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Good video game deal (?)
the7k:
Atlus is all it is for me. I just got a factory sealed copy of SMT3:Nocturne for $30, by the way.
As for my views of Kingdom Hearts, especially no.2, they run almost exactly parallel to the views expressed at Hardcore Gaming 101.
http://hg101.classicgaming.gamespy.com/finalfantasy/ff1/ff1-1.htm
--- Quote ---So. I finished Kingdom Hearts II not long ago. "Abandoned" would probably be a better word for it, though. Despite all its glitz and production values, the game is a trainwreck. About halfway though, you realize using magic, items, summons, limits, reaction commands, and even jumping are completely unnecessary for succeeding in combat. All you need to do is hit the "X" button a lot. You usually don't even have to look at the television screen while you're doing it. Keep an open book next to you as you play -- preferably something light, like a Calvin and Hobbes or The Far Side collection. When enemies appear, start mashing the X button and begin reading; you'll know to look back up when the battle music calms down. It doesn't take long to notice how small Kingdom Hearts II's various worlds are, either. You can run from one end of each Disney locale to the other in about five minutes if you keep moving and don't stop to fight the enemies that pop up. And the levels aren't just small, they're barren. The bazaar of Agrabah has no people or shops. The Pirates of the Carribean world is comprised of an empty town, a pirate cave, and about a dozen "surprise" battles on the deck of the same pirate ship. Even the dark city of the World That Never Was -- originally glimpsed in the secret ending of the first Kingdom Hearts and depicted on the World Map as being at least three times bigger than the other locations -- turns out to be a completely empty (save for a few treasure chests and enemies) area consisting of only three or four screens. There are no townspeople, no way of entering the buildings, no possibility of getting lost, no sense of exploration whatsoever.
But okay. Whatever. These days, an amazing story can sometimes compensate for a game's weaknesses. I mean, that's the only reason I played Soul Reaver 2 more than once. No dice here, either. Kingdom Hearts II is afflicted with what I like to call the "FF8 Complex:" it tries too hard to do too much and is completely all over the place as a result. Fans liked the Square cameos, so Square Enix gave them MORE cameos; therefore, about 50% of the characters you meet in Kingdom Hearts II serve no function whatsoever. I'm probably not in the position to criticize, but unnecessary characters usually equals sloppy storytelling. Kingdom Hearts fans liked Riku, the pretty boy with a mean streak, so Square packed the sequel full of as many pretty boys with mean streaks as they could. And thus did Organization XIII -- the most redundant and poorly-developed group of villains you will ever meet -- come into being. Fans liked the first game's metaphysical storyline, so Square Enix cranked it up a notch by adding the Nobodies to the Heartless/Disney Villains mix. The result is a tangled, contrived story that is really nothing but a semitransparent excuse for Sora to once again take up the Keyblade and battle evil so millions of eager fans will shell out fifty bucks a head to watch him do it. "Watching," come to think of it, is an especially apt term, seeing as how Kingdom Hearts II's innumerable cutscenes are substantially more enjoyable than its tedious "exploration" and half-mindless combat. God, this game sucks. Why did it take me thirty hours to realize it?
Square Enix is beginning to remind me of LucasFilms. I remember seeing Attack of the Clones in the theatre a few years back and being spellbound. OH MY GOD CHECK OUT THAT CGI PLANET! OH MY GOD SUCH A COOL BATTLE SEQUENCE! OH MY GOD YODA! On the way home, all my friends and I could talk about was REMEMBER THE PART WITH THE JEDIS AND THE ROBOTS AND STUFF? THAT WAS AWESOME! Then, about a week later, it dawned on us that Attack of the Clones was actually kind of a crappy movie. Sometimes it's hard to tell as you're watching. You get so caught up in the effects, pace and aesthetics that you don't realize how unimpressive just about everything else is. In Attack of the Clones's case, it took a week for it to sink in. It took twenty-four hours with The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. If Kingdom Hearts II were a movie, I would have realized it during the last twenty minutes and walked out of the theatre. In the end, I watched the ending on YouTube and tossed Kingdom Hearts II into the closet to gather dust with the .hack games.
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Mick Dundee:
Atlus has a few good RPGs I have played. (Thousand Arms & Summon Knight Twin Age are the only two I can think of right now though)
Atlus seems to keep messing around with different game genres, and they put out a LOT of strategic games. (I don't like strategic)
I wish Working Designs didn't go under :(
Oh, and my wife and I THOROUGHLY Enjoy KH 1 & 2
the7k:
Thousand Arms is by Red Company. The Summon Night series is by Flight-Plan.
Atlus games would be the Shin Megami Tensei series, the Persona series, the Digital Devil Saga series, the Devil Summoner series, the Growlanser series, the Trauma Center series, Princess Crown, Prikura Daisakusen, Maken X, Kartia: The Word of Fate, the Power Instinct series, and various other obscure titles.
Atlus may publish a lot of strategy games, but the only one they developed is Growlanser - which, by the way, is one of the best titles on the PS2 (Growlanser Generations).
Too bad you dislike strategy RPGs. The only RPG I've played this gen that was worth even a fraction of my time was Valkyria Chronicles. Everything else has been nothing but mindlessly bashing the attack button over and over again, maybe throwing a potion every once in a while.
juan0tron:
Yeah I like how Persona's strategy heavily relies on learning the opponents' strengths and weaknesses. Otherwise I'm getting kind of tired of turn based games. lol I'll get back into it after I play Timesplitters 3 for a week or so.
Doom:
--- Quote from: z0mbiew0lf on June 25, 2009, 08:33:28 PM ---Yeah I like how Persona's strategy heavily relies on learning the opponents' strengths and weaknesses. Otherwise I'm getting kind of tired of turn based games. lol I'll get back into it after I play Timesplitters 3 for a week or so.
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TS3 is the best FPS I have ever played.