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Two hundred fifty first entry - Game Profile 3
2006-12-18 14:45:47
Time - 12:09, Noise - Shinedown - "I Dare You"
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Game Profile - Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars
STORY
As usual, Bowser kidnaps Princess Toadstool, but when Mario goes to rescue her (as usual), a huge sword comes crashing into Bowser's Keep! The Princess, Mario, and Bowser are all flung in different directions, and none of them have any idea what's going on. From there on, it's an RPG-style adventure to find the missing Princess and save towns from the evils that this sword seems to be producing.
GAMEPLAY
(tasks/controls) Controls are very easy. You run, jump, and examine things, all in a 3-D environment. It might take a while to get used to the platforming and/or angling your jumps, but the learning curve is pretty small. None of the puzzles are terribly difficult, although they might make you stop and think for a few minutes. Usually, the game is very direct, with a "get from Point A to Point B" approach, and the characters almost always spell it out right for you where you need to go.
(combat) It's a turn-based RPG, so don't expect any super fast-paced battling. However, it is decently challenging. There are always at least a couple of enemies in each area (besides bosses) that take some strategy to beat and not just brute force. As for the bosses, it's tough to be overleveled for any given area, so you'll rarely beat them into submission without at least *some* resistance. Items play a somewhat larger role in combat, since there are a few powerful attack items that you can use (I'd like to meet anyone who isn't thankful for a Rock Candy every once in a while!), as well as some very useful defensive and healing items. Special attacks, which use FP (flower points, like MP and magic), are varied among your party members, but you'll still probably find yourself using Mario's the most. (There is another character later with a VERY powerful special, but I'm going to keep that a secret.) Overall, combat is fun, and not overplayed like it is in some other games.
SOUND
Only a few tunes that really stand out, but the music is actually pretty good all around (it's another composition by Yoko Shimomura, who also did both Kingdom Hearts OSTs). You'll probably smile when you hear various little remixes of songs from previous Mario games. The music is also of good *quality*, too, although it's still just SNES material. The sound effects are fun and befitting of the situations. There's a lot of attention to detail. I remember going "aww!" the first time I heard a Goomba noise. XD
GRAPHICS
Think of them as an SNES version of a cross between Final Fantasy VII and Chrono Trigger. Got that image in your head? Good. Basically, everything is semi-chibi, and it's all very cute and detailed. The thing to remember is that this game is half Squaresoft, so it really packs a punch in the graphics department, despite being an SNES game. The detail in enemy movements, attacks, and specials is dazzling, really. Games like this and Yoshi's Island really helped the console go out with a bang, graphics-wise, by showing what it was capable of just before the Playstation took over.
REPLAY
No "New Game +" or anything to unlock with another play, so there's not a huge reason to run this time and time again, unless you particularly enjoyed the story. One thorough play through should net you everything the game has to offer. I can't think of any one-time things in the game that would require another run if you missed it. Of course, there are certain one-time events that you may want to do again for interest's sake (like fighting the special boss in Monstro Town), but since those are all at the end of the game anyway, you can easily just save before the end and do those things without saving - if it's that important to you.
OVERALL
This is a very charming game, taking the legendary Mario and putting him in a quirky version of his world. Characters are lively and funny, and it's easy to smile along with what's going on. It's quite short, as well, and you likely won't find yourself breaking ten hours - fifteen at the most. It's the kind of game where you can just sit down for an hour and do one or two locations, quit, and come back another day without forgetting what the heck you were doing. Little references to Square appear throughout the game, but nothing too intrusive - not even as much as Kingdom Hearts. This is a recommended game for me - a weird, but interesting blend of Nintendo and Square.
PERSONALLY...
(Best) I absolutely ADORE the quick re-enactments that Mario does for situations when he's "explaining" them to other people. See... Mario doesn't actually talk in the game. Think Crono from Chrono Trigger - the strong, silent type. Therefore, it's up to his actions to show how he feels, and he tends to respond in highly amusing, anime-esque ways.
(Worst) Er... I dunno. I played too much Beetle Mania, maybe? Nah, but seriously. Probably the thing I like least about this game is the cap on the leveling. You can't be an over-achiever and make an "ultimate" party, because there really isn't a means to do it. By the end of the game, you're around level 25, usually, and the cap is level 30. I like having a party capable of whomping any and all foes instantaneously, but this game just doesn't deliver in that department. However, that's really just a rant for gaming perfectionists like me, and most normal gamers won't find this to be a bother.
About the price... when I finally managed to find my copy, it was $35 - and that was just a year or two ago. While this game isn't "Maxi 15 cartridge" rare (yeah, I actually had one of those), it is a little harder to find than other SNES games out there. Expect to look hard if you want to find this game, but if you like RPGs and lighthearted stories, then it may very well be worth it.
And there you have it. A profile/review for the SNES game Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars. The verdict? RPG fans with a sense of humor can surely buy this - if they can find it. Others... well, they should just watch a speed run of it or something. ^_~
This entry, over and out!
See ya, folks.
- Jen -
Two hundred fiftieth entry - lists... everybody loves lists...
2006-12-16 16:38:00
Time - 2:08, Noise - X (TV) - Koizumi Kouhei - "Secret Sorrow"
I'm pretty sure that's the fifth time I've used that as an entry title. o_O
Anywho... lists...
Top Ten Favorite Anime
1. Gravitation
2. X (TV)
3. Chobits
4. Fruits Basket
5. Tsubasa Chronicle
6. Cardcaptor Sakura
7. Elfen Lied
8. Saikano
9. Trigun
10. Descendants of Darkness (Yami no Matsuei)
Honorable mentions: xxxHolic, Serial Experiments Lain, Loveless, Cowboy Bebop
Top Ten Favorite Manga
1. Gravitation
2. X/1999
3. Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle
4. Cardcaptor Sakura
5. Saikano
6. xxxHolic
7. Angelic Layer
8. Chobits
9. Angel Sanctuary
10. Elfen Lied
Honorable mention: Loveless
Top Ten Favorite Videogames
1. Final Fantasy VII (PSX)
2. Silent Hill 3 (PS2)
3. Devil May Cry 3: Dante's Awakening (and Special Edition) (PS2)
4. Fatal Frame II: Crimson Butterfly (PS2)
5. Yoshi's Island (SNES/GBA)
6. Tetris Attack! / Puzzle League (SNES/GBA)
7. Kingdom Hearts (PS2)
8. Parasite Eve (PSX)
9. Tomb Raider II (PSX)
10. Resident Evil 2 (PSX)
Honorable mentions: Dark Cloud 2 (PS2), Intelligent Qube (PSX), Super Mario RPG (SNES), Dance Dance Revolution: Extreme (PS2), Kingdom Hearts II (PS2), Devil May Cry (PS2)
Top Ten Favorite Anime Characters
1. Seishirou Sakurazuka (Tokyo Babylon / X / Tsubasa)
2. Subaru Sumeragi (Tokyo Babylon / X / Tsubasa)
3. Kurogane (Tsubasa)
4. Kyou Sohma (Fruits Basket)
5. Vash (Trigun)
6. Kimihiro Watanuki (xxxHolic)
7. Nana (Elfen Lied)
8. Asato Tsuzuki (Descendants of Darkness)
9. Tomoyo Daidouji (Cardcaptor Sakura)
10. Hanajima Saki (Fruits Basket)
Honorable mention: Ichirou Mihara "Icchan-san" (Angelic Layer), Chise (Saikano, manga version), Chi (Chobits), Tohma Seguchi (Gravitation, manga version), Moe (Love Hina, episode 20), Potato (Air), Urd (Ah! My Goddess), Katan (Angel Sanctuary)
Top Ten Favorite Videogame Characters
1. Vergil (Devil May Cry 3)
2. Dante (Devil May Cry 3)
3. Heather (Silent Hill 3)
4. Sora (Kingdom Hearts)
5. Eve (Parasite Eve)
6. Lara Croft (Tomb Raider)
7. Yuffie (Final Fantasy VII)
8. Leon (Resident Evil 2 and 4)
9. Sae (Fatal Frame II)
10. Aya (Parasite Eve)
Honorable mentions: chocobos (any Final Fantasy), Yuna (Final Fantasy X), Yunalesca (Final Fantasy X), Chitose (Fatal Frame II), James (Silent Hill 2), Claudia (Silent Hill 3)
Memorable Moments in Anime (may contain spoilers)
1. Tsubasa - the episode "Doodler Mokona" (couldn't stop laughing!)
2. Fruits Basket - final two episodes (made me cry really hard)
3. Angelic Layer - final two episodes (also made me cry hard)
4. Cardcaptor Sakura - episode 65, with Touya and Yukito (Go, Go, near-shounen-ai!)
5. Chobits - episode 13 (the game episode!)
6. Gravitation - episode where Shuichi is raped (sailor dress! o_O )
7. Kare Kano - episode where Tsubasa is introduced (really hilarious)
8. Evangelion - the End of Evangelion ('nuff said)
9. Pokemon - Team Rocket consistently breaking the fourth wall by *realizing* that they were in an anime or a movie
10. X (TV) - episode 16... and manga volume 16, too... (Seishirou!!! ;_; )
Memorable Moments in Gaming (may contain spoilers)
1. Final Fantasy VII - death of Aerith (I cried during the battle after it!)
2. Silent Hill 3 - entering the "other" hospital for the first time (Fucking. Awsm.)
3. Devil May Cry 3 - getting my ass handed to me by Mission 3 in Normal Mode (original version of the game, not the Special Edition)
4. Parasite Eve - fighting the boss at the top of the Chrysler Building (so pretty!)
5. Kingdom Hearts II - Riku. As a party member. SCORE! O_O
6. Silent Hill 2 - incredibly eerie prison cell scene with Maria
7. Final Fantasy X - realizing the fate of Tidus at the end of the game
8. Tomb Raider II - wasting 2.5 hours and over half of all of my resources and finally beating the Temple of Xian (ginormous accomplishment!)
9. Tetris Attack - going 12 minutes on a normal 2-3 minute versus round against my mother (the speed was ridiculous by then!)
10. Final Fantasy (Dawn of Souls version) - beating all of the special bosses in the special dungeons (Shinryuu = death incarnate!)
So yeah. It's another list entry. And now I'm off, since I've spent entirely too long writing it. ~_~;;
See you, folks~<3
- Jen -
Two hundred forty ninth entry - ......
2006-12-15 19:03:27
Time - 5:09, Noise - Emily Brindiger - "Fiction"
[emo]
Geez. There are days when I wish that I had the get-up-and-go that a lot of you others have on this site. Seriously. When I saw the Ayumix 2 MEP thread, my sequence of thoughts went as such:
1. Cool! This would be fun to join! o^_^o
2. Hmm... but the first one was *really* top notch.
3. My segment would never be like those ones.
4. I would bring the project down.
5. Well, that's an awful lack of confidence...
6. Why even bother joining if I have no confidence in myself???
7. ....................
8. Good luck to everyone else, I guess. : /
9. *leaves thread*
;_;
[/emo]
Finals are next week. The more I think about it, the less worried I am, surprisingly. I basically just figured out that the psych one won't affect my grade either way. I'm too far away from the next letter grade for her replacing a bad test to make a difference. So, this means that I am absolutely positive that I'm getting a C in psych. I'm fairly sure I'm getting a B in biology, albeit a low one - unless the test turns out easier than I thought. I'm at a B in math, I think, but who knows how the final will affect that. An A in band (like what else would I get?). I have no clue what I'm getting in Spanish. My teacher is so damn scatterbrained that he couldn't keep track of grades if he wanted to.
So, after having the thing for not even a few months, my sister's new puppy got hit by a car and killed. He was good at getting the fence gate open, so that's how they think it happened. I'm sure that she's going to get another dog. They're like children to her - she loves them just as if they were real people. In the case of my (well, HER) dog, Princess, that's very nearly the case. Princess is getting a little old, and with her epilepsy, we think she'll only be around for another few years. But she's the most wonderful, sweetest dog in the world, really. It's worth the thousands of dollars in medicine over her lifetime to keep her healthy. Anyway, back on topic. They're going to have the puppy cremated, since it's too cold to dig up a spot to bury him. I expect my sister to have picked out a new dog in six months. Three is the perfect number for her, and she won't be happy with just Princess and Cassie for long.
Personally... I don't know about that way of thinking. I mean, yeah, I really want another cat at home - but I wanted another one even *before* Tony was put to sleep. I just wanted several cats. But after Tony died, I don't think I could have just gone out and gotten another cat. I loved him too much to try and replace him.
I miss my kitty. Even now, I still tear up over it sometimes. ;_;
So... my local anime club had their contest... but I ended up not submitting anything. Their site was down (hacked), so I couldn't link them to my video. Then, when I went to submit it in person, they told me that I'd have to wait until the break at nine (it was seven at the time). Not only did I have homework to do, but they also picked that as their "bad anime night," where they showed the worst of the worst. So, I endured one episode (it happened to be the last episode of Kanon), but then said "fuck it." I wasn't waiting through this crap when I had more pressing things to attend to. So, no video submission for me, and a terrific waste of about two hours of my life.
Still can't find the light up board. It seems that everyone has heard of them, and everyone *thinks* they saw one, but nobody can actually produce the thing for me. I have several people "on the case," so to speak. My biggest hope is a fellow anime and art fanatic here at college - a girl on my dorm wing. She wants one, too, so I know she'll look.
My pocket watch went dead. >_< Made me mad, cuz I only had a week left of school where I actually needed it. I don't require it during finals week, since I'm just going, doing, and coming back on those days. No need to know the time.
Still not feeling well. Better than I was, but some of the other minor symptoms have persisted. Thankfully, the nausea wasn't one of them.
Been leveling up in Final Fantasy X in order to test a theory regarding ultimate weapons, created weapons, maxxed out Strength stats, and the actual attack value that's produced. My main party had one with an ultimate weapon, and two with weapons I had made myself, so I need to juice up another character with an ultimate weapon to make a decent comparison. After I finish making another "ultimate" party, I'm going to take them through a whirl of the special bosses. Shouldn't be too hard. It's always good to test out what you've made, though.
After that, I'm planning to finish my Silent Hill 3 file (I'm purposely doing multiple runs through to reclaim some of the unlockables I lost when I lost my memory card). I want my Heather Beam again, damn it. >: (
After that... I'm not sure. I will most likely be home by then, so I'll probably get to start Final Fantasy XII (it's my Christmas present). I would really rather play it here at college, where I don't have my brother hanging over my shoulder trying to tell me what I'm doing wrong, and where I don't have my mom playing twenty questions with me because she missed what happened when she was sleeping.
I don't know what I'll do after XII. I still have Tomb Raider: Legend to play. I've been putting it off because, as a veteran of the games, the controls in the new one really piss me off. I can't get used to them without trying to revert to the old way. Eventually I'll cheat my ass through Tomb Raider: Angel of Darkness, just so I can survive the horrible gaming to see what I've heard is a decent story.
Seriously. To all of you future game developers:
3-D controls ("tank" controls) DO NOT GO ON AN ANALOG STICK. Only 2-D controls on analog, plz, kthxbai.
Oh. So yeah. I finished another fanfic and posted it. It's not gay lovin', but I question whether or not people will enjoy it anyway. It's written... very, very oddly. Think "twisted children's book." It's relatively graphic, but given the writing style, it's also quite vague at the same time. I can't say that I'm proud of it in the same way that I am with my other fics, but it definitely has charm. And twisted sickness. But that's a given.
Suppose I should end this here. It's getting a tad long (for me). Don't know what I intend to do right now. I'm kind of sleepy, but I really shouldn't nap this late in the day...
See you, folks.
- Jen -
Two hundred forty eighth entry - Game Profile 2
2006-12-11 23:55:34
Time - 9:34, Noise - Intelligent Qube OST - "The 1st Tide"
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Game Profile: Intelligent Qube
STORY
It's a puzzle game. It doesn't really have one.
GAMEPLAY
(tasks) A puzzle game, in which your objective is to survive wave after wave of "rolling" blocks trying to crush your tiny body and force you off of the grid and into the inky abyss below. Grid gets larger and block patterns get more complex as the game goes on. Many patterns in the later stages can be VERY tough to do perfectly (or even well).
(controls) Fairly simplistic and easy-to-learn controls, with two-dimensional movement on a free form grid. X lights up the block of ground you're standing on. A second tap will detonate that area, destroying whatever block is in your way (if the cursor was beneath a block). Triangle detonates the ground left by the detonation of special green blocks, which will blow up any blocks in a 3x3 grid around themselves. Use these special blocks creatively to rack up a lot of detonations. Square makes the blocks roll very quickly. ONLY use this once you've detonated as many "good" blocks as possible and are sure that you're out of harm's way.
The basic playing field and single block detonation:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v711/dj_ultima_the_great/IQ.jpg
Detonating a green block:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v711/dj_ultima_the_great/IQgreen.jpg
SOUND
The sound effects aren't terribly impressive, although the blocks do give a good, solid bass noise as they move, and the "Peeerfect!" and "AGAIN!" that you can get at the end of each stage can really make you feel good... or like you've done something wrong. Hearing your little character cry out as he's trampled by blocks or scream as he falls off the edge can be quite amusing, though. However, the MAJOR highlight here is the music. It. Is. Wonderful. And I'm not kidding you, either. ALL of it is done on real instruments, and the pieces are both calming and lively - perfect for keeping the resident puzzle gamer on his or her toes. Of course, the beauty of the pieces is somewhat dampened by the fact that there aren't very many of them. It's depressing, but don't let that stop you from enjoying what IS there.
GRAPHICS
Very simple graphics. Your character is practically a stick figure. The blocks (as you can see in the screencaps), have patterns on them, depending on the level, with the green and black ones remaining constant. You can pick different pattern sets in the options, but the default tends to be easiest on the eyes. Not a whole lot to talk about here. The screenshots tell the story well.
REPLAY
Puzzle patterns are, expectedly, randomly generated, so there's decent replay value here. Unlockables are relatively tame. Nothing worth wasting your days over if you're not a perfectionist.
OVERALL
If you're a fan of Tetris and the like, you'll probably be fond of this one, too. If you're not a puzzle gamer... well, buy the soundtrack and save yourself the time. ^_~ (However, you might still be able to find this in a five or one dollar bargain bin. This is so, incredibly worth that if you like puzzle games at all.)
PERSONALLY...
(Best) My favorite thing about this game is how I can keep popping it in, even though it's years and years old now. Every once in a while, I get the IQ itch, and this game delivers, despite its age. The music is STILL better than many of the most recent games - puzzle or otherwise, and the gameplay is both simple and engaging enough that this became a classic for me.
(Worst) I was going to say the graphics, but I don't mind them somehow. Maybe it's because I feel like too many bells and whistles would cheapen the great gameplay and take away from the aura of concentration. No, what really bothers me is that I would love to have this game in a handheld version, to sit proudly beside Tetris Worlds and Dr. Mario/Puzzle League (GBA version of Tetris Attack! for the Super Nintendo). It deserves that. Unfortunately, I think I'm going to find that my Playstation will be a necessity forever.
And there you have it. The Intelligent Qube review/profile. I think the only question left to ask is, "What's your IQ?"
- Jen
PS: funny IQ story. All of my family played this game, and we began dubbing each other with labels as we realized the talents of each member. My sister, who was poor at the game, was a "Smart Square." My brother, moderately good, was an "Intelligent Qube." My mother and I, both masters of the game, were "Intellectual Quadrilaterals." The labels have since stuck. o^_^o -
Two hundred forty seventh entry - +100 to Intelligence!
2006-12-10 18:54:04
Time - 5:52, Noise - Kingdom Hearts II OST - "Bounce-o-Rama (speed up version)"
And the lovely kikai_saigono has cleared up that little PM question for me! Please return to your regularly scheduled journaling~!
- Jen
JOURNAL: dj_ultima_the_great (Jen )
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