Bloggin’ it up: Galaxy, Eternal Sonata

Wow. Been a while, huh?

So let’s get the excuses out of the way: Over the past couple of weeks, I’ve been hit with a shitstorm of work. Seriously. I haven’t had much time to blog or podcast! Which sucks for me, personally. Especially when there are so many different things to write about.

Now, I did enjoy myself some games over the past few days, namely Eternal Sonata, and Super Mario Galaxy.

I beat Galaxy early this week. Beat. All 120 stars with Mario. L**** unlocked (but not played with). To me, I’m DONE.

People have said that Galaxy is just as good, if not better than Super Mario 64 (I myself have even said it). And I’m not going back on that opinion: Galaxy really is just as good as Super Mario 64. It gets everything right that Super Mario 64 did, and is entertaining the whole game. The motion controls aren’t invasive and bothersome, collecting the stars is a blast, and each of the levels has it’s own unique feel, even if it shares a theme with another level. The gravity “OMG I R UPSIDE DOWNZORS!!!” aspect is easy to understand, and your objectives are clear (which is something SM64 couldn’t always say about itself). And while your paths may be very linear, the whole game feels big and welcomes exploration.

There’s one thing that I’ve notived about Galaxy, though. Galaxy does not have a key component that makes SM64 one of the greatest games of all time: memorability. Granted, Galaxy is easily a Game of The Year contender, and is one of the best experiences all year. But Super Mario 64 is a timeless memory that you will always be able to look back upon 10, 20, even 30 years down the road. Super Mario Galaxy is great, but Super Mario 64 has a certain je ne sais quoi.

Maybe it’s because of difficulty. After all, Super Mario Galaxy is extremely forgiving when it comes to health and lives. While your health may have been cut down to 3, coins are easily found, and the game periodically gives you 5 1UP Mushrooms, plus the tons of 1UPs scattered around the levels and overworld. Plus, the levels are extremely straightforward. Too straightforward. The game essentially holds your hand in each level to find the star, practically painting arrows on the ground. In fact, the only time when your not given much direction is the hidden stars in each level, and even then, the game tells you which mission it’s hidden in. Super Mario 64 required you to explore and think about things, rather than just jumping and running.

Or it could be that Galaxy doesn’t do what Super Mario 64 did: redefine Mario. Before Mario 64, we played with Mario in 2D and only 2D. And then, Mario took a new direction, branching away from the straight and narrow paths, and encouraging exploration. And they got it right. Galaxy only adds one more mechanic to what Super Mario 64 started, and feels like it’s taken a step backwards in some aspects. Galaxy is a great game, but it doesn’t have as much memorability.

Something that I’ve just sunk my teeth into is Eternal Sonata. Japanese RPGs are not always my game of choice. While they normally have beautiful environments and a well-designed combat system, they’re often lacking in story and depth.  And Eternal Sonata is definitely one of those JRPGs.

Eternal Sonata does many things right (combat, graphics), but gets things wrong. For example, it’s storyline. Eternal Sonata takes place in the dreams of a dying composer, and so, every name in the game relates to music, from Tenuto to Polka to Ritardando. In fact, much of the game revolves around music. But when given an array of characters, each that could have a great story, Sonata doesn’t flesh them out. The whole storyline is underwhelming and is lacking, even though there’s a lot of potential.

The combat system works, and works well. While at first, you may feel that leveling up your party is a punishment, you’ll find out that there are more benfits to it, and by the point where it limits your time, you’ll feel like it’s held your hand enough so that it’s OK to restrict strategy time and the like. Unfortunately, the whole system itself is very limited, and customization is not at the level it should be. Eternal Sonata is excellent at best, and extremely dissapointing at worst. Definitely a rent.

And that’s been this post. Enjoyed? I did. Gave me some talkin’ time.

So, heads up: Holiday Guide? Out the window! AWGP 30-whatever (I’ve forgotten!)? Out by Monday!