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While I might usually sound like
a) I think I know everything,
b) a stuck up idiot,
I blame it all on my inadequate english knowledge.
a) I think I know everything,
b) a stuck up idiot,
I blame it all on my inadequate english knowledge.
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Update ( 1/24/2011 ) - Culminating Checklist II
Update: Status Conditions List
There is no cure for "umotivated" as in you cannot use a skill or item to remove it, or it can't be healed with even resting (or dying)?
Final version (1.1) download online, some special thanks, and something new
Great, thank you! Two questions:
1). Saves are not compatible with 1.0 I presume?
2). While playing, Eragon (and the sequels) popped to my mind a few times. Any inspiration from those? Sorry if it was asked, I didn't see.
1). Saves are not compatible with 1.0 I presume?
2). While playing, Eragon (and the sequels) popped to my mind a few times. Any inspiration from those? Sorry if it was asked, I didn't see.
Applying Auteur Theory to Amateur Games (Part I)
This is interesting, although I usually don't understand expressions with "creative" in them. Too vague.
But I read the article anyway, and HEY, this is like psychology! I always liked to analyze other people and doing this through the games they make is fun to read.
It's true, that you don't go too deep, and I wouldn't mind reading a more detailed version of it, though it may be true, that others with such perversions are few in number. Well, if you ever feel like it, go ahead.
Oh and it seems I read the article too late to read it, but analyzing yourself is usually an...interesting idea. It's like trying to draw you neghbourhood from above without ever seeing it from there (forget google maps). Certainly, who knows it better than you, but still, you never saw it. Yields interesting results, especially when you include someon else's analysis of yourself. Well it's a shame you removed it, but peace has it's price.
But I read the article anyway, and HEY, this is like psychology! I always liked to analyze other people and doing this through the games they make is fun to read.
It's true, that you don't go too deep, and I wouldn't mind reading a more detailed version of it, though it may be true, that others with such perversions are few in number. Well, if you ever feel like it, go ahead.
Oh and it seems I read the article too late to read it, but analyzing yourself is usually an...interesting idea. It's like trying to draw you neghbourhood from above without ever seeing it from there (forget google maps). Certainly, who knows it better than you, but still, you never saw it. Yields interesting results, especially when you include someon else's analysis of yourself. Well it's a shame you removed it, but peace has it's price.
The Final Fantasy XIII topic
There are a few behemot kings on the east side of that great plain. After a little bit of leveling up, you can beat them, if you attack from behind (it will be realtively easy to catch them from behind). You will need haste for this battle, as well as buffs and debuffs, but it well worths it, as you get 4k cp. There are 2 BKs and heading north a bit more, you will bump into some blue armadillos, which give you 1980 CP and there are 3 single ones you can easily attack from behind. Going up and down on this line will net a good amount of CP very quickly (the party needs to be rather offensive...I used Lightning, Shaz and Vanille). The mines in the north are even better though, as the enemies aren't too strong, so after you get stronger, and still feel the need to gain CPs, just follow the yellow arrow to the mines.
I too think, that the game is great, even this 11. chapter, though I really hate it when "freedom" equals to boring quests and grinding, but for once, I enjoy the battles, even though I've been doing nothing but battles for about 6-8 hours now...
I too think, that the game is great, even this 11. chapter, though I really hate it when "freedom" equals to boring quests and grinding, but for once, I enjoy the battles, even though I've been doing nothing but battles for about 6-8 hours now...
The Final Fantasy XIII topic
post=127917
I suppose, if you're talking about the main narrative. It's not that complex, no. Entertaining, yeah. I wouldn't call it "not great", though. It's not the best, but come on, don't be cynical, it's pretty good!
I agree, I think it's good too. Not exceptional, but good.
post=127917
However, I stand by my statement regarding the 'complexity' if we're talking about the sheer amount of content the setting has. There IS a lot.
There is a lot of content, but it's hm...I think it's mostly the names.
SPOILER:
fal'Cie: Angels
Pulse fal'Cie: Demons
l'Cie: Prophets
Cocoon: Earth, or a Cocoon literally
Pulse: Hell (it even says so in the description) or maybe Heaven/The Great Unknown
All the other stuff has a rather simple "IRL" match.
This is a bit forced and I'm not too far in the game, but I think these would be the conventional names for them.
END OF SPOILER
I agree though that it's a bit much to take in at first...
It's looks like somewhat standard anime stuff though. The characters too, sometimes, but it's true that they are very well written.
All in all, I still find the game great. (Although the damn battle rating system seem overly random to me, as well as the stuff I receive at the end...I mean, even if I get 20k points, sometimes, I get nothing, and if I'm super slow and get 2 stars, I receive rare drops just as often as with five stars. Or at least it seems like that to me.)
The Final Fantasy XIII topic
post=127887
...and it's with the trailer: Why oh why did they use Leona Lewis for the music, of all the people on earth, they had to pick her -.-
Thankfully, I am yet to hear any of her "own" songs ingame. I'm not sure if she sings anything else in the game, but if she didn't write it, that's usually good, since apart from her ultimately generic style, she is a good singer.
Also, I like this game so far. I don't really understand what's people's problem with the story. Don't be intimidated from the plethora of new names, (most FFs try that anyway) they are all explained rather soon in the datalog anyway, ( upt to five times, depending on their importance...) and even if you just play the game, there will be an explanation later on. Apart from that, I can't exactly say that the story is too complicated so far. I mean, there are quite a few games here on RMN that have a more complex story. So I think the problem is with the new words, which threw me off-balance too. Also, the main quest is revealed around the begining of the third chapter. There are a lot of white bits, but I like that in a story.
And one more thing: the stuff FFXIII does, the few battles then cutscene: that's exactly what I was talking about in Salerius's article's comments. There is the obvious lienarity, which pissed off quite a few fans, but I think they did quite a good work with keeping the player connected.
What Kurt Vonnegut Can Tell You About Game Design
Okay, I can accept that, and you are right too, especially with (free) indie games. In this sense, you are right to say that indie game developers should really take this by heart....no deadline, nothing asked in exchange, so game can actually be short or can be in development for a very long time. Even if some people lose intrerest because of the long wait, they will come back, once it's finished, especially if it's good.
@Feldschlant IV
I think if a game has enough content, it could (or should...) be long. How much "enough" is depends entirely on the player (and the developers, though as you can see, this is debatable). I usually like long and difficult games too, but only if I feel the story worths the fight, or I enjoy battles, puzzles, whatever.
@Feldschlant IV
I think if a game has enough content, it could (or should...) be long. How much "enough" is depends entirely on the player (and the developers, though as you can see, this is debatable). I usually like long and difficult games too, but only if I feel the story worths the fight, or I enjoy battles, puzzles, whatever.
What Kurt Vonnegut Can Tell You About Game Design
Well it is a waste of time, or rather, something that actually makes up a decent portion of the game time. Most games have a story no longer than a huge short story (that's about 100 pages, which might be long in itself, but not compared to the actual game time).
What I mean is, everything is relative. If I don't feel like my time is being wasted, then my time is well spent, because I'm feeling useful or enjoying myself. A perfect (and obviously non-existent) developer is able to make the player feel like that every single battle he fights is very important, even if it is just grinding.
Of course, if someone has enough ideas for the game time they planned for their project, then all is good, but if that time is more than a few hours, what is very likely*, (especially in commercial games, so that the costumers won't feel like they wasted their money) then the plethoria of creative ideas needed probably won't be available. So there has to be some parts where the game becomes a bit repetitive. It's these parts that need to be made bearable.
We can also look at repetitivness on different scales. I for one, never liked when I receive the usual "get the 3-4-6-9 etc. crystall balls so that you can do whatever" type quests. They are like a big sign saying "YOU WILL BE DOING THE SAME THING OVER AND OVER". And well...that sucks. But the truth can be that each of these is a very different experience with the stroy progressing with each "crystal ball" you get. It still feels a bit repeptitive. And then, there is the reverse version, when the main quests are more colorful, but you actually do the same thing in them. You can go deeper than this and, for example look at the individual battles, and how much they differ from each other, even if they have the same types of enemies.
A good game would not feel repepetitive in any way, but that doesn't mean you won't do the same bits over and over with slight changes. If you would simply play through these parts with nothing in between them, they would feel repetitive, but with the story/etc. in between them and the slight changes, they suddenly became nearly unique events.
The least elegant (and effective) way to get this effect is to do the stuff I mentioned in my previous post. Better methods are usually the combination of these, carefully crafted, so that they won't feel out of place, or forced, with additional graphical and sound effects, if needed (and/or possible).
*(I know, it's only logical to make the game shorter if you are out of ideas, but shortness, being too "dense" and the lack of gameplay~battles come up from time to time in reviews. If one makes an enjoyable game, it is most unfortunate if it simply feels too short.)
While I tend to write these thing as if they were facts, I'm only theorizing, of course.
What I mean is, everything is relative. If I don't feel like my time is being wasted, then my time is well spent, because I'm feeling useful or enjoying myself. A perfect (and obviously non-existent) developer is able to make the player feel like that every single battle he fights is very important, even if it is just grinding.
Of course, if someone has enough ideas for the game time they planned for their project, then all is good, but if that time is more than a few hours, what is very likely*, (especially in commercial games, so that the costumers won't feel like they wasted their money) then the plethoria of creative ideas needed probably won't be available. So there has to be some parts where the game becomes a bit repetitive. It's these parts that need to be made bearable.
We can also look at repetitivness on different scales. I for one, never liked when I receive the usual "get the 3-4-6-9 etc. crystall balls so that you can do whatever" type quests. They are like a big sign saying "YOU WILL BE DOING THE SAME THING OVER AND OVER". And well...that sucks. But the truth can be that each of these is a very different experience with the stroy progressing with each "crystal ball" you get. It still feels a bit repeptitive. And then, there is the reverse version, when the main quests are more colorful, but you actually do the same thing in them. You can go deeper than this and, for example look at the individual battles, and how much they differ from each other, even if they have the same types of enemies.
A good game would not feel repepetitive in any way, but that doesn't mean you won't do the same bits over and over with slight changes. If you would simply play through these parts with nothing in between them, they would feel repetitive, but with the story/etc. in between them and the slight changes, they suddenly became nearly unique events.
The least elegant (and effective) way to get this effect is to do the stuff I mentioned in my previous post. Better methods are usually the combination of these, carefully crafted, so that they won't feel out of place, or forced, with additional graphical and sound effects, if needed (and/or possible).
*(I know, it's only logical to make the game shorter if you are out of ideas, but shortness, being too "dense" and the lack of gameplay~battles come up from time to time in reviews. If one makes an enjoyable game, it is most unfortunate if it simply feels too short.)
While I tend to write these thing as if they were facts, I'm only theorizing, of course.
What Kurt Vonnegut Can Tell You About Game Design
Okay, but first of all, FFI is a JRPG, and japanese have an obsession with hard work, which they seem to think equals to grinding in videogames (there are exceptions of course, but many, otherwise great JRPGs, are like that). It was actually really annoying in final fantasy I, II or II (I'm ashamed to say that I don't remember which one) that even with the several hours I spent grinding throughout the game (apart from the time spent in dungeons you must get through during the stroy) I still nearly died in the first mob fight in the final dungeon. I ground a few more hours and still, no effect (and I mean, really, absoultely no change). Now, that is why I never got around to finish that game.
Also, I think that battling new(ish) enemies in a new(ish), interesting dungeon is not exactly grinding, but a new(...ish) experience. That doesen't feel like wasted time until the point that it's not a new experience anymore. A dosage of plot advancment, comedy, a cutscene where something happens, a (sub-)boss fight, some backgroung information, a bit of character development, or even a few lines of small talk is needed to "replenish" the player's patience. If this doesn't happen, that's when the real grinding begins and too much of that can really kill the game.
Also, I think that battling new(ish) enemies in a new(ish), interesting dungeon is not exactly grinding, but a new(...ish) experience. That doesen't feel like wasted time until the point that it's not a new experience anymore. A dosage of plot advancment, comedy, a cutscene where something happens, a (sub-)boss fight, some backgroung information, a bit of character development, or even a few lines of small talk is needed to "replenish" the player's patience. If this doesn't happen, that's when the real grinding begins and too much of that can really kill the game.
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