Final Fantasy X (PS2) - I started this up the other day after beating FFIX, so far I am about 14 hours or so into it. I had a bit of a preconception as to what it was going to be like. The addition of voice acting is, for some fans, signs of progress in the franchise. As the first Final Fantasy game on the PS2, it brings improved graphics and audio quality to the field.
For me so far though, the voice acting isn't anything to be too pleased about. Pretty much all the time it is terrible. Its like the voice actors don't know what the context for the script is. They take long pauses in all the wrong places, and a lot of the inflections sound off, or wrong.
And its really too linear for my liking. You don't get times when you have a bit of freedom to go looking for sidequests further afield, you don't get too explore optional stuff on a world map. Nope, doesn't seem to be any of that. FFXIII is gonna be just as linear... T_T
Oh god...and don't even get me started on Tidus or Blitzball. I'm not feelin it yet, and Tidus is an annoying little prick.
I guess I should say something good for it, since I am kinda enjoying playing the game. I'm finding it quite addictive and compelling. The story so far, and the battle system seem quite enjoyable. The battles particularly-they are quite dynamic and fast. Coming straight out of the slow ATB battle system of IX, it seems good since it flows quite well, you have some nice camera switches, good animations, and the ability to switch your party members and equipment on the fly. Each of the characters are good against certain kinds of enemies so far, like Flyers, physical resistant ones etc, so I've found myself using all of them equally.
The spheregrid and the fact that you don't actually level up or gain stats outside of the spheregrid is quite odd, and its something I'm slowly getting used to.
Dragon Age: Origins (360) I've not played much of this since last time, but early in the week I downloaded some of the DLC. They sold it pretty well to me, going through all this story about the Soldier's Peak fortress etc, then asked if I wanted to download it. I couldnt say no after hearing all about it T_T
I beat it and the Shale DLC pretty quickly, and got some good stuff out of them. I can finally wear the Juggernaut Plate Mail I found in the Brecilian forest ages ago! =D I think I'm quite far through now, as I've beaten the Elf quest, Mage quest and Earl of Redcliffe recruiting part. Just Orzammar next and then I'll be able to move on to the next part of the story. I'm gonna put some more time into FFX though, so this'll have to wait for a bit.
I started up a new game on Friday and beat it in the same day, since I was a bit RPG'd out. Castlevania: Judgment (Wii) got some average to ok reviews and I had tried a bit of nearer Christmas. The waggle motion controls were a bit confusing, so I tried the tutorials before playing this time. I've actually been getting used to it quite nicely. I am on Easy mode (cos I suck at Fighting games, seriously), but I've been putting some time into beating it on Story mode with all the characters. Apparantely you unlock another bit of the story once you manage that. Yeah, you get True Story mode, which lets you get the true endings for each character.
Oh, there is an option for Gamecube pad controls, which I like when they put in games as motion controls can be really frustrating in some games. I've not tried it out, as I trained so far with the Remote and Nunchuk controls, but I might plug a GC pad in if I can find one.
So far, the style is very unusual. The characters are probably the most unique thing about it, but I'll definitely say I don't particularly like some of the outfits. Graphically the game isn't amazing, but its quite polished and looks pretty good-it doesn't seem to have any bugs or glitches so far. Some of the Hyper Attacks are really cool. I'm quite liking it so far. I have a few minor gripes about it, the camera is pretty damn bad at times, it constantly moves to try and stay behind your shoulder, only it seems to cause more problems than anything. A lot of the characters seem to be quite unbalanced, with some pretty broken moves. Its kinda flawed, but I had some fun with it.
See the picture? Thats Maria Renard from Symphony of the Night, Dracula X Chronicles, Rondo of Blood and a few others. This reinvention of the characters is one thing people seem to have disliked about the game. I quite like Maria's wierd style, but a few of the others aren't particularly brilliant.
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