Updates and RPGs

by danielkempster

Greetings to my readers. I thought I'd just offer up an update for anybody who cares what the situation is right now. I'm off to the University of Essex in a few weeks to start an English Language and Literature course. I can't believe how quickly it's come around, and I'm starting to get anxious about it. That's not to say I'm not looking forward to it. Quite the opposite, actually, I'm really looking forward to going, meeting new people and gaining a little more independence. I'll probably be moving down there on Sunday 28th September, so I really need to think about getting all my gear together, ready for when the time comes. Of course, I'll still be gaming. I intend to take my PS2, my PSP and my DS with me, which will hopefully be plenty to keep me busy. My 360 will be staying behind, though. Naturally, I'll still be frequenting Giant Bomb, updating this blog and listening to the Bombcast to keep up with all the important news.

General rule: If it moves, kill itOn the subject of games, I'm playing a few things at the moment. Currently in my PS2 is Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance. It's a hack-n-slash action RPG with an emphasis on dungeon crawling, recommended to me by fellow Giant Bomb user Kush. I'm about five hours in and, despite a pretty slow start, I'm really getting into it now. The combat is simple but satisfying, with some interesting boss battles thrown in. There's also something really compelling about hoarding loot, warping out of a dungeon to sell it in town, and purchasing a bad-ass Morning Star of Disruption +1 before warping back to the dungeon and continuing the endless slaughter. If I have to criticise it at all, I'd have to say it lacks any real depth, but more the most part it's a lot of mindless fun and the perfect way to unwind.

CYNDAQUIL pwned enemy PIDGEYI've also dusted off my old GameBoy Pocket to get acquainted with Pokémon Gold. It's actually nice to be able to say that without feeling ashamed, as I've come to embrace the Pokémon franchise as a series of great RPGs in their own right. I have it on good authority that it's the best generation of the franchise, and from what I've played so far it's certainly superior to Pokémon Blue, which I wasted hours on as a ten-year-old fanatic. On the other hand, there's Diamond, which is graphically superior to Gold and also has a pretty good story as far as the series goes. I'm only two badges into the main quest of Gold and I'm already addicted to the simple formula. I won't go into too much detail about it, as I anticipate writing a Discovering Gaming Greatness entry for it when I'm finished with it.

RPGs are pretty much the order of the day right now, considering the vast number of them I own but haven't yet finished. I'm still grinding through Final Fantasy Tactics: The War of the Lions on PSP, and still loving every single second. Given my DS has been neglected recently, I've decided to get stuck into Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Ring of Fates. I'm a huge fan of Final Fantasy, and Square Enix games in general, but I honestly wasn't expecting too much from Ring of Fates when I slotted the cartridge into my DS and turned on the power. The first half an hour was an almost intolerable series of sequences featuring annoying kids, a Lilty who talks like an annoying kid, and a smattering of clichés (how many times must games tell us "You can do anything if you just believe"?). I was very, very tempted to give up on it there and then, but I decided to grin and bear it, and I'm very glad I did.

Ring of Fates has an involving battle system that's a lot of funFrom the first dungeon onwards, I forgot all about the terrible set-up, and after a couple of hours I didn't have to worry about anything like that (except the annoying Lilty. Sadly, that doesn't change). The reason I cast all my apprehension aside is because of the gameplay. Ring of Fates takes everything that was great about Crystal Chronicles on the GameCube and adds more depth and more fun to it. At its core, you could argue that the combat isn't too dissimilar to games like the aforementioned Dark Alliance: you can just hit the A button and wait for things to die. However, you can do a lot more besides just swing your sword. You can jump onto enemies and stomp on them, pick them up and throw them at walls, cling onto flying enemies and damage them with punches... there's a lot more going on here than it may initially seem. There's a magic system, too, which is just as important in puzzle-solving as it is in battle. You can also switch between characters on the fly by tapping the touch-screen, and each character has their own race-specific set of skills only they can use. It makes for some really deep, really fun tactical combat, and completely goes against the cutesy image given by the game's opening.

So there you have it. That's what's going on, what I'm playing and what I think about it. Stay tuned in the next couple of weeks for a War of the Lions-related Discovering Gaming Greatness, and my thoughts on Uni life.

DanK

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Currently playing - Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Ring of Fates (DS)