Christmas is a time for traditions. For many years, I warmly upheld one Christmas tradition which started way back in 1999. Flying in the face of the famous Christmas cease-fires which variously took place during the World Wars, I would spend a small portion of the festive season blowing away the invading German forces. Starting with Medal of Honor on the Playstation and working all the way up to Call of Duty 3, the Nazi forces have fallen under a hail of bullets over the festive period.
Now, this year, I could continue the tradition with World At War, but instead I’m having a festive season of experience points, healing potions and random battles. Yes, I’m having a different kind of RPG Christmas this year and fully expect my brain to be filled with a mish-mash of different storylines all combining into one freakishly weird adventure.
And that’s before I’m confused by the different combat methods across all the games. I can cope with the combat on almost all the titles – it makes sense. I choose an action, and a target and Bob’s your Uncle. Then I start playing Last Remnant. I know I pressed “attack”. I was there when that happened. But then it just kind of went on and on. And then I won, and I was pleased. But I don’t know how, or what I did. It’s the most confusing battle system I’ve ever come across. I also suspect that as the game progresses it will become the best thing ever and I’ll completely forget how all the others work and will be trying to pull off Trigger Conditions in the middle of Blue Dragon. I know something like this will happen as I have, already, tried to do the Ring Attack thing from Lost Odyssey about 15 times and I’ve only been playing Last Remnant for an hour.
So I figure any spare time I have around the next few weeks will be spent RPG-ing. Enchanted Arms hangs, unfinished, on my Gamercard because I need to do a bit of the old levelling up before I move on and I can’t be arsed at the moment. Blue Dragon needs restarting because I can’t remember for the life in me where I’m up to or what I’m doing. And I’ve just tickled the surface of Lost Odyssey and Last Remnant. Infinite Undiscovery waits patiently on a shop shelf until the price drops a bit – seeing as I bagged Last Remnant for under £20, I’m waiting for a sale before I spring for that… which all things considered is probably for the best.
So this year, the Germans are spared as I spend my festive break digging through poo for treasure, battling an ice queen, having long (and quite boring) dreams of my forgotten life and trying to find my stolen sister.
Merry Christmas everybody!
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December 20th, 2008 at 12:53 pm
Man, just use EXP+ in Enchanted Arms – it’s a life (and time) saver! Plus go to the Holy Beast dungeon; just be sure to have that No Encounters item – it’s in London casino – on you!
December 20th, 2008 at 1:12 pm
I dont know. Nothing brings in the season like killing Hitlers henchmen. Saying that its the Japanese this time? either in world at war or the mixed bag of JRPG you intend to consume.
tis the season which ever way you look at it.
December 20th, 2008 at 3:24 pm
I quit Last Remnant after about 15 hours. I’m afraid it doesn’t ever make anymore sense. Lost Odyssey is a different story. that’s a game that does exactly what you are talking about with the battle system becoming deeper and more complex but also far more understandable and dependable as you go through the game.
December 20th, 2008 at 9:20 pm
Jake:
You’ve just won the award for the longest title ever given to a blog in this here parts for this year. I may as well say maybe in this decade. I don’t think anyone is going to try to top that title.
I know. The comment has nothing to do with the blog, but still, it’s worth mentioning that title is the longest I have ever seen anywhere and that includes the old FDUK blogs.
Merry Christmas everyone.
December 22nd, 2008 at 7:28 am
Kirsten, you know what’s quite frightening? It’s actually making a little bit of sense now. I kind of understand how the battle flows a bit now. I still get randomly killed (I have no soldiers in my party so very little hit points) but it is starting to make sense. It’s still weird but it’s growing on me!
December 22nd, 2008 at 9:27 am
I agree with Kirsten, the battle system in Lost Odyssey works so well. I’d even dare to say it’s the best J-RPG on the Xbox 360 full stop, it certainly gets better and better as it goes on and levelling up isn’t too much of a grind, sequel please!
December 22nd, 2008 at 12:01 pm
Yeah see I know what you’re talking about Jake. It all started to make more sense to me in Last Remnant after a while but you’re thinking that rate of increasing understanding is going to stay the same but it’s not. This is as much as you’ll ever really understand and you’ll just keep randomly dying. No matter how big your party gets and what new weapons and powers you get you’ll never really gain any discernible control over battles or any real sense of achievement. I felt similarly about Infinite Undiscovery – which was mostly a game about running away and hiding in corners. Lost Odyssey for teh win!
December 22nd, 2008 at 1:04 pm
no love for eternal sonatta?
December 22nd, 2008 at 5:25 pm
Love Eternal Sonata – love it the most I think… forgot all about it when I wrote this though! Took me long enough to get all the words from the titles of the games to make at least a little bit of sense when I stuck them all together.
Kirsten, I shall play some more and get back to you. Found Infinite Undiscovery cheap today as well in my last forage into a shop before January as they are full of fricking idiots at the mo so will give that a bash laters methinks. As for Last Remnant… there is a part of me that can’t work out why I can no longer use mystic arts when I was fine using them earlier and I still have the same tackle. But I intend to finish it. My RPG collection needs a serious run through and finish session so can’t abandon it. I shall soldier on.