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Feb 9th, 2008 at 02:58:33 - Kingdom Hearts II (PS2) |
GAMEPLAY
I like the mix of having a vaguely RPG-style battle menu with a hack-n-slash. More potential for interesting attack combos, skill variety, and even a form of Limit Breaks (more boringly called ‘reaction commands’). Sora’s ‘Drive’ form is like turning him into a Super Saiyan with all the associated destruction, and please ignore the middle-school-otaku-nerdiness there. It does get a little annoying, however, when you rack up the Equipped skills and they seem to cancel one another out, or be relatively useless when combined with the rest.
(There are some hilariously suggestive scenes. I think Squeenix has a thing for spiky-headed boys being told to beg on their knees. And the villain’s name could be considered an anagram for the word ‘mansex.’)
DESIGN
From what I remember of the first Kingdom Hearts, there are several improvements. Camera angles are more malleable, and honestly I think KH2 has one of the better camera systems I’ve seen. The Gummi ship battles in the first were boring and tedious, but the second time around became something that will make me go through the same obstacle course two or three times just for the hell of it.
Enemies are customized for every world you go to, making them feel ‘native’ rather than blatantly out-of-place, and a fair amount of detail went into making each world unique. There are a few non-battle obstacles besides the Gummi ships, like having to steer Aladdin’s carpet through a sandstorm while hitting certain attack combos, and other like puzzles that were obviously made for a slightly younger audience than myself *cough* but still keep a strict routine from settling in too comfortably.
Nomura’s biggest mistake was putting in the world of the Little Mermaid. It’s mundane, utterly stupid, and irrelevant to the rest of the game. Personal preference says the same of a few other worlds, but Atlantica was BY FAR the worst. Also, the cameo appearances of characters like Cloud, Squall, and Sephiroth go unexplained and largely unneeded, which was a big disappointment for me. Some of the so-called ‘features’ of this game felt like they were just thrown in for novelty rather than any real purpose, a sort of SNL-style “Look what I can do!” thing.
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Feb 9th, 2008 at 02:58:03 - Kingdom Hearts II (PS2) |
SUMMARY
Set after Kingdom Hearts and KH: Chain of Memories, obviously. Kairi’s safe back at the Islands again, but Sora’s lost half his heart and Riku went missing again with King Mickey. And if that weren’t enough, Organization XIII is being led by Ansem’s Nobody and spreading oblivion across the worlds. “What, Lassie? Timmy fell down the well and the world is facing Impending Doom?”
GAMEPLAY
I’ve actually played this game before, when it came out a few years ago. (Ah, the memories.) And I thought, Hey, why not try it again? Epic drama or fast-paced action’s all well and good, but sometimes you just need to revisit some kid’s fun. The cartoony art style makes me smile, and there are moogles. (You know life’s good when there are moogles.)
The beginning few hours bored the hell out of me—because I can play this thing forever and forget it’s for an assignment, hah—but the multidimensional arcade-style shmup thing that opens interspatial gates is worth all the tedium. Button-mashing to the extreme, and filling the screen with explosions is so damn satisfying.
And wow, after playing several Final Fantasy titles, I’m falling in love with Sora all over again. He isn’t annoyingly bouncy, but he doesn’t ANGST, not like Nomura’s preceding character designs; he doesn’t make me feel like slitting my wrists. Not to mention his seiyuu did a wonderful voice-over (the kid from the movie ‘The Sixth Sense’ whose name I can never remember). I’ve missed this kind of laid-back playing.
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Jan 26th, 2008 at 00:44:50 - Final Fantasy XII (PS2) |
GAMEPLAY
I’m having mixed feelings on these new ‘target lines’—long arches of colored light connecting you with another target that, depending on the color, indicate an enemy or friend. It’s great because it gives you fair warning of an attacker, or tells you when you’ve broken cover and been spotted, but in a melee-style conflict all those lines can be damn confusing. (You can select to turn them off, however.)
I thought that relatively strong female characters in this series had died with Aeris. (Why are video games lacking so sorely in this area?) Thank god for Ashe, who has confidence, realism, and a much less annoying personality on her side.
DESIGN
The new battle design is tripping me out. It’s still turn-based, of course, and in real-time, but you can actively move around, which makes me nervous. I feel like I should be doing more than just running around and waiting for my turn—like, oh, killing. Nor does the screen change to a separate battleground, as in just about every other FF title; you can see the enemy coming (eliminating the randomness), and you fight right there in the ‘normal’ world. I’m not sure if I like this better or not.
What I don’t like about the battle system is the automated thing they have going. Select [Attack], pick an enemy, and all you have to do from then on is keep an eye on your HP and use a potion if it gets too low. It feels like cheating in a not-satisfying way, and without much thought needed.
There’s a ‘License Board’ that’s reminiscent of the Sphere system thing in FFX. I’ve heard some people complain about it, but I prefer having room for choice in how the character develops. I really liked the Sphere thing, and there’s even more freedom here.
The environments are, in my humble opinion, AWESOME. They’re finely detailed, and the sheer height of the buildings gives a real sense of being in a heavily populated city. If the movie “The Fifth Element” could meet Star Wars, you’d get the city of Rabanastre, complete with non-human species and mercenary-like personalities. In FF7, you had the Germanic influence in Nibelheim, the Western style in Midgar, and the East Asian-like Wutai—here you have a desert, almost Arabic feel, and it’s definitely an interesting change. You can see a Greco-Roman influence in names like ‘Archadia’ and in the armor styles. (I’m sorry, but to me, this cultural thing is fascinating.) The use of rich color gives it the kind of brightly-lit, almost dreamlike atmosphere you’d expect in a fantasy world.
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Jan 26th, 2008 at 00:07:26 - Final Fantasy XII (PS2) |
SUMMARY
The world of Ivalice is being torn apart by two large warring kingdoms, leaving the smaller kingdoms to be swallowed up or destroyed. After the murder of the king of Dalmasca—one of the lesser nations—its citizens are displaced and the country taken under imperial rule. Vaan (the main character of dubious gender), the Dalmascan princess Ashe, and other motley characters band together to form a resistance against the imperialists. Kudos for thinly veiled political commentary.
GAMEPLAY
Although there’s more cutscene than actual gameplay in the beginning, I was engrossed only a few minutes into it, and not just because the graphics were absolutely beautiful. It was very effective on an emotional level, using techniques like seeing through the character’s eyes, mimicking the chaos of battle with jarring camera angles, etc; I was crushed when the Playable Character Of The Moment, Reks, dies. Though there was a fair amount of textual info-dumping, a lot of it was also presented through a sort of montage-style cutscene that made a potentially dry storyline more interesting. A drastic improvement in voice acting, especially when compared to the cringe-worthy FFX, made serious scenes actually somewhat touching and sincere.
Also, with a greater focus on the characters than, say, FF Tactics, I didn’t feel like I was just nudging along a group of pixels for some vague idealistic purpose, but actively observing a more real person. (Vaan reminds me of a weird mix between angst-ridden Cloud and brash Tidus, with a healthy portion of Cloud’s Wall Market getup thrown in to make him look more feminine than Squall ever did. Fangirls, rejoice!)
Otherwise, I’m getting a little bored and waiting for Something To Explode. This game already feels like it’s more for those people fascinated with political intrigue and tactics, which I’m…not.
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lucem_ferre has been with GameLog for 16 years, 3 months, and 9 days |
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