Nintendo DS

Doctor, We have to Operate!

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I’m seeing a trend in gaming of fewer and fewer games being released that I actually care about. The does not mean I don’t still play video games, though, because I totally do. Lately I’ve been playing Trauma Team, the latest and perhaps last entry in Atlus’s Trauma Center series. So far, I’ve cleared what feels like about half of the game. I like it. It is very “anime” in a not terribly good way, but it’s largely enjoyable

The Trauma Center games were part of that all too brief time period when the new control options provided by the DS and Wii resulted in a flood of new kinds of games and new takes on old kinds of games. The Trauma Center games were similar in some ways to the mini-game collections that have clogged up the Wii’s library, but filtered through old arcade sensibilities. You play as a doctor and each medical procedure is a simple action using the DS stylus or the Wii remote. The presentation of the small, bite-sized actions is what set Trauma Center apart, with numerous small parts connected in one large operation. It did a great job of approximating the feeling of actually operating. (I assume, since I’m no doctor.)

Despite some mechanical similarities to mini-game fests, Trauma Center played more like an old-school arcade game. The games emphasized playing for score and they were hard, brutally so in the way that quarter hungry from the 80’s were. It really gets that one more try mentality down. You always want to try the next operation or retry the last one for a better score.

Thinking about it now, it greatly resembles Guitar Hero. They both have non-traditional controls, prominent scoring and essential non-violent game play. Sadly, Guitar Hero was a phenomenon and Trauma Center barely a blip. Maybe that just proves that Rock stars are inherently cooler than Doctors are. Of course, even Guitar Hero seems to have run its course now. The all too brief days of non-violent games has already ended, if it ever existed. Now it is back to all violence all the time.

Trauma Team feels like the last gasp of the series. The previous games’ uber-difficulty has been neutered, hidden away in bonus difficulties safe from casual eyes. I can’t fault them for that, the earlier games bordered on sadistic. There are new diagnosis and forensics modes have no pressure and no score, playing like somewhat less charming Phoenix Wright cases. A worthy evolution of the hospital milieu or a betrayal of the arcade-ish roots? I side with the former but there is a certain case for the latter, slim though it is.

The story side has always been where the games shined or faltered. Trauma Team claims to turn the focus away from the sci-fi super viruses of previous games, but I’m not sure it fulfills this even in the time I’ve been playing. The cast includes a superhero doctor, ninja doctor and Vader-masked convict doctor, as well as an annoying robot buddy for the grizzled Dr. House stand-in. It doesn’t border on ridiculous, it choke slams ridiculous off a skyscraper. But I like it and I’m scared I won’t get to play any more games like this for a long time.

Questing for Dragons

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I am back to playing Dragon Quest VI on my DS. Like nearly every other entry in the series, I like it. The Dragon Quest series is comfortable. The games may no break much ground, but they are crafted with so much skill and affection that they never feel tired.

Dragon Quest VI highlights one of the series greatest strengths: the episodic nature of its plot. Some other RPGs do this to an extent as well, like the Suikoden series, but Dragon Quest is notable for placing greater focus on the trials and tribulations of each small town and their inhabitants rather than the larger world saving quest. Not that the world saving is ignored, just that the small vignettes are the focus and therefore more memorable. Dragon Quest VI puts even more emphasis on them than other Dragon Quest games. It really helps make the game world seem big and real when not everyone and everything is focused on the central conflict.

Unfortunately, DQVI also continues a trend in the series that is awful and inexplicable: hiding the job system. Nearly half of the DQ series uses a job system and all of them, save maybe DQIII that I have not played, bury it behind ten or more hours of the game. I just do not understand it. A job/class system is a real draw for me; I want to play around with teaching my characters interesting combinations of abilities. Why hide the game’s biggest draw behind a quarter game’s worth of simplified combat? The Final Fantasy games with job systems make it available within an hour of turning the game on. They limit the class options, but still allow the player some early choices. I would rather DQ do that than just dump the system on the player after ten rote hours.

Riding into the Sunset

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The 3DS is hitting soon, so I guess it’s time to say goodbye to the DS.  Not that mine is going anywhere for a while, but I expect releases to dry out quickly with new hardware on the market.  It is sad that possibly the best video game system ever created is now entering it final months of relevance, but I was definitely a good run.

I’m not going to do a ridiculous series of posts like my 25 Years of NES undertaking, because that it time consuming and Jeremy Parish at 1UP has beaten me too it.  I do want to list some of my favorite games on the system, list some I missed but am anxious to get my hands on and highlight the glorious send off it is receiving.

I was just going to list my 10 favorite DS games, with a brief explanation why I liked them, but picking only 10 games out of the DS’s expansive library is no easy feat.  So I’ll combine some series into one entry and try to avoid the games in the previously linked articles.  They are in no particular order.

  1. Chrono Trigger: Yes, I know it is a slightly “enhanced” port of a SNES game, but it is a great SNES game.  This is probably my favorite game, and this port is really good.  Having Chrono Trigger on the go would blow the mind of 12-year-old Scott, and 25-year-old Scott was only slightly less impressed.
  2. Etrian Odyssey series: These 3 games from Atlus are hard to recommend to any but old school JRPG players.  They are unfriendly, frustratingly difficult and purposefully ignorant of 20 years of progress in the genre.  Still, I play them.  Because there is nothing quite as satisfying as conquering the series dungeons and mastering their depths.
  3. Ace Attorney series: This series of 4 (5ish) graphic adventures are what sold me on the DS.  They are well written, with have likeable cast and plots only slightly crazier that the usual cop drama on TV.  Screaming “Objection!” into the DS’s microphone is equally embarrassing and enjoyable (and optional).  I don’t think anyone needs to hear anything more than “playable courtroom drama,” though.
  4. Professor Layton series: Like the Ace Attorney series, the Professor Layton games are graphical adventure games.  However, they dispense with the gaminess of the interweaving the puzzles and just sort of drop them in there.  The story parts of Professor Layton are just gravy, delicious animated tales put on top of the real meat and potatoes of the game:  the brain busting puzzles.  I sure do hope the rest of the series makes it over here.
  5. Dragon Quest 4:  Chapters of the Chosen:  There are tons of Dragon Quest games on the DS, and DQ4 is probably my favorite.  This NES remake is not too different from DQ5 or 6, but it has the best cast.  The varied group of heroes that you gather in DQ4 is one of the best parties in any RPG.
  6. Dragon Quest Heroes:  Rocket Slime: Since it is a spin-off, I am glad to allow this game in addition to DQ4.  Rocket Slime is basically a Zelda game starring the weakest enemy from the Dragon Quest series.  With giant tank battles.  And puns, lots and lots of puns.  It is joy on a DS cart.
  7. Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks:  I may not have been completely enthusiastic about this game in my recent review, but it is terrific.  It doesn’t match the home console Zeldas, but as a handheld title, it is hard to match.  And it fixes most of the problems with Phantom Hourglass.
  8. Pokemon Pearl: My save on this game has more than 300 hours on it.  Do I really need to say more?
  9. Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin:  Many, perhaps most, people would call this the weakest of the DS Castlevanias.  With its flaws notwithstanding, and most of the flaw’s people point out are accurate, I really like this game.  Maybe it the times when the two character mechanic echoes The Lost Vikings, maybe it the use of the iconic whip; whatever it is I like it a lot.
  10. Suikoden Tierkreis:  Another title that got at best mixed reviews.  I hated it a little at first, too.  Because this spin-off, reboot, whatever it is probably signals the death knell for the Suikoden franchise and I loved the Suikoden franchise.  Once I got past this games un-suikoden like parts, I realized that it is a very well made RPG in its own right.  Many characters and if you can ignore the execrable voice acting not a terrible story.  

While I have managed to play many DS games, there are quite a few that I’ve somehow managed to miss.  Some are big name titles that I just could not afford, some are obscure little niche titles that flew under my radar.  So Part to pf my DS farewell is a list of 10 potentially great DS games I missed.

  1. Contra 4: It’s Contra.  I have meant to pick up this title for a long time, but it always is one of the last games I put down before I buy something else.  I know it is near perfect run and gun gameplay.
  2. Bangai-O Spirits: A puzzle/shooter that I had one chance to buy, choose not to and haven’t seen again.  All reports say it is terrific.
  3. Henry Hatsworth and the Puzzling Adventure:  Platformer on top and puzzle game on the bottom, this game looks to be an interesting mix of genres.  I’ve heard it has some balancing issues, but I’m still intrigued even if the game has fallen to the backburner.
  4. Puzzle Quest:  Another puzzle hybrid, this time with some RPG elements.  It has two sequels and I’ve failed to pick up any of them.  I was barely even aware of them for a long time.  This is the kind of addictive game that could be stuck in my system for months.
  5. Knights in the Nightmare:  Yet another genre blender.  KitN is a curious mix of RPG, Strategy and Shooter.  It is part of the loose series from Sting that included Riviera and Yggdra Union.  If I ever find it, I will buy it.
  6. Infinite Space: A space-sim RPG that hit and disappeared in the blink of an eye.  By all accounts, it is good, but I have never seen it in the wild.  You put together a space ship and a crew and do stuff in space, I guess.
  7. Super Princess Peach: According to Parish’s retrospective, this is the best Nintendo plat former on the DS.  Like Infinite Space, it is very hard to find.  You play as Peach has she attempts to rescue Mario using her wild mood swings.
  8. The Legend of Kage 2:  This is just a straight-up hack and slash action game in the style of Ninja Gaiden (NES).  I have no reason not to have already played this, just like Contra 4 it is exactly the sort of game I like.  It is the sequel to a terrible NES game.
  9. Lost Magic:  An early DS game that tried to be something of an RTS.  Reviews were quite varied, but it looks charming.  It helps that I enjoyed Revenant Wings, which had similar gameplay.
  10. Lost in Blue: The Lost in Blue series has always intrigued me, ever since I heard about it early in the DS’s lifecycle.  The concept, guiding one or two castaways through life on a desert isle, sounded good but the reviews indicated that Konami never got the formula quite right.  Still I’d like to try it out.

A system as great as the DS deserves a glorious send off.  That glorious send off has already started.  Two weeks ago, Nintendo and Square Enix dropped Dragon Quest 6 in the US.  It is the first time the game, which his more than 10 years old, has been made available outside of Japan.  This week, Radiant Historia hit, courtesy of Atlus.  On March 6, Nintendo is putting out their probable last big DS release, Pokemon Black & White.  Two weeks after will see the release of Okamiden, the sequel to the much loved but little purchased PS2 and Wii title Okami.  And the week after that, a much smaller but still interesting title hits:  Monster Tale, a metroidvania style game from the makers of the creative but uneven Henry Hatsworth.  All of these titles come out in just over a month. While the slate is titled toward RPGs, this is a nice exit for the DS. I do hope that the quality titles do not dry immediately.  They’ll slow to a trickle, but there are tons of games that never made the trip over and still some life in that beautiful clamshell.