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-When I got to the end of the game my levels were around 35. What should have happened is that my levels should have gone up twice as fast so that the gratification would be higher. That way my levels would be around 70 at the end of the game.
-The later level monsters have different strategies that you can use to defeat each one. This is good, but each enemy should have some way of letting the player know what the strategy is as soon as the player encounters it. Pokemon, for example, has different elemental types of monsters, so the player can formulate a strategy based on that.
-This game is heavily weighted on the thinking side and much less on the reactionary side.
-Towards the end in Chapter IV the enemies started to become very difficult to defeat. That's not such a big deal for bosses, but for regular enemies it can get really annoying, especially when I'm trying to make my way through a dungeon and all these hard-to-kill enemies keep popping up. It is challenging, but it's more of a challenge of perseverance rather than skill. I think that testing the player's skill is more fun.
-A lot of times in RPG's, the major gratification for having completed a certain area is that you get to hear more of the story. I disagree with this because I think that story should be part of the immersive feel of the game. Story fits under immersion, rather than gratification, because it adds depth to the player's environment. A reward should be something like a new ability, huge experience points, or something along those lines.
-The combos are found by trial and error (i.e. GigaFlare). I like the Chrono Trigger way of learning combos better because it is less random.
-Fighting the dice boss was a very strategic battle. I had to think about the order in which the characters attacked, which spells they used, which combos I could use, and I have tell you, it was intellectually stimulating as heck! I really enjoyed that challenge. Although there wasn't much of a reward for accomplishing this great feat: I got a gem that allowed me to open a door and progress through the game. A better gratification would have been huge experience points, or a really powerful spell.
-This game had a lot of thinking games and some reactionary games. This adds variety to the game play, however I would like to see them blended more naturally. Zelda and Tetris are excellent examples of well-blended game play.
-Being an improvement from the previous is an essential quality in any sequel, and Breath Of Fire IV does exactly that.
-Getting a more powerful spell is the best gratification in the game, but you just kind of stumble across them as your levels go up. They are not a set objective.
-There were a lot of treasure chests filled with booty all across the Breath of Fire IV world. This adds more gratification to the game play.
-Storytelling is very good. It reminds me of some of the styles used in Resident Evil and Dino Crisis, especially with the cinematic sequences.
-Being able to play as Fou Lu allows the player to see the world through more than one characters' eyes. This adds variety to the story and the game. It’s a nice touch, although I would have liked to play as Fou Lu a little more often.
-Playing as Fou Lu was better because he was a more characterized character. Ryu was never characterized, and he was very quiet.
-Some of the Dragon spells were too long, even with the pass button.
-It has a very well made battle system for a turn-based RPG. It's never too difficult, I never got frustrated, and I never got too bored, although it is nothing too original.
-The level of difficulty is right where it should be: easy. When I play an RPG I want to unwind and loose myself in another world. I do not want a good challenge like some other genres.
-The front and back row aspect of the battle system adds some strategy to the game play. I like it.
-The world map screen had a very easy-to-understand interface. However, the map screen limited the player's movement. On most RPG world maps the player is allowed to freely roam around in any direction s/he pleases.
-The map screen's graphic also lacked a variety of color.
-the animations of the sprite characters is done in a very natural, realistic, and visually appealing manner that really caught my eye. It was a pleasure to see some of the sprite animations.
-The storyline is interesting, although extremely contrived. It is the same old story that I am told every time I play a Japanese RPG.
-The menu's were filled with only rectangular shapes, which made it a little less pleasing aesthetically. The menu screens in Chrono Cross are an excellent example of aesthetically pleasing menu's that fit the overall look, feel, and theme of the artwork. All games should follow that same principal.
-Rotating the camera was an interesting feature, but it often became a tedious task. The levels should be designed so that I don't have to do any rotating.
-Nice variety of characters, although sometimes some of them talked in a language that was difficult for me to understand (i.e. Australian accent).
-The dragon summon spells are cool to watch, and it's nice that you can skip them. Although I think that the pass button should become available earlier.
-If one of the objectives in the game was to collect all the dragon monsters, and I could do it in any order, it would be much more fun. I like the idea of being able to do things in any order, because it gives the player more choices. Sid Meier himself once said that game play is a bunch of interesting decisions.
-Ryu is the main character and he never says any lines. The main character should always be the center of attention in any story. We should know what he's feeling at different times, what's going through his mind, and things like that.
-The two storylines of Ryu and Fou Lu should be more interwoven. I don't hear about the connection between them until the middle of the story, and their paths never intertwine until the end of the game. If the two main characters interacted with each other more, then the plot might be more interesting.
-Sometimes the player will gain a new ability or new character, and as then loose them for a while, and then they'll come back. This does follow the storyline, but as far as game play is concerned, the player should keep an ability once they get it. I think that it makes the player feel as if all the work that they did for getting the ability was in vain, and it also makes for a bad gratification curve.
-The sandfiler mini-game is really cool, probably the best minigame in the game. However, I spent too much time looking at the little map in the corner and not paying any attention to the main part of the screen.
-The back row power-up feature happens randomly. There should be some player control involved in making it happen.
-The landscape looks nice, but it doesn't vary enough. As you go through the game you go through the miscellaneous jungle or the miscellaneous rock area. The look and feel of each type of area is generally the same. The different areas should have more diversified moods to them. Squaresoft does a better job of setting uniquely different moods for different areas.