![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Winter break video game thoughts
Jan. 11th, 2016 01:53 pmYoshi's Woolly World
Yoshi's Woolly World is a fantastic game. Its most distinguishing feature is its yarn/fabric-based graphical style—and it's gorgeous. The knit and crocheted environments are pure eye candy, and I love the varied and creative use of fabric textures, such as using sequins to represent water bubbles, shiny plastic fabric/paper to represent icy surfaces, and lace to represent water foam.
The level design is also superb. Quite a few of the levels are actually quite challenging, featuring intriguing puzzles and use of fabric for clever level designs. Yet the game also strikes the perfect balance between challenging and relaxing, as Mellow Mode and Power Badges are perfect for those who want to take it easy.
If I have any complaints about the game, it's that one level (the Boo level) struck me as difficult to figure out the mechanics, and I would've liked to see more use of the Yoshi transformations. (Also, during one of the Mermaid Yoshi transformation levels, I think I experienced a framerate slowdown, oddly enough??) Other than that, the game is adorable, fun, beautiful, and delightful to play.
Xenoblade Chronicles X
Oh, X. Where to start?
I'm a massive, massive fan of the first Xenoblade, so compared to its predecessor, X has some improvements...but also some shortcomings. Starting off with the positives: The environments (especially as rendered in HD) are spectacular, varied, and beautiful. The different character classes and weapons are really cool (I'm such a sucker for the Blast Fencer/Galactic Knight's Psycho Launchers +lightsaber Photon Saber combo). The characters are all quite interesting, particularly as you get to know them in Affinity Quests, and the female characters in particular are pretty great. (Although I can't take the idea of a 13-year-old engineering prodigy/BLADE soldier seriously. I really wished Lin were at least 17 or 18.) And I loved inviting more and more aliens to New LA and populating the city with an inter-species community. The Ma-non are hilarious, and the Orpheans are really interesting.
Skells are, for me, hands-down the best part of the game. Exploring Mira in a Skell makes you feel incredibly badass, and the vehicle transformations are so friggin' cool. (Also, customizing your Skells is fantastic. Am I the only one who thinks the Verus looks a lot like Jim Gordon's robo-bat suit from the Batman comics? I gleefully gave my Verus a blue and black paint job and named it "RoboBat.") On the flipside, however, it does feel to me like the pacing of the game drags a little until you're able to get a Skell. I mean, the story is pretty interesting and all, but as soon as you see a Skell for the first time...well, it's hard not to try to blow through the game until you finally get a Skell license after Chapter 6.
Now, unfortunately, the major downsides: For me, it really comes down to grinding and the difficulty level of the game. Grinding for levels isn't completely terrible, once you've figured out the best way to do it with a Skell, but grinding for money, miranium, and materials is rather tedious. Especially because higher-level armor, weapons, and Skells are really freaking expensive. Worse, for me, is the difficulty level. I don't consider myself a "casual" gamer, but I'm not the kind of gamer who plays games to be challenged. I play games because I want to relax. Considering that you basically never had to grind in the original Xenoblade and could still beat the story bosses just fine (unless maybe you never did any side quests), it was kind of surprising to realize I had to grind levels before bosses in X—and even then, I still usually had to lower the difficulty. Hell, right now I'm stuck on the final boss, which, in my opinion, was designed terribly—it's a five-part fight against 3 different enemies (sequentially, not simultaneously), and you're not allowed to save or leave as soon as you initiate phase one.
I also thought the game didn't do a great job at explaining a lot of the mechanics. Basic things such as fast travel took me a while to figure out. It took me forever to realize what "Soul Voices" were and that they were the healing system in combat, instead of having a dedicated healer. I had to look up how to revive party members, and I'm still not 100% sure how Overdrive works. Also, I didn't realize heart-to-hearts were even in the game until [spoiler redacted] and I permanently missed the chance to view some of the heart-to-hearts. :/
Even though the massive environments are beautiful, I felt like Xenoblade had a bit more variety in its slightly smaller environments. (Who can forget Satorl Marsh or Eryth Sea?) I'm also super curious about the ruins in Oblivia and the abandoned city/palace in Cauldros, and unless I've missed some major explanation, I guess we'll never get more info on what happened to the civilization that built all those structures...?
And finally, the story. I haven't finished the last chapter myself, but I read up on the ending, and...the way the story leaves a lot of things unexplained is pretty unsatisfying. (And Tatsu annoyed me a lot.)
Yoshi's Woolly World is a fantastic game. Its most distinguishing feature is its yarn/fabric-based graphical style—and it's gorgeous. The knit and crocheted environments are pure eye candy, and I love the varied and creative use of fabric textures, such as using sequins to represent water bubbles, shiny plastic fabric/paper to represent icy surfaces, and lace to represent water foam.
The level design is also superb. Quite a few of the levels are actually quite challenging, featuring intriguing puzzles and use of fabric for clever level designs. Yet the game also strikes the perfect balance between challenging and relaxing, as Mellow Mode and Power Badges are perfect for those who want to take it easy.
If I have any complaints about the game, it's that one level (the Boo level) struck me as difficult to figure out the mechanics, and I would've liked to see more use of the Yoshi transformations. (Also, during one of the Mermaid Yoshi transformation levels, I think I experienced a framerate slowdown, oddly enough??) Other than that, the game is adorable, fun, beautiful, and delightful to play.
Xenoblade Chronicles X
Oh, X. Where to start?
I'm a massive, massive fan of the first Xenoblade, so compared to its predecessor, X has some improvements...but also some shortcomings. Starting off with the positives: The environments (especially as rendered in HD) are spectacular, varied, and beautiful. The different character classes and weapons are really cool (I'm such a sucker for the Blast Fencer/Galactic Knight's Psycho Launchers +
Skells are, for me, hands-down the best part of the game. Exploring Mira in a Skell makes you feel incredibly badass, and the vehicle transformations are so friggin' cool. (Also, customizing your Skells is fantastic. Am I the only one who thinks the Verus looks a lot like Jim Gordon's robo-bat suit from the Batman comics? I gleefully gave my Verus a blue and black paint job and named it "RoboBat.") On the flipside, however, it does feel to me like the pacing of the game drags a little until you're able to get a Skell. I mean, the story is pretty interesting and all, but as soon as you see a Skell for the first time...well, it's hard not to try to blow through the game until you finally get a Skell license after Chapter 6.
Now, unfortunately, the major downsides: For me, it really comes down to grinding and the difficulty level of the game. Grinding for levels isn't completely terrible, once you've figured out the best way to do it with a Skell, but grinding for money, miranium, and materials is rather tedious. Especially because higher-level armor, weapons, and Skells are really freaking expensive. Worse, for me, is the difficulty level. I don't consider myself a "casual" gamer, but I'm not the kind of gamer who plays games to be challenged. I play games because I want to relax. Considering that you basically never had to grind in the original Xenoblade and could still beat the story bosses just fine (unless maybe you never did any side quests), it was kind of surprising to realize I had to grind levels before bosses in X—and even then, I still usually had to lower the difficulty. Hell, right now I'm stuck on the final boss, which, in my opinion, was designed terribly—it's a five-part fight against 3 different enemies (sequentially, not simultaneously), and you're not allowed to save or leave as soon as you initiate phase one.
I also thought the game didn't do a great job at explaining a lot of the mechanics. Basic things such as fast travel took me a while to figure out. It took me forever to realize what "Soul Voices" were and that they were the healing system in combat, instead of having a dedicated healer. I had to look up how to revive party members, and I'm still not 100% sure how Overdrive works. Also, I didn't realize heart-to-hearts were even in the game until [spoiler redacted] and I permanently missed the chance to view some of the heart-to-hearts. :/
Even though the massive environments are beautiful, I felt like Xenoblade had a bit more variety in its slightly smaller environments. (Who can forget Satorl Marsh or Eryth Sea?) I'm also super curious about the ruins in Oblivia and the abandoned city/palace in Cauldros, and unless I've missed some major explanation, I guess we'll never get more info on what happened to the civilization that built all those structures...?
And finally, the story. I haven't finished the last chapter myself, but I read up on the ending, and...the way the story leaves a lot of things unexplained is pretty unsatisfying. (And Tatsu annoyed me a lot.)
