mapping out etrian odyssey

my ears seem to perk up whenever i hear about a game that seems to polarize players, because that usually indicates that a game has taken some sort of risk. one that i played a fair amount recently was etrian odyssey by atlus for DS. this review at gamezone.com has a fairly detailed rundown of the game’s setup, but basically the game uses the tried-and-true, typical classic turn-based RPG battle system paired with a unique gimmick which is that you can make maps of the dungeons yourself using the in-game mapping system. the DS’s touchscreen makes this an intuitive, entertaining, and new experience, but the novelty quickly wears off as you slog through floor after floor of the entirely story-less quest (although apparently a semblance of a story does get incorporated about a third of the way through the game).

the game is often cited as being quite difficult, but my main problem with the game wasn’t the challenge. i don’t mind a challenge in general, although i agree that the game starts off being quite “difficult” in that you’ll have to return to the town to heal often at the beginning and you’ll be short of cash more often than not. but a few floors in, the difficulty evens out a lot and the “challenge” such as it is lessens considerably. the game also seems to get praised by reviewers for its “deliberate” pacing: the game only enables you to obtain better weapons, armor, items, or accessories after you reach a certain floor of the dungeon, and the gains you receive are palpable and really feel like upgrades, as opposed to all the filler equipment you find in other RPGs.

my main problem with the game is that, as with most RPGs, 90% of your time playing the game will be in battles and the battle mechanics themselves are just too dull to maintain your interest. as i’ve said before, there are only so many times a person wants to cast “fire 2″ and “cure all” in one lifetime, and i’ve passed that point quite a while ago. the game did keep my interest for a while with its other key feature which is the character customization, where for every level up you’re given one skill point to allocate as you choose among your character’s class’s available skills. although this gives a definite sense of decision making, i found that it didn’t feel like enough of a unique feature to offset the fact that the majority of the classes and their skills are ones we’ve seen countless other times (fighter, check; white mage, check; black mage, check; geomancer, check). without a unique battle mechanic, story, characters, or even unique enemies or graphics (which are clean but minimal) to make up for it, exploring the dungeon just becomes repetitive once the gimmick of map-making wears off. and to top it all off, you can only warp into the labyrinth every 5 floors, so for 4 out of every 5 floors you play through you have to go through the same route over and over again fighting the same enemies to get to new areas.

although i played it obsessively for the first few floors, by the time i got to the 7th floor i felt like i had seen everything the game had to offer, so although i don’t usually do so i’ve decided to set the game aside indefinitely. it seems the second game is more of the same with a few new classes, but i’ve heard better things about the third iteration which features completely new and more-unique classes and some sailing mechanics to provide some variety. i’ll probably give that one a try at some point, but i don’t think it’ll be anytime soon.

mapping out some etrian odyssey links:
- entry at wikipedia
- PDF of manual at replacementdocs.com
- fansite with interactive maps. also includes the comics and much more easily downloadable access to the wallpapers featuring all the character portraits found on the official site.
- good FAQ at gamefaqs including a rundown of the skills and a ranking of the classes
- positive review at gamespot.com

brawlin’ family

i’m in the midst of a long game so i thought i’d put up a quick post to spotlight a webcomic that i rediscovered recently, brawl in the family. i’ve dipped into a fair number of video game-related online comics but haven’t really found many that kept me interested for very long. pixel pals, which i posted about last year was one exception, although it seems to be on indefinite hold. brawl in the family is another exception and is, fortunately, alive and kicking. it features charming hand-drawn, oftentimes extremely simplistic artwork befitting its first main character, kirby, but there’s a surprising range of art styles that have been used. although originally the strip’s focus was on kirby and the denizens of dream land, it expanded to include the brawl universe in general and has developed a wide range of humor, including a recurring series of sight gags of kirby and the surprising results of his copy ability and an april fool’s series of waluigi comics. i think video game fans, particularly nintendo fans, will enjoy the strip which i find to be more consistently funny than most, but don’t take my word for it: check it out yourself! oh, and be sure to check out this great mario cartoon with three alternate endings.

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.

superior metroid

one more game to round out the year. i had played through metroid fusion earlier this year, but having read so much praise for its predecessor, super metroid, i was interested in how that game would compare. since i had played the two games out of order and the upgrades are almost exactly the same i was somewhat worried that my experience would be marred, but i’m glad to report that super metroid was a completely memorable experience and distinctly superior and worthy of its place among “the greatest games of all time”. in my review of fusion i mentioned that the pacing in that game seemed rushed and that it wasn’t until near the end that i felt there was the real sense of the exploration that was at the core of the original, but throughout all of super metroid the pace is pretty much perfect, with upgrades and areas opening up in a much more satisfying way. it’s amazing to see the difference between the two games: even though they both have virtually all the same gameplay mechanics, because of the superior map and level designs super metroid is an almost entirely different, and clearly superior, experience. it’s pretty amazing that nintendo is able to repeatedly create such memorable experiences with its core franchises, and i’m def. looking forward to working my way through the rest of the series. and here’s hoping another 2D metroid comes out before too long.

super metroidian links!
- fantastic fansite w/ great map and screenshots of each item’s location
- good game site at mdb.classicgaming.gamespy.com w/ maps, the nintendo power comic, instruction booklet, and more
- some metal versions of super metroid songs at metroidmetal.com
- retrospective of the series at ign.com

fire emblem stoned

another “official” platform first: finishing my first GBA game (although i’ve been playing several others for quite some time). the honor goes to the “sickeningly” addictive strategy RPG fire emblem: the sacred stones. i have to confess here that this was another one of those games that had me uber-obsessed, fighting monsters and levelling up characters in my head throughout the day and itching to get home to beat the next chapter. and when i say “sickeningly” addictive i mean it: the marathon gaming sessions i had last week while home sick combined with the feverish nighttime dreams of beating the game during the same period has left me a bit nauseated when contemplating the game now i’m mostly recovered (from both game and illness). but if i can get over those less-than-ideal associations i can laud the game for what it is: a whole lotta obsessive fun.

the game has all those elements that flip those obsessive switches in your brain: characters that you have to level up before promoting to a different class (with the added geeky thrill of getting to choose between two different classes), endless debates about which characters are the best, and a pretty decent epic fantasy storyline. what was most surprising for me though was the way the game is designed to make you care about your characters. for one, the design feature that a character once slain is gone forever is central (although definitely not without its frustrations), and def. adds to the game’s difficulty. second, and this was quite surprising to me, is that if you have characters stand next to each other for a certain number of turns they have a “support conversation” which means they basically become closer friends and gain stat bonuses when near each other in battle. each character can have one major (level A) friend by the end, and during the epilogue pairs often get married or become friends for life. i found the support conversations to be highly entertaining, and although i went for mostly obvious choices my first time around, i’ll def. be checking out the others next time through. and of course there will have to be a second time what with the branch in the middle (what a ploy! this is the second game this year i’ve been suckered by this!).

the character images above, taken from this site, are just the characters whose personalities i liked and that i ended up using the most. the characterization is pretty well done, and there’s just something so hot about pink, green, and blue hair. uh, or is that just me …

i didn’t find the game to be as blindingly easy as some suggested, but i think most of it had to do with the way i played. like pokemon you can promote your character early on or wait twice as long and end up w/ a stronger character. so for a long while i had an entirely unpromoted cast, but once i promoted the rest of the game was pretty straightforward. there are also def. other ways to make the game harder for yourself. for example, i almost never use stat-boosting items in pokemon and i didn’t here either. next time i’ll also focus on different, perhaps weaker characters, like some of the characters that already come promoted.

this is my first fire emblem game, and perhaps like many others i first got interested in the series through the hidden characters from the series who appeared in the still awesome super smash bros. melee. i’m really making my way through the smash bros. cast. once i play a star fox game i should be pretty well caught up.

i was somewhat surprised that although this is the 8th release in japan this is only the second one that made it over stateside. it would be fantastic if they’d rerelease all the previous ones a la the final fantasy games, but i don’t think anyone’s holding their breath on that one. anyway, all in all this was a great, albeit incredibly time-sucking game (and i still have the ruins to finish!). the most common complaint is that the game is much too close to the first fire emblem game (the one on GBA w/ no subtitle) that came out in the US (which i just bought even though i prob. won’t be playing it for a good while). despite that i’m def. looking forward to playing that, the gamecube installment, and the very first games as well.

oh and one other thing. in a previous post about nintendo translator bill trinen there’s a link to an article where trinen mentions that fire emblem games are particularly tricky to translate b/c of the archaic japanese language used. so i have to give a thumbs up on the great job they did on this game. rawk.

lotta linkz:

- wikipedia has a mostly spoiler-free section on which characters have level A support endings. i can’t believe rennac, moulder, and knoll don’t have any level A support endings. how sad!
- fire emblem: sanctuary of strategy: lots of great stuff, inc. some sprites, wallpapers, and official artwork; a table that lists all the bonuses from supports; and the text of all the support level A endings.
- fire emblem online has some good stuff too, including all the awesome epilogue artwork and a 4-page comic prologue to the game.
- this promotion chart is indispensible.
- ign has a decent, although somewhat barebones, guide.
- ign also has a good FAQ.
- this FAQ at gamefaqs is about FE7, but it has a lot of good info about game mechanics that’s directly relevant.
- this is a good walkthrough, also at ign.
- just came across this character guide, also at ign, that looks pretty cool.

whew!

link ‘em up, samus

in the hours i couldn’t play metroid prime, i did the next best thing: dug up metroid links. here are a few i came across:

- www.metroid2002.com: a site devoted to sequence breaking, etc. of the metroid games. also has links to speed runs, and videos of all sorts of useless but cool minutiae.

- metroid-eu.com: someone’s typed out all the creatures, chozo lore, and pirate log entries if you’re interested. also has maps.

- metroid manga: screencapped and translated from the official nintendo of japan site. haven’t read it yet, but it looks cool.

- metroid database: tip and tricks: lists the critical scans (ones you can only get a limited time) all in one place. also has a nice walkthrough.