Good Game, Bad Game

October 6, 2014 3:54pm

Games I have chosen: Pokemon Y vs. Final Fantasy X

Final Fantasy X goes first!
Mechanics - The movement of the character is pretty straight forward as you move through the game as the main character Tidus. He is a human character, so you can only move in very basic human motions. You can't jump and you can only swim in the game when the story line demands it. Each character has a set of fighting moves, which as you level up you can learn new moves, but they are still a set amount of moves. The fighting set up is very basic with a limited interface, you essentially can pick between fighting moves, items, and sometimes running away.

Visual/Audio/Kinetics - The cut scene visuals are incredibly striking, like they were made for the movies. But the actual gameplay animations were so drastically under what the cut scenes would leave you to believe. The sound design is great. The interface is really clunky looking and doesn't really fit with the aesthetic of the game itself. The motion control is really slow for something that has such high graphic animations.

Design - The design overall is very beautiful. The actual storyline is incredibly beautiful and really complicated and keeps the player interested and engaged. The world itself is very fascinating because it is a completely destroyed world that is on the verge of total destruction. The level designs are very pretty, each area having a very different yet somber mood. But the creatures throughout the game are well designed, along with all of the main characters.

Writing- The writing is wonderful. The narrative is very complex. All of the cutscenes make the game, whereas the gameplay not so much. The world and the time of the game are very much believable and it's easy to get swept up into the world although the English translations feel a little stunted at times. But since it's the same exact story every time it loses some replay value.

The gameplay is the above however, very different from it's trailer and not nearly as exciting when it comes to the fighting interface.


Pokemon Y:

Mechanics- The mechanics of this game are different now that Pokemon has moved to the 3D game realm. The interface allows the player to walk in circles and diagonals, which is a new feature to the game series. The menu is fairly interactive now, allowing the player to access all of the usual game menus, like the classic main menu that allows the player to get to their pokemon, bag, pokemon badges, save, and options menu. But with the new game also being online, the player can trade and battle with other players. Another added feature is that there is a menu where you can play with your pokemon and there is another menu that allows super training of pokemon.

Visual/Audio/Kinetics - The visuals aren't all that striking. I think they did what was absolutely necessary to make the classic pokemon game but in 3D. The human characters are not high poly at all and their mouths don't move when they talk so it feels really static. The motion control of your actual character are finally move rooted in physics now though, which is a plus. The sound design seems fine although it is mostly music while you explore the game.

Design - The level designs are all about the same except the gyms which all have different challenges and varied difficulty. The actual gyms are very normal for pokemon level standards. They aren't incredibly beautiful but all of the new pokemon have great designs. And the features that allow you to customize your character make the design slightly more up to you the player.

Writing- The writing is awful. I don't know if it's the translators or what but all of the non-player characters are either incredibly stupid sounding or sounds really stunted. The storyline is the same as all pokemon games, where you go gym to gym until the elite four, defeating some kind of evil organization. The gem of the game is the after game side story, along with completing the pokedex.