Symphony of Eternity - regularly priced 8.00 (got it on sale for $4.00)
This game from the title on down is pretty much every jRPG you ever played during the 16 bit era. Not an original idea anywhere to be found, but it's executed well and not a half bad game if you're a fan of the genre. Controls for the overworld and dungeon screens are rough. At the bottom left hand corner you can see the "control pad" and it should have been smaller or just been 4 directional. 8 directions make it a lot harder to control. However the in battle touch screen controls are very good. They're very intuitive and never hinder the speed of the battle.
Random battles?
I have found I can't stand them anymore. Probably the reason I can't be assed to complete Lost Odyssey (fourth disc).
No random battles. It's more along the lines of a Chrono Trigger where you walk along and see enemies on the field. Most of the time they're in an area that's hard to avoid them (particularly with these controls), but if you're patient you can wait for them to walk away and get by them. While I said the game is anything but original, they did do their best to take the best elements of the genre. No random battles and extra damage by ganging up on an enemy a la Dragon Quest IX for instance.
Oh, then it's alright in my book. I love extra damage in DQIX but I hardly have a chance to rack it up to 2X because my characters are godlike now and everybody dies within a couple blows. Is it cheesy? I mean...story-wise.
I don't know if I'd call it cheesey. The dialogue certainly is though. I'm still early in the game, so it's tough to make a call on the story just yet.
Music good?
Music is okay, but kind of forgettable. It all sounds kind of like Final Fantasy music I've heard before. The speakers aren't exactly outstanding on this thing either though to be fair. I'll try it out with headphones at some time.
I'm getting really impressed wth the leveling/stats system of the game though. There's something like a job system in place. You find tablets throughout the world that have different job titles. As you accumulate tablet points (aka job points) you'll unlock different abilities. Very much like FFV. In addition to this, as you level up you can assign where your physical skill points go (attack, evasion, magic defense, magic defense etc.). So between those two things there's a lot of customization that you can do with your characters.
How much? I see a broad variance in prices for this thing. Looks like I could get it locally for $488 (taxes included).
aspro said:
How much? I see a broad variance in prices for this thing. Looks like I could get it locally for $488 (taxes included).
I paid $398 for it. That's for the Wi-Fi only model. If I wanted 3G or 4G connectivity I would have paid more, but that's not really necessary for what I plan on using it for.
Age of Wind 2 - $1.99
Okay now this is a cool game. You're a pirate or a captain of pirate ship or some kind of ship. I can't figure out if you're a good guy or just a good guy pirate. Doesn't matter. It's a nautical game. You get jobs likes hunt down pirates, steal their goods when you blow them up, and then sell it for money to upgrade cannons, equipment or even buy new ships. You also sail around looking for treasure and other good stuff.
The controls are neat. They're very basic, but very effective. You use tilt controlling to steer the boat. Touch screen functions are for firing your cannons as well as just selecting items for trade when you dock into port.
So would you continue with Eternia? I'm kinda interested to see if any of these games can hold you like a regular hand-held game.
Yes. Eternia is a decent game. The story is weak, and the bad translation does absolutely nothing to help it. But really it's no worse than a lot of the 16 bit era RPGs which it clearly emulates. On the other hand the job system and statistic management are excellent. The developers took nods from Final Fantasty, but also from western RPGs in that respect. It's a nice blend. Plus the battles are good. They're not mind boggling hard, but it's not one of those games where you press A over and over and over and win every fight. Boss battles, even the first one, are pretty tough.
Cordy - $5.00
This is a surpringly good Sonic-esque platformer. The controls feel very loose and almost non-responsive, but it doesn't take long to realize that was done intentionally and it works almost perfectly. They don't feel sharp an yet I've very rarely made a move that doesn't work out. The developers actually made this game with the limitations of touch screen controls in mind, so it while it feels a little awkward it still works amazingly well.
As far as the game goes like I said this is kind of like Sonic. You run through a level as fast as you can grabbing batteries and flower icons. You have to find 6 batteries in order to exit the level. There are a set number of flower icons (usually 30) to collect in each level, but that's strictly for the challenge. Additionally each level has an "ideal time" that you're challenged to beat, though it's not required. But to get a perfect score you need to find everything and get to the end of the level in the given time.
Graphically the game is shockingly good. Compares well with Lost Winds or any of the other 2-D platformers that you find on downloadable services. Screenshot doesn't do it justice at all.
Great game and one of the bigger surprises I've found so far.
"This is a surpringly good Sonic-esque platformer."
Surprisingly must be an understatement if it's anything like a Sonic game.
Foolz said:"This is a surpringly good Sonic-esque platformer."
Surprisingly must be an understatement if it's anything like a Sonic game.
You do realize Sonic is one of the greatest platformers of all time right?
Dvader said:You do realize Sonic is one of the greatest platformers of all time right?
That's what I'd been told. Then I actually played it.
Foolz said:Dvader said:You do realize Sonic is one of the greatest platformers of all time right?
That's what I'd been told. Then I actually played it.
Almost everytime I sit on the couch or get into bed I wish I had a tablet (so I could read longer form articles). Lap tops are just unweildy in both scenarios.
I don't see myself gaming on it. As much as I dislike stylus controls on the DS, I can't see myself swiping around the screen in single A games.
Android will be the way I go, how do you find the OS?
Yeah honestly this tablet is not going to take the place of any gaming device anytime soon. Even with the games I've found that are pretty good, the best one is still Angry Birds. And people can hate on Rovio all they want (and rightfully so for being one-trick ponies who think very highly of themselves), the fact is Angry Birds has a mass appeal that hasn't been seen since Super Mario Bros or Pac-Man. Good fun and all the better that its free.
As far as the OS I haven't really had any problems with it though I haven't really dived too deep in it. Flash works very well on it. I haven't had any programs crash on me. That's really all I can say.
Reading with it is great though. I've got a couple books on it, though I need somme suggestions for a new one. I've been extremely impressed at how good comicbooks look on it though. Tough to go back to paper after the ones I've read.
Now that I've bought one of these sexy but seemingly useless devices I'm going to check out a little of what's offered. I bought an Acer Iconia. Power-wise it's a mid to upper range Android tablet. It's actually about $100 cheaper than most of the similarly powered tablets, but it weighs slightly more than the others. Still I figure if putting up with an additional 1/2 pound saves me $100 I'll deal with it. Now that you know what I'm playing on, here's what I'm playing: