My Games of 2011, Part 2

Tonight's post of picks 8-6 for my GotY list is going to require a little more care than it might otherwise for the simple fact that one the two games that I didn't play, but felt as if I could place, are within these three slots.  Obviously, without actually playing the games myself that means I did happen to miss out on some of the actual experience of it for better or worse, but, and while this is a dangerous thing to state it's normally true, you can sort of get a feel of a game to be able to tell how your overall opinion of it might go.  We are often wrong in those times, and it's quite possible that I will be proven wrong when I do eventually get to play these two games, but, for my part, I could only suggest that I'd expect these two games to actually exceed what I thought for and of them, knowing what I know about them.  Which is enough to have spoiled me on some of each game but certainly not all of it, so unless the parts I missed are akin to the optional content in Chrono Trigger DS, it's not going to negatively skew anything.

Much like yesterday, however, I make this big opening paragraph about the 'big issue' of this crop of games and then the first game I bring up isn't affected by that at all.  Where I haven't played a couple of the games on my list, the first game up here is the game I've played the -most- by far this year with, in all actuality, something like 140+ hours invested in it between its two parts.  Astute readers of the blog will be able to figure out the game by that, but if it wasn't obvious by that, then I'll just go ahead and say it.

8. Dynasty Warriors 7 (And Xtreme Legends)

Know that the above figure is no exaggeration - I know for a fact that my playtime of the original game broke 100 hours.  I know this because when I was copying my save from the HDD to my Memory stick directly after Platinuming it (I believe this was when, at least) I noticed for the first time, that a Play time was displayed and that playtime had 100 or 101 in the hours spot which seems absolutely ridiculous to me and is in fact the only reason why I remember it.  While I have spent a -lot- of time with Xtreme Legends, I'm not prepared to say it's as much time as the original yet, and a conservative estimate puts it around 30-40 hours overall, given the amount of grinding I've done on that game.  Getting the weapons, beating every mission at least once and then several, several times more to unlock titles for over half the characters in the game...it all adds up, clearly.  And it clearly speaks to just how much I am able to enjoy these games.

They are not the best games by any means, but they are games that scratch a very specific itch, fulfill a very specific craving and are generally simply a means to an end.  I'm sure we all have games like these, games that we acknowledge aren't the best, sometimes even aren't that good, but we love them because of what they have to offer.  And the Dynasty Warriors games offer me to build up a bodycount in the thousands per level by simply cutting swaths through anything that isn't allied with me.  Where some action games and FPS can try and guarantee you carnage on a grand scale, none of them can boast quite like KOEI can, if only in that very specific department.  And it's for that that I have bought, played and enjoyed about every Warriors game I can get my hands on and will continue to do so.

Dynasty Warriors 7 placed like it did for generally impressing me more than a Warriors game has done in a while.  While it's easy to get lost in the grumblings I have at the grinding and the pure stupid it propagates through poor interpretation of history, Dynasty Warriors 7 is actually really quality in terms of the games that came before it.  The way it handles the story modes is slick and innovative for the series and the game just looks generally a -lot- better than iterations before it, which while being coupled with the 'winning formula' from previous games that aren't 6 (more varied weapons and movesets, having different levels of every weapon, etc.) it's just a recipe for success.  It's not perfect, and it still lacks a little bit in my opinion (Free Mode battles, a few different generic enemy models would've been nice especially for the Nanman battles and a return of personal items would've been nice) but it's probably the best Dynasty Warriors game since 3 or, depending on your perspective, 5 (Since both of those are generally touted as 'the best') and that really means something.

7. Ghost Trick:  Phantom Detective

Some of you might remember that I have some very, very strong opinions about Ghost Trick that sort of hover around it being "my favorite, if not the best, DS game of the year" which is reflected by it being one of two DS games to be featured in my list and the highest ranking of the two.  It's also reflected by Ghost Trick being the first game I reviewed because I felt as strongly as I did.  I understood just how I could like a game so much, yet be as objective as one could expect about pointing out its flaws, of which Ghost Trick certainly had a few.  Yet I was more able to celebrate all of Ghost Trick's successes with gusto that was deserved, not given, than I was able to criticize its short-comings given that I had to actually think about just what I didn't like about the game.  It was only after playing through it twice entirely that I had managed to compile a short list of deficiencies that I very nearly discarded from my mind directly thereafter.

Basically, the defining downside of Ghost Trick is the one shared by all, or at least most, of puzzle games out there:  they're lightning in a bottle.  Brilliant, beautiful, intense and wonderful, but only for that one first moment that you can never catch once more.  You open that bottle when you finish it and you're left with only the memories since you can always put electricity back in the bottle, but it's never going to be as vivid as it was that first time.  I'm not going to argue if this method is more effective than other games that manage a little more staying power at the cost of not having a few of the types of moments Ghost Trick offers, but it certainly worked for this game and I can say with certainty that I'm quite glad I actually grabbed the game when I did and played it.  With it giving something of a turning point to me and this blog, who knows what would've happened had I not!

6. Dead Space 2

I recall quite easily stating something to the effect of "I hope Dead Space 2 doesn't end up on my 'Games that weren't my games of 2011' list" last year because Dead Space 2 promised to be more of the same of the original in terms of quality.  The original Dead Space is something that I sometimes am amazed that I played all the way through, seeing as I am very, very susceptible to being scared far too much by things that aren't real - things like particularly scary movies and shows, frightening imagery and the like, but I managed through it because for as scary and unsettling as the original game was, it was also very, very good.  Most took to calling it RE4 in space, but it was quite a bit more than that, if only for the fact that (yes, I said it before and will continue to say it) it didn't control poorly.  The aiming was nice and smooth and responsive, you could actually move while aiming to assist in that, and the melee options of "Pistol Whip" and "STOMPYSTOMPSTOMP" were visceral and actually quite useful.  I recall quite fondly a moment in Dead Space the original where I ran out of ammo completely, but managed to stasis an incoming Necro to pistol whip/stomp him to (re-)death before resuming my frantic search for plasma energy.

It's for those reasons that I am genuinely disappointed in myself that I didn't pick up Dead Space 2 this last year and that I had to resort to a (very good) LP to finally introduce and carry my way through the game.  It is most certainly not the same thing, especially with a horror game that is actually scary like Dead Space 2, but it was a good window into the story and the mechanics and offered me the opportunity to see what was polished and what wasn't.  Perhaps it was because I wasn't immersed in it, but I found it quite hard to call the story of the overall game, or more specifically the flow of it, 'great' but merely 'good' at best.  This was balanced out, however, by the inclusion of the Javelin Gun which looks to be the single-best weapon of any game from 2011, or at least high up in the running for it.  Really, the whole inclusion of actual impalement physics was enough to make me feel literal pain and shame for not buying the game.

Much like the two games from last year's list that I included prior to playing, I only included Dead Space because I can very easily imagine just what my experience with the game will be like, more or less, so I can take that and put it where I feel it'll rank. While I feel it's entirely possible that the game will be very different from my expectations, I imagine the difference will be in the game's favor rather than against it.  After all, that Javelin Gun.  It's a wonderfully compelling argument, I'd say.

While I hate to seem like I'm breaking up these posts even more than normal by offering only three today, there's a good reason for it, which will get explained in due time.  Most of it is that I'm finding it hard to really parse out my reasons for number five being where it is, as some of it is....well, personal reasons.  Which is an odd thing to say, of course, but it's something I've been thinking of since being exposed to the game and I have to, very carefully, figure out just what I want to confess (not only here, but to myself) regarding it.  I only hope that I can better formulate my feelings tomorrow than I was able to tonight, but I figure I'll manage.  Somehow.

Review - Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective

(As always with Youtube videos, if you open it at Youtube avoid the comments.)

There are a lot of bad places to wake up in and a junkyard is definitely one of them.  But that's not necessarily the worst thing that can happen - after all, if you wake up, it means you're alive, right?

Not always.

That's the lesson our protagonist, a ghost who eventually begins to refer to himself as "Sissel" learns when he wakes up as a ghost with no memories of himself or just what he's doing there.  But there's more pressing matters at hand; namely a woman being held up by a suspicious looking character wielding a golden shotgun.  Of course, our protagonist isn't really in a position to do anything about it, right?  After all, he's dead.

Just when it seems like there's nothing that can be done but watch the young woman perish, the voice of a tired, wise old soul communicates with our MC to inform him that he has the power to prevent this tragedy.  This is how Ghost Trick:  Phantom detective starts.  It's gripping from the start and it doesn't let you go, and it doesn't give you any reason to resist.

Right from the beginning, Ghost Trick shows off it's main features, the things that will make you fall in love with the game, which, upon listing them out is more or less everything.  Chiefly among them, however, is the art style, which I want to talk about first.  Now, it's a generations-old statement, something along the lines of, "If you have a great Art Style, the actual graphics don't really matter" and there's been many, many, examples of this.  Likely there will be many many more as well.  Because it's not about being picture-perfect - it's about making a clear, appealing style, which is exactly what Ghost Trick does.

It's not easy to make a good-looking DS game.  At least, a good-looking DS game with non-sprite-based graphics, but Ghost Trick manages to pull it off.  Sure, there are some sprites, mostly just for the 'talking heads' for dialogue cut-aways, but everyone has a three-dimensional model that shows a few jaggies, of course, but doesn't look like they cut any corners or 'settled'.

It's really just a pleasure to look at.  Above is, very obviously, one of the colorful characters you'll meet on your journey through Ghost Trick and arguably one of the best characters in the entire game.

Which leads me very smoothly into talking about the cast of characters you'll meet in the game.  Rich and varied, you'll meet some characters who are less tolerable than the others, much like any other piece of media, but this is from a time where Capcom apparently 'got it', a time frame that has obviously long since passed.  Only one of the 'bad' (as in a character you really just won't like) is featured fairly heavily, with the rest having bit performances here and there, leaving you to run through your experience with the best of the best, for the most part.  Of course, telling about them would be...well, telling and if there's anything you take away from Ghost Trick, it's that you don't want a moment of it spoiled for you.

Of course, the very start of the game isn't a spoiler, right?  Right, because it's the part of the game you got to play waaaay back when there was a web-based demo of the game.  (Unfortunately, it's long gone; I wanted to link to it yesterday, but the one place I found it just wouldn't load it.  It's -possible- that it's in the DSi Shop or even the 3DS eShop, so by all means, take a gander there)  The start of the game introduces you to the easy, but clever gameplay that you'll spend most of the game toying with and improving on as your knowledge of it expands.

It's fairly simple, as I said; at any given point in the game (barring cutscenes) you can click an on-screen button (or hit the L-button) to enter the Ghost World.  There, your soul burns with a blue flame to let you know where you are, and other blue spots, called "Cores" show up to give you options on things to reach out and possess.  Your soul can't just fly around willy-nilly, you're not that type of ghost after all, but the method of travel is pretty easy and even fun regardless.  Using the stylus (or the control pad) you can reach out to a nearby core to move to it.  The top screen will display just what you're possessing at the moment and what, if anything, you can do with it through the use of a "Ghost Trick".

Not unlike a poltergeist, you can turn on and off lamps, flip switches and roll most things with wheels.  Unfortunately, you can't throw a chair across a room or anything of that sort; more like you're just doing things with an object that it's used to doing.  The main idea of this game is that it's a puzzle game, so it's through this mechanic that you'll play most of the game.  Whether you're using it to simply navigate here to there, or something more dire, like saving a life, it's a simple, fun mechanic that doesn't wear out its welcome.

You do save lives, by the way, through the other really interesting story bit.  While not entirely original, it's original enough, this other mechanic:  You learn in short order that you have the ability to communicate with a recently departed soul and rewind time to four minutes prior to their demise, giving you a chance to manipulate the environment to ensure their survival.  It's not just a one-shot deal either - you can rewind back to the start (or a special point during the four minutes that's unlocked under certain circumstances) of your time as many times as necessary with no real repercussions.

There's very few negative things that can be said for the game, but in saying "very few", that is of course saying that it's not perfect.  Nothing is, after all.  While my complaints are very minor, I can't very well leave them un-said.  For the positive note about the life-saving mechanic, that it's fun, mostly original and mostly innovative, it also helps to make the game mostly linear, as once you start a save, you can't stop it.  And if you even could stop it, the game doesn't really offer many places to go otherwise.  It gives you a method of traveling long distances and then mostly gives you no reason to go anywhere but where it's very clear the game wants you to go next.  Should you chose to delay that and head other places, the most you can hope for it an amusing and/or mildly informative cutscene.

While there's nothing at all wrong with linear games, when the travel mechanic was introduced to me, I had visions of actually moving and investigating areas to figure out where to go next, which unfortunately never really panned out.  So maybe it's not really a problem so much as it was me hyping something up beyond it's clear usage.  My other complaint about the game is very simply that it ends without offering any sort of New Game + or anything beyond what is contained in the game proper.  Essentially, it is a story first, and once that story is done, it's done.  It's a wonderful story, however, and even knowing that there's nothing gained by playing the game again, I immediately started it again after beating it the first time, which I think is a firm indicator of quality, as when I really like a movie or game for it's story, my first instinct is to simply watch/play it again.  And again.

The Good

• Quality visuals, especially from a DS game
• Very nice, mood-appropriate soundtrack
• Fun, easy puzzle gameplay
• Some of the puzzles are quite clever, actually
• The cast, save for a few exceptions, are all fantastic
• All but one of the 'few exceptions' aren't heavily featured, letting you forget about them.
• The story manages to never really contradict itself badly or create big plot holes
• The story is fantastic and never really lulls, either

The Bad

• There is one character that is incredibly awful and has a fairly decent-sized chunk of playtime
• Not the longest game - I beat it in a single day, admittedly from several hours-long sessions
• Unless you like retreading things, there's really no replay value
• Some of the puzzles (One in particular, about halfway through the game) can require frustrating precision
• Even though there's a good reason for it, the game is -painfully- linear 

Mogs Says

Ghost Trick:  Phantom Detective is undoubtedly one of the best DS games I've played to date and quite possibly one of the better games in general that I've played lately..  If you're all about a good story, and you don't mind leaving it just at that when it's over, you'll very likely enjoy it as well.  I really had to think hard to bring up things to put down as negatives for the game, and given that the game inspired me to actually, properly review it, I would very heavily suggest that it's something rather special, deserving of your time, should you be able to spot a copy of it.

My Thoughts on Reviewing Games Here

It's been my stance (my stance is in my comment, btw) in the past that I just don't know if I'm all that capable of writing up reviews for games as, well, as you might have noticed, I tend to get a little opinionated on things.  I like what I like, and I hate what I hate, with little room for a middle-ground.  Although, I do like to think that I've eased up considerably on that, to the point where I can actually be objective on something I like or don't like and be able to present it for all its pro's and con's.  Of course, I might be wrong on this, but at this point, the only way to know for sure is by doing; something that Ghost Trick:  Phantom Detective taught me quite in-depthly over the past day.

You might have noticed that I really, really became enamored with Ghost Trick, so much so that, over the course of last night during the lovely lightning storm we had, I beat it.  And then I immediately started playing it again to try and see every facet of it once more, because I got the urge to do something I've rarely had before:  I really wanted to review the game.  Properly.

And as I thought of that, I did get my usual aversion to it, but a thought entered my head:  "Well, it's not like I haven't already kind of reviewed a few things, in a sense".  And it's true.  I have kinda done it.  I haven't done numbers or anything, which I just will not do, but I have spoken to the good parts and bad parts of various games here over the seven months I've been doing this, so to say reviewing a game is out of the question is just something I can't say.  I just haven't made it official yet.

So, I may as well:  I really do think am going to write up a proper review of Ghost Trick either tomorrow or the day after, depending on the weather.  I don't know how I'm going to do it just yet (If my buddy Chance doesn't mind, I really do like the "The Good, The Bad, The Verdict" style of his reviews and may just be tempted to borrow that), but I know I want to do it.  Not just for Ghost Trick, and I can't say I'll be reviewing everything/anything I play, or that I'll even review recent games (I know one game in particular that I want to do, and it was released waaaaaay back in March), but I want to try my hand at it now.

So, Coming Soon:  Reviews.

Ghost Trick is Wonderfully Addictive

While out and about today, I happened to stop in at Gamestop intent on picking up a PSP game or two, provided I could find what I was looking for (which was a long shot; Star Ocean:  First Departure was one of them.) and, as I am wont to do, I simply started browsing about after I checked the (slim) PSP selection and saw nothing I really cared to purchase.  I usually only intend on checking prices of games when I'm in "Browsing" mode, as I've really learned to curb my impulse purchase....impulses.  Well, sort of.  You see, when you run across a game you've only seen once, or in some cases, never before, it sort of trumps everything else.

So when I saw rather pristine boxes for Ghost Trick:  Phantom Detective and The World Ends With You for the DS, I just couldn't help but unleash my purchasing piece of plastic and walk out of the store ~$43 poorer.  I'd never even seen a copy of TWEWY in the wild, and if I'd seen Ghost Trick I don't really remember (the difference being that I'd never even seen TWEWY's box art, but I have seen Ghost Trick's, so I can't remember if I saw it in a store or just as a picture.) and with as many times as I've been into a Gamestop and other such gaming retailers, to have not seen either game until now was just a sign, you see.  And when I returned home, I grabbed my DS and popped in Ghost Trick with the idea that I'd play for a little bit just to try it out.

Five hours later, I looked up from the DS to my clock and noticed that it was 6:32, and that I had literally just spent five hours doing nothing but playing Ghost Trick.

Now, clearly, there is a reason for this, and that reason is that Ghost Trick is fascinating on every level.  I mean, I haven't beaten it, so I can't attest to the game as a whole obviously, but my experience with it just today was magical in a way that I'm not sure I can say any other DS game has provided me.  From the time I sat down to play to the time I broke its hold on me, I laughed, I grinned, I thought and most importantly, I had all sorts of fun.

The premise of the game is pretty simple, yet fairly great in the way it unravels; the game starts when a man 'regains consciousness' on a spiritual level only after being killed.  Or, in layman's terms, the game starts right after the main character realizes he's been killed and is now a ghost.  Lingering still at the scene of his death, he spots a woman being accosted by a man with a golden shotgun intent on killing her and, at the behest of a disembodied voice he doesn't recognize, explores his ghostly abilities of inanimate object manipulation in an attempt to spare the woman's life.  It.....doesn't go quite as planned, unfortunately.

All is not lost, however!  The disembodied voice, who eventually introduces himself with the pseudonym of "Ray", takes that moment to introduce our dearly departed protagonist his most useful tool in his special ghost ability arsenal:  the ability to rewind time to four minutes prior to the victim's untimely demise as many times as he wishes.  By witnessing the victim's death, the MC can then notice times where death is preventable and by using his ability to possess objects and use their inherent abilities (making a fan start, making a button activate, etc.) take advantage of those moments.  It's not the easiest thing to explain, but I assure you, the game does a splendid job of it.  Certainly better than I could.

From there, you join the MC as he investigates the cause of his own death, since unfortunately, he cannot prevent himself from dying.  Closure is the next best thing, after all.  And from there the story starts unfolding into something pleasant, clever and entertaining over the next, well, five hours.  After that, again, I can't speak for the game, not yet at least but to the point I left off was still everything positive that I've spoken of so far.

I simply cannot express how pleasantly surprised I am with the game.  Hopefully by the end of it, I'll still carry that positive feeling and I suspect I will.  And when that time comes, I'll be writing about it again, no matter what.  Who knows?  I might even (gasp) try my hand at writing a proper review, as I do think I can speak on the game in a way that isn't inappropriate levels of gushing.