Life... and Suikoden IV!
So this weekend was pretty fun. Friday until Saturday I went over my friend's house and had good food. Its nice to relax there. Also on Saturday night I went late night bowling and I continue to chuck the ball at amazing speeds. Its been a couple years but last time I was clocked throwing a bowling ball it went around 28 mph. Everyone I asked assumes it goes that fast still or faster.
Monday I finished Suikoden IV. Since I don't know if everyone's finished it yet (I only know that Matt has for sure), I will cut my thoughts right below here:
So oh my, I somehow got all 108 Stars on my first playthrough. Well, I did for Suikoden 3, but I used a FAQ to help, and I didn't this time. I REALLY don't know how, even though I took my time and I beat the game in a bit over 30 hours of playtime. Some of the Stars were really random. I'm glad I explored my ship all the time, otherwise I don't know how I would have got some of them. Also, who knew I would've fished up a SoD in the FISHING NET? I'm just glad I was totally playing around with it, and I accidently fished up that mermaid sister. I think what helped was I explored the HELL out of places and tried a lot of things. Getting TED (yes, TED WOO!), was random too. Wandering into the War Room like that. Even though the Soul Eater was toned down, once I got Ted he was in my main party until the end. So I've deduced that exploring places repeatedly and playing with everything = all of the Stars.
ANd oh my, I didn't think it was possible, but Jeane has gotten even skimpier since the last game. Holy crow's feet, its like she took a bed sheet that went through a cheese shredder and put it on. @_@;;;;. Also, she ACTUALLY fights in your party! I figured she would be one of the best magicians, so I leveled her up and had her in my main party since recruitment. So that left one open party space, and it was mostly taken up by Kika. I don't remmeber the Falcon Rune being in Suikoden 3, and I didn't use it much in S2. But in S1 it was badass, and it was quite awesome here too. Plus the Two Swords Attack was a nice multiple hitting combo attack. For the final boss though, I switched Kika for Snowe. I'm sure some of you are grimacing at that move, but their combo helped kick the final boss REAL fast.I just had Kika lead the second team. Which, in retrospect, was a good idea. The Falcon Rune saved the day against Cray.
I have come to another conclusion: every even numbered Suikoden will contain a betraying friend. Or they will if they go by the current track record. However, I really didn't hate Snowe as much as Jowy. Snowe really was pathetic on his own, and by the time you find him on the log in his burlap sack pants I actually felt a BIT sorry for him. He really was quite the coward at first, but I'm glad by the end he finally got a brain. I think his patheticness is what seperates him from betrayer Jowy, who was actually successful. Jowy became King of Highland; Snowe was king of a log. So by the end, I wasn't grimacing as I accepted him as the last Star.
Only two major things irked me about the game. One was the spell animations. I was surprised at how basic they were. Black Shadow was just black orbs? Judgement was SO BASIC. The Lightning Rune was the most disappointing...most of the bolts looked the same, or barely increased in size. And where were the Blue Gate and/or Ressurection Runes? I missed those. But yeah, I think S1 and S2 had QUITE better animations then the ones in here. So that was quite surprising and a bit disappointing.
Second was the crappiness of the Rune of Punishment. I mean...for being a True Rune, it was very subpar. I know being the Rune of Punishment it would damage the wielder. But that second level spell? Why use it when a Fire Rune spell of the same level did just as much damage to the enemy without damaging yourself? And the 3rd level spell...death happened WAY more then 10% of the time, I'm sorry. It flat out lied to me. Other then that, the first spell was alright, and the 4th level spell would have been okay if I didn't have him magic comboing with Jeane or Ted. For a True Rune though, its quite disappointing.
I think that's all of the main points I wanted to address. Also, some additional comments:
- The Confessional Room = Best new addition ever!
- I enjoyed the naval ship battles. However, most of the battles were VERY easy. The setup of the enemies Rune Cannons made them very easy to counter.
- Mobile Base made leveling so much easier. Plus, it was just plain awesome. SO many mini games. SO much to do on the ship. I liked it a lot better then Budehuc castle. Also, its the first base you had that DIDN'T start as run down, which was nice and different. No fixing up, just start the engine and go!
- I thought the voice acting was really well done. I have been playing Baiten Kaitos recently, and that's voice acting was AWFUL in my opinion. The voices flowed well, you could sense emotion in them, and the voice's matched with the characters pretty well. Also, I loved the OST.
- The New Game+ feature has me excited to play through again in the near future. ^_^;
- I think Rachel is Camielle's ancestor. And after checking a star chart, I also think Gary and Ema are the ancestors of Max and Sancho. Of course, I would be shocked if Rita wasn't related to Meg.
All in all, I LOVED the game though. Of course I would because its Suikoden, but the gameplay felt a lot like Suikoden 1, which was nolstalgic. Plus it was presented well except for a few minor details. And for $39.99 to boot! The money was well spent. ^_^
And that's that! Comments anyone? ^_^;
So I was planning to post this sometime Tuesday. But my lazy ass had my LJ client minimized in the taskbar until now. So I plan to make another post right after this explaining the rest of my week...okay looking at the time and being EXTREMELY tired, I'm thinking I'll do that tomorrow/later today. If this post lacks focus and grammar, my mood is the reason why.
And finally to end this post, a Suikoden True Rune quiz stolen from...many people!:
Which Suikoden True Rune Are You Compatible With?
brought to you by Quizilla
More like half of a True Rune, but I'll take it. ^_^
Also, Happy Birthday selie! ^__^
Monday I finished Suikoden IV. Since I don't know if everyone's finished it yet (I only know that Matt has for sure), I will cut my thoughts right below here:
So oh my, I somehow got all 108 Stars on my first playthrough. Well, I did for Suikoden 3, but I used a FAQ to help, and I didn't this time. I REALLY don't know how, even though I took my time and I beat the game in a bit over 30 hours of playtime. Some of the Stars were really random. I'm glad I explored my ship all the time, otherwise I don't know how I would have got some of them. Also, who knew I would've fished up a SoD in the FISHING NET? I'm just glad I was totally playing around with it, and I accidently fished up that mermaid sister. I think what helped was I explored the HELL out of places and tried a lot of things. Getting TED (yes, TED WOO!), was random too. Wandering into the War Room like that. Even though the Soul Eater was toned down, once I got Ted he was in my main party until the end. So I've deduced that exploring places repeatedly and playing with everything = all of the Stars.
ANd oh my, I didn't think it was possible, but Jeane has gotten even skimpier since the last game. Holy crow's feet, its like she took a bed sheet that went through a cheese shredder and put it on. @_@;;;;. Also, she ACTUALLY fights in your party! I figured she would be one of the best magicians, so I leveled her up and had her in my main party since recruitment. So that left one open party space, and it was mostly taken up by Kika. I don't remmeber the Falcon Rune being in Suikoden 3, and I didn't use it much in S2. But in S1 it was badass, and it was quite awesome here too. Plus the Two Swords Attack was a nice multiple hitting combo attack. For the final boss though, I switched Kika for Snowe. I'm sure some of you are grimacing at that move, but their combo helped kick the final boss REAL fast.I just had Kika lead the second team. Which, in retrospect, was a good idea. The Falcon Rune saved the day against Cray.
I have come to another conclusion: every even numbered Suikoden will contain a betraying friend. Or they will if they go by the current track record. However, I really didn't hate Snowe as much as Jowy. Snowe really was pathetic on his own, and by the time you find him on the log in his burlap sack pants I actually felt a BIT sorry for him. He really was quite the coward at first, but I'm glad by the end he finally got a brain. I think his patheticness is what seperates him from betrayer Jowy, who was actually successful. Jowy became King of Highland; Snowe was king of a log. So by the end, I wasn't grimacing as I accepted him as the last Star.
Only two major things irked me about the game. One was the spell animations. I was surprised at how basic they were. Black Shadow was just black orbs? Judgement was SO BASIC. The Lightning Rune was the most disappointing...most of the bolts looked the same, or barely increased in size. And where were the Blue Gate and/or Ressurection Runes? I missed those. But yeah, I think S1 and S2 had QUITE better animations then the ones in here. So that was quite surprising and a bit disappointing.
Second was the crappiness of the Rune of Punishment. I mean...for being a True Rune, it was very subpar. I know being the Rune of Punishment it would damage the wielder. But that second level spell? Why use it when a Fire Rune spell of the same level did just as much damage to the enemy without damaging yourself? And the 3rd level spell...death happened WAY more then 10% of the time, I'm sorry. It flat out lied to me. Other then that, the first spell was alright, and the 4th level spell would have been okay if I didn't have him magic comboing with Jeane or Ted. For a True Rune though, its quite disappointing.
I think that's all of the main points I wanted to address. Also, some additional comments:
- The Confessional Room = Best new addition ever!
- I enjoyed the naval ship battles. However, most of the battles were VERY easy. The setup of the enemies Rune Cannons made them very easy to counter.
- Mobile Base made leveling so much easier. Plus, it was just plain awesome. SO many mini games. SO much to do on the ship. I liked it a lot better then Budehuc castle. Also, its the first base you had that DIDN'T start as run down, which was nice and different. No fixing up, just start the engine and go!
- I thought the voice acting was really well done. I have been playing Baiten Kaitos recently, and that's voice acting was AWFUL in my opinion. The voices flowed well, you could sense emotion in them, and the voice's matched with the characters pretty well. Also, I loved the OST.
- The New Game+ feature has me excited to play through again in the near future. ^_^;
- I think Rachel is Camielle's ancestor. And after checking a star chart, I also think Gary and Ema are the ancestors of Max and Sancho. Of course, I would be shocked if Rita wasn't related to Meg.
All in all, I LOVED the game though. Of course I would because its Suikoden, but the gameplay felt a lot like Suikoden 1, which was nolstalgic. Plus it was presented well except for a few minor details. And for $39.99 to boot! The money was well spent. ^_^
And that's that! Comments anyone? ^_^;
So I was planning to post this sometime Tuesday. But my lazy ass had my LJ client minimized in the taskbar until now. So I plan to make another post right after this explaining the rest of my week...okay looking at the time and being EXTREMELY tired, I'm thinking I'll do that tomorrow/later today. If this post lacks focus and grammar, my mood is the reason why.
And finally to end this post, a Suikoden True Rune quiz stolen from...many people!:
Which Suikoden True Rune Are You Compatible With?
brought to you by Quizilla
More like half of a True Rune, but I'll take it. ^_^
Also, Happy Birthday selie! ^__^