Played a bit of Metroid: Other M. Eh, i kinda like it. I really don’t like changing to first person though, it’s really cumbersome. Other than that, it’s pretty ok so far. The story is weird! And not just weird for Metroid either, the monologues are written in a very… book like fashion i guess? There’s flair and metaphor and all kinds of literary indulgences that you often find in books. And, obviously, the accompanying cutscenes suffer by being too long, fairly empty, and generally superfluous. I wonder if this was a translation thing.
There’s a lot to talk about, but i’ll just go back to playing it instead.
Yesterday has been Monster Hunter day and today I played a bit more of Blue Dragon.
Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate
Yesterday was so much fun. Me and my friend played this for about 6 hours in two sessions. We were busy with 2 star missions (online mode) and farming for some materials for a new armour from Rathian. Between that time, I accidentally chose a boss mission while I thought it was killing small beasts. We were unprepared, low on health items, no boosts and still made it! That’s a big achievement in MH games
Blue Dragon
The plan was to find all chest locations and try to beat the optional bosses before heading to the last dungeon. Chest locations was not a problem. Defeating the first optional boss was okay. But the Blizzard Dragon? I just went ‘‘heeeeellll no’’. I decided to continue to the last dungeon, try to go through it, gain some levels and then try the optional bosses one last time before completing the game.
This is going to be a bit of a spoiler territory, the planet was split in two parts. Revealing how the planet was made by magic and how certain people forgot how to use magic and others who still can.. The new areas after that point have been gorgeous. The current dungeon I am in, I actually like the design of it and the tiny bits of puzzle elements that it has. I always appreciate when some games try to make the last parts great. I’m still not done with the game but it might happen in the next few days.
You’re close to the best part of the game in Blue Dragon, the final battle. The final half of the fight has music as good as One Winged Angel, and there’s also going to be a plot twist that I didn’t expect.
I’m almost near the end in the mobile port of Dragon Quest 1. I have the sunstone and staff of ruin, so now it’s just a matter of getting to the next story trigger in order to use these and making a bridge to the island where the Dragonlord’s castle is at. It’s been a fun, short experience. I was taken aback by the fact that the only party member is the main character. I was under the impression multiple party members were present since DQ1. Also a surprise how short the game is. The level range that’ll be suitable to fight the Dragonlord will be between 16-20, I suspect. Not representative of most RPGs. They’d usually have you grind until level 60 or so. This is one of the original JRPGs, though.
I lost my entire card collection in Magic Duels: Origins due to a sync error. Customer service gave me 35 booster packs back and now I’m trying out new decks.
Probably the same as the other DS games, lots of endurance and health, then the rest as necessary. Probably more skill than strength? I don’t know how those work just yet.
Some weapons scale their damage with skill, others with strength and this is denoted by a letter e.g. A, B, C… (essentially pick one stat or the other to build on).
Yeah, but what scales with what is the problem. In DS you could reliably predict that if a sword was fast, it would scale with dex and if it was slow, it would scale with strength. Skill… probably isn’t the same as dexterity… or i don’t think it is, the sawcleaver scaled E with skill and the cane scaled C with skill… and they’re pretty much the same thing with the exception of their transformation. So in Bloodborne stat scaling it may be more arbitrary than in DS.
Anyway i beat Gascoigne too and now i have to wait until the rest of the game downloads >_>
Hmm… it was, now that i’m checking it, but still, the scimitar for example would go from B to A at +14, and it doesn’t seem like the others change all that much either.
You know what, i’m too worried about the stats. I’ve done some shit in DS games and always managed to get myself out of it through sheer strength of will! I’ll worry about upgrades a couple dozens of hours into the game.
I wouldn’t be surprised. The last areas, scenes and gameplay brought the game on a different level. I haven’t played more of it since the last time but I’m hoping to do so very soon.
So what have I been up to instead? Continuing with 2 games and starting on a new game.
Syphon Filter
Another chapter complete. There is only one final chapter left. I have been thinking about the game’s difficulty or the challenge it is trying to have. It’s an usual game in that regard. At times it feels very challenging, other times it feels pretty easy. I think what makes it appear challenging at times are two problems mostly. There are parts where it relies too much on trial and error. You have enemies who ambush the main character where you don’t expect them. And then when they hit you, you die quickly. Secondly, although the controls are very good for a PS1 game, it’s not fast enough with certain situations where you are required to kill enemies if you don’t want to die the first time. More enemies have armour where you are pretty much forced to aim for a headschot. That takes time, sometimes enough to get you killed. I wonder how Syphon Filter 2 and 3 handle this aspect. Archibald’s Adventures
This is one on my list that I have played the least of and didn’t touch it very often. Until yesterday very briefly. Again, it is still very solid, the puzzles are short and the game is enjoyable for what it is. 32 levels are completed, 140 levels are left. Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles My Life As A Darklord
The new game, it’s another FFCC game but one with a twist. You play as the ‘bad guy’ who is trying to take over the world, a 16 years old daughter of a father that is trapped inside a crystal (if you played my life as a king, you should know this). It’s a bit of a tower defense game on the wii with its own unique mechanics. I started on it yesterday out of curiousity and to make use of my wii. If you are fan of the previous game, you will see some fanservice through returning characters in a reversed position. The gameplay though, has nothing to do with the previous game. That one is a life sim slash management game. So far, this game is very addictive. I can see it becoming too repetitive later on but I’m not feeling that way yet. I’ve done some missions from the second chapter (out of 5 chapters). It seems like it might be around 8-10 hours long depending on how challenging it becomes.
I have to say, I love how FFCC games are very different from one another for the most part. Even though they share similar feel or art, the gameplay and focus is too different. This makes me want to give each one of them a try and not wait too long on them.
The list of FFCC games that I have completed:
Ring of Fates DS
My Life as a King WII
The Crystal Bearers WII
Still need to play or complete those:
The original FFCC on the gamecube (I made it to the end, then stopped and forgot everything. Want to start this from scratch)
Echoes of Time DS (I played this briefly on co-op. I am very excited to play this once the time is right for it)
