deKay's Gaming Diary

Yes! I bought a PSP game! Mainly because I saw it in a bargain bin for less than three quid, and I quite like Outrun 2006. And I quite like this too.

It’s not without fault, though. Firstly, there’s the save game bug. Like some other early (and mainly Sega) PSP games, the game won’t recognise there’s any free space on memory cards bigger than 4GB. Mine is 16GB, with 14.5GB free, and Outrun said there wasn’t enough space for it to create a 1600KB file. Oops!

Luckily, a downloaded-from-GameFAQs Outrun save solved that, and I deleted the licence info from it, and it’s all working now.

The other main problem is the controls. The analogue “nub” is useless, and the d-pad doesn’t give enough control, what with being digital and all. Combined with the whatever-the-left-action-button-is-called being used as brake (rather than the right action button), it made drifting a bit hard. I’ll probably get used to it, I suppose.  Unless I just put my PSP away again (which is likely).

I did manage to complete an “Easy” route on the Outrun 2SP course, though.

I spent ages just wandering the map today, fighting random battles along the way, trying to find where I’m supposed to go next.

Then I spotted a new, red, location on the map. Gah.

But by then my PSP’s battery was almost dead – again – so I didn’t actually reach it.

After trawling the Playstation Store (now available on the PSP itself, meaning I can actually use it) for a while, it became clear there was nothing on there I really wanted. So I bought Echochrome.

I’d played the demo before, and wasn’t that impressed, but for £4.99 (or rather, £5 – you have to buy money in the store to spend in the store, which is stupid) I thought I’d try it again.

I’m still not really impressed. It seems that to complete many of the levels you have to rely on luck, trial and error, or what feels like kludging the system. The button to “snap to” the grid rarely works, and even when you’ve managed to join two platforms, sometimes the man fails to walk across them. The jumps and drops are a nightmare as it’s impossible to tell if they’ll work as you’ve laid them out – jumps especially.

But I’ve completed all of the A levels, and two of the B levels. Then I got annoyed because even though there is no on-screen clock, and the game is played against the clock (so you can beat your best times), you can still run out of time, as I did. Which is stupid.

It’s been a while since I last played this, yes? About two months, in fact. But Fallout 3 happened, didn’t it? That’s right. Blame everything on Fallout 3…

I’d forgotten where I was in the story. Not that it matters, as the story lost me a long time ago anyway. It’s so bloody complicated, and there are so many factions and people working for other people on behalf of other people without realising other people are pulling the strings and, in fact, they’re working for other people disguised as other people. Or something. I don’t even know what side I’m on any more.

But today I went back to see one of my brothers, and was attacked whilst leaving by a priest or something who called me a heretic. Well, he had to die. And did!

Now I haven’t a clue what to do next. I don’t know where to go (no new routes have opened up), which is odd as it normally makes it quite clear for you.

Well, it seems to have got much easier now. I had a fight against the Cardinal (or rather, a demon-fused version of the Cardinal) which was alarmingly easy. He cast Doom on three of my characters, but since I killed him in just two hits (my White Mage’s “Holy” spell did over 300 damage!) that wasn’t a problem.

He was a sort of end-of-chapter boss, as I’m now onto Chapter 3, and am about 20 hours into the game. Of course, I’ve spent nearer 25 so far as I had so many failures (mainly on the hangman’s noose level) and retries that don’t count towards that time.

I’ve started swapping some jobs around too, with my White Mage becoming a Mystic, and my Squire becoming a Knight. I have a Monk too, but she’s useless.

Bah. It would appear that the next fight is a bit hard too. And it didn’t help that, once again, I picked my really weak female knight instead of Agrias (or whatever her name is) as they both look so god damn the same. I ask if they want ice cream and they both say yes.

Oh. My. God. I finally, finally, managed to beat Gaffgarion at the hangman’s noose. Only just though! I realised my magic users are mostly useless, as they couldn’t attack without causing friendly fire, and couldn’t survive more than two hits, so I sent them up out of the way to kill off the two Mystics and lay into select enemies from a distance. Phew!

I’ve only spent 10 hours on this one battle, you know.

Just one battle played (and won) today. I went back to the only place on the map I can currently reach where random battles can occur, in the hope I could play and bump up my stats a bit.

Killed all the baddies bar one, and got him stuck in a corner while I hit him with as many non-HP-reducing attacks and spells as I could, until he decided to attack me, and I countered, killing him. Sadly, nobody went up a level in the fight at all. I have, however, gained more JP so hopefully that might help.

GRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH!!!!

TOO BLOODY HARD!

HATE!

SMASH!

ETC!

Grrrah! This hangman’s noose trap level is bloody hard. I’ve tried six times now, and failed. It didn’t help that I chose an underpowered knight accidentally for one try.

And because I’m cut off from the main bit of the map, I don’t really have much chance of going away and levelling up.

Well would you have guessed it. It seems the Cardinal is a traitor too. In fact, since everyone seems to be on the wrong side, but somehow, the same side as each other, it would appear that Ramza is actually the evil one causing unrest. Or something.

I’ve managed to rescue Mustadio (or whatever his name is) today, then rescued Agrias, all without too much difficulty. They’ve now joined my party “proper”, rather than just be uncontrollable guest allies.

Is it me, or did this get “wicked hard” since I last played? I failed twice at the level where you rescue the machinist, and then failed (really, really failed) twice at the level afterwards. I didn’t stand a chance against an archer who could do 50+ damage each go, and a pair of summoners who could do 75+ damage to pretty much my entire party every round. I think I need to go and level up a bit…

I’ve been playing this a bit for the last few days. It’s very good, but I can’t help thinking the GBA Tactics game is better. I keep getting frustrated with the default camera angle, and the way I have to adjust the field rotation every couple of moves.

But it’s a more-than-decent SRPG, and the story is already full of twists and betrayals and all sorts. I’m slightly concerned that, after 9 hours play, I’m still only on level 8 or 8 for most of my characters, and in most cases have only unlocked the second-tier jobs, let alone the third, fourth and later tiers. It’s going to be a 100 hour job, innit?

I was away for the weekend, and this is the only game I thought to take with me. And it’s very good. Sadly, it isn’t quite as good as its predecessor, Final Fantasy Tactics Advance, mainly for menu and display reasons, but a decent SRPG is a decent SRPG, and very soon I’d plowed over 6 hours into it.

Difficulty is all over the place at the moment. The first couple of battles were reasonably easy, and all of the random battles have been stupidly simple. I’ve just beaten the woman who is part of the Corpse Brigade, and that fight was trivial – I don’t even think I took a hit. However, the mission where you’re fighting in the slums tok at least 6 attempts.

Next week on ugvm is Retro Week, and so I was hoping to play this a bit then. Only… I can’t.

For two reasons. Firstly, in order to not break the rules of the week, I would have to play either the original Rondo of Blood (rather than the 2.5D remake that makes up the main title in this collection), or Symphony of the Night. Both of which have to be unlocked in the main game.

Secondly, the main game is too bloody hard. The first two stages are easy. Very easy. But then once I’d rescued Maria it all became far too hard far too quickly. The men with spears are difficult when in pairs (one on a level with you, one spearing from above), and the Medusa heads, as always, are a right pain in the backside. But then I came across a gold skeleton and I just can’t bump him off. I’m not even sure I’m doing him any damage. Grr!

After many, many more attempts, I finally managed to save Meden. I’d tried every combination of Patapon armies to do it, but in the end my standard Tate/Yari/Yumi setup was enough.

Then it was off to fight a harder version of the crab boss I killed earlier, who dropped the ability to create Megapons. I haven’t made any yet, though. I did, however, come up against some (sort of) in the next mission – where I had to kill off Gong once and for all. He had a huge army of Zigatons behind him, and took a few attempts to defeat. Once I did, I gained his scythe!

After that, it would appear that the Zigatons all sold their souls to demons, and the next mission required me to take out a tank, an evil Zigaton-demon called Spiderton, and a huge… thing. That was pretty easy though.

What was not easy, however, was the giant castle made of plants and eyes that I had to defeat on the next mission. I’m still trying to figure out the best combination of Patapons to take into battle…

With the power of my new stew, and deciding to run away then fight rather than just storm forwards, I completed the mission I was stuck on (where you have to beat Gong to a caged Patapon, then defeat Gong himself).

After that, I opened up a new hunting ground, where I found a black star (although it didn’t appear to do anything), and then repeated the level so it gave me a new cap – reviving a blacksmith Patapon! Not that I can do the minigame he provides, as it’s clearly impossible.

Also impossible is the next mission – to rescue Meden from the Zigotons. I’ve tried it ten times, first not realising fire weapons actually kill Meden, then realising that you need the rain miracle or you fry, and finally just not being able to destroy the cart she’s in before the level ends. Grr!

I was pretty much stuck in this last time I played, since I was unable to progress or beef up my Patapons However, I managed to retrieve the gardener Patapon’s hat on a hunting mission today, meaning I could acquire vegetables, which in turn allowed me to make stew!

Perhaps I will now fair better!

Progress! Finally!

I seem to have spent the last four or more hours (in the game over a period of days, not in one sitting today!) essentially doing nothing. I’ve hunted, hunted some more, made some new Patapons, hunted, killed some bosses again, and hunted. But today I finished off two more levels and another boss. Phew!

And then I went and hunted some more. And killed some previous bosses. Then hunted a bit. Erm.

It’s be a week or so since I last played this, and I’d actually forgotten the Pon-Pata-Pon-Pata retreat song. Not that I intend using it, as I’m not a coward.

Spend ages redoing hunting levels in order to get more Kerching, so I could create some new “special” Rarepon Patapons. I have this amazing Mogyoon-Yaripon now which has mad damage skillz, something like 50 damage compared to the normal 20 my other Yaripons are capable of.

I still need more Kerching though, and I need to retire some crap Patapons to replace them with better ones.

Yay! That’s PSP Game #2 completed! And very good it was too. Even if the last level was pretty tricky (in comparison to the previous levels, anyway).

I only had three levels left to complete today, and with them done the overly-cute and ten minute long end sequence played. All the LocoRocos of assorted colours sang together! Aces.

Finished the last few levels on World 4, and then moved on to completing most of World 5 too. There’s not long left now!

I’d have played for longer this evening, but the battery in my PSP lasts 4 hours – or less – so I have to keep charging it. Conclusive proof the PSP is a modern-day Game Gear

Today I worked through most of World 4, not finding it especially difficult. Of course, getting a perfect score on each and every level is a life’s work, but I don’t think I’ll be doing that. It’s too frustrating, as sometimes a mis-jump takes you past a point you can’t return to without trying the level again.

Bought this at the weekend (although not for me), and gave it a quick go this evening. It’s… very odd. You play noughts and crosses, with each square being a monkey-infested minigame. Kind of like single-player Mario Party. With monkeys.

It was pretty good, although I did only complete the first “level” of the academy.

With Katamari done and dusted, I returned to this. Didn’t play for all that long though, but I have now finished off all of World 3. I understand there are five worlds, and with a play time of just over three hours currently, it looks like it’s going to be a pretty short game.

But that’s OK – I think it would drag if it was much longer, as although it’s fun and everything, there’s not all that much variety between levels.