By Tania on January 30th, 2010 under RPG, PSP, , , 
I tried. I really tried. I knew I was in for a fanservice-fest. Because what else could a prequel to the most famous Final Fantasy game be? Knowing this, I armed myself with a heavy dose of lenience before inserting the Crisis Core UMD into my PSP. But lenience can only take you so far when the developers are clearly not making any efforts to meet you halfway.
So much is wrong with this game that I’m not sure where to start. Perhaps the gameplay: FF has nudged the boundaries of its RPG classification over time (eg. FFT, FFX-2, Revenant Wings), but Crisis Core takes it a step further. You control a single character in real-time, complete with dodging and blocking. You still have a semblance of menu; however, scrolling through it, and especially through the Item submenu, can make you lose precious seconds, which is sometimes the difference between life and death. This is where “RPG” and “action” start disagreeing.
Then you have the strange animal that is the DMW (Digital Mind Wave) reel. It includes numbers and portraits of characters that matter to Zack or summons, thus basing his fighting abilities on his emotions. You can’t control it directly, which is clever, as it mirrors the randomness of emotions, but doesn’t work that well with the battle structure, as it tends to disrupt the flow of combat. Pictures aligning trigger a Limit Break, while numbers aligning may add temporary stat boosts, level up your materia or yourself. So yes, levelling up is, essentially, random. It can happen twice in one battle or not happen for ages. The odds eventually even out, but it’s annoying to see a Limit Break pop up when you’re one hit away from dispatching an easy enemy. Especially if it happens to be a summoning sequence: they are extremely long, albeit skippable. They also include Ifrit in disturbingly tiny, WRONG briefs. I’ll spare your eyes by not posting a picture.
But the gameplay issues pale by comparison with the storyline and characters. This game must’ve been written by drunken monkeys. The plot can’t decide whether to reference FFVII at every turn or to vaguely attempt to do something new. Events are disjointed and awkward, and one plot point is a direct rehash of Hojo’s involvement with Sephiroth. It feels like a bad remake, cheapens the original plot (and this is coming from someone who isn’t a rabid Sephiroth fangirl), and does no credit to the developers’ imagination. And let’s not even talk about the LSD trip that is the final stretch of the game (eating hair? seriously?) or the nonsensicality of the final dungeon.
Characters…Oh, man. The biggest offender has got to be Genesis, probably one of the worst villains in the whole FF series. “I’m gonna wear RED leather instead of black, spew crappy poetry every time I show up, do all that misunderstood emo shit, shove apples in people’s faces and hope I come across as a tormented badass! :O” And no, before you ask, it doesn’t work. But hey, Angeal is almost as bad. Which may be a shame, because he did have a few promising aspects at the beginning. But as soon as the story kicked in, he deflated like a giant balloon and became mired in some incomprehensible soul-searching, or whatever it was. Needless to say, I promptly lost interest and just proceeded to laugh at the homoerotic innuendoes he was involved in (“Hey Zack, come fly with me, and I’ll let you handle my GIANT SWORD”).
Lazard, the director of SOLDIER, is another example. There’s an interesting storyline twist about him, but then he peters out like a wet firecracker. You also have Cissnei, the Turk: cute as a button, interesting potential…never goes anywhere. But worse than both of those, you have Aeris (and no, I will *not* call her Aerith). I’m pretty sure everyone knows how much I hate her by now, but Crisis Core made it worse by giving her a severe case of the Rikku. You know, losing 90% of your brain and wearing skimpier clothing to “hype up” your image? In every scene featuring her, Aeris acted like an idiot. In a strappy dress and platform shoes.
The only characters I was even remotely interested in were Zack himself—even though I usually don’t like the happy-go-lucky kind—and Tseng, more in line with the stern, silent, slightly menacing type I tend to favour. He’s actually quite the looker too, unlike the bunch of Lego-like pixels he was in FFVII. His development didn’t go anywhere either, but at least he had more presence than any of the other Turks.
Rounding up the issues: firstly, the extreme repetitiveness of the 300 optional missions. They’re meant to represent the everyday work of SOLDIER, but did 99% of the environments need to be recycled? And did they really need to put Yuffie in there (who was already an annoying brat back then)? The perk is that it’s the only way to obtain good items and eventually leads to the optional über-boss. But apart from that…*snores* There are also completely mindless minigames, like the sniping gauntlet (Pentazemin please?), mixing perfume or building flower carts for Aeris (and I really wish I were kidding), slicing missiles (yes, slicing) or counting objects through keyholes.
Secondly, the materia fusion system. Playing alchemist is a good idea, but the rules are simply mind-boggling. Especially because they involve invisible data: some materia are “better” than others and will thus be prioritized in the fusion process (ie. the end product will probably not be what you’re gunning for). But of course, you have no way of figuring this out except trial and error or a FAQ. Way to go there, champs.
Thirdly, the music. Yes, the FFVII universe has a steampunk vibe. But FFVII’s score did perfectly well without screechy guitars and rock arrangements. There’s only one truly lovely tune I remember: the one in Aeris’ church. The rest? “Woo, another tacky guitar riff.”
And last but not least, the ending. I knew—just as anybody who’s played FFVII knew—what would happen. It would've been a bold choice for an ending...if they’d managed to pull it off. I get all the stuff meant to tug at your heart-strings (eg. gradually disappearing DMW images, Aeris’ premonitory gaze at the sky cutting to Zack’s eye, etc.), I get the tragedy of the moment. But maybe because the rest of the game was bad, maybe because the ending sequence became choppier as it progressed, maybe because you had to mindlessly slaughter grunts while waiting for the requisite DMW sequence to trigger, maybe because Zack’s voice actor bungled his delivery, maybe because of the incredibly cheesy intervention by Angeal…I don’t know, but I felt that what could’ve been a true tear-jerker was simply overloaded with emotional SFX. Like they were trying too hard.
Perhaps this could be said of the game as a whole? I not sure whether they were trying too hard throughout or not trying hard enough up until the ending, when they decided to pull out all the stops. But what it comes down to is this: underwhelming on all fronts. Don’t let the fanboys fool you.
By Arclayn on January 17th, 2010 under General, Mac, PC, Technology, Cross posted to Arclayn's Livejournal.
I present an epic tale of conflict and sorrow where great men and women do battle against their misguided rulers for freedom and principles!
Sounds like a cheesy pitch to promote the latest RPG, eh? Hehehe... read on.
A buddy of mine who lives in California USA was recently telling me about a new game called Torchlight, which is made in the tradition of Diablo. For me, this is intriguing as the Diablo series has been and continues to be (despite its ancientness) the best hack-and-slash video games ever. What's even more intriguing is that this new game is made by "ex-Blizzard employees". As the Diablo series was created by Blizzard's subsidiary studio, Blizzard North, that note caught my attention.
A few weeks later, I download a demo of Torchlight just to see if it lives up to all the fuss. The short and simple is: no it doesn't. Before I move on, I want to make one thing absolutely clear: Torchlight is a decent game, despite my upcoming scathing summary. That scathe starts out noting Torchlight's complete lack of originality. Torchlight would be borderline plagiarism of the Diablo series if not for the key fact that the development team is largely comprised of people who did work for Blizzard North, and thusly had created Diablo! Despite the developers' best recycling efforts, the game is lacking a few things. It lacks originality (can't stress this enough!), it lacks multiplayer, it lacks some polish, and except for veteran voice actress Lani Minella -- it lacks good voice acting. Torchlight is very lacking in comparison to what placed the Diablo series at the pinnacle of awesomeness. But with all its flaws, Torchlight is not a bad game. It is not awesome, but it is competent. I suspect that Torchlight's mere competent outcome was held back by lack of project funding and time, not lack of talent. I'll get back to this soon.
But this epic tale or cheesy pitch isn't really about Torchlight. Rather, Torchlight intrigued me to read about where this story has its beginnings -- the "ex-Blizzard" employees. Seems at around the year 2003, key people within Blizzard North (a subsidiary studio of Blizzard Entertainment) had a difference of opinion with the beancounters and MBA stiff-suits within Blizzard's parent company, Vivendi.
The nature of this disagreement eludes me, but it is clear that the differences were significant and the two parties couldn't find enough common ground in whatever the dispute was. My significant other suspects it was some labor contract dispute. I suspect the disagreement stems from the philosophical differences and cultural divide common between workers and business managers in the USA. Or perhaps both. Regardless, that is all speculation. What is not speculation is that many people who were key to Blizzard's success resigned and went different ways.
At my time providing IT tech support at a General Electric manufacturing plant, one thing I observed about American business culture is that the stiff-suit managers often fail to understand that workers are the lifeblood of the company. No workers equals no product. No product equals no business. It is a pretty simple concept, really. In the case of Blizzard, that paradigm gets even worse as video game developers (the workers) are highly educated and talented people. They are visual artists, musicians, writers, mathematicians, computer scientists and engineers, etc. These are not your "warm-body" work-drones. No no! Video game developers are a unique and rare breed! Angering this kind of workforce is a potentially bad idea!
I have read that the numerous resignations forced the cancellation of a "Blizzard North kind of game" and the closure of the entire Blizzard North studio. Here we have proof of what I just said: "No workers equals no product. No product equals no business." Therefore, Blizzard North becomes defunct. But where did all those people go?
Some of the people who left Blizzard North wound up forming ArenaNet and created a new game called Guild Wars. My buddy in California played this game for some time, but I felt the game amounted to very shiny rubbish. Technologically speaking, the game was marvelous. As for game design, I had no use for it. It is a clear case that "shiny" alone does not make a good game. Despite my negative opinion, Guild Wars became a popular phenomenon known for large scale multiplayer play without subscription fees. Seems today, though, that most of the bluster surrounding Guild Wars has died off, and although a Guild Wars sequel was announced two years ago... it is still missing in action.
I list Bill Roper among my most favorite video game developers ever. He is the man responsible for the success of Warcraft, Starcraft, and Diablo, and he was among the "key people" who left Blizzard North. After leaving Blizzard North, Mr. Roper founded Flagship Studios and created Hellgate London. I haven't played Hellgate so I cannot comment on how good or bad the game is. I have read that Hellgate has a metacritic average of 70%. That's not great, but that's not bad. Unfortunately, Hellgate ended up a commercial failure and as a result, Flagship Studios dissolved and the Hellgate intellectual property now lies in the hands of Korean game publisher, Hanbitsoft.
These days, Mr. Roper works for Cryptic Studios. He is overseeing the production of Champions Online, an upcoming MMO game based on the Champions paper-and-pencil hobby game. Supposedly, Bill Roper loved playing Champions as a child, so in the end he winds up doing what is likely a really nice job for him. Kudos!
And now we come to Torchlight's origins. Other "key people" who left Blizzard North helped to found Runic Games. Runic Games is also, in part, a studio built upon the ashes of Flagship Studios, although without Bill Roper. Runic Games was founded in 2008, and a year later they published Torchlight. A single year is pretty quick development time! And considering that Torchlight is a decent game, it says something about the talent of these developers: They know what they are doing. Given more time and funding, I expect that Torchlight would have climbed to the summit of Mount Awesome. However, considering the development tools they used, it becomes obvious that funding and time were not on their side.
Torchlight is built on a kludge variety of free-and-open-source technologes (OGRE 3D and CEGUI) and inexpensively licensed technologies (Particle Universe and FMOD). Certainly this selection of tools is not state-of-the-art like Unreal Engine 3 or Blizzard's own custom in-house development suite. The end result is a lightweight game that would have been very impressive maybe four or five years ago. However, for what Runic Games had, Torchlight does play slick and smooth and the visuals are good enough. To start with something substantially less and still come out with something competent is the work of true talent, and Torchlight is existing proof, when one looks deep down, that these guys have talent.
As for Blizzard Entertainment, the loss of Blizzard North means they are lacking many of the original talents that made them awesome in the first place. I can't say, but I want to think that the stiff-suits in Vivendi learned something from this experience as they had a lot of talented and experienced people to replace in order to keep Blizzard Entertainment successful. Afterall, game developers can't be plucked from a tree. Even so, Blizzard's main office managed to keep their momentum in the realm of awesome. Since the collapse of Blizzard North, World of Warcraft became an instant success the following year. Plus, Blizzard now has two more games on the horizon: Starcraft 2 and Diablo 3. Despite not being backed by the original talents, both games still look like they will be outstanding when they go gold!
For the fans who love Blizzard games (such as myself), things are looking up. For Bill Roper, things were shaky for a while but it looks to me that he's got a good gig now. I hope that Torchlight, despite its complete lack of originality, does well enough so that Runic Games can properly fund a real project and show the world just how good they really are. And finally, time will tell if this cheesy, epic tale has a happy ending for all.
Arclayn MoonSword
By Brian on January 4th, 2010 under RPG, NDS, 
When we last left our blue hedgehog, I posited the hope that Sonic's first foray into the RPG genre would be good. With Bioware at the helm of this game, I hoped that I was in for a good game. At this point, I was hoping that this wouldn't be just another game that lent itself to more humiliation. Sonic's suffered enough. So here, finally, after a couple of months of delay, here's the second and final installment of this review.
So the result was Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood, released on the Nintendo DS. It opens up light-hearted enough, with Sonic returning from a vacation—probably to get away from all the bad games he was forced to star in. However, he is made aware by Tails that Knuckles has gone missing—a problem if Knuckles is the guardian of the Chaos Emeralds, including the Master Emerald. From there, the story develops, and you're taken on a comical romp through various Sonic levels (with some new ones as well), acquiring characters (Sonic, Tails, Amy Rose, Big the Cat, amongst others) to add to your party, each with their own unique abilities that have use either on the world map or in battle.
Battles themselves are nothing too dramatic—they're standard turn-based battles; you enter commands for the party, and watch the round play out. You do have some element of strategy—on the top screen, you can see the order in which your characters will go. However, you don't see where an enemy is going to cut in line, so there's also a small element of guesswork. If a character is running low on HP, do you want to wait further down the lineup to throw out that potion, or use it immediately and forgo using a powerful attack? Also, you have the option (and if you have skill as well) of not initiating combat. Enemies are seen on the map, and if you're spotted, the enemy will make some sort of extremely annoying sound that gets old quickly, especially if you're dashing through a section of the map with an abundance of enemies. Nothing like hearing sharp, shrill shrieks or the sounds of your DS constantly making farty, burpy noises to let you know that battle's going to ensue if you're caught. Another downer is that while enemies can be seen, they are also challenging to avoid. Often times, I found myself being pursued by two or three enemies, only to be caught by one, battle, win, then immediately get caught by the enemy just behind him before I can even use my stylus to move Sonic...it reminded me of Final Fantasy games of old, where battles often occurred one step after returning to the world map.
Also, the initiating of powerful moves (and the blocking of powerful moves unleashed by the enemy) require skilled timing of the stylus. By tapping the stylus in sequence on various locations of the bottom screen, you can determine whether an attack or block will be effective. Nail each tap perfectly, and you're guaranteed a hit or block, unless a special status dictates otherwise. You can even unleash powerful moves by tag-teaming with other characters in your party—to the point where you could utilize all four characters in your current party in one massive, destructive attack. The more complex the attack, the quicker your stylus reflexes will have to be.
In fact, this is the first DS game I've played that uses the stylus exclusively. This game does not use any of the buttons for anything—the stylus is used for every function of the game, from moving your characters on the world map, to menu navigation, to battling. And surprisingly, it does it well. I found it very easy to pick up and work my way through without remembering any sort of button configuration, and for that, it's a definite plus.
The script itself is definitely amusing at points, and campy in others. At various points of dialogue, you (as Sonic) will be given some choices on how to answer a question, usually with a nice response, a snarky, sarcastic response, or indifference. No voice-acting here; it's all reading. As for extras, you can find Chao scattered amongst the world—these Chao can be equipped to party members to provide additional support, be it a boost to individual stats, an increase to some form of elemental resistance, an increased chance of finding rare items or getting extra EXP from battle—plenty of Chao to go around. If you utilize the game's wi-fi connectivity, you can trade Chao for extremely rare ones.
Finally, one major plus for this game—this game contains a feature I wish more games, particularly the long, epic, RPGs, had: the ability to save your game anytime, anywhere. This fact alone makes the game that much more enjoyable. Too many times I play a long game like the later Final Fantasy games and find myself having to go two hours in between save points, only to die during a battle and lose all that progress. Here, no need to worry. The only time you can't save is in mid-battle, obviously.
While overall, a decent game, it's not the type to blow you away. The game's story is a bit predictable, for one, and I found the game way too easy. Of the 25 or so hours I spent on it, I only died once in the early part of the game. Also, there's no real replay value, unless you're a completist and want to get every ring and every item and every Chao in each of the game's levels. There's no multiplayer or other online activity other than Chao trading, and only one ending. Once you've finished it, I really doubt you'll play it again. However, these don't really detract too much from the overall game. While certainly not a shining, amazing first attempt at a Sonic RPG, I enjoyed it, and would play a sequel. As it's called Sonic Chronicles, one hopes that there will be more than just one. With some modifications, primarily in plot, perhaps a great sequel might be in store. However, I don't see this game being memorable and classic--even though I enjoyed the game, it's already starting to make its way into bargain bins in game stores. For now, though, Mario still wins.
By Brian on December 15th, 2009 under CBC, , As I mentioned some months ago, the Character Battle contests are going to a new site, and will no longer be hosted on my LiveJournal and Late to the Party. This is just an announcement to those still here that signups have begun. To get the full details, check out my LiveJournal.
By Arclayn on December 5th, 2009 under RPG, X360, PC,
In all my years of gaming, and they are many (over two decades!), I have never seen a game as controversial, but at the same time possessing as much distilled awesome as
Mass Effect
Being an American, I do not know how well this game was received in Europe. But in America, I do know that
Mass Effect was the centerpiece of a gargantuan hoax that was shamefully propogated by a major news outlet. After that, the PC release became embroiled in a very real controversy involving Digital Rights Management that was exceptionally harsh and unfair to paying customers. It's all very sad, doubly so as this game is amazing!
First and foremost,
Mass Effect is an action RPG, but it is unlike any RPG normally seen in the console mainstream. Indeed,
Bioware,
Mass Effect's creators, got their start making games (and software game engines!) for the PC. Bioware's first foray into console game development is with
MDK2 for the Sega Dreamcast and Playstation 2, but it won't be until the publication of
Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic on the original Xbox that Bioware shall truly break ground in console video games.
Anyone who has played
Knights of the Old Republic or
Jade Empire should already be familiar at how very different Bioware's presentation style really is. Those who have been following Bioware since its early days making PC games (like myself) have seen this style evolve brilliantly over 10+ years, having started with
Baldur's Gate back in 1998!
As an RPG, the first question expected would be, "Is the story any good?" Absolutely, the story is excellent.
Mass Effect is a space opera with all the requisites: space, spaceships, extra-terrestial worlds, lots of aliens (and not all of them hostile!), warfare, and even some intergalactic politics. As with any RPG,
Mass Effect is driven by its story. Aside from being really well written,
Mass Effect also tries to explain its pseudo-scientific elements in enough detail to be "believable", but not too much to confuse players. This game is deep and detailed, although what truly sets this game apart is how the story is presented.
For starters, you have the option to custom-create the protagonist, who is a space marine simply named "Commander Shepard". Shepard is completely customizable... gender, military specialty, background, and you can even customize his/her face! Facial customization is quite complex as just about every facial feature can be altered. As no two protagonists need to be anything alike, this gives the player a stronger sense of being in the game. Among those who choose to customize their protagonist, each player's "Commander Shepard" is their very own. The others who wish to jump right in can instead select a "pre-generated" John Shepard or Jane Shepard.
Unlike most video game protagonists, Commander Shepard is not a slave to video game fate. He/she must make many choices before his/her mission is over, and these are not the simple black-and-white "yes or no" questions. Ohhh no no! Shepard has to make
real choices with
real consequences! This is the kind of game that puts "
Role-
Playing" back into "RPG".
The concept may sound intimidating to the Square-Enix initiated, but it is this dymanic of being able to choose that sets
Mass Effect (and most other Bioware RPGs) apart from the crowd! Understand that there are really no right or wrong answers. For starters, Shepard's responses allow him/her to grow as a character. Will Shepard become a cool-headed professional, or will Shepard become the kind of tough and hardened marine that even scares the grim reaper? To choose the path of
paragon or
renegade is entirely up the the player, and they are not mutually exclusive attitudes! There is no real good and evil here, so every marine is likely to achieve at least a dash of one trait, even while favoring the other.
Aside from character growth, some of Commander Shepard's choices will have consequences that affect the story. Keep in mind, again, there are no right or wrong choices, but some of Shepard's choices can have far reaching ramifications. So far reaching, they extend beyond one game and into two! Keep your old save games, so sayeth Casey Hudson (project director)! The choices made in the first game can be ported to affect the story of
Mass Effect 2! Obviously, you don't have to have an old savegame to play
Mass Effect 2, but I expect that having them could possibly alter the game compared to "generating" a new Commander Shepard. Talk about potential replay value!
Mass Effect is available on Xbox360 and the PC. The PC version has a questionable license agreement involving an oppressive digital rights management policy, but it also has gameplay improvements over its older Xbox360 brother. Even still, the Xbox360 version doesn't come with any special strings attached, and as such is the version I recommend most.
Last I read,
Mass Effect 2 is slated for an early 2010 release on Xbox360 and PC under the Electronic Arts brand. I have no idea how that release date relates to gamers in Europe, though. Hopefully, it'll be a simultaneous international release.
Arclayn MoonSword
