Dear Internet,
There
really does not need much to be said about today, but I am sure I will find
something to say and a long way to say it.
For starters, I can say that the game continues to press my anxiety
about save spots. Today the game had a
two hour long break between available saves.
It took me about an hour to get to the bottom of a dungeon, and another
hour to get out. Somewhere in the middle
of all that was a boss battle. And
"Persona" is still throwing handicap bosses at the player. One boss that I came across today forced the
player to start off with two of the team members at a third of their max
health. A bigger kicker would have been
if I had a different fifth member. Then
I would have had to start the match with that member at reduced health. In most games, this kind of thing would not
faze me, and even this time around it only took me a single turn to heal
everyone back to full health. What makes
me irritable is how the game throws these kind of handicap matches at the
player after they have spent an hour or so going through a dungeon and leveled
up considerably with not even the courtesy of putting a save spot near the
dungeon boss. This kind of game is
trying to encourage preparedness by creating a hurdle that the player is
supposed to overcome. The problem is
that unless you know what the hurdle could be, you will be walking into a brick
wall that is designed to make you lose large stretches of playtime to make the
overall length of the game longer.
Playing the exact same thing over because the game decided to throw a
screwball at you is not the same as being thrown three screwballs and striking
out. Having the save spots so far apart
is like missing a screwball and being out for the whole baseball game,
including the half of the innings where you play the field. The ante is just too high to make this
enjoyable from its challenge.
 |
| Three separate saves, all one after the other at the nearest opportunity. |
Shall I
tell about how the characters in the story are about as dumb as bricks? Even the smart one is dumb. Right before the main character loses the
plot item, the one smart character is shown to have doubts about
something. When the item is lost he
exclaims something along the lines of "I knew this would
happen." If he was worried about a
trap, why did he not warn the rest about his fears? At least he is called out about his, but he
replies with the excuse that the group had no choice but to lose the item to
advance to the villain. Maybe there was
another way or option, but now they cannot discuss anything because Mr.
Smartypants decided on his own to let the group continue despite seeing a hole
in the plan. This is like having that
one guy in the team who sits on the sidelines for the majority of the project,
only to voice himself when it is too late to fix the situation. It would not be as bad if the rest of the
group did not take his response as an apology rather than the excuse it is.
Let me
see, what else? Well, I have finally
decided to delve into the item store and buy new equipment for my team
members. I already said how the menu
gives next to no information when buying.
When trying to figure out what I needed, I accidentally bought three
pairs of glove that only one member could equip. Despite my reluctance to even go near the
store and instead hoard my cash, the game requires that the player periodically
obtain good equipment to be able to fight the monsters. This in upon itself is a good thing because
item management is a key skill for RPGs.
The fact that the menu is so messed up is what makes the game
problematic. For example, the game has the
option of automatically selecting the best equipment for the characters. The problem is that it only equips based on a
single stat, not the full stats for the possible equipment. This led to a time when the game kept saying
that a scalpel was better than a spear because their attack stat was the same,
but the spear had more positive stats on top of that that would obviously make
it a better item. However, there are
some good things about how the game handles the different weapons. Not all weapons are just made to be a simple
replacement for a lower weapon. I have
come across a spear that while it is not as strong as another weapon I have, I
will stick with it because of its added benefit. It attacks with a guaranteed seven strikes
compared to the slightly better weapon that only strikes once. If the player relies too heavily on the
"Best Equip" option, they will find themselves giving up the opportunity
to deal a nearly guaranteed 140+ damage when they will instead be delivering
about 80. This variety of equipment and
a requirement of the player to optimize their weaponry and armor is something
that I think the game did right. The
problem is just with its presentation.
When looking at the equipped weapon, the game does not display its stats
unless you are looking at it when unequipped.
Even then, the game throws numbers at the player with little
description. It took me a while to
figure out that the third number meant how many multiple hits per attack.
Should
I discuss the optional boss at the end of the Haunted Mansion? The one where the game asks you if you want
to fight it because of a weird certain circumstance? The one where the game asks you to make a
decision to fight a monster that may or may not be evil? The one where you have no concrete proof
either one way or another about the truth?
The one where if you decide to fight it, you can jeopardize the ending
of the story? The one where if you fight
it, you have to do so with one less member?
The one where the repercussion of fighting it and finding out you picked
wrong is to either reset the game back to an earlier save that will cost you a
half an hour of time or to go forward to an already waiting wall in the story? Well, I do not feel like it right now. Maybe later.
And
there you have it, Internet. A whole lot
about the very little I wanted to talk about for the day. I will leave you with the perhaps my favorite image of the day short of the game's Batman film quote.
 |
| At least the bosses give great experience points. |
Yours in digital,
BeepBoop
No comments:
Post a Comment