March 29, 2018
This review of Dragon Quest IX and Splatoon will cover the style, mechanisms and life expectancy of the game along with other comparisons of other games like it.
Firstly this version of Dragon Quest was released in 2009 so its really old but i am replaying it currently so that's why i'm writing about it. As expected of a old game its graphics and style are far behind today's current games but back in the day it was good quality and even now brings back some nostalgia. Although compare it to a game like Breath of the Wild it looks like it was made by a five old. However being an RPG it relies more on the plot than the looks to get the message and enjoyment across. Although nine year old me thought the style and quality was amazing once i replayed it i had forgotten how bad it actually was and even struggle to make out the characters when not in a cut-scene. Fast forward to 2012 when Level 5 one of the developers of Dragon Quest released a new and very similar game with a better style that i also was obsessed with. Although practically the same game there is a clear difference in style, dragon quest is a more dull coloured game while Fantasy Life went for a clean cut and brighter game. Overall though it doesn't really effect the gaming experience itself but the bad graphics can get annoying at times especially during a cut scene.
Moving on to the game play mechanisms and how they reward the player, its a very old school fighting mechanic typically seen in Pokemon where instead of going up and simply hitting and enemy continuously until it dies (i prefer this method because of combo attacks and dodging) it uses a turn based system. The best method is to make a four player party then you can get more damage in. However, this can both reward the player and ruin everything. If you have four people in your party it allows you to choose what attack or healing power you can use and when but the downside to this style of game play is that you have no say in dodging an enemies attacks as its completely random and the enemy can dodge more than you can. Another type of mechanism the game has to counterfeit the horrible dodging is crafting. By collecting items as you travel (and using the wiki for crafting recipes) you can make any armour, weapon or healing potion you want. This does come in handy sometimes especially when fighting a boss. Although once again compared to Dragon Quests better version Fantasy Life which also uses the mechanic of crafting they do it better and much more easier, if they had improved on the fighting styles the game would have been much less tedious and more enjoyable.
Seeing as the game was released a long time ago its life expectancy has already gone, although it did a good job of being enjoyable to me as a child which is the main reason i went back to it now and i even find it more bearable than i did back then. The game does help with my love for Fantasy RPG style games. The overall plot line of the game and the old charming style is defiantly going to make you come back for more, compared to shooter games where a high score might make you come back (Call of Duty) Dragon Quest does its best to add in different components to make the experience enjoyable. Even after you finish the game there's more quests to come back to.
Despite my absolute hatred of shooter type games Splatoon is the one game I actually love. After its release and begging my mum to get it a year later on Christmas my wish finally came true. I first fell in love with the whole style of the game and character design which has never been seen before especially from Nintendo who was originally going to make this a Mario game. The game itself is very polished and well thought out I honestly don't think there's a lot wrong with it.
Although being a shooter type game they still added a solo campaign which the company didn't think would be as popular as it is now. And compared to a game like Dragon Quest which is entirely a solo campaign game with a well thought out plot, Splatoon fails to do that as the main focus is on the team matches where you fight for turf using a variety of paint weapons.
Back onto the style, the graphics of the game are top quality and theres not a single low quality thing in the game. The models have clearly had a lot of time and thought put into them especially the NPC's as they are all clearly unique and have a shown personality. Compare this to every other first person shooter and the overall style is dull and metallic or is set during the war, this stands out among those games and gets so much more creative with everything. Call of Duty has normal guns used today but with Splatoon they has customised these guns to suit the game style and make them unique.
The game play mechanisms can be tricky at times, using the Wii U pad you have a map on the screen while your looking at your character on the TV, to look around you have to physically move the pad around form side to side swinging you body, this got really annoying while running around with people shooting at you from behind. However, they did add a reset camera button which i forgot was there. Although the game play did sound hard with the amount of buttons i had to press to shoot and dive into the ink i picked it up quickly. i thought that due to the game play mechanic i would suck at it but i was good, too good. i quickly found myself at the top of the leader board every time against level 50 people and i kept thinking the game was broken ( i was just amazing at the game.) Moving on to how the game play rewards you, of course the more points you get the more you level up and the more money you earn, but once you reach level 20 the overall points isn't decided by that anymore. You can still get the money but no points, therefore your forced to enter the ranked battles. A timed match where the objective isn't just who can cover the entire map in ink, there certain areas you have to go to to ink and in other matches its capture the tower where if your team is standing on the tower it will move to your base and you have to fight to protect the tower. Doing these matches does gain you more points to level up but obviously less money in doing so and if you lose you go down a rank.
I personally think the game play mechanisms are great and give the battles some edge and encourages players to level up in these ranked battles. Once again compared to Call of Duty which also has ranks in the game it shows how the ranks effect your appearance, gear and weapons, it helps you as you advance and you can show off. But, Splatoon doesn't do that and the rank basically means nothing to you, its just a letter next to your name. Its the only real downside to the game play as even though they have added it they never went anywhere with it like unlocking special weapons or special moves.
What's the life expectancy of Splatoon? it was very popular for a few years and even got a sequel on the Switch which is more popular with more additions as well. I think Splatoon will last for a very long time to come as its so much fun and the style is aesthetically pleasing in every way possible.
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