dracula’s moody melodies

i’ve still been listening to video game soundtracks, but i haven’t really been posting reviews since there’s not a whole lot say other than “i liked it” or “i didn’t like it”. but since i’m in the middle of a lot of games w/ none quite finished i thought i might as well post some comments on one of the more memorable ones. castlevania 64, with a soundtrack by masahiko kimura, motoaki furukawa, and mariko egawa, is a generally underrated game which i played through last year. in the game’s opening, which immediately sets the tone of the rest of the game’s soundtrack, we see the young boy malus play a haunting solo violin line which is then accompanied by an habanera (i.e. tango-esque) rhythm in the lower strings. the designers made the odd decision to keep the first stage devoid of music, but after that the soundtrack in general is a great mix of very classically-influenced music, dramatic and heavy on the strings, oftentimes driven by prominent percussion parts which, although anachronistic, work extremely well. there’s a fair number of “mood” pieces with much sparser arrangements, but they’re so effectively done with interesting instrumentation that they’re never boring. there’s also a refreshing lack of gothic organ music for the most part. given the limitations of the n64 audio, the CV64 team did a fantastic job of creating an ideal accompaniment to the company’s first foray into three dimensions, and it’s one of the best on the system or of the series i’ve heard thus far. so if you need another reason to check out the game, there you go.

mario 64′ed

finally finished super mario 64 for the N64. i started off rather disliking the game, and then i got into it, but by the time i got the 120th (and last) star i finished the game with mixed feelings. there’s no doubt that the game was a milestone in the history of gaming, with its redefinition of platforming from 2D to 3D. i was surprised at how much this game incorporated puzzles, and it made sense to me when later i read that several of the elements were taken from a zelda game they had been working on at the same time.

overall my biggest gripe w/ the game is that i feel there are too many cheap “try and die” situations, a criterion that i’ve been using for platformers and which seems to me a pretty good rubric; in particular w/ aiming the canons, some of the flying, and with a fair amount of the jumping. i suppose you get better at all the skills including these throughout the game (particularly flying), but even by the end i had a hard time judging exactly how wide a gap was or predicting if i’d have too much momentum if i jumped onto a platform, causing poor mario to slide off. a common complaint and one i agree with is that it’s especially annoying when you fall all the way down from the top of a mountain and you have to keep climbing all the way back to the top just to fall again b/c you haven’t gotten the jumping angle quite right. at least the height issues aren’t quite as bad as mario sunshine, that i can remember anyway.

regarding 3D platformers in general, the game makes me appreciate the modern prince of persia games a bit more, the first of which i played last year. like mario 64 the persia games use height as its main level design element, but with its rewind feature you rarely have to restart from the very bottom. sunshine helped solve the height problem by giving you some leeway in form of a hover ability, but in that game i still remember falling from high up being a big pain. from what i’ve played of galaxy so far, they’ve come up with another way to solve the 3D jumping problem by pretty much doing away with falling at all, thus focusing your attention on other gameplay mechanics instead.

i’ll prob. tackle mario 64 DS eventually, although the controls sound like they’ll be more awkward. but from various reviews i’ve read (including this one from gamespot) it seems like they’ve offset this by making the game easier in general with the addition of characters with powers different from mario’s. mario-wise i’ll prob. hold off on playing too much more of galaxy and return to the 2D games, and as you can imagine i’ll be doing so with a rather big sigh of relief. i guess i’ll just always be a retro gamer at heart. haha.

mushroom-y links:
- themushroomkingdom.net’s mario 64 site: nice site, w/ some good info.
- PDF of US manual at replacementdocs.com
- strategywiki.org’s page seems fairly complete.
- cheats at IGN
- good walkthrough at IGN
- IGN’s guide to mario 64 DS
- youtube video of the best ending (w/ all stars obtained)
- crazy tool-assisted speed run on youtube: i can’t imagine anyone wanting to work out all the glitches and things to do these speed runs, but it’s fun to watch.

sword sealed

since i’ve exhausted all the fire emblem games that have been released in the states, it was inevitable that i would turn my attention sooner or later to the ones that haven’t been officially translated into english. in this case, sooner, w/ the first GBA fire emblem game, FE6, subtitled “the sword of seals” (no, not the sea world variety). although learning japanese has steadily risen among the items on my master list of things to do in my lifetime, luckily i didn’t have to wait before tackling this game b/c online you can find a great fan translation of it.

sword of seals is notable for several reasons. for one, it was the first GBA fire emblem, so the vast majority of its engine (inc. game mechanics, menus, calculations, and graphics) was re-used for the two subsequent GBA releases, the blazing sword and the sacred stones. second, it features roy as the protagonist, who was featured in super smash bros. melee and who along with fire emblem icon marth, also featured in melee, first sparked the interest of most english-speakers in the fire emblem series and eventually led to the first fire emblem game released outside of japan (although the first to get an international release wasn’t this one, roy’s game, but the next one, blazing sword). third, unbeknownst to most english speakers at the time, the aforementioned game blazing sword, which followed sword of seals, was actually a prequel to that game, and features several of the same characters and more than a few cameo appearances.

so, being the first of the GBA fire emblem trio it’s perhaps not surprising that there are several ways that the game pales in comparison. the main one for me is that support conversations feel slightly less developed. according to wikipedia this was actually the first game in the series that had support conversations, and although the types of conversations are similar to the other games, the characters here just seem slightly less alive. this may be in part due to the fan translation as opposed to having an official one. also, the lack of a support reader showing supports that have been unlocked makes me slightly less motivated to play the game again. similarly, the ranking system tracking overall game performance feels slightly less polished here.

in terms of specifics, one complaint i had about the game is that thieves don’t promote, which was a surprise when i realized it, and somewhat of a disappointment as it screwed up my previous strategy. also, there are three extra chapters at the end that contain the “real” ending that you can only get if you fulfill certain conditions, several of which would be fairly easy to miss on your first or even your second playthrough. the other complaint i had is that the enemies’ overuse of berserk staffs seems fairly pointless and cheap. to my recollection the other two GBA games minimized this, what i feel is just a cheap tactic.

newcomers to the series would be unlikely to miss anything, though, and refraining from comparisons to the others the game on its own is quite enjoyable. the story is engaging, and like the other two games this one has a branching storyline for several chapters. there’s a huge cast of characters which adds to the replayability, and the gameplay, while permanently etched into my brain by now, is still fun and addictive. prequels and sequels are generally entertaining and this one’s no exception for those who have already played FE7. all in all this isn’t going to be the first fire emblem game i’d pick up to replay, but it’s definitely a game that i’m looking forward to playing again despite being so similar to the others. and, yes, even after this my 5th fire emblem game my flame for the series still burns. haha. but i think now may be the time for a longer hiatus, believe it or not. we’ll just have to see how that pans out.

some sealed sword links:
- great walkthrough at fireemblemworld.com
- english fire emblem documentary has some great stuff, inc. a a good character guide, the character endings, and the official artwork.
- serenes forest: indispensible for the other games, but for this one there are some things you’ll have to find elsewhere. also includes the soundtrack and maps.
- gamefaqs has a copy of the translation of the game script.
- text of all the support conversations at neoseeker.com
- coupla wallpapers at feplanet.net
- for the really nerdy (you know who you are), a listing of all the expected averages in all the stats at every level for all the characters in all the games.

my li’l pixel pals

i’m almost finished with another game but not quite, so i thought i’d start working my way through all the mountains of video game links i’ve accumulated and post a link to this series of comics based on 8-bit nintendo games called pixel pals at i-mockery.com. they don’t seem to ever update anymore, but there’s a fairly large archive of some 174 entertaining comics. perfect procrastination for your inner retro gamer.