Square-Enix had several playable demos available at E3. Here are my reviews of
the games and what I thought of them. Keep in mind that these are my views only,
so they may differ from others. I have not included Final Fantasy XI in the list,
as many people have played this already.
Final Fantasy XII
This was the game that I was looking forward to playing the most at E3. Although
I do admit that my initial reaction to the game was not a good one. I played the
start of the tutorial level and part of what was referred to as a field battle level.
On the third day, I played entirely through a level that included a boss battle.
This gave me a little more of an insight into what the game will be like.
Graphics: Absolutely stunning. The graphics appear to be much more improved
than that of Final Fantasy X and X-2. And although Square-Enix said that they will
be removing some of the facial expressions from the characters, this is not really
something that is noticeable. The scenery and surroundings are spectacular and full
of detail.
Battle System: I am still somewhat undecided on the battle system. My initial
reaction was that I didn't like it at all, as I am more used to the traditional
turn based battle system. This time around there appears to be a more real-time
approach. I only played FFXI for the first time at E3 also, but from what I could
tell, the battle system was very similar, so fans of FFXI will probably be more
familiar with this kind of battle system than I am. For those not familiar with
it, the battle system requires you to select an initial command if you wish to use
a standard attack, then the AI controls the attack for you. You then take on a more
defensive role to avoid the enemy's attack, or you can choose to use magic, abilities
or items [these still need to be selected]. Your party members are initially controlled
by the AI, but from what I played, they only attacked and did not use magic, etc.
You can switch to them and choose commands for them to use if you wish. Depending
on how you play, there is advantages and disadvantages to this kind of battle system.
You have to make sure you are always monitoring your party members, otherwise they
will soon become KOed as I soon found out. On the other hand, if you take the role
of the healer [particularly in boss battles], you can just let your party do all
the attacking, keep on dealing out the hi-potions and the cures and you have a very
easy defeat. All in all, this is a different battle system to traditional Final
Fantasy, so don't go into this game expecting it to be anything like the classics.
Exploration: If you love the exploring aspect of games, you are going to
love FFXII. This is the thing that appealed to me the most as I love exploring.
The cities and dungeons are vast with many streets and corners to turn. The field
areas are vast.
Puzzle Solving: I only came across one puzzle in the demos that I played.
The puzzle was a spot the difference kind of puzzle which was of very easy skill
level. It is difficult to judge this part of the game, as puzzle solving throughout
games are often varied.
Cut Scenes: From a demo point of view, these got very annoying. Although
the story is definitely interesting, viewing cut scene after cut scene when you
are standing in front of a demo station is not really what you want to see. You
really want to play the game and try it out. Unfortunately two out of the three
demo levels that I played appeared to devote more time to cut scenes than game play.
I noticed many people not sticking the demo out at E3 because of this. Therefore,
if the game is like this, it might be one of those "watch as much as you play" kinds
of games, even more than FFX is.
Overall: Overall I ended up enjoying Final Fantasy XII. Although I
do believe that it is a game that will grow on you, unless you are an avid player
or at least familiar with Final Fantasy XI. The large amount of cut scenes could
be good or bad for the gamer, depending on whether that is something that they like
or not.
Star Ocean: Till the End of Time<br />
I really enjoyed this demo. The battle system was particularly interesting and
action packed. Battles could be avoided, as enemies appeared on the screen and you
were taken to a battle screen. You controlled one character, while the others were
controlled by the AI. However, like FFXII, you could switch characters. You had
to instigate all commands with buttons assigned to a standard and an advanced attack
[which you could use based on a guage]. The attacks were always fun to perform.
You could also easily access a menu for items, abilities, etc. Game play was stopped
during this time which made it easy to select what you needed to.
Exploration was good in this game also. One level I played was a space station and
there were so many places to go. Another was a town with many streets and buildings
to enter.
Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories
I found this demo a little confusing as it was mostly in Japanese! Like Star
Ocean, battles were not random, as Heartless were seen roaming around on the field.
Unlike Kingdom Hearts however, you don't battle on the field screen, but are taken
into a battle screen. This is where it gets a little confusing, as you have cards
and card combos. Every so often, things came up on the screen, but I didn't know
what they meant. The downside to this battle system, is that on the field screen
there might have been a group of 3 heartless, but in the battle screen, you were
given 10 or more heartless to defeat. Once you had cleared out all of the Heartless,
you were given a card.
Not game play related, but many of you might be interested to know that the man
with the red hair that has been seen in the trailers for Kingdom Hearts 2 is named
"Axel".
Full Metal Alchemist
For some reason I didn't do too well at this game, I just couldn't keep alive
for some reason. The battle system here is a little bit like Kingdom Hearts, but
also different. You control one character, and the AI controls another character
who battles with you. The other character often goes off screen to battle elsewhere,
so you can "call" him to help you out if you are in trouble.
The battling is interesting in this game. You have your standard weapon attack,
and what is referred to as an alchemy attack. By holding down a button, you will
create a wall in front of you to "block" enemies. By holding the same button down
for longer and filling up a gauge, it will give off an attack in which spikes will
come out of the ground to attack your enemy. This attack takes some getting used
to timing however.
The weapons system is also interesting as you can pass through circles that are
laid out in the game in order to pick up a different weapon.
Samurai Legend
A very "fun" game and probably a game that would appeal to a more younger audience.
The areas are bright and the characters are cute looking. This appeared to be more
of an adventure kind of game, much like Jak and Dexter. You control a single character,
which has the standard abilities to fight, jump, etc. You must pass obstacles to
get to the end of the level, rescue a girl, free your friends, etc.
Front Mission 4
As I have never played any of the Front Mission games before, I would compare
this game to Final Fantasy Tactics, but with a military theme. The game is set in
the "real world" but with mechs instead of the standard tanks and guns. Like FFT,
you can only move your mech and then choose to attack or use any other weapons/abilities
that you may have available to you. The game consists of offensive and defensive
turns, as in all of your team will attack first, and then they will defend. In the
levels I played, defending was just waiting to be attacked and the AI determining
if my mech could evade, as I did not have any defensive abilities available to me.
Junk Metal
This game is currently being played as an online game in Japan, so the computers
were actually set up on the Japanese servers. This made the game very difficult
to understand, if it wasn't for a very helpful Square-Enix representative who told
me what to do! What I played of this game involved controlling a mech and destroying
enemies out on the battle field. Unfortunately I didn't last very long, although
I survived well, I ran out of ammo and couldn't get back to town to refill! One
thing thing that stood out in this game was that aiming your target was easy. You
had to aim at your target much like in a First Person Shooter game. Usually I find
it difficult to aim in such games, but in this game, I was able to aim well.
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