Lotus666
07-08-09, 10:32 AM
LF wrote this stirling review back in 2005...
Yet to return, the shadowed one
who quests for the Twilight Dragon.
Rumbles the Dark Hearth,
And Helba, Queen of the Dark, has raised finally her army.
Apeiron, King of Light, beckons...
At the base of the rainbow, they meet.
Against the abominable "Wave," together they fight.
Alba's lake boils
Light's great tree doth fall.
Power - all now to droplets turned in the temple of Arche Koeln.
Returns to nothing, this world of Shadowless Ones.
Never to return, the shadowed one
who quests for the Twilight Dragon.
"Epitaph of the Twilight" - Emma Wieland
"The World" - an MMORPG that was the first online game allowed to be made after the bloodcurtling incidents of the previous network era, most notably such horrors as Pluto's Kiss and Deadly Flash that somehow self-evolved. Pluto's Kiss almost wiped out the Earth by playing hell with every computer that was even connected to the net, even peripherally, and almost fired off a number of countries' nuclear payload. Deadly Flash was a virus that made the screen flicker like crazy, causing almost everyone who watched it to fall into a coma. Hundreds of millions of people were being admitted to hospitals worldwide, and a few had actually died. There was no end to it, except for one OS that was strong enough to keep its composure even after the damage wraught by the virii. That OS, was Altimit.
Enter Kite, a new player to "The World," invited by his schoolmate, a famous and powerful player known as Orca. (Those are their online handles.) They journey through a relatively simple area, and then they stumble upon what appears to be a white girl who can float being chased by some form of giant human-shaped demon wielding a red staff. After completing the dungeon, the screen starts flickering and suddenly, Kite and Orca are teleported to a new area, where they stand on a floating rock surrounded by various other, smaller floating rocks with strange, glowing runes and lines etched all over them. The white girl then makes her appearance, her name being "Aura." She is a wandering AI who searches to give someone a book - a book containing the power of either Salvation, or Destruction, at the whim of the user. She offers the book to Orca, who accepts it. Then the demon with the staff appeared. Being told to run, Kite watched in stunned silence as his friend desperately attacked at the monster to no avail - nothing was working as all attacks were fruitless and its hit points had reached something best described as "infinite." Suddenly, Orca was knocked back and some hex-shield that was covering him suddenly broke off. The red wand then teleported behind him, lifting Orca up into the air, as the demon lifted its left arm to point towards Orca... and suddenly, a strange bracelet of light surrounded it, slowly shifting and expanding, until five beams of light were fired and shattered through Orca, destroying him, leaving nothing but the book. Kite, after watching his best friend fall to the onslaught of this... thing, watched as the demon then readjusted his left arm to point towards him. Suddenly, a strange staff was hurtled through the sky, landing in the ground between the monster and Kite, forcing Kite to Gate Out of the area. A woman in white was then floating where it came, and also followed suit with her staff. A black area, Kite was laying down, and the book that had survived fell into his possession, and then he was forcibly Gated Out again. The screen flashed "SYSTEM ERROR," and with Kite worrying about his friend, he decided to call him. The strange thing was that... nobody answered. The next day, he learned that his friend had fallen into a coma. That monster is Skeith, an incarnation of Deadly Flash. The book... is the Book of Twilight, an installation book that can change character data to allow its owner to obtain their own bracelet of light, the abilities of Data Drain and Gate Hacking, through the power of Deadly Flash.
Holy shit, this game is good, and all I did was describe the first few minutes of the game with some backstory. I spent a total of 32 hours just to beat it and to get every little add-on. I swear, I feel like I'm using the computer when I'm playing it, even though a controller's in my hands. It's... strange... but I like it. A lot. Sometimes after a long enough play, I have somehow bullshit myself into thinking that I'm on the computer, I then shut it off, get up, and go play one of my consoles, only to have a quick shift into thinking... "How the hell did I get here so fast?"
This game is truly intriguing, especially later in the game when you get access to raise "Grunties," who, if you can imagine, are some kinda wierd bastard cross between a pig and a cow... who can TALK?!? Yeah, it's mind frying. Since this is the first of four of the original .hack series, you only get access to three types of Grunties: Noble Grunty, Iron Grunty and Poison Grunty. Holy crap, when I got that French-speaking freak Noble Grunty, I almost cried. I didn't fucking want it. Ever. The worst thing? Unless you fulfill certain requirements, through feeding the Grunties a certain mix or set of things, there's no way in hell you can get Iron or Poison Grunties. MEANING, the base... is that freakish, "please God, kill me" Noble Grunty. However, in the next games, there's a good reason to have the Noble Grunty, so it isn't all that bad, even if it is that freakishly horrifying.
Story: 10 out of 10 - it kept me captivated, especially with the little side-stories that allowed you to get unique items and/or characters. Sometimes you had to give up a rare or super-unique weapon in order to get a new ally, but it pays off to have a number of people you can work with and count on, because some situations call for different character types. (PSSST... you're stuck as ONE character type, and no, you don't get to choose it.)
Gameplay: 9.75 out of 10 - it flashes back and forth between regular play, where you can move around, attack, talk, etc, and into the status screen where you can choose skills, tell your allies what to do in the midst of battle, whether it's a certain formation, or use only or no skills, or use a certain skill. It's great to have that kind of flexibility in a game that takes place (story-wise) in an MMORPG, especially to be able to pause. The only thing I ever hated about MMORPGs was the inability to pause, because there ARE some times where it's good to get up, go to the can, get some snacks, and then kick more ass.
Controls: 10 out of 10 - Great! Simple, and it even allows you to go into first-person view to give the unholy smackdown to a couple of monsters who are deserving of your wrath.
Graphics: 9.5 out of 10 - Man, this stuff is great - but the only reason why I say 9.5 out of ten is because of a few things, like how cheesy the eyes look from time to time, and the lack of hair movement. I wish it would look a little better from time to time.
Levels: 7.5 out of 10 - I like how each area is it's own, with some unique areas like Delta Hidden Forbidden Holy Ground (looks like a cathedral), or the super-weird floating, bleeding mummy that you can see in a few random areas that you can actually GO to later in the game (Delta Hideous Someone's Giant), with very little to no similarities between a number of them, but I REALLY hate when you've got to break a bunch of random respawning crap just to get a lot of items that you can use to trade with some particularly picky NPCs who think they're doing you a favor. Man, I wonder if that stupid +1 fire stat book was really worth spending an hour in a fire dungeon repeatedly blowing up random respawning shit that doesn't ALWAYS have what you're looking for. Well, I did all of the hard work anyways, and I'll take a +1 stat anyday, especially since you can use it over, and over, and over, and over, and over again. If you can find another one, that is. Sorry, but if they just made it a LITTLE easier to get what you want without a whole lot of hard work... I would've ranked it higher.
End Game Addons: 10 out of 10 - There's plenty you can do after you beat this game (you get a data flag when you do), such as fill out the Book of 1000 Series, where you do a bunch of stuff to get little add-ons, such as wallpapers, music, access to movies, and generally other random shit. Sure, it INITIALLY looks daunting, but it's surprisingly easy to get all of it done, especially the little parts about "Going to the Spring of Myst and talking to either Monseiur or Grandpa to get an item modified." That's what took me the longest, but it really wasn't all that hard, especially if you do it in the Theta server and you've at least raised ONE Grunty - you get to move around a LOT faster, not deal with fights, and get to where you need to be and then duck out, quick as that.
Overall: 9.25 out of 10 - Not all that bad. I still think that if they just made trading with those douchebags who have uniquely rare stuff a little easier, it would've cut down on my gametime.
http://i32.tinypic.com/2eq74sz.jpg
Yet to return, the shadowed one
who quests for the Twilight Dragon.
Rumbles the Dark Hearth,
And Helba, Queen of the Dark, has raised finally her army.
Apeiron, King of Light, beckons...
At the base of the rainbow, they meet.
Against the abominable "Wave," together they fight.
Alba's lake boils
Light's great tree doth fall.
Power - all now to droplets turned in the temple of Arche Koeln.
Returns to nothing, this world of Shadowless Ones.
Never to return, the shadowed one
who quests for the Twilight Dragon.
"Epitaph of the Twilight" - Emma Wieland
"The World" - an MMORPG that was the first online game allowed to be made after the bloodcurtling incidents of the previous network era, most notably such horrors as Pluto's Kiss and Deadly Flash that somehow self-evolved. Pluto's Kiss almost wiped out the Earth by playing hell with every computer that was even connected to the net, even peripherally, and almost fired off a number of countries' nuclear payload. Deadly Flash was a virus that made the screen flicker like crazy, causing almost everyone who watched it to fall into a coma. Hundreds of millions of people were being admitted to hospitals worldwide, and a few had actually died. There was no end to it, except for one OS that was strong enough to keep its composure even after the damage wraught by the virii. That OS, was Altimit.
Enter Kite, a new player to "The World," invited by his schoolmate, a famous and powerful player known as Orca. (Those are their online handles.) They journey through a relatively simple area, and then they stumble upon what appears to be a white girl who can float being chased by some form of giant human-shaped demon wielding a red staff. After completing the dungeon, the screen starts flickering and suddenly, Kite and Orca are teleported to a new area, where they stand on a floating rock surrounded by various other, smaller floating rocks with strange, glowing runes and lines etched all over them. The white girl then makes her appearance, her name being "Aura." She is a wandering AI who searches to give someone a book - a book containing the power of either Salvation, or Destruction, at the whim of the user. She offers the book to Orca, who accepts it. Then the demon with the staff appeared. Being told to run, Kite watched in stunned silence as his friend desperately attacked at the monster to no avail - nothing was working as all attacks were fruitless and its hit points had reached something best described as "infinite." Suddenly, Orca was knocked back and some hex-shield that was covering him suddenly broke off. The red wand then teleported behind him, lifting Orca up into the air, as the demon lifted its left arm to point towards Orca... and suddenly, a strange bracelet of light surrounded it, slowly shifting and expanding, until five beams of light were fired and shattered through Orca, destroying him, leaving nothing but the book. Kite, after watching his best friend fall to the onslaught of this... thing, watched as the demon then readjusted his left arm to point towards him. Suddenly, a strange staff was hurtled through the sky, landing in the ground between the monster and Kite, forcing Kite to Gate Out of the area. A woman in white was then floating where it came, and also followed suit with her staff. A black area, Kite was laying down, and the book that had survived fell into his possession, and then he was forcibly Gated Out again. The screen flashed "SYSTEM ERROR," and with Kite worrying about his friend, he decided to call him. The strange thing was that... nobody answered. The next day, he learned that his friend had fallen into a coma. That monster is Skeith, an incarnation of Deadly Flash. The book... is the Book of Twilight, an installation book that can change character data to allow its owner to obtain their own bracelet of light, the abilities of Data Drain and Gate Hacking, through the power of Deadly Flash.
Holy shit, this game is good, and all I did was describe the first few minutes of the game with some backstory. I spent a total of 32 hours just to beat it and to get every little add-on. I swear, I feel like I'm using the computer when I'm playing it, even though a controller's in my hands. It's... strange... but I like it. A lot. Sometimes after a long enough play, I have somehow bullshit myself into thinking that I'm on the computer, I then shut it off, get up, and go play one of my consoles, only to have a quick shift into thinking... "How the hell did I get here so fast?"
This game is truly intriguing, especially later in the game when you get access to raise "Grunties," who, if you can imagine, are some kinda wierd bastard cross between a pig and a cow... who can TALK?!? Yeah, it's mind frying. Since this is the first of four of the original .hack series, you only get access to three types of Grunties: Noble Grunty, Iron Grunty and Poison Grunty. Holy crap, when I got that French-speaking freak Noble Grunty, I almost cried. I didn't fucking want it. Ever. The worst thing? Unless you fulfill certain requirements, through feeding the Grunties a certain mix or set of things, there's no way in hell you can get Iron or Poison Grunties. MEANING, the base... is that freakish, "please God, kill me" Noble Grunty. However, in the next games, there's a good reason to have the Noble Grunty, so it isn't all that bad, even if it is that freakishly horrifying.
Story: 10 out of 10 - it kept me captivated, especially with the little side-stories that allowed you to get unique items and/or characters. Sometimes you had to give up a rare or super-unique weapon in order to get a new ally, but it pays off to have a number of people you can work with and count on, because some situations call for different character types. (PSSST... you're stuck as ONE character type, and no, you don't get to choose it.)
Gameplay: 9.75 out of 10 - it flashes back and forth between regular play, where you can move around, attack, talk, etc, and into the status screen where you can choose skills, tell your allies what to do in the midst of battle, whether it's a certain formation, or use only or no skills, or use a certain skill. It's great to have that kind of flexibility in a game that takes place (story-wise) in an MMORPG, especially to be able to pause. The only thing I ever hated about MMORPGs was the inability to pause, because there ARE some times where it's good to get up, go to the can, get some snacks, and then kick more ass.
Controls: 10 out of 10 - Great! Simple, and it even allows you to go into first-person view to give the unholy smackdown to a couple of monsters who are deserving of your wrath.
Graphics: 9.5 out of 10 - Man, this stuff is great - but the only reason why I say 9.5 out of ten is because of a few things, like how cheesy the eyes look from time to time, and the lack of hair movement. I wish it would look a little better from time to time.
Levels: 7.5 out of 10 - I like how each area is it's own, with some unique areas like Delta Hidden Forbidden Holy Ground (looks like a cathedral), or the super-weird floating, bleeding mummy that you can see in a few random areas that you can actually GO to later in the game (Delta Hideous Someone's Giant), with very little to no similarities between a number of them, but I REALLY hate when you've got to break a bunch of random respawning crap just to get a lot of items that you can use to trade with some particularly picky NPCs who think they're doing you a favor. Man, I wonder if that stupid +1 fire stat book was really worth spending an hour in a fire dungeon repeatedly blowing up random respawning shit that doesn't ALWAYS have what you're looking for. Well, I did all of the hard work anyways, and I'll take a +1 stat anyday, especially since you can use it over, and over, and over, and over, and over again. If you can find another one, that is. Sorry, but if they just made it a LITTLE easier to get what you want without a whole lot of hard work... I would've ranked it higher.
End Game Addons: 10 out of 10 - There's plenty you can do after you beat this game (you get a data flag when you do), such as fill out the Book of 1000 Series, where you do a bunch of stuff to get little add-ons, such as wallpapers, music, access to movies, and generally other random shit. Sure, it INITIALLY looks daunting, but it's surprisingly easy to get all of it done, especially the little parts about "Going to the Spring of Myst and talking to either Monseiur or Grandpa to get an item modified." That's what took me the longest, but it really wasn't all that hard, especially if you do it in the Theta server and you've at least raised ONE Grunty - you get to move around a LOT faster, not deal with fights, and get to where you need to be and then duck out, quick as that.
Overall: 9.25 out of 10 - Not all that bad. I still think that if they just made trading with those douchebags who have uniquely rare stuff a little easier, it would've cut down on my gametime.
http://i32.tinypic.com/2eq74sz.jpg