Blogging the experience of gameplayhttps://www.gamelog.cl/gamers/GamerPage.php?idgamer=576https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=3037Game Log 2 Game Play My second round of playing was not particularly more fruitful than the last. Despite the fact that I know that this game was built to be difficult the fact that I also know that this is among the least difficult of the series, and my inability to proceed through a single stage without over twenty consecutive tries at the least put a slight damper on the attitude in approaching the game. Due to the constant replays of sessions you acquire naturally, a very good idea of what to expect next, but whether or not you can rise to the occasion and rule out anomalies is another matter entirely, something that proved quite evident when my enemies scored criticals or my own characters missed. Despite the relatively low energy and slow paced game play, adrenaline pumped just as for a game riddled with high action and suspence as Resident Evil Four. Design Fire Emblem and the Sacred Stones possesses a tried and true system hailing back from the original of the series. The combat system is a combination of turn based rpg and strategy. A grid system is implemented with details given about units regarding weaponry and other statistics provide more ability for strategy, as does the built in power circles balancing out a trio weaponry and a trio of magic. The easily expended weapons and magic forces the player to ration and predict when certain weapons will be more valuable and when they should be more used. Because gameplay is saved after every turn one wrong move could be fatal, and result in the permanent death in one of your characters forcing you to either restart the chapter or simply proceed without the character in your party, which could depending on your style of strategy either do nothing or seriously cripple you. Characters follow a tree formation for changing classes and the player has the choice on whether or not to change their class, what class to change them to, and when. The story and characters are not perhaps as fleshed out as in most rpgs, but that actually provides much more freedom in your choices. As you can determine whether or not characters live or die, and who builds a relationship with who your ending can be drastically different every time you choose to play. The difficulty curve is either ridiculously difficult or irritatingly simple depending on your affinity and experience with strategy games, but does leave room for a middle ground for a large amount of players. While this game doesn’t bring anything new, it is still a fine example of the strategy rpg genre and a great installment of the Fire Emblem series. Thu, 06 Mar 2008 01:40:10 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=3037&iddiary=5837https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=3037Game Log 1 Summary The game Fire Emblem and the Sacred Stones is a strategy rpg, to wit; a game that combines the traditional leveling methods and other traits of your traditional role playing game, with the game play of a turn based strategy game. Players send out various units that they can choose to level up in certain fashions, and based on a certain turn based system the interactions and endings that certain characters can have with each other differ. Game Play Despite the fact that I had acquired the game for my library not long after it had been released it is a bit of a shocking thing that I have not yet beaten the game. When I returned to my last session I was immediately confronted with the state of mind that this game usually lent to me during game play. An extremely tense and calm state. Every single move had to be as carefully thought out as possible, lest I lose one of my characters for good. Before picking up this game I had no idea what a strategy game was actually like but as I played through I quickly grasped just how much one had to think before so much as moving a character a single space. Which instantly expelled the tense mood whenever one of my characters died, forcing me to restart and rethink my strategy.Thu, 06 Mar 2008 01:38:06 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=3037&iddiary=5834https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=2825Game Log 2 Game Play Upon getting through the monstrous tutorial session I was finally able to get to the game itself. Upon finally entering story mode I was immediately struck by the incredibly whimsical tone that the game possessed. Despite the essentially modern and realistic (given the tone and premise of the game) the game seemed to be presented in the same manner as a fairy tale. The art was soft and glowing, as well as incredibly soothing, and the voice acting was in the tone of a mother telling a child a story only driving the sleepy fantasy mood further. However, the atmosphere was shot to hell in a incredibly wonderful way when the game play started and in a frenzy I tore the rooms apart in frantic attempts to extract every last elebit hiding in every corner of every crevice around while battling the clock. Design Game play wise, elebits is the first game I’ve played for the wii where it was not integrated well into the controls, but the wiimote was integral to the whole of the game. Elebits could not have been created with any other console as its home as its whole premise revolves around proper usage of the wiimotes sensor in invoking the games tone. Innovation takes center stage with the wiimote emulating actions such as pulling open drawers and opening doors, pulling the player further into a state of whimsy. The entire tune of the game is brilliantly consistent with its modern day fairy tale theme, in all the graphics, the images, the art, the music, absolutely everything has been integrated and woven together into a blanket of soft and lovely colors. To stop the gameplay from becoming repetitive certain conditions are added in certain matches, and the almost endless amount of items that one can interact with in every stage can do nothing but facilitate the game’s ability to entertain. The game does has its downfalls, the wiimote’s controls being fairly faulty at times, and the movement of the character himself being irritating at timesThu, 21 Feb 2008 00:47:21 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=2825&iddiary=5288https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=2825Game Log 1 In the game elebits the player is in control of a boy who must take control of a capture gun to capture the escaped elebits in the house. The wiimote is used as the aforementioned capture gun to aim at the screen and interact with the environment and root out the elebits that react differently depending on the situation before them. Game Play Tutorials don’t generally take a long time for me, but exceptions were made when I entered the completely optional elebits tutorial, only to find myself caught up in the seemingly endless game of simon says for an hour’s worth of time. This said several things to me, either the wiimote’s controls were somewhat faulty, I simply sucked bollocks at the game, or the tutorial was much too long. I’m fond of a combination of the three regarding that. While I felt a mild sense of enjoyment at the various actions I was performing with the wiimote, tasks such as picking up blocks with the gun tossing them about, I was also very consciously waiting with bated breath for the completion of the tutorial which simply never seemed to want to come.Thu, 21 Feb 2008 00:46:31 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=2825&iddiary=5287https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=2562Game Log 2 Game Play As incredible smash’s single player is, the multiplayer is what the game became known for, as it is one of the most unique and incredible fighters ever created. Smash is naturally thus better in a group, and playing in one is one of the most enjoyable gaming experiences imaginable. Unlike other fighting games that rely on memorization of incredibly long button combinations to pull off special attacks, Smash relies much more on mind tricks and timing. When playing Smash in a four player group I found that I had to watch every single move that I made, as well as keeping a close watch on the others and attempt to predict their next actions. The state of engrossment that Melee provided was a state of competitive euphoria as adrenaline pumped as I recovered from near deadly attacks and dodged attacks at high damage. As such Smash is one of the games that has aged incredibly well in the amount of time it has been present. Design The game Super Smash Bros. Melee is a shining symbol of Nintendo’s achievement as it can almost be considered a truer Nintendo title than the Mario series themselves. The fighting system differentiates itself from other fighting titles from the get go, by focusing solely on ringouts rather than the traditional k.o. based on hp depletion. All of the characters have the same basic structure, a set of four b button moves, regular attacks, a shield, a grab, and a jump, and that is where the similarities tend to end. The characters all possess different characteristics, aside from the attacks differing, each character has different amounts of speed, weight, and any number of qualities to be factored into play forcing a player to adapt different strategies for different characters. Single player mode has been split into three categories, all of which posses their own sub categories providing hours upon hours of single player game play. The adventure, classic, and all star modes are essentially the single player staples of a fighting game, but Smash doesn’t stop there. It includes a Stadium Mode that not only provides a training mode for honing abilities, but very nontraditional play in the form of home run contests, target smashes, and various challenges based on time and endurance. Event mode also adds much challenge to be had as it provides a themed match with themed objectives in various amounts of difficulty. Multiplayer is of course, the most fleshed out aspect of this game, as it has incredible intrinsic qualities that sets the game apart. Smash’s multiplayer is highly customizable, providing huge quantities of stages from various Nintendo titles, an array of items to be controlled between matches, and settings that range from the method of victory to handicap settings, as well as the odd ball settings that change the speed of the game play.Sat, 09 Feb 2008 02:46:31 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=2562&iddiary=4874https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=2562Game Log 1 Summary The game Super Smash Bros. Melee is a fighting game that hosts a veritable plethora of Nintendo characters, from staples such as Mario and Link, to the more obscure such as Marth the hero of the popular Japanese series Fire Emblem, and those that could be considered as relics of days past such as the Ice Climbers and Mr. Game and Watch. In this game, you can choose characters to battle and fight their way through various challenges, complete certain objectives, or fight other players. Super Smash Bros. Melee utilizes a system based on damage percentages that are built up rather than a set amount of hp, and a condition of ringouts rather than kos. Game Play Fighting games in general are not known for their single player modes, having been built for multiplayer, however playing smash alone has never been a problem for me, as their single player is the one of the most fleshed out of any fighting games to date. In my session I played through adventure mode (smash’s version of story mode), and then continued on to event matches (themed objective matches), and endurance matches in the stadium in which I had to survive for a certain amount of time while racking up kills. Due to the very different nature of every aspect of single player, a certain strategy and style of play must be adopted in order to survive. When playing certain matches in stadium mode, you tend to focus on time more than kills, while in certain event matches you focus your strategy on the objective. Going through the familiar stages and fighting the characters I had loved and grown to love, (or hate fueling greater will to kill) gave me a feeling of combined excitement, pleasure at seeing the various scenes and scenarios, and nostalgia as the game took me to places I now seldom visit from my childhood and past gaming experiences. During my session I spent a good deal of time in training mode which with its multiple settings and options allows a great punching bag to practice combos and scenarios for future matches.Sat, 09 Feb 2008 02:45:49 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=2562&iddiary=4873https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=2232Game Log 2 Game Play Upon returning to Rayman for the next session I was again unsure of what to expect. I was and am not a stranger to mini games, after years of being pelted with them in the various games I have played, and beat upside the head with them in the Mario Party games to the point in which I believe I’ve suffered several months worth of concussions dealt by an Italian plumber who shoots fire balls, but due to the drastically different natures of the previous mini games I was still wary. Upon starting the first mini game I became aware of the fact that as per the commercials Rabbids do indeed like to dance as the mini game that I played in the previous session popped by again with increased difficulty, though still as enjoyable as before. As could only have been expected, all the mini games had increased in difficulty levels and I found myself replaying mini games multiple times in order to fufill the requirements listed. This was frustrating as the reason I tended to restart was due to the lack of response from the wiimote and the sensor respectively, at the most opportune moments to be thought of. Design Rayman the Raving Rabbids makes good on its namesake in that there are no lack of the rabbids. Being rather hysterically amusing creatures, they set the tone for the entire game; the tone being that of utter complete brilliant nonsense. Players of the previous Rayman games may become disappointed in that our lovable hero gets completely overshadowed by the limelight loving Rabbids in every way. Despite the fact that the player is in control of Rayman, every game is designed to feature the Rabbids as the stars, sometimes omitting the actual visible presence Rayman has at all. While this is not necessarily a bad thing, it may make one wonder why this game is a Rayman game at all, and not a part of its own series if not for the fact that the rabbids have appeared (much less dominantly) in other Rayman titles. The games themselves are all very much designed for the wiimote’s controls, each game utilizing them in interesting ways. However, due to the motion sensor aspect of the wiimote, depending on the relationship between your wiimote and the sensor, game play may quickly become frustrating when your controller decides to put itself on not speaking terms with its spouse, giving you no other alternative but to restart the session and hope that the two of them patch things up before you are once again knocked out unceremoniously by a load of carrot juice toting scuba rabbits. To facilitate the mini games for the player, options had been included to allow for quick restarts, and the option to skip cut scenes. Also, in a form of moral support the “try again” screen is not accompanied by the expected annoyingly dreary (and simply annoying) music and depressing font that one usually expects in such a screen, but of a rather upbeat screen that makes one much more willing to resume play and minimizes frustration. Which is, as said previously very helpful as the difficulty level of the games increase. While single player mode is enjoyable, this game is able to shine the brightest when utilizing the multiplayer mode allowing for true party play to rival that of the Mario party games with its simple controls and the fast paced game play it provides.Sat, 26 Jan 2008 01:20:24 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=2232&iddiary=4264https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=2232Game Log 1 In the game Rayman and the Raving Rabbids the player is in control of a character named Rayman. While controlling Rayman you are forced to defeat a series of mini games, (games with an extremely limited set of rules), by utilizing the wii remote’s controls. The mini games are played out in sets, not allowing a player to advance until the conditions of each game of each set were met. After each session is finished Rayman is transported to cell in which items can be gained from the previous games and check up on scores. Having played the previous Rayman games I (for the most part) have nothing but kind things to say about the series as a whole and of Rayman, but the Raving Rabbids being a sharp departure from the whimsical platforming style that he once purveyed, I had absolutely no idea what to expect from this incarnation. Upon playing I was given not a minutes peace before being slapped in the face with the titular rabbids. As they are the driving force for this installment of the Rayman series I knew that the rabbids would be extremely prevalent, but what I did not expect was that from the very first mini game that while it may be Rayman’s series, it was the rabbids that were the star of this game. The first mini game did an extremely good job of drawing me in, with an irresistible combo of disco dancing, and a dance off between Rayman and the aforementioned rabbids. It was a simple utilization of the wiimote’s controls, as expected of a mini game, but the rhythm and pacing of this particular mini game made it incredibly entertaining. After completing a set of mini games, as per the simple plot of the story I was thrown unceremoniously into a prison cell in which I was able to interact with items affected by my game play and peruse a series of collectables won from the prior events.Sat, 26 Jan 2008 01:17:35 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=2232&iddiary=4259https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=1705Game Log 2: Game Play Upon returning to the game I was in the exact same position in which I had started before except armed with knowledge from the session before. Upon performing the same menial task that I had been partaking ever since I last hit the snag in my previous game play, I found myself hit again and again with the same challenging situation. I was still trapped in a house with a Spanish Guy with a gun and the president’s daughter, and was about to be brutalized by a seemingly never ending siege of las plagas. I could not but marvel and inwardly seethe for an instant at the all the game mechanics whipping me in the face in this one event that had plagued me for so long. In the desperate situation that Leon was forced into, I was simultaneously forced to moderate and carefully select my weapons, exact a proper timing concerning the easily expendable resources, and make frantic use of my environment. Except as this was a special event, I did not have the option of flight or even enough time or space in order to constantly shift into a better position for survival. As such, the games extremely intuitive designs served to aide me in the raid upon the house. With the controls I was able to execute very contextual actions such as being able to temporarily being able to block weak points in the house with movable shelves giving me time to stock up on my supplies with the items lying about the area before taking up arms and bracing myself for the assault. Timing was key to the completion of the event as the zombies attacked in stages making the situation predictable but still difficult as one misfire or ill-timed reload or heal could put all my efforts to waste. Design In design Resident Evil took a departure from the rest of the series. It made combat much more efficient by implementing a laser to facilitate aiming at enemies making it easier for skillful players to conserve ammo. Skill took an even greater effect on the game experience by the very situational aspects of the game. A skillful player could with one hand gun wield several useful results rather than simply taking the beginner’s route in frantically shooting the enemies in the hopes of them eventually falling and being unable to get up. If the standard zombie is shot in the arm or hand, he would drop his weapon, if shot in the feet or the knees he would fall allowing Leon to dispatch him with a kick or a knife, and shots in the head kill the enemy more quickly than indiscriminate shots. Item storage was conducted by a grid system rather than by a set limit of items and made a separate inventory for key items, in order to further make full use of the storage. Context such as in the case of the gun shots became extremely important in this game, as one would be able to execute commands very helpful in a certain situation that would be unavailable otherwise. Even cut scenes began to gain an unprecedented level of control as you would be expected to make split second reactions lest you produce a less desirable outcome than you would have hoped making it truly impossible for you to let your guard down for a single moment during game play lest the knife that your enemy throws at you in a memorable confrontation ends with it hitting its mark, rather than Leon skillfully dodging and using the same knife to injure his assailant. The story is incredibly engrossing providing new twists and turns with every objective Leon completes leaving you intent to continue if only to find out what happens next, as well as increasing the uncertainty you feel about your current situation in the game. Finally, Leon himself is a good enough reason to play the game as he is a character that can surprise as much as the zombies in the game with his skills in everything that is government agent oriented being able to adapt and overcome to absolutely everything thrown at him.Fri, 25 Jan 2008 03:54:25 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=1705&iddiary=4015https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=1705Resident Evil 4 Game Log 1: Summary In the survival horror game Resident Evil 4 you find yourself controlling character by the name of Leon Kennedy. The “main” objective of the game that starts the ball rolling is to have Leon Kennedy fight his way through enemies and fulfill numerous objectives for all for the sake of rescuing the president’s daughter. Leon is in control of an extremely large amount of weaponry though at the beginning of the game you are started out with the standards; A handgun, and a knife. These weapons along with Leon’s agility in the martial arts provide the basis for the control of the game as he is generally confronted by and gruesomely assaulted by an incredibly large score of grotesque creatures, ranging from the typical zombies, (or las plagas) to mutant giants and chainsaw wielding maniacs. Game Play As I had started this game some time before, and decided to willfully ignore its existence due to my being situated in a particularly tricky portion at the beginning of the game several months before, my feelings when reentering the game were extremely mixed. Instantly upon restarting from where I left off I felt horribly out of my element. This was a survival horror game, there were zombies lurking behind every corner and all that greeted me was a horrible silence and lack of familiarity as to my situation. The situation was not to be made any better by the realization that I was supposed to be in a certain house to be trapped in and horribly defiled by a hoard of Spanish screeching zombies. Upon the instant I was past the load screen the extremely creepy mood of the game began to manifest. The music and horribly dark, dank, and foggy environment mingled in a wonderfully chilling fashion making the player much more susceptible to the shock of an enemy attack when one finally would occur. Being incredibly fond of the character that I controlled didn’t help the situation much either, especially with the previous memories of Leon getting his head sawed off by a chainsaw wielding maniac were too many and too often. Upon finally confronting an enemy and promptly setting him on fire with my handgun, I was able to switch gears from the horror aspect of the game to the survival aspect as Leon single-mindedly climbed areas, shot items, and dispatched enemies in order to reach his destination. While progressing through the game I became painfully aware once again of the quasi realistic conditions that the game set, unlike other games, ammo was expendable and health was not to be so easily regained so careful monitoring and handling of supplies and weaponry was not so much desired as it was required. Game Log 2: Game Play Upon returning to the game I was in the exact same position in which I had started before except armed with knowledge from the session before. Upon performing the same menial task that I had been partaking ever since I last hit the snag in my previous game play, I found myself hit again and again with the same challenging situation. I was still trapped in a house with a Spanish Guy with a gun and the president’s daughter, and was about to be brutalized by a seemingly never ending siege of las plagas. I could not but marvel and inwardly seethe for an instant at the all the game mechanics whipping me in the face in this one event that had plagued me for so long. In the desperate situation that Leon was forced into, I was simultaneously forced to moderate and carefully select my weapons, exact a proper timing concerning the easily expendable resources, and make frantic use of my environment. Except as this was a special event, I did not have the option of flight or even enough time or space in order to constantly shift into a better position for survival. As such, the games extremely intuitive designs served to aide me in the raid upon the house. With the controls I was able to execute very contextual actions such as being able to temporarily being able to block weak points in the house with movable shelves giving me time to stock up on my supplies with the items lying about the area before taking up arms and bracing myself for the assault. Timing was key to the completion of the event as the zombies attacked in stages making the situation predictable but still difficult as one misfire or ill-timed reload or heal could put all my efforts to waste. Design In design Resident Evil took a departure from the rest of the series. It made combat much more efficient by implementing a laser to facilitate aiming at enemies making it easier for skillful players to conserve ammo. Skill took an even greater effect on the game experience by the very situational aspects of the game. A skillful player could with one hand gun wield several useful results rather than simply taking the beginner’s route in frantically shooting the enemies in the hopes of them eventually falling and being unable to get up. If the standard zombie is shot in the arm or hand, he would drop his weapon, if shot in the feet or the knees he would fall allowing Leon to dispatch him with a kick or a knife, and shots in the head kill the enemy more quickly than indiscriminate shots. Item storage was conducted by a grid system rather than by a set limit of items and made a separate inventory for key items, in order to further make full use of the storage. Context such as in the case of the gun shots became extremely important in this game, as one would be able to execute commands very helpful in a certain situation that would be unavailable otherwise. Even cut scenes began to gain an unprecedented level of control as you would be expected to make split second reactions lest you produce a less desirable outcome than you would have hoped making it truly impossible for you to let your guard down for a single moment during game play lest the knife that your enemy throws at you in a memorable confrontation ends with it hitting its mark, rather than Leon skillfully dodging and using the same knife to injure his assailant. The story is incredibly engrossing providing new twists and turns with every objective Leon completes leaving you intent to continue if only to find out what happens next, as well as increasing the uncertainty you feel about your current situation in the game. Finally, Leon himself is a good enough reason to play the game as he is a character that can surprise as much as the zombies in the game with his skills in everything that is government agent oriented being able to adapt and overcome to absolutely everything thrown at him.Tue, 15 Jan 2008 01:03:13 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=1705&iddiary=3682