Blogging the experience of gameplayhttps://www.gamelog.cl/gamers/GamerPage.php?idgamer=587https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=3006Gameplay: Apparently the two main characters are apparently related, well at least Sophia called Fayt's mother aunt so I guess they are relatives, maybe I miss herd what was said. Hopefully I did because they seem a little to "close". I have begun the second game section after the computer has told your main character that your hotel is under attack. The game is quiet humorous at this point, although it is not done intentionally. As the attack begins the characters that surround your characters still have not reacted to the attack. There is a kid looking at something in the lobby the other adults are also walking around without a care in the world. After you have run out of the lobby, everyone reacts. After you run out of the lobby you make your way through some a teleport machine you meet your parents. Then the enemy army attacks and you make your escape, you lose your parents and end up at the refuge site. After gaining some info about the different things happening in the surrounding sector of space you activate another evacuation to another location. During the first evacuation you get to fight off some enemies. This fighting comprises as both of the main characters running around the enemies, Fayt smacks them with a big stick and Sophia uses her mental points to attack the enemies. Design: This game is a pretty good, it has many design qualities that endear it to early RPG's. Like the style in which the game's story-line unfolds. Many of the early RPG's failed to give step by step instructions on what is player should do to further their game state, but Star Ocean uses a very interesting game mechanic to replace the step by step instructions. By interacting with bystanders in the game, the player learns vital information which triggers story events. Not everything that is communicated to you during your gathering of information is useful to the furthering of the game but they are interesting snippets of info about the backstory of the game. Even though the requirements of the game mechanics cause you to have to wander around aimlessly for a while, the interactions with other characters in the game make up for the extra time the game requires you spend between game events. The game also has another unique game mechanic that is not seen in many RPG's now days. The fact that you can choose what dialog you can say during certain events in the game suggests that you can manipulate the direction in which the game unfolds. In respect to my earlier comment about the game becoming humorous during the most dramatic bits of the story-line, it is not actually the designers fault. It is caused by the limitation of the known programing techniques during the development of the game. The characters in the game have very bad human emotions. In one scene the entire family is standing by a couple of soldiers who are immediately shot as they defend the civilians, but none of the family react to the fact that some other characters have just died. Also the voice acting in the game is pretty bad, the voices also lack emotion. Everything seems to be said in monotone even if the subject pertains to something that would cause high emotional reactions. Even though these would usually be negatives in a game, the player has to remember when the game was made. It actually made me enjoy the game more because it brought humor into the game, while also reminding me how far games have developed from even five to six years ago. (The programmers and the designers were simply restricted by game technology that they had access to) There arn't really varied levels, just varied locations in which the game occurs. Although the game doesn't really have level segmentation the designers successfully split the game into smaller tasks by restricting the story to the current location of the main characters. A small portion of the story is revealed as the player explores the location and interacts with all the bystanders of the location. I found this a interesting way to segment the game. The game hasn't frustrated me yet, which is interesting because usually there are a couple of game mechanics that infuriate me. I hope to find time to further my progress in this game. (This entry has been edited4 times. It was last edited on Thu, 06 Mar 2008 00:47:48.)Wed, 05 Mar 2008 14:59:52 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=3006&iddiary=5661https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=3006Summary: Star Ocean: Till the End of Time is a RPG, that follows the interactions of a couple of kids named Fayt and Sophia. Two kids on vacation on a resort called Hyda. The resort is attacked by unidentified space ships and they must escape. Game play occurs when encountering enemies. To defeat enemies the player must either physically attack, or use mental points (equivalent of magic in most RPG's). Gameplay: When the game begins you are immediately introduced to the main character Fayt, who apparently finds games more interesting then his friend who he stood up at the beach. His friend, Sophia, completely has him tied around her little finger. SHe is able to manipulate him with ease.I found this quiet humorous because the game is essentially like many other RPG games. Were childhood friends appear to be more then just friends, the boy always being the strong male who knows how to fight protecting the damsel in distress. The game although like many modern RPG games is also slightly different the respect that the player gets very little direction in what action they are to take to trigger the main story of the game. The only thing that you are told is to go look around the hotel. The radar that you follow doesn't tell you what room you are entering so you randomly barge into peoples rooms. If you talk to them after walking into there room, they tell you off then tell you some information that pertains to the main story line. It is an interesting way to suggest interaction with bystanders. The story hasn't developed much yet, obviously something bad happens to ruin the vacation, this disaster comes in the form of an attack on the complex. The story is getting more interesting as it unfolds. The game does take a while to start moving, this is impart to the fact that you have to trigger the right events. Meaning that I did wonder around for quiet a few minutes wondering what I was suppose to do. Although the game is kind of fun I think that once more of the story is revealed then it will become more entertaining. (This entry has been edited1 time. It was last edited on Wed, 05 Mar 2008 11:33:20.)Wed, 05 Mar 2008 11:31:22 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=3006&iddiary=5651https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=2651Gameplay: My second gameplay experience was much less fruitful then my initial gameplay experience was. I hadn’t saved the game, seeing as it probably doesn’t give you the opportunity to do so until the end of your battle with the first colossus. It took me very little time to find the first colossus again, but defeating it is a different story. I actually was unsuccessful at defeating him within the next 45 minutes. I don’t have many assertions about this game because I was unable to defeat the colossus. You can find the first colossus within two minutes of the start of the game. From what I gather he is the first enemy that you must defeat. I still have not met any other living creature in this world. My entire experience consists of riding Argo around and fighting the colossus, and oh yeah, climbing some cliffs. While fighting the first colossus the player is suppose to jump onto the giant's legs and start hacking at them with their sword but I found it very difficult to grab on and do this. Even if I did manage to grab a hold of the creature's legs I always seemed to fall off fairly quickly. Also there is the matter of accidently landing under the foot of this beast. If it happens then you are pretty much toast, and almost all your life gets depleted. You can try evading for a while and this regenerates your life but without a sure way of landing on the creature, you are still left with very little to do except die. Not to fun so far. Design: From what I have seen of the game, it has many innovative elements. The artwork has a very aesthetic feel to it. It lends itself to the feeling of the game. It is full of dark colors, then offset by bright light. This artwork could have been created in this way so that the storyline seemed more tangible. So that you can real feel the darkness of the game. Another innovative feature is the sword mechanic. I have never before seen a game require light as a compass. While it does take a sec to figure out that you must be facing in the correct direction to have the beams of light converge, it is still a cool mechanic. The fact that there seems to be nobody else in the world besides you and the colossi is also an innovative feature, but I would argue that this feature is not a good feature. The designers probably thought that this would create a stronger connection to the main storyline, by doing away with all distractions except your main goals, but it just made the game boring for me. I tried to defeat the first enemy several times and was unsuccessful. While this is probably more my fault then the games, the difficulty level of the game makes it more of frustrating experience. The game does not lend itself too less experienced players. From what I have seen, of the game, it is not a game that contains levels, although it is a game of progression. The game creates conflict around the main storyline, the main character is trying to bring resurrect a girl and to complete this task he must defeat giant creatures. So the designers created conflict centered around these creatures, creatures that are preventing you from accomplishing your goal. There is no way around this conflict; you must defeat it in order to progress to resurrecting the girl. The game world is very open from what I have seen; the quickest way to travel around it is on horseback. I have not seen a reward system yet, but I haven’t been able to complete any of the required tasks yet. I haven’t seen any cutscences besides the first scene introducing the storyline. Needless to say the game has not kept me interested because of the skill level required to play it. (This entry has been edited1 time. It was last edited on Thu, 21 Feb 2008 00:52:26.)Thu, 21 Feb 2008 00:44:55 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=2651&iddiary=5286https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=2651Summary: Shadow of the Colossus is an action/adventure game that fallows the story of the main character, Wander. Wander is on a quest to resurrect a girl, to do this he must travel the lands (on horseback) to kill some colossi. These giants are real life versions of idles he must destroy, as payment for the girl's soul. To find these colossi you must use your sword to reflect sunlight, which will converge into a beam of light when facing in the right direction (this is the direction of your next encounter). Gameplay: The game has an interesting feel to it. Although they don't really tell you how to use your abilities, at least at the beginning. It took me a second to figure out how to pull out my sword, then how to make the sword reflect the light. After I figured it out, I was unsure what to do. They don't really tell you that you have to be facing the right direction to actually have anything happen. After you figure out how to do the most basic things then the game gets a little better with telling you what to do, but it falls of again when you are fighting the first colossus. I guess the game is designed so that you have to find out how to do most things by yourself. There isn't much to say about the characters, there only seems to be two characters in the game, well if you don't count the colossi, the point is that the game has a real lack of social interaction. You have the main character, a young youth, and his trusty old stead, Argo. You also have these giant things that you must defeat, why?, I have no idea. There is also some disembodied voices, which have to do with resurrection. The lack of characters gives me the feeling of a serious lack of story and background. The game seems to be missing something, it gives me the feeling of being alone in the world. Nothing but you your house and the enemies in your way. This kind of makes the game have an interesting feel, but I don't know whether I real like it. The first colossus is extremely huge and I have no idea how to kill it. I pretty much died in about two seconds. It got angry and stomped on me and my life was almost completely depleted. Man this guy is huge, and it is incredibly difficult to get on him. I tried climbing on him, but kept falling off. (This entry has been edited3 times. It was last edited on Tue, 19 Feb 2008 18:49:47.)Tue, 19 Feb 2008 16:30:46 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=2651&iddiary=5026https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=2495Gameplay: I completed the task that Leena sent me on, for a relatively simple game it is surprisingly difficult to accomplish the tasks. This is because the game doesn't give you any guidelines of what buttons do what. The story progressed somewhat , it did not proceed a great deal but enough to keep me interested. I collected three scales for a neckless. The story between Leena and Serge is very interesting. I kept picking the mushy answers to the sections where you were given a choice in how you want the conversation to turn out. A love story began to unfold, but a strange incident occurred and the moment was ruined. Next thing that you know is that you are alone and asleep on the beach. A person comes to tell you not to sleep on the beach and where to find Leena. Design: The game world is not very expansive from what I have seen. This could also be due to the time period it was made in. Seeing as the game was made for the Playstation 1, this was probably the major component of why the designers made the game into the style that they did. The fights are all set in the same location even if the places where the fights are activated are not near each other. This was created this way so that the memory necessary to story the game was not ridiculous. The cutscenes develop the story in a unique style. The game's story-line was probably created in this way to create a sense of curiosity around the game, in other words- to keep the player intrigued and playing the game. I can only assume that the character's story's come into play later on in the story, so that the designers can keep a strong hold on how much the player is aloud to know. Seeing as the graphic components of the game are not that great, older games must have a different type of engagement. This game has its main plot-line but also has a very unique style in which the main character engages bi-standards. The bi-standards themselves have engaging stories and aspirations for their own lives and even contemplate alternative pathways that they could have taken. This game is most certainly a game of progression. There are not very many alternative activities that you can engage in besides the main plot. This was also due to the limitations of the first Playstation console. So this game has far less emergent behaviors then modern RPG's, but I think the developing story more then makes up for this. This a game for its time is also very impressive. The reward system in this game is much like in any other game, you get rewards that are just found, you also get rewards for accomplishing tasks, and for defeating bosses. This game has many aspects of a modern RPG and uses all of the things that make those games great in its own gameplay experience. (It reminds me a lot of a Final Fantasy game) I look forward to seeing what happens next.Sat, 09 Feb 2008 02:00:03 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=2495&iddiary=4820https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=2495Summary: Chrono Cross is a very early style RPG with a turned based attack system. The game fallows the story of a young boy named Serge. You begin in a strange castle with two friends and you trigger a fight by colliding with your opponent. Then you take turns attacking the enemies with either Elements or the weapon in hand. Gameplay: Ok, the first thing to say is what the heck. I appear in a strange castle without so much as a story behind the reasoning. I get no training in fighting, unless you count training as the actual fights. I guess you learn by doing. I was confused as all get out, I was wondering whether I had started the game wrong or something. I distinctly remember hitting the start a new game button, but here I was without so much as a hint as to what I was suppose to do. It took me a sec to figure out the correct buttons to move the main character. I wondered around and triggered some beam of light to turn off, and beat up some creatures by hitting random buttons. I have no idea about the story-line . After I was beamed to some place in the sky, a cut scene is triggered and you watch the main character stand over a girl with a bloody knife. A slightly creepy smile starts to cross his face then you apparently wake up. You end up in a little village and if you talk to people you learn about there aspirations and about the past. This was really cool, a guy told me about something happening ten years before and it made me curious to find out more. You can pretty much activate a conversation with any bi-standard. The characters themselves are still strange to me, I know very little about them. So far the main characters, that I have met are Serge and his girlfriend Leena. She was incredibly bossy, I really felt like being rude to her when it allowed you to choose between two responses. I am interested where the game proceeds from where I currently am. Even though the game gives no backstory, the vague aspect gives the game an air of discovery. (Curiosity killed the cat, but I can't help it) Besides the confusing beginning the only negative aspect I ran into was the fact that you could not quite distinguish the end of a cut scene, I was never really sure whether I had control of my character until a few seconds had gone past. (This entry has been edited1 time. It was last edited on Fri, 08 Feb 2008 23:50:57.)Fri, 08 Feb 2008 23:32:43 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=2495&iddiary=4721https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=2090Gameplay: The game play was as fun as it was the first time. The only thing that I have to complain about this time is that I completely forgot what I was suppose to do. They must have told me in passing where to go but I forgot, I tried finding the location in the menus and such but I couldn't find it. I finally got a party member which was cool because she helped me to kill enemies easier, and it was fun to just hang with a friend. Though it kind of sucks that she left so quickly. I kind of wanted to go on a hunt with her so that she could help with the mutant wolf, but she left too quickly. I enjoyed that the story started to develop more, it was cool because it created more character interaction. Design: I love that the game gives a wide amount of possibilities when trying to chose what to take part in. You basically have free reign to go get weapons, fight enemies, talk to people and go on hunts. On the other hand this aspect is also a downfall of the game because it makes the game's story much slower. I am someone that enjoys story line more than just fighting. I would love the story to pick up the pace. There is not really any level design in the game the main character just goes around the same location. While there is some variance in the locations, it is not much. Basically the game takes place in the city and the desert surrounding. The game was probably designed with these elements in mind so that it kept a familiar tone to the rest of the Final Fantasy series. Most of the game was probably made with this mind. Same with the menu bar that controls the techniques. The game is still based on the taking turns theme, but it has the added possibility of being able to have the chance of getting away without damage. This was most likely added to give the players more of a chance of staying alive when fighting with many enemies. The game doesn't really have a good reward structure. The hunts do have rewards, you get money and payment for killing your mark. The more you kill the stronger you get, I suppose that is a reward in itself. The rewards are based on continuous work which isn't bad I suppose. This method challenges the player. The game produces many challenges through quests, enemies, tasks and leveling. Which is plenty of opportunity for gameplay to occur. The game space is open with many chances to talk to pedestrians walking around the city. The game is interesting and fun so far. (This entry has been edited2 times. It was last edited on Wed, 05 Mar 2008 15:43:37.)Sat, 26 Jan 2008 00:45:08 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=2090&iddiary=4234https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=2090Summary: Final Fanatsy XII is a role player game, where the main character Vaan is a Rabanastre orphan who wants to take back the empire from the evil Archadian rule. Players grow stronger by fighting marks, enemies that are to be killed for payment, attacks are activated by choosing from a series of actions from a pull down menu. Gameplay: At its beginning the game plays like a movie, with lots of story and many cut scenes. The game then picks up a couple years latter and the story becomes much more difficult to follow. Well actually the story doesn't get difficult to follow until after you have completed all the tutorial, and have completed your first hunt. The world is enormous and has infinite possibilities. That is really cool because you can go do whatever you wish during the game. But if you do go off and do whatever you want you begin to wonder where all the necessary action has gone. What happened to continuing the story. I could be judging this aspect too quickly, I have never played a final fantasy game before, so this is a whole new experience for me. The intro took me forever to play, the game seems very complicated, but you never know what will happen. Time will tell. The controls are pretty easy to follow even for a novice game player like myself. The game has given me a pretty good experience thus far, I have yet to get pissed off at it, so that is a good sign. I am pleased with what I have seen so far. The graphics are great, the player interaction with other characters is done very well. You can pretty much talk to however you want to in the city. The activation sequence for attacks is actually pretty cool, there is not much to it. Basically you hit X scroll down a list hit X again when you have found the attack or technique that you want and off you go. The only complaint I have about the game so far is that my player has such weak defensive capabilities, even if you try to run. When you try to run from your opponent you get hit a good 60% of the time, and your life drains quiet quickly if you arn't paying attention to it. (This entry has been edited7 times. It was last edited on Fri, 08 Feb 2008 23:39:12.)Fri, 25 Jan 2008 13:16:34 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=2090&iddiary=4033https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=1758Gameplay: Well I am glade to say that I have begun to get use to the odd configuration of the buttons on my computer. Once I finally got use to the controls the game began to much more enjoyable. I am still wandering around doing tasks for the students in the D.A. There are some tasks that are very difficult to complete, such as finding the talking Gargoyles. It is always fun to side track yourself from the task at hand, the only thing that is annoying about this is that Hermione and Ron nag you to get back to the intended mission. I just ignored them and went on my way. I have been trying to get 100% discovery points for locations all around Hogwarts. I have had to climb the buildings, fix objects, mop the floors, feed the birds, and cast spells at passing teachers (Snape is always a fun teacher to target). The only time I ever get frustrated when I am discovering things on my own is when there is just a few last percentage in hall that I need to discover in order to make it to 100%, but that is to be suspected. Design: The game has many good and bad design elements and some that are both good and bad. A prime example is the design the reward system. For all the discovery points found, a secret is unlocked in a the room of rewards. The secrets that are unlocked leave much to be desired, but the search for the points is much more entertaining and rewarding then the games intended reward. The game seemed long and there was a lot to do in it, but it seemed less fulfilling then the previous games in the series. This game had little to do with life. There are no lightning bolts telling you how injured Harry is. It makes the game seem to easy, as if the game is built to automatically allow you to prevail. The fights between you and the Slytherines is finished quickly, as if it was design to minimize the challenge of dueling. I would rather have a challenge then none at all. The graphic design of the castle and its appearance is fantastic. It is exactly the way that you would picture a castle to look like. The grounds are layed out extensively, and allows for many different possible routes to get to the same location. The fact that you can pretty much do anything you want in the grounds is very engaging. What I have noticed about all the Harry Potter games they don't really contain levels. In this game you don't really even go to class. At least that is what I have noticed so far. The pass of the game is pretty much continueous and steady, but while a constant pace is nice it make the game seem very long because their is no differentiation between the tasks. The game maybe to complex when it comes to completing mundane tasks but is entertaining when it comes to the hidden aspects within the school. If I could change aspects of the game I would insert a life status bar, make the conflicts between the students more varied and much more intense. And although the school grounds are entertaining I would have loved to sneak around Hogsmead. A change in the location of where the tasks are taking place would have been great. So far all my tasks have taken place around Hogwarts, and I have seen very little of any other location, except for what is shown in cutscenes.Mon, 14 Jan 2008 04:53:36 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=1758&iddiary=3570https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=1758Summary: Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix fallows around Harry, Ron, and Hermione in their everyday attempts to undermine the new Hogwarts Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, Dalores Umbridge. Spells are activated by specific movements made by the mouse. Gameplay: The game seems to have no particular sense of consistency, sections of video play fallowed by long periods of play without video. The game rushes into the story while also giving the impression that much of the story is missing. After getting through the preliminary introduction into the wizardying world and the reaquaintance with spells the main part of the story begins. There are many cool features such as the map that allows you to navigate the school in a much quicker fashion, but also allows you to locate particular people when asked to. The spell work is also interesting, the different movements of the mouse cause different reactions, although while cool in many respects it does make the casting of a particular spell accurately and quickly, much more difficult. I have gotten to the part where I am required to notify all the D.A. members in the ground that the location of the our secret meeting has just been decided. In order to get all the members to go you must first complete a task for each of them. This makes the game redundant and slightly aggravating. I am getting use to the small tasks but still having trouble with the configuration of the movement buttons. It is difficult to direct yourself and hold down the button that allows you to run, while simultaneously trying to duel and fire spells. The arrow keys instead of moving Harry, they move what he is pointing at......Maybe I should have gotten a right click mouse so that I could change from defensive spells to everyday spells easily. The game although slightly disapionting is still fun to run around the castle and try to find all the hidden secrets, I felt like a little kid on a Easter Egg Hunt. (This entry has been edited1 time. It was last edited on Mon, 14 Jan 2008 03:21:25.)Mon, 14 Jan 2008 03:20:13 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=1758&iddiary=3560