Go Back   I-Mockery Forum > I-Mockery Discussion Forums > Gaming 'n Toys
FAQ Members List Calendar Search Today's Posts Mark Forums Read

Reply
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
  #1  
Shadowdancer21b Shadowdancer21b is offline
Member
Shadowdancer21b's Avatar
Join Date: Nov 2009
Location: Utah
Shadowdancer21b is probably a spambot
Old Sep 21st, 2010, 03:25 AM        The Legend of Alon D'ar
*WARNING* This review contains more cursing than usual

The Legend of Alon D'ar made my Ubisoft and Stormfront Studios was made for the PS2 in 2001. Dear LORD it shows. This game has made my wife and I give up in Disgust. Capitalized disgust. The animation is decent for 2001, they even have the mouths move in pretty decent time with the voice actors. The game should be subtitled or even renamed, "Epic Fetch Quest". Seriously, every new area has new macguffins for you to collect, usually numbering 30. I didn't complete the game, which says something, because I am a tenacious bastard, and usually will give up in disgust only at the final boss or something (like I did with Dark Cloud). I didn't even get very far on this game. The combat is cheap as hell, we are talking uppercut-to-the-groin cheap.

Let's break it down:
Graphics: 2.5/5 These did not age well. Good for 2001 but that's not saying much. I see prettier games on the Dreamcast. The character models that aren't monsters move like marionettes controlled by spastics; the monsters move pretty well. Go figure. Faces look like Lego men with moving mouths. Scenery is far too muddy and bland for the fetch-tastic gameplay, and the overworld is a liitle too sprawling for the engine to effectively process. The camera is HORRIBLE.

Sound: 3.5/5 Easily the best feature. Voice acting is good, music is superb really. It is hampered by the technology. Convert that stuff to new digital formats and it would be sweet.

Controls: 2/5 The movement is unresponsive and the camera is actively working against you. The combat has cool ideas but is executed so poorly that you need the patience of a monk; and elder monk, to deal with the frustration you will feel. I will explain in detail. The game utilizes a multi-weapon, mulit-magic combat system. Each different action, including using items, has a recharge time. That's right. Using a potion has a recharge meter in an active battle system. You can not run from battle, even if the enemy manages to spot you from say, 6o meters, which they will do, a lot. Different enemies will be vulnerable to different sorts of attacks, blunt, chopping (think axe) and slashing. Also various elements. This system even has sonic attacks! The system sounds like it should be sooo cool. Especially since your characters will develope as you choose, specializing or not, with whatever weapons and magic you want. You can improve your skills like speed (affects the recharge time, which for some weapons is suicidally slow), accuracy, damage, critical, you get the idea. Problem is, armor that is of any use is few and far. Even shields present difficulty. Enemy attacks always count as unarmed strikes and are usually quite fast. I encountered very few slow enemies in my play. An enemy being faster did not necessarily make it hit less hard either. Lots of times you will be hideously outnumbered and gang-raped. Since you can not flee battle, and the enemy can spot you from very very far away, and when they spot you, combat is initiated, expect frequent and cheap death. Also, no checkpoints and save points are spread out. so expect to backtrack and save often.

Gameplay: 2/5 Fetch-tastic. Almost every sidequest is a fetch quest with about 30 macguffins. The rewards are nice in the form of proficiency points and bonus gold as you hit milestones in the fetching and usually an item in the completion. The story is cool, the protagonist has a personality, it just isn'y enough to make up for the bad controls and horrid design. The wife and I seriously said "Fuck this game" simultaneously at the final cheap death, where we were mobbed by six, fast-attacking, hard-hitting little shits who just swarmed one, then the other of us. Also, the game LOVES auto-targeting the farthest enemy when you select your melee target. You have to pick your target SWIFTLY, so lots of the time you will watch and curse as your character walks right past enemies, taking hits as he goes to attack the farthest enemy. And ranged attacks? Forget about it. You can't attack an enemy until IT has engaged YOU. Fuck that shit.

In short, I'm glad Ubisoft clearly learned a lot of lessons from this abomination. Do I forgive them? HELL NO! Playtesting should have revealed the crap I mentioned and something should have been done. Does anyone actually ENJOY running around a sprawling, non-descript wilderness looking for small, non-distinct items laying around? Oh, yeah, having an HDTV doesn't help see things a bit. The sadistic animators even threw in terrain features that resembled the macguffins in certain areas just to FUCK with you. I honestly want to write a letter to Ubisoft asking for an apology for this. I have rarely been so infuriated by a game. Hell, I've played Dr. Jekkyll and Mr. Hyde and I don't expect an apology from the devs for THAT.

Overall:2/5

I was lured by "multi-player, customizable action-RPG". This is not a lie, but it is misleading. Champions of Norrath this is not. Oh, well, the quest goes on I suppose.

Shadowdancer out!
__________________
The World of Madness is gaining new residents daily.
Reply With Quote
  #2  
Chojin Chojin is offline
was never good
Chojin's Avatar
Join Date: Apr 1999
Chojin won the popularity contestChojin won the popularity contestChojin won the popularity contestChojin won the popularity contestChojin won the popularity contestChojin won the popularity contestChojin won the popularity contestChojin won the popularity contestChojin won the popularity contest
Old Sep 23rd, 2010, 05:07 PM       
Quote:
The game should be subtitled or even renamed, "Epic Fetch Quest". Seriously, every new area has new macguffins for you to collect, usually numbering 30.
this pretty much describes every mmo ever made
Reply With Quote
Reply


Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

vB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Forum Jump

   


All times are GMT -4. The time now is 07:31 PM.


© 2008 I-Mockery.com
Powered by: vBulletin
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.