any gamespot reviewers?

[arbitor365]

recently I started writing user reviews on gamespot. I never liked the site becuase of their asinine, bias, and inaccurate reviews but its nice that posting user reviews is a nice painless, convenient process. I have posted some of my older reviews on there and some of my new ones. here is a link to my page

www.gamespot.com/users/arbitor365/?tag=userpanel;profile

if anyone else goes on there, post your reviews here.

[arbitor365]

here is my review of dracula X chronicles. I wrote this a few years back for amazon and I just posted on GS a few months ago. here is the original link

www.gamespot.com/psp/action/castlevaniathedraculaxchronicles/player_review.html?id=707512&tag=all-about;review1



9/10

As a long time castlevania fan, I have been very depressed for this series. I felt that it has been stagnant ever since SOTN. the GBA and DS games have been very disappointing and very weak additions to the series. here are the reasons why

1) the style weakly mimics SOTN. I am not even a huge fan of SOTN to begin with. I respect it and I realize that it dared to be different and really stood on its own. the DS and GBA games were just garbage though. they were nothing more than a poor man's SOTN. everything was watered down and could never come close to the original muse. instead of the series advancing, it actually de-evolved in every way. bottom line, if im going to play a SOTN style castlevania game, im going to play SOTN. not these cheap, third rate, dumbed down, knockoffs.

2) the story. the old games were simple. they did not need a complex plot. SOTN tried to introduce more of a story than the previous instilations. It wasnt bad actually. but, over time with each game, the story got more confusing, corny, filled with plotholes, and just insultingly far-fetched. they spend more time snowballing their convoluted, poorly told story than optimizing the video game experience.

3) the gameplay. To be honest, these games are boring and insultingly easy. They are just totally lacking the intense gameplay of the classics and there is virualy no challenge. The new super Mario bros on the DS is more challenging and intense than any given DS castlevania game. When I play a castlevania game expect ball-busting difficulty. Casltevania is not for casual gamers who like to have their hands held throughout half the game, have health powerups dropped on them ad nausiem and have enemies that simply walk up to you slowly to get killed. Its sickening. It desecrates the series' most sacred tradition.



So, this is what we have had until this point. Was I skeptical about Dracula X? yeah, I was. But surprisingly this game is very, very good. It dispenses with all the nonsense that has held the series back. The story is not shoved in your face, the challenge is back, and it goes back to the old, more linear formula. It is so refreshing and it makes me wonder why konami has been fooling around with all these kiddy castlevania games and completely alienating the fans of the classics. Now, not only is this an amazing game by itself but it also has some other great features going for it. You can actually unlock SOTN and the original Dracula X. so, over the past decade we have gotten almost a dozen sub-par castlevania games and now we get 3 amazing castlevania games all in one. I think that this calls for celebration, how about you?

Now let me just address the morons who criticize this game. People have been whining about how "UHHG!!! ITZ 2 HArD!! PorTriat o RUEIN PWNS tIS." Those kinds of people are truly pathetic.

1) this game is not even close to being as hard as the classics. Its tough enough, but its far from being impossible. The only reason people find it hard is because it actually has something called "difficulty." I know you guys aren't accustomed to such things but maybe you should just grow a pair and actually develop some hand-eye cordination.

2) whining about difficulty is not a valid complaint for a game. Reducing stars on a game because you lack the coordination, skill or experience with the franchise in order to beat it, is just sad. You people are the scourge of reviewers. Learn how to play a game, and then come and talk to me. Until then, feel free to play your five-year-old level ds games like dawn of sorrow.

3) whining about difficulty in a castlevania game is like whining that guilty gear plays like a 2D fighter. I mean, what did you expect? Do you know ANYTHING about the franchise? This is what the series has always been. This is what it should have been doing for the last 10 years. how can you have the gall to whine about it? Its like playing a contra, megaman, or ninja gaiden game and whining that theyre too hard. It makes you look like a noob and a total ignoramus.

4) if you don't like to be challenged, than stick to younger audience games. Theres nothing wrong with that. I love kingdom hearts 2 and its easy as crap, even on expert mode. Can you still enjoy it? Yes. is it fair to call it a bad game because its too easy? No. If you are only wanting easy games, than don't throw yourself into a franchise that capitalizes on painfully difficult gameplay and try to review it (especially referencing the abominatble newer games that don't even deserve to be part of the series). You don't what you are talking about, you don't know the series, you don't understand the appeal of challenging games and you have no right to talk bad about it. Its shameful.



To sum things up, this game is a masterpiece. Its not the best of the series, in my opinion, but its probably second. If you have a PSP, than this is a must have. If you are a castlevania fan, this is a must have. If you are new and open to the series and are willing to accept the difficulty, this is actually a good place to start. If you are a fan of the DS games and you are willing to step out of you comfort zone and play a game that actually has some balls, than you too are welcome to the party. Amazing game, 9/10.

[arbitor365]

here is one of my more controversial and recent reviews. I wrote this a month or so after the game's release.

www.gamespot.com/ps3/action/uncharted2amongthieves/player_review.html?id=704491&tag=contributions;review6



8/10

frankly, I found this game to be lacking the merit for its hype. before you let out your fanboy rage, just hear me out and know that I don't hate this game. Im just giving my clean objective look at it. lets just briefly go over it.

graphics: yes, they are pretty dang good, but its no surprise. no game these days is going to legitimately earn points just for that.

gameplay: I actually have alot to say about this. I honestly did not like the controls. they weren't quite as smooth or responsive as "gears of war" or many other third person shooter type games (not that I even really like gears of war). I found alot of it to be awkward and not very fun. also, the climbing and whatnot did not impress me. I have seen all of this done before in the tomb raider games. it was done well, but not in a revolutionary or even at all innovative sense. that's the key word here. "innovation." nothing about this game was innovative or really that original. It felt like "tomb raider," "indian jones," and "gears of war" combined (and directed by michael bay now that I think about it). its a nice concept but was it really that groundbreaking? I think not. one other problem I would like to mention is the way he likes to stick onto walls. this mechanism was useful at times and a hindrance at times. I really did not like it and the camera sometimes heightened the irritation. but, before you fanboys lose your heads, I will say that all these problems mentioned above weren't huge. I did give the game an 8 after all. the reason I gave it an 8 is becuase of one thing, the theatrical feeling of playing this game. I felt like I was in a movie and the masterful directing mixed with creative design made it a very interesting experience. its nice to see graphics utilized in such a way, however, unlike most people, that is not enough to buy me into a game or make me truly love it.

story:..... its ok. that's all I can say about it. its an average storyline. frankly, the characters' personalities were pretty 2 dimensional and they had that "action movie archetype" feel to them. I didn't go into this game expecting it to be story centered and likewise, it doesn't deserve to have points deducted for it.

So there you go. those are my thoughts on "uncharted 2." im sure I will get thumbed down for it but is it a really good sign for the gaming community when someone gets flamed and chewed out for simply giving a game an 8/10? I personally do not think that this game deserved game of the year. it just wasn't that great. I feel that games like this are starting to blur the lines between movies and games. It seems like controls and gameplay aren't being judged with the scrutiny they once were in the cases of action games. I feel that uncharted 2 is a mediocre game but a great movie. that scares me. maybe I shouldnt give it an 8. maybe, as a game, it deserves a 7. but, of course, you guys would never stand for that, right? Im probably in hot water as it is. I think its good to get a second opinion and If you cant handle that, stop taking your games and yourselves so seriously.

[arbitor365]

I think I posted an older review of this game on this site. here is my definitive and final review

www.gamespot.com/ps/rpg/legendofdragoon/player_review.html?id=704624&tag=contributions;review3



9/10

first off, I would have you disregard gamespot's review for this game. they have shown their bias by their pretentious adoration of FFVII and the final fantasy series in general. I mean, this is all coming from the same people who thought FFVII and FVIII were really deep and philosophical. yeah, I had a nice laugh at that. most sites are the same when it comes to their thoughts on LOD. they simply pan it as a cliche final fantasy wannabe. is this really the case, or is it the ramblings of mainstream Final fantasy fanboys? I would go with the latter. lets delve into this game and see what its all about.




story. first of all, I would like to dispense of any myths that have arose that this game's story is unoriginal. I can honestly say that people who promote this display a dead giveaway that they did not fully beat the game or even make it past the first disk, most likely. I will say that it starts out relatively slow, like most RPGs do. however, if you invest some time in it (as in a matter of a few hours), you will see the story start to manifest and build. the scale enlarges with each passing disk and by the time you hit the third disk, the scale of things is extraordinary. I will give you the basic synopsis of the game's complex backstory

It takes place in a midevil/renaissance period in an unknown world. In the beginning this world was empty, until the god, named Soa, bestowed a seed upon the planet. It grew into a divine tree from which all life originated. The two dominant races, the winglys and the humans were at odds with each other. the winglys dominated the human race and even the gods themselves. The human emperor diaz called upon the dragoons (human incarnates of dragons) to free the empire. Fighting along side their dragons, the dragoons destroyed the winglys and freed the world but they all perished until their future descendants would use their powers again to bring balance to the world. Now a mysterious man claiming to be working for "emperor diaz" is traveling the world gathering wingly-crafted artifacts for an unknown purpose. while doing so he is spreading chaos and war in order to accomplish his agenda. the chosen dragoon warriors must discover their abilities and uncover a plot that threatens to bring a new age to the world.

now, there is so much more complexity to the story than just that. im not even going into the fact that each of your characters has a immense backstory or even touching upon the many plot twists and elements that I cant even share with you (as not to spoil the story). there is something that FF fans need to get through their skulls about quality storytelling.

1) settings do not determine originality. just becuase something doesnt look original on the surface, that doesnt mean that it isnt deep or original storywise

2) just becuase am RPG is done in a midevil setting, that does not make it generic. dragoon has many totally original creatures (such as dragoons, virages and winglys) and a very distinct architecture and style. it incorporated renaissance stye art, architecture and many other subtle aspects that give the levels more rhyme, purpose, credibility and realism. they didnt just pretty it up like the FF games, with architecture that upstages Rip Torn's office from "men in black."

3) style does not merit depth and quality. just becuase a game has futuristic settings and a grungy environment "cough" "cough" FFVII, that doesnt make it deep or any more powerful storywise.

4) just becuase a game doesnt smother you with melodramatics, that doesnt mean its poorly written. dragoon is one of those games with...... oh..... whats the word??......... "subtlety"

5) just becuase characters dont look like anime characters, that doesnt mean they arent interesting or deep.

so, thats pretty much all I wanted to say about storyline. people love to throw the term cliche and unoriginal at this game but

1) they most likely didnt even play much it (and if they did, they probably didnt get past the first disk)

2) their reasons are 100% based on the 5 "final fantasy fallacies" I mentioned above.

3) they lose all credibility when they turn around and praise FFVII and FFVIII for having "amazing storylines."







so, lets get to the gameplay. its very humorous how pathetically and asininely people have critiqued the gameplay. let me just sum it up first. its your basic RPG style. you go to towns where you dont fight, you have an overworld, and you have your hostile locations. your battle system and style is actually a lot different than other RPGs at the time. in all of the squaresoft's games you had your magic abilities and you had your stockpiles of items. LOD really diminishes that (alot of people hate that but I will address that later). your spells and items are one in the same. you dont use moves to cast spells. you purchase and find spell items which then throw at your enemy. to cast spells you have to repeatedly mash the X button to do optimal damage. I found it to be a nice way to add more challenge and intensity when casting spells. you are pretty limited with space so you must use your spells sparingly and strategically. you have a block move that you can do for a turn. like most games it halves all damage done to you, only here it heals 10% of your health and stops all incoming status ailments. this adds a new level of strategy to fights and it remedies your lack of healing items. your attack is the best part. you have things called additions. these allow you to execute combos on enemies. I will say that the animations alone are very good and are some of the smoothest and most natural looking attack animations in any PS1 rpg. to execute combos you need to time the x button as squares line up. its easy at first but it gets harder with longer combos which you unlock later. you get some pretty sweet moves and there are about 50 additions between the 6 characters. it is what defines this game in terms of gameplay. I have not seen much else like it. it was innovative and very engrossing. it really took alot of the boredom out of grinding and it skyrockets replay value. finally I will talk about the "Dragoon forms." people of compared it to limit breaks but its really more frequently usable than them and it lasts for up to 5 turns. when you do additions you gain SP (spirit points). a hundred spirit points fills up a single bar representing one turn in dragoon form. you level up and earn more bars by the total SP accumulated over time. when you are in dragoon form, you have two options. you can do a physical attack or a magic attacks. the magic attacks take up magic points (the only time magic is done without items). this is the only moment where the workings of the game start to resemble FF or traditional RPGs in terms of magic use. these attacks have various effects ranging from instant death to minor enemies, draining enemy health and healing allies, instilling fear or protecting your party. the animations are epic and extraordinary. if you run out of magic, you have your physical attack. it has its own addition type. there is a circle that appears before you fly to attack the enemy (the addition isnt executed while attacking). at the top of the circle is a line and another one that spins clockwise to line up with it. time the X button when the lines are together to make it spin faster an then hopefully you will be able to string together a successful addition. you only have one dragoon addition per character but they are still pretty cool and powerful. thats it for battle. outside of battle its pretty good too. there are some annoying minigames but there are totally optional and they dont hurt the experience. the game is well paced and there is a bit of what some could call "filler" but unlike FFVII, its all completely relevant to the main story. the game manages to throw in alot of interesting bits of design and exploration to keep the player satisfied. The boss battles are alot more challenging than any of the Final fantasy games. I think it is more stimulating that way. gameplay-wise, its very rewarding .







sound: I just have to comment on the sound. the game incorporates more voice acting than people would expect from a PS1 rpg. some of the addition voices are a bit cheesy but the cutscenes are pretty good, even by today's standards. the music is amazing in this game. it is very well composed and very technically advanced. the songs are intricate, memorable and atmospheric. People will hate me for saying this, but FFVII's music was crap, especially when compared to this. FFVII soundled like someone was off-screen with a fife and an 80's synthesizer. theres nothing wrong with old-school music but.....

1) FFVII was way behind the times. the PS1 was capable of much more intricate, high quality recordings and a wider variety of synth sounds. it was capable of emulation orchestra music in very high quality. FFVII sounded like an SNES game only with even less of a variety of synth devices.

2) FFVII's music was very anti-atmospheric. it didnt blend with the situations and scenery anywhere near as good as LOD. listen to these 2 desert themes.tell me, which is more atmospheric and fitting for a desert?

FFVII


LOD



I rest my case






originalty: anyway, I dont want to talk about FFVII too much, but thats one of the main problems that surrounds LOD. people (like game spot) love to make accusations about how LOD is inferior and a rip-off of FFVII. well, here are the reasons why it is not a ripoff and it is not inferior

1) setting is nothing alike. I already established that earlier.
2) the story is nothing alike whatsoever and I will honestly tell you that LOD has much more thought out and believable characters, more plot development, more character development, better plot twists, a more mysterious villain, more believable characters and deeper meanings and emotions.
3) the main characters bear zero resemblance to those in FFVII in either personality or appearance. (but like I said, they are better. they have more thought out backstories and more likable personalities)
4) the music is totally different (and "cough" "Cough" better)
5) the art style is totally different
6) the gameplay is totally different (and I will say it is less repetitious, more challenging, has less pointless side quests/filler and has better replay value thanks to the addition system)







graphics: I wont say they are the best for the PS1 but its still hard to pinpoint. It displays by far, the most spectacular FMV of the PS1 age. this is a scene where one of your party members flashes back to her memories of the dragoon campaigns. here is a link (its not the perfect game quality)



its hard to compare this game to FFVIII and FFIX in terms of graphics (it easily destroys FFVII though). the thing is, FFVIII and FFIX focus alot more on closer shots than legend of dragoon. most shots are done from far way, giving you a greater view of the large environments but not focusing as heavily on detailed character models. anyway, the FMV graphics are amazing and the environments are lush and mind-blowing. if I can say anything for sure, it is that LOD has the most diverse and well thought out environments for any PS1 game.






overall: this is a great game for the PS1 library. it is one of my favorite RPGs of all time. its not the best but I will say that it trounces the PS1 FF games. the only other RPG on the console that compares to it is xenogears. this game is simple, yet fresh. innovative, yet down to earth. majestic and dreamlike, yet believable and credible. if you are an RPG fan and you missed out on this game (due to the raging FF fanboy anti-hype), its never too late to go back and play it.






about the haters:

well that concludes my review on it but I think you are probably wondering why this game was rated so lowly by people and you are probably doubting my review. well, allow me to address all the problems people have with this game

1) many people have whined about the addition system and how it is supposedly "too difficult" and "requiring too much precision" (thats a direct quote from IGN, by the way). im sorry, but that is total bull####. I was about 9 years old when I first played this game and even then I had little difficulty mastering the additions. yes they can be a bit challenging, but for crying out loud, they arent that hard. this is an example of someone flat-out fabricating a complaint.

2) people complain about the 32 item limit. like I said before, the magic is item based. if you could stockpile items and spells the game would be way too easy. it forces you to be strategic and conservative with your magic. just look at the final fantasy series. I love those games but they are not difficult. why? becuase you can stockpile items so quickly and so easily that you are always equipped to heal yourself repeatedly in boss battles. you also always have enough magic to trounce the bosses. face it. final fantasy is not hard. then legend of dragoon comes along, presents a little difficulty, and gamers pee their pants. yes the item limit is a hindrance but it makes sense to have it and it makes the game more strategic. just becuase it doesnt follow the traditional RPG inventory style, that doesnt mean it is a liability or that it is inferior. not all RPGs have to work the same way.

3) the music. people complain about the music on a few occasions but this is honestly the pretentious FFVII fans that believe that arieth's theme is equivalent to mozart.

4) I have heard people complain about the overworld. IGN managed to complain that too much time and too little time was spent on it. dont ask me how that begins to make sense. to tell you the truth, the overworld was one of the most straightforward and least cumbersome that I have experienced in a classic RPG. there's no mindless wandering and its all very convenient. that complaint was just thrown in at random to justify their baseless review.

5) a few people have complained about the randomly triggered battles. this is of course complete nonsense. 99% of RPGs have that. I dont know what these people were smoking to make them say that.

6) people complained about the voice overs. first of all, this game was among the first console games to really utilize this feature on such a level. secondly, the actual conversations and dialogue voice overs are rare and they arent that bad even by today's standards. once again, this is a very desperate complaint.

7) people have attacked it for being cliche and unoriginal. specifically they claim the LOD rips off FFVII. I would tell you what these arguments are but I have never seen anyone come up with actual examples or reasons. the only person that has attempted to justify this claim is Ben Hopper. his reasons were

a. cloud/tifa, and dart/shana are exactly the same becuase they share a love interest. never mind the fact that their personalities are nothing alike. good call ben.

b. dart is a ripoff of cloud becuase he has spiky hair (im not making this up).

c. LOD is a ripoff becuase you have 3 party members in battle at once (im serious. he said that)

d. it uses pre-rendered backgrounds (which apparently he is under the impression that FFVII invented)

e. your characters celebrate when they win a battle. (I guess in an "original game" they would just stand there solemnly and not do anything)

this is why FFVII fanboys shouldn't try to justify their claims ("whispers" because they arent very good at it). if you want to read this moronic review, here is a link

www.gamecritics.com/review/legendragoon/main.php

this is the prefect example of a pretentious, nitpicking FF-fanboy douchebag trying to take down LOD with the most immature and nonsensical methods possible. This is the reason why LOD did not acheive the acclaim it should have. ignorant people have gone out of their way to bury it. take my advice and try out this game. the irrational hate for this game and FFVII fanboyism has spread to even the biggest mainstream reviewing sites (game spot is a testament to this). dont beleive them. this is a great game and I will honestly say it is better than FFVII by far.

[mgold07]

Nice, good balanced reviews. Should've sent you a friend request on Gamespot