third-person action game, where the player takes control of one of many available warlords of feudal Japan, or designs their own unique character. With a character chosen and weapon in hand, they take on hundreds, sometimes thousands, of enemy soldiers per zone, leveling their fighter and bodyguards along the way and being able to customize items from what they equip for bonuses to how their avatar dresses to what they ride. GAMEPLAY I want to start by saying it is really easy to hop into this game with no prior experience or tutorial. Choose a character, have a look at the map, then hit start and you're in the first level. Once inside, it is not hard to figure out what to do. If you see some guys running at you and yelling, it's a good bet they are your enemy. Just start hacking and slashing until they die, then find some more enemies to kill. Such a simple premise and yet it is handled so well in this game that it becomes very addicting. The control scheme is really easy to learn. There are two attack buttons, one for your normal attacks and the other for special attacks. If you hit the normal attack button repeatedly, you string a set of swings together that each have their own animation, flow smoothly together, and deal a fair amount of damage. What the special attack button does depends on when you hit it in relation to a combo of normal attacks. For example, if you hit it on its own with no prior attacks, it usually covers a wide area, damaging a lot of enemies at once. If you hit it after doing a combo of two normal attacks, it will often daze the enemies that get struck, incapacitating them for several seconds. And if you hit it after four subsequent normal attack, it throws an enemy up into the air and your hero leaps after him and slams him to the ground, often making a good finishing move against more powerful enemies. I like the way the fighting controls were set up. While all you are really doing is pushing the same button over again, with throwing in a special attack here and there, it makes you feel like you are doing a lot more then you are actually doing. What gives you this feeling is the fact that each swing in a combo looks different, plus you get the feeling of options since the outcome of your special attack depends on when you do it. An added bonus to the fighting is the Mousou Bar. This is a bar that steadily fills up as the player either causes damage or takes damage. The player also has the option to channel their Mousou, holding down a button that causes the bar to steadily rise on its own; the only disadvantages of this part is it leaves the player vulnerable to attacks and also each level has a time limit, so the player may not have time to waste. Once the bar is full, the player simply needs to find a large group of enemies, jump in the middle and hit the Mousou button, then sit back and watch the bodies fly. It unleashes a powerful chain of attacks that do massive amounts of damage, have a wide range, and causes knock back to all enemies. This can be a deadly weapon and very helpful against bosses, so the player has to chose carefully when to use it the most effectively. Additionally, if the player's life is low, this bar fills up faster and does more damage, setting the player's weapon on fire. This attack gives the player a feeling of satisfaction, both in watching the health bars drop quickly and in the fantastically designed visual display. This, combined with the other attacks, are the core of what hooks a player into the game and want to keep playing more. Another thing that makes the fight system fun in this game is the fact that you have bodyguards that follow your hero around. I will say a player's control over them is limited, as you can only tell them to do one of three things: guard you if anyone attacks you, attack everything and anything that moves, or stay behind and guard a specific spot. However, it is still a nice feature to the game. It gives the player some feeling of command and not like your just another soldier with prettier armor than the others. (This entry has been edited1 time. It was last edited on Mon, 03 Mar 2008 01:43:36.)Mon, 03 Mar 2008 01:43:12 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=2961&iddiary=5568https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=2643Entry #2 GAMEPLAY Super Mario 64 is a game full of puzzles. The primary ones involve finding a way to reach or uncover several stars from each world. Its clear the designers put quite an amount of thought into these puzzles, for they hardly ever feel repetitive. From having to get to the very top of a level to fighting some big baddy to collecting hundreds of coins to races against opponents or time to using a multitude of hats that have varying effects on Mario - flying, turning to metal, becoming intangible... Really, the list of challenges presented to the player is quite large. With all the variety presented to the player, it makes sure the game never feels dull or repetitive. Sure, you are always collecting more stars, but it always feels like you are making progress and having fun while doing it. The camera system is handled very cleverly in this game, both in explanation and actual player interaction. As I mentioned in my previous post, there is a brief introduction of the camera at the beginning of the game. What exactly is going on is you find out you actually have a little camera man following you around on a floating cloud, documenting your trip through the castle. It shows him at the beginning, and later in a room with a mirror, you can see him reflected and following closely behind Mario, a cute addition in my opinion. As for actual controls, the player is allowed easy access to rotating the camera as well as being provided different modes. The first and default mode keeps its distance but centers on Mario, allowing a good view of surroundings and anything that may be charging in your direction. The second gets in close and stays directly behind Mario, used for situations that need more carefully handled and precise controls, such as crossing a narrow pathway. I feel this allowed a lot of control over the camera for the player, minimizing annoyance and making for a more overall fun gameplay. DESIGN I like how the game set up access to all its levels and how easy it is to traverse and go back and forth between different zones. First, there is the castle area that serves as the main, central point. Withing the castle, there are several portraits, all portals to the separate levels. At first, the player is limited to only one world beyond the castle. However, as they further gameplay and get more stars, slowly more possibilities open up to them. They can either chose to see a world through to the end, collecting every star and finding every secret, or they can skip a world all together, or somewhere between the two extremes. It is possible to complete the game without ever having visited certain worlds. It is also possible to skip ahead a few worlds then decide you want to go back and explore another world further. So, in a sense the story is fairly linear, but the player is allowed a fair amount of control to the point of picking and choosing what they want to do and playing through the game in a different order than may have been intended. In this game, Mario got a serious upgrade from his past incarnations. In previous games, he was mostly limited to one kind of jumping, one kind of punch, and a few power-ups, such as shooting fireballs. But when Mario got introduced to the 64, a whole new slew of attacks and special abilities came with him. No longer limited to a simple hop, the player can now do several different amazing leaps, all unique and useful in their own way. For example, Mario could now long jump, throwing himself across a large, gaping abyss. He could also wall hop, leaping into a wall and bouncing off and being able to do so repeatedly, going higher and higher, allowing access to the tallest of structures. I think it was great that this was designed into the game. It made exploration more fun and interesting for the player, as well as providing several tools for puzzle solving. Plus, it was a very unique aspect to the game, practically turning jumping into the series' trademark. Flying in the game gave me mixed feelings. When Mario 64 was first introduced, the flying was actually rather impressive. This feeling of gliding through a free, 3D environment among the clouds was quite a sensation. However, the controls were always rather frustrating. They are in fact quite similar to the Super Mario World, involving attempting to keep Mario afloat by waggling the joystick up and down to a certain rhythm, all the while watching nervously as you slowly lost altitude. I'm not sure if there was really a better way to handle it, making it more fun and yet still challenging. However, I will say that there were several hours lost to the bonus level solely made for flying among the towers and nothing below you but endless blue.Wed, 20 Feb 2008 21:49:21 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=2643&iddiary=5169https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=2643Entry #1 SUMMARY Super Mario 64 is a third-person platformer starring none other than Nintendo star, Mario, the little plumber out to battle the evil forces of Bowser and save Princess Peach. This game introduces large expansive zones for the player to explore in a colorful, 3D environment, along with the player having several ways to explore, including dashing, swimming, shooting through a cannon, flying, and multitudes of hops, skips and jumps. GAMEPLAY I have played this game before, but it was a really long time ago. It was good back then, and it's still fun to play now. The game starts you off by putting you in control almost immediately. There is an invitation to the castle by Peach, a quick introduction of the camera, and then the player is free to take off with Mario. Upon entering the castle, you find that Bowser is up to his old mischief again, and then you're bouncing off to your first world. I personally liked this quick introduction. It may be a bit flimsy on the story side, but it's Mario, it never really needed that big of a story. And for games with simple controls like this one, it does not need a big long introduction, so I like being thrown into the action almost immediately. Plus, there are the helpful signs everywhere with little tidbits of info or instructions on how to perform special jumps. It's all very clear, clean and easy, making for a very enjoyable introduction for any player into the game. From the first world, Bomb-omb Battlefield, a player can quickly learn what to expect from the game. There's a wide, open area to run around in with bright backgrounds and several odd creatures that could either be friendly or could be enemies ready to jump into action as soon as Mario runs up. I like that there are lots of small secrets to discover as well, such as running a quick circle around a flower patch could cause a life-up to pop out, or pressing up against the back of a small alcove teleports you to the top of a mountain. And the openness of the world gives a certain amount of freedom to the player. Sure, there is a clue each time you enter a zone as to where you should go, but the player is in no way obligated to follow that clue. They can go running off in another direction and find other things to explore and enemies to bash. In Super Mario 64, you find that you have to return to worlds a lot to collect stars. I liked the way they designed this, adding a nice amount of replayability to each zone and the game as a whole. It encourages the player to explore more and interact with those that could help you. It also helps the player looks at things in new ways, possibly finding new uses for tools - like the cannon - that they may have not thought of before. This in itself makes the game a fun sequence of discoveries. I would just like to add that the soundtrack for this game was excellently done. Each world has music that feel very appropriate and helps draw you into the game a little more. The bright, grassy first level has bouncy, upbeat music that fits in with your surroundings, whereas the haunted house level has spooky - yet cartoony - music. Water worlds have this slow, soothing tune that can only be described as aquatic. Slide levels have energetic, almost gameshow sounding music that gets you raring to go. All in all, it was implemented well and was a nice enhancement to the game. (This entry has been edited2 times. It was last edited on Wed, 20 Feb 2008 21:56:56.)Tue, 19 Feb 2008 00:39:01 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=2643&iddiary=5015https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=2529Entry#2 GAMEPLAY I began to rush my gameplay I bit because I wanted to be able to review more than just the beginning tutorial. While trying to pick up the pace I bit, I discovered a minor difference between the first game and the sequel: I am able to skip cut scenes now. While I did not skip any this time around - I still found I wanted to know what exactly was going on with this Roxas kid - I am very happy they added this feature. In the old game, if there was a huge cut scene right before a boss fight and you died, you had to sit through that cut scene all over again, perhaps more than once, depending on how many times you died. This was very annoying and I was glad they added a nice, easy "Skip Scene" button. I'm still not absolutely fond of the Reaction Command. I used it in a couple of boss fights, and my earlier feelings were confirmed: it made the fights far too easy. I still really like watching the special attacks that the Reaction Command produces, which are even nice mini-cinematics during boss fights. However, it does not really feel like I am accomplishing anything and it does not feel like it really flows with the rest of the battle system. Usually you are rapidly hitting attack and trying to get combos in, giving a somewhat intense feeling to the battle. However, with the Reaction Command, it just one simple push of the button and then sit back and watch your character on autopilot. It almost feels like a cheat, in a way. I do have to say that I like the addition of Drive Forms into this game. A Drive Form is when Sora fuses with an ally to become more powerful in some way. I got the first one right at the end of my second session, the Valor Form. This one, Sora fuses with Goofy - the mainly defensive/melee ally - and is able to duel wield keyblades and fight faster and hit harder. While I found Reaction Commands made things a bit too easy, I feel this fits in perfectly with the flow of fights. You are still in control of the character and it's limited by your Drive Bar and time, so you should use it wisely. I cannot wait to see the other Drive Forms that will become available. DESIGN I like the interface the game provides while running around in the world. It has this menu system that took a little bit to get used to it again (since the first game had the same thing), but once I did, I found it quite easy to use. While the analog stick is used for moving around, the d-pad is used to navigate the player's menu in the bottom corner. This menu contains many actions, such as attack, talk, lift, items, magic, and so on, changing sometimes depending on what you're close to. I will admit that this might seem a bit bogged down during fast-paced events like fights, they easily handle this with a macro-menu that appears when you hold down a shoulder button. You can put spells and items into this menu and then during fights, just push the shoulder button and tap whichever button your spell was assigned to and it'll instantly take care of it. I think this menu interface was an interesting thing to implement in Kingdom Hearts and is definitely unique to the series. The level-up/ability system in this game is also nicely handled. It might be a bit simple for any hardcore gamer, but then I'm not sure if any hardcore player would be playing KHII anyway. Whenever a player levels up, either a stat of theirs - like attack power or defense - increases or they learn a new ability. Also as you level up, the max amount of abilities you can hold increase, but usually at a far slower rate than your arsenal of abilities you can equip. An ability is just some nice little extra thing you can attach to your character - an extra swing to your combo attack, a special dodging maneuver, you can gain money faster, stuff like that. But since, like I said before, you have more abilities to chose from than you can equip at one time. Thus, you are forced to pick and chose, and this adds a certain customization to the game. I like this aspect, almost making me feel like I creating my own, somewhat unique hero. And if I find something does not work in a boss battle, I can move abilities around to try something different. The designers seemed to have decided to lower the difficulty of gameplay going from the first to the second. Even if the Reaction Command were not there, I still would feel like this game is a little to easy, not enough challenge. It may be because I'm still in the early stages, or it may be because I set the difficulty to Standard Mode at the beginning - medium. But I still feel like it should be a little more challenging. I'll just have to wait and see how my opinion on that changes - or not - as I progress through the game. Still, overall, I find this to be a fun game.Sat, 09 Feb 2008 01:31:59 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=2529&iddiary=4800https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=2529Entry#1 SUMMARY Kingdom Hearts II is a third-person fantasy-action game full of magic, fighting, large areas to explore, characters, and color. It follows the story about a young hero that will fight off an army of darkness using a legendary weapon called the keyblade. Through his adventures, the player explores many worlds, most of which are Disney-themed and full of Disney characters. However, there are a few worlds thrown in that are unique to the game, as well as unique characters, plus characters from the Final Fantasy series. GAMEPLAY So, being a fan of the first Kingdom Hearts that I played many years ago, I decided to sit down and start playing the sequel. I have not really gotten that deep into the game, but so far I am enjoying myself. I want to start by saying that I really liked the graphics in the first game, and it only got better in the second. It's not all that realistic, but it does not need to be. In fact, I think the colorful cartoony/anime-like feel about it really adds to the whole experience. Plus, it would be difficult to add realism to a game full of Disney characters. Anyway, the graphic style is really enjoyable and definitely draws you in, almost making you feel like you're ten years old again. I liked the new character Roxas that was introduced at the beginning of this game. I think his personality was designed well and fits in with the entire Kingdom Hearts feel, along with his homeworld, Twilight Town. It makes me interested to find out more about him and how he is linked to the keyblade master. It is important that the game aroused this interest in me, but I know that I am basically running through a tutorial/introduction level. When not handled properly, an introduction level can be one of the more boring parts of the game. And while this Twilight Town area is not exactly exciting, I still am interested in progessing because of this interest in this Roxas character. KH II also seems to offer a fair amount of minigames. It was great to already find several sidegames after only making it an hour into the game. And for the most part, they were pretty fun to play too. I did have a bit of an annoyance with the mail delivery one at first (I could not find one of the recipients - how was I supposed to know it was a bird I had to jump to?), but I found I liked them once I got the hang of them. With only being this far into the game, I can only imagine what other minigames I'll run into later. Something that was introduced in this game and was not in the first game was the Reaction command. When you're fighting a monster and you get in just the right position or range, a green triangle will appear as if targeting the enemy. If you hit the triangle button at that second, your character will do some special attack that depends on what monster your fighting. I'm not sure how I feel about this new feature. While I definitely like seeing what unique attack will happen, it also feels like it over simplifies the battle a bit too much, since these attacks have a tendency to do quite a bit of damage. I really liked the fighting system from the first game, and at least that is still intact in this game, but now things just seem a little too easy with this addition. I'll give it some time though to see if it grows on me. (This entry has been edited1 time. It was last edited on Sat, 09 Feb 2008 01:10:53.)Sat, 09 Feb 2008 00:36:37 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=2529&iddiary=4756https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=2075Entry #2 GAMEPLAY I began to explore the expansive world of Ocarina of Time more, and I have to say I am not disappointed. It is quite large with every zone having a distinct feel. The first area, the forest, was maze-like and was made up of different greens and many other dark colors, yet had a slightly magical feel to it. The Hyrule Field seems to go on for miles, which I imagine might get annoying later since Link does not run that fast, but still makes for tons of places to investigate. The Market is full of people - and sounds like it too, with several voices overlapping in the background - and I found myself spending a lot of time just running around and talking to everyone and trying what minigames I could. I keep finding stuff to do in this game, and its hardly repetitive, so the zones were designed very well in my opinion. I also realized that time actually moves in this game, and that effects what or who you see in certain places. A scene you may see during the day could be completely different at night. Different monsters lurk in areas at different times of the day, ranging from zombies at night to some strange, flying plant-like things during the day. I think this is a great aspect of the game, allowing the developers to reuse a zone and have different events, minigames, and secrets depending on when the player is there. This, of course, made me spend even more time exploring a single zone. I know I have not gotten far into the actual story itself yet, but so far I think it is written well for a Zelda style game. They make it clear what they want you to do next, with characters leading you in the right direction, but I also like that it does not force you to do the next story event right away. And with just a few lines of text, they easily give even just background characters personalities and quirks. I'm definitely looking forward to see where the plot takes me and what the new areas and dungeons look like. DESIGN I still have to say I am a big fan of the Z-targeting and the interaction display I mentioned in the first entry. But now that I've had more time to play the game, I was able to play around with some other features that were pretty good too. I like that they improved on the older games in the series, where when you got special items, you could only select one at a time. Now, they have three slots for items that you can attach to the three lower C-buttons, making it so I did not have to switch stuff in and out of my inventory as often. I would have liked if they had found a way to make even more items accessible at once, but three is still an good improvement. I also like the way the use of the ocarina was set up in the game. When using it, the buttons are set up very similar to a real ocarina, with the four C-buttons representing the top holes and the Z-button on the bottom represent the fifth one underneath. It's a very intuitive design, simply made and easy to learn. I found myself interested to see what songs I would learn and what they would each do, since its obviously important to the game - it is in the title after all. There are several unique items that can be gotten, as with every Zelda game. But what I like about them is how a some of them seemed to be designed to do multiple things. For example, a plain stick that Link can pick up can not only be used to swing at enemies, but also can be lit on fire, and from there can be used to set enemies on fire or used to solve a puzzle by lighting a torch or burning a web. I thought this was a smart decision on the designer's part, allowing the player to experiment with different items and see if they could find new stuff to do with old things, or possibly solve puzzles in different ways. I mentioned earlier that I like how much there is to explore, given that there is a lot of space and that places vary depending on the time of day. The world was not only designed for exploring, but rewards its players for doing so. By finding a hidden cave or playing a minigame, you could receive a heart container or money or an upgrade to an item. I liked this reward system, it made it so exploration was not a tedious chore, but just simply fun. Even the music rewards you with a cheery tune for discovering something.Sat, 26 Jan 2008 00:00:32 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=2075&iddiary=4208https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=2075Entry #1 SUMMARY Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time is a classic Zelda game: third-person, sword-wielding hero that goes from dungeon to dungeon, defeating monsters and attempting to rescue the princess. Like its predecessors in the series, it has a huge, interactive world with plenty of puzzles, minigames, and secrets. However, this installment brought several new features to the series, including a 3D environment and many innovative controls. GAMEPLAY I have always been a fan of the Zelda series and had a lot of fun growing up playing the ones on the old NES and SNES systems. Somehow though, I had never gotten around to playing the N64 Ocarina of Time. But with this assignment, I finally found the excuse to give it a try. And from my first hour of gameplay - where I got to explore the cozy little Kokiri Village, talk and interact with its locals, and fight my way through the first dungeon - I was not disappointed. This game being almost ten years old, I was expecting it to feel dated and not quite as exciting/interesting as today's games. However, I was surprised to not only find I was being pulled into the game's story, but also that the game had many features that probably help shape the way games of today are. All that wrapped into 3D graphics that were actually quite impressive for an early N64 game. The first feature I really liked was actually a rather simple one, but it was helpful all the same. Often in games similar to Zelda or RPGs, you can explore items, talk to people, and interact in other ways all with the push of one button. While this is nice and makes things easy, it is often not very clear what you are instructing your hero to do. For example, if you're trying to look inside a barrel, but you're too close to a person nearby, you often end up talking to that person instead of interacting with the barrel. What I like about the way they handled this in Ocarina of Time is that in the upper portion of the screen, it tells you what will happen if you push the A-button (the interact button). If you're near a person, it'll say 'talk.' If you're in front of a sign, it'll say 'read.' If you're near a hole you can get through, 'crawl' will be displayed. It's such a basic little feature, but it made gameplay immensely easier and more enjoyable for me. Another feature they implemented that made gameplay fun was the Z-targetting system. If there is something you want to interact with nearby, simply tapping the z-button will target it. Link will face it and the camera will give a clear, unobstructed view of it, staying on it whether it or Link moves. It has a fantastic range, allowing the player to talk to a townsperson from great distance or aim a sling-shot at a spider a floor above you. It was a pleasant experience discovering and using Z-targeting, especially since I was not expecting to find anything like it this game. It was remarkably easy to use and made the game flow easily in and out of fights. Speaking of fights, that is where I found Z-targeting the most interesting. With a tap of the Z-button, Link was zeroed in on the enemy and could easily block attacks with the shield and do several well-aimed swings with his sword. This made encounters with enemies more fun than simple button-mashing, allowing me to strategize, to decide when to backflip-dodge out of harm's way or lunge at the opponent. It was definitely different and more enjoyable than the fight system I had expected to find.Fri, 25 Jan 2008 02:09:20 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=2075&iddiary=3992https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=1648Entry #2 GAMEPLAY A lot of people told me before I started playing that the game would get really repetitive fast. While I have yet to reach that point, I can definitely see where I could get bored with it eventually. The basic structure is you go to a city, you investigate your assassination target, and then you kill him. While there are various ways to investigate, they are still limited and fall under three or four categories. At least when it comes to killing your main target, they each seem to be unique - one man you have to try to sneak up behind him while he's surrounded by about 10 guards whereas another man sees you right away and you have to chase him down through a maze of halls (and might I say, for a rather portly man, he runs fast!) I've gotten a chance to get more acquainted with the guard system and its different levels - ie, if it's blinking yellow, they see me, but they don't really care about me; if it's blinking red, they're suspicious of me and the slightest wrong mood will make them descend upon me. I am used to systems like this from other games, like the GTA series, and I think it makes sense in a game like this. However, there are some areas where I find it over sensitive, making it more of a pain in the neck than a necessary limitation that keeps the player from running rampant on a senseless killing spree. There were some sections where I did nothing wrong whatsoever, I was in blend mode and I was not even on the guards' radars. Then I take a step and it would freak out and ten guards would appear out of no where and I, as a player, am wondering what the heck I did. I suggest either lightening up on the guard system in those zones or at least giving a better indication of why they are trying to kill me - maybe I entered a no trespassing zone, who knows? I certainly did not, there should have been signs up. While Assassin's Creed is a one-player game, I was surprised to find that I was quite social with my friends while playing it. They would sit around and watch me, calling out where hiding spots were or telling me not to assassinate that person. In fact, just watching the game alone can be fun (even in a group), which I get into in the design section. And we had several opportunities to laugh over it. So while it's not multiplayer, I found many chances to connect with my friends over it. DESIGN By now, I've gotten to play Desmond - the bartender in modern day - a bit more, and I have mixed feelings about it. On the one hand, I think its interesting in relation to the story; seeing similarities between Desmond and Altair, wandering around the complex Desmond is being kept in, trying to figure out what it is they exactly want to find out about Desmond's ancestor. On the other hand, playing Desmond was a sharp contrast to playing Altair. On Altair, you can run, jump, climb, punch, attack, and so on; on Desmond, all you can really do is talk to people and walk, which is barely doable - it feels like it takes forever for Desmond to get from one side of a room to the other. The differences between the two aspects of the game was jarring, and interrupted the flow for me. I feel if the differences in the gameplay/style had not quite been so huge, the two portions could have blended together better and made a more pleasant experience. In this second round of the game, I found that it is not only fun to explore your surroundings, but also part of the fun is how you explore. Almost everything is climbable in this game. And with each building quite differently designed from another, its almost a minigame in itself climbing each building, figuring out where the next foothold is, hoping you don't wind up at a deadend and have to backtrack. Watching the animation for Altair climb is so fluid and smooth, with each move unique. It's not like you're watching him climb a ladder; you seem him jump from one window to the next, sidestep along a narrow edge, reach for notches that are almost out of reach. I was very impressed by how realistically they designed it, and personally think I would be entertained for hours just climbing buildings. Another enjoyable aspect of the design was how cinematic the game gets during certain actions. For example, when in a swordfight with the guards, if you counter attack successfully, the camera will zoom in at a graphic angle, moving with the character and showing the attack in all its gory detail. And while there were some parts I wish had less gore than others, I still can't deny that the effective use of camera angles certainly made fights more interesting for me. Plus, like with climbing, there are many unique animations for fights and assassinations, making it more fun to watch. While I may have always been doing the same attack and pushing the same button, each move seems to have several animations, so it makes me feel like I'm doing something different. It kept the fight feeling fresh for me. So I must say, while the game will get repetitive fast, at least its wrapped in a pretty package of varying graphics and animations. Thus, at least for now, it seems like each action is a new experience, even if I've done it a million times already.Mon, 14 Jan 2008 18:01:34 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=1648&iddiary=3616https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=1648Entry #1 SUMMARY In Assassin's Creed, the player takes on the role of two people: Altair, a cold, death-dealing assassin in the time of the Crusades, and Desmond, a modern day bartender. Desmond gets kidnapped by some corporation that hooks him up to a machine called an Animus, that recreates the genetic memories of his ancestor: Altair. It is here that a majority of the gameplay takes place, as the player takes controls Altair and has the power to assassinate practically anyone - from lowly peasant to a rich and powerful figurehead - with an assortment of weapons and styles. GAMEPLAY I really had a lot of fun in my first venture into this game. For the most part, I played Altair, for the game did not allow me much access to Desmond. Thus, the following is from the assassin's portion of the game. First thing I noticed was how much detail they put into the player's surroundings. The world and the people in it are both beautifully created and quite realistic. The city I was in was large and intricate, making it interesting to explore. I was also pleasantly surprised to find how reactive the townspeople were. For example, in most games, if you make your character do something he would not normally do - say, enter a random person's house or kill an innocent bystander - the computer controlled people normally do not seem to care or react in anyway. However, in this game, if you punch a beggar, women around you will start running in terror and men will put up their fists to fight you. If you start climbing a building, a crowd will form in the street to watch you, whispering "What is that man doing?" and "Has he gone mad?" Overall, I found the world to be very immersive, making me question my actions before I do them. The game limits your amount of weapons and abilities at the beginning and provides a tutorial for how to use what you have. I found this helpful, for often when I start a game where everything is available to me, I am overwhelmed and eventually just start mashing buttons, hoping something will work. This allowed me to get used to the game and its controls at a comfortable level, which seemed necessary, for the controls are not easy at first: a simple sword fight was a challenge the first few times I got into one. Eventually, though, I got the hang of it. It did not take me long to discover that this game had a nice, but simple reward system. There are several mini goals in the game - such as find all the towers in this town, collect all the red flags, assassinate this guard or save that citizen, etc. Once a certain number of these smaller goals are achieved, the player is rewarded with more life. And when you successfully achieve a bigger, story driven goal, you not only get your life increased, but you also get a new weapon and ability. Thus, the player is encouraged to push forward not only to keep the story moving, but also to "buff up" their character. Right now, the only real complaint I have about this game is the mini map is not very helpful. Sure, it'll show you where your next objective is, but that's it. It doesn't show any paths, nor does it show buildings or barriers in your way - basically its just a gray mass with blinking lights in it indicating points of interest. But this was more of just a minor annoyance than a hindrance; if I found a wall in my way that my map did not tell me about, I would just climb over it. (This entry has been edited1 time. It was last edited on Sun, 13 Jan 2008 01:50:03.)Sun, 13 Jan 2008 01:43:34 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=1648&iddiary=3369