Pumpkin's Video Game Diary!

[Pumpkin]

Illusion of Gaia (Super Nintendo)

Story:
Illusion of Gaia is about a young man named Will. Will finds he can enter a mysterious dark space and meets a strange being. He is told that a comet is heading for the planet, which is, you know, not cool. So Will heads out on an adventure through various different areas with his traveling buddies and they collect artifacts and stuff. There are usually individual stories at each area you visit as well.

Gameplay:
This is an action role-playing game. You control Will (and occasionally his transformations) and hit monsters and stuff with your sword. You also gain skills as the game progresses, and transforming also opens up some new skills. Will is also a talented musician and you'll gain some songs as the game progresses as well. You can set items to use, but there's a limit to how many there are and how many you can carry, so be careful. Will also has the amazing power of sort of moving things with his mind a little bit.

Will gets more powerful by defeating all of the enemies on the map. When all enemies are defeated, he will get a stat bonus, such as additional health. Each enemy also drops a little red orb, and collecting 100 of these leads to an additional life. You can also do the red jewel collecting sidequest if you want to, but the game is overall very linear.

World:
The world is based on a lot of real world locations, and they easily give that away with places like "China's Great Wall". But there is a lot of diversity in the areas, and you get to go through sky palaces, forests, caves, underground areas, water areas, etc.

Characters:
Will and his transformations are the only playable characters, but he is joined by his friends, all of whom have their own individual side stories. He has his childhood friends, his Princess friend, her pig, and even a girl who can transform herself in to a dandelion. However, Will will be mostly alone for dungeons.

Overall:
Well this game is a classic and I certainly found it very charming. The characters had a lot of heart and the story made you feel very small inside of a grand adventure, which I think is a positive thing. The world was also very diverse, so it didn't get boring. With that being said, the game was much too hard for me, which made playing through it a chore. Normally I am a bit sad when games are on the shorter side, but in this case it was a blessing. There are also some language issues, mistakes here and there, and sometimes the wrong person is shown to be talking in the wrong situation. Overall, if you can handle the difficulty of the older era games, this is a very touching adventure.

Verdict:
IT WAS OKAY

[Colonel Angus]

Does the hero use Will power to defeat his foes?

[Pumpkin]

Animal Crossing: Happy Home Designer (Nintendo 3DS)

Animal Crossing Happy Home Designer is an Animal Crossing Game in which you design homes. They titled it well, as you can see. It works with the amiibo stuff, so if you want extra houses to decorate and a few extra character features, you'll need the cards as well as the reader, which costs an extra $20. Or you could buy the game bundled with it for an extra $10. If you don't want to spend the extra money, like me, the game works fine without it and there are still plenty of houses to decorate.

At the start of the game you get to make your own avatar and name him or her. You do have a uniform when working for Nook's Homes, but you can choose your own pants, shoes, and accessories to personalize it. At first you will be given certain customers during the tutorial mode, but the game opens up from there and you can begin to design the outsides of the homes, pick the home locations, and design various facilities as well.

Once the tutorial section is over, you will go outside and pick a customer. A few people will have little thought bubbles over their heads giving you an idea of what they might want. You can go around checking a few different thought bubbles before settling on a customer. You start by choosing between two different customers but as the game progresses, you'll have a wider selection. The available customers also change every game day, but they will become available again and aren't lost forever if you don't choose them.

Once a customer is chosen, you get to choose where to place their house, and you also get to change the season around their house. Houses don't actually take up room on the map so you can place numerous houses on the same spot if you want to. I'm not sure how that happens, I suppose it's house designer magic. The customers will then give you a theme as well as a few items they want incorporated in to their homes. You can decorate the outside of the homes as well as the insides, and you can choose which furniture goes where, wallpaper, flooring, trees, roofing, home design, etc.

You'll also gain new items which fit the theme the customer wants. So you can be sure you'll have the tools you need. The items will also remain in your catalog for further use in other designs. The customers are easy to keep happy so long as you remain on theme. You can also use Play Coins to purchase additional design features such as window designs, colour swaps, and custom designs. While you can change the exterior of a home to make it much larger, the inside will always remain the same size.

In addition to homes, you can also design for certain facilities, such as a restaurant, office, hospital, school, hotel, and a few others. Some of these will have multiple rooms to design and Isabel, the lady giving you your facility jobs, will give you a checklist for each room. The checklist is usually very easy to accommodate and allows for a lot of freedom. You can visit these facilities (and your clients for personal homes) any time you wish and you can take pictures. When in the facilities, you can even switch which roles the townsfolk have, such as making one of them a teacher or a doctor or whatever you want. They are randomized each visit though.

After you finish a design, your work day ends and you can go around talking to people and visiting places before writing your report for the day, which saves your game. You can then move on to the next day or quit playing and come back later. There is no personal home in this or anything else of the sort, the game mostly just revolves around the design aspect.

Overall I enjoyed the game a lot. I've always loved interior design so having a video game which allows me to do that is a huge plus in my book. There are a few downsides. The game does get repetitive pretty quickly other than the facilities, which quickly became my favourite part of the game. My main complaint is that the houses are just very small, and I would have liked to be able to design bigger homes with several rooms, rather than trying to fit everything I wanted in to a smaller room. Other than that there was a good variety in the available themes, the facilities were quite fun, and the game was very enjoyable if it's the sort of thing you enjoy. If interior design is not your thing, this game most definitely will not be for you. But for someone like me it was great.

Verdict:
LIKED IT A LOT

[Formalhaut]

So... it seems like a slightly watered down version of the Sims 3 Build Mode?

[Pumpkin]

I guess so? It really didn't even make me think of the Sims, it's just a cute little interior design game

[Pumpkin]

Suikoden II (PlayStation)

Story:
Suikoden II is the second Suikoden game and the fourth in the timeline. It follows the story of three friends, Riou, Jowy, and Nanami, during a time of war. Riou and Jowy were a part of the Highland Youth Brigade who were about to finally be sent home when Highland and the City-States were finally signing a peace treaty. Before they can go home though, most of the Youth Brigade is murdered by Highland in an attempt to place blame on the City-State and start another war. After picking up Riou's sister, Nanami, the three are forced to leave their homeland and seek help in the City-States. Soon, Riou becomes the leader of an army, gathers the 108 Stars of Destiny, and leads the fight against monstrous Luca Blight of Highland in hopes of returning the peace.

Gameplay:
Suikoden II plays much like the other games in the series. It has a very large cast of playable characters and, as such, up to six characters can be brought in to battle. Make sure to pay attention to their weapon range, which will determine where and who they can attack. A character with short range can attack only from the front row, a character with mid range can attack from the front or back, and a character with long range can attack from the back as well as attack the enemy's back row. Every turn, you can choose options such as Run, Attack, Item, Rune (this game's version of magic), combo, or other such commands. After all actions have been selected, each character and enemy will act according to their speed and actions.

There are also war type battles which act kind of as a board game. You move your units one square on each turn and they can engage the enemy. There are different unit types with different strengths and weaknesses. There are also duels, which act as a rock-paper-scissors match. Attack beats Defend, Defend beats Wild Attack, and Wild Attack beats Attack. You can try to gauge what your enemy's next action will be based on what they say.

Aside from fighting, there are a few other things the player can do. You can reruit Stars of Destiny (people) who will open up shop at your headquarters, or give access to certain mini-games like a cooking contest and a dice game, fishing game, etc. Your castle will also get bigger depending on how many people you have recruited and more stuff will become available to you.

World:
Unlike some RPG's, Suikoden does not take place on a global scale, but rather is limited to a few countries. This doesn't mean there isn't a lot to explore and there are a great deal of locations and areas with their own unique flavours and stories to them. The game also opens up more as you go on and some areas will be closed off until you progress the story.

Characters:
Since Suikoden has such a large cast, I will only be including certain story important characters. In no particular order.
Riou: The main character, a young man who was branded a traitor when he watched his homeland start a war. He gathers an army to fight back.
Nanami: The her's older adopted sister, she's very bossy and loud but very caring and kind.
Jowy: The hero's best friend since childhood. He comes from a more privileged family but they disown him after he is branded a traitor.
Shu: An arrogant but brilliant young man who agrees to become the army's tactician.
Apple: A tactician's apprentice, she is an old acquaintance of Shu and is willing to do what it takes to bring the army success.
Teresa: Acting mayor of Greenhill who is loved by her people and would do anything for them.
Viktor: A large, loud, but very kind man who leads a group of Mercenaries.
Flik: Part of the Mercenary's, he still works with Viktor after the last war and helps out the hero's army in this war.
Gengen: A young kobold warrior who fights with Viktor's mercenaries.
Freed Y: A dutiful man who is very loyal to his homeland and to the hero's cause.
Tsai: This quiet man creates and maintains the fire spears.
Eilie: A traveling knife thrower who develops a crush on the young hero of the game.
Rina: Eilie and Bolgan's older sister who is very flirtatious. She is also a fortune teller.
Bolgan: A young man who travels with Eilie and Rina, whom they consider a brother. Very childlike and kind.
Camus: Captain of the Red Knights of Matilda, a charming and intelligent man and good friend to Miklotov.
Captain of the Blue Knights of Matilda, he is very passionate and speaks up for what he believes in.
Fitcher is a man who often deals with foreign relations. He acts like a fool but is actually very smart.

Overall:
Suikoden II is a gem of a game for an RPG fan. It's finally available now on the PlayStation Network for a reasonable price, but I bought my copy at a story for a higher cost. I don't regret it as it has given me a lot of fun playthroughs. The story is excellent, touchy, and very engaging. The gameplay is fun and it has a lot of excellent mini-games. There are a lot of really great characters, some nice areas to explore, and overall it's just a very good game. The story really is the best thing about it and it's handled very well. I would definitely recommend this to a fan of the genre and I look forward to many more playthroughs.

Verdict:
LOVED IT

[Colonel Angus]

Seems interesting. I never played that series.

[Pumpkin]

Mass Effect 2 (PlayStation 3)

Story:
Mass Effect 2 is the continuation of the first Mass Effect. I did not play the first Mass Effect and if you do the same I would recommend looking up some general info and reading the information they give you. You will create your own hero named Shepard who dies at the beginning of the game. Shepard is then rescued by a group called Cerberus, a group often considered a terrorist organization, who request your aid with their mission. The game takes place in the future and is set in space. As Shepard investigates the disappearance of human colonies around the galaxy, s/he will learn more about the Reapers and a certain alien race called the Collectors who are being used by the Reapers. Shepard will have to assemble a team and try to find a way to stop the Collectors on their home turf.

Gameplay:
Mass Effect 2 is an action-role playing game that to me has a lot of aspects of a shooter. During most missions, you'll be shooting your way through things using the R1 button, with L1 to zoom in, X to take cover, holding X to run, and a few other things. You'll have a few different weapons to choose from to help you tackle a variety of situations and enemies. You can change your and your allies weapons at certain spots as well as on your ship. While you don't have direct control of your allies, you can ask them to use certain powers, certain weapons, and position them in certain places. You can bring up to two allies with you on a mission. You can also use different powers and things depending on what character class you chose.

You'll have a number of dialogue options throughout the game that may give you points towards the Renegade/Paragon system. This will affect available choices later on in the game as well as certain outcomes. This game does have long-term affects depending on your choices which can also affect what happens if you port your game to Mass Effect 3. You can level up your characters and assign points, do character loyalty missions which will grant them a second outfit, talk to your crew, raise fish, decorate your quarters, and a few other things. You can also accept sidequests by talking to people at different areas.

World:
This game has multiple worlds as you will be exploring a lot of the Milky Way galaxy. There are certain planets you can land on and explore and do things like shopping and talking. A lot of planets will just have you scanning the planets for minerals and launching probes in order to upgrade your ship and weapons and powers. Occasionally while exploring a planet you will find an anomaly which will allow you to land on the planet for a mission of sorts. You can explore further in to different star systems, as well as buy star charts that allow you to explore new places. The game also gives you a lot of details about important areas as well as individual planets that you visit.

Characters:
(Not all characters may be playable and some not mentioned here may be playable in your game. Ordered from favourite to least favourite):
Kasumi: A master thief and DLC character who wants help retrieving something important to her. She uses heavy pistols and submachine guns.
Tali'Zorah: A mechanic genius who is very loyal to her people. She has to prove that loyalty during her mission. She uses heavy pistols and shotguns.
Garrus: Going under a code name, Garrus stops criminals by... killing them. As you do. His loyalty mission involves getting revenge on a murderer. He uses sniper and assault rifles and has a good voice.
Samara: Samara is a justicar who follows a strict moral code and has very powerful abilities. She needs help with one particular criminal. She uses submachine guns and assault rifles.
Jacob: An experienced and idealistic fighter who wants to make a difference. He uses heavy pistols and shotguns.
Legion: A bunch of Geth put together in a body. Does the robot dance if you watch him long enough. Uses assault rifles and sniper rifles.
Mordin: A doctor and scientist and professor, he speaks very quickly and is overall friendly. Uses submachine guns and heavy pistols.
Jack: A notorious criminal with very powerful biotic abilities and some serious personal issues. She uses heavy pistols and shotguns.
Miranda: A member of Cerberus, she is very cold and down to business although as she opens up you learn more about how she became the way she is. Uses submachine guns and heavy pistols.
Thane: An renown and skilled assassin who has personal family issues to face. He uses sniper rifles and submachine guns.
Grunt: A tube grown Krogan, he is violent and aggressive in nature. His loyalty mission involves helping him channel that violence. He uses shotguns and assault rifles.

Overall:
I wasn't really sure what to think of this game when I first got it. I'm not too fond of shooters and while I like some sci-fi, it's not my genre of choice. Not many characters interested me either. But I took a chance and I am glad I did. The characters grew on me and most had a surprising depth to their story. I liked making my own character and choosing how things happened. I like that you can replay the game and have things go very differently. While the morality system seems good in theory, I didn't like how you basically had to choose all one way or another in order to see the benefits, and I would have rather been able to choose between different stances for different situations. This kind of took away some of the freedom of the dialogue choices. The gameplay overall I did not like as it was too much shooter-like for my personal tastes and it took a while to get used to. I got the hang of it (and I'm glad there was a difficulty setting) but I still didn't get used to everything I could have done because I was overwhelmed. The missions were also fairly linear, the story was oddly paced, and scanning planets was pretty boring. Really what made this game good for me was the characters and the story and the openness of a lot of it. Also how your choices actually have an impact on how things play out was a really great thing and I think more games should do that.

Verdict:
LIKED IT

[Psychotic]

Yeah I agree on the morality thing, ALL RENEGADE or ALL PARAGON is stupid and restricts the freedom it purports to give players.

[Pumpkin]

Fallout: New Vegas (PlayStation 3)

Some notes before I start: I have not yet completed the game because there is just so much to do and I will continue to play it, but I have played a good chunk of time. I just won't be able to comment on endings or other things because I haven't seen it!
Second note is a content warning. This game contains a lot of violence and gore and disturbing scenes like torture, substance abuse, foul language, sexual content, slavery, among others. If any of these things bother you then be aware because they are prominently featured in the game.

Story:
In Fallout: New Vegas, you play a courier of your making who was delivering a package (as couriers do) and then was shot. Luckily for you, a doctor from a nearby, quaint little town saved your life and sets you up to go on your way. From there the game is very open. You can start hunting down the person who shot you for revenge, you can join up with a number of groups and gangs, you can accept quests of all different sorts, pick up companions, or just go about your merry way while exploring the absurdly large map as you make your way to the New Vegas strip. Also, the game is set in a post-nuclear apocalyptic wasteland.

Gameplay:
Fallout: New Vegas is an open world action role-playing game. You have a lot of freedom as to when you go where, although they'll sometimes put a few beef gates in your way. You choose which missions you want to do, how you want to do them, who you wants to talk to and when, and just generally are able to go around and take things at your own pace. The game does have several difficulty settings as well depending on your play style. You'll run across a number of weapons, usually guns of some sort, although you can also feel free to punch things or hit them with a baseball bat. The game also has a system called "V.A.T.S." which will pause time while you select a target and an area to shoot them. It does take some buildup time in between using it, so you can't just use it over and over again, although it doesn't usually take too long.

As you level up, you'll get to distribute skill points (which I will discuss more in the Character section), as well as pick perks of all different kinds. It's hard to explain everything gameplay wise because the game is massive and easily tailors to different fighting styles. I watched my boyfriend play before I tried it and despite both of us putting many hours in to the game, I did not see a lot of repeat. Even in missions we both took, our selections and skills would change the experience. There are a ton of missions to do from exploring dangerous places, assassinating people, interrogating prisoners, or helping addicts recover. You'll be faced with a lot of decisions in the game which will largely help shape your experience.

World:
As mentioned, the world is massive, sporting over 100 locations (close to 200, I think), and is largely explored at your own pace. It is, however, rather drab looking, although I suppose it makes sense considering it takes place a few hundred years after a nuclear war. There is a lot to explore though and while some of it is rather uninteresting and/or dull, there's also a good many places to visit and a lot of history to explore if you take the time or care to do so.

Characters:
So I'm not going to go over all the characters, but I'll just give some general info. You make your own character and there is a lot of customization you can o to their face. Hair options are sadly a bit lacking, but you know. You also get to customize a characters attributes, traits, and skills. You can make someone dumb as a rock, or make them a genius. You can make someone quick, sneaky, or slow and powerful. You can have your character specialize in a certain type of weapon if you want to. You can give them a lot of science skills to help them around the world. There are so many options as far as making your character unique. I personally made my hero a smooth talker with a lot of charisma since I was more interested in the story than in the fighting.

You can also pick up some companions as you progress the game if you play your cards right. They'll accompany you and help you out in a fight. You can bring one human companion and one none human companion with you at a time, although I believe you can befriend more than one and you'll just have to go pick them up again to switch them. I personally recruited a dog who needed a new brain and a lesbian who punches things really hard. Be aware that your characters have their own personalities, and bringing one in to an area they hate is only going to result in some trouble that you may not want.

There are also groups of people you can join throughout the game depending on who you want as allies and enemies. There are a few major groups and some smaller ones. This will affect the missions and options you have available to you as well.

Overall:
I tried this game because how open and free it is has always appealed to me, although I was always a bit turned off by the world and combat. I would say that generally sums up my opinion. I liked the world in the sense of how big it is and how much you can explore. I also like the history and detail certain areas have. However, some areas were quite boring and the aesthetics of the world do not appeal to me personally. The gameplay in terms of battles for me is just in the way of the parts I do like, although I am glad there is a difficulty setting so I don't have to worry about it too much. Others will probably find it a more fun part of the game. I very much enjoyed the customization and being able to make a character my way. The amount of dialogue options is excellent, and I'm very happy with the different types of missions available. Overall it is a very enjoyable game, good quality as far as story and detail (although kind of glitchy, unfortunately), and a lot of fun to play. I would definitely recommend it.

Verdict:
LIKED IT A LOT

[Psychotic]

I'm not surprised you and Veronica were bros!

[Pumpkin]

xD Why's that?

[Psychotic]

She's just this cool and funny lady who likes to punch things repeatedly. I sort of imagine you doing the same, like, "Oh, here comes the mailman! POW!" bonus points if you have a working Power Fist!

[sharkythesharkdogg]

Actually it was more like this scenario:

~pumpkin hums her way along the desert landscape, oblivious to the perils that lay around the corner, when suddenly she hears, "For the Brotherhood!" and the scene turns to a slow-mo shot of Veronica punching the head off of some feral ghoul.

...."Oh, well, thanks Veronica, I didn't see-" Only to be cut off by another slow-mo shot of Rex tearing into some poor raider. ~

It wasn't like she wouldn't/couldn't fight, but those two would just fan out and look for trouble. She'd be in a vault or something, and they'd be completely on the other side of the place tearing things up. I had Boone for my exploring and he was a little more laid back. He'd just pick things off from far away.

[Pumpkin]

It's true. At least on easy mode (not sure about harder modes) those two were ridiculously on top of their game. I usually had no idea anything was going on until there was suddenly a slow mo of Veronica punching out a robot or something.

Rex did have a tendency to wander off when I needed him though :/