maanantai 16. helmikuuta 2015
maanantai 24. maaliskuuta 2014
Vampire hunter D PS1
The Vampire hunter D's game is based on the movie itself. If you however, play the game and then watch the movie, you'll notice some holes in the game's plot. Some characters are missing, some things just happen and you're not given any explanation how or why, they just suddenly are.
The controls requires some learning and training. But the game is okay to play. Taking in note that this is a ps1 game, I'd say the graphics are rather good._01.png)
The vibes game provides are similar to the ones given by Resident evil 1 and 2 for the playstation and the boogey-men along your way are very similar to RE's zombies. Puzzles aren't too hard to solve, and the game altogether is pretty short. The voice acting is bad, luckily I like the voice of the D himself. But other than that, the voice acting doesn't have any emotion attached to it, it sounds like they're just reading directly from the paper and not even trying. Kinda makes your ears bleed.
In the battles you have small arsenal of spells and the most important one is the healing spell. Other spells aren't much of a use because you have a sword which doesn't need mp restoring after use unlike the spells do. You also have an interesting assistant with you, your TALKING left hand. He absorbs the baddies you defeat and turns them into mp for your spells to use. And of course, he has alway something to say. Ha ha. :D Overall, the playing is the same as in RE games, run to room F to get a key to room H, run to room H to get the key to the room B, kill baddies along the way, face a boss, from room B run to room R to find a key to room G etc....
If you wish to know the whole story, watch the movie Vampire hunter D: blood-lust. If you've already seen the movie, play the game, just for the kicks of it. My rating: 6/10
The controls requires some learning and training. But the game is okay to play. Taking in note that this is a ps1 game, I'd say the graphics are rather good.
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If you wish to know the whole story, watch the movie Vampire hunter D: blood-lust. If you've already seen the movie, play the game, just for the kicks of it. My rating: 6/10
perjantai 14. maaliskuuta 2014
Tales of Legendia
Tales of Legendia for playstation 2.
I played this game AFTER I had played the Tales of Graces F, so my opinions are affected by this factor.
A typical Tales game. I like the musics and the graphics, the battle system is kinda like a free field for you to roam but the space is pretty limited as the battle area is like a piece of a Megaman game. Unlike in the Graces, movement range is pretty narrow during a battle. The thing annoyed me the most is the AI of the non player controlled characters. It's just plain horrible. If you trust your life in the hands of a AI controlled healer, you're as good as dead. Why? Because the AI tends to just stand still and swing character's arms around like being in a picnic for long times at a time. As if that's not enough, you're in desperate need of a healing and your healer just keeps on casting attacking spells (you CAN turn the spells off, but that doesn't stop the "just swinging ma'h arms 'round and smelling the flowers"- behavior). Fortunately, you CAN add two attacks/spells of other characters to the R2 and L2 buttons and thus can order a spell/attack from another character you're currently not in control of. Another extremely annoying thing about the AI is that AI does not learn and the spellcasters tend to rush into the midst of the battlefield and start casting a spell then whining that someone should cover him/her because spell is being casted here. If you are battling against an enemy absorbing fire elemental attack, the AI keeps on casting the fire spell all over again and again until you turn the spell setting off. No matter what you do, the AI does not care about the elemental affinities. You can switch the spells/skill on/off from the menu or even during the battle, but IMO it's just a big of a hassle to switch after every battle all the settings. Luckily you have skills/spells that don't have an element so you can use those too but you'll lose the bonus damage the weaknesses provide. Oh well, your call...
The plot is somewhat predictable in some parts, offers no new reason to finish the game, just same plain let's save the world. But I did like the fact that the game kinda has two sets of stories in it.
Also some sidequests are available.
For some reason this game didn't appear as interesting as the Tales of Graces and I didn't play it as thoroughly as I usually do. I had this "lame-o" feeling all the time, even though I did like the humor in the game and all the characters have a fulfilling role of their own. This could be because I got really frustrated on the AI's stupidity and the constant back and forward running. Also, I wish there would've been some sort of a teleportation system which would've enabled a quick exit from inside a dungeon. I's a real pain to run long ways in, and the same long way out. The game told you about other places in the world but you cannot actually GO there. There is no world map either, and I mean the actual MAP you can check your location from. There will be "some" running on the world map, fighting random encounters as you go, naturally.
The game doesn't explain any basics to you. You either need to find how things work out on your own or check the manual. There is a man in the beginning when prompted, will tell you about battling but that's it.
Exploring is easy as pie, chests are pretty easy to find and there are lots of chests to open. When the second story starts, all the old chests disappear and new chests are scattered everywhere, along with new contents. All the unopened first set of chests and their contents will be lost forever. I'm disappointed in the titles in this game, they're a joke. Sure, they're fun to get but that's about it, they do not have as significant meaning than in the Graces and they provide only little help to you. And finally a HUGE disappointment: you have a summoner in your group, but s/he cannot cast ANY summon spells. Ever.
Fairly good game but something's still a bit off... I'd still rate this game as 7/10.
I played this game AFTER I had played the Tales of Graces F, so my opinions are affected by this factor.
The plot is somewhat predictable in some parts, offers no new reason to finish the game, just same plain let's save the world. But I did like the fact that the game kinda has two sets of stories in it.
For some reason this game didn't appear as interesting as the Tales of Graces and I didn't play it as thoroughly as I usually do. I had this "lame-o" feeling all the time, even though I did like the humor in the game and all the characters have a fulfilling role of their own. This could be because I got really frustrated on the AI's stupidity and the constant back and forward running. Also, I wish there would've been some sort of a teleportation system which would've enabled a quick exit from inside a dungeon. I's a real pain to run long ways in, and the same long way out. The game told you about other places in the world but you cannot actually GO there. There is no world map either, and I mean the actual MAP you can check your location from. There will be "some" running on the world map, fighting random encounters as you go, naturally.
The game doesn't explain any basics to you. You either need to find how things work out on your own or check the manual. There is a man in the beginning when prompted, will tell you about battling but that's it.
Exploring is easy as pie, chests are pretty easy to find and there are lots of chests to open. When the second story starts, all the old chests disappear and new chests are scattered everywhere, along with new contents. All the unopened first set of chests and their contents will be lost forever. I'm disappointed in the titles in this game, they're a joke. Sure, they're fun to get but that's about it, they do not have as significant meaning than in the Graces and they provide only little help to you. And finally a HUGE disappointment: you have a summoner in your group, but s/he cannot cast ANY summon spells. Ever.
Fairly good game but something's still a bit off... I'd still rate this game as 7/10.
sunnuntai 23. helmikuuta 2014
Lunar Dragon song/Genesis NDS
The following review may contain spoilers, so read at your own risk!!
First the good part!
The Lunar Genesis (or Dragon song to some) is a beautiful RPG with lots of elements from the previous Lunar games. I like the graphics and the music. The plot is a little bit of a mehh, it could've been better, but it'll do.
The battle system is like in previous ones, you give commands to the characters and then begins the attack phase; speed determines (mostly anyway, not 100% that the fastest char will attack first every time) the attack orders, allies and foes alike. Each character has a set of skills at their disposal appropriate to their role.
THEN the bad news!
The gameplay is just plain torture. Why? Because:
You only get money from selling stuff you own or running errands: you deliver item a to person b, 99% of the time you need to get all the requested items via enemy drops. If you accept a quest that you cannot yet fulfill, monsters stop dropping the particular item (or I'm extremely unlucky at this, hunted two days for one item), if you cannot fulfill the request you'll have to pay a fee. And some quests require you to travel to the other side of the world.
You cannot buy mp restoring items ANYWHERE, with lots of luck you might get an enemy drop.
You start the game with two level 1 characters and the other is totally useless until like halfway of the game when s/he gets finally some useful skills+ half mp cost weapon. After that, s/he LEAVES PERMANENTLY. With all equipped items on. Nice. Then after a while, you'll get replacing character, which btw is a copy of the one that left and s/he starts at level 1, you'll be around 30 maybe. Oh and cannot run for long (see below) until s/he gains some more hp than 20.
You need to choose whether you want to earn EXP OR ITEMS from a battle. Yes, you cannot have both. This can be changed anytime though.
Your best attacker's attacks get reduced to one hit in the time you most need the "extra" hits.
If you assign all your members to attack the same foe and it dies i.e. after the first character's attack, the other remaining attacks assigned that turn will go to waste; the AI does NOT transfer the remaining attacks to the enemies alive in the battle. Nice.
Running consumes your hp, approx 20hp allows you to run maybe for 15 seconds?
To travel from town a to town b you need to enter town a, walk through it to the other exit (leading to town b), exit the town, enter the forest, walk through the forest for a couple of screens, exit the forest, enter the town. A real hassle.
Plot makes you constantly run back and forth between places.
Your party disbands more than once.
You have more than one party member who will steal your equipment upon suddenly leaving without a warning.
Difficulty level is above average, unless you REALLY like to level up.
You cannot even kill the biggest baddie of them all.
The plot is too predictable.
The conclusion? If you really like self-torture, buy this game. I must be a masochist of some sort since I played this game through. Or a stubborn old goat? The game had a potency of a great game, but they just had to spoil things up.
My rating: 3/10
First the good part!
The Lunar Genesis (or Dragon song to some) is a beautiful RPG with lots of elements from the previous Lunar games. I like the graphics and the music. The plot is a little bit of a mehh, it could've been better, but it'll do.
The battle system is like in previous ones, you give commands to the characters and then begins the attack phase; speed determines (mostly anyway, not 100% that the fastest char will attack first every time) the attack orders, allies and foes alike. Each character has a set of skills at their disposal appropriate to their role.
THEN the bad news!
The gameplay is just plain torture. Why? Because:
You only get money from selling stuff you own or running errands: you deliver item a to person b, 99% of the time you need to get all the requested items via enemy drops. If you accept a quest that you cannot yet fulfill, monsters stop dropping the particular item (or I'm extremely unlucky at this, hunted two days for one item), if you cannot fulfill the request you'll have to pay a fee. And some quests require you to travel to the other side of the world.
You cannot buy mp restoring items ANYWHERE, with lots of luck you might get an enemy drop.
You start the game with two level 1 characters and the other is totally useless until like halfway of the game when s/he gets finally some useful skills+ half mp cost weapon. After that, s/he LEAVES PERMANENTLY. With all equipped items on. Nice. Then after a while, you'll get replacing character, which btw is a copy of the one that left and s/he starts at level 1, you'll be around 30 maybe. Oh and cannot run for long (see below) until s/he gains some more hp than 20.
You need to choose whether you want to earn EXP OR ITEMS from a battle. Yes, you cannot have both. This can be changed anytime though.
Your best attacker's attacks get reduced to one hit in the time you most need the "extra" hits.
If you assign all your members to attack the same foe and it dies i.e. after the first character's attack, the other remaining attacks assigned that turn will go to waste; the AI does NOT transfer the remaining attacks to the enemies alive in the battle. Nice.
Running consumes your hp, approx 20hp allows you to run maybe for 15 seconds?
To travel from town a to town b you need to enter town a, walk through it to the other exit (leading to town b), exit the town, enter the forest, walk through the forest for a couple of screens, exit the forest, enter the town. A real hassle.
Plot makes you constantly run back and forth between places.
Your party disbands more than once.
You have more than one party member who will steal your equipment upon suddenly leaving without a warning.
Difficulty level is above average, unless you REALLY like to level up.
You cannot even kill the biggest baddie of them all.
The plot is too predictable.
The conclusion? If you really like self-torture, buy this game. I must be a masochist of some sort since I played this game through. Or a stubborn old goat? The game had a potency of a great game, but they just had to spoil things up.
My rating: 3/10
maanantai 6. tammikuuta 2014
Ephemeral Fantasia
Hookay!
I played this game when it was published and replayed it now again.
So, The Ephemeral Fantasia for ps2 is in my opinion too under appreciated. I liked that game ten years ago and I still like it. Konami knows how to make a game.
The game is about a five-day Groundhog day on a desolate paradise island. Our hero in this game is a famous musician called Mouse and his long-time partner is an instrument who talks, his name is Pattimo and he is a bit cheeky at times. Mr. Mouse has a weak spot for pretty ladies (and we didn't see that coming, did we?) and he doesn't talk (surprised again? What is it with these Konami's mute heroes?) Anyhow! Mouse has been summoned to the island of Pandule to play in the royal wedding which is held held in five days.
Since you're a musician, you get to play songs with Pattimo. Some songs just feel like your fingers are gonna fall off, but basically it isn't much different from a Guitar Hero games. You can even use the guitar controller to play the songs. You will unlock more songs as you make progress in the game. You can play anytime you can access the menu. You can also save anywhere outside a dungeon and a house from your menu.
You'll soon discover that the king of the island is not much different from Final Fantasy 7 baddie, none other than Sephiroth the great. They look so much alike, and even share same kind of personality. But this time the Seph is called Sir Xelpherpolis and he has put a spell over the whole island where time loops every 5 days back to the first day. You need to start your journey to awaken the poor people of Pandule from this spell.
What makes this game difficult to some, is that you need to be in right place, in right time on the right day to accomplish things. Best way to manage with this is to write down dates and times when things happen since after the second loop, the game won't automatically take you to the destination. And the learning to move inside the town is a pain, especially when you don't have the map of the area (the map has been divided to 49 pieces which you need to find yourself).
The graphics aren't the best of Playstation 2, but it doesn't really matter, in my opinion. It's a fun game nevertheless. And you gotta love that anime style. Not too many different musics but I like 'em. There are also some mini-games to play.
The battle and skill system is interesting. There is no basic "attack" command, only skills and magic spells. As you gain levels, you learn spells. As you use your skills however, you gain new ones. And that is the only way to get new skills. Mouse can also learn skills by copying allies' skills by watching as allies use theirs in battle. All other members have only a few skills in their stock. The time in battle keeps on flowing even if you just stand still. Battling in the wilderness and dying, won't give you the game over screen, battling against certain enemies and dying does. What is also interesting is that your characters have individual levels AND you have a party level. As your character levels up, s/he gains status upgrades yadayada the usual stuff, as party level ups, however, your characters gain more hp/mp. So as you get new members, even if they start at level 1, they can have high hp/mp values.
At least, give this game a chance. Try it. Make your own opinion of it. You need to have a bit of patience but the game is good.
I played this game when it was published and replayed it now again.
So, The Ephemeral Fantasia for ps2 is in my opinion too under appreciated. I liked that game ten years ago and I still like it. Konami knows how to make a game.
The game is about a five-day Groundhog day on a desolate paradise island. Our hero in this game is a famous musician called Mouse and his long-time partner is an instrument who talks, his name is Pattimo and he is a bit cheeky at times. Mr. Mouse has a weak spot for pretty ladies (and we didn't see that coming, did we?) and he doesn't talk (surprised again? What is it with these Konami's mute heroes?) Anyhow! Mouse has been summoned to the island of Pandule to play in the royal wedding which is held held in five days.
Since you're a musician, you get to play songs with Pattimo. Some songs just feel like your fingers are gonna fall off, but basically it isn't much different from a Guitar Hero games. You can even use the guitar controller to play the songs. You will unlock more songs as you make progress in the game. You can play anytime you can access the menu. You can also save anywhere outside a dungeon and a house from your menu.
You'll soon discover that the king of the island is not much different from Final Fantasy 7 baddie, none other than Sephiroth the great. They look so much alike, and even share same kind of personality. But this time the Seph is called Sir Xelpherpolis and he has put a spell over the whole island where time loops every 5 days back to the first day. You need to start your journey to awaken the poor people of Pandule from this spell.
What makes this game difficult to some, is that you need to be in right place, in right time on the right day to accomplish things. Best way to manage with this is to write down dates and times when things happen since after the second loop, the game won't automatically take you to the destination. And the learning to move inside the town is a pain, especially when you don't have the map of the area (the map has been divided to 49 pieces which you need to find yourself).
The graphics aren't the best of Playstation 2, but it doesn't really matter, in my opinion. It's a fun game nevertheless. And you gotta love that anime style. Not too many different musics but I like 'em. There are also some mini-games to play.
The battle and skill system is interesting. There is no basic "attack" command, only skills and magic spells. As you gain levels, you learn spells. As you use your skills however, you gain new ones. And that is the only way to get new skills. Mouse can also learn skills by copying allies' skills by watching as allies use theirs in battle. All other members have only a few skills in their stock. The time in battle keeps on flowing even if you just stand still. Battling in the wilderness and dying, won't give you the game over screen, battling against certain enemies and dying does. What is also interesting is that your characters have individual levels AND you have a party level. As your character levels up, s/he gains status upgrades yadayada the usual stuff, as party level ups, however, your characters gain more hp/mp. So as you get new members, even if they start at level 1, they can have high hp/mp values.
At least, give this game a chance. Try it. Make your own opinion of it. You need to have a bit of patience but the game is good.
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