Niahak's Place

Today I finished up Rogue Galaxy. Which is to say, I beat the main plot. And the first optional post-game dungeon.

To sum it up: fun game, but don’t play it for the originality of the plot. There’re more cliches in it than anyone can comfortably shake a stick at. That said, I really did like the characters (except for one), and I liked the battle system. I’m not planning to complete everything, but I’m 12 floors into the 100-floor bonus dungeon and I may dabble a bit with the Insector system as well.  My review for RG will probably be at videolamer before it’s here, but it may be the next article I write.

What’s next? I’m not sure. I’m thinking either WA ACF or the Suikoden series (probably except 4) again. Both are good stuff.

Also, I’m in a Game Development course this quarter. We’re making what can only be described as an open-ended space action RPG. It’s sort of a compromise between the RPG crowd (2 of us including me), the space shooter crowd (another 2), and the don’t-care crowd (again 2). Hopefully we aren’t biting off more than we can chew, but I don’t think we are. Most of us have lots of free time, so hopefully it’ll turn out nice.

I’m minoring in East Asian Studies (as well as Japanese) – probably the only senior doing so, actually.  To do this I had to take three separate Japanese culture/society classes, one in Japan and two here at school.  That one was even offered last quarter was somewhat of a fluke (if fortunate for me, since it got me the minor).

Anyway, I’d like to share one of the most foreign-seeming yet familiar aspects of the culture: Amae.  The dictionary I have says it means “depending on others’ kindness”, but it’s a bit more complex than that.  The word contains the kanji for “sweet”, but the actual concept involves showing one’s weakness to others.  From what I recall, this means showing some sort of flaw in one’s personality to others, and to depend on them in that regard.  To have amae for someone is to sort of entrust them with the knowledge of this weakness.  This can mean simply revealing some sort of vice or even a bad habit.  It’s not an entirely foreign idea; we only show our worst parts to those we trust.  Amae is sometimes it is something harmful to others as well; the most extreme example we learned was a husband beating his wife: the wife can, in some way, see this as an expression of his love for her, as he is revealing a weakness in his soul (the fact that he beats his wife).  I very much doubt it is seen as a positive thing to others; this is just an example I remembered.  Something to think about.

I may do a little bit on tatemae and honne (one subject, two words) later.  Could be an interesting topic with the way anonymity works on the internet.

It’s too early.

That aside, a recent post on one of the forums where I lurk got me thinking.  The question was “what games do you regret buying?”.

I don’t do that too often anymore.  I don’t have a whole lot money so I have to be careful when I decide whether or not to make a purchase.  I tend to read several reviews and some personal testimonials before I buy much of anything anymore (excepting the few cases where I think I can trust a developer, such as Level 5).

That said, it still happens every once in a while.  The biggest one was Crimson Sea 2.  The game sounded marginally interesting, and it was made by Koei, so I thought I couldn’t lose even at $50.  I was unfortunately mistaken, as the game becomes Dynasty Warriors in space before too long, and there’s no storyline co-op (despite having two playable characters).  I ended up trading it in.

More recently, when Gamestop was selling off the last of their PSX games,  I picked up Beyond the Beyond for $13.  I had bought (and then sold) it when it was the first RPG on PSX.   When I tried playing it, the game was almost painful in parts.  It’s one thing to have lots of encounters and require strategy… it’s quite another to have a lot of encounters and also expect the player to keep tapping X to get lots of critical hits and blocks.  Considering that Wild Arms was the same price, I feel ripped off at $13 for that game.

The last game I regret buying new was probably Romance of the Three Kingdoms X, but I feel I haven’t given that game a decent chance since the first time playing it so it’s not in any danger of being sold.  As monotonous as it became, Final Fantasy XII had its moments, so I don’t much regret buying it.

I accepted a job offer from a company today, so it looks like I finally know for sure what I’ll be doing in 3 months or so.

I’m in the final section of Rogue Galaxy, and I have to say, the earlier plot points are better done than the last parts.  The game starts out light and fun, but events become really heavy-handed after a bit and it turns out I like some of the subplots better than the main one.  Game’s still fun, but it’s winding down.  What’s next?  I have no idea.  I’ve been meaning to replay Wild Arms ACF, as well as the entire Suikoden series.  I’ll just have to see how I feel in the next few days.

I do have to say one thing, though.  This game is very pretty.  I liked FFXII’s graphics for a while, but I thought they were grainy, and there were too many browns and grays (the foresty and snowy parts tended to be pretty short, while dungeons were quite long).   Rogue Galaxy, meanwhile, has a few scenes that are absolutely amazing, between a landscape of a tropical water planet to a far-reaching view of a futuristic city.  Most areas are well-fleshed out, and even in some hostile areas I would rotate the camera just so I could see the background.

Tomorrow (technically today) is the beginning of the last quarter. Thankfully, my first class is at 11:45 each day. Unfortunately, I have work at 7 AM on Wednesdays. This may take some getting used to.

I also have a lot of time at work, and I probably won’t have much homework. You know what that means; more frequent posts to this site. Soon I’m likely to finally choose what job I’ll go for, and soon my group is likely to choose what kind of game to make for Computer Game Development. Guess which one you’re more likely to hear about?

I finished the first Phoenix Wright today. If you own a DS, you need to try this game. I tried the first trial and was mostly unconvinced. But this game has a wonderful translation, and by the last trial I pretty much couldn’t stop playing. There are so many twists and turns in each case that it’s a wonderful chain of brain teasers, with a very colorful cast of characters. I hear the second game has a different translator, and isn’t quite as well-phrased. I’m not surprised at the latter; there were several typos and such in the last case of the original. The former I’m disappointed with, but I hope it won’t make much difference. I plan to try it out sooner or later.

Gumshoe is by far my favorite Phoenix Wright character, and I don’t know exactly why. There’s something about his honesty, maladroitness, and personality that I find hilarious. He also has some of the best lines in the game (“Hey, you can’t go around calling people “pal”, pal! That’s my endearing character trait!”). He always has good intentions and helps Phoenix even when Gumshoe is technically working for the other side.

I also played Rogue Galaxy for something like 6 hours today. I was surprised when, an hour in, Kisala reminded me to save (your characters will randomly say things as you wander around, a feature you can turn off). Around 4 hours in, Kisala said “You know, you’ve been playing for a while. Maybe you should call it a day”. I know I have a problem when games are telling me to stop playing them.

That said, RG is still good fun 36 hours in. I found out hunts were available all along (you can get them after Chapter 4, I think), so most of them are easy now. I tried the Insector competition, and it’s sort of like a combination of Chess and Monster Rancher. I may go further in, I may not. I’ve found the Factory much easier to deal with now that I have some materials, and it’s actually kind of fun. I look forward to continuing RG this week.