Giants (Day 177)

I spent some time yesterday on two games that are in my massive backlog--and neither one of them are games I've discussed much on this blog. No, I didn't decide to look into classic Quintet action RPGs as I was considering doing, but I did briefly play Final Fantasy X, despite some technical difficulties with getting my disc to work with the emulator. I wouldn't use an emulator at all, but my PS2 has been busted for quite some time and I'm not in a position to buy a new one anytime soon.

Most of the time I spent on FFX yesterday was on testing to make sure it ran properly. I experimented with several different configurations until I settled on something that seemed to run efficiently. It can be a little finicky because I'm running on integrated graphics due to my video card exploding awhile back. I did eventually settle on a good setup. The only issue seems to be with spells that cause a significant amount of blur like Demi--they slow my framerate pretty significantly.

I've played the game before but never made a lot of progress. As I've mentioned previously on this blog, I didn't own a PS2 when the game originally came out--and just never went back to it for whatever reason. I knew a lot about it from other people, including a lot of major spoilers, although no meaningful context on those spoilers. I've only played the game for maybe an hour so far, but I'm still struck all these years later by how goofy Tidus' clothes are. The soundtrack is solid so far, but I expected as much from a Square title. I seem to recall Masashi Hamauzu did part of the soundtrack--and I'm quite fond of his work for Final Fantasy XIII. 

The other game I played yesterday was Vagrant Story, on which I spent a considerably greater amount of time. I haven't played this game since I bought it on eBay maybe 10 years ago. I really enjoyed it until it became incredibly difficult and I found myself unable to continue. Years later, I realize that I was having difficulty due to not understanding some crucial game mechanics. The game is essentially a dungeon crawler with a hybrid of real time and turn-based combat. It has all the exploration and problem solving of an adventure game, but with equipment, levels, and a combo system that requires you to time button presses with your weapon connecting with your opponent.

Each different type of weapon in the game behaves differently as far as how your combos must be timed. Only with a significant amount of trial and error can you become accustomed to the specific timing required for each strike. If your timing is good, you can keep combos going theoretically forever. However, there is a limiter in place for this kind of behavior. Each attack generates a certain amount of Risk. As you gain Risk, your accuracy and defense decrease--although it does increase your crit chance and healing. I haven't been able to find any confirmation on this, but it looks like it applies a flat increase to your damage as well.

The gameplay is fun and the graphics are solid, although dated. It's a PS1 game, after all--and the early days of polygonal graphics were a bit rough. It looks better than Final Fantasy VII to be sure, though. What I haven't mentioned so far is the plot. Although I don't know a whole lot about it just yet, I can say that the dialogue is exceptionally well-written. It seems as if it's meant to evoke Shakespeare and pops up in iconic speech bubbles that don't look like any other game I can think of.