I thought I’d start off my Zero Expectation postings with a post explaining what I’ll be doing and a few opinions I have on some of the recently released games I’ve been playing too much lately.
So first things first, what exactly will I be contributing to the site? Well I’ll mainly be writing some of the game reviews and a series of posts called ‘Déjà vu?’ which compares a sequel in a franchise to the one before it, looking at what improvements have been made, what has been changed, what has been removed, were these changes for the best and how similar the newer entry is to the older one.
Now onto some quick opinions on some games I’ve been playing lately. These are just what I think of the game so far, I’m not done with them yet so my opinions may change by the time I write the reviews on them.
3D Dot Game Heroes
This game is pretty much a classic Zelda gameplay wise. It’s different enough to be new and fresh while still feeling familiar. The dungeons have some great puzzles and there are plenty of walls to bomb to reveal secrets. It’s a very self-aware game with tons of references to other games and genres and a lot of jokes. It’s also a great looking game despite everything being really basic and blocky.
The character editor is very good and surprisingly versatile even though you can only choose a few colours (lol 8 bit colour schemes). People have made some really impressive 3D dot versions of loads of gaming, anime, film, TV and even music icons
Final Fantasy XIII
I honestly thought people were exaggerating the linearity of this game. I’m 24 hours in and pretty much all I’ve done is go down corridors, fight enemies and get cut scenes every so often. I know pretty much all RPGs are go from point A to B to C, fight enemies and get cut scenes but in most other RPGs there’s a bit more exploration. I mean it took around 10 hours to leave Midgar in FFVII but then you could explore. You didn’t have to go straight to your next destination. It took a while for FFXII to pick up after doing loads of odd jobs and preparation as Vaan and then some more linearity until you escape the prison but then you could explore some. Plus the fields were large and more open ended than literally corridors.
Don’t get me wrong though, I am enjoying the game oddly enough. It’s a very pretty game with some great character and enemy designs and the soundtrack is really good. I also love that if you lose a battle you can retry from just before he encounter. I’m up to Chapter 10 if I remember right so not too far off Chapter 12 where the game is supposed to open up a bit.
Resonance of Fate
Another JRPG I’ve been playing a lot recently. I picked it up for around £16 from Zavvi a few weeks back because it looked interesting enough and it’s been well worth the price. The combat is really interesting. It’s turn-based but real time. You take turns and you can charge up your shots (no using swords here, its guns all the way), move or run and shoot by taking a hero action. The battles mostly rely on strategy and just charging in without a plan on the harder foes will often lead to a game over.
The story is very slow, I’m on Chapter 10 out of 16 and the main characters have really only done a bunch of odd jobs like grabbing some wine for a woman and getting sign back.. I’m really quite enjoying this game and the fact that you can retry any fight when you lose just like FFXIII is always a plus. Unlike FFXIII it’s not free but instead costs you money.
There’s also a lot more exploration than FFXIII and a lot more side-quests which add more time to the game. Oh and you can also customise your guns in crazy ways, like sticking a scope on a scope on a scope with a scope in front. I love the crazy customisation though sadly it doesn’t show up on the gun models in game. You can also customise the three main characters clothes with clothes you can buy at the boutique or find on the world map so if you get bored of what the characters are wearing you can always change it the next time you are at base or the clothes shop.
