Saturday, November 13, 2010
It Has Begun!
I haven't had much time for games the past week or so, but I did take a look at next week's release list - Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood, Donkey Kong Country Returns, NBA Jam, Need For Speed: Hot Pursuit, Sonic Colors - and it's clear that the holiday buying season is upon us!
Friday, November 05, 2010
Prometheus
Tracked-down God of War: Ghost of Sparta and Ys: The Oath in Felghana for PSP (the latter was particularly elusive), as well as Silent Hill 2 for XBOX... But I've yet to actually play any of them.
I'm still grinding though Ys: The Ark of Napishtim, and it's a fun grind that's never too long and monotonous. It's interesting to observe how the characters, weapons, and enemies are balanced; how certain areas are off-limits simply because your character may not yet be strong enough to deal any damage to the enemies there. That approach makes the world feel a little more organic and open, but sometimes it almost backfires... Like when I had to grind the same room over and over just to be able to deal any significant damage to a particular boss enemy, and when I discovered that I was able to jump ahead to one particular area and hurt certain enemies that yielded huge amounts of experience points and currency. What's impressive about those exploits is that they still feel organic in the context of the game. Retreating from a powerful enemy or carefully tiptoeing around an area you aren't supposed to see yet doesn't pull you out of the experience, especially since it still doesn't make the game easy; just less punishing ;)
P.S. Pac-Man Championship Edition DX looks totally sweet...
I'm still grinding though Ys: The Ark of Napishtim, and it's a fun grind that's never too long and monotonous. It's interesting to observe how the characters, weapons, and enemies are balanced; how certain areas are off-limits simply because your character may not yet be strong enough to deal any damage to the enemies there. That approach makes the world feel a little more organic and open, but sometimes it almost backfires... Like when I had to grind the same room over and over just to be able to deal any significant damage to a particular boss enemy, and when I discovered that I was able to jump ahead to one particular area and hurt certain enemies that yielded huge amounts of experience points and currency. What's impressive about those exploits is that they still feel organic in the context of the game. Retreating from a powerful enemy or carefully tiptoeing around an area you aren't supposed to see yet doesn't pull you out of the experience, especially since it still doesn't make the game easy; just less punishing ;)
P.S. Pac-Man Championship Edition DX looks totally sweet...
Tuesday, November 02, 2010
Yeesh...
Ys: The Ark of Napishtim (Ys 6) is a hell of a lot harder than Ys Seven; it also appears to be much shorter, as I'm already about half-way through the game; it's also plagued by annoying load times and inconsistent framerates; it's also really fun despite all of that! The PSP version of Ys: The Oath in Felghana (Ys 3) is released today (alongside God Of War: Ghost Of Sparta!), so that should keep me satisfied on this alternative action-RPG bender :)
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