Growlanser

The Quest 4: The Quest for Peace

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I beat no games this week. I made progress on three, but there is not crossing something off the list this week. Tsugunai continues to be tolerable, but after 15 of the 34 quests, I feel I’ve seen just about everything this game has to offer. While the basics of the battle system is good, the fact that you never control more than one character makes it too simple. Growlanser III compliments it’s fun battle system by going out of its way to drain the fun out of it. When it shines through the crap it is great, but there is too much crap. Too much anime bullshit, Too much uneven difficulty and too much ridiculous battle restrictions.

I also started Casltevania: Lament of Innocence. It is the 2D handheld games perfectly transitioned to 3D. Unfortunately, as much as I like those Castlevania games, this is not a good thing. Since the castle is segmented, the fun of exploring it is curtailed. And 3D space makes the backtracking and constant combat a tedious chore. Still, the game is marginally enjoyable. The mediocre reviews it got on release were accurate. My current map completion percentage is about 55%, so I should definitely finish it up by next week.

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The Quest: Part the Third

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Another week, another game crossed off my list. Gungrave is beaten. Tsugunai: Atonement still is not, but I did make some progress. I also started playing Growlanser III again. All in all a productive week.

Gungrave is astoundingly short. Given what it is that is not surprising, but it does not change the fact that this game is not long at all. I am not overstating this; I beat the game in less than 3 hours. Gungrave is a shmup by way of the 3D action game. The graphics are rough, the story is barely intelligible (I assume it relies on knowledge of the anime/manga/whatever) but the game is actually fun. It occasionally puts the player in that perfect, zen-like shooter trance, where the controller is forgotten and the player simply reacts. Honestly, though, I would have been upset with the length if I had paid more than 6 bucks on this game.

Tsugunai’s blandness has kept me from making much more progress. If my opinion does not change by next week, the game is getting kicked to the bottom of the list, or even off it.

I also broke out Growlanser Generations back out. GG is Working Designs last release, a compilation of Growlanser II and Growlanser III. I’ve already beaten II and I liked it a lot. I played about halfway through III before I got bored or distracted by something else. Since starting it again, I’ve noticed 2 things. The first is how great the battle system is. It is like a real time Final Fantasy Tactics. More could have been done to improve it from II, all that appears to be changed is a significant bump up in the difficulty, but it is still very good. The second thing is how very anime this game is. That is something that may have appealed to me 5 or 6 years ago, but now it is somewhat off putting.

Next week: more Tsugunai and Growlanser, plus I plan to start Castlevania: Lament of Innocence. In addition, Eve of Extinction, which was found not purchased, is again lost. It has been replaced on the list with the newly purchased Yakuza 2. Which does not play in my PS2, but I am determined to play it.

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