Return Of The Difficulty Curve

It's back. It has returned and in a place I should have expected it. It hit me hard in a place that I have experienced highs, lows and frustration. The Final Fantasy series has had me gripped since I played Final Fantasy VII way back in the 90s, once I had experienced my first taste of gripping story telling and a traditional turn based RPG I've been hooked on the genre and the Final Fantasy series. I've played the majority of the series but was always concerned about the junctioning and Guardian Force system of Final Fantasy VIII and subsequently gave the game a wide berth despite enthusiastic comments from the gaming community and even nagging from my own brother to give it a go. Finally I caved, re-bought myself and old PlayStation (I don't trust the backwards compatibility of PS3 since having troubles with a handful of games) and started to play. For the first 3 of 4 discs I was enthralled. The story was compelling, the visual style breathtaking and the junctioning system proved to be very enjoyable once I got the hang of it, the only Final Fantasy staple I missed was a genuine job system, but that's a minor complaint. I loved the characters, even the caricatured loner behaviour of the games protagonist couldn't put me off, I actually wanted him to get the girl, despite being the kind of guy you would happily glass in a pub.

The problems began around the end of disc 3 and spilled into disc 4. The difficulty curve went through the roof. The game had been steady up until now and only required the odd bit of levelling up every now and then to progress. Basically the game felt balanced. As I hit the metaphorical wall I had no other choice than to put some time in and level up my party to continue the game. I've spent hours and I'm still stuck. The same thing happened to me in Final Fantasy VII but I got over that and moved on, this just seems to be insane.

Why do game developers, in particular the Final Fantasy developers, have this need to put in this crippling feature. It almost seems to be some odd ploy to make you buy the game guide so you know early on all the tricks and secrets. It's really pissing me off because I've got to the point where I'm split between the need to put the game down and walk away (which I have almost done) and put some hours of grinding in to see the ending. I really want to know what happens to Squall and Rhinoa, in fact I'm desperate to know, but it seems an unfair price to pay to see the end.

Perhaps this is the reason that so few gamers see games through to the end. A crippling difficulty curve really is unnecessary, I understand that there needs to be something a bit more challenging towards the end of a game to allow a sense of achievement in the player, but I just want to see an ending. I've played this game for hours, I need closure.

Here's my open plea to game developers everywhere: Please keep the difficulty curve consistent, I'll except a boost to the difficulty at the end, but please stop pushing it so hard that the game stops being fun. It's unfair when you've invested so many hours to have the ending you deserve to see place on such a high plateau. In return I vow that more of my money will make its way to your pockets, that reviews will be more favourable and that I'll put you back on the Christmas card list. Deal?

Saying Hello To Someone Can Be Dangerous

After being half scared to death by Mr Relations saying "hello" to me this afternoon, I felt it was time for a 'look-at-me' update of what I'm currently playing.

First up, we will deal with the frightening hello. I'm still having the odd trundle through EA's surprisingly good Dead Space on the 360. I'm up to the 4th chapter and the game has actually started to become scary. Not in the "did you hear that?" kind of way, but more in the "I have very little ammo and health left" kind of way. The baddies have become bigger and nastier and the game has begun to offer more of a challenge. So after all the fun of enjoying the gruesome dismemberment physics, I'm starting to pay a lot of attention to any cues the game gives that a big nasty may be approaching. Which is awesome, because the game now has me really engaged and eager to see what is happening. Which subsequently meant that a simple hello from a friend, rather than a horrible noise from the game, nearly gave me a heart attack. If only the game could have been this engaging from the start.

On the PSP I had been enjoying an immensely good time on the amazing Final Fantasy Tactics: The War of The Lions. Trouble is, I hit a wall. And I mean a figurative gaming one, not a literal one involving poor collision detection, because it's just not that kind of game. In an odd turn of events for me, this meant that I lost interest. Which whilst disappointing, meant I started playing Star Ocean: First Departure instead. There's always a silver lining. It's proving to be a really good game, the animated cut scenes by Production IG are incredible and have left me showing off my PSP to anyone who sits near me when they come up. As for the audio, that too has been really well done, with a great soundtrack and pretty good voice acting.

I'm truly engaged with both Dead Space and Star Ocean at the moment, once I'm finished I'll be sure they both get a proper review. In the meantime, please be sure you don't scare people playing scary games, it's dangerous dammit!