Alas, it's only 5 PM and I'm sitting at home, relaxing. It's unusual for me, but certainly not an unwelcome change of pace. I've had an incredibly eventful weekend that hasn't exactly provided me with too much time to play video games, but that doesn't mean I haven't used the free time I have had to engage in some (moderately) casual gaming with a few friends.
Allow me to introduce you to the wonderful world of Dokapon Kingdom. A fantastic place where you and three of your friends can battle enemies (or each other!), discover treasure, save towns, rob stores, and...piss each other off tremendously with a slew of humiliating options. Essentially, it's Mario Party with experience points and a full game takes a considerably longer amount of time to complete. (hell, we haven't even finished our first game) Don't get me wrong, though; Dokapon Kingdom is anything but some sort of clone game. The concept of a board/party game mixed with more conventional RPG elements, such as turn-based battles, character classes, the whole nine yards is fairly innovative to say the least. While it's a formula that could use perfecting, my friends and I haven't had this much fun with a game in ages.
I think the whole humiliation aspect of the game really just adds to the overall entertainment level; I mean, really, who doesn't want to steal their friends' hard-earned cash and goods (not IRL! lolololol), rename them with embarrassing words, or turn their hair into a pile of poop? At $25 used, this game was an absolute bargain and I'm confident my friends and I will all be spending quite a bit of time with it. The worst part is the fact that I have to wait for them to be around to play! (Well, there IS a single player mode, but honestly, I feel as if that kind of destroys the whole point.) Atlus scores another home run!
In other news, I've decided to basically give up on Breath of Fire. My saved game, for whatever reason, has disappeared and reverted back to an earlier point in the game and honestly...I really just don't care enough to bother with it and catch back up to where I was. Oh well, it just leaves room for another game to take its place!
Monday, February 23, 2009
Ever get, like, totally hyped up for a boss battle in a game and end up being completely...whelmed?
Yeah, that.
I'm currently on Chapter 8 of Devil Summoner and after spending close to an hour to gain a level or two and max out the loyalty on some of my new demons, I ended up practically destroying what was supposed to be "one of the hardest bosses in the game." Hard boss my foot! After getting used to his attack pattern, this little bugger was a piece of cake. Really delicious cake, though.
(Thank you, Google, for providing me awesome images all the time.)
Progression feels so good sometimes and the fact that I just destroyed this leafy bastard without problem means I'm ahead of the game -- something I certainly can't complain about. I'll be straight up with you and admit that yes, I've been using an online walkthrough to progress through certain parts faster. As much as I love the game, I really am playing it for completion and sometimes I'm in no mood for some of this silly puzzle nonsense. It's never anything too intense, I just get impatient. Especially when I'm almost 75% through the game! (and you know what that means!!)
(Just kidding! None of this nonsense.)
Once again, I'm really happy that Atlus has taken notice of the fact that the Shin Megami Tensei franchise has a rather extensive fanbase in the USA. They're one of the game companies that seems to have Stateside fans really in mind when they port a lot of the games they do. Sure, a lot of them may be really random and a lot of their releases have been hit or miss, but when it comes down to it, they're one of the best publishers/localizers in the RPG scene right now and they only seem to grow by the day. I now present you Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Survivor. Notice the common theme in titles and content? It's interesting to see a different, more typical anime style artwork in a Shin Megami Tensei title. I wonder if this change in art direction reflects anything about the tone of the game? Only time will tell. Until the release, here's a teaser trailer from Atlus themselves to hold everyone over. Get pumped!
Allow me to introduce you to the wonderful world of Dokapon Kingdom. A fantastic place where you and three of your friends can battle enemies (or each other!), discover treasure, save towns, rob stores, and...piss each other off tremendously with a slew of humiliating options. Essentially, it's Mario Party with experience points and a full game takes a considerably longer amount of time to complete. (hell, we haven't even finished our first game) Don't get me wrong, though; Dokapon Kingdom is anything but some sort of clone game. The concept of a board/party game mixed with more conventional RPG elements, such as turn-based battles, character classes, the whole nine yards is fairly innovative to say the least. While it's a formula that could use perfecting, my friends and I haven't had this much fun with a game in ages.
I think the whole humiliation aspect of the game really just adds to the overall entertainment level; I mean, really, who doesn't want to steal their friends' hard-earned cash and goods (not IRL! lolololol), rename them with embarrassing words, or turn their hair into a pile of poop? At $25 used, this game was an absolute bargain and I'm confident my friends and I will all be spending quite a bit of time with it. The worst part is the fact that I have to wait for them to be around to play! (Well, there IS a single player mode, but honestly, I feel as if that kind of destroys the whole point.) Atlus scores another home run!
