3/22/06 - River King: A Wonderful Journey (PS2)

[schild]

You know why I put games like this up here? Hoping that at the very least, ONE person other than me opens themselves up to gaming completely unlike their normal fair. This title, from Natsume, is priced at $19.99. Part cooking sim, part dating sim, part fishing sim. You really can't understand the raw appeal of these games and the amount of polish that goes into this sort of thing until you've tried it. I can only assume, coming from the Harvest Moon folks, that there will be many, many hours worth wasting away at this title.

Sometimes, it's the simple things that make gaming worthwhile.

I'd also kill to have someone to talk to about the odd ones.

[voodoolily]

I'd also kill to have someone to talk to about the odd ones.

You mean besides me?

[Yegolev]

Just got this at GameStop.  Maybe I'll get some time to play it tonight; the wife thinks it looks dumb, though, so we might be into some Grandia III.  She also gives GameSpot's 5.8 rating for River King just a tad too much credibility.

GameStop had some interesting stuff today.  Like a copy of Rez for $39.95.  Hell yeah.

[schild]

Yea, I posted about Rez getting reprinted a while back. Bleh.

[Yegolev]

Yea, I posted about Rez getting reprinted a while back. Bleh.

Not sure how I missed that.  Damn my eyes.

[Yegolev]

Quick impression of the latest River King: the actual act of fishing in Dark Cloud 2 was ten times better.  There might be more to River King than what I see after just a little time in it, but right now it is looking rather shallow.  This would be mitigated a lot if they had made the act of fishing "feel better".  Then again, I only just learned to swim and am still using live bait, so things may change when I can afford a lure rod.  Fishing is guaranteed to change when I start fly fishing, but not sure if it will be for the better.

The interface could use some streamlining.  Too many button-presses.

[schild]

That's a shame, I've yet to get into it. Still finishing Dreamfall. Ah, well, it happens. All of the Natsume games are button press heavy, so while it may not speed up the game, it probably won't hurt it much for me. We'll see sometime this week.

[Yegolev]

My mental comparisons to Dark Cloud 2 are giving me a bias.  I encourage you to give it a shot and tell me what you think.  It's not any worse than Atelier Iris, I suppose.  Also, switching between this and Castlevania: Curse of Darkness sometimes causes speed-shock.  It's definitely got the pacing of fishing: don't go in thinking of goals and such, just relax and fish.  I'm just glad the manual tells me where to catch what fish, that's a real frustration-saver.  I believe the maps also indicate where to forage for bait, although the blobs aren't labeled as such.

This game bores my wife out of her mind.  I'd find it more relaxing if she wasn't making comments the whole time.  She doesn't even think it's funny that the father gets so ENRAGED about fish.  That shit is hilarious.

[Yegolev]

I find that I have to cut back on the number of parallel games.  Two of the PS2-JCRPGs include mysterious earthquakes, and it is all fairly confusing.  River King made the cut, though.  It gets more interesting as you go.  I am using lures now, and I think I am terrible at fly fishing.  The mechanics haven't really improved that much, it's just that I am really into the fishing game.  The core gameplay appears to revolve around what bait to use to catch what fish, and that is surprisingly engaging.