Sunday, February 15, 2004
Ancient Holy Mirth Rod of Merry Delights
Sorry I haven't written in so long. I have a good excuse that involves playing massive amounts of video games and not wishing to stop. I can't remember exactly what it was though.
However, I come bearing gifts and news. The best part is the gift is my news. In the span of only two days I have played two new multiplayer RPGs. Both of them are jam packed with lame stories, repetitive gameplay and an overhead view that makes the sometimes gorgeous visuals appear far away and washed out. One of these games was really fun, the other is genius.
The first game I played was none other than Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles. The game is every bit as good as reviews (especially Penny Arcade's) would have you believe. The game is built almost entirely on four player Chaos. Playing this game with any number less would be far less rewarding. As my roommate who was privy to witness our little FFCC get together would attest, yelling, insults and death threats are all too common place.
Part of the team concept comes from the fact that one person is lucky enough to carry around a magic bucket that causes those inside its protective shell to not die a horrible, suffocating death. The person with the bucket is slightly slower than the rest, but you must stay near them in order to stay alive. Because of this, the person who has the bucket is in charge of the group. The map person might yell and scream that North is the right way to go damnit, but it is the Bucket person who ultimately decides the fate of the group. This is clearly trouble for any group that includes an individual who is more concerned with getting back at teammates for problems that may or may not have occurred earlier than successfully completing a level. It is very interesting to see just how much pain and agony The One Who Carries The Bucket can cause.
The game does has a few faults though none of them are all too damning. The most glaring one centers around your tiny life bar. You start the game with only 4 Zelda style hearts. As your enemies are strong enough to do some damage, you will find yourself either dead or dying for most of your journey in the early going. Most of the yelling centered around healing. If the jack ass who picked up the cure isn't paying attention, you will probably die. It's not an unfair system, but you have to learn not to burn too many bridges while carrying the Bucket, and that's a lesson some people never quite grasped.
Combat in the game is very simple and quite fun. You basically only have two attacks: a physical strike and a magic attack. The magic is picked during the course of every level, so the attack you have is different from dungeon to dungeon. Because of the randomness of the magic, it's probably best to select a character with strong physical attacks or at least some defense. I, unfortunately, picked the most magical of creatures. Because of this, I found myself dying as often as my opponent when forced to engage in hand to hand combat.
When everyone is working as a team the combat is a blast though. If timed properly, magic attacks can be fused together to form more powerful attacks. And, if you use two different spells, you can create entirely new magic. Very cool.
The game is really fun. It brings out the worst in people, and isn't that why we play video games in the first place? Shockingly enough, this was only the Very Good game I played this weekend.
The superior game, the game that I consider pure genius, has almost no hype. A spinoff of the Everquest franchise called Champions of Norrath. A game built entirely by a team of extra nerdy nerds in an attempt to not only control the lives of, but also separate out, the true video game nerds from the people who just like to play games. This is a game that started the stereotype that gamers are smelly, dateless, anti social freaks with nothing better to do than "get to the next level."
Of course, I like this game. It's a game I might have been ashamed to admit I loved a few years back, but I am a new, stronger man now, and I can hide behind a computer screen so your painful barbs can't reach me. The game is fun in a way games aren't supposed to be. It isn't the gameplay that is so awesome it makes one have dreams of conquest. It is, instead, the items you pick up on your journey. The game is loaded with a wide assortment of items, I'm told there are over 10,000 different ones. And most of them have fanciful names like the Ancient Holy Mirth Rod of Merry Delights I alluded to earlier. While that specific item may not actually appear in the game, if I happened upon it on my quest I would be none too surprised.
I will stop talking of Champions of Norrath now. The game is over 50 hours long, and Nick and I plan on tackling the entire game. So, expect many more posts about what I have seen during my journey in the future. Also, there might be a few posts about a wonderful game that involves chasing down monkeys and a Dreamcast classic I bought for under $4 yesterday.
However, I come bearing gifts and news. The best part is the gift is my news. In the span of only two days I have played two new multiplayer RPGs. Both of them are jam packed with lame stories, repetitive gameplay and an overhead view that makes the sometimes gorgeous visuals appear far away and washed out. One of these games was really fun, the other is genius.
The first game I played was none other than Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles. The game is every bit as good as reviews (especially Penny Arcade's) would have you believe. The game is built almost entirely on four player Chaos. Playing this game with any number less would be far less rewarding. As my roommate who was privy to witness our little FFCC get together would attest, yelling, insults and death threats are all too common place.
Part of the team concept comes from the fact that one person is lucky enough to carry around a magic bucket that causes those inside its protective shell to not die a horrible, suffocating death. The person with the bucket is slightly slower than the rest, but you must stay near them in order to stay alive. Because of this, the person who has the bucket is in charge of the group. The map person might yell and scream that North is the right way to go damnit, but it is the Bucket person who ultimately decides the fate of the group. This is clearly trouble for any group that includes an individual who is more concerned with getting back at teammates for problems that may or may not have occurred earlier than successfully completing a level. It is very interesting to see just how much pain and agony The One Who Carries The Bucket can cause.
The game does has a few faults though none of them are all too damning. The most glaring one centers around your tiny life bar. You start the game with only 4 Zelda style hearts. As your enemies are strong enough to do some damage, you will find yourself either dead or dying for most of your journey in the early going. Most of the yelling centered around healing. If the jack ass who picked up the cure isn't paying attention, you will probably die. It's not an unfair system, but you have to learn not to burn too many bridges while carrying the Bucket, and that's a lesson some people never quite grasped.
Combat in the game is very simple and quite fun. You basically only have two attacks: a physical strike and a magic attack. The magic is picked during the course of every level, so the attack you have is different from dungeon to dungeon. Because of the randomness of the magic, it's probably best to select a character with strong physical attacks or at least some defense. I, unfortunately, picked the most magical of creatures. Because of this, I found myself dying as often as my opponent when forced to engage in hand to hand combat.
When everyone is working as a team the combat is a blast though. If timed properly, magic attacks can be fused together to form more powerful attacks. And, if you use two different spells, you can create entirely new magic. Very cool.
The game is really fun. It brings out the worst in people, and isn't that why we play video games in the first place? Shockingly enough, this was only the Very Good game I played this weekend.
The superior game, the game that I consider pure genius, has almost no hype. A spinoff of the Everquest franchise called Champions of Norrath. A game built entirely by a team of extra nerdy nerds in an attempt to not only control the lives of, but also separate out, the true video game nerds from the people who just like to play games. This is a game that started the stereotype that gamers are smelly, dateless, anti social freaks with nothing better to do than "get to the next level."
Of course, I like this game. It's a game I might have been ashamed to admit I loved a few years back, but I am a new, stronger man now, and I can hide behind a computer screen so your painful barbs can't reach me. The game is fun in a way games aren't supposed to be. It isn't the gameplay that is so awesome it makes one have dreams of conquest. It is, instead, the items you pick up on your journey. The game is loaded with a wide assortment of items, I'm told there are over 10,000 different ones. And most of them have fanciful names like the Ancient Holy Mirth Rod of Merry Delights I alluded to earlier. While that specific item may not actually appear in the game, if I happened upon it on my quest I would be none too surprised.
I will stop talking of Champions of Norrath now. The game is over 50 hours long, and Nick and I plan on tackling the entire game. So, expect many more posts about what I have seen during my journey in the future. Also, there might be a few posts about a wonderful game that involves chasing down monkeys and a Dreamcast classic I bought for under $4 yesterday.
// posted by Tom @ 11:36 AM 
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