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chuckroThe Legend of Zelda: Triforce Heroes - While this is a ¾-view Zelda game with my preferred control style, I'll admit, this wasn't quite what I expected. It's a more puzzle-style version of Children of Mana, with distinct areas that you need to make three heroes work together to get across. It's clearly really intended for group play via local or wireless multiplayer, but the single-player setup with three heroes you can switch between works reasonably for puzzles. It's a little irritating for combat. I’d really like to try the multiplayer version, but that’s going to wait until two of my friends buy the game and I can be in the same place as them long enough to play it. (Also, the plot is usually ridiculous—an evil witch has cursed the princess to be unfashionable, so you must venture to the “drab lands” to undo the curse.)
Final Fantasy 2 (Final Fantasy Portal Edition) - I think I’ve made it known in the past that FF2 is probably my least favorite game in the series. Free copies of it were given out with the FF Portal app, so I gave it a few minutes’ try. It’s very pretty (I think the graphics are cribbed from the PSP version), but the control scheme is the same “floating cross-key” nonsense that the FF Portal version of FF1 used and made it unpleasant to play. Also, while it appears that the difficulty level may have been reduced (I got Firion to gain three sword levels in five battles) that’s not enough to be worth my time. I mean, if you genuinely like FF2, the price was right, but between the game itself and the control scheme, I’m not sticking around.
Dungeons & Dragons Tactics - This is a classic example of a game that should work better than it does. It’s based on the 3.5 rules, which are pretty good “mechanically” for a tactical setup. The problem is, the interface is slow and clunky, and it follows the D&D rules to the letter—but the D&D rules are made for tabletop gaming with a DM’s oversight. The second scenario involves trying to chase down a fleeing enemy, which is made exceptionally difficult because the DM can’t handwave turns or make game-simplifying decisions. The CPU-controlled enemies move their speed every turn, and you need to make double moves while fighting off other enemies to catch them, and the entire experience becomes a slog. And if your D&D experience is a slog, you’re doing D&D wrong.
Final Fantasy 2 (Final Fantasy Portal Edition) - I think I’ve made it known in the past that FF2 is probably my least favorite game in the series. Free copies of it were given out with the FF Portal app, so I gave it a few minutes’ try. It’s very pretty (I think the graphics are cribbed from the PSP version), but the control scheme is the same “floating cross-key” nonsense that the FF Portal version of FF1 used and made it unpleasant to play. Also, while it appears that the difficulty level may have been reduced (I got Firion to gain three sword levels in five battles) that’s not enough to be worth my time. I mean, if you genuinely like FF2, the price was right, but between the game itself and the control scheme, I’m not sticking around.
Dungeons & Dragons Tactics - This is a classic example of a game that should work better than it does. It’s based on the 3.5 rules, which are pretty good “mechanically” for a tactical setup. The problem is, the interface is slow and clunky, and it follows the D&D rules to the letter—but the D&D rules are made for tabletop gaming with a DM’s oversight. The second scenario involves trying to chase down a fleeing enemy, which is made exceptionally difficult because the DM can’t handwave turns or make game-simplifying decisions. The CPU-controlled enemies move their speed every turn, and you need to make double moves while fighting off other enemies to catch them, and the entire experience becomes a slog. And if your D&D experience is a slog, you’re doing D&D wrong.
