Video Game Forums - View Single Post

Codiekitty · 12-01-2006, 07:54 PM

For there being such a huge deal about the story and atmosphere, it doesn't even seem like the designers felt that way; all anyone knows this game for is that, appearantly, it has the largest bosses of any game ever. Let's set aside for a second that the Colossi aren't even the biggest, nor the most intimidating, nor the most brilliant bosses I've seen. If people get to say that the little war ships in World 8 of Super Mario Bros. 3 were just some guy putting holes in a regular air ship, I reserve the right to say these bosses are just some guy saying "Everyone likes huge bosses, so let's make HUGE bosses!"

So, does Colossus have the largest bosses ever? First, I should inform those who haven't played the game that many of the Colossi aren't even that big which is probably why you see the same three bosses in all the ads; the 11th boss is only about the size of a bull. So, out of the ones that are as big as they tout, it's hard to tell what with perception and having never seen Kurt Hectic, Roddy, and the Colossus kid standing side by side so I don't know how tall they are to each other, but I'm willing to wager that it doesn't.

Was the final boss the most breath-taking, amazing, intimidating, and well designed final boss I've ever seen? I wouldn't even call it breath-taking, amazing, intimidating, or well design at all, much less the most. For one thing, the lighting is so dark I could barely see what the damn thing even looked like until I got to it. Secondly, it looks like it's wearing a dress and it doesn't even move from its spot, just shoots blasts that can't penetrate small walls of stone and are rendered pointless by the healing system. Third, it was one of the lamest bosses in the game (although I don't know how much that's saying). Lastly, I've seen a lot better. On a side note, no, that last one was not in the cartoon.

I mentioned earlier that I beat most of the bosses on my first try, which leads to a question; how am I supposed to be afraid of a boss, no matter how big it is, that proves to be no threat whatsoever? The only times I was worried about a boss was (surprise!) when the stupid mother bleeping camera went all ape**** and I couldn't see where either of us were.

I was rather underwhelmed by Colossus' graphics. PS2 Shinobi was on the ugly side, yet it created a sense of danger and post-apocalyptic Tokyo without brown and grey being the dominant colors, and it had beautiful animation and details like the fluttering sakura petals in 7-A. My dominant memory of Colossus's animation is how ridiculous the kid's running and swimming animations are (seriously, I've seen B-movie monsters swim better than that). The graphics are bland, and often times there's so much fog that it turns everything on the screen to four shades of grey. During battles, debris is often kicked up in such thick clouds it's impossible to see what's even going on (the Turtle and Sky Dragon bosses come to mind).

Considering it made #1 on some kid's Top 20 Soundtracks I was expecting something decent at best, but then again he posted Ys: The Ark of Napishtim in favor of Ys Books 1&2, and Skies of Arcadia which I cannot remember one single song from, and said "Masashi Hamauzu is by far the best composer ever to have worked for Square" so that should have been a sign. He included five links and I listened to four; I couldn't take any more after that. What I heard was forgetability, blandness and lack of inspiration, like Otani just noodled around for this game's soundtrack. Okay, there's always context, as I didn't know for what purpose they were playing, but when sombody says a soundtrack "amplifies the feeling of horror, solitude, grandure, tragedy, and intensity that the main character, a lonely wanderer out to sacrifice everything for his lost love, experiences throughout the game." I can't say I'm expecting something that invokes the image of a caped swordsman prancing around, swinging on curtains, and similtaneously swashbuckling with five other men on a staircase. The music for Sigma's second form in Mega Man X7 has more of those feelings than anything I heard from those links.

As for context, the best kind of music is the kind that can be listened to outside of the game and is still enjoyable and meaningful. There have been many occasions like Vagrant Story, Legend of Mana, Panzer Dragoon Saga, Ys Books 1&2, and Kingsley's Adventure where I didn't make it to a certain point or never even played the game (or in the cases of PDS and Ys, I don't even own the games), yet their music still wowed me.

When I got around to playing Colossus, I still didn't think much of the music. The only tunes I could remember at all were some boss tunes, and considering how long I had to listen to some of them, and I had always completely forgotten them the next morning, I wouldn't attribute it to good composing. The overworld doesn't even have music. I still didn't know what was going through that kid's head when he wrote all that stuff, and as far as I know he made that entire list as an advertising plug for Colossus.

The kid who posted the soundtrack list said "...tracks, like ... the amazingly moody final battle theme, Demise of the Ritual, are simply too original and hard to place in terms of comparison", except that Demise of the Ritual sounds like Otani's failed attempt at replicating that song from The Lion King when Simba returns to the Pride Lands and surveys the shape it's in. On top of being not-so original it's also lame.

"But CK! Demise of the Ritual is TOTALLY fitting for what's going on!"

So are Redips 3rd Movement and Ooze. Doesn't change the fact that the only acceptable way to hear all three songs is IN the games. Plus, Redips and Ooze have the advantage in my book of never having to had listen to them for two hours nonstop while slogging away on a boss that poses no real threat and is little more than a testament to how awful the game's camera is. And technically the song is only 1:40. Everything after that only plays after you come out out of the corridor it's conveniently standing above.

I went through my video game music files and found ten final boss songs I think are easily better than Demise of the Ritual (I actually found more, I just only wanted to list ten):

Arcana - Second Armageddon

Chrono Trigger - World Revolution

Shinobi - The Hiryu Name

Final Fantasy 6 - Dancing Mad

Castlevania: Rondo of Blood - Illusionary Dance

Mega Man X7 - Our Blood Boils

Saga Frontier - BossX

Ys - Final Battle

Eternal Darkness - Gateway to Destiny

Adventures of Lomax - Vs. Evil Ed

Hindsights and General Stupidity:
I accidently brought the horse down into the second Colossus's "arena", and occasionally the Colossus would smack it and the horse would go flying. Except the horse is uninjured, and it ended up feeling more like a classic Shinobi hostage rescue than "OH NOES! THAT BASTARD HURT THE HORSIE!"

After I beat the third Colossus, it shows a (long) cutscene of it falling to the ground. Afterwards, the kid falls all the way from where its head was to the ground (and actually not taking much damage for how far he fell). So... was he just hoving in the air all that time?

I can't decide if this is worse than Wild 9's case claiming the final boss had a face the size of New York, but on the back of Colossus' case and on the cover of the manual and in many advertisements there's some kind of grinning bull enemy you appear to fight on a horse. Well, it isn't even in the game.

Long story shot, I've seen much better, I've played much better, I've experienced much better, and I guess I'm going to pouser hell for this not being the far and away greatest experience of my life, and in fact one of the worst games I played this year. Oh well.

PS - "MDK" is not an acronym, that's actually the name of the game.

Where are these lemmings going? Not the Super Nintendo Super Shire! They know to go to Codiekitty.com now!

12-01-2006, 07:54 PM	#2
Codiekitty Just Another Face in Red Jumpsuit Join Date: May 2001 Location: Lemmingland Gender: Posts: 19,143 Thanks: 121 Thanked 174 Times in 120 Posts Points: 46,014.72 Bank: 3,021,450.74 Total Points: 3,067,465.46 Donate	For there being such a huge deal about the story and atmosphere, it doesn't even seem like the designers felt that way; all anyone knows this game for is that, appearantly, it has the largest bosses of any game ever. Let's set aside for a second that the Colossi aren't even the biggest, nor the most intimidating, nor the most brilliant bosses I've seen. If people get to say that the little war ships in World 8 of Super Mario Bros. 3 were just some guy putting holes in a regular air ship, I reserve the right to say these bosses are just some guy saying "Everyone likes huge bosses, so let's make HUGE bosses!" So, does Colossus have the largest bosses ever? First, I should inform those who haven't played the game that many of the Colossi aren't even that big which is probably why you see the same three bosses in all the ads; the 11th boss is only about the size of a bull. So, out of the ones that are as big as they tout, it's hard to tell what with perception and having never seen Kurt Hectic, Roddy, and the Colossus kid standing side by side so I don't know how tall they are to each other, but I'm willing to wager that it doesn't. Was the final boss the most breath-taking, amazing, intimidating, and well designed final boss I've ever seen? I wouldn't even call it breath-taking, amazing, intimidating, or well design at all, much less the most. For one thing, the lighting is so dark I could barely see what the damn thing even looked like until I got to it. Secondly, it looks like it's wearing a dress and it doesn't even move from its spot, just shoots blasts that can't penetrate small walls of stone and are rendered pointless by the healing system. Third, it was one of the lamest bosses in the game (although I don't know how much that's saying). Lastly, I've seen a lot better. On a side note, no, that last one was not in the cartoon. I mentioned earlier that I beat most of the bosses on my first try, which leads to a question; how am I supposed to be afraid of a boss, no matter how big it is, that proves to be no threat whatsoever? The only times I was worried about a boss was (surprise!) when the stupid mother bleeping camera went all ape**** and I couldn't see where either of us were. I was rather underwhelmed by Colossus' graphics. PS2 Shinobi was on the ugly side, yet it created a sense of danger and post-apocalyptic Tokyo without brown and grey being the dominant colors, and it had beautiful animation and details like the fluttering sakura petals in 7-A. My dominant memory of Colossus's animation is how ridiculous the kid's running and swimming animations are (seriously, I've seen B-movie monsters swim better than that). The graphics are bland, and often times there's so much fog that it turns everything on the screen to four shades of grey. During battles, debris is often kicked up in such thick clouds it's impossible to see what's even going on (the Turtle and Sky Dragon bosses come to mind). Considering it made #1 on some kid's Top 20 Soundtracks I was expecting something decent at best, but then again he posted Ys: The Ark of Napishtim in favor of Ys Books 1&2, and Skies of Arcadia which I cannot remember one single song from, and said "Masashi Hamauzu is by far the best composer ever to have worked for Square" so that should have been a sign. He included five links and I listened to four; I couldn't take any more after that. What I heard was forgetability, blandness and lack of inspiration, like Otani just noodled around for this game's soundtrack. Okay, there's always context, as I didn't know for what purpose they were playing, but when sombody says a soundtrack "amplifies the feeling of horror, solitude, grandure, tragedy, and intensity that the main character, a lonely wanderer out to sacrifice everything for his lost love, experiences throughout the game." I can't say I'm expecting something that invokes the image of a caped swordsman prancing around, swinging on curtains, and similtaneously swashbuckling with five other men on a staircase. The music for Sigma's second form in Mega Man X7 has more of those feelings than anything I heard from those links. As for context, the best kind of music is the kind that can be listened to outside of the game and is still enjoyable and meaningful. There have been many occasions like Vagrant Story, Legend of Mana, Panzer Dragoon Saga, Ys Books 1&2, and Kingsley's Adventure where I didn't make it to a certain point or never even played the game (or in the cases of PDS and Ys, I don't even own the games), yet their music still wowed me. When I got around to playing Colossus, I still didn't think much of the music. The only tunes I could remember at all were some boss tunes, and considering how long I had to listen to some of them, and I had always completely forgotten them the next morning, I wouldn't attribute it to good composing. The overworld doesn't even have music. I still didn't know what was going through that kid's head when he wrote all that stuff, and as far as I know he made that entire list as an advertising plug for Colossus. The kid who posted the soundtrack list said "...tracks, like ... the amazingly moody final battle theme, Demise of the Ritual, are simply too original and hard to place in terms of comparison", except that Demise of the Ritual sounds like Otani's failed attempt at replicating that song from The Lion King when Simba returns to the Pride Lands and surveys the shape it's in. On top of being not-so original it's also lame. "But CK! Demise of the Ritual is TOTALLY fitting for what's going on!" So are Redips 3rd Movement and Ooze. Doesn't change the fact that the only acceptable way to hear all three songs is IN the games. Plus, Redips and Ooze have the advantage in my book of never having to had listen to them for two hours nonstop while slogging away on a boss that poses no real threat and is little more than a testament to how awful the game's camera is. And technically the song is only 1:40. Everything after that only plays after you come out out of the corridor it's conveniently standing above. I went through my video game music files and found ten final boss songs I think are easily better than Demise of the Ritual (I actually found more, I just only wanted to list ten): Arcana - Second Armageddon Chrono Trigger - World Revolution Shinobi - The Hiryu Name Final Fantasy 6 - Dancing Mad Castlevania: Rondo of Blood - Illusionary Dance Mega Man X7 - Our Blood Boils Saga Frontier - BossX Ys - Final Battle Eternal Darkness - Gateway to Destiny Adventures of Lomax - Vs. Evil Ed Hindsights and General Stupidity: I accidently brought the horse down into the second Colossus's "arena", and occasionally the Colossus would smack it and the horse would go flying. Except the horse is uninjured, and it ended up feeling more like a classic Shinobi hostage rescue than "OH NOES! THAT BASTARD HURT THE HORSIE!" After I beat the third Colossus, it shows a (long) cutscene of it falling to the ground. Afterwards, the kid falls all the way from where its head was to the ground (and actually not taking much damage for how far he fell). So... was he just hoving in the air all that time? I can't decide if this is worse than Wild 9's case claiming the final boss had a face the size of New York, but on the back of Colossus' case and on the cover of the manual and in many advertisements there's some kind of grinning bull enemy you appear to fight on a horse. Well, it isn't even in the game. Long story shot, I've seen much better, I've played much better, I've experienced much better, and I guess I'm going to pouser hell for this not being the far and away greatest experience of my life, and in fact one of the worst games I played this year. Oh well. PS - "MDK" is not an acronym, that's actually the name of the game. Where are these lemmings going? Not the Super Nintendo Super Shire! They know to go to Codiekitty.com now! Last edited by Codiekitty; 12-01-2006 at 08:04 PM.