Given that, I thought now would be the perfect time to type up another "Shall We Do It?" post that compiles some of my thoughts on the four portable titles that are mentioned in the header above.
The first game I stuck into my Vita's cart slot, of course, was NIS' acclaimed Danganronpa, a dark visual novel that certainly didn't disappoint in the couple of hours I spent with it on Saturday and Sunday.
As much as I'm loving Danganronpa's well-crafted, whodunnit-style story, though, I'm loving Rui Komatsuzaki's delicious-looking art even more. I also really like how playing this game "feels." Stalking the halls of Hope's Peak Academy is more engaging than I thought it would be, for instance, and interacting with your surroundings in other ways (such as clicking on background elements to learn more about them, or doing the same to your comrades to converse with them) is similarly enjoyable.
That's about all I can say about Danganronpa at the moment, I'm afraid, but I can assure you I'll continue to plug away at it this coming week, so hopefully the impressions I share in my next "Shall We Do It?" post (which I hope to publish about seven days from now) will dig a bit deeper into the experience.
That's about all I can say about Danganronpa at the moment, I'm afraid, but I can assure you I'll continue to plug away at it this coming week, so hopefully the impressions I share in my next "Shall We Do It?" post (which I hope to publish about seven days from now) will dig a bit deeper into the experience.
Dokuro (Vita)--Danganronpa isn't the only Vita game I spent some time with this past weekend. I also bought--for just $2.99 via PSN--and played Dokuro, a Game Arts-developed puzzler-platformer that's quite a looker in its own right.
This digital effort is attractive in a slightly different way than Danganronpa is, though; here, the visuals look like they've been created using colored chalk or crayons. The effect isn't quite as eye-popping as, say, the original Yoshi's Island, but it's still undeniably pretty.
As for the rest of the game, well, I like it, but I can't say I'm head-over-heels in love with it. Players are given a good number of things to do--like pushing boxes, flipping switches and even carrying princesses--and the great majority of them provoke a lukewarm feeling of accomplishment, but on the whole, so far, Dokuro seems to lack a bit of energy.
Hopefully things will pick up as I continue to pick away at the adventure at hand, which is exactly what I'm planning to do (to an extent, at least) over the course of the following week or two.
This digital effort is attractive in a slightly different way than Danganronpa is, though; here, the visuals look like they've been created using colored chalk or crayons. The effect isn't quite as eye-popping as, say, the original Yoshi's Island, but it's still undeniably pretty.
As for the rest of the game, well, I like it, but I can't say I'm head-over-heels in love with it. Players are given a good number of things to do--like pushing boxes, flipping switches and even carrying princesses--and the great majority of them provoke a lukewarm feeling of accomplishment, but on the whole, so far, Dokuro seems to lack a bit of energy.
Hopefully things will pick up as I continue to pick away at the adventure at hand, which is exactly what I'm planning to do (to an extent, at least) over the course of the following week or two.
Final Fantasy: Record Keeper (iOS)--This mobile RPG's North American launch came out of nowhere for me. I vaguely remember hearing about its Japanese release, but I assumed it would remain unique to that region and so quickly forgot about it.
Given its nostalgic content and liberal use of sprites, though, I nabbed it from the iOS App Store as soon as I heard about it.
Despite my eagerness to download it, I'm not sure how long it's going to maintain a presence on my iPhone. Why? For starters, Record Keeper's battle-centric gameplay isn't as engaging as I expected it to be given its pedigree. Also, as much as I love all of the spritework that's on display in this game, it's somewhat tarnished by all of the not-sprite art that tends to surround it. (Sorry, I've never been a fan of such juxtaposition. For me, I'd much rather a game focus entirely on sprites or entirely on hand-drawn illustrations, although I know I'm probably in the minority in feeling that way.)
Anyway, I'll give it a fair shake before dumping it--which means I'll give it at least a couple of more plays between now and the next time I write about this Final Fantasy offshoot.
Given its nostalgic content and liberal use of sprites, though, I nabbed it from the iOS App Store as soon as I heard about it.
Despite my eagerness to download it, I'm not sure how long it's going to maintain a presence on my iPhone. Why? For starters, Record Keeper's battle-centric gameplay isn't as engaging as I expected it to be given its pedigree. Also, as much as I love all of the spritework that's on display in this game, it's somewhat tarnished by all of the not-sprite art that tends to surround it. (Sorry, I've never been a fan of such juxtaposition. For me, I'd much rather a game focus entirely on sprites or entirely on hand-drawn illustrations, although I know I'm probably in the minority in feeling that way.)
Anyway, I'll give it a fair shake before dumping it--which means I'll give it at least a couple of more plays between now and the next time I write about this Final Fantasy offshoot.
My World, My Way (DS)--Of all the games included in this write-up, this Atlus-published RPG is the one I put the most hours into over the last week. In fact, I'm pretty sure I've put more time into this title than any of the others than have been played as part of my "A Decade of DS" series.
I'm going to publish a more in-depth post about this quirky DS game shortly, so I don't want to share too much about it here, but one thing I definitely want to get across is that I'm having a blast with it.
If you've never heard of it, it's an RPG that stars a spoiled princess who channels her inner adventurer in order to attract the attention of a handsome bloke--an adventurer himself--who has melted her heart.
One of the handful of elements that sets My World, My Way apart from the JRPG pack is that its spoiled-princess protagonist has to juggle "pout points" as well as experience and hit points. By pouting, Elise (that's the princess' name) can alter the landscape around her, call more enemies to a particular area, force them to drop more items or experience points than they would otherwise and a number of other interesting actions.
As intriguing as that may sound, My World, My Way's definitely not for everyone. It's pretty repetitive, for one, plus it's far from the most attractive of DS games. That said, it's managed to keep my attention for more than five hours so far, so maybe its allure is more than the sum of its somewhat-unappealing parts?
Have any of you played some or all of the games discussed in this post? If so, please share your thoughts on them in the comments section below.
I'm going to publish a more in-depth post about this quirky DS game shortly, so I don't want to share too much about it here, but one thing I definitely want to get across is that I'm having a blast with it.
If you've never heard of it, it's an RPG that stars a spoiled princess who channels her inner adventurer in order to attract the attention of a handsome bloke--an adventurer himself--who has melted her heart.
One of the handful of elements that sets My World, My Way apart from the JRPG pack is that its spoiled-princess protagonist has to juggle "pout points" as well as experience and hit points. By pouting, Elise (that's the princess' name) can alter the landscape around her, call more enemies to a particular area, force them to drop more items or experience points than they would otherwise and a number of other interesting actions.
As intriguing as that may sound, My World, My Way's definitely not for everyone. It's pretty repetitive, for one, plus it's far from the most attractive of DS games. That said, it's managed to keep my attention for more than five hours so far, so maybe its allure is more than the sum of its somewhat-unappealing parts?
Have any of you played some or all of the games discussed in this post? If so, please share your thoughts on them in the comments section below.
