Monday Lavos descended. Bad news bears. The second act in Chrono Trigger is when this game trascends shiny and becomes radiant. We're talking spectacular plot bombs dropping left and right. I adore this game, but playing it alongside The Last Remnant makes me frowny. It's not that The Last Remnant isn't interesting, but like so many Role Playing Games nowadays it sacrifices proper exposition in favor of cinematic flair. Developers need to strike a balance between laborious cutscenes (Xenosaga) and shallow storytelling (Final Fantasy XII). It's so old man of me to say this, but they just don't make games like Chrono Trigger anymore.
With that said, I haven't made much progress in The Last Remnant. I'm fairly certain I've reached the end of disc 1, but the god-damn boss is impossibly difficult. This rather intimidating, monstrous demon-thing likes to kill off my Unions, then raise them from the dead and attack me. Once two of my four Unions are lost, things become all manner of difficult. And by difficult, I mean my remaining Unions are decimated. When it comes to Role Playing Games there's only one way to defeat a boss wiping the floor with you -- level up. Yeah... I have a rather powerful aversion to the chore that is leveling up, and so I've been dragging my feet. The Last Remnant does boast an impressive number of sidequests, so perhaps I can convince myself I'm not leveling up by engaging one of those. We shall see...
Tuesday I dabbled some more in Chrono Trigger while on the treadmill. I'm currently in the Kingdom of Zeal. I won't discuss the plot at large anymore -- story details at this stage are considerably spoilerific. The game is nearing its end, however, and this makes me frowny. I gaurantee you I'll boot up Chrono Cross the moment I finish this game, though. I'm still riding the high that is Mitsuda's amazing score for the game, which is bested only by his work on Xenogears and Chrono Cross.
The semester is coming to an end, which means finals, research papers, and extensive articles due left and right. This eats up my free time, and so I won't be playing The Last Remnant anytime this week. Considering how much work I have on my desk, I can't say I'm terribly in the mood for it anyhow.
Wednesday sees no gaming for Mr. Holzworth. A professor-friend of mine did lend me a copy of the Japanese Resident Evil 5 demo, which apparently is in English. Look forward to impressions of the demo tomorrow. I'll actually have some time to get my game on since I don't have class on Tuesday or Thursdays.
Thursday some zombies tried to eat my face off. One of them succeeded in cutting off my head! So, Resident Evil 5 feels a lot like Resident Evil 4 in terms of control, and for the most part that's a good thing. RE4 is universally regarded as "Resident Evil done right."
There isn't much to the demo, only excerpts from two stages. But you can play the demo either single-player or co-op, which is cool. Sheva is present in both modes. The difference is, in single-player you have to pay extra attention to her needs. If she's overwhelmed by zombies Chris must come to her rescue. If she's low on health, he must resuscitate her. When collecting ammunition, the player chooses between keeping it for him or herself or passing it on to Sheva. This management may seem taxing, but it lends itself to the game's suspense factor.
Fortunately, Sheva isn't some innept A.I. the player is forced to babysit. She can pick up ammunition by herself, heal Chris when his health is low, and come to his rescue all on her own. The demo didn't showcase much of her personality, but I gotta say I'm a big fan so far. Sure, she could stand to have darker skin, but she's still sexy -- and without her outfit needlessly compromising her integrity. She can throw a punch, too, which always turns me on. I likes me tough grlz.In short, so far so good. I'm digging Resident Evil 5, which is surprising considering Resident Evil 4 did nothing for me. I never even finished the game. Sometimes you have to be in the right mood to play certain games, and that wasn't the case when I tried to play RE4 years ago. But now, after trying out and liking RE5, perhaps I'll try and tackle its predecessor over Winter Break. It's not as though the game's very long.
Friday I finished Chrono Trigger and am crestfallen. I just didn't want the game to end. Worse yet, I can't touch Chrono Cross at all this weekend -- I need to write a paper on transhumanism. It's going to take me a full day to become a relative expert on the science and ethics of transhumanism as well as familiarize myself with contrasting viewpoints. Then I'll spend all of Sunday, most of Monday, and all of Tuesday banging out an article that makes a claim of policy regarding transhumanism. At this stage in the game, I'm all for it. Perhaps I'll condense my article and post my thoughts on transhumanism here on the blog.
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2 comments:
I'm fairly certain there's extra content at the end of the DS Chrono Trigger, correct?
Did you primarily use the face buttons? I think the thing that's been exciting me most about this game is the fact that this is exactly what I wanted in RPG stylus control. You get the feel of a more traditional (in my terms, appropriate) RPG with a unique and customizable control interface. I think it works really well, save for a few minor issues. I was curious what you thought about it.
Yay for RE5. Someone in a class of mine tried convincing me that RE4 was the worst in the series. The fool she was.
I played Chrono Trigger DS in "classic mode." I really ought to give the stylus controls a try. The nice thing about the game is that it allows you to switch control schemes on the fly. Hell, the nice thing about the game is that it even PROVIDES players with a choice between "classic" and "stylus." Usually, DS games force superfluous stylus-control down our throats.
There are two new dungeons in CTDS, but they hardly could be considered an extension of the game.They delay the inevitable by 15-30 minutes tops.
I may have passed judgment on RE4 prematurely. As I mentioned in my post, being forced to play/review games immediately after they are released yields potential for disaster. If you just aren't in the mood to play a game, it may not resonate with you. Such was the case for me with RE4. Even still, I never felt it was the WORST in the series...
There are little differences between RE4 and RE5 that may account for why I prefer the latter, though. For one, having a persistent partner is hella-nice. For another, the game is set in sunny Africa as opposed to RE4's gloomy, ominous third-world country. You'd be amazed at how big of a difference something as little as sunlight can make.
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