Playsta

Post by **Green Gibbon!** » Sun Sep 05, 2004 4:18 pm

So my loans came through and, as expected, it's almost a grand more than I needed. Since I'm a fucking idiot who is, to quote the brilliant Ataru Moroboshi, "living for the pleasure of this particular moment", of course I decided to import a Japanese PS2 and some games. Tragically, it seems that many of the games I'd been itching to get my hands on are no longer available, but I got what I could.

The first item on my agenda, of course, was the Japanese version of ICO. Because I will have my melon ending, oh yes. Sadly, the original version of the game has long since been out of print, so I was forced to get "The Best" edition with that hideous yellow stripe running across the top and side. Nonetheless, it was my only option and only $25, so, y'know, I'll take my melon and de Chirico cover art however I can get them. The main reason I'm bringing it up is because of the manual. Of course I don't read manuals, I usually only slip them out once then flip through them rapidly just to say that I held them. But the manual to ICO isn't really a manual, it's more like a storybook. The basic mechanics are explained with flowing text (no charts or lists or even screenshots) and beautiful ink drawings. They just don't put this kind of care into the packaging of American games.

I also got Ka 2: Let's Go Hawaii, because the original was good simple fun and I figured the sequel would be at least that. Unfortunately, there's a new mechanic now that fucks everything up: in addition to simply sucking blood, you now have to play acupuncturist and alleviate various maladies from the Yamadas and their American friends. This is done by sucking blood from certain points on the body. The idea itself isn't so bad, but the execution is horrible. There's a slight translation barrier in figuring out exactly what's ailing them, as the only clue you have are the kanji symbols at the top of the screen (and sometimes their in-stage dialogue), but even if you know what their problem is, it's still no hint as to what magical points you're supposed to hit. It starts off simple enough: "oh, Rena's got a headache, I'll suck blood from her forehead." But later on you get all kind of weird stuff, like anemia and high blood pressure. There's a chart from the menu screen that lets you know the correct point to alleviate each malady, but even that doesn't help when the point you need to attack is hidden under clothing. When that's the case, the only thing you can do is to deliberatly get caught and enter battle mode, and of course, targeting and attacking a specific point on a giant, wildly flailing human figure is bullshit difficult. The collision detection is way off, so if you try to say, fly under their legs, you'll still get smacked as though you'd slammed right into them. The mosquito gets momentarily stunned everytime he gets hit, and because the people are moving faster than you, if you get hit once, it causes a chain reaction that often results in death. (The "recover" button used in the original is gone.) Even when you're not in battle mode, the poor collision detection makes targeting specific points more of a pain in the ass than it should be, especially when the character you're trying to attack fucking gets up and walks around the room. You can't land on the people while they're moving, so you basically just have to wait, and by the time you've got yourself repositioned, they're moving again. I spent two solid hours yesterday trying desperately to attack Kenichi's left shoulder blade to alleviate his fucking high blood pressure (whatever that's supposed to have to do with his shoulder blade in the first place), and I finally quit in frustration. (The previous stage had taken me an hour to clear for much the same reason.)

The original was a simple, solid action game with a unique premise. It never took itself seriously, and it was just simple, happy fun. This sequel has the same sense of humor and really relaxing BGM, but is nonetheless one of the single most frustrating, dysfunctional games I've ever played. The original had clunky mechanics, but it didn't really matter because you weren't ever forced to overcome them. I am quite sorely disappointed.

Moving on, I also picked up Panic Maker. I know this is coming out here, but goddammit, I don't want to play "Under the fucking Skin", I want to play Meiwaku Seijin Panic Maker. I'm just getting more and more anal as I get older. Anyway, I only played through on easy, but it took me about two hours to finish. It's got a real arcadey feel... it's simple and fun, but there's no depth to it at all. You basically just run around, initiate chaos wherever you can by pressing the circle button, collect the coins that the irritated people drop, and when your host body is out of devices of destruction, you find another host body and repeat the process until you've met the requirements for the stage. It's alot of fun in short spurts, but it's the kind of thing that gets old very quickly. It looks like there are a couple of 2-player games I've yet to try, and they might be neat, but I can't say how well a split-screen would work, as things get so chaotic it's a challenge to keep track of your character even on the full screen. I'll try the normal mode later, hopefully there'll be a little more to it.

And finally, of course, I grabbed Katamari Damacy, which was my primary motive in importing a system in the first place. I haven't started that one yet, but I'll post impressions later once I have.

Also, this doesn't have to do with my new treasure from the far east, but I started playing Star Ocean Till the End of Time. I applaud Enix for postponing the game in order to bring over the director's cut as opposed to the original version. I'm impressed that they did that. Anyway, it's still too early to pass judgment on the game, but one thing for sure: it's insanely detailed. I'm particularly impressed with the character models and animation. They're extremely expressive, and superbly animated. (Sophia gets points for having the perkiest breasts this side of Soul Calibur 2, but I'm afraid she'll put on something more modest than that tank top as the game progresses.) At the very start of the game, there's already a dictionary of terms that I spent an hour browsing through. There's elaborate explanations for various fabricated historical figures, theoretical physics, interplanetary politics... I think this may have officially topped Xenosaga in terms of exhaustive detail.

There's also extensive dialogue even for simple events. For instance, I examined the wastebasket in Sophia's room and Fayt goes on a tangent about the junk food she's eating and how she'll get fat. When I finally got to the combat tutorial, I played one round and had the option of continuing or quitting. I chose to continue, and Sophia whined that she was tired of playing. Then she died in the battle, and I didn't think I could've finished it on my own so I ran. Afterwards, the conversation flowed accordingly: Sophia whined that she was exhausted, but wondered why I ran because she thought I could've handled it. That wasn't just text, either, it was full spoken dialogue. I guess I'd had heard different conversations if we'd won the battle, or if we'd both died, or if I'd quit after the first round.

I didn't like Star Ocean 2 and of course I'm wary of anything from Square-Enix, but since this was created by Tri-Ace back when Enix and Square where still two separate entities, I guess I'll take a chance on it. (It was looking awesome throughout development.) It's ridiculously ambitious, and such big-budget endeavors usually turn out catastrophic, but let's see where this goes.

It's also worth mentioning that I didn't get to the first save point for two solid hours. Hopefully save points aren't that far between each other once the game gets rolling...

Post by **Popcorn** » Sun Sep 05, 2004 5:23 pm

Katamari is beautiful.

Beautiful.

Post by **Green Gibbon!** » Sun Sep 05, 2004 6:00 pm

Of course I found out, like, two days after I made the order that Katamari is coming over. For $20. And it looks like they aren't even changing the title.

Dache · Post by **Dache** » Sun Sep 05, 2004 6:43 pm

Get Katamar--

Oh, right. Good.

Psxphile · Post by **Psxphile** » Mon Sep 06, 2004 7:46 pm

Being a bit further in Star Ocean than you are presently, I can say that the game certainly lives up to whatever hype's (what hype?) been spewing out of Square-Enix. I especially was struck by the pre-game intro, with its "History of Man and Space" theme (I got weird Enterprise vibes from it, though).

Save points are more frequent, of course. Still, there are times where you'll be winding through a dungeon and find yourself anxiously awaiting the next save point with bated breath.

Some of the cutscenes are <i>Xenosaga</i> in length, it's fortunate the game allows you to skip an event beforehand (but not during, apparently) by toggling an option, in case you die at some point right after an especially LONG scene. So far, things like that are pretty few and far between.

Yes, the combat simulator gives you different spoken dialogue depending on your actions. I lost the second battle and Sophia apologized for not being a better player.

I too have high hopes for this game. It's right around when I got Nel (yum) when I found myself truly enjoying the game and its free-for-all battle system...

Post by **Green Gibbon!** » Mon Sep 06, 2004 11:21 pm

That's just about the part I'm at now. I'm a little over ten hours in and I just left that snowy city. Or at least, I had left, then (spoiler omitted) accidentally ran backwards to it because I didn't know where the hell I was going. Now there are all these black knights roaming around the city gate and they kick my ass. I guess I'll have to try to run from them to get back to the trail I was supposed to be on.

I think my main qualm right now is the camera. With a world this rich, I think an over-the-shoulder view would have so much more impact than that stale overhead camera. It's the sheer amount of exhaustive detail fueled into every aspect of this thing that keeps goading me along... with so much effort put into creating an all-encompassing universe, it seems like an odd choice to distance the player with a far-off camera.

It's all really confusing sometimes. The dungeons and even towns are so freaking huge you can't tell where you're at at any given time without looking at the map (which is pretty obtrusive). It kind of sucks because you basically have to walk around with the map open all the time, and rather than enjoying the rich scenery, you're watching little dots move around a blue board.

My relationship with this game is very odd right now. It's undeniably captivated my interest, mostly because it's so different and has such a massive scope. But nothing about it's flat-out charmed me yet. That's not to say I don't like it, but I'm not in love with it. But it's so rich, it's like I'm eating some fine, expensive delicacy that I was not bred to appreciate. It's weird, by 10 hours in, I usually have a pretty strong opinion one way or the other, but I still don't know what my relationship with this game is. I think I like it, I may even love it, but I might also not really like it. I absolutely don't know.

This actually reminds me alot more of the original Xenogears than Xenosaga did. There's something sterile and decidedly Squaresoft about it, but the sheer depth can't be denied. Perhaps it's my own indecisiveness about the game that intrigues me.

I shall continue my investigation.

Ngangbius · Post by **Ngangbius** » Tue Sep 07, 2004 5:14 pm

What I heard from SO3 is that:

a) The first few hours of the game is one of the most boring intros in Console RPG history

b) The battle system is somewhat is broken and the A.I. is pretty stupid. Example, the computer controlled characters will waste their MP too fast during riducluous times making them easier to fall in battle. Also, I heard that you can't attack enemies when they are down since they are given tempoary invincibility--something like that and battle system just doesn't flow like ToS.

Though the good things I did hear is that the game really does look gorgeous--very hi-res, 60 fps, progressive scan, the works. The music is excellent and the English VAs are decent. I also heard the characters and story are supposed to get interesting(better than Tales) but I think it's the battle system that probably brought the scores down in reviews and why ToS was given higher scores than SO3.

Seeing that, I'm not really in a rush to go purchase it as there are too many frellin' games coming out this year I want. Seriously. And I'm keeping my eye out on Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne(which could be CRPG of the Year) and Paper Mario 2 because I loved all three Mario RPGs so far. I do know that when you pre-order SMT:N at Gamestop that you can recieve a free soundtrack containing 30 select songs. Now, I heard samples of this music and had it not been for this offer, I would have waited 'til SMT:N gone for cheap in the used market. Now it's a must buy. Ouch! There goes my purse.

Post by **Green Gibbon!** » Tue Sep 07, 2004 6:08 pm

Another thing that bothers me is, as inane as it sounds, the movement speed of your character. For reasons unknown, it isn't analog. You can either run or, by holding down the circle button, walk. The running speed is too fast and the walking speed is too slow. For a game that strives to be cutting edge, it's odd that the control system is so archaic.

The combat's also rather clunky. None of the elements really come together. There are two basic attacks to use, swift and powerful, but swift attacks will usually be blocked and powerful attacks will usually be cut off by a counterattack before they've landed. Special moves cost HP, which is just plain weird. Once, at a very critical juncture, I accidentally switched control to the wrong character, and by the time I managed to get back to Fayt, Cliff and Nel were set to manual. By the time I realized what was going on, the party was almost slain.

Yet, again, I am oddly compelled to move forward. I really do want to see where I'm going to go next and what's going to happen when I get there. It's still to early for me to make comparisons with Symphonia. Star Ocean definitely isn't as immediately loveable, but the presentation of the world is outstanding.

As before, I shall continue my investigation.

Post by **Green Gibbon!** » Tue Sep 07, 2004 8:20 pm

Another thing: this turtle kart riding thing that I've been fucking with for the past hour and a half is bullshit.

Psxphile · Post by **Psxphile** » Tue Sep 07, 2004 9:53 pm

Yup.

Keep to Steady, take the first fork left, then right, reduce speed and duck into the rest stop to lower your Stress, continue left and left again, slowing to a standstill when threatened by falling debris (if you're lucky, your stress won't go up). After the long stretch head left at the fork once more and you're home free.

Explore the rest of the cave if you wish, but that's the quickest (and only) way out of that bastard cave.

Word of advice: in the next area, avoid the cave. Nothing for you there, and the dragon inside will completelely and utterly RAPE your party. In fact, don't go into ANY area if you spot a dragon, least for the time being.

Post by **Green Gibbon!** » Wed Sep 08, 2004 10:51 am

I made it through (completely by accident) using the ill-tempered turtle. I missed some treasure, but fuggit. Since there are some treasures I couldn't reach at all, I figure I'll end up back there at some point, and if I still feel like being completist then (something I usually give up after around 30 or 40 hours), I'll grab them.

Post by **Green Gibbon!** » Wed Sep 08, 2004 9:19 pm

Okay, this is killing me: am I crazy, or do I detect bump mapping on some of the stone floors? Is the PS2 even capable of that?

The game has blown me away with its graphical prowess. This is doing things most people don't feel like wringing out of the Xbox, all at a flawless 60fps. The realtime lighting is out of this world.