Yeah, I've been having a rough week. It's not incredibly bad, but it has gotten me wiped out and really down. Just last week, I injured my left hand after I got cut in my knuckle by a piece of metal sticking out of the tire we were hitting for Kendo. I couldn't even grip anything the day after, but it's okay now (it just hurts a little). In my Visual Culture class on Monday, I was being critiqued on my project and was told that I wasn't all the way there yet.
This was the first time my professor wasn't entirely happy with my project, so I feel like I have failed or came short in my work. What made it harder for me to be in that class is throughout this week, we were going through everyone's work and giving feedback. Although it's better than last quarter, a lot of people still don't talk in the discussion. So when I try to get everyone to speak and say something, I get something along the lines of "no, you're wrong...." Same thing on my TTh classes for Game Studies. It's not all about videogames in there as we have discussions on theories, interactions and in depth ideas about art, media, and culture. No one talks in there, and when I get something right when I talk, it's boring because no one joins the discussion. When I get something wrong, it makes everyone even more quiet. IT FREAKING PISSES ME OFF!!!!! I've been just reminded over and over this week how little we critically think and how little I know or am thinking. I got so annoyed and irritated that I ended up not talking for the rest of the class on Wednesday. Then we had that poorly constructed mid-term for Visiting Artists where a lot of the questions were grey-lined, can be argued, long and wordy, and had misspellings all over. What infuriated me even more was when the professor asked if there were any questions and 7 hands in front of him raised up (including mines, but I was behind him) and he said "okay, let's get started". When I tried to ask the TAs for help, they were even MORE oblivious "hey, what do I put on the subject and period lines?" TA: "Yeah, fill everything out" *walks away*. I have no idea how I did on the test, but I was quite upset, and so went to the piano labs to blow off some steam. I went around 3 pianos and they all sucked! Broken sustain pedal, non-working keys, horrible quality (all 3 of them were Steinway & Sons, stay away from that company for pianos). It was after going to the piano lab that I went to my Visual Culture class, which I already explained why I was so aggravated. All this happened while my left hand hurt the whole week, and then yesturday morning, my toe was in great pain (it was like the first thing on my mind when I woke up). I looked at it and it was all red. I had to walk on the side of my feet to avoid pressure on the big toe, and so now my toe is okay but my ankle hurts from walking awkwardly. God what it a week, and it's not even over yet. I still have 4 homework assignments and a mid-term on monday which I SHOULD be studying for right now (which is the reason why I shouldn't be blowing off steam right now and working).
Don't get me wrong though, I have high regards and respect for my teachers and peers (maybe except my Visiting Artist's professor, his position is questionable). I just had a hard time dealing with the situations presented to me this week. I also had my fair share of happiness. Monday- VGDC I went to eat dinner with my club again and played at the arcade as usual as part of our tradition. Tuesday-LXP I went to eat dinner with my club at Steelheads and hung-out playing scrabble. And then Thursday-Tomo no Kai we went laser tagging with 50 people and then went to Sonics to eat dinner (first time going to Sonics, their stuff are good, but soooooooooooo bad for you *very oily*). But I think what made me feel sick thinking about it all is that I only see all these friends once a week, which makes me question who truly considers me their friend here at UCI. I've also been very down and hard on myself thinking about how much of my life I'm wasting doing all these non-productive classes and work when it doesn't even relate to the videogame industry (even the Game Studies class, because we talk more about culture, art, and theories). I'm very confused and fatigued from this quarter. It finally got me wanting to play videogames (which helps in many ways for me *over coming a problem in a game to feel a sense of achievement*). So Wednesday night, I played Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia and realized I was at the final boss (Count Dracula himself).
The game was pissing me off too (remember, I'm trying to relax from the crazy week I had) because I kept dying from dracula's stupid bat summonings (which does like 300-700 damage per second). I didn't want to give up, and so I kept trying over and over to find out his fighting pattern (which is how most gamers beat bosses in games). It took me nearly an hour to figure it out, and sadly, the battle was pretty easy afterwards (it was more exciting and heart pumping when it was so difficult before). Nonetheless, that was one of the best Dracula battles I've had in a Castlevania game in a while.
[SPOILER ALERT - CASTLEVANIA: ORDER OF ECCLESIA ENDING at end of post]
And so now, I'll do a review for the game.
[Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia - Nintendo DS]
Story: The base of the story was quite simple. The Ecclesia was established to fight off Dracula in part of the Belmonts no longer prominently existing to vanquish him. It builds off of that and starts out one way and turns into another. What do I mean? Plot twist, and though I saw it coming, I liked it. The ending could have been dramatized a little better, but it was able to make me cry on the inside. Though there wasn't a strong storyline, it kept the game progressing and the action on. Story: 8/10
Graphics: The first time the screenshots were released, I was horrified at the quality of the sprites. Good thing they had a better outcome. Very detailed enviornments, clean enemey sprites, and decent character designs (though it was very awkward for me when I first saw the NPCs). The over all atmosphere was darker than usual, but it also reflected the challenge and seriousness in the game. Graphics: 9/10
Sound: What got me so sucked into buying the game was the trailer for the game (which was the opening scene). "An Empty Tome" is such a powerful and catchy song (though I didn't give much notice the first time I watched it) that I think I watched the trailer over 50 times....oh wait that was when I was watching the opening for Castlevania Judgment (which also had an awesome theme song). Despite all that, I don't think the soundtracks were all incredible comparing some of Michiru Yamane's previous works. I did like them though, there were some that took a few times for me to listen to appreciate them. I do have to praise the voice actors for both English and Japanese for doing an outstanding job (just like they did for Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin). Sound: 9/10
Control/Gameplay: Very nice control as usual, and it was a nice addition in having two weapons equipped. A lot of new game mechanics were introduced for the game, and I believe the all worked well. The diminishing mp bar used for weapons made it challenging, but it also made the player smarter in timing, usage, and play style. The glove that allowed 3 sets of weapons to be switched really confused me on dire times and gets me killed, but I know it's a good addition to the game (even though I get too nervous and go to the wrong weapon set sometimes). There were some stickiness in fighting sometimes, but nothing like it was back in the 8-bit and 16-bit days. Control/Gameplay: 9/10
Replay Value: After you beat the game, you get awarded with several new additional contents, a hard mode, and *gasp* a Albus mode where you get to play as Albus (it's not a spoiler, it should have been pretty obvious to most Castlevania players). I think there's a Hell mode after Hard mode too, but I have yet to confirm that. But yeah, lots of stuff you could do. Replay Value: 8/10
Overall: 9/10
A enjoyable game as long as you're up to the challenge. I wasn't sure what to expect when I heard a lot of people kept dying a lot. I died a lot, but mostly on Boss Battles (programmers did a good job on the AI system). It may turn off some beginner players, but for those who seek challenge, it's a really nice treat.
[SPOILER STARTS HERE]
So about the ending of the game. It was very bittersweet as Shanoa selflessly sacrafices herself in order to destroy Dracula. As she drifts off to death, she feels tears flowing down her cheeks (she lost her emotions in the beginning of the game) and thinks that she's dreaming. Then suddenly, Albus' projection shows up and tells Shanoa that it's over, and that she's going to be alright along with having her emotions back.
She was prepared to die for the use of Dominus (the ability that killed Dracula), but then Albus tells her that he's going to take her place. She didn't want Albus to take every responsibility and wishes to help him, and he asks her to give him a smile before he fades away. The player then gets a picture of Shanoa smiling with tears flowing down (and then it was at this point I started crying in the inside, so touching). And then Albus disappears. Shanoa was then free to do what she wanted in her life given the chance to live, and her emotions back. It was satifying~
No comments:
Post a Comment