Nerd Talk-Phantom Bust!

[HAYABUSA-FMW-]

"Nerd talk" meaning I'm a nerd, and talking about this garbage proves it. A niche game, a boss battle, a frustrating finale.

It seems I'm at the final boss in the XBOX game Phantom Dust.
Spoiler alert!
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After fighting a clone of myself, then Freia and Edgar together, then a "Disgruntled Freia"(whatever that means) gigantor robot thingy with three parts and a pathway(spiral staircase) and room of pure disgusting gameplay design, I get to a 4th form- which looks like a Dark Falz from PSO. WTF. http://pso-world.com/images/phpbb/icons/smiles/icon_biggrin.gif

I haven't flipped off and screamed at my TV almost punching it in disgust so much since maybe Castlevania NES or some other game with a terrible amount of strain on your patience.

Seriously, after an hour nonstop of restarting after failing of this madness, getting to the final boss and a new, probably final form, with 1 health and a damn mandatory gameplay function where no more skills means you lose health at a rate of 1 per 3 seconds, I see the boss for one second then die. I have to start from the beginning of this level, using the same health bar-with one refill after the first fight, and no way to change skills. 30 skills spread over 5 enemies, 7 targets, and each needing a different style of skill to beat-meaning I have to utilize the skills most effective for each and still keep my sanity within the 30 skill limit. Factor in the other Bs variables and frustration ensues. My HP gets refilled once after the Freia and Edgar fight, but I have to carry it over to the last form.

All the while I lose the skills periodically due to the staircase falling down so I'm eventually going to have 0 stock(with the 1 HP loss per 3 seconds) at the final boss' form. I would need perfect luck to end up with at least 1 Skill orb left so I don't lose my health periodically, then try to figure out the last form's attacks and weaknesses, also its pattern to take it down.

Ugh.
This could easily be a Rant or Off Topic topic, but the two components making one whole ugly long post made me want to put it in FKL first and foremost for some strange reason. I'd have taken a picture, but it was too late. Only 1 second and I was dead. Now I'm burnt out and probably might be late to work this morning. Gargh! http://pso-world.com/images/phpbb/icons/smiles/icon_argh.gif

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: HAYABUSA-FMW- on 2005-04-20 02:12 ]</font>

[Evil_Althena8]

I just saw and played the game for the first time today. Well...I guess it's like a slight rip-off of so many things. Although I can't say they were DIRECT ripoffs...they are quite similar. Ok where should I begin

The Matrix
Cowboy Bebop
Destrega
Magic:The Gathering
Final Fantasy VI

Ok...the whole mood of the game and post-apocalyptic underground deal and design of the HQ was so matrix.

The main character is so Cowboy Bebop looking

Some aspects of the battle system are very similar to Destrega(a weird PS1 game)

You build "Arsenals" aka decks of skills aka spells and collect Aura to cast them aka Mana. So M:TG

People with the special powers are called Espers...come on...

Despite these things, I did the battle system was still intruiging. The fact that the arenas are so destructible and interact when hit by attacks is neat. Heh...it also reminds me of Armored Core...just without the actual mechs. It's not THAT bad, just lacking in the originality department.

[HAYABUSA-FMW-]

Well at least they didn't take the worst parts of those repective series!

The game as a whole was plenty fun for me. I had no reason to compare it to something else. Its a freaking game. You play it. You like it or don't like it. If it "rips off" something, in your opinion, does that effect its quality that much?

I saw that in one review out of four I read and it didn't deter me at all from playing it. It wasn't a bad (core)experience for me. I just finished off that last boss and it wasn't too hard when I thought it through, switched some skills, and had a run of good luck.

There is a lot of monotony and running around to find the next fight. The other main bad point I found is lots of frustration due to fights where you're soo limited due to the enemies skills, a lot of which you probably don't have yet.

This results in lots of running back to the lab to switch up skills. They want you to have an arsenal for any situation, but you only have a limited number of skills to pick and choose from.

Have a good one you use often?
Well you still have to go switch up your arsenals since you might only have one or two of those, for maybe one or two fights, then go switch it up again when you run into a wall/an enemy you can't defeat with your set.

I've seen the Matrix series, Cowboy Bebop, and never touched those other two you mentioned. It didn't hurt the overall game for me at all. "Oh its been done before!" no crap. What hasn't by now? They could have been more original, I guess, but I couldn't do any better so I can't complain. Also its $20, so what do you want? A multimillion seller blockbuster?

It isn't for everyone I'm sure, and it can be a pain in the ass at times, but I had fun. Enough "bang for my buck." I've spent $20 on worse games.

Nevermind all this.
What? Reese's for breakfast?!