Video Game Longings
Jul. 6th, 2016 11:23 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
foxinthestarsThe ones that are a quandary, and the ones that have been (sort of) satisfied.
So first thing, I'm thinking about ways to invest in more video-game-playing capability. Not long ago it seemed so simple; I was looking at graphics cards for my PC and planning to get one after my birthday.
But then, just in the last few days something clicked in my brain and I decided I wanted a Wii U. I figured out that the Off-TV Play feature meant I could play a lot of games on it like a kind of tethered hand-held, which flipped it over to seeming feasible, and maybe I could even hook it to my computer monitor... Also note the last Nintendo home console I owned was the SNES, so between Wii compatibility, Virtual Console, and HD remasters ::coughWindWaker:: I'd be getting access to most of what I'd want from several generations at once. Heck, I could even replace those knockoff GBA games, and if I download them direct from Nintendo, I know my copy is legit (although legit cartridges for the collection would still be a thing).
Of course I'd like to have both a Wii U and a graphics card, but I don't have so much money that I don't need to prioritize here.
BTW, I also looked at PS Vita, and one of those would be neat to have, mind, but I pushed it back further on the priority list. Not enough exclusives I'm interested in to justify the expense, and the proprietary memory cards might be a deal-breaker, plus I just never liked the PSP as well as my Nintendo handhelds. Wii U, on the other hand, well, whether it's nostalgia or a taste for the cartoonier aesthetic sensibility, I'm a Nintendo fangirl right now, so I'm interested in lots of the exclusives. And if it's not as graphically powerful as the competition, well, the last home console I owned is a PS2; I kind of don't care. (I've never seriously considered a PS3/4 or an XBox anything really; again, not enough interesting exclusives to justify the expense.)
Bloodstained complicates the calculation somewhat. I'd like to get the PC graphics card so I could maybe play the demo --- but there's still no guarantee I could play the demo or the game that way. My CPU is also not quite in line with the demo's recommended system specs, so it would be a gamble, where if I went with Wii U, I'd miss the demo, but I know the final game is getting a Wii U version, so I wouldn't have to worry about it (we Kickstarted that stretch goal's @$$, as long as that version doesn't get somehow screwed up). So a gamble on the demo and game vs. the game for reasonably sure --- this is leaning toward Wii U.
I still have things I want to play on Steam that I'd need the graphics card for. All that talk about exclusives? This is the alternative for most of the non-exclusives. Some of them are available for Wii U but a lot aren't.
And the final complication: Nintendo's super-secret upcoming console, "NX." Part of me thinks I shouldn't buy a Nintendo console before I at least know what this darn thing is, but I also think being an early adopter is unnecessarily risky. And Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild enters into the equation here, of course. If I got a Wii U, I'd definitely be able to play it (and it looks AWESOME), but will the NX version be the one I'd like more? (It could be the one I'd like less, too,; the last time they did this was with Twilight Princess and if I had my pick I'd take it for GameCube.)
(BTW, I actually own a few Wii U games already. A few months ago there was a Nintendo Humble Bundle and I bought it for the 3DS stuff, never thinking I'd use the Wii U stuff, but if I do get one, I'll have Shantae and the Pirate's Curse, Affordable Space Adventures, Freedom Planet, Runbow, and Swords & Soldiers II. None of this is enough to buy the thing over, but a nice perk.)
Having typed all this out, I'm leaning toward Wii U at this point. Like, after my birthday I'll see if I have enough for it, keep saving if I don't, and maybe hold out for the NX reveal if it looks close but exercise a lot of caution about being an early adopter even so. And I could get a graphics card later (or invest in gaming specs next time I buy a PC, if it works out that way). Does mean I'll probably miss the Bloodstained demo, though. ::sigh::
So with all that out of the way, on to the other video game longing of the title. I've told the story before that I have wanted to play PoPoLoCrois for upwards of 15 years due to one tiny Japanese commercial seen in my university anime club. The first one of the games to be localized was the PSP version, which I picked up when I had a chance, and now, I have finally played it!
And frankly, it wasn't that good.
Now, there are some saving graces here. After I bought it, I found out that the PSP version is some kind of nerfed mash-up of the first two PS1 games, and actual fans of the series say that the PSP one isn't that good, so I can at least maintain the illusion that the originals are good. (Unfortunately, people who've looked into it also say that the originals have coding issues that render a translation patch a major undertaking, so even in emulation, the originals are unlikely to be localized.) Even still, a great deal of the charm and pathos those little commercial clips would lead you to expect is there in the PSP version. I did get attached to several of the characters, and I'm not sorry I played it.
But if you don't have an investment going in, I can't really recommend it. For one thing, it's boringly easy (apparently this is one of the big changes). Pretty much every chapter starts you out in the very first area of the game, usually fighting the exact same monsters that were there at the start, which is just as stupidly easy as it sounds. I had a few places where I stopped to level up and get used to a new difficulty level, but for the most part even the bosses weren't much of a threat; I hardly ever lost a character (except a certain glass cannon you get late in the game), and never saw a game over screen. That said, there are a few places where cheap deaths are very possible; toward the beginning you can accidentally go to a too-advanced area, and then the final dungeon has a section that splits up your party, so if you didn't know it was coming and brought that glass cannon with you, you'd likely be screwed (I was using an FAQ, so I did know). The dungeon layouts also manage to be both simplistic and occasionally confusing.
And the story. The charm is there, but it's not perfect. The main theme is about valuing relationships between people and looking past their differences of race or appearance or outlook. It's obviously well-intentioned, but occasionally hampered by cluelessness (when I found the tribal village of black people, I was so disgusted I put the game down for about a month), and occasionally it gets too ambitious in one way or another. There are sprawling towns full of NPCs, but they have so little to say that the effect isn't some kind of Dickensian human panorama, it's just boring. In another area, when the story delves into the mythic with gods and legends and stuff, it risks getting too overblown to really connect. When it stays on the personal level with its core cast, it does better while still being pretty epic, although there's a love polygon that can get somewhat annoying. For something as outwardly cutesy as this, it doesn't shy away from some intense pathos, but it has trouble sustaining it, too. And the translation is clunky enough to take a bit of the wind out of it.
Like I said, not sorry I played it, but by the end it had become a bit of a chore, and I wasn't in the mood to really suck the marrow out of it like I usually do.
I did buy the new 3DS one --- the second PoPoLoCrois game to be localized, and a Story of Seasons crossover. I'm still hopeful about it, but I'm not in a big hurry to play it.
Anyway, with the deck cleared of one epic game project, I feel like I can start on another one, and I plan for it to be Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds.
Although I did go exploring what I can still get from the PlayStation web store for my PSP, just had to get the PS1 Classics version of Symphony of the Night, and in fiddling around with it I'm like "it has been way too long since I played this"...
So first thing, I'm thinking about ways to invest in more video-game-playing capability. Not long ago it seemed so simple; I was looking at graphics cards for my PC and planning to get one after my birthday.
But then, just in the last few days something clicked in my brain and I decided I wanted a Wii U. I figured out that the Off-TV Play feature meant I could play a lot of games on it like a kind of tethered hand-held, which flipped it over to seeming feasible, and maybe I could even hook it to my computer monitor... Also note the last Nintendo home console I owned was the SNES, so between Wii compatibility, Virtual Console, and HD remasters ::coughWindWaker:: I'd be getting access to most of what I'd want from several generations at once. Heck, I could even replace those knockoff GBA games, and if I download them direct from Nintendo, I know my copy is legit (although legit cartridges for the collection would still be a thing).
Of course I'd like to have both a Wii U and a graphics card, but I don't have so much money that I don't need to prioritize here.
BTW, I also looked at PS Vita, and one of those would be neat to have, mind, but I pushed it back further on the priority list. Not enough exclusives I'm interested in to justify the expense, and the proprietary memory cards might be a deal-breaker, plus I just never liked the PSP as well as my Nintendo handhelds. Wii U, on the other hand, well, whether it's nostalgia or a taste for the cartoonier aesthetic sensibility, I'm a Nintendo fangirl right now, so I'm interested in lots of the exclusives. And if it's not as graphically powerful as the competition, well, the last home console I owned is a PS2; I kind of don't care. (I've never seriously considered a PS3/4 or an XBox anything really; again, not enough interesting exclusives to justify the expense.)
Bloodstained complicates the calculation somewhat. I'd like to get the PC graphics card so I could maybe play the demo --- but there's still no guarantee I could play the demo or the game that way. My CPU is also not quite in line with the demo's recommended system specs, so it would be a gamble, where if I went with Wii U, I'd miss the demo, but I know the final game is getting a Wii U version, so I wouldn't have to worry about it (we Kickstarted that stretch goal's @$$, as long as that version doesn't get somehow screwed up). So a gamble on the demo and game vs. the game for reasonably sure --- this is leaning toward Wii U.
I still have things I want to play on Steam that I'd need the graphics card for. All that talk about exclusives? This is the alternative for most of the non-exclusives. Some of them are available for Wii U but a lot aren't.
And the final complication: Nintendo's super-secret upcoming console, "NX." Part of me thinks I shouldn't buy a Nintendo console before I at least know what this darn thing is, but I also think being an early adopter is unnecessarily risky. And Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild enters into the equation here, of course. If I got a Wii U, I'd definitely be able to play it (and it looks AWESOME), but will the NX version be the one I'd like more? (It could be the one I'd like less, too,; the last time they did this was with Twilight Princess and if I had my pick I'd take it for GameCube.)
(BTW, I actually own a few Wii U games already. A few months ago there was a Nintendo Humble Bundle and I bought it for the 3DS stuff, never thinking I'd use the Wii U stuff, but if I do get one, I'll have Shantae and the Pirate's Curse, Affordable Space Adventures, Freedom Planet, Runbow, and Swords & Soldiers II. None of this is enough to buy the thing over, but a nice perk.)
Having typed all this out, I'm leaning toward Wii U at this point. Like, after my birthday I'll see if I have enough for it, keep saving if I don't, and maybe hold out for the NX reveal if it looks close but exercise a lot of caution about being an early adopter even so. And I could get a graphics card later (or invest in gaming specs next time I buy a PC, if it works out that way). Does mean I'll probably miss the Bloodstained demo, though. ::sigh::
So with all that out of the way, on to the other video game longing of the title. I've told the story before that I have wanted to play PoPoLoCrois for upwards of 15 years due to one tiny Japanese commercial seen in my university anime club. The first one of the games to be localized was the PSP version, which I picked up when I had a chance, and now, I have finally played it!
And frankly, it wasn't that good.
Now, there are some saving graces here. After I bought it, I found out that the PSP version is some kind of nerfed mash-up of the first two PS1 games, and actual fans of the series say that the PSP one isn't that good, so I can at least maintain the illusion that the originals are good. (Unfortunately, people who've looked into it also say that the originals have coding issues that render a translation patch a major undertaking, so even in emulation, the originals are unlikely to be localized.) Even still, a great deal of the charm and pathos those little commercial clips would lead you to expect is there in the PSP version. I did get attached to several of the characters, and I'm not sorry I played it.
But if you don't have an investment going in, I can't really recommend it. For one thing, it's boringly easy (apparently this is one of the big changes). Pretty much every chapter starts you out in the very first area of the game, usually fighting the exact same monsters that were there at the start, which is just as stupidly easy as it sounds. I had a few places where I stopped to level up and get used to a new difficulty level, but for the most part even the bosses weren't much of a threat; I hardly ever lost a character (except a certain glass cannon you get late in the game), and never saw a game over screen. That said, there are a few places where cheap deaths are very possible; toward the beginning you can accidentally go to a too-advanced area, and then the final dungeon has a section that splits up your party, so if you didn't know it was coming and brought that glass cannon with you, you'd likely be screwed (I was using an FAQ, so I did know). The dungeon layouts also manage to be both simplistic and occasionally confusing.
And the story. The charm is there, but it's not perfect. The main theme is about valuing relationships between people and looking past their differences of race or appearance or outlook. It's obviously well-intentioned, but occasionally hampered by cluelessness (when I found the tribal village of black people, I was so disgusted I put the game down for about a month), and occasionally it gets too ambitious in one way or another. There are sprawling towns full of NPCs, but they have so little to say that the effect isn't some kind of Dickensian human panorama, it's just boring. In another area, when the story delves into the mythic with gods and legends and stuff, it risks getting too overblown to really connect. When it stays on the personal level with its core cast, it does better while still being pretty epic, although there's a love polygon that can get somewhat annoying. For something as outwardly cutesy as this, it doesn't shy away from some intense pathos, but it has trouble sustaining it, too. And the translation is clunky enough to take a bit of the wind out of it.
Like I said, not sorry I played it, but by the end it had become a bit of a chore, and I wasn't in the mood to really suck the marrow out of it like I usually do.
I did buy the new 3DS one --- the second PoPoLoCrois game to be localized, and a Story of Seasons crossover. I'm still hopeful about it, but I'm not in a big hurry to play it.
Anyway, with the deck cleared of one epic game project, I feel like I can start on another one, and I plan for it to be Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds.
Although I did go exploring what I can still get from the PlayStation web store for my PSP, just had to get the PS1 Classics version of Symphony of the Night, and in fiddling around with it I'm like "it has been way too long since I played this"...
