Games games games
Last night, I got back on the wagon with Final Fantasy XIII again. I hadn't played in almost 3 weeks mostly because I've been distracted by Warioware D.I.Y., which is a whole lot of fun, by the way. If you're like me and have always wanted to try designing games, this is your chance. Although the interface is limited to touchscreen tap gameplay, there's still a whole lot of possibilities to play around with. One complaint that I have is that you can only share games with people who you've friended on Wii or that you can see in person to connect over DS WiFi. I really think they should at least feature 25 or so of the best player-made games each week on the Wario Wii channel. Overall, great product, though.
Anyway, Final Fantasy XIII. The fact that I ever fell off the wagon isn't a great sign. With jRPGs, I either get totally wrapped up and play til the very end, or I loose interest and never finish the game or do so years later. I never finished FFXII, for example. Yahtzee, of course, contributed his 2 cents saying that XIII is crap, but admittedly, he only played for about 5 hours.
I wouldn't be quite so hard on FFXIII. The battle system is pretty fun although somewhat unforgiving at times (fortunately, they counterbalance the frequency of KO by allowing you to retry from the battle where you died). This new incarnation of the ATB system really keeps you on your toes, and you have to have at least a moderate understanding of each fighter class in order to be successful. I'm not too fond of the method used to upgrade weapons and accessories. You have to collect components that enemies drop in battle and then apply those components to your items to make them 'level up'. The problem is that there are so many weapons and accessories, and components (good components, anyway) seem to be very hard to come by. You have the option of buying components, but Gil is scarce as well; enemies don't drop money; you can only make money through selling things. The mix of gameplay with generous helpings of CG cutscenes works for me since I'm a storyline junkie, although some people may feel as if they're spending more time 'watching' FFXIII rather than playing it. So far, I've only reached chapter 8, but I'm very much enjoying the storyline and the eye candy and am looking forward to the game becoming a bit non-linear after chapter 13.
In other news, a friend at work talked me into getting into God of War. I downloaded the E3 demo of GoW3 last week and was pretty blown away. In order to get myself caught up, I picked up GoW Collection (an HD remix of the first two games) and ordered GoW3 from Amazon... for one dollar. That's right! I filled out a Nissan survey and was rewarded with a $50 Amazon gift code! So, I got the entire GoW series for roughly $35.00. Not bad, huh?
Anyway, Final Fantasy XIII. The fact that I ever fell off the wagon isn't a great sign. With jRPGs, I either get totally wrapped up and play til the very end, or I loose interest and never finish the game or do so years later. I never finished FFXII, for example. Yahtzee, of course, contributed his 2 cents saying that XIII is crap, but admittedly, he only played for about 5 hours.
I wouldn't be quite so hard on FFXIII. The battle system is pretty fun although somewhat unforgiving at times (fortunately, they counterbalance the frequency of KO by allowing you to retry from the battle where you died). This new incarnation of the ATB system really keeps you on your toes, and you have to have at least a moderate understanding of each fighter class in order to be successful. I'm not too fond of the method used to upgrade weapons and accessories. You have to collect components that enemies drop in battle and then apply those components to your items to make them 'level up'. The problem is that there are so many weapons and accessories, and components (good components, anyway) seem to be very hard to come by. You have the option of buying components, but Gil is scarce as well; enemies don't drop money; you can only make money through selling things. The mix of gameplay with generous helpings of CG cutscenes works for me since I'm a storyline junkie, although some people may feel as if they're spending more time 'watching' FFXIII rather than playing it. So far, I've only reached chapter 8, but I'm very much enjoying the storyline and the eye candy and am looking forward to the game becoming a bit non-linear after chapter 13.
In other news, a friend at work talked me into getting into God of War. I downloaded the E3 demo of GoW3 last week and was pretty blown away. In order to get myself caught up, I picked up GoW Collection (an HD remix of the first two games) and ordered GoW3 from Amazon... for one dollar. That's right! I filled out a Nissan survey and was rewarded with a $50 Amazon gift code! So, I got the entire GoW series for roughly $35.00. Not bad, huh?