Doji Grovesai

First Impressions

I happened to have snagged some games, and after having played them a little bit, I just wanted to offer my first impressions.

First on the list, Castlevania: Lament of Innocence. I've waited for Castlevania to come to the PS2 ever since I had the privilege of enjoying Symphony of the Night. The second, at request of the wife, was Final Fantasy X-2. I was less excited about this one, because I heard so many bad things about it, and the fact that it was a direct sequel kind of turned me off as well. I mean, part of Final Fantasy's charm (in my opinion) is that no two were related.

In short: both games are beautiful. If you'd like the finer points, then read on, my friend!

Let's start with Castlevania. I knew it would be in 3-D, and this was kind of a worrying point for me. Both Castlevania installments on the N64 were 3-D and much less than stellar (and I'm being generous) and the control was just...off. They were not fun to play because the actual playing of them was like a chore. Better to watch somebody else play.

LoI is a different story altogether. It starts of with a 2 minute narration. Not exactly my thing to start a game off with, especially when it's followed by another 2-4 minutes of cutscene. Since I was so excited to even have the game, however, it didn't bother me. In retrospect, it sets the premise well and probably isn't that bad (especially since you only need to see it once).

The first cutscene put me off a bit with the graphics, as Leon (the main character) had hair that looked more like Goku's permanently molded mane than Dante's "Devil May Cry" flowing white locks. That's not to say it was sticking straight up, but it was fixed in it's position. Too much styling gel, I guess. :-) That's really the only place the graphics skimped, and you can tell just by playing that it was to make sure other things got put in.

As far as gameplay, it's pretty simple: "small" attack, "big" attack, jump (a double jump is available from the start), and sub-weapon (dagger, axe, holy water from previous games). Press either of the right shoulder buttons and you guard. Guarding is essential, in that it enables you to dodge attacks, block attacks, and use some of the "magical relics" within the game. Blocking certain attacks (the enemy will flash purple before attacking) will allow you to replenish your MP (so you can use the magic items). Just hit buttons and you swing your whip around. There really isn't an auto-aim, which is a mixed blessing: good because you can ignore enemies if you need to strike something "non-enemy" like a candle or a wall or something, but bad because you can watch yourself whipping the air right next to the enemy without even touching him. Movement is very loose, however, and you swing the whip around, so you'll almost always hit your targets. You can also use your whip to grab onto banisters, railings and things to swing over them. This feature (only used a handful of times so far) is very hard to control at first, but easy enough to get the hang of. The camera is entirely computer controlled as well. Unlike many other games, though, it has yet to produce a totally useless (or worse, harmful) angle. Let's cross our fingers. Anyway, more buttons:

Either of the left shoulder buttons brings up a circle at the bottom left of the screen. This displays your magic relics. Simply move the right analog control to select the one you want. Takes about 2 seconds (literally) to grab the one you want. If you haven't pressed the shoulder buttons, then your right analog controller will bring up your menus in game, so you can still run around. Just scroll left and right to choose your different menus: relics, items, equipment. Change your settings or use items without having to break the game. You can, of course, just press "start" and use the menus the long way. Whichever is more comfortable.

First impression: putting aside loyalties to the Castlevania franchise, I find the game (so far, mind you) to be well put together, fun to play and incredibly functional. Though I've only play a few hours so far, I have yet to find something useless, or something missing.

Final Fantasy X-2 still has me wondering. Like I said before, part of the charm behind Squaresoft games was the total lack of continuity. So I'm a little put off by a sequel. And rightly assumed, if you haven't played FFX, then X-2 will make little or no sense. But onto the game...

Holy J-Pop, Batman! Not even one minute into the game, and you are subjected to watching Yuna on stage singing a solo. Flashy lights, male dancers, crappy lyrics and all. It's like a computerized Brittney Spears thrust into an RPG. While that certainly shouldn't set a precedent (just being a cutscene and all - and it turns out somebody was manipulating her), it does exactly that. So far the game is like Barbie in an RPG. Like Barbie, they have different outfits for each job (yes, this is an adaptation of the job system from FF4). Like Barbie, you have lots of accessories to go with each outfit.

The job system (I refuse to call it the dress system) is much deeper than from FF4, and the emphasis on the game seems to be placed more on advancing the abilities from different jobs than from actual levels. Example: you don't have to purchase (or locate) any weapons, because you get the weapon from the job automatically. Switch jobs and you automatically switch weapons. Hopefully this means that there will be no need for long hours invested just to find one "super-powerful-mega-ultimate attack weapon." The game also introduces the ability to jump on and off things, and to climb up certain walls/ladders/[insert climbable thing here]. Previews gave the impression that this would lend a platform game feel. From the looks of it, it's just like final fantasy 6 or 7. You do the action it tells you to when it tells you to. And, like these predecessors, some (maybe most) of these times are event-based.

It's really nice to see the stuff from FFX, though. I guess the good thing about continuity in this case is that you feel comforable throughout most of the surroundings just because you've pretty much been there before. Old characters like Wakka and Lulu make an appearance, and the premise of the game is to find Tidus. But you only play as Yuna (in more revealing attire) and Rikku (also wearing less, if you can fathom that) and another character named Paine (aptly named, because she only talks about hurting things).

First impression: Though I've only been watching my wife play it right now, I think I'll just keep watching her play it. It's a gorgeous game, just like FFX (and Barbie, to continue the terrible analogy I had earlier). And like Barbie, there seems to be little substance (hopefully that changes later on). The game moves very quickly (only an hour or so in, though). But instead of a driving plot, it feels more like frenetic, useless motion and a bunch of sidequests holding a loose plot together.

Be sure to check back later for more updates as my first impressions evolve into informed and experienced opinions.