So what's your take on Gemaga from a level design standpoint?

[PinkyMonkey]

After having cleared it a few dozen times on my hunter an ranger I have come to the conclusion that I really just don't like it. And with respect for a all different playstyles (from the Bomber VG to the Cast Force and all in between) I find Gemaga saps the fun out of the game. Kinda like an easy ticket to quick results and perhaps all the more ironic since we'd expect the US population gamers to embrace this more than Japanese gamers. Personally I decided to stay away from it till I hit cap.. but meh just a single opinion. I guess in an MMORPG frame (which PSOP2 is not we could compare it to EQ and WoW). In any case just wondering from an overall game mechanic standpoint what everyone thinks of the zone (And.. yes to make it absolutely clear once again I realize no one is forcing you to play the zone, rather I like the shout out to classic beat-em-up games but feel the rewards are too high and a bit of a cop-out).

cheers

[Ceresa]

PSPo2 JP release: Dec 3 2009
Gemaga JP Release: Apr 7 2010

PSPo2 EN release: Sep 14 2010
Gemaga EN Release: Sep 14 2010...hmm...

It's balanced pretty well for a mission that came out 5 months after people were sick of type leveling and the overall shitty type point rewards in every other mission and just want their next type or next char leveled so they can get back to the fun part of the game.

It's balanced like pure shit when you have access to it immediately though. Blame Sega for not making JP DL missions unusable and for not having their own plan to release it in English in a reasonable timeframe.

It's nice to release the claw grip on the psp once in a while too.

[RowenOfStrata]

As far as the drop rewards go they are exceptionally rare for the good ones, I did over 100 runs before I saw a Tsumikiri Hyori and if you're doing it at a realistic point the gear from photon spheres is no biggy while photon boosters are rare enough to not be unbalancing. I started running gemaga at low 60s and didn't even have the boosters to get my twin yasminkov 2000h until I was like level 89.

That being said the exp isn't a huge deal either it's just a guaranteed mission of your level +10 mobs which is great for keeping comfortably in the range of high gains but would be no different than running a normal open mission of a similar level range.

About the only thing possibly unbalancing about it is the mission points since you're looking at 136 for about 5minutes of effort compared to maybe 3/4 of that from a normal open mission but I've found that once I pick my favorite weapon type I usually stick to it on a class and more S ranks is just variety. At the same time post level 20 you don't gain all that much by leveling other than some abilities which aren't too great on their own and very little in the stats department. Going up a vanguard level and seeing that I gained an incredible 1-2 of a stat tops is kinda disheartening.

[Broken_L_button]

Well, the fixed camera angle was pretty interesting (until the whole thing became kind of old after doing it a couple of times); for one, it made the battles MUCH easier, since you could see nearly all the enemies at once and plan ahead more easily. And, since my play style doesn't give me access to an excessive number of traps, I'm forced to pretty much fight each enemy one on one, which, with that camera angle, is actually quite fun (again, until spamming it makes it boring).

Also, the addition of varying enemy spawns was quite nice; one thing that makes me hate a mission after doing it a few times is the fact that spawns become predictable, so seeing the game switch it up once in a while was nice. Like Chelsea would say "La variete, c'est grande, non?". Alas...Even though the alternate set of spawns was there, it still didn't appear often enough to keep it interesting (and, truth be told, having only 2 sets of spawns isn't that much in terms of variety). It gave one the occasional "Oh boy, that's different", but not more, since it appeared so rarely.

So, for the tl;dr version: the fact that it had a few twists in game mechanics made it interesting at first, but...The huge rewards, the mission's short length coupled with other factors make you quickly realize it doesn't stray too far from the archetype of the typical spammable quest for quick rewards and/or levels (like PSO's TTF, PoD or RT, or even PSZ's B&W).

[RandomGuy928]

From a design perspective, the mission is great. It implements some fundamental changes that are different from other levels, and as a game with a grind element, PSPo2 benefits greatly from any kind of variety. Each mission doesn't have to be earth-shatteringly different, but anything to break the monotony is appreciated. Gemaga is certainly unique.

From a balance perspective, perhaps the rewards are too much. Then again, perhaps they are not. The uniqueness of the mission is negated if the mission itself becomes the only thing worth playing due to simple efficiency. Of course, like Ceresa said, nobody wants to put forth the effort and grind up the normal way because it is boring. So, if the only reason people play Gemaga is to bypass a large part of PSPo2, perhaps that entire part of PSPo2 is unnecessary? There is neither fun nor difficulty in slaying Boomas for five hours straight. Perhaps, instead of Gemaga being too efficient, everything else is not efficient enough?

Chrono Trigger is easily one of the best RPG's of all time, and I don't even think it's possible to grind in that game. It certainly isn't necessary. The main story and side quests are all enough to get you through the game with no supplemental leveling assuming you can manage your party somewhat effectively in battle.

tl;dr

Assuming the given that grinding is neither fun, insightful, nor challenging, grind reduction is a favorable thing. The only problem is that nothing can really compete with Gemaga, turning it into an extremely monotonous task. Instead of Gemaga being too practical, perhaps other quests aren't practical enough.

[PinkyMonkey]

Well said folks

+Ceresa- indeed the fact it comes instantly to the ENG release of the game makes it a bit underwhelming
+Broken_L: Yeah the camera angle is good and bad (and a subtle anti rifle sniper ranger nerf )
+Random: Yeah I guess balance was the word I was looking for.. but I have a bad habit of hitting the pub then writing posts. Well said mate. Though I would argue SoM3, which sadly never saw a US release, my fave SNES RPG.. though Chronro Trigger, Star Ocean and the grindingly grindful Tactics Ogre close runners up. SoM3 really added a lot of depth to the Action RPG genre when it was still young... not to say chrono trigger didnt have the more interesting story though. Sadly both series have been destroyed

[DarkPhoton]

I find that it pays a nice homage to Sega's old "Streets of Rage" series. As a huge fan of the side scrolling brawler I kinda liked it. That being said, its far from balance for a side scrolling brawler. And the fact that you cant use your blast gauge makes me wanna rage. There is a reason why the side scrolling brawler died out.....3D makes for shit with this kinda set up.

All and all. I still think its kinda fun, and a nice break in the monotony.