Days of Ruin

   Today, I am actually speaking of a post from awhile previous.



Yup, the Advance War post.  I stand by what I said then, and I really do think that people need to worry less about the violence in video games.

However, someone later asked me about Days of Ruin, asking why I didn't like it.  Today, I am talking about Days of Ruin.

Let me start of with saying that I do like Days of Ruin.  It is a fun game, the story change was better, and I did enjoy it overall.  However, I like the previous games better, and I will explain why.

The Feel

As I said in my other post, one of the things I loved most about Advance Wars was it's unique and cheery enviroment.  The happy music, the cartoonish characters and landscape, it was quite unique for a war strategy game.  And yet it worked, quite awesomely, in fact.  Not only did it have it's own unique feel, but it made it feel just like what it is: a game.  You didn't feel like you were sending people to their deaths, you felt like you were just playing a game of check.  The characters looked like toys, they might have even been toys!  It was all fun and games, and I loved it.

Days of Ruin COMPLETELY changed that.  Now, mind you, I can understand people getting upset by the whole positive attitude, but remember, kids are the ones playing these games, not the veterans that would be getting offended by it.  I guess it makes sense in the end, but it really took a LOT out of the game.  It lost ALL of it's cheery feel.  All of it.  They made the music all serious, completely changed the art, and took the story in a very VERY dark direction.  The story was cool, I'll give it that, but it lost so much more.

The Co and Co Power

They changed an entire gameplay aspect for this game.   My guess is that it was an attempt to remove the brokeness of some of the Cos from the other games and to give it a more realistic aspect.  And I thought it was pretty cool.  Now the only units affected were ones by your actual guy on the battlefield.  Makes sense, and gives you more of a feel of "I'm fighting with my team"!

The problem?  The Cos.  They dropped the number of Cos SEVERELY, and there may have been less than there were in the FIRST game.  The first problem with this playing with different characters.  I like trying out different Cos, and seeing how they differ.  With so few Cos...there's not many to choose from.  Choosing a favorite isn't a long testing process, it's a five second decision.  Not only that, but some of the Cos have similar Co Powers, making the differences even smaller!

And the worst part is...they didn't cure the brokeness.  Isabella makes two other Cos completely pointless because she has BOTH of their Co Powers combined into one!   The main villain and his oldest daughter are so much stronger than the others that they are generally considered banned, thus lowering options even FURTHER.

Point is, if you really like one of the Cos, that's great!  You got lucky!  But for me, none really stuck out, which is completely understandable seeing the lack of choices as it is.  For you, it may not be so bad, but for me, it was unfortunate.

Music

Okay, I HAVE to admit, the music for this game is pretty good...and it's almost unfortunate.  Listening to it is almost a reminder that this is not the cheery, happy music from the game I once loved, this is the serious, depressing music from Days of Ruin.  Yeh.

The Neo Tank

We are here today...to mourn the passing of a great tank.  A tank...that could take out medium tanks like flies...and still move.  A tank...that could destroy almost anything...and not run out of oil.  A tank...that looked like it was from freaking OUTER SPACE.  A tank...that had all of that...and yet was still affordable without spamming Hachi.  Oh wonderful Neo Tank, how we will greatly miss thee.  I will always cherish using you in Dual Strike *sniff*

Overview

It may sound like I'm bashing it, and I probably am.  It's not because I hate it.  As I said before, it's still a good game, in it's own right.  If this was the first of its kind, I would've been fine with it.  But to have come from such a great idea, and then to go so low...I just can't help but be upset.  Granted, Dual Strike had its broken characters, but it had enough other characters to make up for it!  THEY DIDN'T NEED THIS!  THIS GAME DIDN'T NEED TO HAPPEN!!!

I really believe that there was some special reason they had to do this, or really, hope.  Because honestly, this was REALLY stupid.  They had something amazing with the old games, and they were popular too!  It's not like the old games weren't popular, they had a good fanbase!   Did someone literally come up to their door, point a gun at them, and threaten to kill them if they didn't change or something?  Because that's the best reason I can think of for this amount of stupidity.