Game Log #2

MEXICO

My time is still being stolen by Symphony of the Night. 8 hours in, I've made it to the Inverted Castle. I have to admit that I was originally put off by the concept of the Inverted Castle before I played the game. I assumed it was a cheap way to extend a short game by another couple hours without the need to spend more time designing new levels. But by God, they got it right. Amazingly so. Adding the new music to the inverted areas alone was neat, but they went all out with adding new things to find, new enemies, changing up the look of some of the areas. It's damn impressive, and really puts to shame the GBA and DS sequels in many ways.

A few more scattered thoughts:

• I'm not sure what Digital Eclipse rationale was for how they created the launch screen for the XBLA version of the game. Rather than integrate the necessary fields (exit, achievements etc.) into the original start screen, they created an ugly looking tombstone screen with said options, featuring what I assume was the music in the launch screen of the original version. When you hit "play", it takes you to the "actual" launch screen with the same music. It's not a big issue at all, but I just find it a bit cruddy.
• Maybe I missed something here (entirely possible), but the Grand Fallooon fight was pretty anti-climatic. Oh, I had heard all about the giant ball of corpse boss fight in Symphony, and I was excited for it. And the fight itself was a hell of alot of fun (minus the nagging slowdown). Easily one of the most fucked up, nightmarish things I've encountered in a game. But you're reward for this fight is a mediocre sword that does extra damage to "holy" enemies. It seems to me that you'd reward the player with some amazing ability relic or some such for the fight, but no. I assume it makes some sort comeback in the Inverted Castle. That'd be fun.
• I wish the developers had made your inventory more organized. It's nothing I didn't deal with in Dawn of Sorrow, but searching for the weapon or shield you want amidst the billion items in your inventory that can be equipped to one of your hands is downright annoying. Especially in battle, though the Doppleganger soul in Dawn did some to fix that.

Oh, this game. More fun than a barrel of HOMOSEXUAL monkeys. Soon to come, my first article about the hilarities of religious gaming. Whenever I feel up to writing it. Left Behind: Eternal Forces? Prehaps.