In which I learn neither plot nor polish is everything

I’ve pretty much given up on Suikoden Tactics.

Which is kind of weird.  I want to find out what happens in the plot.  It’s well-done, just a little bit of suspense here and there.  The problem is the huge number of non plot-related battles.  You get ambushed by fish-people here, bandits there – I mean, you’d think they wouldn’t attack a camp of 40+ seasoned warriors.  I’d go for merchants, myself.  It’s like Darwin’s off on vacation.

The game gets really tedious.  Especially when you’re like me and you keep putting Pablo in your team when you should know better.  The last time the guy died, it was 25 minutes into a battle.  So of course I didn’t want to keep going.  I turned it off and haven’t played the game since.

On Saturday, I went to a local Gamestop and picked up two games.  Odin Sphere, which has gotten good reviews from dozens of sources (many of which I trust) and Steambot Chronicles, an oldish PS2 game that’s gotten… review.  I’d only seen one review and I don’t really remember the details.  What I do know is that this game was $20 new and I’ve enjoyed it more than Odin Sphere.

What’s the problem with Odin Sphere?  It’s true, it looks really pretty.   That seems to be the focus of most reviews.  But while the game itself looks and sounds very polished, it gets repetitive.  It’s difficult, too, and not in a good way.  I’m only on normal mode, and I’ve had to restart several times.  The biggest problem is that when you’re not doing well (i.e. you don’t have enough items to keep on fighting for much longer) it’s difficult to recover.  Items are scarce when you need them most, and overly plentiful when you don’t have enough room in your inventory.  Fighting isn’t too bad… but enemies are very unpredictable and hard to stun.  Bosses are where the game does shine, but they take really long even when they are relatively easy (which is rare).

Meanwhile, Steambot Chronicles is… Steambot Chronicles.  It is quite unlike any game I’ve played.  If you mixed good aspects of Japanese RPGs (memorable characters with interesting designs) and Western (PC) RPGs  (fleshing out of character, open-endedness) and yet ended up with something that wasn’t an RPG, you would have Steambot Chronicles.  It has lots of minigames, and I’m 8 hours in and still unsure of any final goal.  I’m still devouring it, though – for all its aimlessness, there are always a dozen things to do.  The focus is all on doing your own thing – although some events are obviously required, there’s never a big rush.  It’s a very soothing game, not only musically but graphically and thematically as well.  It’s like Harvest Moon taken to the next level – where it should’ve been.

And part of the reason I like it so much?  Voice acting.  There is a lot of it in this game… and almost all of it good.  It’s rarely grating (except minor characters) and even the singing (a band figures largely in the game) is not bad.  The lyrics are absolutely atrocious, but the rest of the translation is good (Wild Arms 3 and 4 were the only games I’ve seen to have a good song translation).  The main character even has a good voice.  Considering he’s a relatively young character in a video game I’m surprised he didn’t get the squeaky kid voice localizations always seem to have.  Usually it’s “Oh, it’s an anime, let’s give everyone squeaky voices ‘cuz it’s a cartoon!”… but that’s another story.

Anyway, if I write much more about Steambot, I think my editor would hurt me since I’m already planning on an article about it.

So… About Suikoden Tactics again.  I will say this much: it’s head and shoulders above 4.  Not that that takes much… but I think it may have been an attempt to salvage what there was of the setting.  Lots of characters return, and some are more memorable than where they left off.   Plus they had to explain why Rune Cannons weren’t so widespread, but I do wonder why you never found out what horrible things are involved in Suikoden 4 (or maybe you did and I just blotted out the game from my memory).

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