Feel free to share thoughts/criticisms on games you've played. It can be a few paragraphs or a couple sentences.
The following is something I wrote for a podcast. It's really just keynotes and not so much a formal review.
The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Ages and Seasons
GameBoy Color - 2001
Two massive games, 8 dungeons in each. Produced by Capcom but Nintendo-quality. Overhead, 2D; uses some of the same sprites as Link’s Awakening.
PROS:
- Expected them to be extremely similar, like Pokemon Red and Blue, but Ages and Seasons are very different. The games have a different over-world, dungeons, items, music, etc. Seasons is combat-oriented, whereas Ages focuses on puzzles.
- In Seasons you manipulate the four seasons with the Rod of Seasons. In Ages you play the Harp of Ages to flow through time.
- Both games interact with each other using a complex password system. If you beat one game, you get a password that unlocks certain items and plot elements when you begin the other game. At other times, you might meet someone in Ages who has a password to give to a certain person in Seasons. Through these exchanges you can get items and upgrades. By beating both games, you get a “super password” that reveals the “super special true ending!”
- Lots of side-quests. There’s a trading sequence; you trade a series of useless items in order to eventually get something good. Other diversions include mini-games, hiding from patrolling guards, and even riding a kangaroo!
CONS:
- Ages touted as more puzzle-based, yet I found the puzzles no more difficult than Seasons.
- Some side-quests were tedious. You had to trade item A or speak to person B in order to gain access to the next dungeon. Sometimes it wasn’t very clear where exactly you had to go or who to talk to, and I believe this detracted from the meat of the game (the dungeon-spelunking).
- Both of games are overlooked, coming late in the GBC's life cycle. They were released in the shadow of the GameBoy Advance.
CONCLUSION:
- I found Seasons to be better. It had a larger over-world, the changing seasons provided more colors, and the high level of combat made it more difficult. The final boss, General Onox, is arguably the most challenging and fun boss in Zelda history.
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Holsety
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Hmm, between ages and seasons I found that ages had pretty easy puzzles while seasons barely had any. In the 4th dungeon of seasons, they still have puzzles as simple as "defeat all enemies and then push a block" to do things.
What I really enjoyed in ages was the mermaid's tail thingy. I felt that the 6th and 7th dungeons were the high points of these two games, with the water flood/release based puzzles in jabu's belly being really interesting. However the lead up to the 7th dungeon (playing song of time over, and over, and over again in the ocean to get around jellys) was stupidly boring.
Meanwhile the combat in seasons was easy IMO, except for the fight w/ onox's dragon form which was a very pleasant surprise.
One thing I didn't like is that the Biggoron's sword sucks in GBA games because roc's feather/cape is too good for dodging. Another minor thing was the dungeon items: I thought the GB game Link's Awakening had good ideas with the instruments - if you went to the windfish's egg between dungeons and played them, you could hear the additions to the music as you got closer and closer to a full set.
As for an opinion on another game, here's mine for Path of Radiance. I bolded the major strengths (IMO) of the game.
Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance:
Gamecube 2005
A turn based strategy rpg (SRPG) by intelligent systems. The ninth in the series.
Pros:
-First Fire emblem on a console:
+Instead of small face sprites each character gets a face-and-body image, and in my opinion they are very well drawn.
+3-d battles. They are also more 'visually laconic' than the GBA FEs, where some characters turned invisible or formed multiple images during critical hits. Yet the attacks are visually pleasing for a while, and you do get a few over the top ones (main character's special technique involves a flip in the air followed by two flashy sword strikes).
-Tried and true gameplay formula returns with variations.
+"RPS" system. Swords > axes >lances > swords. If you wield one against the other you get a small power boost and a notable hit/evasion boost. While this is not the be all and end all of combat, it makes strategy fairly important. Moreover most users of a particular weapon tend to fit that weapon fairly well. For instance, the axe wielding fighter character has high str, so it's well suited to attacking the high def lance wielding knights. Sword using myrmidons are fast w/ fairly good power. While swords are weak in comparison to the other two weapons, they have enough speed that they can dodge most axe blows. Generally, this makes turns take a little more thought in terms of finding ways to keep the weapon advantage as often as possible and take minimal damage.
+This time character skills return in full force. By getting skill scrolls you can assign characters abilities. Some are fairly insignificant: smite, for instance, increases shove (lets you push another character forward) by one. But others, like wrath (half hp means double critical chance) are important, balancing risk and reward carefully.
+Variety of classes. Each has their own specialties: armors have good def and atk but low move, and rarely double attack. Swordmasters have high speed and hit, and have a bonus to their critical rate. Both dragon lords and pegasus knights have high move, and in their own ways are tough to take down (pegasi=high dodge, dragon=high defense). However both are extremely vulnerable to bows, and dragons in addition have very low resistance, making them easy meat for mages.
+Characters are fairly well balanced. Certainly there are better and worse characters, with many later game units being inferior to early game units who have better growth potential. However every character is definitely usable, and some late game units (geoffery, a paladin, and a mage named callil) have enough potential to be worth considering.
+HOWEVER laguz characters are somewhat underpowered. While they are strong in transformation, they are only a little better at best than your other characters late game, and out of transform they are unable to do anything (well, some can take hits effectively). This is unfortunate because laguz were a very innovative new feature. This also does not hold true for the last few laguz to join, which are very very strong, or for reyson, a specialty unit who can do stuff out of transform.
-Engaging story. There are very few chapters after the first 3 where the plot isn't advancing at a good pace. The main character, Ike, is at least a little different from the typical Fire Emblem lord - he's extremely blunt, but he takes the time to talk to his regular troops at base. His starting life as a mercenary, rather than a lord, also is an interesting touch, especially when some of the mercs abandon him as he takes up leadership of the group (they come back later).
+Brief synopsis (with spoilers for first few chapters): Ike is the son of Greil, a mercenary leader - as the game starts he has just become a full fledged member of the mercenary group, which includes Titania, Griel's second-in-command, and Soren, the cool-headed strategist who's friends with Ike. Mist, Ike's sister, also plays an important role in the story. A war between Crimea, their home country, and Daien breaks out, and while scouting for survivors the mercenaries save the princess of crimea. She hires them to take her to Gallia, a neighboring country inhabited by the laguz, people who can take the form of animals (in gallia's case lions tigers and...large normal cats). As a side note, Crimea has recently been striving for good relations with Gallia while Daien hates laguz.
+The laguz/human relations plays an important role in this game and is major strength of the story.
-Character development is very strong. With a cast of some 45 playable characters you would expect some to have a few lines when they join and that's it. However, every character gets something like 20-50 line convos with the main character when they join.
+If certain characters go into battle together for a while, they can have up to three conversations with each other. These may reveal backstory, or they might just be fun friendships developing, but either way they are almost always well written and fun to read. In my opinion fire emblem's support system is the only way I've seen such a large cast of characters deservingly dealt with.
+These supports also strengthen the characters if they stand near each other, which is a nice touch and in harder difficulties an important strategic element (different supports raise different stats, so choosing good supports is important).
-First american Fire Emblem to have a pretty large number of moving bosses. This is good, because it is really easy to deal with boss characters when they stand in one place and let you total their army. In fact the final boss on hard mode, who can total much of your party in one hit and can only be hurt by 2 characters, starts to chase you around 10 turns in which makes it more fun.
-Well regarded by critics (averaged 86% on gamerankings).
-Finally, if you intend to play the Wii game, there are a few extras if you load data from here if you have certain character supports. There are also stat boosts you may be eligible for.
Cons:
-The console thing may be a weakening factor. The actual gameplay is not significantly enhanced by being on a console, so the strategy aspects work just as well on a gameboy.
-Magic triangle. In the earlier american FEs there was light > dark > anima (elemental) > light, each was different in a number of ways. For instance dark magic had an hp absorbing spell. This time, fire > thunder > wind > fire is less different: thunder spells are unarguably better due to higher damage, but for the most part any suffices and little difference is made because sages will rarely be battling other sages (high res opponents are a waste of time when many melee units have low res). Light magic is still present, but the only character who can use it is fairly slow and is not really intended to be a front line unit.
-Art is beautiful yet lacking. Story is told w/ character sprite stills and text. There aren't any cutscenes with characters moving around and interracting w/ each other, sprites just appear on screen and then move off.
-Difficulty broken by strong characters. This is harder than Fire Emblem 8 but much easier than Fire Emblem 7. The main character, Ike, can solo the last two chapters easily on easy and normal thanks to an overpowered infinite use weapon, incredible stats, and a skill which activates 1/4 attacks and heals the damage he does back. If you choose to use a full force of units, you will have no problems beating this game.
+The hardest mode, maniac mode, was taken out of the american version.
Neutral:
-Cliffhanger! This game doesn't finish telling the story of Tellius! Ike gets a major nemesis with a concealed identity, and considering video game cliches it's very obvious that he survives the game (typical 'escape from castle while wounded nemesis remains). There are even a few characters whose role seems more like a cameo than anything else - for instance, ike's ship crashes at one point and is in short order saved by a dragon prince. Who then disappears for the rest of the game.
However, the main plot of the story (stopping daien) is fully resolved. For those who are drawn in by the story as they play, however, a sequel for the wii is available starting last week.
-Soundtrack. I personally think it's one of the best soundtracks ever, but I suppsose it depends on what sorta music you like. bluelaguna.net/ has the entire OST of path of radiance; if you want to sample some my suggestions are...White Heron, Against the Black Knight, First Fight, With Us, Dreaming of Home, Burning Ambition, Puzzling Truth, Bittersweet Victory. Any are good choices.
-Warriors DIE. If someone gets killed, they are gone. The only exception to this is in the very first chapter and in the 18th (there's one character you recruit by having one person talk to them, and then having the main character "kill" them). Some people consider this a strong point of the FE series, some do not.
What I really enjoyed in ages was the mermaid's tail thingy. I felt that the 6th and 7th dungeons were the high points of these two games, with the water flood/release based puzzles in jabu's belly being really interesting. However the lead up to the 7th dungeon (playing song of time over, and over, and over again in the ocean to get around jellys) was stupidly boring.
Meanwhile the combat in seasons was easy IMO, except for the fight w/ onox's dragon form which was a very pleasant surprise.
One thing I didn't like is that the Biggoron's sword sucks in GBA games because roc's feather/cape is too good for dodging. Another minor thing was the dungeon items: I thought the GB game Link's Awakening had good ideas with the instruments - if you went to the windfish's egg between dungeons and played them, you could hear the additions to the music as you got closer and closer to a full set.
As for an opinion on another game, here's mine for Path of Radiance. I bolded the major strengths (IMO) of the game.
Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance:
Gamecube 2005
A turn based strategy rpg (SRPG) by intelligent systems. The ninth in the series.
Pros:
-First Fire emblem on a console:
+Instead of small face sprites each character gets a face-and-body image, and in my opinion they are very well drawn.
+3-d battles. They are also more 'visually laconic' than the GBA FEs, where some characters turned invisible or formed multiple images during critical hits. Yet the attacks are visually pleasing for a while, and you do get a few over the top ones (main character's special technique involves a flip in the air followed by two flashy sword strikes).
-Tried and true gameplay formula returns with variations.
+"RPS" system. Swords > axes >lances > swords. If you wield one against the other you get a small power boost and a notable hit/evasion boost. While this is not the be all and end all of combat, it makes strategy fairly important. Moreover most users of a particular weapon tend to fit that weapon fairly well. For instance, the axe wielding fighter character has high str, so it's well suited to attacking the high def lance wielding knights. Sword using myrmidons are fast w/ fairly good power. While swords are weak in comparison to the other two weapons, they have enough speed that they can dodge most axe blows. Generally, this makes turns take a little more thought in terms of finding ways to keep the weapon advantage as often as possible and take minimal damage.
+This time character skills return in full force. By getting skill scrolls you can assign characters abilities. Some are fairly insignificant: smite, for instance, increases shove (lets you push another character forward) by one. But others, like wrath (half hp means double critical chance) are important, balancing risk and reward carefully.
+Variety of classes. Each has their own specialties: armors have good def and atk but low move, and rarely double attack. Swordmasters have high speed and hit, and have a bonus to their critical rate. Both dragon lords and pegasus knights have high move, and in their own ways are tough to take down (pegasi=high dodge, dragon=high defense). However both are extremely vulnerable to bows, and dragons in addition have very low resistance, making them easy meat for mages.
+Characters are fairly well balanced. Certainly there are better and worse characters, with many later game units being inferior to early game units who have better growth potential. However every character is definitely usable, and some late game units (geoffery, a paladin, and a mage named callil) have enough potential to be worth considering.
+HOWEVER laguz characters are somewhat underpowered. While they are strong in transformation, they are only a little better at best than your other characters late game, and out of transform they are unable to do anything (well, some can take hits effectively). This is unfortunate because laguz were a very innovative new feature. This also does not hold true for the last few laguz to join, which are very very strong, or for reyson, a specialty unit who can do stuff out of transform.
-Engaging story. There are very few chapters after the first 3 where the plot isn't advancing at a good pace. The main character, Ike, is at least a little different from the typical Fire Emblem lord - he's extremely blunt, but he takes the time to talk to his regular troops at base. His starting life as a mercenary, rather than a lord, also is an interesting touch, especially when some of the mercs abandon him as he takes up leadership of the group (they come back later).
+Brief synopsis (with spoilers for first few chapters): Ike is the son of Greil, a mercenary leader - as the game starts he has just become a full fledged member of the mercenary group, which includes Titania, Griel's second-in-command, and Soren, the cool-headed strategist who's friends with Ike. Mist, Ike's sister, also plays an important role in the story. A war between Crimea, their home country, and Daien breaks out, and while scouting for survivors the mercenaries save the princess of crimea. She hires them to take her to Gallia, a neighboring country inhabited by the laguz, people who can take the form of animals (in gallia's case lions tigers and...large normal cats). As a side note, Crimea has recently been striving for good relations with Gallia while Daien hates laguz.
+The laguz/human relations plays an important role in this game and is major strength of the story.
-Character development is very strong. With a cast of some 45 playable characters you would expect some to have a few lines when they join and that's it. However, every character gets something like 20-50 line convos with the main character when they join.
+If certain characters go into battle together for a while, they can have up to three conversations with each other. These may reveal backstory, or they might just be fun friendships developing, but either way they are almost always well written and fun to read. In my opinion fire emblem's support system is the only way I've seen such a large cast of characters deservingly dealt with.
+These supports also strengthen the characters if they stand near each other, which is a nice touch and in harder difficulties an important strategic element (different supports raise different stats, so choosing good supports is important).
-First american Fire Emblem to have a pretty large number of moving bosses. This is good, because it is really easy to deal with boss characters when they stand in one place and let you total their army. In fact the final boss on hard mode, who can total much of your party in one hit and can only be hurt by 2 characters, starts to chase you around 10 turns in which makes it more fun.
-Well regarded by critics (averaged 86% on gamerankings).
-Finally, if you intend to play the Wii game, there are a few extras if you load data from here if you have certain character supports. There are also stat boosts you may be eligible for.
Cons:
-The console thing may be a weakening factor. The actual gameplay is not significantly enhanced by being on a console, so the strategy aspects work just as well on a gameboy.
-Magic triangle. In the earlier american FEs there was light > dark > anima (elemental) > light, each was different in a number of ways. For instance dark magic had an hp absorbing spell. This time, fire > thunder > wind > fire is less different: thunder spells are unarguably better due to higher damage, but for the most part any suffices and little difference is made because sages will rarely be battling other sages (high res opponents are a waste of time when many melee units have low res). Light magic is still present, but the only character who can use it is fairly slow and is not really intended to be a front line unit.
-Art is beautiful yet lacking. Story is told w/ character sprite stills and text. There aren't any cutscenes with characters moving around and interracting w/ each other, sprites just appear on screen and then move off.
-Difficulty broken by strong characters. This is harder than Fire Emblem 8 but much easier than Fire Emblem 7. The main character, Ike, can solo the last two chapters easily on easy and normal thanks to an overpowered infinite use weapon, incredible stats, and a skill which activates 1/4 attacks and heals the damage he does back. If you choose to use a full force of units, you will have no problems beating this game.
+The hardest mode, maniac mode, was taken out of the american version.
Neutral:
-Cliffhanger! This game doesn't finish telling the story of Tellius! Ike gets a major nemesis with a concealed identity, and considering video game cliches it's very obvious that he survives the game (typical 'escape from castle while wounded nemesis remains). There are even a few characters whose role seems more like a cameo than anything else - for instance, ike's ship crashes at one point and is in short order saved by a dragon prince. Who then disappears for the rest of the game.
However, the main plot of the story (stopping daien) is fully resolved. For those who are drawn in by the story as they play, however, a sequel for the wii is available starting last week.
-Soundtrack. I personally think it's one of the best soundtracks ever, but I suppsose it depends on what sorta music you like. bluelaguna.net/ has the entire OST of path of radiance; if you want to sample some my suggestions are...White Heron, Against the Black Knight, First Fight, With Us, Dreaming of Home, Burning Ambition, Puzzling Truth, Bittersweet Victory. Any are good choices.
-Warriors DIE. If someone gets killed, they are gone. The only exception to this is in the very first chapter and in the 18th (there's one character you recruit by having one person talk to them, and then having the main character "kill" them). Some people consider this a strong point of the FE series, some do not.
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I forgot how easy the initial dungeons were, mainly because I breezed through even the later ones. I gave it up to being a Zelda veteran. I wasn't displeased, though, as each dungeon had a distinct level design and its own musical theme. I can't say the same thing for Phantom Hourglass, the latest Zelda.Holsety wrote:Hmm, between ages and seasons I found that ages had pretty easy puzzles while seasons barely had any. In the 4th dungeon of seasons, they still have puzzles as simple as "defeat all enemies and then push a block" to do things.
What I really enjoyed in ages was the mermaid's tail thingy. I felt that the 6th and 7th dungeons were the high points of these two games, with the water flood/release based puzzles in jabu's belly being really interesting. However the lead up to the 7th dungeon (playing song of time over, and over, and over again in the ocean to get around jellys) was stupidly boring.
It took me a while to get used to the mermaid's tail. Mainly because it required you to tap the directional pad. But it was a fast and exciting mode of transport--especially with the music and the new ocean areas.
Jabu's Belly was indeed enjoyable. Its reminded me of the Water Temple in Ocarina of Time, the only difference being it was FUN. Heh.
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Holsety
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I didn't realize that at first...didn't read the text. I was like "omg why am I moving SLOWER?"It took me a while to get used to the mermaid's tail. Mainly because it required you to tap the directional pad. But it was a fast and exciting mode of transport--especially with the music and the new ocean areas.