The Backlog Check-in Vol. 117: 3/28/20: Resident Evil 3 Edition
Posted: Mon Mar 30, 2020 4:08 pm
Played: Ys Origin, Ys VIII: Lacrimosa of Dana
Finished (playing): Ys Origin
Playing: Ys VIII: Lacrimosa of Dana
I started playing Ys Origin, but it didn't hold my interest for too long. It's an older game that originally came out in 2006 for PC, and got ported to consoles somewhat recently. While it's described as an action RPG, it's actually more of an isometric view action platformer. While there is some NPC interaction for story purposes, the core game is making your way up one giant tower (dungeon) hacking and slashing enemies and platforming. The combat is arcade-y, fast, frantic and button mash-y. There's no block or evade, so the combat feels kind of shallow. It's not bad, but it does feel archaic. Despite being an older game, it still holds up rather well from a technical standpoint since it's in HD widescreen. The graphics are decent, and it runs at a smooth 60fps. But it's essentially a hack-and-slash dungeon crawler which aren't really my thing. I might give it another go in the future, but it's not something that I'm in the mood for right now.
I started playing Ys VIII: Lacrimosa of Dana, and it clicked with me right away. It originally came out on the Vita so the graphics look a little dated, but they're still good especially the art direction since everything is colorful and the game runs at a smooth 60fps. The characters have an appealing anime look, and fit in the colorful game world well. The core game is a third person real-time action RPG with fun combat, and a lot of exploration. You start off on a passenger ship with a lot of other passengers, but an event occurs that sinks the ship and you get washed up on the shore of an island. The game takes place on this big island that's filled with monsters. You meet the captain of the ship early on, and find a secure place to build shelter. Your first order of business is to gather resources, and find other passengers. This means exploring the island, and fighting a lot of enemies while doing so. While the island is open world in the sense that it's all interconnected, there are places that you can't access right away since they're blocked by big boulders or landslides that need to be removed. These require a certain amount of people to remove, and you can't remove them until you have the required amount of people which you get by finding passengers. So this makes where you go somewhat directed, but the areas are big and open with branching paths so you still get a lot of area to explore without ever feeling overwhelmed. I really like the design structure of the game, and the stranded on a deserted island theme is refreshing for a JRPG. All of the quests are based on exploring the island to find resources to survive, build a bigger, better and more fortified shelter and ultimately build a big boat to get off the island. It's a nice change of pace from the usual fantasy and sci-fi themes found in most JRPGs.
Resident Evil 3 comes out this week.
Finished (playing): Ys Origin
Playing: Ys VIII: Lacrimosa of Dana
I started playing Ys Origin, but it didn't hold my interest for too long. It's an older game that originally came out in 2006 for PC, and got ported to consoles somewhat recently. While it's described as an action RPG, it's actually more of an isometric view action platformer. While there is some NPC interaction for story purposes, the core game is making your way up one giant tower (dungeon) hacking and slashing enemies and platforming. The combat is arcade-y, fast, frantic and button mash-y. There's no block or evade, so the combat feels kind of shallow. It's not bad, but it does feel archaic. Despite being an older game, it still holds up rather well from a technical standpoint since it's in HD widescreen. The graphics are decent, and it runs at a smooth 60fps. But it's essentially a hack-and-slash dungeon crawler which aren't really my thing. I might give it another go in the future, but it's not something that I'm in the mood for right now.
I started playing Ys VIII: Lacrimosa of Dana, and it clicked with me right away. It originally came out on the Vita so the graphics look a little dated, but they're still good especially the art direction since everything is colorful and the game runs at a smooth 60fps. The characters have an appealing anime look, and fit in the colorful game world well. The core game is a third person real-time action RPG with fun combat, and a lot of exploration. You start off on a passenger ship with a lot of other passengers, but an event occurs that sinks the ship and you get washed up on the shore of an island. The game takes place on this big island that's filled with monsters. You meet the captain of the ship early on, and find a secure place to build shelter. Your first order of business is to gather resources, and find other passengers. This means exploring the island, and fighting a lot of enemies while doing so. While the island is open world in the sense that it's all interconnected, there are places that you can't access right away since they're blocked by big boulders or landslides that need to be removed. These require a certain amount of people to remove, and you can't remove them until you have the required amount of people which you get by finding passengers. So this makes where you go somewhat directed, but the areas are big and open with branching paths so you still get a lot of area to explore without ever feeling overwhelmed. I really like the design structure of the game, and the stranded on a deserted island theme is refreshing for a JRPG. All of the quests are based on exploring the island to find resources to survive, build a bigger, better and more fortified shelter and ultimately build a big boat to get off the island. It's a nice change of pace from the usual fantasy and sci-fi themes found in most JRPGs.
Resident Evil 3 comes out this week.