I just finished watching a review by IGN for the game Eternal Sonata, and I'm pissed. They gave little attention to the game, and wrote it off as an "above average RPG". I was writing a response to it, but I found it was getting to long, and thought I'd just go to my blog(here) and post my thoughts. This is unedited of what I meant to put on there, so it may seem like it's directed elsewhere or even like it wasn't thought through very much, cause I did it in 20 minutes(from beginning to end of thinking on how to write it).
DO NOT LET THE IGN REVIEW CHANGE YOUR DECISION ON WHETHER OR NOT TO TRY THIS GAME, I don't care if you like it or not, just please find another Review from another source before you make the decision.
(Long response, only in terms to give a critique of this review, pointing out in great detail it's faults. Call me biased if you want, but I respect this game for more than the "this is fun to play" aspect that most reviewers do, I see everything it has to offer, and highlight that).
"I don't really like IGN because they tend to be biased in views much more than other sources(example, the other day I was looking at their 2007 awards, and Call of Duty 4 one best graphics, and better looking games like DMC4 were disqualified because it was 2008, but another award went to Burnout:Paradise City, which was released this year...), and this review was bullshit.
1. Story doesn't spiral, it's controlled from beginning to end extremely well, because they do it with subtlety(controlling your feelings about the very first scene until you see it again, which is Polka jumping off a cliff)
2.If the game didn't preach the moral value factor to you, it wouldn't deserve to have Chopin in it. Chopin was a man who hit you with sounds of emotion and meaning in life, not just a catchy tune.
3. Dungeons are too short, wow, they must have looked at the first few levels(even though they said they played it through and have video late in), and said that's what we'll gauge it by. It's not anywhere near Tales of Symphonia short, yet not near PSO in length(dear god those were long). Pirate Ship Dolce, Double Reed Tower, Xylophone Tower, Lento Cemetery, Sharp Mountains and more fit the bill if they wanna look back and correct themselves.
4.Tri-Crescendo does the best damn job out there at making a linear game look wonderful. They used that static camera view to capture the level design, which is amazing by the way, so those who have seen many an RPG before will know something different is there, something blessed. In games with camera controls, you only spend a couple seconds looking at something when you first get there, but then lose interest into the gameplay, and so there is no need to control and change the camera just to look at something. In this game, they allow for you to experience at your liesure, or even while you are in a speed run. In the Woodblock Groves for example, the camera allows every player, not just those with the time to control it if they could, to see the lovely disc shape to the paths that allows for an overlapping effect,crossing over the paths with a jump command to allow it to easily be integrated. You never have to pull your camera up to see all this as it fits as a whole, you can always see it.
5.The voice acting above average...not true. First off, you have an allstar(voice actor-wise) cast of people who know how to get the job done, some of the best of the best, like Liam O'brien, Cam Clarke(Liquid Snake from MGS), Johnny Yong Bosch(Nero from DMC4), Megan Hollingshead, Patrick Seitz, and even in the japanese version you have amazing voice actors. Second off, they perform well, not counting their previous fame. They space and give time in the midst of phrases not out of a bad job of not saying a line as fast, but to give it a feel of thought. And their diction is just amazing. This is also in the lesser criticised role they do, the battle voices. While everyone's ears are on them in cinematics, they aren't so focused like that while playing in a fight. Yet even without that attention, they pull it off stuningly.
6.Not being a fan of JRPG will not,I REPEAT,will not keep you from this one. Unlike most Japanese RPG's, this game has very,VERY little visible influence that it is from Japan. There are no Japanese names for characters or moves, the music is cultural of the era of Chopin and the music surrounds the feel of the environment and his sector of the world(Classic European feeling), there are no environments in vein of Japanese design, and there is almost no connection to Japanese design when it comes to characters either. This game is neutral to the possible audiences it might capture. PLEASE,don't be afraid to try it out if you don't think you'll like it because of Japanese origins.
7.This game was meant to be played fast through, but many times. Encore mode(new game+) gives new goals to be achieved and a harder difficulty, as would be expected. But the pace of the game allows you to start a new file and get to the really good parts quickly, like maybe the introduction of a favorite character or good moves.
So, there you have it, my thoughts on this so-so review. There's more I could put, but if you are thinking about playing this game, find a better reviewer before you rent/buy it. IGN didn't get the point across too well."
Someday further into the future, I may post my own review of the game on this blog(although I'm long winded[see my second post here to understand why,hehe], so it will probably be long.
Here's the link to where I first saw the vid.
http://www.veoh.com/videos/v6327687dEAXk6fN?rank=7&jsonParams=%7B%22numResults%22%3A20%2C%22rlmin%22%3A0%2C%22query%22%3A%22eternal+sonata%22%2C%22rlmax%22%3Anull%2C%22veohOnly%22%3Atrue%2C%22order%22%3A%22default%22%2C%22range%22%3A%22a%22%2C%22sId%22%3A%225993010445143212032%22%7D&searchId=5993010445143212032&rank=8#comments
Monday, June 16, 2008
Monday, June 2, 2008
Virgin Media Just Doesn't Get It
I normally wouldn't talk of these kind of things unless they really bothered me, but living where I do, I got broadband internet only a bit over a year ago. This news is something that could revert most of my web browsing back to what I just came from. So I WILL fight for it.
As many internet users know, Virgin Media announced they are planning to cancel net neutrality for their users. In otherwords, websites that don't pay money to Virgin will lose the ability to be visited at normal speeds, causing them to lose viewers because they are slow. If you like a site other than youtube for your video watching purposes, and youtube pays and the other doesn't, youtube will be viewable and your site will be impractical. Virgin has been saying at some places they are just going to speed up the paying sites and leaving the non-payer sites normal, but they are actually going to bring their speed down to around that of dial-up. Speed isn't just a luxury on the internet you can do without. This makes it virtually impossible for some websites that stream quality material that requires a good connection(beyond video or online programming), setting a standard that will need to be met.
This all means one thing for the users, downgrading. It is just as bad as if they wanted to say that all users will now have to pay $15 more monthly just to have their internet connection. And if Virgin Media succeeds without resistance, they will encourage other ISPs to do it too. Companies other than Virgin have talked about this for years, never acting on it, waiting for someone else to go out and do it, so it will happen if Virgin greenlights the idea. If this happens, it will pick up momentum and become something the community accepts, even though it shouldn't have to. This is similar to the way gas prices rise. These companies are abusing our desire for the internet to earn money off of our needs. No one complains about stopping gas prices rising, they just grumble and carry on, because it is something that would be hard to achieve. This however, is easier to boycott and destroy.
IF Virgin pulls this off somehow, I am going to bet they will lose many of their clients, and if those clients go, the sites that pay them will lose their viewers too, pulling on Virgin the way it should. So, this is not a matter of waiting for some group to stand out and protect internet rights, it is a matter of the users. There is no group that regulates the internet rights, WE have to do it. Don't sit around like a non-voter, thinking their vote won't count. You aren't the only one who thinks that way if you do.
a href=">http://stopvirgin.movielol.org"> src="http://stopvirgin.movielol.org/images/button.jpg" border="0">
As many internet users know, Virgin Media announced they are planning to cancel net neutrality for their users. In otherwords, websites that don't pay money to Virgin will lose the ability to be visited at normal speeds, causing them to lose viewers because they are slow. If you like a site other than youtube for your video watching purposes, and youtube pays and the other doesn't, youtube will be viewable and your site will be impractical. Virgin has been saying at some places they are just going to speed up the paying sites and leaving the non-payer sites normal, but they are actually going to bring their speed down to around that of dial-up. Speed isn't just a luxury on the internet you can do without. This makes it virtually impossible for some websites that stream quality material that requires a good connection(beyond video or online programming), setting a standard that will need to be met.
This all means one thing for the users, downgrading. It is just as bad as if they wanted to say that all users will now have to pay $15 more monthly just to have their internet connection. And if Virgin Media succeeds without resistance, they will encourage other ISPs to do it too. Companies other than Virgin have talked about this for years, never acting on it, waiting for someone else to go out and do it, so it will happen if Virgin greenlights the idea. If this happens, it will pick up momentum and become something the community accepts, even though it shouldn't have to. This is similar to the way gas prices rise. These companies are abusing our desire for the internet to earn money off of our needs. No one complains about stopping gas prices rising, they just grumble and carry on, because it is something that would be hard to achieve. This however, is easier to boycott and destroy.
IF Virgin pulls this off somehow, I am going to bet they will lose many of their clients, and if those clients go, the sites that pay them will lose their viewers too, pulling on Virgin the way it should. So, this is not a matter of waiting for some group to stand out and protect internet rights, it is a matter of the users. There is no group that regulates the internet rights, WE have to do it. Don't sit around like a non-voter, thinking their vote won't count. You aren't the only one who thinks that way if you do.
a href=">http://stopvirgin.movielol.org"> src="http://stopvirgin.movielol.org/images/button.jpg" border="0">
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