Isometry

Since just before I posted the “% Completed” post, I began playing Final Fantasy Tactics. I knew the implications of neck strain and finger cramping and I was willing to brave the odds against my gaming digits and their capacity to play.

I like Tactics games. The isometric view to stare over the gridded battlefield so you can watch your numbered minions run across the fields like a variety chess pieces on a relatively pretty table.

I remember playing Tactics Ogre: The Knight of Lodis (Gameboy Advance), working my way up to a Knight class and owning the battlefield with a healing spell equipped along with a really strong weapon and just PWNING any silly bugger who came within range. And anyone who stood on the crenelations of a castle were unable to escape because I'd have a spellcaster of some sort with a teleport spell, sending them from ground 0 to level 50 in a moment so I could push the poor bugger on the edge down to the other melee attackers who would finish off whatever job was left for them.

Ah, to play as a God. Back then, I would level to the maximum by fighting random encounters which happened every 3 locales and could be any concoction of Pirates, bandits, or ex-militiamen.

I also remember Final Fantasy Tactics Advance (for the Gameboy Advance). While mostly similar to the game I'm playing on my PSP, which is a direct port from the PSOne Classic game with not even a handful of additions (Another Character, another Class, a few other bits and bobs), it's considerably easier than the Playstation Version and much more cartooney. It was still a good game, however I never really finished it as it got really repetitive and dull. /Shrug. That's just the way some games go.

But isometric games aren't limited to the Grid-locked tactical games. Baldurs Gate and Icewind Dale are both examples of such games, taking the same angle however not sticking to any particular grid and players can choose to either take it by turns or let it all happen as it comes along. Both of them are based on the Version 2.0 set of Dungeons and Dragons system so each round takes up 6 seconds, and as I said you can take it turn by turn, 6 seconds by 6 seconds, and just figure it out as the encounter goes on.

Now, I couldn't really keep up with Baldurs Gate or Icewind Dale, so I've placed them to the side for a later date when I can really sit down and try to figure out the game to a better extent. In the mean time I have Dungeons and Dragons Tactics, a video game version of a D&D 3.5 format. Grid, party members, class features and everything from the original 3 books: Players Handbook, Monster Manual and Dungeon Masters Guide. This is a system that I understand and will be able to delve into with a bit more understanding when I get around to it.

But right now, I'm on Final Fantasy Tactics: The War of the Lions. The problem I'm having at the moment is the Third mission. The Players start on one side and while the enemies (A bunch of Bandits and a Dog-esque creature) surrounding an Non-Player-Character who has been caught in something of an ambush. The player gets a moral choice: Kill them all, or save the dude. I've been saying “save the dude” cos I'm a Dorky Good guy at heart, but the problem lies in that the AI decides that the guy I'm trying to save wants to fight as well. The problem therein is that he's surrounded by about 3 guys and if he's hit 3 times, or 2 times with a critical hit somewhere along the line. So running further into the fray of bandits who are programmed to slit his throat, isn't a good idea. Especially since I can't get to him to restore his Health before everyone takes advantage of him like a prisoner without his soap on a rope.

I'm imagining that when I try this mission again, it won't happen as such. Fingers Crossed.

In related news: I got my PSP AV Component Cable!
Problem?: My PSP is too old a model. The connection would fit, no problems there, however the cord itself jutts out on the wrong angle and conflicts with the shape of the older model. So when they say it works for the PSP-2000 and PSP-3000, they really weren't joking.

It's a little stoopid that the Playstation Department continue to recreate and reinvent their consoles. It's one of the more frustrating things about their brand, you have to read the packaging for each different product in case you don't get what you want, unless what you want is actually quite simple: Plays the games and saves the saves.

I'll stop now before I get ahead of myself! I must not bore people by ripping on Playstation. I must not bore people by ripping on Playstation. I must not bore people by ripping on Playstation.