... what is he even talking about - this isn't following any movie! Right, but if as a child I ever wondered how a movie would be turned into a game - this would be it. While most people consider Infernal Machine the objectively better game, and I can see why, Emperor's Tomb has a lot more focus on a cinematic adventurous feel, packed with action - alongside some smaller puzzles. Controls were never the best, making some passages needlessly dangerous for the wrong reason. Coupled with the autosave only after a level makes this understandably frustrating. The levels are normally never too long (with one exception) and the game (again, with one exception) also doesn't pull cheap shots that often. So I suppose, depending on how you approach it, the game can vary from difficult to challenging most of the time. Presentation was great back then, now of course it has aged a lot. But it is still nice to look and listen to if you consider it has been almost 20 years by now. Technically, widescreen seems to be problematic. If you google around you can look into that and other stuff like controller support, as always. I would also recommend to just look up a bit of gameplay to get a feel for the gameplay - and if it is something you'd enjoy. So, if more action-oriented, or just more Indy, sounds good to you - give it a try! At best, you will like it a lot. At worst, well... you've experienced the last Indiana Jones game worth talking about...?
Some of the prince's (fitting for the epoch) commentary aside, the game actually holds up pretty well, which is mostly thanks to the back for 2003 very thought-out control possibilities and intriguing level design. Funny enough, puzzles and acrobatics are actually more straightforward as I remember them being as a kid (as usual). The combat system is the critic point for most players from what I've seen. Coming from the same person who created the original PoP however, I see what they intended to do and actually like the more mechanical approach - although it indeed does become either "get smacked to zero in seconds" or "abuse that one weakness each opponent has" quite quick. Everything accounted though, the game is actually relatively easy if you know what you do and get all collectables for life and sand powers. As is classic for GOG Ubisoft titles (as far as I got them at least), the game mostly works out of the box, but needs some tweaking for things like (better) controller support or widescreen. Doing a google search or visiting the GOG forums will give you an overview of potential "obstacles" and ways to fix them - if you have experience with stuff like that it will probably take you a few hours at most. The game has a runtime of about 5 hours (+/- 1) by giving you several locations one at a time, each filled with new parkours, puzzles and enemies. One could say there could have been two or three more locations for an overall longer experience, but what there is already makes for a nice adventure from start to finish, at least. Characters are likeable, and while I am biased with playing it in my native language as a child, the English voice acting is quite decent, as well. The story is a classic tale with not that many surprises, but is told engaging and concluding. Overall a great time - still holding up well today besides the usual technical circumstances. Recommended!
And so, Ingwer the Green's journey through the 2.5D-ish era of YS Games from the early 2000s comes to an end - by having played them in completely reversed release order. After some pause between the last released YS game (also called "that one" apparently), Falcom made its comeback with 'The Ark of Napishtim'. While some like it less than its successors, Felghana and Origin, for the sole reason of them having refined the formula, this is where it all started for said trilogy - and not too shabby for a beginning I might add. The controls are more limiting, and anyone who knows this game might roll their eyes when reading the words 'Jump' and 'Dash'. The way magic is handled is also different, as well as progression through equipment and accessories (meaning a bit less... systematic?) All of it feels like the first try handling those things, making them work but not as smooth. But they fit the game, especially as it feels more adventurous in general. The same goes for the difficulty - the game is a lot easier, especially with item usage, then the titles afterwards - however the level balance forces you more into grinding a few levels within a new area instead of an eased progression all the way through it. The bosses are also less extreme in their abilities. Note though, that the game does not have a designated 'Easy' Mode - so making the game easier for yourself by those aspects is a must in that regard. The music is...different. Again, it feels more adventurous - and while it wasn't as memorable for me personally, all of the tracks were great while hearing them. Same as with Felghana, I had to switch off Anti-Aliasing, V-Sync and Z-Sort Polygons to make the game run smooth, even though it should anyways. (See into the config.exe which comes with the game) Overall an awesome game like the other two. While more focused on an adventure and less feeling like a round game, it was very enjoyable through the whole 10+ hours. - And with that, I close my travel diary!
Another pun title - check. So, after my statements in YS: Memories of Celceta about not looking into other titles of this series and assuming that it would be a great game, only one of these became true. (Guess which one.) While I stand true to my review of that game, it still did feel too modern for my taste. I actually liked the more oldschool style of Origin a lot more. So what better to do than to look into the other games made with the same engine during the same 'era'. What do I have to say about YS: The Oath in Felghana? Well, it's a great game. In some parts (the music) it might even be debatably better than its successor (Origin). While the latter took a more unique approach for the series (being a Dungeon Crawler), this game is more in line with the other titles. Having a hub town, a shop and smithy, as well as multiple NPCs for flavour text and small side quests. While a lot of these make for a nice addition, some aspects also made me think back to Origin and how the more shortened and streamlined features made for a rounder experience (the dilemma of game design). Still, calling the gameplay bad would be far from true - it's just a tad less convenient for a more story driven focus. The mechanics are basically the same as in Origin, but one may say they have been refined in that game a bit as well (at least subjectively). Adol controls very smooth and the challenge is 99% your personal abilities to handle the obstacles. There are multiple difficulties. While normal is a pretty good challenge, it is also less unforgiving than "other games", so feel free to use easier (or even harder) modes. The game took me roughly 10 hours to beat - however this includes all the fails at boss fights. While the game had some issues on my system running on highest settings (which it shouldn't), disabling anti-aliasing (I think) and V-Sync + Z-sort polygons solved the problem (config.exe). I've enjoyed the game a lot...while being smashed to pieces - which says a lot!
Such a clever title - which basically plays around the fact that it is an early impression review. While I normally not like those - I can bet (see what I did there?) that it will be completely accurate. As can be seen with Ys Origins, I really took a liking to these games. Although I haven't plans to look into the other entries personally, I can see that they have to be mostly solid as well - for their time at least. Now back to Memories of Celceta (Which apparently has a different name somewhere it seems). Same as Origins, the game comes with a quite expensive configuration tool where you can change various graphical settings, change your button layout for both keyboard and controller, as well as some qol adjustments. Starting up, you are greeted with a nice looking title screen, intro and opening scene (... I think, I remember seeing it but I can't remember it being in the game. Guess I'm getting old. Anyway, it was good!) Shortly after that, the game begins with a charme I could only describe as "the old era" - before games, especially jrpgs changed their style. In fact, you can see that this game is basically from the transition phase of these two - which means it almost messed up for me. ALMOST. But it's pretty good. Compared to Origins, they switched to a full 3D style and a more modern approach. The combat has been refined by adding block, evade, skills and finishers, as well as switching between party members. The game also expands its content to having towns (at least looking at the tutorial - there is at least one, though.), quests, stores, equip-refinement and chats with way more NPCs. Looking at a known site for game times, it will probably take at least five times longer to beat (so roughly 20-25 hours). So while only checking the first hour out, I can safely assume that I got to see mostly everything there is to expand upon later. And having looked into the franchise, I hardly believe they've messed up. Recommended - feel free to check it out!
More or less. It is chronologically, but it came out way later than the actual first entries. But that's not that important - it just made the joke complete. This game is basically the first that made me enjoy it so much, I played it multiple times within a week. This didn't happened since probably ten years, as I don't enjoy most games nowadays anymore. So I guess that says a lot - but let's get a bit more into detail. The port of this game is fantastic, as it was intentionally improved from dev side before release. While it appears clunky at first when booting up, you may soon notice that it actually comes with a small configuration tool inside it's game folder. There you can change graphical settings up to remapping your buttons for keyboard and controller, beside some small qol settings. The game is quite short for an jrpg and apparently also an YS game (at least the newer ones). That's because it is actually a dungeon crawler without your typical jrpg features. It contains 3 characters to choose which change scenes and smaller encounters to some extent - but each of them only lasts for up to 5 hours (at least on easy to normal difficulty). All of the above actually hit the right marks for me, though. High replay value and a focus on simple gameplay - combat, platforming, exploration. Combine this with well written story and dialogue, as well as a remarkable attention to detail in game design. Honestly, if I can play through a game multiple times and reaching 15 hours, only having a few small nitpicky complains because something isn't as well thought out as the rest, that tells a lot for me. I would highly recommend watching the marketing material here and maybe somewhere else.. It will give you a good feeling for if you could like the game or not. Recommending to the max - for fans of dungeon crawlers, jrpgs from the 2000s, good stories and characters - and very enjoyable combat. Oh - and it has some small bonus modes.
As I personally can't stand the first game (altough it is quite good), this is actually the second Rayman game I bought here. ... and surprise: The techical works are the same as for Rayman 2 - almost nothing! Yes, the game basically runs and nothing more. But again: A google search or looking into these forums can solve the most wishes one could have. Wider screen resolutions, controller support, and what not. After these things have been sorted out, it's time to start the game! And the first thing that happens is Rayman flying through a tree because the environment isn't placed right. For the first scene. Since version 1.0 back in 2003. Did I mention that Ubi Soft were great artists back then, but not the best in polishing games up to the end before release? That aside though, the game is great. It was, as well, a childhood joy of mine and I probably had the phase of replaying it again and again for far too long. For lovers of the second game it must obviously stated that this one has not been made by the original creator of Rayman - so they basically did the smart thing and did something different. It plays different, it looks different, and the humour is different. (By that I mean it actually has one, but that is debatable). Of course the changes made aren't THAT drastic and are also part of it being made at a later date than Rayman 2. Combat became a greater focus and has improved - but the platforming has been reduced a bit. And again - the humour. You have to like or hate it. The game, same again, isn't the longest. About 5-6 hours and you're done with everything except the minigames. (Yes it has those!) So it's perfect for short runs and replaying it more often. I can't praise the game more, because it's getting subjective already. It's a very fine action platformer and runs well enough for the price + can be adjusted. If you like what you can see here, I'd say give it a try. 5 stars - recommended!
So, what could I mean by that? I wonder... Rayman 2 is an old game. And it's cheaply priced. Which apparently means that the devs at Ubi Soft did the bare minimum for this re-release. (Assuming they did anything besides handing it to GOG.) This means: It runs. Usually. But that's it. No fancy enhancements, and a lot of things just don't snap anymore like they used to be - like controller support. Luckily, these things can be sorted out by a google search (or just looking into the forums here directly). It's not difficult in the slightest and bam - the game runs in wider resolutions and regognizes my controller. So that makes it better by a longshot and it can even adjusted further apparently. With that out of the way, what could I say about this game? It's the first one I bought here, a second time now. It's my childhood and in many ways a very unique platformer - albeit a bit short. It basically puts you in a level and throws one awesome idea after another at you until it's done. For multiple levels - until you see the credits. Finishing everything to completion usually takes less than 5 hours. But I like it, it fits a nice evening and has a high replay value because of it. (I actually wanted to boot it up right now before I remembered that I wanted to write some reviews). So all in all: Good artistic choices and well optimized (back in the day). But in classic Ubi manner, the game is more about working and less in polishing it through the end (litterally, the end). The final levels can get a bit disappointing, but only if you have too high standards and bitterness for the Rayman franchise. So, gladly 5 stars. Again, port could be better, but at least they're not charging much. I would say it's still the best official version out there except the dreamcast one.
