Video Game #4 (Soul Calibur)

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A franchise that I grew up with for a time is Soulcalibur. I started with the second one since I had the Nintendo GameCube during that time. It grew to be something special and big in the years to come. Unfortunately, I have reasons to have the bad stuff that we will be talking about this in session.

Having a variety of characters is good, but replacing them is really disappointing. Many memorable characters from previous Soulcalibur games should have been in a way that were cameos at the least. The Star Wars characters in the fourth one were really cool to interact with. I had hoped it would have continued but as it usually brings more opportunities, they had to go afterward.

Sorry for the late post this round. I have been busy with other business that took longer than it was originally intended and I hope to continue getting better with sending a message a few days in a proper interval at a time. Otherwise, have a great week until next time.

Video Game #3 (Lost Odyssey)

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I gathered my thoughts on this game my buddy gave me for my birthday three years ago and now have completed it and would like to share it in today’s blog post.

Lost Odyssey is a traditional RPG (Role Playing Game) that involves tinkering with mechanics that were unique in its own way which was required to succeed in gameplay. Very entertaining at a certain point of the game then finishes at its highest peak. What I enjoyed about it the most however, was the villain’s due came in his favor. Because if you really pay attention (those who have played it) he did succeed in his mission.

Quickly shifting gears, timing of attacks and when using the correct ability/magic on the enemies/bosses were vital since it was well balance in my opinion. So it didn’t matter what level or equipment you had unless you spent hours, days, maybe months to grind to make sure you have a guarantee advantage in various scenarios. I had my moments in combat that one attack can turn the tables relatively fast if not aware, so something to keep in mind when you play it.

The bad things about this game is first and foremost is the first boss when you have the party together (not intro). RNG (Random Number Generator) establishes this perfectly. All I have to say about that is pray you can get through it and move on. Secondly, during combat you cannot go straight to the back row while shield barrier is up (eventually you can work around it). Third, casting magic/ability when the person gets hurt gets delayed. Safe for the enemy to be kept delayed, not so much for your party members. Granted you can cancel it the following turn, but so aggravating (eventually you can nullify it end game). Lastly, ring assembly. I know people love customization, but this don’t serve much purpose on my end. I call this bad one non-existent because you can manage with the rings being given to you from chests, stealing/dropping from enemies/bosses, and side questing so it defeats the purpose if you ask me. Otherwise, I am not saying you should do that feature, just it felt empty in my perspective.

Aside from the negatives, it was a really fun game to play. It felt like playing Final Fantasy, or Dragon Quest in a way. Characters had their moments, music was at its best (in its time), there are events called Dreams that will take time to read and understand what’s happening from his or her perspective of their character, and plot was right on. I would suggest finding your Xbox 360 and give it a go and see what you guys think.

Those of you who have played before, what did you think how it got presented as a traditional RPG at its prime?

Video Game #2 (Infinite Undiscovery)

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I have just finished this game today and it had its moments. I was at first skeptical because it was presented at the start, but it moved forward like any other game I played. However, in my thoughts about Infinite Undiscovery was it turned out to be many game markers in any traditional ARPG’s (Action role-playing game) during the time. Adapted in several ways that was intriguing, but I encountered elements that was difficult to withstand in today’s gaming and looking back from various games during that time. It has been ten years since the game came out that Fall.

I will say the good thing and biggest one of them all was storytelling. This is a game that started off key but eventually picked up. We video gamers experience this from time to time so this isn’t anything new. When talking about Endgame, oh boy it was a thrill ride and just enjoying every moment of it. This brings me to the bad things.

First being that it is difficult to get upgrades when you only have X amount of Fol (gold in this game) since you don’t get much until the start of the endgame. It turns out I had to really grind the Fol and pray for the entire party to survive because enemies and bosses alike were not easy to encounter. Secondly, the gameplay was a little delayed when asking for assistance, attacking, using abilities, and guarding (which proved little since timing was a little wonky).  Lastly, a minor thing I was curious was the ending was rushed a bit. It did show events in its aftermath, however, there was empty space and scenes that could have been filled in more. Otherwise, it was a good game do not give me wrong. Lets just say it’s one of those games that is best played once.

What did you think of the game during the time you played it? Was it able to keep up to standards or it wasn’t there yet in the game genre of ARPGs?

Have a great Week!

Video Game #1 (God of War)

We’re going to start off with a franchise that has returned to the fold recently. Which means the new God of War will NOT be applied to the scenarios that are going to be presented in this blog post because it is not out yet.

So God of War is a game that you treat it as a game that you enjoy or release your anger on if having a bad day (give or take of your perspective). What I see in it that is good is that you as the controller (the player) to follow Kratos and witness special techniques such as grab, ability, or the button mini game. They’re a lot of unique events that occur when trying out moves, abilities/spells, that I always enjoy discovering when I’m playing. Each game is distinguished by the scenery (Greek Mythology based prior to the new one coming out this year) and characters you meet which is engaging, however, this leads to the bad cases.

One of the particular things I find bad about the franchise was when someone appears and really nothing happens. It is either they had a purpose but was given a short time slot on screen, we wonder about these characters and thought if they had could have done more, or throw in someone that had nothing to do with game story overall. I understand “due to time constraints”, however, one must have a conscious to know of what to do with them than to just throw them in and hope it works ordeal. Greek mythology has many characters that had an impact from reality and game reality that we could have witness and the developers could have experimented with more. Killing bosses don’t have an outro, they just die and you take the spoils with no direction. It is the saying, “Here’s something you can work with and have fun.” I can understand if you can’t always emphasize each one of the items, but make sure it makes sense in the game genre.

This now brings me to what could have been better in a perspective of the player that caught an eye on this game franchise:

  1. Expand on each item with a brief paragraph describing what it does ahead of time in development.
  2. Spend more time on the endgame content to have enough things to see in a  transition to the next game or the ending itself.
  3. Have connections on characters beforehand rather than throw them into the game without character development.
  4. Examine each Greek individual (Characters, creatures, and expanded architecture).

What were your thoughts about God of War that could have been better?

PS: This is my first blog post and will be challenging for me to give out my perspective as a video gamer.