I haven’t been posting much lately due to being back in
college again and being up to my eyes in work but I’ll try and keep the updates
coming. I’ve actually been making a game demo for college and really enjoying
it. I’ve also been learning programming for the first time which I surprisingly
love.
I just want to talk a bit lately about a game I’ve been
playing lately, Phantasy Star Online. Sega closed the PSO servers for good a
few years ago but thanks to some very dedicated fans there are free hacked
servers available to play the game on. This is my first experience with PSO
other than a quick 4 player Gamecube session which ended unceremoniously with one
of the players rage quitting because it was too slow. I didn’t own a Dreamcast
until well after it died and Irelands terrible online infrastructure until
recently stopped me from playing it.
Here's my character Reissward arsing about on the Pioneer 2 hub. You'll see a lot of this place.
Although billed as a MMO, PSO really isn’t anything like it.
It has more in common with Diablo 2 than anything else. You wander into one of
the 4 dungeons (well in Episode 1, there's even more in Episodes 2 and 4 which are also playable) in the game killing enemies and picking up random loot. There’s
a story there as well but I’m not far enough into it for it to have really gone
anywhere. If you want to play with other players you can create a game in the
lobby and wait for random people to join in, or you can join a game already in
progress. Up to 4 players can play together. PSO is far more action orientated
than most other Diablo style dungeon crawlers which for me makes it a lot of
more fun. There are some cool features like the telepipe item you can use so
new players can find you easily in whatever dungeon you are in.
For a Dreamcast game PSO looks gorgeous and even better on PC.
My first impressions of the game weren’t great. I picked a
magic user as my class and found the game very difficult in the beginning.
Thankfully there is no negative to dying in the server I’m playing on. However
the fun increases exponentially when you are playing with other people. I joined a few games in progress and levelled
up with these guys and now I have a nice death dealing mage on my hands. One
issue is that controlling the game with a keyboard takes some getting used to
especially if you want to use a mage or long range attacker. Even when you get
used to it I get the feeling that the game would play better with an analogue
pad (the version I’m playing does not support this).
The later episodes represent a big jump in visual quality.
Anyway if you are curious about PSO and missed out like I
did, or want to relive the good old glory days of PSO before cheaters spoiled
it then give it a go. Since there’s only a very dedicated fanbase playing at
the moment there’s none of the griefing and cheating that plagued the games
original release. I’ve had a good few memorable moments already like the time
when I found one of the rarest swords in the game... twice in one session. That’s
beginners luck for you. You can download the game and client from this link
here: http://www.schtserv.com/. I don’t
mind giving out the link because the game is pretty much abandonware since Sega
closed the servers and is no longer making money from the game. This game has
gotten me pretty excited for PSO 2.
It’s the black
sheep of the Phantasy Star family, the one that nearly ruined the series. If you
look for online user reviews of Phantasy Star 3 you’d expect it to be one of
the worst games ever made. Many people feel it doesn’t quite fit the series and
was a massive step backwards. However Phantasy Star 3 is by no means a bad game
and in fact improves on Phantasy Star 2 in some ways.
The game begins
on the day Rhys, the crown prince of Landen, is to wed his love Maia, a girl
who was found washed up on shore suffering from amnesia. However
just before they can exchange vows Maia is stolen away by a Dragon who claims
to be of Layan ancestry. A thousand years prior a bitter war was fought between
two factions, one lead by Orakio and the other by the dark witch Laya. Nobody had seen a Layan in generations
until this Dragon appeared. Rhys vows to seek vengeance on the Layans and sets
off on a quest that will span three generations and reveal the secrets of the
world he lives in.
And thus begins another epic.
One problem many
people have with Phantasy Star 3 is that the setting is more medieval than
science fiction. While this may be true of the start of the game many sci-fi
elements slip in as the game progresses. Two combat cyborgs join the party and
the walkways between areas are full of complex machinery. The truth about this
world is slowly revealed over the course of the game. Revealing the truth about
the world was one of the game’s best moments and I found it quite a clever
twist.
The battle
system of Phantasy Star 3 follows the same fast paced battle system of Phantasy
Star 2. You have the choice of auto attacking for a round, auto attacking
indefinitely until you interrupt it or choosing what targets to attack or
techniques to use. While the encounter rate is quite high the battle system is
fast paced enough that it rarely annoys. Phantasy Star 3 is also quite a lot
easier than its two predecessors. While those games are incredibly tough and
require a lot of grinding to beat, levelling up in Phantasy Star 3 is very
quick and you can get through the game with little to no grinding. Dungeons are
also much smaller and more manageable than the sprawling labyrinths of previous
Phantasy Star games. It’s a lot easier to navigate them. You won’t be forced to
use a walkthrough or get out the graph paper just to find your way around them.
Unfortunately
that’s where the improvements to the battle system end. The magic, or rather
technique system, is rather unique. You can pay a vendor to redistribute the
strength of your techniques. Strengthening one technique will weaken another.
The problem is that techniques are all pretty much worthless in the game other
than Gires, a healing technique that heals the entire party. You do more damage
with regular attacks and while some of the buff spells can totally break the
game I never once felt the need to use them. It’s an interesting system wasted
by the fact that techniques just aren’t worth using.
Wasted potential
really sums up Phantasy Star 3. The overworld graphics look a lot better than
in Phantasy Star 2 but in some areas it is really lacking. Towns look all the
same and are almost devoid of any NPCs to talk to. Even in desert or snow areas
the town will still have the same houses surrounded by green grass. The castles
in the game look and feel even sparser. The in-battle backgrounds will change
depending on where you are fighting, a feature weirdly dropped for Phantasy Star
2, and there’s some nice parallax scrolling effects. However the animation on
enemies is very disappointing. Phantasy Star set itself apart from its 8-bit contemporaries
with gorgeously animated enemies. Phantasy Star 2 went one better; battles were
filled with animations of your characters running up to attack enemies or
firing off spells. Character animations are missing from Phantasy Star 3 and
replaced with weapon effects like you would see in the early Dragon Quest games
and enemies remain motionless until they attack. These attack animations are
very disappointing, most never going over two frames of animation. One enemy attacks
by waggling his finger back and forth, another’s eyes will glow and the
strangest of all, one enemy will attack by flexing his pectorals. Not exactly
the most exciting of animations. Those zombie rabbits in Phantasy Star 2 that
shoved their spilling entrails back into their stomachs were disgusting but the
pixel art and animation looked stunning. The still anime cutscenes from the
first and second games are now a rarity replaced with tiny portraits of the
characters and text at important points in the game.
I'm not sure which town this is because they all look near identical.
The world of
Phantasy Star 3 is quite intriguing as is the generation system from which the
title draws its name, Generations of Doom. At certain points in the game you must
choose a bride to marry. The story then continues on from the point of view of
the characters son. Depending on their mix of Orakian or Layan blood the
offspring can be either more focused on physical attacks, techniques or a mix
of both. You have to choose a bride twice during the game and depending on who
you choose the story and character you control will change. One particular combination
will even result in the birth of twins, a male and a female. This system has
the potential for the player to become emotionally invested in the characters
and their choices but unfortunately this isn’t fully realised. All characters
in the game are pretty much blank slates so it’s hard to become attached to
them. It’s telling that Dragon Quest V
which came out afterwards and also had a generational mechanic became one of
the most emotionally involving games of the 16-bit era. The story as a whole
could have done with more exposition. It’s an interesting premise but it’s
presented in a bare bones manner. NPCs and other characters that join your
party are barely fleshed out. While the beginning of the game does a good job
of guiding the player to where they need to go there are some ambiguous moments
later on that can leave you stumped unless you look up a FAQ on where to go
next unless you would prefer to wander about aimlessly for a while.
This is what replaces the anime stills from the previous two games. At least the awesome 80's anime style is still present.
What isn’t
disappointing is the soundtrack. It’s one of the best FM synth soundtracks ever
composed. The instrumentation might be a little lacking compared to later Megadrive
games but there’s no faulting the compositions. The title track which I’ve put
a link to below is one of the all time great pieces of videogame music. Another
nice touch is how the music changes in battle depending on how you are doing
and how the overworld music adds more instruments as you recruit more
characters.
Phantasy Star 3
is far from a bad game. It’s a good game that just failed to live up to its
predecessors. In ways it is an improvement. It’s far more accessible due to its
much fairer difficulty level and smaller dungeons. The potential was there for
it to be something special but it never fulfilled its own ambitions. The battle
system is unique and fast paced but you can beat most of the game by just using
the auto attack command. The story goes to some very interesting places towards
the end but the bland characters and underutilised generation mechanic leaves
the player emotionally detached. It never reaches the heights of the Phantasy
Star 2’s social commentary and superb ending. If you are interested in the
Phantasy Star series don’t skip over this one. It’s fun, relatively short and
has some interesting features. Just be prepared for some measure of
disappointment when it’s all over.
All that leaves
me is Phantasy Star IV to play. I’ve started it and from the first few hours it’s
been absolutely superb and I hope to get a review up soon and maybe even get a
podcast out on the series.
You have to feel sorry for SNK and their
Neo Geo Pocket console. It was looking so good. They had a wonderful console
that boasted more power than the Gameboy Colour yet had far better battery
life. They even managed to tempt some third parties to publish for their
console. However they just could not compete with the juggernaut that Pokémon
became. Sonic the Hedgehog on the Neo Geo Pocket was a surprise third party
release for the Neo Geo Pocket and is to my knowledge the first time Sonic had
appeared on a non Sega console. I’m sure the fact that the Neo Geo Pocket could
link with the Dreamcast sweetened the deal but it was still a miraculous coup
for SNK to have such a big franchise appear on their fledgling handheld.
The usual 'Green Hill Zone' stage starts everything off.
Many people label Sonic Pocket Adventure as
a port of Sonic 2. They would be mistaken; Pocket Adventure is a unique sonic
game. The game’s looks borrow heavily from Sonic 2. If you have played that
game you will have a strong feeling of déjà vu. However the level design is
completely different. Art assets look like downscaled versions of Sonic 2’s art
and the borrowing doesn’t stop there. All the music is taken from Sonic 3. It’s
a bit of a bizarre combination when you hear Sonic 3 music over a level that
looks like it came from Sonic 2. Of course there are chaos emeralds to collect.
The special stage is accessed by finishing Act 1 with 50 rings, ala Sonic 1. The
special stage is ripped straight out of Sonic 2, which were my favourite Sonic special
stages. What I don’t like is how fiendishly difficult these stages are and the
fact that there’s only one chance in each zone to collect a chaos emerald.
In terms of visuals the special stages are more than a match for its Megadrive cousin
Pocket Adventure was developed by Dimps,
the same team that would later go on to create the Sonic Advance games for the
GBA. It plays remarkably close to the Megadrive games it is based on but
unfortunately falls foul to the same mishaps as the Advance games. Maybe it’s
the development team or the diminutive size of the NGP and GBA screens. Pocket
Adventure’ just like the Advance games’ is filled with leaps of faith and
pitfalls that aren’t avoidable without the power to see into the future. It
becomes more prevalent as the game advances. It’s not enough to ruin the game
but enough to annoy. Mostly the level design is pretty good.
The Neo Geo Pocket hasn’t got many platform
games and Sonic Pocket Adventure would definitely be one of the best. It’s
fast, plays remarkably close to the Megadrive games and looks gorgeous. It’s definitely
worth picking up and is relatively cheap even in the gorgeous PAL mini MVS case
version.
The PS2 era saw
a lot of weird releases, particularly in Europe. A few tiny publishers sprang
up and began localising some very obscure games for Europe and selling them at
budget prices. The vast majority of these games were taken from the Simple range
of Japanese games.These were a series
of low budget games published by D3 Publisher. The PS2 series was named Simple
2000 because each game sold for 2000 yen, the PS1 series similarly was called
Simple 1500 again due to the price point. While some absolute classics were released on
the series (Global Defence Force, which had a European release, is superb; I
really should review it soon), the majority was pretty terrible. The Sniper 2 for
the PS2 is a very good example. Unleashed on unsuspecting European gamers by Midas
Interactive, the supreme masters of publishing crappy Japanese games, The Sniper 2 is
now also available on the European PSN store.
The first Sniper
game was released on the PS1 and unfortunately/fortunately never got a western
release so it’s a good thing that there’s a plot in the intro. The plot
overview shows the first games most ‘exciting’ moments in all their low budget
PS1 ‘glory’ (I’ve a feeling I may run out of inverted commas before this review
is finished). And what a story it had. To summarise Harry, a fire fighter, while
saving a girl named Melissa stumbles across a Mafia counterfeit ring and as a
result loses his job and his girlfriend is killed by the Mafia. He then trains
to be top class sniper and returns to the city to exact his revenge. While on
this vigilante crusade Harry is contacted by an informant named CA. CA gives
Harry information on the Mafia to help him out. After he kills the Mafia boss he
finally meets CA. CA was Melissa, the girl he saved at the start. She also
possesses (wait for it) the memories of his murdered girlfriend.
Who wrote this
shit?
Nope this isn't in game, it's the CGI intro. It looks even worse in game.
Anyway the game
starts after these events. Harry and CA are on the run and pick up a guy named
Stanley whose car has broken down. They go to a diner of Stanley’s choosing and
then all hell breaks loose. They come under attack by Mafia, there’s another
killer (Harry knows he’s a killer because he smells the same as he does, as you
do) and the waitress turns out to be a CIA agent. What transpires afterwards is
another load of old nonsense involving the Mafia and bio weapons.
The game is separated
into about 12 stages full of sniping fun. The sniping gameplay isn’t all that
bad. You can move about (extremely slowly) in a very limited sniping area and
can zoom in to take your shot. Your rifle has 3 levels of zoom and sways making
each shot a little more difficult to take. You also have to take into account
the time it will take for the bullet to reach your target making moving targets
quite a challenge. While the gameplay is solid if uninspired, the stages are
where the game shows its low budget origins. Most stages only require you to shoot
one target. This means most can end in roughly 5-10 seconds. Each one is
bookended by lengthy nonsensical cutscenes and loading times. Even more
ridiculous is that each stage is begins with the opening credit sequence and
ends with the closing credits. At first I thought the game was just horribly
broken until I realised that they were going for an episodic feel were each
stage in the game was supposed to represent an episode in a TV series. Very
clever, except for the fact that each stage can last maybe 10 seconds! What
were they thinking!
A beautiful vista in low poly land.
Later stages
just get frustrating. One involves setting off a fire alarm and killing the
target as he runs out of a nightclub. Your only clue to who the target is is a
black and white photograph of his back at the start of the level. The fact that
all the male game models are near identical other than the colour of their
clothing makes this stage a frustrating exercise in trial and error. Another
involves shooting out the tires of a speeding limousine and then killing the
target as he escapes. Actually landing a hit on the tires is nigh on impossible
at the speed it travels. And don’t get me started on the stage that requires
you to take out security cameras.
Here's your brief for the nightclub stage described above
Can you see the target in the crowd? It's like 'Where's Wally' at a Where's Wally convention.
Each stage only
lasts at most 3 minutes, some as I said can be completed in 5 seconds and there
are only about 12 stages in the game. I’m amazed that they actually managed to
make a whole game and sell it when there’s so little content. If you skip the
cutscenes and don’t get stuck for too long on some of the more frustrating
areas then you could have this game finished off in about half an hour. However
once you finish the game, something else is revealed, the game has two
branching paths where you need an A+ or higher rating to access them.
Accessing these
drove me demented. I tried the first stage and killed the first enemy in as
quick a time as possible. Then I did the same with a head shot. I couldn’t get
higher than a B-. I trawled the internet and found out that your ranking isn’t
based on how well you do. If you wait until there are less than 10 seconds left
on the clock to kill your target you are guaranteed an A ranking. I’d love to
slap the designer that thought this would be intuitive and not bother explaining
this at all in the game or in the instructions.
'Dramatic'. The true power of the PS2 'Emotion Engine'.
I’m sure you’ve
noticed the ‘wonderful’ visuals in the screenshots throughout the review. It
really does look that bad. Even with the low polygon count and low resolution
textures the game still has the audacity to experience slow down problems
making some missions take even longer than they should. Special mention should
also go to the out of place jazz music used throughout the game.
You really know
you are getting a complete turd when even the publisher can’t be bothered to
try and make the game sound appealing. Here’s the PSN blurb the publisher has
up to describe the game:
“Get ready to
experience the most bizarre, eccentric and maddening game ever created!
Featuring a truly off-the-wall storyline, unbelievable character stereotypes
and one-dimensional gameplay, The Sniper 2 has earned its place amongst the
stars as a loveable cult classic.”
This stage can also die screaming.
You’re probably
thinking that you should avoid this game since even the publisher can’t bring
themselves to lie about its quality. However I recommend you definitely try
this game out. Sniper 2 is a hilarious experience in the same way that terrible
horror movies are enjoyable. It’s a total train wreck of a game but the story,
acting and just plain crappiness has somehow managed to make this game
transcend terrible to become almost enjoyable again. Play it with a group of
friends with a sense of humour and prepare to laugh your ass off. Even if you
hate it it’s so cheap you won’t feel out of pocket.
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