** Spoilers Ahead. As if you cared at this point... **
Just when I thought it was over, when I thought I was done, there was more. I knew it had to happen, as the Sonic mortality I had heard about hadn't occurred yet, and I knew from Sonic Adventures 1 and 2 that a "last story" was almost assured.
I started the Last Episode almost immediately on the heels of playing Silver's episode. Uggh. It's terrible. A la Sonic Adventure 2, we play as multiple characters. However, unlike Sonic Adventure 2, this last segment is awful and no fun to play. Mysterious eye-like orbs begin appearing in random spots, and you MUST avoid them: they draw you in and hand out one-hit kills to the character unfortunate enough to come into contact with them. Certain stones reverse the effects of the end of the world/universe, but the effects wear off very quickly. My first attempt, I blazed through three Game Overs and much patience.
Any other time, there'd be checkpoints between characters. After all, Last Episode has loading screens between each character's sections! Alas it does not, leading to a terrible situation. You, the player, are tasked with retrieving the seven Chaos Emeralds from various terrains from the game. Let's do the math here. Every time the player gets a Game Over, he or she restarts with 5 lives. There are 7 Chaos Emeralds, meaning 7 segments to gather them all. Given how the different characters play, and how the level design practically throws you into the grabby eyes, this equation equals 1 very frustrating end story.
Once that frustrating bit of game is over, there's even more cut scenes. Sonic is brought back to life, and the three hedgehogs go super. The final boss fight itself is kinda "eh." It's just flying around, trying to hit Solaris's weak spot. I didn't know what to do exactly, so I just spammed the attacks of whatever character I was playing. (You had to alternate so each character could gather more rings off-screen.) A few minutes of whaling away later, and it was done. Sonic and Elise blow out the flame in the past, and the game didn't happen.
If only that were true of real life.
Sunday, February 1, 2015
Sunday, January 25, 2015
Tuesday, January 13, 2015
Gaming Chronicles - Sonic '06: It's NO USE! (And Now We're Playing Silver)
Alright, shocking truth coming your way. Big upset, so you'd better sit down. Sitting down? Good.
I enjoyed playing as Silver. Granted, the camera was still a pain, and the overall gameplay was still bad, but finally being able to throw things at enemies and It's No Use (TM) my enemies was great. In Silver's first few levels, I was having a good time. Even the fight with Sonic was easy, and I beat it in less than a minute.
That said, much was bad. Certain levels took over 15:00 to complete. One particular level, Silver's run through the Dusty Desert, has a terribly convoluted puzzle involving a numbered sphere and a over long obstacle course. In a proud moment (at least, for me) I finally did a useful clip in-game. Previously, I clipped through a door just for kicks. This time, I used Silver's powers and a random box to clip him through a door to skip the obnoxious puzzle. It was a glorious moment.
After that, I finally started getting annoyed at the game again. Hits from enemies stops characters completely, Amy Rose played horribly, and Blaze didn't play much better, despite better attacks and mobility.
The last straw was Silver's final boss fight with Iblis. I went through four Game Overs before breaking down and looking for a video online. The game never indicates that a particular attack can be used back on him. Besides that point, the boss fight was easy, if a little boring. And annoying.
And then I started into the Last Episode... More on that later.
I enjoyed playing as Silver. Granted, the camera was still a pain, and the overall gameplay was still bad, but finally being able to throw things at enemies and It's No Use (TM) my enemies was great. In Silver's first few levels, I was having a good time. Even the fight with Sonic was easy, and I beat it in less than a minute.
That said, much was bad. Certain levels took over 15:00 to complete. One particular level, Silver's run through the Dusty Desert, has a terribly convoluted puzzle involving a numbered sphere and a over long obstacle course. In a proud moment (at least, for me) I finally did a useful clip in-game. Previously, I clipped through a door just for kicks. This time, I used Silver's powers and a random box to clip him through a door to skip the obnoxious puzzle. It was a glorious moment.
After that, I finally started getting annoyed at the game again. Hits from enemies stops characters completely, Amy Rose played horribly, and Blaze didn't play much better, despite better attacks and mobility.
The last straw was Silver's final boss fight with Iblis. I went through four Game Overs before breaking down and looking for a video online. The game never indicates that a particular attack can be used back on him. Besides that point, the boss fight was easy, if a little boring. And annoying.
And then I started into the Last Episode... More on that later.
Saturday, January 3, 2015
Gaming Chronicles - Sonic '06: Shadow! The Grittier Sonic
Alright! Now it's time to tackle the Shadow campaign. I know I could go ahead and play Silver, but I'll save that fun for later. Anyway, I actually like Shadow more than Sonic or Silver. Yeah, yeah, the games overload his angst a bit. Still, he's a bit deeper of a character than Sonic. (At least, in my opinion.)
One nice thing about Shadow is that there are no mach speed sections. Instead, Shadow's story has a lot of vehicular sections. Oddly enough, I enjoyed some of them. The glider was a bit fun! However, the land buggy thing was way too sensitive, and I found myself jumping out of it early to escape the annoyance. I can't say much about the water vehicle. It was OK.
Unlike Sonic, Shadow has a kick technique that he does after a homing attack. Most of the times, I avoided using the attack as getting out of it was annoying and slowed my pace down. Similar to Sonic, aiming a homing attack incorrectly would send my flying, often off random ledges into the abyss. And there was another Silver fight. (I dread Silver's story because of that; he fights Sonic and Shadow... Ugggghghghg.)
Playing as Rouge was just annoying. She has to stop whenever she attacks. Walking, flying, whatever. At least Tails could fly and throw at the same time. Anyhow, that didn't compare to the E-123 Omega sections. (I won't go into how they totally changed his voice, that's a different issue entirely.) His attacks were weird, and I couldn't just attack enemies. I had to be above them. Supposedly he had a target-lock system (a la E-102 in Sonic Adventure) but I never got the hang of it.
As I feared, the Silver fight was horrible. Out of the five Game Overs I got in that play session, three of them were from Silver. I eventually figured out a trick to beating him (using the passing cargo containers by kicking on top of them. It wasn't perfect, but it helped.) Shadow's final boss fight, with Mephiles, was also annoying. I wasted 11 minutes in one failed attempt because the dodgy homing-attack aiming didn't let me climb the fake Mephiles to get the final hit on the real one.
Starting out, I was ambivalent. However, by the time I got to 80% and higher, I just wanted to be done with Shadow. I just couldn't *wait* to get to Silver's story. Just one full campaign left, and I'll be finally done. I hope.
One nice thing about Shadow is that there are no mach speed sections. Instead, Shadow's story has a lot of vehicular sections. Oddly enough, I enjoyed some of them. The glider was a bit fun! However, the land buggy thing was way too sensitive, and I found myself jumping out of it early to escape the annoyance. I can't say much about the water vehicle. It was OK.
Unlike Sonic, Shadow has a kick technique that he does after a homing attack. Most of the times, I avoided using the attack as getting out of it was annoying and slowed my pace down. Similar to Sonic, aiming a homing attack incorrectly would send my flying, often off random ledges into the abyss. And there was another Silver fight. (I dread Silver's story because of that; he fights Sonic and Shadow... Ugggghghghg.)
Playing as Rouge was just annoying. She has to stop whenever she attacks. Walking, flying, whatever. At least Tails could fly and throw at the same time. Anyhow, that didn't compare to the E-123 Omega sections. (I won't go into how they totally changed his voice, that's a different issue entirely.) His attacks were weird, and I couldn't just attack enemies. I had to be above them. Supposedly he had a target-lock system (a la E-102 in Sonic Adventure) but I never got the hang of it.
As I feared, the Silver fight was horrible. Out of the five Game Overs I got in that play session, three of them were from Silver. I eventually figured out a trick to beating him (using the passing cargo containers by kicking on top of them. It wasn't perfect, but it helped.) Shadow's final boss fight, with Mephiles, was also annoying. I wasted 11 minutes in one failed attempt because the dodgy homing-attack aiming didn't let me climb the fake Mephiles to get the final hit on the real one.
Starting out, I was ambivalent. However, by the time I got to 80% and higher, I just wanted to be done with Shadow. I just couldn't *wait* to get to Silver's story. Just one full campaign left, and I'll be finally done. I hope.
Thursday, December 18, 2014
Gaming Chronicles - Sonic '06: The Sonic Campaign
Well, the time has finally come. After years of sitting in the den, stewing in the sauce of regretful-purchase marinara, Sonic the Hedgehog, known better as Sonic '06, has finally entered the PS3 for play. For the longest time, that game remained the only game purchase I ever legitimately regretted. After some time, my view has slightly changed. Maybe all those YouTube review that try to find the positives or are slightly deluded helped that out, a bit.
Anyway, I recently finished watching the Game Grumps play-through of the game and was inspired to do likewise. Play the game, I mean. Not record a hit LP and achieve millions of subscribers. (Although, that would be pretty rad.) Naturally, my play session began with the Blue Blur himself.
Uggh. Sonic controls weird. But I'm sure you've heard that in 99+ reviews and videos already. OK. How about this: you can't revisit levels on the world map. I know, Sonic's campaign makes you play the first level almost twice (Once as Sonic, with a little section as Tails, and again, partly through, as Tails.) but in Sonic Adventure, you could return to most levels from the adventure field to get a second and third objective. I know there's a speed trial option or something, but it's still a little annoying.
Or, at least, it would be if I wanted to play the levels again. Which I don't. It's hard for me to think of things that other reviews hadn't covered. I could point places where the game tries to be Sonic Adventure but fails. (Oh, side note. I'm probably blinded by nostalgia for Sonic Adventure. However, it is a B-/C+ effort in 3D platforming, where Sonic '06 is more of an D-)
For example, Sonic's first level features a segment in which he runs away from a whale, much like Adventure's first level. The last level, Robotnik's base, has some hallways that (it might be a bit of a stretch) remind me of some segments in Robotnik's Adventure base. Much like Adventure, '06 also forces you to play other characters, consisting of Sonic, Tails, Knuckles and Silver. No Amy yet, but that's later. Sonic's final boss taunts you and goads you into attacking it much in the same way that Sonic's final boss in Adventure did. (Some of the lines are verbatim the same, even!)
I beat Sonic's campaign/story/thing having gotten 9 Game Overs total. Not too bad, I think. The biggest drain was probably the mach speed sections. I just couldn't steer Sonic!
I suppose I can't close up and finish my "review" since I haven't played either Silver or Shadow yet. I'm not looking forward to the Silver fights, either side. That bit of the game harkens back to Sonic Shuffle - unfair CPUs. Or maybe Adventure 2's VS fights that give the other character powers that you never get to use yourself? Well, let's not get too afield here.
Sonic '06 - One third done. Let's see what the next part brings...
Anyway, I recently finished watching the Game Grumps play-through of the game and was inspired to do likewise. Play the game, I mean. Not record a hit LP and achieve millions of subscribers. (Although, that would be pretty rad.) Naturally, my play session began with the Blue Blur himself.
Uggh. Sonic controls weird. But I'm sure you've heard that in 99+ reviews and videos already. OK. How about this: you can't revisit levels on the world map. I know, Sonic's campaign makes you play the first level almost twice (Once as Sonic, with a little section as Tails, and again, partly through, as Tails.) but in Sonic Adventure, you could return to most levels from the adventure field to get a second and third objective. I know there's a speed trial option or something, but it's still a little annoying.
Or, at least, it would be if I wanted to play the levels again. Which I don't. It's hard for me to think of things that other reviews hadn't covered. I could point places where the game tries to be Sonic Adventure but fails. (Oh, side note. I'm probably blinded by nostalgia for Sonic Adventure. However, it is a B-/C+ effort in 3D platforming, where Sonic '06 is more of an D-)
For example, Sonic's first level features a segment in which he runs away from a whale, much like Adventure's first level. The last level, Robotnik's base, has some hallways that (it might be a bit of a stretch) remind me of some segments in Robotnik's Adventure base. Much like Adventure, '06 also forces you to play other characters, consisting of Sonic, Tails, Knuckles and Silver. No Amy yet, but that's later. Sonic's final boss taunts you and goads you into attacking it much in the same way that Sonic's final boss in Adventure did. (Some of the lines are verbatim the same, even!)
I beat Sonic's campaign/story/thing having gotten 9 Game Overs total. Not too bad, I think. The biggest drain was probably the mach speed sections. I just couldn't steer Sonic!
I suppose I can't close up and finish my "review" since I haven't played either Silver or Shadow yet. I'm not looking forward to the Silver fights, either side. That bit of the game harkens back to Sonic Shuffle - unfair CPUs. Or maybe Adventure 2's VS fights that give the other character powers that you never get to use yourself? Well, let's not get too afield here.
Sonic '06 - One third done. Let's see what the next part brings...
Friday, December 5, 2014
Gaming Life - New Game (System) Blues
Why do I retrogame? A few months ago, I'd have a giant list of reasons, from aesthetics to nostalgia to music appreciation. Now, it's because I just plain can't afford games. I was willing to drop 50 dollars for a solid title. I got Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door and Pokemon XD: Gale of Darkness at (or around) that price and did not regret it.
But apparently I've been out of the new-game-buying loop for too long. I logged on to my store account with Sony to see what kind of games I could direct my mother to get me. And when I saw the titles, the prices were there too: $59.99.
This might be a first for me. My first "that seems a little steep for a game" moment. This, unfortunately, will inevitably lead to the "when I bought new video games" moment. Indulge me for a moment, though.
I started buying my own games in earnest, I suppose, when I used my checks from Abrakadoodle to get mad loot during discount sales at Blockbuster. We had a particular Blockbuster nearby that had a pretty decent video game selection. (I've written about this store before, I believe.) I even got an N64 there as the systems were being phased out for the Gamecube. That N64 was not more than 50 dollars. (I can't remember how much exactly, but I was used to jockey lot and thrift store console prices, if that tells you anything.)
I got an entire console for less than a single modern game. Anyway, my "when I bought new video games" moment (if it even was that) is over. Back to today:
I wouldn't be so annoyed if it weren't for the recent rash of crappy games pushed out by AAA companies. Sonic Boom, supposed to be a big, hopeful event for the blue blur, turned out to be a buggy mess. Case in point: the character Knuckles has a move than can be exploited to reach otherwise inaccessible areas. Assassin's Creed: Unity saw major glitches and errors.
In the Playstation Store, Assassin's Creed: Unity, the game that has been panned for being buggy and full of glitches, is still $60.00! The real kicker is that the listing is for a download version of the game. Maybe I'm being too harsh, or don't understand the costs behind releasing digital versions of games, but it seems a little ridiculous to have a rushed game, download only, and not discount the price somehow.
Maybe I want too much out of a game for a 'mere' $50. After all, I want story! Maybe some action! And great music, too.
In short, I'll be keeping to emulators and my old consoles for now. To be honest, there's a giant backlog of games I still haven't played. Most recently, I've felt some pull in the Saturn and Dreamcast direction. And I still have to complete the Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword! So while my friends buy and enjoy next gen games, I'll be discovering classics on the Dreamcast or the SNES.
But apparently I've been out of the new-game-buying loop for too long. I logged on to my store account with Sony to see what kind of games I could direct my mother to get me. And when I saw the titles, the prices were there too: $59.99.
This might be a first for me. My first "that seems a little steep for a game" moment. This, unfortunately, will inevitably lead to the "when I bought new video games" moment. Indulge me for a moment, though.
I started buying my own games in earnest, I suppose, when I used my checks from Abrakadoodle to get mad loot during discount sales at Blockbuster. We had a particular Blockbuster nearby that had a pretty decent video game selection. (I've written about this store before, I believe.) I even got an N64 there as the systems were being phased out for the Gamecube. That N64 was not more than 50 dollars. (I can't remember how much exactly, but I was used to jockey lot and thrift store console prices, if that tells you anything.)
I got an entire console for less than a single modern game. Anyway, my "when I bought new video games" moment (if it even was that) is over. Back to today:
I wouldn't be so annoyed if it weren't for the recent rash of crappy games pushed out by AAA companies. Sonic Boom, supposed to be a big, hopeful event for the blue blur, turned out to be a buggy mess. Case in point: the character Knuckles has a move than can be exploited to reach otherwise inaccessible areas. Assassin's Creed: Unity saw major glitches and errors.
In the Playstation Store, Assassin's Creed: Unity, the game that has been panned for being buggy and full of glitches, is still $60.00! The real kicker is that the listing is for a download version of the game. Maybe I'm being too harsh, or don't understand the costs behind releasing digital versions of games, but it seems a little ridiculous to have a rushed game, download only, and not discount the price somehow.
Maybe I want too much out of a game for a 'mere' $50. After all, I want story! Maybe some action! And great music, too.
In short, I'll be keeping to emulators and my old consoles for now. To be honest, there's a giant backlog of games I still haven't played. Most recently, I've felt some pull in the Saturn and Dreamcast direction. And I still have to complete the Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword! So while my friends buy and enjoy next gen games, I'll be discovering classics on the Dreamcast or the SNES.
Saturday, November 1, 2014
Gaming Chronicles - Earthbound... Finally.
Apparently, this RPG doesn't push the envelope for what RPGs could do. However, having grown up with limited RPG experience (Paper Mario 2, then Final Fantasy in college) that point doesn't mean much to me. Similar to my interest in Final Fantasy, I was playing Earthbound mainly for the music and story. And the dialogue wasn't that bad either!
So instead of reviewing the game, or writing a typical "Gaming Chronicles" about my progress in it (I'm almost to the final "dungeon.") I'll just share some weird/funny bits I found while playing!
One of the best parts of the game are the many zany enemies you'll encounter. For instance, upon arriving in the sunny city of Summers, you might be assaulted by a Mad Taxi! Even previously stationary objects, like lamps or even street-signs:
 |
| Not their "real" names - these guys are Ness, Paula and Jeff. |
Giygas' power isn't just limited to just stray animals or random people, apparently!
I also appreciated the self-awareness present in the game. That is, the game will acknowledge that it is a game, and play it up for either humor or plot purposes. That trick can get a bit annoying, if it is used too much. There does come a point where there's too much "Hey hey, this is a game," but Earthbound keeps its fourth-wall-breaking to a tasteful level. For example, this sign outside of a building in the city of Fourside:
 |
| Soooo meta. |
I don't know if this is a bit of humor from the developers or the translators, but a sequel to Earthbound eventually came to be. (Unfortunately, this game, known as Mother 3 in Japan, was never *officially* translated to English.) Also, Earthbound did multi-layer dreams decades before Inception:
 |
| *cue loud fog-horn sound* |
The dream-within-a-dream situation reminds me of the general trippy-ness (pun intended) of the game. All the battles feature undulating, colorful backgrounds. The picture above (with the attacking Crazed Sign) does not accurately illustrate this point. Some enemies, like Sanctuary bosses, feature their own unique battle screens. Eventually, I'll have to face the nightmare-inducing battle screen of Giygas. But not for a while!
.png) |
| I sure don't! |
Earthbound has been an entirely enjoyable experience. I did have to grind once or twice, but various circumstances in-game made it enjoyable, like PSI Teleport and the lack of random encounters. In a genre where most main characters wield swords and wear chain armor, Earthbound is a different take on the conventions of said genre. Ness is just a kid (who happens to have a terrible, terrible neighbor - more on that in Mother 3!) who is thrown into his adventure by a meteor and the arrival of his terrible neighbor, the total Jerk with a capital J, Porky.
It's an experience I would recommend to anyone with an SNES or Wii U. I'm not sure that I can endorse emulators, but I'll just say that Google will lead you to some solid ones which can be made to support joysticks.
Anyway! It was pretty easy to write about Earthbound, as it is a very good game. Its predecessor, Earthbound Zero, or simply Mother, is a different story entirely. And an article for another day!
See you later, for now.
[Disclaimer: I'm never good at these, but here goes: piracy is bad, games are good. Emulators are fun, as some games are too rare/over-priced for me to get the actual cartridge. But, if you have a Wii U and want to try a fun game, please consider buying Earthbound. That's all!]
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