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Goatboy, Mr Happy, all you film people. If you read this, read more.
This is more like a review than a topic, but I'm having problems with reviews recently... and after all, you only read reviews if you look for them. I want people to read this, not because I'm proud of my writing, I just really, really want people to understand what games could be.
Best game ever? Skies of Arcadia of course. What else were you expecting? :0)
I've never really enjoyed RPG's. Too much to think about. I can't remember ever gaining points for killing chickens in real life... it just doesn't make sense. Alright yeah, great system for a game, but when I have to divide that number in two, add six, and then add that to my defense to see if I die or not when I attack... that's not a game, that's maths.
So, that really can't be a proper reason why people play RPG's. So what else is there? Dungeons and Dragons.
Oh God no. I have no idea what this beardy fetish is... but to me, elves, pixies and stuff take themselves far too seriously. Great if you love that sort of epic feel to it... but epic is nothing without character, and an Elf does not have character.
The characters in Lord of the Rings, to be fair, are pathetic. It's a great story, yeah, wonderful different places and a gigantic quest to destroy this centre of evil. It's a great tale... but with the book, and with the film, I couldn't care less if any of those people died. They aren't people. They aren't characters. They take themselves too seriously.
But thankfully, not all RPG's are about pixies and elves and crap. It's a myth, which I have a great deal of trouble understanding. Break RPG down, Role Playing Game, and perhaps you get the answer. Dungeons and Dragons, the horrible roleplay game where you throw dice to see where you go... it all stems back from there. We only see the "Icewind Dales" and the "Baldurs Gates" and all that stuff. "Fear not my dear lady! I shall save you!"
But behind the horrible, horrible characters, could be a very good game. Deus Ex was good. It wasn't a particularly smooth game... but enjoyable, very enjoyable. That was an RPG. You collected little things that made you stronger in the long run, and that's the basic definition of one. I didn't see one pixie in Deus Ex. But then, the characters in that were all a bit crap too.
So, I don't really like them. Point click, click more, die, collect gold. No, no no.
So I'm advised to get Skies of Arcadia. So I do.
Star Wars was released in 1977. A simple tale of a young boy that becomes everything he wants to be, and more. He makes a lot of friends along the way, and takes out the evil Empire... with a few twists to make it interesting.
Skies of Arcadia was released in 2001. A simple tale of a young boy that becomes everything he wants to be, and more. He makes a lot of friends along the way, and takes out the Evil Empire... with a few twists to make it interesting.
The amount that SOA blantently steals from Star Wars is amazing. But that's what makes it so good... someone's basically taken the elements of why it's so great, and turned it into a game. It even starts off with a huge ship chasing and firing on a smaller one. And it rules, it really does.
And I'll continue to say it. I've started playing it again, from last night. And it still continues to amaze me, make me laugh, smile. I will swear that the acting in the game is better than anything I've seen, and you have to read subtitles all the time, there isn't even any voice acting.
The reason the acting is so good, is because the characters are so well defined. They're really the sort of people you think you could talk to, be friends with. Imagine that.
"Hey Ivalhead the Conqueror, how's your day been?"
"I HAVE RESCUED THE FAIR MAIDEN, I AM VICTORIOUS."
Not going to work. A long term relationship with a games character is a bad idea.
The greatness of it lies in the beautifully made characters, mentally, and graphically. The direction of the FMA, not cutscenes, actually in game talking to people, is brilliant. It doesn't try to make it feel like a great huge action sequence, like many games do, when something happens. It doesn't try to shock you, or make you jump... they just want you to fall in love with these wonderful characters, and you do, you really do.
Some die, some leave, some stay with you... I can't think of one single character in the entire game that was irritating, or disturbingly badly created. People don't just ask questions and get answers, they confine their feelings into each other, they chat and laugh. You feel part of it, you don't feel as if you're escaping into the game and pressing buttons, you feel you're watching this kid, Vyse, the boy, doing everything he wants to in life.
Some of it is corny, and will make you laugh. Some of it is saddening, and it will make you sad, oddly enough. It controls emotions, because all it does is try to tell a tale. No big explosions, no huge twists that sparked the whole idea of making this game off... just a story, told excellently.
Of course, there's more to a game than just hearing a story. For me, telling a story is quite important... it's then finding the best way to get it across, and make it fun to develop it further for the "user".
Vyse, and Aika, his best friend [female], are Air Pirates. This requires them robbing the rich and keeping the gold. But, [moral alert], they're good pirates, "Blue Rogues". This means they'll only attack those that attack others, those that are able to defend themselves well. They wouldn't simply attack someone who hasn't a chance in hell of defending themselves... no, that's left to the "Black... something" pirates. The leader of which you meet many times over the course of the story, and of course fight him.
But does the story revolve around robbing people? Hell no. In fact, Vyse wants to become a Captain himself... he works on his Dad's ship, helps attack. After his Dad and the crew are captured after Vyse and Aika are visiting an island [which isn't just told to you in cutscenes, you actually sail, yourself, to the island, and you go on the island, controlled by you], they set sail in a crappy little boat... finally becoming the Captain of his own boat. Over time, he manages to become the Captain of this massive boat... he raises a crew from people he's met from all over the world, and he even acquires his own base, an island of his own.
But does the plot revolve around that? Hell no. I haven't even scratched the surface of the real plot. The battle, much like Star Wars, of good versus evil.
But it's these little sub plots that make it all so utterly amazing. Things that make you refuse to stop playing. It's so full of character, and I'm ashamed to see that so many people haven't played it.
Now, I better just make one thing clear. There is one bad point to this game.
When flying your ship [yes, flying... sorry, didn't I make that clear? :0)], you can be attacked by monsters. This is necessary, because after all, how can you improve if you never attack anything?
But the problem is... you get attacked a lot. And I mean, A LOT. It does get to the point when you just want to save, go take a breather, or you'll get really angry.
Not that the attacks are hard. You can repel them pretty easy... and you have the option to run away. But play it through once, and when you go back to it the second time, because you will miss A LOT... you won't be so irritated at them. You do learn that you really do need to attack things, to get better. It IS a chore, it IS hard work to keep going with it... but it makes it so rewarding to then come to where you were going, to watch the characters develop [and when I say develop, I don't mean go up a level... it does have levels, but the characters are that. Characters. They're actually interesting to follow.]...
What about the music, have I mentioned the music?
Just like Star Wars again. Whenever Darth Vader walked on, his theme tune played. Same here. People have theme tunes, and it's good music, none of this "music to race to" crap, proper corny "you are sad" stuff. Not over the top though... The greatest, and strongest of points, don't even have music in. Pure silence. And it's great.
You can go out tommorrow and buy it on Dreamcast, AND buy a Dreamcast, but you don't have to. However, you DO have to buy it when it comes out on PS2 and Gamecube, either this year or the next.
Because, I honestly do believe, it's how all games should be judged against. Hell, it's what made me want to make games. It showed me that games don't have to be about run and jump, rescue the maiden, shoot the guard... they can be nothing more than an adventure, a pure adventure from start to finish.
So please, PLEASE play it. You may not love it as much as me, but everyone HAS to play it at one point in their lives.
Christ, I've wrote quite a bit. Thanks if you read it all, I just hope you're convinced.
This is more like a review than a topic, but I'm having problems with reviews recently... and after all, you only read reviews if you look for them. I want people to read this, not because I'm proud of my writing, I just really, really want people to understand what games could be.
Best game ever? Skies of Arcadia of course. What else were you expecting? :0)
I've never really enjoyed RPG's. Too much to think about. I can't remember ever gaining points for killing chickens in real life... it just doesn't make sense. Alright yeah, great system for a game, but when I have to divide that number in two, add six, and then add that to my defense to see if I die or not when I attack... that's not a game, that's maths.
So, that really can't be a proper reason why people play RPG's. So what else is there? Dungeons and Dragons.
Oh God no. I have no idea what this beardy fetish is... but to me, elves, pixies and stuff take themselves far too seriously. Great if you love that sort of epic feel to it... but epic is nothing without character, and an Elf does not have character.
The characters in Lord of the Rings, to be fair, are pathetic. It's a great story, yeah, wonderful different places and a gigantic quest to destroy this centre of evil. It's a great tale... but with the book, and with the film, I couldn't care less if any of those people died. They aren't people. They aren't characters. They take themselves too seriously.
But thankfully, not all RPG's are about pixies and elves and crap. It's a myth, which I have a great deal of trouble understanding. Break RPG down, Role Playing Game, and perhaps you get the answer. Dungeons and Dragons, the horrible roleplay game where you throw dice to see where you go... it all stems back from there. We only see the "Icewind Dales" and the "Baldurs Gates" and all that stuff. "Fear not my dear lady! I shall save you!"
But behind the horrible, horrible characters, could be a very good game. Deus Ex was good. It wasn't a particularly smooth game... but enjoyable, very enjoyable. That was an RPG. You collected little things that made you stronger in the long run, and that's the basic definition of one. I didn't see one pixie in Deus Ex. But then, the characters in that were all a bit crap too.
So, I don't really like them. Point click, click more, die, collect gold. No, no no.
So I'm advised to get Skies of Arcadia. So I do.
Star Wars was released in 1977. A simple tale of a young boy that becomes everything he wants to be, and more. He makes a lot of friends along the way, and takes out the evil Empire... with a few twists to make it interesting.
Skies of Arcadia was released in 2001. A simple tale of a young boy that becomes everything he wants to be, and more. He makes a lot of friends along the way, and takes out the Evil Empire... with a few twists to make it interesting.
The amount that SOA blantently steals from Star Wars is amazing. But that's what makes it so good... someone's basically taken the elements of why it's so great, and turned it into a game. It even starts off with a huge ship chasing and firing on a smaller one. And it rules, it really does.
And I'll continue to say it. I've started playing it again, from last night. And it still continues to amaze me, make me laugh, smile. I will swear that the acting in the game is better than anything I've seen, and you have to read subtitles all the time, there isn't even any voice acting.
The reason the acting is so good, is because the characters are so well defined. They're really the sort of people you think you could talk to, be friends with. Imagine that.
"Hey Ivalhead the Conqueror, how's your day been?"
"I HAVE RESCUED THE FAIR MAIDEN, I AM VICTORIOUS."
Not going to work. A long term relationship with a games character is a bad idea.
The greatness of it lies in the beautifully made characters, mentally, and graphically. The direction of the FMA, not cutscenes, actually in game talking to people, is brilliant. It doesn't try to make it feel like a great huge action sequence, like many games do, when something happens. It doesn't try to shock you, or make you jump... they just want you to fall in love with these wonderful characters, and you do, you really do.
Some die, some leave, some stay with you... I can't think of one single character in the entire game that was irritating, or disturbingly badly created. People don't just ask questions and get answers, they confine their feelings into each other, they chat and laugh. You feel part of it, you don't feel as if you're escaping into the game and pressing buttons, you feel you're watching this kid, Vyse, the boy, doing everything he wants to in life.
Some of it is corny, and will make you laugh. Some of it is saddening, and it will make you sad, oddly enough. It controls emotions, because all it does is try to tell a tale. No big explosions, no huge twists that sparked the whole idea of making this game off... just a story, told excellently.
Of course, there's more to a game than just hearing a story. For me, telling a story is quite important... it's then finding the best way to get it across, and make it fun to develop it further for the "user".
Vyse, and Aika, his best friend [female], are Air Pirates. This requires them robbing the rich and keeping the gold. But, [moral alert], they're good pirates, "Blue Rogues". This means they'll only attack those that attack others, those that are able to defend themselves well. They wouldn't simply attack someone who hasn't a chance in hell of defending themselves... no, that's left to the "Black... something" pirates. The leader of which you meet many times over the course of the story, and of course fight him.
But does the story revolve around robbing people? Hell no. In fact, Vyse wants to become a Captain himself... he works on his Dad's ship, helps attack. After his Dad and the crew are captured after Vyse and Aika are visiting an island [which isn't just told to you in cutscenes, you actually sail, yourself, to the island, and you go on the island, controlled by you], they set sail in a crappy little boat... finally becoming the Captain of his own boat. Over time, he manages to become the Captain of this massive boat... he raises a crew from people he's met from all over the world, and he even acquires his own base, an island of his own.
But does the plot revolve around that? Hell no. I haven't even scratched the surface of the real plot. The battle, much like Star Wars, of good versus evil.
But it's these little sub plots that make it all so utterly amazing. Things that make you refuse to stop playing. It's so full of character, and I'm ashamed to see that so many people haven't played it.
Now, I better just make one thing clear. There is one bad point to this game.
When flying your ship [yes, flying... sorry, didn't I make that clear? :0)], you can be attacked by monsters. This is necessary, because after all, how can you improve if you never attack anything?
But the problem is... you get attacked a lot. And I mean, A LOT. It does get to the point when you just want to save, go take a breather, or you'll get really angry.
Not that the attacks are hard. You can repel them pretty easy... and you have the option to run away. But play it through once, and when you go back to it the second time, because you will miss A LOT... you won't be so irritated at them. You do learn that you really do need to attack things, to get better. It IS a chore, it IS hard work to keep going with it... but it makes it so rewarding to then come to where you were going, to watch the characters develop [and when I say develop, I don't mean go up a level... it does have levels, but the characters are that. Characters. They're actually interesting to follow.]...
What about the music, have I mentioned the music?
Just like Star Wars again. Whenever Darth Vader walked on, his theme tune played. Same here. People have theme tunes, and it's good music, none of this "music to race to" crap, proper corny "you are sad" stuff. Not over the top though... The greatest, and strongest of points, don't even have music in. Pure silence. And it's great.
You can go out tommorrow and buy it on Dreamcast, AND buy a Dreamcast, but you don't have to. However, you DO have to buy it when it comes out on PS2 and Gamecube, either this year or the next.
Because, I honestly do believe, it's how all games should be judged against. Hell, it's what made me want to make games. It showed me that games don't have to be about run and jump, rescue the maiden, shoot the guard... they can be nothing more than an adventure, a pure adventure from start to finish.
So please, PLEASE play it. You may not love it as much as me, but everyone HAS to play it at one point in their lives.
Christ, I've wrote quite a bit. Thanks if you read it all, I just hope you're convinced.
Page:
Started playing it at about nine last night, went to sleep around half one, when I checked what time it was.
You're definitely better off not buying a Dreamcast, not now, at least. So just wait for the Cube, or PS2 version. Christmas this year, I think it was...
For those following the adventures of the spider that fell off my head, he was on my hand during half of that post, slowing me down... and has now climbed my arm, and is hanging about ten centimetres off it.
You're definitely better off not buying a Dreamcast, not now, at least. So just wait for the Cube, or PS2 version. Christmas this year, I think it was...
For those following the adventures of the spider that fell off my head, he was on my hand during half of that post, slowing me down... and has now climbed my arm, and is hanging about ten centimetres off it.
Grix if this does not win you GAD I will eat my happy hat :-)
But that's besides the point.
I'm worried now. Goaty's post convinced me that a reduced price X-box would be my console of choice. My main problem with the Gamecube is that I own an N64 and the games it delivered were good in places but far far too few, partly due i suspect to Nintendo's mad notion that it should control production of cartridges. I had to wait a bloody month before I could sink my teeth into Zelda, which was by far and away the best game on that console, followed by Perfect Dark.
However, your post is pushing me back towards the dubious virtues of the 'cube. I am still unsure, but with this and zelda, buying a gamecube becomes more attractive.
I'm going to wait and see how it pans out and when the X-box has its first price drop I'll make a choice between the two.
Thanks a lot though, your review really brings the game to life. Getting excited about games is not usually my thing. I got excited about Zelda it ruled. I got excited about Black and White and it didn't live up to my expectations. I am now excited about this, but not excited enough to buy a Dreamcast...
May 3rd is decision date.
But that's besides the point.
I'm worried now. Goaty's post convinced me that a reduced price X-box would be my console of choice. My main problem with the Gamecube is that I own an N64 and the games it delivered were good in places but far far too few, partly due i suspect to Nintendo's mad notion that it should control production of cartridges. I had to wait a bloody month before I could sink my teeth into Zelda, which was by far and away the best game on that console, followed by Perfect Dark.
However, your post is pushing me back towards the dubious virtues of the 'cube. I am still unsure, but with this and zelda, buying a gamecube becomes more attractive.
I'm going to wait and see how it pans out and when the X-box has its first price drop I'll make a choice between the two.
Thanks a lot though, your review really brings the game to life. Getting excited about games is not usually my thing. I got excited about Zelda it ruled. I got excited about Black and White and it didn't live up to my expectations. I am now excited about this, but not excited enough to buy a Dreamcast...
May 3rd is decision date.
Comix Zone is on the GBA too it just gets better.
That's one big rant you've got there
Yeah, sequel's coming, on PS2 and Gamecube. I've heard nothing about a[n... I'm sure it should be an] X-Box version though. I'll check it out tommorrow, perhaps.
But for now, I'm going to go sail the skies. See you later people.
But for now, I'm going to go sail the skies. See you later people.
Don't suppose there's any news of an XBox version?
Or maybe a sequel? Sega seem to be putting most DC sequels onto XBox...
Or maybe a sequel? Sega seem to be putting most DC sequels onto XBox...
Cool, I'll be sure to advertise my topic on it.
Ah yes Skies of Arcadia, i mentioned that in the post i will do tomorrow.
I respect Grix's views, and so if I ever own a console which has this game on it, I will buy it.
I don't really like the whole pirates idea, and I don't usually like RPGs. But then again, both MGS and Deus Ex are RPGs in a way, so I'm willing to give it a try.
Just needs to be released on PS2 first...
I don't really like the whole pirates idea, and I don't usually like RPGs. But then again, both MGS and Deus Ex are RPGs in a way, so I'm willing to give it a try.
Just needs to be released on PS2 first...
Yup. I'll probably get it on Gamecube too. Perhaps I'll sell my Dreamcast, and wait.
(But what happens if it's canned for Gamecube?)
Cry.
(But what happens if it's canned for Gamecube?)
Cry.
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