1. It is apparently impossible to write about Sword of Mana w/o mentioning it's a remake of the Game Boy non-classic Final Fantasy Adventure but I will do my best not to.
2. Since I have not yet mentioned what this game is a remake of, it will not surprise you at all that the game play here in no way resembles a Final Fantasy game. It seems to be an attempt at a Legend of Zelda type experience--and, yes, it's only an attempt.
3. It feels more like a straight-up bit-era RPG that has real-time combat awkwardly overlaid. Your character always moves w/ this sort of stiffness that's fine when combat is always dealt w/ in a separate battle sequence but doesn't work w/ real-time fighting. In theory, there's lots of depth to the combat system. In practice, I just mashed attack towards enemies that were easy enough to kill and ran past the ones who weren't.
4. This is pretty representative of the quality of Sword of Mana as a whole. There's a lot of good ideas here but everything lacks polish to such a degree that it ends up being a few things that are done well poking from behind a wall of mediocrity. Honestly, I can already tell this review is going to just be a list of things that annoyed me about this game and I'm not even going to fight it.
5. To get it out of the way, the music is rocking and awesome and I love it. Now, let's hop aboard the complain train!
6. You play most of the time w/ a various NPC companions. They are, of course, supposed to be helpful and, of course, they are not. Let's just say that when one of mine walked into a pit of lava and just stood there until he died, it did not surprise me even slightly.
7. There are a ton of different weapon types and different kinds of elemental magic but the GBA does not offer enough buttons to access to all this stuff easily so you are forced to pause the game and go through multiple levels of menu in order to switch things out. It's cool that various enemies and obstacles require a certain weapon or spells to deal w/ but having to dive into a menu every time you run across these things gets grating after a while.
8. Graphics look technically great and will pull at the wee nostalgia strings of those who are fond of 90s RPGs but I found I missed all kinds of important details and got stuck a few times just because it was too difficult to discern a wall w/ a small crack in it from the hundreds of nearly identical wall sections near by.
9. There is a day and night cycle that doesn't matter at all. I mean there are different enemies depending what time it is and sometimes there's obstacles that can only be passed at a certain time of day but you can just walk back and forth between screens until it's the time of day you want so it's more annoying than anything.
10. Save points are scattered haphazardly throughout the land. They are normally fairly frequent but there are some pretty long stretches w/o one which is a big problem for a handheld game. Also, they love placing them such that you have to rewatch the cut scenes before boss battles over and over if you don't win the first try.
11. Number 10 is not a problem because most of the bosses are trivially easy, aside from one that is strong against literally every single weapon type. What the hell? I just loved having to take down a 600+ hit point boss a couple hit points at a time. Sorry I didn't do a magic-based build that was completely useless against everything but this one boss.
12. There's some puzzle solving invovled here but the puzzles are like, "find each switch and hit it." They went as far as to copy the classic Zelda trope of having to hit switches from mine carts on tracks and it was still just an exercise in hitting every single possible switch.
13. For all my complaining, Sword of Mana is actually a pretty good game. There's a ton of complexity and build options for your character, lots of side content and two playable characters that change the way the story is told depending on who you picked to play. Nearly every single moment of it though is marred by some oversight or another. If you are not hitting five buttons to switch weapons, you are hitting five buttons to switch spells or having to hit the same button five times in an attempt to find the correct spot to jump over a wall. Writing this here in mid 2019, I wonder just who the audience to this game might still be. It is certainly not a must-play classic. It is not really a hidden gem for action RPG or handheld nerds and there's tons of better options if you are just looking for something fun to play. I suppose if you are some sort of GBA or Square Enix completest, this might be worth playing but otherwise I am just not sure it's worth your time.
Wednesday, May 15, 2019
Thursday, May 9, 2019
13 Points on Her Story - Sam Barlow - 2015 [PC]
1. I whole heatedly recommend playing this game even though there are an
absolute ton of issues w/ it. Watching the trailers kind of gave me
flashbacks to Night Trap and other horrible full motion video games back in the 90s but this is much more than just a novelty.
2. The reason for number 1 is Viva Seifert's acting, very strictly. It was a performance that required a heroic amount of subtlety to even be decent and she made it great.
3. Honestly, the rave reviews for Her Story's writing are more indicative of how low the writing bar is set in gaming than it is of the writing actually being good. This is really about made for TV level. Sure there are some interesting bits but it's nothing fans of the mystery genre don't see a hundred times a year.
4. I only realized number 3 after thinking about the game quite a bit after playing. The reason for this is number 2.
5. It is worth emphasizing that this is the kind of game you will think about quite a bit after playing.
6. Though the gameplay is not at all the same, I feel like this fits in the with the walking sim genre in terms of feel. The difference is instead of wandering around and discovering little bits and bobs about the story in the manner of, say, Dear Esther, you input searches into a database program and the story is revealed to you through the videos that come up.
7. This was way more engaging than any walking sim I've ever played. To explain this, I will simply point you once again to number 2.
8. As a story telling medium, this type of game really works but I think it could have been done a lot better. It only took me an hour or maybe an hour and a half to figure out essentially everything important but it took me four hours to finish the game.
9. Number 8 brings us to the essential problem with this style of story telling, which is that it kind of inherently can't have a planned climactic moment. Maybe it's your hundredth search that gives you the big reveal, maybe it's the second. Her Story seemed to try to get around this by having many small reveals but the problem remains that you may find all the good stuff early on and then find yourself watching unimportant garbage for the next hour or two.
10. This game doesn't really end. After a while, you basically get an option to say you don't want to play anymore and then when you quit, the credits roll. This is again kinda the same problem as 8 and 9.
11. This does not wrap up everything in a neat little package for you when it's done. The ending such as it is is intentionally ambiguous. If that bothers you, grow up.
12. I went and rewatched the videos in order after playing and I do think the story works better as it was presented than it would have been in a more traditional manner. I don't think this is quite so ground breaking as some of its little marketing blurbs would have you believe but, you know, almost.
13. It is worth emphasizing that Her Story is good enough that I wanted to go back and rewatch everything immediately after playing. See again: number 2.
2. The reason for number 1 is Viva Seifert's acting, very strictly. It was a performance that required a heroic amount of subtlety to even be decent and she made it great.
3. Honestly, the rave reviews for Her Story's writing are more indicative of how low the writing bar is set in gaming than it is of the writing actually being good. This is really about made for TV level. Sure there are some interesting bits but it's nothing fans of the mystery genre don't see a hundred times a year.
4. I only realized number 3 after thinking about the game quite a bit after playing. The reason for this is number 2.
5. It is worth emphasizing that this is the kind of game you will think about quite a bit after playing.
6. Though the gameplay is not at all the same, I feel like this fits in the with the walking sim genre in terms of feel. The difference is instead of wandering around and discovering little bits and bobs about the story in the manner of, say, Dear Esther, you input searches into a database program and the story is revealed to you through the videos that come up.
7. This was way more engaging than any walking sim I've ever played. To explain this, I will simply point you once again to number 2.
8. As a story telling medium, this type of game really works but I think it could have been done a lot better. It only took me an hour or maybe an hour and a half to figure out essentially everything important but it took me four hours to finish the game.
9. Number 8 brings us to the essential problem with this style of story telling, which is that it kind of inherently can't have a planned climactic moment. Maybe it's your hundredth search that gives you the big reveal, maybe it's the second. Her Story seemed to try to get around this by having many small reveals but the problem remains that you may find all the good stuff early on and then find yourself watching unimportant garbage for the next hour or two.
10. This game doesn't really end. After a while, you basically get an option to say you don't want to play anymore and then when you quit, the credits roll. This is again kinda the same problem as 8 and 9.
11. This does not wrap up everything in a neat little package for you when it's done. The ending such as it is is intentionally ambiguous. If that bothers you, grow up.
12. I went and rewatched the videos in order after playing and I do think the story works better as it was presented than it would have been in a more traditional manner. I don't think this is quite so ground breaking as some of its little marketing blurbs would have you believe but, you know, almost.
13. It is worth emphasizing that Her Story is good enough that I wanted to go back and rewatch everything immediately after playing. See again: number 2.
Wednesday, May 1, 2019
13 Points on Squidlit - Squidlit Ink. - 2018 [PC]
1. Squidlit seeks to recreate the Game Boy experience on hardware that is much more expensive and powerful. You might think this is kind of dumb but it's a good time so hold your tongue.
2. I think a lot of people w/ this goal might just go ahead and build an Game Boy homebrew to play on emulators. I like the idea of just making it a playable Windows game that holds to the same limitations. It's much more accessible. Only dorks download Game Boy homebrew to play on emulators. Cool people like us just want to click a button and have things work after waiting for a download and install.
3. I actually think the developers stuck a little too much to what Game Boy games are really like. Specifically, there is no way to save your progress. It's a super short game but this is still no fun to find this out by surprise. I dunno... I guess what I'm saying is don't start this if you expect a pizza to be delivered in fifteen minutes.
4. In Squidlit, you play as a squidlit, which is a small land-walking squid. You can jump and shoot ink downward at enemies. It's a simple control scheme but it's enough.
5. At the game's outset, you talk to the first character you see and are given a quest. Unsurprisingly, this quest involves a lot of jumping and shooting ink downward at enemies, while traveling towards the right side of your screen.
6. I am very impressed by the shades of green they use here. I feel like many Game Boy emulators and such never get the greens quite right but Squidlit does. W/o a non-backlit screen, you never really get Game Boy games looking just so but this comes as close as anything I've seen. In all seriousness, I think Squidlit is worth playing simply to experience this greenness sublime.
7. The sound too is Game Boy correct. The developers said they used Little Sound DJ to make it so this makes sense. They also took pains to not use too many sound channels at once when using sound effects. I am of the mind that you can take some liberties w/ this stuff when making bit-era throwbacks but I do appreciate the attention to detail.
8. It helps that the music is excellent and it seems to get better as the game goes on.
9. Actually, in general, Squidlit gets better as it goes on. It's one of those games where you can tell the developers built the levels in the order they occur. The early levels are pretty plain and straighforward but the last levels start to have some cool puzzle solving elements.
10. I wish the puzzle solving would have started at the level it was at at the end of the game and progressed from there. Squidlit only started feeling really engaging once that element was there.
11. The boss battles are really cool. Each one breaks from standard gameplay and provides a nice change of pace. My favorite is really the first one though, which is a side scrolling shmup type boss that I believe is a reference to Tatanga in Super Mario Land.
12. The story of Squidlit is told completely through on screen text and most of it is skip-able when you have to replay the first half of the game after you closed it halfway through. It's a light-hearted and a bit silly take on the hero's quest. Pretty standard fare for the style of game and well done.
13. It might seem like I'm focusing a bit too much on the Game Boy-ness of Squidlit but that's really its whole pitch. The developers set out to make a Game Boy game on PC and sure as sunshine they did it. It's fun and quick to play in addition to being a neato curiosity so definitely worth checking out if you are inclined to check such things out.
2. I think a lot of people w/ this goal might just go ahead and build an Game Boy homebrew to play on emulators. I like the idea of just making it a playable Windows game that holds to the same limitations. It's much more accessible. Only dorks download Game Boy homebrew to play on emulators. Cool people like us just want to click a button and have things work after waiting for a download and install.
3. I actually think the developers stuck a little too much to what Game Boy games are really like. Specifically, there is no way to save your progress. It's a super short game but this is still no fun to find this out by surprise. I dunno... I guess what I'm saying is don't start this if you expect a pizza to be delivered in fifteen minutes.
4. In Squidlit, you play as a squidlit, which is a small land-walking squid. You can jump and shoot ink downward at enemies. It's a simple control scheme but it's enough.
5. At the game's outset, you talk to the first character you see and are given a quest. Unsurprisingly, this quest involves a lot of jumping and shooting ink downward at enemies, while traveling towards the right side of your screen.
6. I am very impressed by the shades of green they use here. I feel like many Game Boy emulators and such never get the greens quite right but Squidlit does. W/o a non-backlit screen, you never really get Game Boy games looking just so but this comes as close as anything I've seen. In all seriousness, I think Squidlit is worth playing simply to experience this greenness sublime.
7. The sound too is Game Boy correct. The developers said they used Little Sound DJ to make it so this makes sense. They also took pains to not use too many sound channels at once when using sound effects. I am of the mind that you can take some liberties w/ this stuff when making bit-era throwbacks but I do appreciate the attention to detail.
8. It helps that the music is excellent and it seems to get better as the game goes on.
9. Actually, in general, Squidlit gets better as it goes on. It's one of those games where you can tell the developers built the levels in the order they occur. The early levels are pretty plain and straighforward but the last levels start to have some cool puzzle solving elements.
10. I wish the puzzle solving would have started at the level it was at at the end of the game and progressed from there. Squidlit only started feeling really engaging once that element was there.
11. The boss battles are really cool. Each one breaks from standard gameplay and provides a nice change of pace. My favorite is really the first one though, which is a side scrolling shmup type boss that I believe is a reference to Tatanga in Super Mario Land.
12. The story of Squidlit is told completely through on screen text and most of it is skip-able when you have to replay the first half of the game after you closed it halfway through. It's a light-hearted and a bit silly take on the hero's quest. Pretty standard fare for the style of game and well done.
13. It might seem like I'm focusing a bit too much on the Game Boy-ness of Squidlit but that's really its whole pitch. The developers set out to make a Game Boy game on PC and sure as sunshine they did it. It's fun and quick to play in addition to being a neato curiosity so definitely worth checking out if you are inclined to check such things out.
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