Ok, onto the game....
--Top
row of icons--
MAP:
Shows your current location, indicated by
a tiny dot against the map background. It also shows which direction you're
headed (indicated by a little compass). You can change your direction (north,
east, south and west) by pressing the "A" button.
Then if you press the "B" button, you can
also see a numeric representation of your location, defined by those numbers
I mentioned. For example: my location is S-2, W-6. That means second square
down from the center (south) and sixth one to the left (west).
STEPS:
Shows the number of steps you've taken.
First screen shows the amount for that day and the second screen shows
your total amount since you started.
STATUS
METER:
There's a food meter and a stress meter
represented by 4 little hershey kiss shapes (the "slime" character). To
reduce the stress meter, you must win a game (which I explain later). There's
also an age and weight meter (like tamagotchi) and a battle meter (similiar
to the age/weight meter) that keeps track of the number of his battles
and wins (like digimon).
The last meter (it's actually the first meter
shown, but I saved it for last) looks a lot like a tama's discipline meter,
but it's related to his evolutions. It increases as you walk and also two
marks each meal he is fed (only the top food option does this). Each time
the meter reaches 100% full, the character evolves again.
Each "land" has it's own evolution meter,
so anytime you travel to another land, the name above the meter changes
and the meter starts at zero. However, if you leave a certain land with
your meter half-filled and then go back to it later on, it will save the
setting you had while you were there last and pick up where you left off.
FOOD:
He has two food options. The first option
is vegetation from the land that he's currently traveling through. For
example: in the forest it's mushrooms, in the desert it's cactus, in the
garden it's flowers, and so on, etc.. And the second option is a small
loaf of bread which never changes. I have not been able to figure out what
the benifit would be of feeding him bread. They both add one pound to his
weight, but only the first option increases the evolution meter.
--Bottom
row of icons--
GAME:
(reduces
the stress meter)
Very cute! There's a stack of three
boards on the left of the screen and Slime (that's his name) is standing
to the right. He starts out by pumping up with some deep breaths--very
comical, his face inflates in the process.
Anyway, the object of the game is for Slime
to break all three boards with one Karate chop. There are rapidly changing
numbers just beside him (like one wheel of a slot machine), it's very similar
to some of the japanese version digimon games, where they have to "power
up".
Our job is to press the enter button and
hope that it stops on a high number. A zero thru 3 will not break
any boards and will make him sad. A 4 or 5 will break one board, a 6 or
7 will break two boards and only an 8 or 9 (which aren't easy to get) will
break all three boards.
Only the highest results (breaking all
three boards) will eliminate one filled space on the stress meter.
MEDICAL
(aka SOS):
There are two uses for this function. Ocassionally
Slime will fall into a hole--the top option helps him out. The bottom option
is for giving him medicine when he is sick or injured. The medicine screen
has two sub-options....top is confirm, bottom is cancel.
The medicine choices change throughout the
game. Each one has a different affect on the character and/or the meters
(ie: slowing him down or transporting him, etc). We haven't quite figured
them out yet, but we're working on it.
ALARM
CLOCK:
This one's cute. One of the medicines causes
him to fall asleep and we have to help him wake up. When you select the
this icon, a little alarm clock appears next to him and starts bleeping
and wakes him up again.
STAGES
( ? ) :
I didn't know what else to call this icon.
It's a silhouette of Slime's head with a question mark in the center.
Choosing this icon allows you to view all of the stages/characters he's
gone through during that particular game. Pressing the "A" or "B" button
lets you scroll through each one.
--Graphics--
The screen shots are adorable, VERY tamagotchi
like. (i wonder if Enix is related to Bandai)
On either side of Slime (as though he's walking
down a path) is scenery that represent the terrain or area that he's traveling
through. It changes according to his location. For example: if he's traveling
through a field, you'll see grass on the left and right hand sides of the
screen. If he's traveling through a forest, you'll see little trees on
either side. There are about 7 different types of terrain....field, forest,
desert, garden, mountains(scenery is clouds), water and one I forget offhand.
There are also two hidden places not shown on the map. It's a dark MYSTERY
place! If your character evolves in those places, he will change into one
of the "secret" characters. I don't know how many secret characters there
are, but we've gotten two so far. We've only been able to make it into
one of the mystery places. I finally got close to the second one yesterday
and I'm hoping to gain entrance today.
The cool part is that the scenery actually
moves when you're walking (remember this is a pedometer pet). If
slime is traveling north, his scenery will move downward. If he's traveling
east, his scenery will move to the left....and so on, for all four compass
directions.
When he sleeps there's a pretty night sky
on the left hand side of the screen, complete with moon and stars.
Well, that's about all I can think of for
now. I haven't done as much walking as I'd like. LOL, i keep forgetting
it's a pedometer.
-Val
