PSO: When Four Battle as One

When I first played PSO on my Dreamcast I was convinced the world had moved on. Gaming had advanced one more step into the online world. Now the consoles were getting in on the action. The wave of euphoria as I teamed up with a couple of others and raided a Hildebear enclosure was unsurpassed. For months afterwards I classed PSO as an EQ beater. Better than EQ was the highest accolade I could give it. PSO is based on action. It is a team based role playing game, with lots of arcade style action. Admittedly the team can only ever number four. And the action is limited in as much as the game world has 4 areas, and a set number of monster types, culminating in battles with four bosses. However, the buzz remained for around 3 months. Solid playing. Every night. I never once logged onto Norrath in all that time.



Imagine, landing on a planet, with a hunter who is learning the art of the light sabre, with a brightly coloured force character, resembling a circus magician, who can summon a mean fire ball or two, with an enormous mechanised robot ready to dish out some punishment and me, a ranger with a laser pistol. Imagine, finding a world inhabited with strange bear/dog like creatures who take a swipe at you and you land on your backside. Imagine, said creatures ganging up on you and pounding you into the ground. But, finally imagine, the four of you, each slotting into a niche and covering each other backs. Working together to eradicate the planet of these menacing hordes. Pumping laser rounds into the back of a Gobooma, enough to knock him away from the magician he is currently pounding - giving the magician the breathing space necessary to let a fireball from hell toast the furball.



Although set in a "phantasy" world, the combat is pure action. Sci Fi action. With guns and light sabres.

The first boss you meet after a lot of carnage is The Dragon. In my opinion, he is the best of all the bosses available. He is beautifully rendered, his attack patterns are just stunning to watch, and of course, he IS a dragon! Each boss has a different attack pattern and often requires quite careful planning to avoid party wipeout.

The ability to quest offline and then go online with the same character - gives PSO one the most flexible approaches to character development. However, this does not come without a price. The Gameshark kiddies have found that you can use codes to tool up your character with all sorts of items and powers. Sega tried to stomp on this heavily. With character banning and other measures. The Gamesharkers also found ways to kill other players (yet PSO is strictly co-op), to use jumping tricks to get past locked doorways amongst a number of other cheats and scams.

All in all, PSO is one of the brightest online games I've played in a long time. And although the content is limited, it still draws me back to it - searching for that teamplay buzz once again.

Dragons Blood

Dragon’s Blood was a game that caught my eye before I’d bought a Dreamcast. It was one of those that went on the slowly growing list of titles that eventually tipped the balance and forced me to part with the cash to become a Sega fanboy for the first time. Odd I know, but that’s me, just getting into the whole Sega ethos as the company starts to die out. I curse myself daily that I didn’t years ago.

In any case, I’m now sat at the start of the penultimate level of this beastie and I can say hand on heart that Ian is right in his assessment of the game’s merits. You need to like that particular genre to get on with a game like this – but if hacknslash epics do float your boat then you’ll find a surprising depth in this. It’s not without one downfall though. The aforementioned swoop and sway will eventually I’m sure send you blind. I find after an hour plus in this (the time needed to explore a level fully and knock it on the head) each turn of the wide angle perspective camera sends not inconsiderable stabbing pains to the eyes. Infact a glance in the mirror after a two hour stint recently showed them up to be noticeably bloodshot.

Funny how games can get you like that. FPS’s are prone to give people motion sickness, that is well known. This is the first time though that a game has reddened my eyes and made them sting. Perhaps the Draconus’s abilities extend beyond those just on the screen…

Regardless, this is a stomping slasher. Each episode like level is enough to fulfil one sitting at a time but the drive to go back always returns. The worlds are large, they are atmospheric and although the dialog is awful and voiced by a genuine B movie star wannabe it somehow only adds to the overwhelming feel of an eighties fantasy movie. Marc Singer in Beastmaster? This is what this game gives you. Peter MacNicol in Dragonslayer? Oh yes. Ken Marshall in Krull? Absolutely. If only there were fair maidens to rescue.

As it is there’s undead skeletons, creatures, minotaurs, goblins, trolls, giant insects, dwarves, the Draconus and ultimately the mighty Dragon to take on. Each level brings harder and more tactically aware adversaries. As your skills with the excellently weighted controls improve, those of your opponents do too. The dwarves imparticular are very adept for figures so stout. With the option to use an effective block though combat never degrades to a simple hack, hack, hack process. Hang back, observe, block attacks, take a stab when you can see an opening. Its not a beatem up, and nor does it want to be, but the swordplay here maintains a strong and enjoyable tactical balance that sets Dragon’s Blood above most slashers. Throw in a few button presses, sidequests and simple puzzles and the games rounds itself nicely into a well presented, solid and enduring use of your gaming time.

As Ian says, quite a surprise from a game that has been very quickly relegated to the bargain bin. This hidden gem is considerably better than a lot of titles sitting proud above it on the full price shelves.

Dragons Blood: Slash the Price

A game which caught my eye in the bargain bin of Toys R'Us the other week was Dragons Blood. I had considered buying this game many times, at full price, but I was always led astray by classics such as Crazy Taxi etc. In fact, I remember juggling Dragons Blood and Sword of the Beserker one time, finally deciding on the gory anime slasher. However at £4.99, I could not resist, and the game finally had a home.

Booting it up, you are treated to a chunk of crimson FMV. You get to play a butch warrior type, or a svelte but magical lass. Both characters possess magical abilities as they level, but the lassy can use it more readily. The graphics are really special. They portray a detailed world and the characters are realistically medieval. The movement mechanism is simple enough, although it does take some getting used to. You character seems to sway and swoop around alot. I was expecting the "fixed perspective" of Tomb Raider, however, Dragons Blood uses a much more realistic perspective, where the landscape and character alter according to your position in the world.

The battling mechanism tries for realism too. As the swipe of your trusty sword connects with mob, they recoil and are often thrown quite a distance. Perform a series of slashes, chops, and thrusts in succession and you will pull off a combo strike which can be very satisfying indeed. Theres nothing quite like a flying chop from above. Different mobs require different fighting techniques and strategies. You will often require a well timed block using your shield, following it up swiftly with a counter-lunge. You can circle strafe around slow mobs and slash at their back. The beauty of the fighting is that it takes real skill and co-ordination to battle three fairly cunning enemies each try to get around behind you to deliver that fatal backstab. You'll have to use the landscape to corner yourself in and protect your rear, whilst blocking all attacks and getting a counter in. A side swipe can often lift the mob off the ground and hurl them away long enough for you to skewer the one left. The sword and shield play are varied enough to make a battle strategic enough and not degenerate into a mindless hack and slash.

After each kill, you can steal a small amount of health back from the deceased's heart. Not all mobs drop a heart - but since your health bar is incredibly important, you cherish each mobs lifeforce. In order to progress and level up the game adopts a mechanism by which you collect wisp blessings and trade them in at the end of the level for skill improvement. Offense affects the weapons you carry, Defense affects the armour you wear, while you can learn new magical abilities by spending points on the elemental skills. You can also invest in rank which is effectively levelling you up. There is a predefined tree which you will climb, as you are blessed and go through the levels. Although it seems to allow for some specialising, particularly in magic. One of the offensive power ups I gained was a morphing blade. It can morph between broadsword, axe and spiked club. Each having different rates of attack and damage abilities.

The one area the game falls down, is its lack of ability to save mid-level. This particular niggle is a problem that affects many games out on the market and some game designers argue against mid-level saves - because they use it as a tool to set game difficulty. For an aging gamer who sometimes only has a spare half hour, there are times when I cannot sit down and plough through a level for 2 hours just so I can save my progress. Anyway, Dragons Blood goes some way to alleviate the frustration - because it allows you to set a mark anywhere on the level, where you will restart if you die. This mark however, isn't written to the memory card, and if you turn the console off - you will have to start the level again next time you play. This mark has helped me get through the really long levels, because I just set it, pause the game, leave the console on and then return when I have some spare time to finish it. Obviously this is only going to work if you can keep the console on, and the poor little box got rather hot, awaiting my attentions again.

I am starting the sixth level I think, so still a way to go, but for a budget game - this really is worth it. In fact it is such a shame it has hit the bargain bin, and will no doubt be passed up as mere tat. This game deserves much better. Then again, perhaps the cheap price will give it more exposure than it would have got. If I'd have paid full price for this, I'd have been happy. Since I got it at a steal, I'm very happy.

Right, I'm off to kill something, I wonder what I should kill it with, sword, axe or club?

Lodoss Revisited

I'd just like to mention that several of the bosses in the game are DRAGONS! Although I'm not beefy enough to fight em yet AND there is a Shrimp equivalent - although there's fooking millions of em in the desert - sandworms - dune revisited. I went in at level 15 started to have a go - only to be beaten down in the blink of an eye. Later I
find out you have to be about level 70+ to take down a sand-worm. Theres ghosts, zombies, goblins, skeletons, lizards, dark elven swordsmen, preists and preistess, winged demons, Ogres, Golems, Medusas and many more characters. A veritable fantasy feast!

Theres quests/mini-quests galore! After taking about 3 hours
to level up and prepare myself for one of the boss fights that had been crippling me - I eventually beat the bastard - I mean he was torching the forests and the elves didn't like that! I get to carry his severed head around with me now - just to prove how hard I am.

Some of the spells are quite nice to use tactically - heres a tower of stone one that allows you to block mobs advances, a bonfire whichyou can land a mob on and circle around them whilst they are being burned, chopping them as they try to free themselves from the flames. The animate the dead is always useful to use a fallen mob as a tank.
Theres a one called mirror that I've used a lot against big golems who hit hard. It throws two mirror images of you so the mobs attack that and you sneak behind them at let them have it. More effective with your critical stats boosted on your oriental sword. Mainly does 150+ dmg but every now and then hits for a sweet 800+ - mobs can do this also. But there are runes and potions to nullify their critical hits.

For a hack and slash - its actually quite deep and involved and I like the way quite different tactics present themselves after you've died a couple of times..

Shenmue: I am Japanese!

Shenmue is a game that you will either love or hate - there'll be no middle ground. You are submerged in an *almost* real-time japanese town. You have to chat with the folk living there to try and find out who murdered your father and seek your revenge. The game progresses in daily cycles. In the morning, its bright and chirpy. At lunchtime everyone goes and gets some grub. Evening time settles in and the you can be dazzled by the neon twinkling through the dusk. Weather changes too! People open shop and close shop at the appropriate times indicated on the front of their shop! If you ever wanted to go to a small japanese town and mull around for a while then this game is for you. You can spend all your time and your savings on the toys dispensed from a street corner vending machine, you gotta collect 'em all! Or you can spend all your time and savings in the games arcade playing button-bashing boxing or other retro favourites. Or you can follow the story plot through and investigate the murder. The plotline information is served up by various characters giving you snippets of information. Invariably the key character to further the plot will be found at a certain place, at a certain time. You can idle until then. In the games arcade. As all gamers probably would in real life.

Addicted to Lodoss

"Did I mention Lodoss was brilliant?

Good session today, took on the Giant Zombie King. Rooms full of headless walkers swarming around me, my two-handed Falks blade not making much progress into their hp. Chugged down half of my green fluid keeping me alive whilst downing a medium ogre guard with a combination of slashing at entrance of door and setting bonfires in corridor. Anyway, a swift re-animate to bring his lifeless corpse back under my persuasion. And I'm using him as an ogre-shield whilst he pounds the headless fodder with his pike. I still need to slash at their tails because there smackdown attack makes even this ogre fall flat on his arse at times. Using this heal and shield technique I clear the two main headless rooms.

We head off (pun intended) into the main Zombie King room. Now this is where my ogre friend meets his fellow ogres. He has a tough time. I cannot get deep enough into the room to help with slashing - without losing most of my hp and landing on my arse. We put up a brave fight, but I simply haven't got enough juice to keep him healed. Out pops three large ogres with mallets as big as me. Slamming them onto the ground causes visible shock waves that renders anyone close by useless (and on their arse!). My ogre bud is history. And I am followed into the corridor mallets smashing at my heels. I last only a moment longer to hear to whistle of the air expire from my lungs as the mallet crushes my chest. I tried varying tactics, my main goal was to get one of these mallet wielding maniacs under my spell. But my juice was loose. And the pounding was too much for any mob I could animate. Four attempts. Four crushings.

I went back to my smithy, to discuss the problem. He reminded me of a rune I'd got early on, that I'd not taken much notice in. Holy Photon I believe it is called. Seems its got a range attack, one that is good on undead and demons. So I spend a little mithril and my oriental gets a new engraving. This is my pride and joy very expensive oriental sword that has high chance of a critical hit! The range attack allows me to charge the sword, and direct a beam of light-based missile shards towards an enemy. So pulsing these things down the corridors is ideal. Flash a few, animate an ogre. Now he pounds em at the door, I'm at the back firing light-beams - and they are doing considerable damage, not only that but they also heal any animated mobs that they pass through! And I'm not using any magic points for this! It was precarious at first to get the aiming right, but this proved a valuable tactic for taking those ogres and zombies in the final room. In fact, it worked so good that I managed to re-animate a mallet pounding ogre! He was still taking a hell of a beating. My juice was still in short supply - but by carefully positioning myself behind the pounders, my mallet ogre took all the flak, and in fact was doing NO damage himself (he was on his arse all the time). I could burst my light through them doing about 600 dmg at a time, whilst healing my ogre with 200 hp. It took what seemed like an eternity to dispatch them this way - but the tactic paid off in the end.

After all this needless banter, it was to just highlight how involved and surprising some of the tactics can be. With the weapon/armour tweaks and the various attack and defence spells, not to mention the clever use of a re-animated patsy, this seemingly tedious diablo-hack-and-slash-clone hasn't ceased to amaze me. I'm level 20 with 12 hours on the clock. I've seen my first dragon, although I'm in no shape to take any on.

Did I mention Lodoss is a cracking game?"

Lodoss Discovered

Not having the heart to start PSO up today, I was gonna fire up Grandia 2 but I thought I'd squint at a game I bought at christmas but never played much. Record of Lodoss War. Diablo-esque. Slammed it on the DC VGA style - lovely. Just fancied seeing what it was like. 5 hours later - I love it!

The whole levelling up is diablo - but the weapons and spells system is much more involved. The storyline is furthered on from the anime, but after the initial tutorial battles, turns out you get to search for, meet up with and fight side-by-side some of the original characters from the anime (Parn, Deedlit etc). You collect ruinic words and get the smithy to engrave them onto your weapons/armour/shield to enhance their properties. The spell system is nice, you collect spell books, learn a spell, but before you can use a spell you have to prepare it by pressing a set combination of buttons. As you become more efficient I think you do away with the need for this. Vials and bottles are collected and healing potion is topped up in them from a well. Plenty of kit to mess with, the full monty like EQ really. Even different coloured armour for that fashion conscious barbarian. The maze like dungeons can be a bit tedious to navigate at times - although they are enormous on some levels the high level map is a necessity. Theres always a save before any bosses. And the first spell you get is one to take you back to your wizard friend and top up on health juice. Which is nice.

I'm really impressed by the weapon/engraving mechanism. Gives you plenty of scope for tweaking your character's abilities. Also you can transform one weapon into another with the right amount of mithril - you can duplicate weapons and lockpicks etc, you can turn weapons into mithril and even get the smithy to make you a super-special weapon (a long oriental sword) - if you pay him enough. Luckily, as I was wading into a dungeon thick of goblins, I found a 'Goblin Killer' rune that I engraved onto my long sword and it gave it one swipe one kill loveliness. Culling the green beggars became a formality. The FMV scenes are nice. 3d rendered animey. The only thing that lets it down a bit is that 30+ goblins on the screen some casting some throwing axes makes it chunter a bit giving obvious slow-down.

I saw Lodoss going for 19.99 in Game. Might be worth a look for those PSO fanatics who need a break from the power-levelling.

http://dreamcast.ign.com/reviews/15717.html

With its excellent customization features, a huge assortment of items to find, and a good story to keep things interesting, fans looking for some meaty story for their PSO action will find Record of Lodoss War a very refreshing gameplay experience... and yes, there is actual closure to the ending as well, though you might have to play through it again.