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Friday, June 20, 2003
More Xenosaga and Life of Pi
First off, I'll talk about Xenosaga since I'm now 7-8 hours in. I gotta say, so far it has been an excellent experience and promises to continue being excellent. The cutscenes are great. I can't remember the last time cutscenes in a game were so exciting (if ever). For example, the cutscene when the main character's android/assasin (KOS-MOS) first starts taking the Gnosis on is awesome; it's like watching something out of a good action movie. What has me the most intrigued, however, is the fighting. The last two boss fights I've had have been life or death affairs. For example, in the latest one, the first turn the boss does an attack which takes off approx. 3/4 of all the character's life. Once the boss gets to somewhat near death, it proceeds to cast a spell which brings it back to about 1/3 life. The healing is so much that I had to work it so that all my characters could do their most powerful attacks in a row to take it down. Usually RPG's don't make you do this kind of thing until the last few fights. A comment from a reviewer I was reading about it seems particularly apt: "While many RPGs can be billed a “perfect for the beginner RPG player,” Xenosaga is perfect for the veteran RPG enthusiast" (at games_are_fun.com). Hopefully it will continue to be interesting.
Hmmm, well I talked about that longer than I wanted to. I wanted to also talk about Life of Pi. It was interesting finally reading this book because of what other people had told me about it. Basically, four people told me that they liked the book, but two told me they didn't like the ending at all; the other two said the ending was great. My opinion is that it by far one of the best recently written read books I've read, the ending is crucial to the novel, and makes it what it is. Maybe I'll say more later but I'm tired and am going to bed right now :)
First off, I'll talk about Xenosaga since I'm now 7-8 hours in. I gotta say, so far it has been an excellent experience and promises to continue being excellent. The cutscenes are great. I can't remember the last time cutscenes in a game were so exciting (if ever). For example, the cutscene when the main character's android/assasin (KOS-MOS) first starts taking the Gnosis on is awesome; it's like watching something out of a good action movie. What has me the most intrigued, however, is the fighting. The last two boss fights I've had have been life or death affairs. For example, in the latest one, the first turn the boss does an attack which takes off approx. 3/4 of all the character's life. Once the boss gets to somewhat near death, it proceeds to cast a spell which brings it back to about 1/3 life. The healing is so much that I had to work it so that all my characters could do their most powerful attacks in a row to take it down. Usually RPG's don't make you do this kind of thing until the last few fights. A comment from a reviewer I was reading about it seems particularly apt: "While many RPGs can be billed a “perfect for the beginner RPG player,” Xenosaga is perfect for the veteran RPG enthusiast" (at games_are_fun.com). Hopefully it will continue to be interesting.
Hmmm, well I talked about that longer than I wanted to. I wanted to also talk about Life of Pi. It was interesting finally reading this book because of what other people had told me about it. Basically, four people told me that they liked the book, but two told me they didn't like the ending at all; the other two said the ending was great. My opinion is that it by far one of the best recently written read books I've read, the ending is crucial to the novel, and makes it what it is. Maybe I'll say more later but I'm tired and am going to bed right now :)
