Jojo's Bizarre Adventure in season 1 follows two characters from the Joestar family, Jonathan and Joseph, who are grandfather and grandson respectively. Both are also called Jojo.
For the first part of season 1, we follow Jonathan who is growing up in a wealthy family in 1800s Europe. When Jonathan was a baby, his father and mother were in a tragic stagecoach accident which took the life of his mother and left his father severely injured. Jonathan's father and himself may have died that day had it not been for a man who sought to plunder the wreckage of its valuables. Mistaking the nature of the thief, Jonathan saw him as a man who saved his life, and therefore, would grant him any request he asked.
Turns out that request ended up being for the Joestar family to take in the thief's son, Dio. Dio is just as evil as his father, but a lot more cunning as he tries to turn everyone in Jonathan's life against him so Dio can gain as much power and wealth as possible, and Jonathan is in his way. Jonathan being a fine, upstanding citizen, cannot stand for such evil, which gives us our conflict. Things escalate as Dio gains power from an ancient mask, giving him superhuman abilities and the ability to turn people into vampires... I told you it was a bizarre adventure.
For the majority of part 1's 9 episode, it's Jonathan versus Dio, but we also meet a cast of interesting character who are mostly named after famous rock musicians or bands. We have Dio himself (Ronnie James Dio), Speedwagon (REO Speedwagon), Master Tom Petty (duh), some Led Zeppelin references, and so on and so forth. Now, naming your characters after famous rock icons would normally be distracting if it weren't for the ridiculous nature and characters. Remember, this is called Jojo's Bizarre Adventure, not Jojo's Mundane Adventure.
Most of the main cast is made up of really buff dudes and terrible English accents who aren't afraid the flex and pose and use their special powers known as 'hamon'. From there, the narrative isn't complex but it does wear its emotions on its sleeves. Similar to the show's characters who are simple, but endearing. All the while, the show is completely aware of how weird it gets, right down to most of the battle dialog consisting of either the combatants talking about all the strategy they used to win, or bystanders narrating the play-by-play for us, so we can hear how ridiculous everything gets along with seeing it. This style of dialog might get irritating after a while, but since the events are so outlandish, hearing it spoken is a good way to reinforce what the heck you just saw.
The show doesn't start off completely bizarre; it gradually builds up to it, and hits a good stride in part 2, which makes up the rest of season 1's 26 episodes.
In part 2, we follow Jonathan's grandson, Joseph, who is quicker to anger but still has that pure heart that makes you want to root for him. He's rougher around the edges but that just means he has to undergo training, which gives us a window into the mechanics of hamon. Since the stakes have to be raised, the story introduces a new set of villains called 'pillar men' (they were discovered encased in stone pillars, so, yeah), and now they're running around with the same power that Dio showed off but much worse since they were the ancient evil that produced the masks, yes plural, thousands of years ago.
As a whole, the show is lovably campy and... bizarre in a charming way. The presentation ranges from decent and can branch out into wonderful when it plays with colors during some of more intense scenes.
It's an easy watch for anyone looking to be entertained; never once did I get bored. In fact, most viewing sessions lasted 3-4 episodes because I had to see what would happen next.
I haven't seen the rest of the series, but many regard season 1 to be the "worst" of the bunch, but I found it thoroughly enjoyable. So if this is the worst it gets, I'm definitely ready for more.
Jojo's Bizarre Adventure Season 1 is currently streaming on Netflix and Crunchyroll in the US.
Friday, April 12, 2019
Wednesday, January 1, 2014
Legend of Zelda: Link Between Worlds Review
The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds takes the past and adds something new. Those who remember the Hyrule of 1991 will be familiar with most of the game already. Right from the introduction, A Link Between Worlds makes its inspiration known.
What isn't so familiar is the game's biggest contribution to the series: a fundamental change in how people experience a Legend of Zelda game. Minor changes to the Zelda formula exist in previous games, but you always had a linear progress of dungeons and item collection. In an attempt to try something new, A Link Between Worlds deviates from that progression, but does it make for a better game?
Ultimately, I believe the change (for better or worse) can be summed up in one sentence: A Link Between Worlds replaces discovery with accessibility. Discovery existing in the series as maps unexplored, secrets waiting and items earned. Accessibility on the other hand is already having your map filled in for you, traversing a familiar land and offering everything in the beginning. Discovery has the reward of knowledge and progress; accessibility has knowledge and progress offered to you.
Both concepts offer something different, but The Legend of Zelda has always been about just one of them: discovery. Now that accessibility has been substituted into the game, I don't believe the trade off was equal parts give and take. More is taken than given.
Fundamentally, a game based so heavily on the design of A Link to the Past doesn't have a lot of discovery to offer, which is probably why the world map is a carbon copy and already filled in for the player. But not only the world map: enemy designs, the soundtrack, dungeon locations, Hyrule's denizens and items are all borrowed greatly from either A Link to the Past, or previous Zelda games. A Link Between World relies too heavily on the player being nostalgic with something from over twenty years ago, and doesn't offer much for the player now.
At the beginning, you are introduced to Ravio, who is a character responsible for two things: giving you a magical bracelet and selling items. The bracelet allows Link to transform into a portrait of himself and run along walls, as long as there's not an obstacle blocking his path. Seeing a familiar landscape in a different perspective is a wonderful idea, but doesn't overpower the familiarity the rest of the game presents you with.
After being given a Bracelet, Ravio opens up shop in Link's house where the player can either rent or purchase many familiar items right away. Renting comes with a smaller price unless you are defeated, then all your items will be returned to Ravio. Purchasing items is a costlier solution, but a more permanent one. An experienced player can tempt fate by renting gear the entire game, and add tension and excitement to battles.
Removing items from dungeons and placing them into a single shop means buying the items must be made just as thrilling as finding them used to be. There are certain mini-games which are entertaining ways to make money, as well as optional challenges hidden around the world, but no more than what we've seen in previous entries.
Some items are made nearly obsolete, like the boomerang. There are subtle differences between the boomerang and the hookshot, but one is clearly more useful and dominates the other over the course of the game.
Access to all the items at the start also means traveling to each dungeon is no longer predetermined experience. However, the difficulty curve can spike suddenly based on your choice of dungeon order. Since upgrades to armor and weapon power are now dungeon rewards, not getting them at certain points makes the game unintentionally harder for a first-time player. Experienced plays will still tackle dungeons in a certain order, so the option of choice isn't as rewarding.
Surprisingly, dungeons are still designed around one item, which item is often made obvious at the entrance. There are a few moments where you need the intended item just to travel to your destination, but that doesn't remedy another problem. Being that an item will still have the majority of its usage in a single dungeon, what was gained by removing the item in the first place? If more items saw out-of-dungeon utility, that would've made for a stronger game, but that's rarely the case.
Outside of some clever challenges based on the power of the bracelet, each dungeon is short and the eventual boss fights aren't that challenging.
Changes to item usage come with a new stamina meter. Items are now all tied to a single meter, along with your bracelet ability, instead of an inventory number. Throwing a bomb doesn't consume inventory quantity, it drains this auto-replenishing meter. This change is most welcome since it cuts down on farming for inventory and throws in a level of strategy when you're using two or more items in a single fight and your meter is being consumed rapidly.
The plot retreads some ground covered by A Link to the Past: three pendants and seven sages being encapsulated within crystals and not much else is added to it. The main antagonist starts off interesting but then disappears for most of the game. A twist or two is thrown in near the end, but the majority of the game waits until Link is finished collecting what is required for the story to progress. Not that Zelda games haven't done this before, but since the plot is more recycled than normal, it feels shallower in A Link Between Worlds.
Characters don't leave much of an impression because so little time is spent with them. Even reoccurring characters see very little screen time. I would've like it if they incorporated them into the story more, setting them apart from previous incarnations like how Skyward Sword did.
A Link Between Worlds is not without its own merits. The top-down perspective together with the 3D illusion of depth is perfectly executed. Never has the 3D functionality felt more worth having on all the time than in this game. The graphics don't aesthetically look their best, but they are technically impressive.
Moving Link around in two dimensions has never felt better, and the ability to view areas beyond the screen with the D-pad is appreciated. Combat is precise and fast.
Overall, I get the feeling the development team started out making a Link to the Past remake and decided about halfway through to turn it into a sequel.
What isn't so familiar is the game's biggest contribution to the series: a fundamental change in how people experience a Legend of Zelda game. Minor changes to the Zelda formula exist in previous games, but you always had a linear progress of dungeons and item collection. In an attempt to try something new, A Link Between Worlds deviates from that progression, but does it make for a better game?
Ultimately, I believe the change (for better or worse) can be summed up in one sentence: A Link Between Worlds replaces discovery with accessibility. Discovery existing in the series as maps unexplored, secrets waiting and items earned. Accessibility on the other hand is already having your map filled in for you, traversing a familiar land and offering everything in the beginning. Discovery has the reward of knowledge and progress; accessibility has knowledge and progress offered to you.
Both concepts offer something different, but The Legend of Zelda has always been about just one of them: discovery. Now that accessibility has been substituted into the game, I don't believe the trade off was equal parts give and take. More is taken than given.
Fundamentally, a game based so heavily on the design of A Link to the Past doesn't have a lot of discovery to offer, which is probably why the world map is a carbon copy and already filled in for the player. But not only the world map: enemy designs, the soundtrack, dungeon locations, Hyrule's denizens and items are all borrowed greatly from either A Link to the Past, or previous Zelda games. A Link Between World relies too heavily on the player being nostalgic with something from over twenty years ago, and doesn't offer much for the player now.
At the beginning, you are introduced to Ravio, who is a character responsible for two things: giving you a magical bracelet and selling items. The bracelet allows Link to transform into a portrait of himself and run along walls, as long as there's not an obstacle blocking his path. Seeing a familiar landscape in a different perspective is a wonderful idea, but doesn't overpower the familiarity the rest of the game presents you with.
After being given a Bracelet, Ravio opens up shop in Link's house where the player can either rent or purchase many familiar items right away. Renting comes with a smaller price unless you are defeated, then all your items will be returned to Ravio. Purchasing items is a costlier solution, but a more permanent one. An experienced player can tempt fate by renting gear the entire game, and add tension and excitement to battles.
Removing items from dungeons and placing them into a single shop means buying the items must be made just as thrilling as finding them used to be. There are certain mini-games which are entertaining ways to make money, as well as optional challenges hidden around the world, but no more than what we've seen in previous entries.
Some items are made nearly obsolete, like the boomerang. There are subtle differences between the boomerang and the hookshot, but one is clearly more useful and dominates the other over the course of the game.
Access to all the items at the start also means traveling to each dungeon is no longer predetermined experience. However, the difficulty curve can spike suddenly based on your choice of dungeon order. Since upgrades to armor and weapon power are now dungeon rewards, not getting them at certain points makes the game unintentionally harder for a first-time player. Experienced plays will still tackle dungeons in a certain order, so the option of choice isn't as rewarding.
Surprisingly, dungeons are still designed around one item, which item is often made obvious at the entrance. There are a few moments where you need the intended item just to travel to your destination, but that doesn't remedy another problem. Being that an item will still have the majority of its usage in a single dungeon, what was gained by removing the item in the first place? If more items saw out-of-dungeon utility, that would've made for a stronger game, but that's rarely the case.
Outside of some clever challenges based on the power of the bracelet, each dungeon is short and the eventual boss fights aren't that challenging.
Changes to item usage come with a new stamina meter. Items are now all tied to a single meter, along with your bracelet ability, instead of an inventory number. Throwing a bomb doesn't consume inventory quantity, it drains this auto-replenishing meter. This change is most welcome since it cuts down on farming for inventory and throws in a level of strategy when you're using two or more items in a single fight and your meter is being consumed rapidly.
The plot retreads some ground covered by A Link to the Past: three pendants and seven sages being encapsulated within crystals and not much else is added to it. The main antagonist starts off interesting but then disappears for most of the game. A twist or two is thrown in near the end, but the majority of the game waits until Link is finished collecting what is required for the story to progress. Not that Zelda games haven't done this before, but since the plot is more recycled than normal, it feels shallower in A Link Between Worlds.
Characters don't leave much of an impression because so little time is spent with them. Even reoccurring characters see very little screen time. I would've like it if they incorporated them into the story more, setting them apart from previous incarnations like how Skyward Sword did.
A Link Between Worlds is not without its own merits. The top-down perspective together with the 3D illusion of depth is perfectly executed. Never has the 3D functionality felt more worth having on all the time than in this game. The graphics don't aesthetically look their best, but they are technically impressive.
Moving Link around in two dimensions has never felt better, and the ability to view areas beyond the screen with the D-pad is appreciated. Combat is precise and fast.
Overall, I get the feeling the development team started out making a Link to the Past remake and decided about halfway through to turn it into a sequel.
A Link Between Worlds isn't a bad game. In fact, it can be enjoyable at times. But in the back of my mind, I always feel like I want more from it. The game never establishes itself as something truly unique and ultimately leaves no significant, lasting impression. It relies too much on the accomplishments of another game without offering anything substantial of its own. I don't mind that there was a change to the formula, but it needs to do a better job accommodating that change. For what it is, A Link Between Worlds is brief and forgettable.
Saturday, September 21, 2013
Tales of Xillia Review
Tales of Xillia was initially released to commemorate the series' 15th year anniversary back in 2011. Two years later, fans in North American finally get to celebrate, albeit, a little late. With Tales of Xillia 2 already having a release date, will Xillia prove to be a memorable entry into the Tales of series?
Tales of Xillia's cast of characters, while interesting at times, simply aren't explored fully enough to be memorable sans Elize. Moments where characters feel like they're going to open up and develop fall victim to the story halting any progression and instead focusing on something else. This might be tolerable if the story was more engaging, but it isn't. Simply put, we've seen these story elements and themes before in other Tales Of games, but executed much better. Sloppy writing and inconsistencies frequently bog down enjoyment of the plot.
Our two central characters, Milla and Jude, are each given their own story paths at certain junctions in the game but largely share the same narrative. Depending on which character you selected to play as in the beginning will determine which plot points you'll get to witness first-hand, and which will merely be summarized to you once everyone has reunited. While branching off rarely happens, the moments you miss and are later briefed upon are important.
While having character choice may entice people to endure 30 more hours of retreading the game, it turns what could've been strong, impactful moments into events that fall completely flat. Witnessing these scenes later on, knowing what happens, isn't a substitute for the initial value of seeing them unspoiled. Overall, the plot and characters are a little weak.
Treatment of antagonists isn't any better; ranging from one-note villains to blatant fanboy pandering. No effort was given to really let opposing show their opposition until much later in the game. In the beginning, there's barely any screen time for any of them. It's hard to be against something or someone when their presence isn't being felt.
Keeping with tradition, Tales Of Xillia has an anime art style which boasts an impressive color palette, but still looks technically inferior to other games that have similar aesthetics. While vibrant and interesting, character models don't feel like organic beings, but rather, ventriloquist dummies due to the unnatural movements of their eyes and their generic flapping of their mouths when speaking.
Musically speaking, there's nothing of note other than an opening song by Ayumi Hamasaki. The rest of the soundtrack either merely serves its purpose or at worst, creates some odd juxtapositions. Later on, the game presents an environment going through a state of entropy, and how does the game complement this situation? With a mellow, cool jazz number. Strange decisions like this really kill the atmosphere.
Exploration is exciting in the beginning, each area feeling open and ready to traverse. As the game goes on, the terrain starts to become mundane. Level design is uninteresting and the areas feel like they were re-skinned to imitate various landscapes without much creativity. You'll find yourself falling into the same routine of checking rocks and bushes for materials and climbing into holes for hidden treasure chests. A few optional areas are scattered throughout the world map, but don't offer anything special outside maybe a hidden Devil Beast.
Traveling with your companions, through both dungeons and cities, you will run into vendors. What's unique about Tales of Xillia is each vendor shares the same inventory as their counterparts. Thus, you're never forced to run back to a specific location to pick up an item.
In order to progress the various shop inventories, you have to trade currency or materials, the latter is found in the sprawling outside areas throughout the game. Materials are plentiful and easily-spotted, so it's never too difficult to upgrade your shops as long as you put in a small amount of effort. Leveling up each shop will lower the cost of old items and open up more inventory options.
What is mysteriously absent, is the ability to make your own food. It's been tradition for the Tales Of series to include cooking and sometimes the Wonder Chef character, but both are nowhere to be found. Instead, food is purchased from a shop. I don't count it against the game, but it is a little disappointing to see both elements left out.
A shining spot on the game, Tales of Xillia has the most accessible battle system in the series so far. Most battle mechanics have been simplified and expanded upon to make you feel like you are the greatest determining factor in the outcome of a battle. Free-range movement, easy Arte button mapping, linking with certain battle participants, switching out characters; all of this has been executed well to enable strategy to play more of a role rather than random button mashing.
Artes are the unique special attacks each character is given and is a staple in the series. Up to 16 Artes can be assigned to the R-analog stick or a combination of the L-analog stick and circle button for simple executions. When linking up with characters, using certain Artes can initiate a prompt which lets you perform a Linked Arte. Participating in a battle long enough with the partner you are linked with and performing Linked Artes will drive up an on-screen gauge which, when full, will allow you to string together a series of Linked Artes; a process called Chained Artes.
What's disappointing is, some characters clearly link well, but other combinations are left almost completely incompatible as far as Linking Artes goes. Luckily each character's linked ability is unique and interesting. Everyone has their own special ability they can perform on their own, and everyone has their own linked ability like: draining TP from enemies, breaking enemy defenses and so on.
Tales of Xillia features a healthy collection of trophies which blend naturally to the mechanics of the game. You'll get trophies for defeating optional, hard enemies or performing feats in battle a certain number of times. What's interesting is, trophies tie largely in with titles in the game. Earning titles and trophies are one in the same. This is sure to excite fans of the series and completionists, but might annoying other due to the amount of repetition involved.
As a whole, Tales of Xillia avoids making any design faux pas, but doesn't excel at much either. It's a good entry into the series but fails to be memorable. Fans will like it, but for those looking to get into the series, Tales of Symphonia or Tales of the Abyss are still better candidates. As far as modern Tales of games go, I would put this one behind Tales of Graces F on my list.
Tales of Xillia's cast of characters, while interesting at times, simply aren't explored fully enough to be memorable sans Elize. Moments where characters feel like they're going to open up and develop fall victim to the story halting any progression and instead focusing on something else. This might be tolerable if the story was more engaging, but it isn't. Simply put, we've seen these story elements and themes before in other Tales Of games, but executed much better. Sloppy writing and inconsistencies frequently bog down enjoyment of the plot.
Our two central characters, Milla and Jude, are each given their own story paths at certain junctions in the game but largely share the same narrative. Depending on which character you selected to play as in the beginning will determine which plot points you'll get to witness first-hand, and which will merely be summarized to you once everyone has reunited. While branching off rarely happens, the moments you miss and are later briefed upon are important.
While having character choice may entice people to endure 30 more hours of retreading the game, it turns what could've been strong, impactful moments into events that fall completely flat. Witnessing these scenes later on, knowing what happens, isn't a substitute for the initial value of seeing them unspoiled. Overall, the plot and characters are a little weak.
Treatment of antagonists isn't any better; ranging from one-note villains to blatant fanboy pandering. No effort was given to really let opposing show their opposition until much later in the game. In the beginning, there's barely any screen time for any of them. It's hard to be against something or someone when their presence isn't being felt.
Keeping with tradition, Tales Of Xillia has an anime art style which boasts an impressive color palette, but still looks technically inferior to other games that have similar aesthetics. While vibrant and interesting, character models don't feel like organic beings, but rather, ventriloquist dummies due to the unnatural movements of their eyes and their generic flapping of their mouths when speaking.
Musically speaking, there's nothing of note other than an opening song by Ayumi Hamasaki. The rest of the soundtrack either merely serves its purpose or at worst, creates some odd juxtapositions. Later on, the game presents an environment going through a state of entropy, and how does the game complement this situation? With a mellow, cool jazz number. Strange decisions like this really kill the atmosphere.
Exploration is exciting in the beginning, each area feeling open and ready to traverse. As the game goes on, the terrain starts to become mundane. Level design is uninteresting and the areas feel like they were re-skinned to imitate various landscapes without much creativity. You'll find yourself falling into the same routine of checking rocks and bushes for materials and climbing into holes for hidden treasure chests. A few optional areas are scattered throughout the world map, but don't offer anything special outside maybe a hidden Devil Beast.
Traveling with your companions, through both dungeons and cities, you will run into vendors. What's unique about Tales of Xillia is each vendor shares the same inventory as their counterparts. Thus, you're never forced to run back to a specific location to pick up an item.
In order to progress the various shop inventories, you have to trade currency or materials, the latter is found in the sprawling outside areas throughout the game. Materials are plentiful and easily-spotted, so it's never too difficult to upgrade your shops as long as you put in a small amount of effort. Leveling up each shop will lower the cost of old items and open up more inventory options.
What is mysteriously absent, is the ability to make your own food. It's been tradition for the Tales Of series to include cooking and sometimes the Wonder Chef character, but both are nowhere to be found. Instead, food is purchased from a shop. I don't count it against the game, but it is a little disappointing to see both elements left out.
A shining spot on the game, Tales of Xillia has the most accessible battle system in the series so far. Most battle mechanics have been simplified and expanded upon to make you feel like you are the greatest determining factor in the outcome of a battle. Free-range movement, easy Arte button mapping, linking with certain battle participants, switching out characters; all of this has been executed well to enable strategy to play more of a role rather than random button mashing.
Artes are the unique special attacks each character is given and is a staple in the series. Up to 16 Artes can be assigned to the R-analog stick or a combination of the L-analog stick and circle button for simple executions. When linking up with characters, using certain Artes can initiate a prompt which lets you perform a Linked Arte. Participating in a battle long enough with the partner you are linked with and performing Linked Artes will drive up an on-screen gauge which, when full, will allow you to string together a series of Linked Artes; a process called Chained Artes.
What's disappointing is, some characters clearly link well, but other combinations are left almost completely incompatible as far as Linking Artes goes. Luckily each character's linked ability is unique and interesting. Everyone has their own special ability they can perform on their own, and everyone has their own linked ability like: draining TP from enemies, breaking enemy defenses and so on.
Tales of Xillia features a healthy collection of trophies which blend naturally to the mechanics of the game. You'll get trophies for defeating optional, hard enemies or performing feats in battle a certain number of times. What's interesting is, trophies tie largely in with titles in the game. Earning titles and trophies are one in the same. This is sure to excite fans of the series and completionists, but might annoying other due to the amount of repetition involved.
As a whole, Tales of Xillia avoids making any design faux pas, but doesn't excel at much either. It's a good entry into the series but fails to be memorable. Fans will like it, but for those looking to get into the series, Tales of Symphonia or Tales of the Abyss are still better candidates. As far as modern Tales of games go, I would put this one behind Tales of Graces F on my list.
Tuesday, July 23, 2013
Kingdom Hearts: Dream Drop Distance Review
It pains me to say this but Kingdom Hearts hasn't aged well as a series. But I don't fault the earlier games for that; Kingdom Hearts was a great game when it was released and Kingdom Hearts II took the formula and improved upon it. But what I do fault is where the series has gone since with each new release afterwards: nowhere. Pointless game play additions are not substitutes for refinement and evolution of what you have. So while Kingdom Hearts: Dream Drop Distance isn't a bad game by most standards, it isn't doing the series any favors either.
Dream Drop Distance has you play as both Sora and Riku through two different scenarios involving the same worlds, much like you did with three characters in Birth By Sleep, but this time the paths feel a bit more different, so you won't feel like you're just backtracking with a different character.
The story itself is poorly-written, poorly-explained and barely involves the main characters until the end when they try to pile on some explanation for all things. Most of the plot development actually happens outside the dream worlds where your players are currently going through a trial, so it feels like the plot is once again getting punted to the next game. And when I say its poorly-explained, I mean nothing makes sense. Every piece of dialog is some contrived thesis on light and darkness existing in people's hearts. They just regurgitate the same lines we've been hearing for 10 years now without explaining or adding to it.
Most of the Disney world subplots are left undeveloped and rushed. You'll have to be very familiar with the source material to get anything out of them because they introduce events and characters without explaining motivations or back story; this makes is very hard to be invested in the stories and outcomes.
Luckily the voice acting is well-done even if their lines make no sense. And instead of Final Fantasy characters, we have the cast from the DS classic The World Ends With You joining the series for a nice change of pace.
Each level you visit this time around are all unique to this game and well-designed for traveling, but all of them are very much absent of NPCs outside of your Moogle shop. Even during a scene in Notre Dame where you hear a crowd cheering, there is no crowd to be seen. Not only is it jarring, it makes the environments feel empty and lifeless. The level designs by contrast all match the look and feel of the source material and are fun to move through, especially the Fantasia level which did a good job of capturing both the feel of the classic movie, and adapting it into something playable.
Overall, I praise the graphics and art design of this game, but I do have to complain about one thing: the characters from Tron: Legacy. They have the same problem as the characters from the Pirates of the Caribbean did in Kingdom Hearts II where they look photo realistic, and everyone else in the game looks cartoon-ish. Now, given that these are different worlds, that may be passable, but if we are to believe that both Sora and the characters from Tron are both human without looking alike, then someone in-game should point that difference out. Instead, everyone excepts that there are two different human designs existing that the same time without question.
It's a shame the combat hasn't changed since Kingdom Hearts II, especially in the details. You still can't initiate another action until the current animation of your in-progress action finishes. This is in contrast to other action games that allow you to cancel the animation and the action in order to perform another action. Like when you're attacking but see an enemy readying an attack, so now you want to dodge out of the way.
But with Kingdom Hearts, you are locked into that animation for better or worse. So battles aren't about skill and reaction, they boil down to mindless button mashing and attack spamming until its time to heal. And then you start all over again with the mashing and the spamming. Even your abilities are marred with an annoyance. If you're in the middle of an attack or spell animation and you're hit, the ability is cancelled but the recast timer is still reset as if you had cast it. The frustration reaches a crescendo during the final level when you have multiple, tough enemies all spamming their attacks at the same time, leading to numerous cheap deaths. Dream Drop Distance isn't to blame for creating these mechanics, but it does fail to evolve them and refine them for the better.
The new ideas we CAN blame on Dream Drop Distance range from interesting to some of the most baffling ideas I've ever seen in a game. I'll start with dream eaters: cute pets that you can create, name, train in battle and interact with. Using them in battle means they get points you can use to unlock abilities and bonuses. Overall, I don't have an issue with this idea but I much rather prefer the crafting system in Birth By Sleep which felt more rewarding. You actually had to put thought into what you were making, and dream eaters don't stir up that same level of satisfaction. When assisting in battles with Sora, dream eaters are enough to break up a lot of the button mashing, but for Riku, they don't add much of anything. It's strange that when Sora links with a dream eater, you'll usually have something new to do in battle, but with Riku, you just get the same upgrades to your abilities each time.
While dream eaters don't take away from the game, the drop system does. The drop system is probably the most ill-conceived idea I've ever experienced in a game. Not only is it completely unnecessary, a continuing annoyance throughout the game, and interrupts the pacing of game play and story, it will be the single determining factor on whether or not you like this game. If you can tolerate this system, then go ahead and buy the game. If not, don't bother.
What is the drop system? It's a timer that sits below your health meter and starts counting down until it reaches 0 which takes about 20 minutes or so. Once the timer is up, you are automatically switched to the other scenario: either Riku or Sora. This includes moments when you are exploring, when you are in combat and when you are fighting a boss. And once you come back to what you were doing, you have to start everything over as if you had reached a game over. So if you're dropped out of a boss battle, you will have to start the boss fight from the beginning. This idea should have never even been considered for the game, much less written down, much much less spoken about, much much much less implemented and much much much MUCH less made it out of testing.
I can't express how frustrating it is to be dictated by an arbitrary game clock. There are items you can use to extend your time, or bonuses to help slow the timer down, but you're only delaying the inevitable fact that the game is telling you how to play and when. To add insult to injury, there are certain enemies in the game that can cast spells to speed up your drop meter. Bottom line is, this is inexcusable.
The last addition to the game is the flowmotion system. You can press the dodge button and propel yourself around a level, but if you interact with a set piece or a wall, you'll start to glow pink and have the ability to jet yourself around even faster and to new heights. You can continuously pull off this stunt as long as you keep running into set pieces and walls. For traveling, this is an interesting way to move about a level and is a nice change of pace from the standard platforming that we've seen in past Kingdom Hearts games.
But there's also a battle purpose for flowmotion as well. During battle, you can initiate this same ability, and use it to launch attacks to the point of it being overpowering throughout the entire game. Unfortunately, as you're moving around at break-neck speed, the camera does a poor job of keeping up with you. The camera will get tossed around and eventually force you to lose sight of anything relevant that's going on during the battle. Also, the lock-on target system will, more often then not, unlock from whatever enemy you had targeted, leaving you to dash around aimlessly. Flowmotion also while foil most attempts at you wanting to dodge away from enemies in order to heal in closed spaces. You'll end up dashing into walls or lamp posts and trigger flowmotion when all you want to do is escape danger and heal yourself.
While each element: flowmotion, the combat, lock-on targetting and the camera may all be manageable separately, when you combine them, there can be some intense moments of frustration. Like getting hit with a barrage of attacks because the camera was pointing at the ground or the wall, or not being able to dodge in time because the game didn't finish your attack animation cycle, or having your target be disengaged because the enemy ended up behind you or too far away. This makes the combat feel shallow and cheap; like your actions are less of a factor and it's more about circumstance. Boss battles are no exception either; there are some brawls that make it feel like you're fighting these mechanics more than the technicolor beasts you're trying to slay.
In conclusion, while the game does push forward the plot by a small increment, it doesn't feel necessary to play because you're probably not going to understand anything anyways. What is added doesn't change the series for the better and what the series already had was not improved upon. It's a very flawed game with some good moments, but there are some awful ones which get in the way. The series feels stale at this point and Dream Drop Distance wasn't the boost it needed. Again, if you feel like you can tolerate the drop system, then you should have no problem accepting the game for what it is. For everyone else, ignore it or go online and read a plot synopsis.
Dream Drop Distance has you play as both Sora and Riku through two different scenarios involving the same worlds, much like you did with three characters in Birth By Sleep, but this time the paths feel a bit more different, so you won't feel like you're just backtracking with a different character.
The story itself is poorly-written, poorly-explained and barely involves the main characters until the end when they try to pile on some explanation for all things. Most of the plot development actually happens outside the dream worlds where your players are currently going through a trial, so it feels like the plot is once again getting punted to the next game. And when I say its poorly-explained, I mean nothing makes sense. Every piece of dialog is some contrived thesis on light and darkness existing in people's hearts. They just regurgitate the same lines we've been hearing for 10 years now without explaining or adding to it.
Most of the Disney world subplots are left undeveloped and rushed. You'll have to be very familiar with the source material to get anything out of them because they introduce events and characters without explaining motivations or back story; this makes is very hard to be invested in the stories and outcomes.
Luckily the voice acting is well-done even if their lines make no sense. And instead of Final Fantasy characters, we have the cast from the DS classic The World Ends With You joining the series for a nice change of pace.
Each level you visit this time around are all unique to this game and well-designed for traveling, but all of them are very much absent of NPCs outside of your Moogle shop. Even during a scene in Notre Dame where you hear a crowd cheering, there is no crowd to be seen. Not only is it jarring, it makes the environments feel empty and lifeless. The level designs by contrast all match the look and feel of the source material and are fun to move through, especially the Fantasia level which did a good job of capturing both the feel of the classic movie, and adapting it into something playable.
Overall, I praise the graphics and art design of this game, but I do have to complain about one thing: the characters from Tron: Legacy. They have the same problem as the characters from the Pirates of the Caribbean did in Kingdom Hearts II where they look photo realistic, and everyone else in the game looks cartoon-ish. Now, given that these are different worlds, that may be passable, but if we are to believe that both Sora and the characters from Tron are both human without looking alike, then someone in-game should point that difference out. Instead, everyone excepts that there are two different human designs existing that the same time without question.
It's a shame the combat hasn't changed since Kingdom Hearts II, especially in the details. You still can't initiate another action until the current animation of your in-progress action finishes. This is in contrast to other action games that allow you to cancel the animation and the action in order to perform another action. Like when you're attacking but see an enemy readying an attack, so now you want to dodge out of the way.
But with Kingdom Hearts, you are locked into that animation for better or worse. So battles aren't about skill and reaction, they boil down to mindless button mashing and attack spamming until its time to heal. And then you start all over again with the mashing and the spamming. Even your abilities are marred with an annoyance. If you're in the middle of an attack or spell animation and you're hit, the ability is cancelled but the recast timer is still reset as if you had cast it. The frustration reaches a crescendo during the final level when you have multiple, tough enemies all spamming their attacks at the same time, leading to numerous cheap deaths. Dream Drop Distance isn't to blame for creating these mechanics, but it does fail to evolve them and refine them for the better.
The new ideas we CAN blame on Dream Drop Distance range from interesting to some of the most baffling ideas I've ever seen in a game. I'll start with dream eaters: cute pets that you can create, name, train in battle and interact with. Using them in battle means they get points you can use to unlock abilities and bonuses. Overall, I don't have an issue with this idea but I much rather prefer the crafting system in Birth By Sleep which felt more rewarding. You actually had to put thought into what you were making, and dream eaters don't stir up that same level of satisfaction. When assisting in battles with Sora, dream eaters are enough to break up a lot of the button mashing, but for Riku, they don't add much of anything. It's strange that when Sora links with a dream eater, you'll usually have something new to do in battle, but with Riku, you just get the same upgrades to your abilities each time.
While dream eaters don't take away from the game, the drop system does. The drop system is probably the most ill-conceived idea I've ever experienced in a game. Not only is it completely unnecessary, a continuing annoyance throughout the game, and interrupts the pacing of game play and story, it will be the single determining factor on whether or not you like this game. If you can tolerate this system, then go ahead and buy the game. If not, don't bother.
What is the drop system? It's a timer that sits below your health meter and starts counting down until it reaches 0 which takes about 20 minutes or so. Once the timer is up, you are automatically switched to the other scenario: either Riku or Sora. This includes moments when you are exploring, when you are in combat and when you are fighting a boss. And once you come back to what you were doing, you have to start everything over as if you had reached a game over. So if you're dropped out of a boss battle, you will have to start the boss fight from the beginning. This idea should have never even been considered for the game, much less written down, much much less spoken about, much much much less implemented and much much much MUCH less made it out of testing.
I can't express how frustrating it is to be dictated by an arbitrary game clock. There are items you can use to extend your time, or bonuses to help slow the timer down, but you're only delaying the inevitable fact that the game is telling you how to play and when. To add insult to injury, there are certain enemies in the game that can cast spells to speed up your drop meter. Bottom line is, this is inexcusable.
The last addition to the game is the flowmotion system. You can press the dodge button and propel yourself around a level, but if you interact with a set piece or a wall, you'll start to glow pink and have the ability to jet yourself around even faster and to new heights. You can continuously pull off this stunt as long as you keep running into set pieces and walls. For traveling, this is an interesting way to move about a level and is a nice change of pace from the standard platforming that we've seen in past Kingdom Hearts games.
But there's also a battle purpose for flowmotion as well. During battle, you can initiate this same ability, and use it to launch attacks to the point of it being overpowering throughout the entire game. Unfortunately, as you're moving around at break-neck speed, the camera does a poor job of keeping up with you. The camera will get tossed around and eventually force you to lose sight of anything relevant that's going on during the battle. Also, the lock-on target system will, more often then not, unlock from whatever enemy you had targeted, leaving you to dash around aimlessly. Flowmotion also while foil most attempts at you wanting to dodge away from enemies in order to heal in closed spaces. You'll end up dashing into walls or lamp posts and trigger flowmotion when all you want to do is escape danger and heal yourself.
While each element: flowmotion, the combat, lock-on targetting and the camera may all be manageable separately, when you combine them, there can be some intense moments of frustration. Like getting hit with a barrage of attacks because the camera was pointing at the ground or the wall, or not being able to dodge in time because the game didn't finish your attack animation cycle, or having your target be disengaged because the enemy ended up behind you or too far away. This makes the combat feel shallow and cheap; like your actions are less of a factor and it's more about circumstance. Boss battles are no exception either; there are some brawls that make it feel like you're fighting these mechanics more than the technicolor beasts you're trying to slay.
In conclusion, while the game does push forward the plot by a small increment, it doesn't feel necessary to play because you're probably not going to understand anything anyways. What is added doesn't change the series for the better and what the series already had was not improved upon. It's a very flawed game with some good moments, but there are some awful ones which get in the way. The series feels stale at this point and Dream Drop Distance wasn't the boost it needed. Again, if you feel like you can tolerate the drop system, then you should have no problem accepting the game for what it is. For everyone else, ignore it or go online and read a plot synopsis.
Thursday, July 11, 2013
Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance Review
Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance tries to be consistent with other Metal Gear Solid games by attempting a war-themed plot moved through by a war-torn hero, but falls short of those expectations and what's left is a game that doesn't know what it wants to be.
The plot feels like it wants to be as deep and philosophic as its older brother, Metal Gear Solid 4, by touching on heavy concepts and trying to portray complex characters, but it fails in the execution. Instead it feels more like a fan-fiction, which is awkward for when the game does take itself seriously and tries to convey drama. So when you talk about a plot that has bad guys harvesting brains from orphans in order to re-purpose them as cyborg assassins, and then jump to Raiden psychologically battling his past instincts of killing, you're left with some major tonal whiplash. And by briefly mentioning themes from other games, they somehow the weight of them automatically gets carried over is not the case. You'll hear the same language and terms thrown around in dialog that you might hear in a Metal Gear Solid game, but they don't carry the same impact. It's not even clear what Raiden is revengeancing about since none of the antagonists had any effect on him before the events of this game.
If you didn't like Raiden as a character before, you're not going to like him after this either. Perhaps in an attempt to endear us to the game by imitation: the voice actor does his best to imitate the gravelly-delivery David Hayter gave Solid Snake. But the imitations feels like the game is desperately shouting "Please like me! Look, I'm just like the other games in this series!" but lacks the subsistence to pull it off.
All the combat mechanics work well, including surgically slicing everything into tiny bits and the parry maneuver, but the latter of these things relies on one condition: the camera behaving itself. When it's not, instead of framing the action it'll be staring at a wall or getting caught up in a set piece, leaving you to guess at where your attackers are coming from and when to parry. Even locking onto an enemy doesn't guarantee they'll stay in sight for too long since the camera has issues keeping up with something when it's moving in either direction side to side. But what's most jarring is how the game tries to work in stealth which feels more like an obligation because of Metal Gear being in the title rather than it being a good idea.
While swinging your sword around is fun, the combat doesn't change much over this short game. New upgrades are available for purchase after each chapter of the game, but new moves aren't performed by button combinations like in other action games, they just work their way into your normal button mashing and fire off when the situation fits. All the other upgrades are standard and unimpressive: you have health, costume, damage, etc. to upgrade but nothing stands out.
Committing to the less serious side of things, the soundtrack provides the player with mindless rock to slice things to regularly, upping the ante in boss fights. In a more serious game, I would complain, but honestly, the soundtrack fits the game rather well. It's shallow, its corny, but its also fun and entertaining.
Metal Gear Rising will run you about seven to eight hours on your first play through on normal, which feels a little short. A few more ideas with the combat would've been welcome since there is a good amount of entertainment value from it.
In the end, this game was torn between two directions and it failed to commit to either. On one hand, parts of it really wanted to be like Metal Gear Solid and talk about the effects of war and the tragedies that develop afterwards, but on the other hand, it wanted to be less serious and have fun with itself, and those two directions don't go hand in hand. My opinion is that it should've chosen one path and ran with it. Considering the subject matter and the game play, I would've liked to have seen this game go nuts and have fun. Don't bog people down with stealth and drama, give them unbridled action and silliness.
If you're a Metal Gear fan and don't mind a less delicate execution of what you're used to, this game might be right for you. For everyone else who just wants action involving swordplay and guns: Bayonetta and any Devil May Cry game that doesn't have "2" in the title are better. Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance isn't a bad game, its just a confused and un-impressively-executed one.
The plot feels like it wants to be as deep and philosophic as its older brother, Metal Gear Solid 4, by touching on heavy concepts and trying to portray complex characters, but it fails in the execution. Instead it feels more like a fan-fiction, which is awkward for when the game does take itself seriously and tries to convey drama. So when you talk about a plot that has bad guys harvesting brains from orphans in order to re-purpose them as cyborg assassins, and then jump to Raiden psychologically battling his past instincts of killing, you're left with some major tonal whiplash. And by briefly mentioning themes from other games, they somehow the weight of them automatically gets carried over is not the case. You'll hear the same language and terms thrown around in dialog that you might hear in a Metal Gear Solid game, but they don't carry the same impact. It's not even clear what Raiden is revengeancing about since none of the antagonists had any effect on him before the events of this game.
If you didn't like Raiden as a character before, you're not going to like him after this either. Perhaps in an attempt to endear us to the game by imitation: the voice actor does his best to imitate the gravelly-delivery David Hayter gave Solid Snake. But the imitations feels like the game is desperately shouting "Please like me! Look, I'm just like the other games in this series!" but lacks the subsistence to pull it off.
All the combat mechanics work well, including surgically slicing everything into tiny bits and the parry maneuver, but the latter of these things relies on one condition: the camera behaving itself. When it's not, instead of framing the action it'll be staring at a wall or getting caught up in a set piece, leaving you to guess at where your attackers are coming from and when to parry. Even locking onto an enemy doesn't guarantee they'll stay in sight for too long since the camera has issues keeping up with something when it's moving in either direction side to side. But what's most jarring is how the game tries to work in stealth which feels more like an obligation because of Metal Gear being in the title rather than it being a good idea.
While swinging your sword around is fun, the combat doesn't change much over this short game. New upgrades are available for purchase after each chapter of the game, but new moves aren't performed by button combinations like in other action games, they just work their way into your normal button mashing and fire off when the situation fits. All the other upgrades are standard and unimpressive: you have health, costume, damage, etc. to upgrade but nothing stands out.
Committing to the less serious side of things, the soundtrack provides the player with mindless rock to slice things to regularly, upping the ante in boss fights. In a more serious game, I would complain, but honestly, the soundtrack fits the game rather well. It's shallow, its corny, but its also fun and entertaining.
Metal Gear Rising will run you about seven to eight hours on your first play through on normal, which feels a little short. A few more ideas with the combat would've been welcome since there is a good amount of entertainment value from it.
In the end, this game was torn between two directions and it failed to commit to either. On one hand, parts of it really wanted to be like Metal Gear Solid and talk about the effects of war and the tragedies that develop afterwards, but on the other hand, it wanted to be less serious and have fun with itself, and those two directions don't go hand in hand. My opinion is that it should've chosen one path and ran with it. Considering the subject matter and the game play, I would've liked to have seen this game go nuts and have fun. Don't bog people down with stealth and drama, give them unbridled action and silliness.
If you're a Metal Gear fan and don't mind a less delicate execution of what you're used to, this game might be right for you. For everyone else who just wants action involving swordplay and guns: Bayonetta and any Devil May Cry game that doesn't have "2" in the title are better. Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance isn't a bad game, its just a confused and un-impressively-executed one.
Wednesday, June 19, 2013
Deliver Me (Working Title)
Chapter 01
While the moon and the stars proclaimed their radiance in the night sky, none were as more radiant than she. High above the clouds soared a girl with tied and braided charcoal hair and silver wings, gliding passed illuminated puffs of white which soaked in the full moon’s light. Catching the wind, she dove into the glow and flew with water vapors beading against the surface of her goggles. Once she emerged, the glow turned red and was accompanied by the bombastic bursts of flames in the air. What was a serene night became violent and threatening as steel warships lumbered in the sky launching vollies of hell-fire at each other creating a surface of smoke and flames. Ceasing her descent, she tried to catch the wind again to rise above it all, but the winds pushed her closer to the battle.
The closer she got, the screams and tearing of ship material carried more clearly and loudly on the wind. Heat from the flames pulsed on her cheeks and it wasn't long before the screaming torpedoes starting launching closer and bursting around her. Panicked, she tried diving below the carnage, but a sudden shock wave from a nearby explosion ripped through her body. Her left wing was damaged and the pain started in her shoulder and ran through her left side. The blast stunned her enough for her to start falling, not by choice, but by the force of gravity. Spiraling down she struggled to reorient herself, desperately trying to slow her plummeting body by use of her other wing, but it was all in vain.
The war noises trailed off through the rushing, upward wind around her, and she could sense the blackness that the earth was getting closer. Only when a flash of light from an explosion light up the sky could she see the tops of trees and mountain slopes and how close she was from her doom. In a decision to save her life, she did her best to steer towards a nearby lake. Forcing her limp wing to steady itself despite the numbing pain, she regained a steady flight and glided towards the body of water.
The water jetted by her as she prepared to crash. Barely grazing the surface of the lake, her body skipped helplessly along the surface until finally hitting the water hard enough to stop. The force knocked most of her senses out as waves of water started crashing over her head. The frigid cold shocked her already damaged body as she helplessly tried keeping her head above water.
She could feel her vision fading as mouthfuls of air became gasps and sputters. Moments became blurry but voices seemed to be coming closer and closer. Soon she felt a tugging on her arm and then a strong grip. As her body was lifted upward the numbness and pain met the night air. It was either by some miracle she was being pulled out of the water or her fading into the abyss made it feel like the water was disappearing around her as she drifted away.
Tuesday, June 11, 2013
Dragon's Dogma Review
Dragon's Dogma: Dark Arisen. Let us begin...
Straight away, the tutorials should be turned off immediately. Their onslaught of messages, citing every thing you could possibly want to know about the game, and some stuff you figured out already will bombard if left to the game's devices. The pinnacle of torment came during the first major fight with a hydra, which was accompanied by a symphony of companions screaming orders and hints about the battle, tutorials flashing by, and oh, did I mention the hydra rampaging the encampment? A more inopportune time for my attention, there was not. Try again when my allies aren't playing kibble to a towering hellspawn.
Storywise: a tale like this can only be described as simple. It is template western fantasy with little variation. In summation: you are destined (because someone must be) to slay a dragon (because there's always one terrorizing a kingdom) and the only way to do so is to run through a bunch of fetch quests to prove your worth (because being destined isn't quite enough anymore).
I'd wager great story-telling was not a focus of this game. Although, I will point out the game is quite daring with its progressive ideas. As a female character, the main love interests are still all women. It's a refreshing stance on modern social dilemmas that really pave the way for more game developers to advance a social cause... or maybe the developers were lazy and thought no one would want to save the day playing as a girl. Well I proved them wrong.
Gameplay direction is a tale of two extremes: on one hand you have a tutorial system that isn't afraid to repeat the same hints for you just in case you weren't paying attention, and on the other, quests are extremely cryptic about what you're supposed to do or where to go. Heed my advice, make friends with a guide, online or physical.
The allure of this game is the ability to create a companion, or pawn as the game calls them (pawns indeed... mwahahah), character and recruit several others to your aid. You may choose to venture out into the world with only your partner to aid you, or you can enlist others from an inter-dimensional fog realm where others are just waiting to join the fray. This is the game's multiplayer aspect, and since I abhor the idea of other people touching my things, no one was going to lay their grubby hands on my team. Offline mode was my preference needless to say.
Vocal choices for your companions are disturbing. While a few sound like a human's natural speaking voice, several felt like the pitch was adjusted digitally in a studio. So what you have is a human with the voice of a chipmunk in some cases. The opposite is also true with female voices sounding particularly man-ish in some ranges.
Luckily, the game provides you with the means to change your companion's attributes to something less annoying very early on in the game. And you'll want to change any annoyances because your compatriots never shut up. Reiterating the same tired lines again and again is common practice for them. Either due to lack of memory or perhaps thinking you didn't hear them the first one hundred times, they have great enthusiasm for pointing out the obvious to you and yet still speak archaically about any serious tasks.
In a strange twist, I have to raise complaints with the saving functionality of this game. What has come to be known as standard was cast aside and replaced with ineffective nonsense. Normally, there are two means to save your game: auto-saving which the game does at various points, and a normal save which the player does manually. Not only are both those features present, but a check point system has been added which adds to the auto-save feature.
But not all auto-saves are check points, only a select few. This wouldn't concern me if it wasn't for the return to checkpoint option when loading the game. Check points are too far between for them to be considered as a viable means to return to the game, nor are check points made clear since it seems like the game is performing a regular auto-save. Only by text below the auto-save message indicates when a check point has been reached. Only by this text, which will most likely be ignored because of the frequency of auto-save and un-immediate nature, will you ever know.
What happened to me, before I figured this out, went thus: after many hours of running around questing, I had gained points to put into my skills. Being the excited type, I ran towards the character responsible for setting of said skills and acquired more powerful abilities for my mage.
Again, being the excited type, I felt the need to test these new skills on the town and its inhabitants. So after some bystanders met their end to my flames, I was promptly arrested and thrown in jail. Not wanting to deal with the complicated matters of justifying the murders of innocent people and auto-save having kicked in for some reason, I decided to go back to the nearest check point, which was established two hours ago. My mage's flames had no wrath like my scorn at the moment of realization.
But not all is lost: summoning a tornado to launch your enemies into the sky only to see them come screaming back down is a pleasure like no other, and one I've only found in Dragon's Dogma. It's one of the only games where genuine power can be felt by casting higher level spells on foes as opposed to most games having mages feel nothing more than a paper towel which lobs sparks at the enemy.
Though you may pick a job class at the start, you're by no means tied to that class for the rest of the game. You'll find that, as you increase in skill, brand new jobs will be available to you and your party. Any class unlocked by the achievements of a pawn or yourself are applicable to any other party member. The classes I have sampled all play uniquely and offer a good amount of fun.
Overall, Dragon's Dogma is a game I highly enjoyed. Traversing the land and stumbling upon a chimera in the night, then waging battle in the dark with only the light from my flame spells illuminating the ferocious beast. And then bringing the monstrosity down with a barrage of magic while charging at me with its dying lunge is the very reason I play games like this. So for its flaws, it's worth it.
Straight away, the tutorials should be turned off immediately. Their onslaught of messages, citing every thing you could possibly want to know about the game, and some stuff you figured out already will bombard if left to the game's devices. The pinnacle of torment came during the first major fight with a hydra, which was accompanied by a symphony of companions screaming orders and hints about the battle, tutorials flashing by, and oh, did I mention the hydra rampaging the encampment? A more inopportune time for my attention, there was not. Try again when my allies aren't playing kibble to a towering hellspawn.
Storywise: a tale like this can only be described as simple. It is template western fantasy with little variation. In summation: you are destined (because someone must be) to slay a dragon (because there's always one terrorizing a kingdom) and the only way to do so is to run through a bunch of fetch quests to prove your worth (because being destined isn't quite enough anymore).
I'd wager great story-telling was not a focus of this game. Although, I will point out the game is quite daring with its progressive ideas. As a female character, the main love interests are still all women. It's a refreshing stance on modern social dilemmas that really pave the way for more game developers to advance a social cause... or maybe the developers were lazy and thought no one would want to save the day playing as a girl. Well I proved them wrong.
Gameplay direction is a tale of two extremes: on one hand you have a tutorial system that isn't afraid to repeat the same hints for you just in case you weren't paying attention, and on the other, quests are extremely cryptic about what you're supposed to do or where to go. Heed my advice, make friends with a guide, online or physical.
The allure of this game is the ability to create a companion, or pawn as the game calls them (pawns indeed... mwahahah), character and recruit several others to your aid. You may choose to venture out into the world with only your partner to aid you, or you can enlist others from an inter-dimensional fog realm where others are just waiting to join the fray. This is the game's multiplayer aspect, and since I abhor the idea of other people touching my things, no one was going to lay their grubby hands on my team. Offline mode was my preference needless to say.
Vocal choices for your companions are disturbing. While a few sound like a human's natural speaking voice, several felt like the pitch was adjusted digitally in a studio. So what you have is a human with the voice of a chipmunk in some cases. The opposite is also true with female voices sounding particularly man-ish in some ranges.
Luckily, the game provides you with the means to change your companion's attributes to something less annoying very early on in the game. And you'll want to change any annoyances because your compatriots never shut up. Reiterating the same tired lines again and again is common practice for them. Either due to lack of memory or perhaps thinking you didn't hear them the first one hundred times, they have great enthusiasm for pointing out the obvious to you and yet still speak archaically about any serious tasks.
In a strange twist, I have to raise complaints with the saving functionality of this game. What has come to be known as standard was cast aside and replaced with ineffective nonsense. Normally, there are two means to save your game: auto-saving which the game does at various points, and a normal save which the player does manually. Not only are both those features present, but a check point system has been added which adds to the auto-save feature.
But not all auto-saves are check points, only a select few. This wouldn't concern me if it wasn't for the return to checkpoint option when loading the game. Check points are too far between for them to be considered as a viable means to return to the game, nor are check points made clear since it seems like the game is performing a regular auto-save. Only by text below the auto-save message indicates when a check point has been reached. Only by this text, which will most likely be ignored because of the frequency of auto-save and un-immediate nature, will you ever know.
What happened to me, before I figured this out, went thus: after many hours of running around questing, I had gained points to put into my skills. Being the excited type, I ran towards the character responsible for setting of said skills and acquired more powerful abilities for my mage.
Again, being the excited type, I felt the need to test these new skills on the town and its inhabitants. So after some bystanders met their end to my flames, I was promptly arrested and thrown in jail. Not wanting to deal with the complicated matters of justifying the murders of innocent people and auto-save having kicked in for some reason, I decided to go back to the nearest check point, which was established two hours ago. My mage's flames had no wrath like my scorn at the moment of realization.
But not all is lost: summoning a tornado to launch your enemies into the sky only to see them come screaming back down is a pleasure like no other, and one I've only found in Dragon's Dogma. It's one of the only games where genuine power can be felt by casting higher level spells on foes as opposed to most games having mages feel nothing more than a paper towel which lobs sparks at the enemy.
Though you may pick a job class at the start, you're by no means tied to that class for the rest of the game. You'll find that, as you increase in skill, brand new jobs will be available to you and your party. Any class unlocked by the achievements of a pawn or yourself are applicable to any other party member. The classes I have sampled all play uniquely and offer a good amount of fun.
Overall, Dragon's Dogma is a game I highly enjoyed. Traversing the land and stumbling upon a chimera in the night, then waging battle in the dark with only the light from my flame spells illuminating the ferocious beast. And then bringing the monstrosity down with a barrage of magic while charging at me with its dying lunge is the very reason I play games like this. So for its flaws, it's worth it.
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