Star Ocean Integrity and Faithlessness - How not to start your game.

I've never had a great experience with the Star Ocean series, I've always found the games a little on the meh side. The most interesting one I played was The Second Story and I really didn't like the battle system. But it had an interesting story and when it began I was intrigued. I sunk around ten hours into it before I finally quit (this was years ago, so maybe I should retry it and see if my opinion will change), frustration overcame intrigue and that was that. I love sci-fi and time travelling/alternate dimension stories and so when Second Story began it was ticking all the right boxes.

Jump forward to present day and I slide the latest Star Ocean into my PS4. The logos appear and fade and then there's this exciting full motion video of a spaceship hurtling past asteroids and strange planet in the distance. The main menu opens up, "Galaxy" mode! Ooh, space, sci-fi and wonder!... 
The game starts, there's a picturesque town on the edge of a cliff overlooking the ocean. The camera pans in to two young men dueling and then the game dumps a ton of text boxes on you, explaining the basic controls of combat. You spam your attacks and work your way through the tutorials and then the fight is over. There's some light chit chat and you walk around the town seemingly aimless until you bump into this girl you both know. She spotted some strange people and everyone is worried, so they go see the mayor who is that stereotypical spineless town official. Then afterwards it's night time and bandits attack. More fighting, then with no grand finale the bandits flee. The next morning you remark that the town cannot survive another attack (despite very easily dispatching the bandits). Then you selflessly decide to head to the nearby kingdom to request reinforcements. You leave and are joined by the girl you met earlier, she is atypically defiant in the presence of the overbearingly protective hero who is convinced within a single sentence that the once perilous journey this vulnerable girl (who can cast fire spells! Really vulnerable right?) could not possibly join in with, is permitted to follow. 

From here I went on into a fairly large environment fighting blobs, crabs and wolf men, accruing experience and skill points. Eventually everything culminated in a boss fight with a large blob, which was pretty easy but apparently we needed saving by some chap (by this point my attention span had diminished).
I turned the game off after this, popped it back into it's sleeve and sent it straight back to the rental service. 
This must have been the most blandest and vacuous beginning to a videogame I have ever played. The first thing that bothered me, is the game seemed so impressed with it's own visuals, showing off the town and the nearby coastal area in it's splendid 60 FPS beauty, that it totally forgot to properly introduce us to any of it's characters. It also forgot to give the player any context or meaningful purpose. 

I like an introduction, show me something about the characters that tells me they're interesting, that gives me some hint on their personalities. What is the world they inhabit, who is the bad guy, where might this story be going? I've played many games, even slow burners that take a while to get into themselves but nothing like this, this game literally sticks two fingers up to characters, story, plot and cohesion. 
Look at a game like Final Fantasy X, the introduction to that is slow. The very beginning is watching people around a fire with a ruined city in the distance. But the game shows the personalities of several characters immediately. Kimarhi can be seen standing stoically, Tidus rests a caring hand on Yuna, she leans in affectionately and comforted. Then Tidus stands upon the mound and makes that declaration: "Listen to my story... This may be our last chance". 
In just a couple of minutes the game has caught my attention, what is Tidus' story? Where are they? How did they get there? Why does everyone seem so somber? There are questions to be answered and I'm genuinely interested. What follows next, the Zanarkand section at the beginning is a mix of character development for Tidus (we even get a creepy appearance of a Fayth) and then when Sin arrives it kicks off and it's exciting and enthralling. The simplicity of the battle system at this point is overshadowed by the eventfulness of everything going on.

I could go on and on with other examples of how a game should start, but I would only be stressing my point. Star Ocean lacks integrity and I had no faith in it to continue. It couldn't even hold my attention for one hour with it's bland introduction into JRPG mediocrity. 

The Playoff! Dead Space 1 vs Dead Space 2!

I'm a massive fan of Dead Space! I genuinely miss the series and every now and again I get teased with hints of an elusive fourth title. It's been over four years since Dead Space 3 was released and with the horror genre regaining it's former popularity, surely it won't be long before we get to grasp that plasma cutter and dismember some more Necromorphs?

But I digress, I want to spar off Dead Space 1 with it's direct sequel Dead Space 2 and decide which is the superior game of the two? Will it be a case of getting stronger or just a reskinning of the original? Let's find out!

I'm going to choose three categories I feel are relevant to the two Dead Space games. I will be omitting plot as DS1 is actually quite light on having it's own unique plot and is more a sort of amalgamation of homages to other sci-fi and horror titles.

It's only from DS2 that the series begins to develop it's own story and brings the Unitology organisation into the forefront.
DS1 is tentative with it's story and gives little in the way of plot other than Isaac needs to get off the Ishimura. So without further ado I will start with perhaps one of the most essential ingredients of a horror game.

ROUND ONE - SCARES!

It cannot be a horror game and not be scary and atmospheric. Dead Space would seem to have the advantage from the off if we look at things from memory. Wandering the cold, desolate halls of the Ishimura for the first time is a nerve racking experience. When Dead Space 2 rolls along we're prepared, we know the score and we know what to expect. The enemy is no longer unknown.

But I'm going to be as objective as I can. DS1 is a slower paced game, it urges caution as you delve deeper into the ever degrading Ishimura.
Necromorphs can be heard clambering through the vents before bursting out and attacking and a lot of the time you'll hear them but you won't see them, until it's too late.
Many Necros play possum and appear dead until you step too close and they spring into attack. That's right, Dead Space was doing this long before The Evil Within.

DS2 on the other hand is a more action and story related affair. Unlike in DS1 Isaac isn't actually primarily concerned with surviving. When he learns there is a Marker on the Sprawl he commits to destroying it.
The Necromorphs become more obstacle and are presented to you in cinematic ways or spawn into well crafted combat environments.

When I play DS2 I don't feel tense throughout, sure there are moments. (Hate those charging Necros that peek around corners, eesh!) But playing through DS1 is a generally unnerving game. Necros often flank you in any given combat scenario and the sense of claustrophobia is palpable. Blood written scrawling on the walls begging for help and nothing is more creepy than when you exit the transit and there are pearly white body bags littered all over the place, surrounded by dimming candles and a chilling rendition of twinkle twinkle little star starts up. It's creepy as hell!

DS2 doesn't really do this, I mean the creepiest location in DS2 is the Unitology centre and that's due to those creepy Stalker Necros as mentioned before. The rest of the game has more in common with Resident Evil 4 in how it plays than DS1.

Ultimately, I always tell people; "Dead Space 2 is to Dead Space 1, as Aliens is to Alien."
The creepy creatures are still there but the atmosphere is less isolated survivor and more one man army blasting through the hordes.
It's not even a bad thing, it's just not scary so...

WINNER - DEAD SPACE 1!

Next on my list is weapons! Dead Space has quite an interesting array of weapons, unlike say Resident Evil or Silent Hill or any other horror game of the time. Isaac primarily utilises engineering equipment to destroy Necromorphs.
Unlike zombies and the whatnot, Necros vulnerability lies in their limbs. Severing them apart is how you ultimately destroy them. Blasting ones head off is little more than an irritant to the monstrous creature!

WEAPONS

Unlike the previous segment which, lets be honest. Is relative, this a direct blow to blow. Who has more and who has the best/most satisfying to use.

Dead Space 1 has seven weapons. Starting with the humble but deceptively overpowered Plasma Cutter all the way up to Necro eradicating contact beam.

Some highlights of the arsenal are the Ripper, which in it's primary firing mode levitates a rotating saw blade in the air for a set amount of time. It's a gory weapon as you walk the destructive blade into Necromorphs and watch their limbs blast off in visceral beauty!
It's secondary is a more cautionary attack which simple blasts a blade at full speed across the room and isn't nearly as satisfying!

I'm also a big fan of this game's shotgun - The force gun! It fires out a kinetic blast that literally rips enemies apart and even if it doesn't outright kill an enemy, it'll at least knock them down for followup attacks. It's secondary attack launches a grenade that detonates a powerful kinetic blast with similarly great results!

There are a couple of turkeys in the mix here and one is the plasma rifle. You'll be punished for relying on shooter favourites here. The plasma rifle eats ammo and isn't as useful in dismembering limbs as other weapons.

The last lame duck is the flamethrower that seems to do next to no damage and doesn't even cause Necros to flinch! You're completely vulnerable whilst using it! Not very good for Necro slaying.

Dead Space 2 has a grand total of twelve weapons, if you include the secret handgun weapon. (which is a foam hand that destroys anything you point it at... told you DS2 isn't as scary).
Most weapons return from DS1 with balancing, but a couple of the new guns are very delectable when it comes to Necro hunting!

Of the new guns, I really like the javelin gun. It's quite strong and it's secondary function is an AOE attack of chain lightning that effects surrounding Necros. It's good for dealing extra damage against larger Necromorphs also. It does takes some skill and practise to optimise it for limb detachment though.

Something that requires less skill is the detonator, which fires proximity mines that do devastating damage. It's the perfect weapon for slow Necros or the Stalkers, specially on higher difficulty settings. As a bonus it's secondary function is it disarms all placed mines for retrieval!

There are still some turkeys unfortunately, the pulse rifle is buffed up and now enjoys a secondary function as a grenade launcher but unfortunately the flamethrower is still pretty meh. The new addition the rivet gun is pretty underpowered  however and is just surpassed by so much else available.

The plasma cutter is still beastly and more than capable of being your sole weapon through the main game. But then again, would that really be much fun?
Having extra weapons adds to the variety and therefore fun factor. Coupled with the weapon balancing of all the existing weapons returning from DS1 prove that DS2 has the superior arsenal with even more ways to rip Necros apart!

WINNER - DEAD SPACE 2!!!

We're on to the third category now and it's the real stars of the show; the Necromorphs!

The hideously mutated humans and animals of the Dead Space universe are collectively known as Necromorphs and they come in various forms with differing methods of killing.
Stalkers are your most standard Necro and attempt to flank Isaac at every opportunity, either by sneaking up behind him or bursting from nearby vents.

Other notable Necromorphs are the twisted Lurkers, infected toddlers really, that sprout three tendrils and fire barbs at you. Dead Space 2 introduced Pukers that well... puke at you! And did I mention their gastric insides have sunken down into their left leg! Last but not least, we have the Regenerator and it's DS2 equivalent the Uber Morph! Nothing is more terrifying than a Necro that regrows it's limbs!

One of my personal favourite Necromorphs is found in DS2 and it's the Tormentor!
This Necromorph is encountered several times in Dead Space 2 and it has one of the best intros of all the games bosses in my opinion!
Isaac falls into one of the Sprawls many maintenance tunnels and is immediately set upon by the Tormentor! It chases you up the tunnel as you blast open the maintenance doors and then bam! The Earth Gov attack craft appears and blows a hole through the colony! Isaac and the Tormentor get sucked out into the vacuum of space! It becomes almost silent, only the sounds from within Isaac's suit can be heard.
They crash into the craft, the Tormentor's powerful claws grasping for Isaac! It begins inadvertently pulling missiles off the craft and Isaac cunningly shoots one point blank in the Necros face destroying the creature and the Earth Gov forces in one blow.

What a buzz! What a thrill! DS2 is full of these heart pumping set pieces but that's not what we're here about. We have to decide who has the best roster of Necromorphs. It's undoubtedly going to be Dead Space 2. There's more bang for your back here, the Puker alone is a major boost for both disgust and horror. The chilling macabre children that chase Isaac on mass, I mean DS2 showed some truly grisly iterations of the Necromorph species. So thus...

WINNER - DEAD SPACE 2!!!

So Dead Space 2 looks the clear winner but I'm giving Dead Space 1 a chance with the wildcard category:

WILDCARD - IS IT REALLY SURVIVAL HORROR?

Here's a strange one and you may be thinking "huh"? But both games are listed as Survival Horror, which is a broad term to say the least. One of the biggest criticisms for either game is that in standard difficulty they're both pretty easy. Ammo is quite plentiful, both games challenge you to finish them using the one gun and it's quite easy!

Health pickups are also prevalent in both games and by the end I had shed loads of surplus items stored up.
It's evident we're not going to find survival in either game's default difficulty so it must lay in the harder modes. Both offer a hard mode but it's actually not that big a difference! Damage received is higher sure, but it doesn't take much more ammo to obliterate your foes and some guns are so overpowered you can laugh in the face of Necros.

However, DS2 sports a fourth mode: Hardcore. It's a perma-death mode, one fatality and it's back to the start and also affords you only three saves! It's pretty tough, in the easier modes death is virtually weightless with so many checkpoints saving you from repeating long sections.
Hardcore mode is the closest the Dead Space series gets to survival horror, truly upping the stakes. And so without further ado...

WINNER ALL ROUND - DEAD SPACE 2!!!

Sequel syndrome is a miss here, Dead Space 2 truly expands on the original and takes the series further. More and better weapons, more Necros, tighter gameplay controls and better combat scenarios all add up for one amazing rollercoaster ride that is damn near perfection. At least in my opinion any way.

Both games are worth your time and if you've never played them I urge you do. They're not as intense as other horror games like say, Resident Evil 7 or some of the Silent Hill games but definitely a joy. If you like Alien and The Thing then this is the game for you!

I hope you've enjoyed this article as much as I enjoyed writing it and remember, if you like what you read then please follow me on Google+

Thanks for reading and have a great weekend!

Digital Devil Saga; In the shadows of others. But a marvel all it's own

Shin Megami Tensei is a series of games that have rapidly increased in popularity since the release of the Persona titles on the PS2. That sub-series is still very popular and to date is the last Shin Megami game to be released, and the only one to receive a release on the current gen main consoles. (There are still many games on the 3DS)

It's a shame because I fell in love with the series after playing Nocturne (SMT 3) on the PS2 many years ago. At the time it felt like a Pokémon game for adults: catch Demon, raise Demon, fuse Demon. Gotta summon them all.

One of the biggest criticisms of the Shin Megami games is that the difficulty is rather steep. But this is something of a fallacy, SMT games reward tactics and planning and having the right resistances and skills is the make or break of any battle.
Granted there is the occasional cheap one hit KO scenarios from instant death attacks but most of the time the game gives the player enough time to protect themselves from those attacks before they become far too frequent but the occasional cheap game over is a bit of a mainstay of the series.

Eventually the SMT team decided to make a more accessible game, one with a shallow learning curve and with a greater emphasis on narrative and characters.
The game they made was Digital Devil Saga: Avatar Tuner (that's a mouthful.) It utilised Nocturne's press turn icon battle system which I personally find to be one of the most intuitive battle systems known to JRPG.

But before I run off on a tangent about battle systems lets mention one great thing about DDS and that's the focus on a character driven narrative.
We're all familiar with Final Fantasy's cinematic take on JRPGs and their memorable and most of the time lovable characters, but in the SMT games we're often introduced to a silent protagonist that is effectively us, the player.
And thus the story tends to be about personal discovery and is more interested in challenging your thoughts and perception on religion, philosophy and existence. Interesting and deep stuff but it's A) not for everyone and B) lacks variety for want of a better word.

So one of the things DDS does as soon as you hit new game is introduce us to core cast:

The intro also introduces us the Junk Yard; the world the characters of DDS inhabit. It's a barren wasteland that rains constantly. There is no vegetation or any other signs of life other than the warring Tribes.
In the intro we learn that our main character Serph, is the leader of the Embryon and they're currently skirmishing against a neighboring tribe; the Vanguards. During a skirmish the two tribes come across an Egg shaped object on the battlefield. Perceiving this as some sort of new weapon the two clash attempting to capture it, but are caught in it's sudden detonation where it the Demon Virus that transforms the soldiers including Serph into insatiable demons that devour each other in a blood bath.

With their blood lust sated, Serph and his comrades discover a girl called Sera resting in the spot where the Egg had been, they take her back to their base where she continues to sleep while they ponder who she is and why she appeared.
It's learned when Sera awakes that she can calm Demons from their insatiable bloodlust and refers to herself as a Cyber Shaman.
Serph decides to talk with the Vanguards' leader Harley and travels there with Heat and Argilla (two soldiers from his inner circle).
Unfortunately Harley is in no mood to chat and flees, sending his soldiers to fend you off. Serph and Heat accept that it's devour or be devoured and so embellish their new forms while Argilla refuses to eat the defeated enemy demons.
Upon finally confronting Harley, after laying waste to his base, he finally succumbs to the Bloodlust and goes berserk, transforming into his Demon form and is subsequently Devoured by the Embryon soldiers upon his defeat.

The following day all the surviving tribe leaders are called to the Karma Temple: a colossal tower that somewhat governs the Junk Yard and will grant the victorious tribe access to Nirvana.
At the temple the leaders are spoken to by a voice that refers to itself as Angel. It restates that the purpose of the tribes is to fight until only one is left and that the introduction of the Demon Virus was to end the stalemate that had occurred.

Now as these revelations are made, the characters of the Junk Yard's eyes flash and their grey iris' become coloured. Along with this slight physical change the person's complete personality changes and they become more human.
For instance; Heat becomes passionate and reckless. Argilla becomes empathetic with a strong morality.
There are also two other primary characters introduced in the beginning that join Serph proper after the Karma temple and they are Gale and Cielo.
Gale is an intelligent and calm taciturn and Cielo is well, always cheering everyone up and not taking things too seriously.

Serph's team also affect the gameplay; each one of the team has elemental strengths and weaknesses that play into the press turn system. Each party member gets one turn, if they hit an enemy with a weakness or a critical attack they gain half a turn. The maximum amount of turns the entire party can have is six as you only allowed a maximum of three party members.
Conversely your enemies can also take advantage of the press turn system by exploiting your party's weaknesses, the enemy can also double their own turns and there in and of itself is the basis of all encounters. Knowing weaknesses and resistances.

Mastering the press turn system is key to survival in DDS, you are always forced to have Serph in your party and so will always have him weak to fire attacks but very early on you can learn skills and one of those allows you to void an elemental attack for all party members once per turn.
So as well as gaining bonus turns by exploiting weaknesses, in the press turn system you can also block attacks and prematurely end an enemies turn. A missed or voided attack loses the enemy two turns, but you can also repel and absorb attacks and they incur further turn penalties. These penalties also apply to your own party. It's great to see a JRPG enforce the same rules on the enemies as there are on the player.

So as you can see there is a lot to consider in each battle but unlike Nocturne, DDS eases you into this gameplay. Elements are introduced gradually with more complex enemy party groups only really appearing late in the game and instead of obtaining and fusing Demons, you always know your party's elemental attributes. Unlike in Nocturne where without pre-warning, it's very difficult to discern enemy weaknesses and resistances by the area you're in or by the enemy's appearance.
Coupled with the fact you may have fused or caught demons that are not suitable to the next area you're in this can all add up to be a bit of a nightmare and frustrating.

Now a static party does help simplify this system but it's not the only way the SMT team made DDS more accessible. Skills are no longer inherited or learned automatically through levelling, each party member has access to an expansive shared skill tree that requires AP to master. Each skill node has one or more skills and/or abilities within it that you can view before purchase.
The game puts you directly in the frame of what skills you wish each party member to learn and to top it off you can equip these abilities as you see fit with the only restriction being that AP can only be spent at save points.

So if you enter an area that's full of fire skill using enemies who are also weak to Ice, you could have Heat (who is resistant to fire), learn some Ice skills to counter these foes.
It's a really helpful feature that removes the punishing element from Nocturne when you don't have the correct abilities for the situation you're in.

Also as mentioned, skill nodes require AP which is obtained by defeating demons. However you can gain amazing boosts to AP by defeating enemies with "Devouring Skills". These skills are context sensitive and require the player to exploit enemy weaknesses to have them enter "fear" states that then grant Devouring Skills damage modifiers so they can deal killing blows.
It's a great addition that rewards tactical play with a genuine benefit and helps player progression in a big way. In fact the quickest way to learn late game skills, is to Devour demons with stronger Devour skills that further increase AP gains.

One gameplay element that is still very SMT but has been streamlined is dungeon environments. Most SMT games rely on labyrinthine style of level design with lots of branching paths that lead to dead ends and traps.
Their dungeons also tend to contain puzzle elements that the player must overcome in order to complete them. For instance in Nocturne the player finds themselves in a construction yard that has been taken under control by troublesome fairy demons. The demons patrol catwalks above the pathways and if you take the wrong path you get teleported back to the entrance of the area. And only by luck or by process of elimination can you discern which catwalks are safe to walk under. It can be an irritating process at times and most of Nocturnes puzzle dungeons work in this way, sending the player back to the beginning or in loop. It's time consuming and frustrating when it goes wrong and Nocturne begins to rely on this gimmick a lot in the later dungeons.

Both games contain well designed mapping tools that aid the player's navigation, which is pretty essential as the dungeons in either game are quite expansive. Fortunately DDS's dungeons are more simplified with less branching routes and rewarding players for going off the beaten track with useful items or unlockable shortcuts for save points.
There are no horrible looping or progress resetting traps until the final dungeon and even then they're not spammed as much as they are in Nocturne.
Most dungeons in DDS centre around one theme, barring the first dungeon that is extremely straight forward and works more or less as a tutorial. Players will find themselves in a creepy castle that contains light puzzles where the player has to line up rays of light to progress. A derelict ship that's a straight forward gauntlet and a complex sewer system with one way pathways that force the player to consult their map and consider their routes.

Save points are also more commonplace in DDS and allow the player to fully heal themselves for some ingame currency and spend accumulated AP in the skill tree menu.
In Nocturne save rooms are separate from healing rooms and fusion rooms and in dungeons you only encounter save rooms and so you must be fully prepared to tackle the whole dungeon or be forced to retreat to a hub area to fuse more powerful demons or heal up.
Shops are detached from the save points and require the player to return to the Embryon base to purchase items and equipment.

It's been a long time since I heard anyone talk about a Shin Megami Tensei game that wasn't one of the Persona games. Indeed those titles have taken the series into the forefront of popular JRPGs but SMT has an expansive back catalogue of amazing games and I personally find their PS2 selection to be the undisputed finest works the company has released.

Having recently played Persona 5 I was glad to see that Atlus wanted to make Persona more accessible and while that game has a pretty big hurdle for players to overcome (90+ hours to finish means you need some endurance). It does a lot to encourage new players dive in and have a go with it's gentle learning curve and relaxed attitude to dungeon completion.

If you have a PS2 and some free time and have never tried Digital Devil Saga I wholeheartedly urge you to do so, it's a fabulous piece of gaming. Or if you've been too afraid to delve in to a Shin Megami Tensei game because you've heard they're "hardcore" or "too hard". Give DDS a try. You'll be surprised at how welcoming this game is and how easy it is to master the mechanics of the press turn icon system.

For me Digital Devil Saga is a beautifully crafted game that I always come back to every so many years. Far more often that I return to Nocturne or other SMT titles.