I just finished the opera house segment. Definitely feels like there’s been a few challenging moments for me so I don’t mind the low difficulty
Something I noticed:
I always thought Chrono Trigger was Square’s prettiest SNES game but, at times, this one is giving it a run for its money. I realized the smaller character sprites in FF6 compared to CR weren’t a technical limitation that they were able to surpass, but rather an artistic choice. They’re just Chibi-inspired, as was every FF game up to FF8, including FF7.
World of Final Fantasy’s chibi character mashup and some of the old Japanese box art kind of confirm this sorta:
Chrono trigger sprites, in contrast, were drawn to look more like Akira Toriyama’s character art which explains why they’re larger and more proportional.
I remember trying a friend’s copy briefly seven years ago but never owned it myself…until recently. Having played through a significant chunk of the game on normal I have to say it’s pretty underappreciated. It’s the most interesting Igavania since Symphony of the Night because of the partner mechanics, and the portrait worlds lend its locales terrific variety and pacing. I’m not really doing any of the sidequests or backtracking and I’m surprised by how challenging some of the boss fights have been. In general the healing items also feel pretty balanced. They are hard to come by without using the shop, which I like, and they are expensive to buy. If you play through the game without grinding or bothering with the quests it’s pretty challenging at points even on normal.
Baroque (Wii remake)
I’d love to play more of this roguelike/dungeon crawler. It’s invitingly atmospheric, and the amount of exposition is purposefully kept to a minimum to rouse an air of mystery about the setting, and why you’re even doing what you’re told to do. I’m playing it in first person mode to match the Saturn original, and traversing its Neuro Tower dungeon has proven to be interesting - the number of ways you can equip your character and items means every playthrough can be tackled in a different way.
The reason why I say I’d love to play more is I’ve dropped the game for now - progressing the story requires many successful and unsuccessful attempts at the Neuro tower, including experimenting with items and NPCs. While this in theory sounds great it does mean a lot of repetition in the dungeon crawling and the challenge (At least on normal) isn’t really there.
Valkyrie Profile 2
Picked this one up because it’s from the team and director within Tri-Ace that worked on Labyrinth no Kanata and Resonance of Fate. I’ve only played three hours but it’s made a good first impression: It’s got an unconventional battle system that relies on splitting up your party to best position your attacks, the level design is promising, and the visuals are gorgeous. One of the best looking games on the format, everything feels designed to work best within the limitations of the PS2 while simultaneously delivering detailed graphics at either 60fps (gameplay) or 30fps (cutscenes). My only complaint is it’s been pretty easy so far, while the battle system offers a lot of tweaking and freedom you can still dispatch most enemies by just locating the leader and mashing buttons…
It has its challenging moments (I remember the Magitek factory being tough! And Zozo. And the first Kefka fight scene where you control three parties. And some of the bosses!) - it’s just that I remember most enemies being fodder you dispatch within seconds (for me it was usually with a Sabin or Edgar move). The game gives you loads of options for attacks but they often don’t amount to much strategising. The second half of the game, without spoiling much, is a lot tougher though.
I’m playing a lot of Samurai Shodown. It’s fantastic. This is the best SS has been since II IMO. Online play has been near perfect for me, too. I have something like 60 matches played now. I’m over 50% win rate with Earthquake. He’s so trollish!
I need to get out my joystick, though. Many of my losses have felt like execution errors with the stupid d-pad on the PS4 controller. My god do I hate that thing. We’re at almost 25 years of garbage d-pads.
I started a second run on Hudson Soft’s Kororinpa, as I haven’t played it in ages and I think my old save is on another Wii.
Last time around I only really just played through all the stages and left it at that, but this time I’m taking my time to master the game. Every five stages I’ll play through them, before replaying to get the hidden green crystal, and then the gold trophy for speed.
It seems you unlock a secret level for grabbing all the gems every five stages, and a space-themed level for getting gold trophies.
It’s as good as I remember it - very ambitious use of the regular Wii remote, tight and quickly evolving level designs, convincing physics. And I wasn’t expecting to hear Star Soldier music in the first secret level!
I switched to the joystick and am winning a little more now. I’m about 56-60% with Earthquake. Certain matchups wreck me. I have been considering a switch to one of the top tiers like Genjuro or Ukyo since I’m familiar with them from past games. Yoshitora mains are legion. Everyone wants to earn the seven sword move.
I set my Online for 3 bars and up and I’ve had no trouble finding opponents while also never feeling like I’m under water. I think I have the region to “Same” as well. I rarely wait for opponents though. I always smack the search button and take the first one given to me unless I just finished a best 3 of 5 against them. I almost always Rematch until someone wins three and most people seem to do the same.
My PS4 is wired to my router, btw.
The Ranked is cool because it seems like no one really cares about their rank so you can get matches easily. People aren’t bailing on you in order to avoid losing or increasing rank too much.
Been playing a chapter on Sword of Etheria every day. I’m enjoying it so far, the juggling mechanics, where you pass enemies on to allies that juggle them before sending them back your way, are wonderful.
And while there hasn’t been much variety in the level design the levels are short enough that I’d want to replay them for score, and the combat deep enough to remain involving.
That said, I just realised that if you do a forward swipe attack you can’t return enemies even when it would make sense visually. This is never explained - I was wondering why I couldn’t get above a 3 combo chain in some levels!
The scoring encourages consistency in all areas, too, taking your lowest rank as the final one.
I went back to Super Monkey Ball Banana Blitz since a remake was announced this week, and I’ve been playing its Wii cousin Kororinpa on and off lately.
I’ve been doing something right because I cleared world 9 for the first time in almost 13 years! Banana Blitz is a title, much like the original Super Monkey Ball, that I keep returning to once a year, but I’ve never been able to crack a couple of levels in world 9.
Rocket League (PC): changed up my controls this week to a style more conducive to high level mechanical play. While I think it’s a good change in the long run, I’m really struggling to get used to it right now! It’s frustrating trying to stop, and power sliding instead.
Brute Force (XBOX): recently picked up an Xbox 360 for $30 and decided to try out some xbox classics on the big screen upstairs. Pulled out my original copy of Brute Force and am playing through it. Never finished it when I played it originally.
Mario Maker 2 (Switch): just finished up the story mode (all levels, not just completing the castle). Currently diving into the endless modded and online play. It’s so damned fun! Once I get a little tired of this it’ll be time for Mario Odyssey I think.
Borderlands 2 (PC): Started a 2nd playthrough with a close friend, and hopefully we cab get through the game in its entirety together. It’s a great game, but I really didn’t enjoy Pre-sequel that much.
Juggling enemies to pass on to your party members is as fun as ever, but the game really ran out of new ideas a while ago, which is a shame. It feels like the levels are now just getting longer but they are reusing the same themes/objectives. I think if there were ten solid levels it wouldn’t outstay its welcome but there’s over twenty chapters.
I’d still recommend checking it out since it’s a fun curio and the sort of game that would never be made today, even from the indie scene. The director of Castlevania Aria of Sorrow directed it, and it has a rather fantastic soundtrack by Yamane Michiru) as well!
I also started a run on God Hand today, and I’m amazed by how bad I am at it compared with last time. Okay, I’m not trying to use any continues, but still, I struggled to clear 1-2 with what health I had left (and I never managed to clear the challenge stage after what felt like two dozen attempts) and now I’m struggling with 1-3. Maybe my reaction times have slowed…
I’ve been playing Unit 13 on my Vita recently, and between it, COD 4’s arcade mode, Modern Warfare 2 and 3’s Spec Ops missions, I really think there was a missed opportunity for the modern military shooters to embrace stuff like arcade scoring systems and bite sized missions. The format is well-suited for those mechanics.
(Unit 13 is REALLY good btw. Not quite as amazing as Killzone Mercenary but really should be mentioned more as a standout game for the Vita)
Good shout - I enjoyed what I played of Unit 13. Had to delete it to make space on my memory card but the scoring system and bite-sized mission structure worked really well. A good nod back to the arcade roots of the genre.
Unit 13 being its own thing built for portable gaming appealed to me a lot more than Killzone, which never really answered the question about why it had to be on handheld in the first place. Edge Magazine’s conclusion at the time was on the money:
It is, in other words, a competent handheld version of Killzone, and those who bought a Vita on that promise will be amply satisfied. Others will squint, line up their sights on a speck in the middle distance, squeeze the trigger and hope for the popup confirming their aim was true, and wonder if this is really what handheld gaming should be.
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