Blogging the experience of gameplayhttps://www.gamelog.cl/gamers/GamerPage.php?idgamer=573https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=3087Gamelog Entry #2 GAMEPLAY: During my second hour of gameplay, I began my quest to travel across the galaxy. By then the controls had become a bit more familiar than they we’re before, and I began to understand the concepts of the game a lot better. In the beginning I kept dying because I was not paying any attention to my life bar, so I was never aware of the times when I was close to death. Because of that, I was dying a lot, and the fact that I had to go through the “game over” phase and all of the loading screens was frustrating me a lot. But with practice comes perfect, and even though I’m not close to perfect, the game has become more familiar to me, and therefore my gameplay is more effective. Most of the time spent in my second hour playing this game was spent watching cutscenes. Some of these were so long that there were moments in which I felt like I was watching a movie. But all of these scenes are very helpful in the development of the story; and the fact that I’m almost playing out a movie is very interesting even though it seems like sometimes you can’t really do any playing. Perhaps it is because it is only the beginning of the game because as I continued playing it appeared to become more open to actual gameplay. DESIGN: There are many aspects to this game that I haven’t seen on other games that I have played before. For starters, the fact that you can gain allies along your quest is pretty much new to me. But one thing I discovered as I played it for the second time was that these allies not only helped you defeat enemies, but they can also be selected as your avatar when the avatar you were using dies in combat. This was very interesting to me because I’ve never played a game of this type. On the level design part of the game, the fields are pretty linear and straight to the point. Even though the worlds seem to be wide open, there is only one way in which the player can go at a time. The game follows a step-by-step process that the player needs to follow in order to advance in the game. The way in which different levels are shown is by having them take place in different planets. For each planet that is visited, there is a goal that needs to be reached, and a boss that needs to be beat. Also, the enemies on each planet are completely different in design, and they need to be defeated in different ways. The constant instruction window which appears every time something new comes at you is very helpful. With it you learn new aspects of the game at the time that you’re going to need them, and they seem to be very effective the way they are shown.Thu, 06 Mar 2008 01:33:23 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=3087&iddiary=5830https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=3087Gamelog Entry #1: SUMMARY: Rogue Galaxy is a game about Jaster Rogue, who lives on a planet called Rose. Apparently, there is a war going on, and Rose has found itself involved in it. When a beast attacks the town where Jaster lives, Jaster finds himself battling along with a stranger, who turns out to be a legendary hunter called Desert Claw. Two pirates who are searching for Desert Claw believe they have found him, when in reality it is Jaster with Desert Claw’s sword. They then tell of their boss who is looking to hire Jaster believing he is the legendary hunter, and our hero gladly accepts their offer in an effort to take advantage of the opportunity to travel across the galaxy. GAMEPLAY: During the first hour of gameplay, I found myself going through a lot of cut scenes. They begin showing the background story of Jaster, and how he came to live in Rose. Then after a beast attacks the city, I found myself traveling the streets of the town accompanied by a masked stranger. He claims to be my ally, at the moment. We then make our way through constantly appearing enemies, and with each battle comes instructions of how to use the controls and the different strategies in the game. After a while, I found myself battling against two stone giants, this time without my ally. They played the part of what appeared to be the miniboss in this section of the game. Soon, losing my previous ally and gaining two new ones, I found myself fighting the beast itself. Through out the battle, my allies helped me fight the beast as they taught me how to do more tricks with my avatar. After they were done teaching me, I was left to fight alone. This section of the game, I believe, is a training session incorporated within the gameplay. Even though the player has already began the game, what they are playing at the moment is an instruction session that will help the player get familiar with the controls and the different aspects of the game.Wed, 05 Mar 2008 23:42:12 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=3087&iddiary=5760https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=2786GAMELOG ENTRY #2 GAMEPLAY: When I was able to walk around freely outside into the world, I was able to go around a lot of different places, but there was nothing to do outside the town. So even when I thought I had finally found a part of the game where I could wonder around, I found myself going back into the town in order to find something to do. As I continued playing inside the town, the missions keep coming and there is not much free world to play. Each mission needs to be completed perfectly, and on races you need to win first place or you fail. This gets really annoying really fast. The fact that I have to continue trying the same race over and over and over again only frustrated me to the point where I began to get angry. To tell the truth, I wasn’t enjoying this game too much. I want to see what happens in the end and what happened in the beginning, but I’m not sure if I’m going to play this game all the way through. DESIGN: Even though you are able to get out into the world and move around, there is nothing you can actually do besides walk around on it. The entire time that I played I was going from mission to mission. Even though the game is made to look like it has an open world, the story line is very linear. You have to complete different tasks, puzzles and missions to continue the game. The graphics are 3Dimentional and very cartoon-like, which attracts people’s (kids) attentions. I like the fact that there is actual voices through out the entire game instead of reading dialog boxes. Also, I enjoy the fact that there are a lot of different aspects to the game. For example, you can ride a “horse creature” and you can ride a motor vehicle. For now that’s all I’ve discovered in the short time that I’ve played.Thu, 21 Feb 2008 00:54:36 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=2786&iddiary=5293https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=2786GAMELOG ENTRY # 1 SUMMARY: The game begins when Jack is abandoned in the middle of the desert by the people who seem to be his comrades. They claim that what is happening to the city is all his fault and the people don’t want him to be around. After he is left behind with two animal comrades, they take off into the desert. There, they are found by some members of a hidden civilization. During this time, Jack has flashbacks of what happened in the city. They seemed to have been attacked by someone who destroyed their city in the search for something, and for some reason they link the attackers to Jack. GAMEPLAY: The game begins by throwing you into a training camp which takes place in an arena where the entire hidden civilization is waiting for you to get killed. In this place, you learn step by step how to use each of your controls. Since you have complete control of your camera, it becomes one more control you need to take care of. In the beginning, I was able to go through the jumping part of the tutorial okay, but when it got to the point where I had to kill enemies, I got lost. After many unexplained deaths I finally found my energy bar. That’s when I began to realize the damage I was truly getting while fighting the enemies. Then after many more deaths I realized I could not only shoot them, but also punch them after I ran out of ammo. That way I was able to finish off all twenty enemies I needed to kill to advance to the next step, which was one more thing I wasn’t sure about. It wasn’t until a long time when I realized why it was that I kept killing them and dying and nothing ever happened. So to me, that part of the game was really confusing. Eventually I advanced through the game, and I found myself ridding a “horse-creature” looking for kangaroo-rats. During this part of the game I was able to find that I had other powers I didn’t know of, which I could’ve probably used during my training earlier if I had known about them. But this part of the game was helpful so I could see the world of the game. When I found a monk and a weird creature, I had to solve a “puzzle” which also had no clear directions of what exactly I was supposed to do, so I was defeated a couple of times. Then I was able to figure out what I was supposed to be doing and finally passed that part of the game. I suppose the puzzle helped me get familiarized with the buttons on the remote because this is one of the first times I play the PS2 and I really couldn’t just remember which buttons were what shape.Wed, 20 Feb 2008 23:14:39 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=2786&iddiary=5213https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=2548Entry # 2 Gameplay: As I played each level different times in order to get the different stars, I was able to discover things about the levels that I hadn't seen before. With each re-run of a level, new things open that help you get the star you need. I really enjoyed playing the different wold themes that each of the levels had. As you gain more stars and open new doors, different world appear, each distinct from the one before. And you have to use different skills to pass each one. One of the ones I had more trouble in the beginning was the water levels. I have always had trouble controlling an avatar that needs to get oxygen as time passes, even with other games. And when it came time for me to play that level, it was hard for me. I drowned Mario a couple of times. But after a while, I began to get a hang of it and passed the level. Design: As I played in the first level I found that I could punch things around and do belly flops. These are aspects that I hadn't seen before on a Mario game. They were a good addition to the game because they came in handy to pass the different parts of each level. The fact that you can play the same level different times never gets old, because as you play each time, you are looking for different things. Therefore, there is not that much repetition in the game. It might be the same field, but your goal changes drastically. And with each goal, new things open up in the field, like the cannons that appear so you can use when before they weren't available.Sat, 09 Feb 2008 01:58:57 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=2548&iddiary=4819https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=2548Gamelog Entry #3 Summary: In Super Mario 64, Mario gets a letter from Princess Peach telling him to come visit her at the castle. Once you get there, you realize that Bowser has kidnaped the princess once again. You then have to jump into paintings which lead you into worlds in which you can gain stars that will eventually open new doors to new worlds. Gameplay: In the beginning, I started to understand the basic rules of the game. For example the fact that you can jump, climb into trees and swim under water. I liked the fact that there was no excessive dialog in the beginning, and you can start playing the game real soon and still be able to understand the plot of it. Perhaps this is because we already know the basic plot of every mario game, to save the kidnapped princess. As I played the levels I began to see aspects of this game which I hadn't seen on other mario games that I have played before. Some of these things are the fact that you can punch, and pick up things as well as belly flop across the field. The initial boss battles were pretty simple to beat. And the fact that you can replay the same stages but with different objectives was a nice aspect of playing the game because that way you are able to explore the entire field on each world when doing each mission.Sat, 09 Feb 2008 01:46:59 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=2548&iddiary=4811https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=20522nd GAMELOG ENTRY #2 GAMEPLAY: As the Katamari grows to larger sizes, the game seems to get easier. The bigger it gets, the more (bigger) things you can pick up, making the rolling faster. Compared to the begining when you can only pick up small objects and you have to go around the bigger ones, which makes you lose time. Along with the fact that you can pick up almost everything in your path with a big Katamari, you are able to jump into other platforms more easily then with a small Katamari. Because as the Katamari grows, the obsticles seem to get smaller. DESIGN: The game has a three dimentional, cartoon view. The settings, up to the point where Ive played, are different scenarios inside and outside a home. There are many things that you can pick up, anything you can imagine could be on the the grownd is. Some of these objects are not common in America, and they give the game a Japanese aspect. The King of the Cosmos is very cruel to you. Whenever you dont pass a level, he tells you how useless you are and he makes fun of your punny body. This "put down" attitude adjustment you get makes you want to continue playing in order to prove to yourself that you can grow the Katamari to the right lenth. Also, as you progress through stages you get to view a bigger set. This is another incouraging factor in the design of the game. As you play more, you get to roll up bigget things, and for some reason we are amused at picking up things we cant pick up in real life. Therefore, this part of the design of the game achieves the purpose of keeping you interested and ingaged. The only thing that I noticed was that it is not easy to change directions while rolling the Katamari. once you stop rolling you can do a 180 degree turn, but it is not easy to do other types of turns. It would be nice if you could be able to make turns more freely.Fri, 25 Jan 2008 19:07:11 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=2052&iddiary=4087https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=20522nd GAMELOG ENTRY #1 SUMMARY: In the game Katamari Damacy, the King of the Cosmos accidentally destroys all of the stars in the sky (even though he admits to have enjoyed destroying them). But now, since you are his son (the prince), you have to fix his mistake. The objective of the game is to roll a "ball", called the Katamari, all around earth to collect items that can be placed in the sky by the King of the Cosmos as a replacement for a star. GAMEPLAY: In the beggining you get a tutorial of how to controll the Katamari, and the different things you can do when rolling it around. In the beggining I was a little confused because they just leave you alone in a "room" with different moves to do in order for you to learn the different things you can do. i was stuck there for a while because i couldnt figure out how to do one of the moves i was supposed to do. So this part of the tutorial could be a little more explanatory so that the player, like me, knows what they are supposed to be doing. Then I started to roll the Katamari on different scenarios, which are like levels. i soon realized that you need to pick up small things first in order to make your ball bigger. The bigger it gets, the more big things you can pick up. Because there is a time limit on each one of the levels, I didnt get the Katamari to be big enough the first couple of tries. But then the more I played, the better i got at it. I began to realize that if I started picking up bigger things (as big as possible) since the beggining, rather than starting with the smallest ones, the Katamari began to grow more rapidly. And therefore I was able to make the size they were asking me for in a fraction of the time allowed, and I even had time to make it bigger than needed. Thu, 24 Jan 2008 23:07:22 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=2052&iddiary=3954https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=1858GAMELOG ENTRY #2: GAMEPLAY As I continued playing, I got much more comfortable with the controls. Making my character move across the game field became much easier, and I began to lose less hearts than I did when I began playing. Even though this is a new system for me, it felt as if I had been playing it for a long period of time. I am very satisfied with the way the game is similar in many aspects to its prior versions. Besides having the sword (which is a must), in the time that I played I encountered the boomerang. I was excited to see that all of these original elements were still present in this game (because I'm sure that other familiar objects will appear as I continue the game). It gave me a type of familiarity with the story, as well as with the fighting and the stragedy parts of the game. DESIGN The design of the game was unique in its own way, and I was pleased with it. Even though the graphics are not as complex and three-dimentional as the ones on other versions of The Legend of Zelda, it has a "cute factor" that makes me like its two-dimentionality. As you play the game you see the field from a third person POV, even though you are the character in the story. But this factor lets you see the world around you from above. Also, I liked the fact that I was able to move through the game freely. Even though there are things which you need to do in order to continue the game, you are still able to take some time looking at all of the extra aspects of the game that are there. One things that I particularly enjoyed was the fact that you can draw the path in which the boomerang will travel. This also shows a type of freedom for the player. Not only will you be able to shoot the boomerang, but you can tell it exactly where you want it to go. Another aspect of the game that I haven't seen on other systems is the incorporation of voice (or sound) in the game. I was lost for a while whenever I was told to "call out" to another character in the game, and to blow out the candles to open the doors. Then I realized that I actually had to call out to this person and blow these candles into the microphone of the DS. I had never seen this type of character-game interaction, then again I havent played many of the systems that are out there. But for me this was the first time that I've had to do this, and I think it is a little extra effort put in the design both of the game as well as the system and I really enjoyed it.Tue, 15 Jan 2008 02:24:22 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=1858&iddiary=3740https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=1858GAMELOG ENTRY #1: SUMMARY: A girl named Tetra was sailing the ocean with her pirate friends. On their adventures, they find link and they set on an adventure together. When they are inside some ruins, Tetra transforms into Princess Zelda and gets kidnapped. Link then proceeds to save her. This story picks up after that rescue. While they sail the ocea, a ship appears, and Tetra disapears inside of it. Link gets separated from his friends on an attempt to save Tetra,and now has to rescue Tetra on his own. GAMEPLAY: This is the first time I play the DS, so the controlls were all new to me; specially the touchscreen. In the beggining there was a lot of storytelling, which made the game start slowly, but then I finally got to play. The game soon starts to introduce the new characters, and each one of these helps you understand the controlls and techniques of the game. As I spoke to more people, I learned more tricks that I could do with my sword. Also, each person helpes introduce you to other details of the story. As they gave me clues, I began to figure out where I needed to go and what I needed to do. Since I've already played other Legend of Zelda games, this one has some of the same main characters (with variating names). But even so, the plot and story of this game is different from all the others, which kept me interested as I played the game and the story progressed. (This entry has been edited2 times. It was last edited on Mon, 14 Jan 2008 22:57:47.)Mon, 14 Jan 2008 22:56:59 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=1858&iddiary=3648