A trend I see often lately, with games and other forms of media, seems to be people judging a video game based on what it isn't, rather than what it is. I'm certainly guilty of this very same thing, and the reason I'm even writing about it is that I caught myself doing this very thing earlier this evening.
I will admit that the examples of it I've seen lately are in reference to films. The most common being that they made an assumption of what the film would be like in great detail, almost a synopsis of the entire film's premise in a way, only to find themselves disappointed by it not being something that it wasn't trying to be in the first place. I'd seen this same reaction in regards to the Godzilla film that was released last year, people making claims that it wasn't a true Godzilla film (though it sure felt like one to me and a lot of other hardcore fans as well).
But moving on to my most recent foray into this unfair criteria for judgment. I'm a rather voracious fan of the Assassin's Creed series. As a franchise, it's certainly had it's share of controversies, from the main characters primarily being white males and Ubisoft's remarks regarding the difficulty of female character models. Black Flag did a rather good job of making the gender and races of the characters feel more diverse, which was refreshing, but alas, still none of them set as a main character, even though there roles were prominent. Yet, despite these faults and controversies, it still managed to stay as one of my favorite franchises in gaming, even if the Desmond storyline did get a little stale for me after a while.
However, there is a female character who I really wanted to see get her own game. Shao Jun. A relatively minor character, being part of the Order of Assassins in China. She appeared in the film Assassin's Creed: Embers and was also mentioned in Black Flag, which is how I first became aware of her. She was intriguing, wearing similar robes that the assassins commonly like to wear, but this time in a deep black with red trim. It was a unique look, and the game only briefly touching on her time spent meeting Ezio left me wanting more.
I couldn't help but think of how fantastic it would be if she received her own title. I was falling in love with this daydream of mine, thinking of how amazing it would be to play as Shao Jun, and delve into the assassin order around the world and play into Chinese history. I figured it would simply remain as that, though; a daydream.
That is, until, I heard of Assassin's Creed Chronicles: China. A small game set in the universe whose main character is none other than Shao Jun. My heart nearly stopped when I read this. I couldn't believe it. In a rare instance, a daydream I had was coming true. It didn't seem like a major title, but neither was Liberation, yet it still had the same style as one of the major franchise releases. I didn't hesitate in getting the game for myself.
Only after purchasing it and starting the game up for myself did I discover it was not what I expected or wanted. What I wanted was to experience a lengthy narrative centered on Shao Jun, set in open-world China, getting a chance to explore and roam the streets, climb atop new buildings, see new sights.
What I got was a linear side-scroller with a very minimalist narrative, the kind I've grown to expect from these types of games. I admit, I was incredibly crushed. I played the game anyway, but in that defiant sort of way, where it's done more because you paid for it so you may as well get some use out of it, but you stubbornly refuse to enjoy it. You won't give the game and developers that let you down the satisfaction of you enjoying their product.
I let the game sit untouched in my PlayStation 4's library for the longest time, hardly even touching it since purchasing it. I'd started it up every now and then, play for a while, only to get frustrated and just feel a perpetual nagging disappoint that it wasn't the game I envisioned in my mind.
Once again, today, I started up this game once more, and yet, this time around something was different. I played the game for more than 30 minutes. I found myself wanting to continue. When I wasn't playing it, all I could think of was playing it. I found myself noting particularly good parts of the soundtrack, admiring the backgrounds (looking like incredibly gorgeous paintings) and the artwork used in cutscenes (sadly, no fully animated cutscenes in this game, but they sport some beautiful artwork).
Even the missions themselves were becoming enjoyable and giving me the same sort of thrill of sneaking around, quietly taking down enemies and finding new ways to progress without being seen that I got from the major titles of the franchise. I thought I might have gone crazy. Was I really just that deprived of amazing games to play that even this disappointment was bringing me joy?
The answer, quite simply, is no. Something simply changed in how I was viewing the game, it seems. My time playing it now, I realized, was spent seeing the game for what it was and what it was trying to be, and not for what I wanted for it to be and wished it would be. We all have our expectations, and those are fine, those are not terrible things to have. However, sometimes, you need to set those aside and simply let something impress with you with what it's trying to be, not what you want it to be.
It's a simple matter of not judging a fish by it's ability to climb a tree.
Sunday, August 16, 2015
Friday, September 5, 2014
Updating.
So, I should talk about what's going on this blog here since it's been a while since I've posted something. It's not a dead blog or anything, but I've gotten a position writing reviews over at Power Up Gaming: www.powerupgaming.co.uk
Only one of mine is up so far, for the game Road Not Taken.
http://powerupgaming.co.uk/articles/153-road-not-taken-review
So, what is going to happen to this blog, then? Well, to be honest, I'm not sure yet. I probably won't be posting reviews here anymore, since I'm thinking I will mostly focus on writing ones for Power Up Gaming.
But I'm still going to do something with this. I'm probably going to stick to editorial pieces like I did for Black Flag and MMORPG settings. Musings on game design and things related to games, game news, gaming culture and so on. I will try to keep it as regular as I can. I have another idea I'm toying with of what to do with the blog, which mostly involves a regular series of posts centered around The Elder Scrolls Online (once I get my hands on that game, that is).
Anyway. Go to Power Up Gaming for my reviews as well as other good game reviews, previews and other articles, and stick around here for whatever comes out here with my current plans!
Only one of mine is up so far, for the game Road Not Taken.
http://powerupgaming.co.uk/articles/153-road-not-taken-review
So, what is going to happen to this blog, then? Well, to be honest, I'm not sure yet. I probably won't be posting reviews here anymore, since I'm thinking I will mostly focus on writing ones for Power Up Gaming.
But I'm still going to do something with this. I'm probably going to stick to editorial pieces like I did for Black Flag and MMORPG settings. Musings on game design and things related to games, game news, gaming culture and so on. I will try to keep it as regular as I can. I have another idea I'm toying with of what to do with the blog, which mostly involves a regular series of posts centered around The Elder Scrolls Online (once I get my hands on that game, that is).
Anyway. Go to Power Up Gaming for my reviews as well as other good game reviews, previews and other articles, and stick around here for whatever comes out here with my current plans!
Sunday, August 3, 2014
Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag and the Perspective of the Narrative (Spoilers, naturally)
Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag is the one installment of this franchise I was, to be blunt, the most excited about getting my hands on. While I've enjoyed the series overall up to this point, despite some often frustrating and clunky feeling gameplay, this is the first that was set in a historical period that I was already familiar with prior to playing the game.
But Assassin's Creed has been going on for several years now, spanning across several games, novels, short films and comic books. The game certainly has enough lore and mythology established that it has lots of room to play and expand. But with that much in the franchise already created and a new game in the works, it does immediately raise the question: how does Black Flag change things? What makes it different from every other Assassin's Creed game that came out before it? How can you provide a fresh take to a story set in this universe?
Well, to be honest, there is a lot, but I'm going to strictly focus on the player perspective explored outside the Animus. The first that struck me as it changing things was the handling of the real world parallel story. With the losing of Desmond Miles as our central character in the real world, we are given a blank slate. With a new character being needed, Ubisoft seemed to opt for us, the players.
The game gives the player control of a voiceless, unseen protagonist who just became an employee at Abstergo Entertainment. It seems Abstergo is also in the business of making video games and films based on the historical memories found through the Animus. Us, the employee, is blissfully unaware of the true nature of Abstergo, simply viewing it as a job.
Though, naturally, as is par of the course with Assassin's Creed, the true nature of the company begins to seep through and gradually getting more noticeable as the game goes on. As a note, I found that this position provided a potential to have a unique way to experience the story of Black Flag. As I played, I found myself thinking that the experience would've been far improved by having never played a single Assassin's Creed game before, knowing absolutely nothing about the established story and lore.
The reason being that this would put you on the exact same level as this character you are already projecting yourself into. Lacking a voice, personality and character design you are naturally free to imagine yourself.
Aside from the surprisingly well-crafted sea travel and naval battles as well as the engaging characters and story for a franchise that, to me, had a story that was getting stale in regards to Ezio's story, this was a clever tactic on part of Ubisoft. It managed to balance the experience for both veterans of the Assassin's Creed franchise and to brand new players just getting off the boat.
The reprisal appearance of Rebecca and Shaun (as a courier and a barista, respectively) is a good example of this. A veteran can appreciate the new presentation of these characters, playing as someone who doesn't know who they are but having the exclusive player knowledge of their history in the franchise; but the new player gets to experience that direct experience of meeting them, getting the clues that they might not be who they seem and the surprise of the ultimate reveal of them being linked to the assassins order.
However, they way they are presented when you first meet them is them bickering about Shaun's coffee making skills. I think this is a good example of that subtle clue from the perspective of a new player to the franchise. There's the casual familiarity with which they talk and make jabs at one another. It could seem normal, even though, from your perspective, they don't work in the same place. It could be that Rebecca, as a courier, has to take things to and from Abstergo often and simply got to know Shaun. But there is something that feels like there's more to their dialogue than simply an Abstergo employee and a courier who got to know each other, coupled with the fact that Shaun, working at the coffee shop, doesn't seem to know how to make good coffee. It's small, but it provides a subtle clue that something is odd about these two people.
The same goes for the hacking elements and sticky note hunting presented in the real world missions. While they do shed some insight on what happened after the event of Desmond's death and slipping them clues about the main plot going on in the real world, the experience does seem designed for the people who have never played the games before.
It provides a clever puzzle, a smattering of clues, about Abstergo's past and the true origins of Sample 17. It gave us something that we haven't seen since the very first game: the chance to experience the world of Assassin's Creed as we did in the first game years ago, with fresh, unknowing eyes. The game resets us, but manages to make it interesting, for both old and new players to the franchise.
While veteran players certainly don't lose anything from it, I firmly believe that the best way to experience Black Flag is by knowing nothing about what happened before in the previous games.
But Assassin's Creed has been going on for several years now, spanning across several games, novels, short films and comic books. The game certainly has enough lore and mythology established that it has lots of room to play and expand. But with that much in the franchise already created and a new game in the works, it does immediately raise the question: how does Black Flag change things? What makes it different from every other Assassin's Creed game that came out before it? How can you provide a fresh take to a story set in this universe?
Well, to be honest, there is a lot, but I'm going to strictly focus on the player perspective explored outside the Animus. The first that struck me as it changing things was the handling of the real world parallel story. With the losing of Desmond Miles as our central character in the real world, we are given a blank slate. With a new character being needed, Ubisoft seemed to opt for us, the players.
The game gives the player control of a voiceless, unseen protagonist who just became an employee at Abstergo Entertainment. It seems Abstergo is also in the business of making video games and films based on the historical memories found through the Animus. Us, the employee, is blissfully unaware of the true nature of Abstergo, simply viewing it as a job.
 |
| A beautiful, first glimpse of Abstergo Entertainment. |
The reason being that this would put you on the exact same level as this character you are already projecting yourself into. Lacking a voice, personality and character design you are naturally free to imagine yourself.
Aside from the surprisingly well-crafted sea travel and naval battles as well as the engaging characters and story for a franchise that, to me, had a story that was getting stale in regards to Ezio's story, this was a clever tactic on part of Ubisoft. It managed to balance the experience for both veterans of the Assassin's Creed franchise and to brand new players just getting off the boat.
The reprisal appearance of Rebecca and Shaun (as a courier and a barista, respectively) is a good example of this. A veteran can appreciate the new presentation of these characters, playing as someone who doesn't know who they are but having the exclusive player knowledge of their history in the franchise; but the new player gets to experience that direct experience of meeting them, getting the clues that they might not be who they seem and the surprise of the ultimate reveal of them being linked to the assassins order.
However, they way they are presented when you first meet them is them bickering about Shaun's coffee making skills. I think this is a good example of that subtle clue from the perspective of a new player to the franchise. There's the casual familiarity with which they talk and make jabs at one another. It could seem normal, even though, from your perspective, they don't work in the same place. It could be that Rebecca, as a courier, has to take things to and from Abstergo often and simply got to know Shaun. But there is something that feels like there's more to their dialogue than simply an Abstergo employee and a courier who got to know each other, coupled with the fact that Shaun, working at the coffee shop, doesn't seem to know how to make good coffee. It's small, but it provides a subtle clue that something is odd about these two people.
 |
| I would say my one complaint is not seeing more scenes of Rebecca and Shaun together. |
The same goes for the hacking elements and sticky note hunting presented in the real world missions. While they do shed some insight on what happened after the event of Desmond's death and slipping them clues about the main plot going on in the real world, the experience does seem designed for the people who have never played the games before.
It provides a clever puzzle, a smattering of clues, about Abstergo's past and the true origins of Sample 17. It gave us something that we haven't seen since the very first game: the chance to experience the world of Assassin's Creed as we did in the first game years ago, with fresh, unknowing eyes. The game resets us, but manages to make it interesting, for both old and new players to the franchise.
While veteran players certainly don't lose anything from it, I firmly believe that the best way to experience Black Flag is by knowing nothing about what happened before in the previous games.
Wednesday, July 9, 2014
So Far Away, But Not So Far From Home: On MMORPGs and the Importance of Setting.
My interest in games over the past 12 years has been occupied by an on-going quest. Something I've been constantly striving to find amidst all the other games I've played over the years. It's my Holy Grail, my Fountain of Youth, my Three-Eyed Raven. It was something I was determined to find and I knew had to be out there, despite the constant slog through ones that, to me, were simply inferior.
My quest to find this "Perfect MMORPG" most certainly stemmed from my love of the .hack franchise, set in a fictional MMORPG known as "The World." My love of the series, which has had some rocky moments, is still alive and well to this day. In my freshman year of high school I became enamored with the franchise, with the introduction of the anime, .hack//SIGN and the first four video games in the series. It had all the elements I craved from something like this: good story, memorable characters, good music (more so in SIGN than the games) and good, solid gameplay. I had never played an RPG that didn't have turn-based combat, but I thought the games accomplished it well. I loved still being able to make use of strategy during the combat sessions while having the real-time pace.
But I'm getting off-topic. Why did this spark my quest to find an MMORPG that, to me, was sheer perfection? Well, I fell in love with the setting. The World, at least as how I saw it through the design of the anime, the games and the manga of the .hack franchise was a beautiful place to be. As long as you excluded the countless coma victims, maliciously sentient AI and so on. But the in-game MMORPG, The World, was one with an interesting lore, unique character and world aesthetics and several events that made me wish it was real so I could play it.
This was semi-satisfied by an MMO of The World actually being made, but the screenshots I'd seen left something to be desired. On top of this, to my disappointment, it was only released in Japan. The game was also only playable for 6 months, but they later lengthened it to a full year before shutting the servers down. So clearly that was not going to be an option for me.
But in that interim time, I tried out any MMORPG that I could in search of one that could give me that same feeling The World did, but with a real one as opposed to the simulated variety. It began with Ragnarok Online, around 2003. Ragnarok Online, my first introduction to actually playing an MMORPG. I don't fully recall my experiences. I didn't play for that long. At most, I had played the game for a month, a month and a half at most. It certainly had the aesthetic I was after, but it just didn't cut it for me. I didn't feel like I had a good world to explore or any exciting adventures to have.
Keep in mind, I don't mean to imply Ragnarok Online is a horrible game. I was going in with unfair expectations, given the technology of games at the time. What I was after simply wasn't possible in RO.
I wouldn't move on to another MMORPG for another few years, until I landed my first job and was able to pay the monthly fee for my own. In this time, I had settled on World of Warcraft, missing out on Final Fantasy XI. World of Warcraft seemed to be precisely what I was looking for and it is certainly one of the MMORPGs I stuck with for the longest time. When I found myself in places like Booty Bay or the Un'Goro Crater, I certainly fell in love with the aesthetic of these locations. I felt I could easily spend my time here and make worth the invested hours.
But when it came right down to it, the lore of the world wasn't interesting to me. It didn't feel like a real place most of the time. The factors I didn't like began to outweigh the ones I did. I became more accustomed to seeing the more irritating side of the community, being killed by higher level players I didn't stand a chance against and being told to learn to play the game properly. It never felt like a welcoming one to me unless I played with a friend of mine. I only knew one friend who played it at the time and they later quit the game to focus on school, so I was left to play solo. I was fine with this, up until I had the realization I was only enjoying myself playing before because I was playing with them.
Eventually, I gave up my subscription and went on to look for greener pastures. I certainly saw some other MMORPGs that looked promising, such as AION, but I simply lacked a computer capable of playing that one. I ended up testing the waters of two other MMOs since that time: DC Universe Online, City of Villains and Ryzom. DCUO and City of Villains, for me, quickly fell into the same trappings of World of Warcraft. I can't say I had a good vibe from the player community there and while I'm not opposed to superheroes or even playing as a more villainous character (I was certainly proud of my fire-based ninja girl), it still wasn't what I was after. It didn't have a good game feel for me, personally.
Ryzom was the lowest point of my journey through the world of MMOs. Most of them, I try to play for at least a few hours to get a sense of the game. The moment I began Ryzom, I knew this was not going to be the one for me. None of it even met the bare sense of my criteria. I felt no obligation to be social in this dull, muted-color setting of the game. Any players I did attempt to be social and speak with was met with general silence. It quickly became a group of people wandering around the beginners area completing ultimately bland quests. It was a rare moment I was instantly dissatisfied with a game.
I was admittedly beginning to lose hope. I felt I tried every MMO that was available to me that looked as though it had potential to be what I was looking for, but none of them lived up to it, even in the most basic sense. I often wondered if I was setting my expectations far too high. Did I simply decide to use a fictional MMORPG as my basis for what made a good one in a fit of youthful arrogance? It was sure starting to feel that way.
But then, I saw Final Fantasy XIV. Seeing screenshots and videos of this being released to the public gave me that sense of excitement. It was the most promising thing I'd seen that just might live up to my expectations. I found myself waiting far too long for it. There was most certainly some overlap in my waiting for this game and my time spent trying others. It was frustrating, seeing something with this much promise to me and having to constantly push it to the back burner.
Then there was the constant complaints about the game. Reports from players all over the world about how broken this game was and even hearing stories about how no one was being charged for the game for months on end and compensation for how poor the gameplay was. That was something unheard of to me. But after months of hearing these justifiably slanderous reports, the entire game was rebooted as Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn and, now that I possessed a system able to play it, I quickly snatched up the game.
And it was everything I wanted it to be. It's not to say the game doesn't have it's problems or it's bad seeds in the community. I've certainly had some bad experiences with obnoxious quests and obnoxious players who don't seem to handle themselves well in the dungeons. Though, I was that way with my first time making my way through Satasha, the earliest dungeon in the game, so I can't entirely criticize.
But it hit everything I wanted. I found myself caring about the lore in this game and the aesthetic of the world and the characters is exactly what I was looking for. I have yet to witness many events, but I've certainly liked the ones I've come across. The event they put into action around Halloween was one that I enjoyed the most, especially seeing Limsa Lominsa decorated with all kinds of jack-o-lanterns and hanging bats. I enjoy battling and questing in the game, but there are times when I simply love walking around in the world, through its various beaches and forests and deserts and snowy mountains.
But I suppose this begs the question...why does this matter? Why is this so important to me? Why did I spend so many years trying to find just the right one with my admittedly high expectations? I mean, it's a game, right? Who cares about the lore and the setting when the game itself is fun? I know there are people who might be confused by this approach to it, and there's nothing inherently wrong with that. In the end, the gameplay is what matters the most.
But when it comes to MMORPGs, more so than in other games, the setting does need to feel rich and alive. MMORPGs are a method of escapism. It's taking a break from the world you live in and spending time in another one. It needs to feel alive and like it's a real place with a thriving culture and people and just an overall sense of character. I never found that in any of the other MMOs that I've played until this one. George R.R. Martin wrote that "[f]antasy is written in the language of dreams. It is alive as dreams are alive, more real than real...for a moment at least....that long magic moment before we wake."
The stress for a good setting with a good lore is a priority for MMORPGs. The players are going to be spending money on a monthly basis to spend several hours at a time in this world. While it doesn't matter to some, those who like to play the game for the roleplaying aspect need to feel like they have a thriving world to play their roles in. If the lore doesn't feel fleshed out or is even just boring, pure and simple, you lose the appeal for that brand of players. For those players, that is a major part of it and you won't hold their interest if you don't keep that in mind. There may be no surefire way to tell what will work with certain players in terms of the setting and what won't, but it will make or break the game for them all the same.
When it comes to creating a fantasy game for an MMO, the world needs to feel alive and real as well as being fantastic and unlike our world at all. This may differ from person to person. It's just as possible that people will fall in love with the world of Ryzom or World of Warcraft. But for me, Eorzea is the most realistic place I've been to in an MMORPG. I feel more driven to explore, see new places and meet new people. I feel I can say with certainty that, after many years, I've finally found the game that was what I was personally after and one I will feel comfortable staying with.
At least, until I'm able to play The Elder Scrolls Online. Tamriel is a hard place to resist. I can't see myself abandoning Final Fantasy XIV in favor of it, but I suppose I won't know until I get there.
My quest to find this "Perfect MMORPG" most certainly stemmed from my love of the .hack franchise, set in a fictional MMORPG known as "The World." My love of the series, which has had some rocky moments, is still alive and well to this day. In my freshman year of high school I became enamored with the franchise, with the introduction of the anime, .hack//SIGN and the first four video games in the series. It had all the elements I craved from something like this: good story, memorable characters, good music (more so in SIGN than the games) and good, solid gameplay. I had never played an RPG that didn't have turn-based combat, but I thought the games accomplished it well. I loved still being able to make use of strategy during the combat sessions while having the real-time pace.
But I'm getting off-topic. Why did this spark my quest to find an MMORPG that, to me, was sheer perfection? Well, I fell in love with the setting. The World, at least as how I saw it through the design of the anime, the games and the manga of the .hack franchise was a beautiful place to be. As long as you excluded the countless coma victims, maliciously sentient AI and so on. But the in-game MMORPG, The World, was one with an interesting lore, unique character and world aesthetics and several events that made me wish it was real so I could play it.
This was semi-satisfied by an MMO of The World actually being made, but the screenshots I'd seen left something to be desired. On top of this, to my disappointment, it was only released in Japan. The game was also only playable for 6 months, but they later lengthened it to a full year before shutting the servers down. So clearly that was not going to be an option for me.
But in that interim time, I tried out any MMORPG that I could in search of one that could give me that same feeling The World did, but with a real one as opposed to the simulated variety. It began with Ragnarok Online, around 2003. Ragnarok Online, my first introduction to actually playing an MMORPG. I don't fully recall my experiences. I didn't play for that long. At most, I had played the game for a month, a month and a half at most. It certainly had the aesthetic I was after, but it just didn't cut it for me. I didn't feel like I had a good world to explore or any exciting adventures to have.
Keep in mind, I don't mean to imply Ragnarok Online is a horrible game. I was going in with unfair expectations, given the technology of games at the time. What I was after simply wasn't possible in RO.
I wouldn't move on to another MMORPG for another few years, until I landed my first job and was able to pay the monthly fee for my own. In this time, I had settled on World of Warcraft, missing out on Final Fantasy XI. World of Warcraft seemed to be precisely what I was looking for and it is certainly one of the MMORPGs I stuck with for the longest time. When I found myself in places like Booty Bay or the Un'Goro Crater, I certainly fell in love with the aesthetic of these locations. I felt I could easily spend my time here and make worth the invested hours.
But when it came right down to it, the lore of the world wasn't interesting to me. It didn't feel like a real place most of the time. The factors I didn't like began to outweigh the ones I did. I became more accustomed to seeing the more irritating side of the community, being killed by higher level players I didn't stand a chance against and being told to learn to play the game properly. It never felt like a welcoming one to me unless I played with a friend of mine. I only knew one friend who played it at the time and they later quit the game to focus on school, so I was left to play solo. I was fine with this, up until I had the realization I was only enjoying myself playing before because I was playing with them.
Eventually, I gave up my subscription and went on to look for greener pastures. I certainly saw some other MMORPGs that looked promising, such as AION, but I simply lacked a computer capable of playing that one. I ended up testing the waters of two other MMOs since that time: DC Universe Online, City of Villains and Ryzom. DCUO and City of Villains, for me, quickly fell into the same trappings of World of Warcraft. I can't say I had a good vibe from the player community there and while I'm not opposed to superheroes or even playing as a more villainous character (I was certainly proud of my fire-based ninja girl), it still wasn't what I was after. It didn't have a good game feel for me, personally.
Ryzom was the lowest point of my journey through the world of MMOs. Most of them, I try to play for at least a few hours to get a sense of the game. The moment I began Ryzom, I knew this was not going to be the one for me. None of it even met the bare sense of my criteria. I felt no obligation to be social in this dull, muted-color setting of the game. Any players I did attempt to be social and speak with was met with general silence. It quickly became a group of people wandering around the beginners area completing ultimately bland quests. It was a rare moment I was instantly dissatisfied with a game.
I was admittedly beginning to lose hope. I felt I tried every MMO that was available to me that looked as though it had potential to be what I was looking for, but none of them lived up to it, even in the most basic sense. I often wondered if I was setting my expectations far too high. Did I simply decide to use a fictional MMORPG as my basis for what made a good one in a fit of youthful arrogance? It was sure starting to feel that way.
But then, I saw Final Fantasy XIV. Seeing screenshots and videos of this being released to the public gave me that sense of excitement. It was the most promising thing I'd seen that just might live up to my expectations. I found myself waiting far too long for it. There was most certainly some overlap in my waiting for this game and my time spent trying others. It was frustrating, seeing something with this much promise to me and having to constantly push it to the back burner.
Then there was the constant complaints about the game. Reports from players all over the world about how broken this game was and even hearing stories about how no one was being charged for the game for months on end and compensation for how poor the gameplay was. That was something unheard of to me. But after months of hearing these justifiably slanderous reports, the entire game was rebooted as Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn and, now that I possessed a system able to play it, I quickly snatched up the game.
And it was everything I wanted it to be. It's not to say the game doesn't have it's problems or it's bad seeds in the community. I've certainly had some bad experiences with obnoxious quests and obnoxious players who don't seem to handle themselves well in the dungeons. Though, I was that way with my first time making my way through Satasha, the earliest dungeon in the game, so I can't entirely criticize.
But it hit everything I wanted. I found myself caring about the lore in this game and the aesthetic of the world and the characters is exactly what I was looking for. I have yet to witness many events, but I've certainly liked the ones I've come across. The event they put into action around Halloween was one that I enjoyed the most, especially seeing Limsa Lominsa decorated with all kinds of jack-o-lanterns and hanging bats. I enjoy battling and questing in the game, but there are times when I simply love walking around in the world, through its various beaches and forests and deserts and snowy mountains.
But I suppose this begs the question...why does this matter? Why is this so important to me? Why did I spend so many years trying to find just the right one with my admittedly high expectations? I mean, it's a game, right? Who cares about the lore and the setting when the game itself is fun? I know there are people who might be confused by this approach to it, and there's nothing inherently wrong with that. In the end, the gameplay is what matters the most.
But when it comes to MMORPGs, more so than in other games, the setting does need to feel rich and alive. MMORPGs are a method of escapism. It's taking a break from the world you live in and spending time in another one. It needs to feel alive and like it's a real place with a thriving culture and people and just an overall sense of character. I never found that in any of the other MMOs that I've played until this one. George R.R. Martin wrote that "[f]antasy is written in the language of dreams. It is alive as dreams are alive, more real than real...for a moment at least....that long magic moment before we wake."
The stress for a good setting with a good lore is a priority for MMORPGs. The players are going to be spending money on a monthly basis to spend several hours at a time in this world. While it doesn't matter to some, those who like to play the game for the roleplaying aspect need to feel like they have a thriving world to play their roles in. If the lore doesn't feel fleshed out or is even just boring, pure and simple, you lose the appeal for that brand of players. For those players, that is a major part of it and you won't hold their interest if you don't keep that in mind. There may be no surefire way to tell what will work with certain players in terms of the setting and what won't, but it will make or break the game for them all the same.
When it comes to creating a fantasy game for an MMO, the world needs to feel alive and real as well as being fantastic and unlike our world at all. This may differ from person to person. It's just as possible that people will fall in love with the world of Ryzom or World of Warcraft. But for me, Eorzea is the most realistic place I've been to in an MMORPG. I feel more driven to explore, see new places and meet new people. I feel I can say with certainty that, after many years, I've finally found the game that was what I was personally after and one I will feel comfortable staying with.
At least, until I'm able to play The Elder Scrolls Online. Tamriel is a hard place to resist. I can't see myself abandoning Final Fantasy XIV in favor of it, but I suppose I won't know until I get there.
Wednesday, June 25, 2014
Trine 2
Alongside horror, fantasy is a genre that is likewise very near and dear to me, particularly those in that of a more medieval setting. While I hadn't played the first, Trine 2 seemed like it was going to fit that bill and it has been a while since I've played a good puzzle/platformer game.
Trine 2 comes to use from the developers Frozenbyte. Having not played the previous Trine, I personally went in not knowing what precisely to expect. After getting some background information on the game's universe and the characters and the idea of he trine itself, some kind of MacGuffin-esque sounding magical item. My first impression of the game initially came from the writing, which I could best describe as hoaky. My taste for the writing in fantasy generally comes from game series such as The Elder Scrolls which, while laden with some silly and humorous moments here and there, generally keeps itself serious in its tone. The three character's I was presented with (Pontius, a knight, Amadeus, a wizard and Zora, a thief) had dialogue that seemed mostly based around exchanging witticisms and jokes. Pontius in particular seems to be the source of the humor, being generally oafish and concerned with food.
But I'm admittedly hesitant to consider that a negative point in the game. The tone of the game is clearly directed at a younger audience or those who would probably consider themselves young at heart. For those who like a bit more of a serious tone in stories in their games and not particularly find of more childish writing might find this unappealing about the game. I did at first, but it eventually grew on me, and I actually found a bit refreshing as a break from the games who like to go for the tone of gritty realism these days. In a way, it reminded me of being a kid and playing games like Spyro again. The writing is silly, sure, but it was nice to go back to that sort of imaginative, child's fairytale sort of feeling. Admittedly, as I played, the character's did begin to have their own charm and grow on me.
But, of course, the gameplay is the most important thing, and Trine 2 certainly has a lot of good gameplay to deliver. The game keeps on a sidescrolling trend in the gameplay, revolving around puzzles that require alternative between the three characters in order to progress. It struck me as a really unique way to go about it. Each character has a different strength or ability that plays into the constructions of the puzzles, though some of them can be done with any of the characters and don't require any specific skills.
The combat itself is equally as fun, which in my experience, is not always the case with puzzle-platformer games, since that's not the main point of the game. You aren't playing it simply to fight your way through hordes of enemies, and so often times dealing with enemies feels more difficult when you have to. The combat of Trine 2 can still have it's difficulties, but in terms of the general flow, it's very solid and nicely paced. The entire game is nicely paced as well.
What I enjoyed in particular was that the boss battles are treated like puzzles as well. While the standard enemies you can easily hack and slash your way through, or pierce with arrows and crush with magic and so on, the bosses required some thought and often, as I played, had to be defeated through indirect means. Sometimes I even simply had to find a way to escape from them without actually fighting them. In a sense, all boss battles are puzzles, in a matter of speaking. But Trine 2 tried something different having to notice the patterns in the boss's behavior and look for what their weaknesses might be. While I enjoy that as well, seeing something that felt different and worked well was exciting, too.
My only negative criticisms would be what I had previously said would be the writing. While I don't think it's particularly bad, it's definitely one that might not be suited to every player's tastes. The voice acting, to me, is not incredibly impressive, either. It's far from the worst that I've heard in games, but far from the best. Though, with Trine 2, it seems like the game where the story and the characters are ultimately secondary to the experience and so it's not of the utmost importance.
Visually, I feel the game is really stunning. Most of it looked nice, but ultimately kept moving. Every now and then, though, I did have to stop and actually just enjoy the look of some of the levels and areas this game had to offer. They all feel very different from one another and it certainly does have a character of its own, with all the different, vibrant colors and unique plants and animals that populate the areas. It's most certainly a gorgeous game to look at.
Trine was a game I was unsure of, though I had heard some praise for the first, despite ultimately never setting out to play it. Getting my chance to play Trine 2 is one I don't regret. Try as I might, I felt like the truly glaring flaws were difficult to come across (with the exception of perhaps the double jump not quite working in my favor when I felt it should have). If anything, it's convinced to play the first Trine as well.
Tuesday, June 17, 2014
Contrast
This is a review where I backtrack ever so slightly in my gaming experiences. Contrast was one of the first games that I played for the PlayStation 4. The game itself was developed by Compulsion Games and it's a puzzle/platform game in the purest sense of the genre. When I started the game, the first thing that I notably enjoyed about it right away was the setting.
The game as a 1920s noir style of setting, clearly taking a lot of inspiration from the Jazz Age. The flavor is one that I feel is unique to the game, but had me reminiscent of certain films I'd seen in the past, particularly films by Jean-Pierre Jeanet, like City of Lost Children and Amélie. There is this dark tone to it, but all the while giving off this very surreal feeling of wonderment. The world has a real personality and style that is fairly gorgeous to look at in the game. The soundtrack itself has a nice charm to it, definitely embracing the music of the era that inspired it. There was something very satisfying of walking down a darkly lit street with the neon signs of bars and clubs in the distance and slowly beginning to hear up-tempo jazz music begin to play.
The story itself, however, is what I found the most lackluster. You take control of Dawn, who appears to be the imaginary friend of a young girl named Didi. As you venture through the game, you begin to learn more about Didi and the life she has with her parents. You go on learning about the troubles between her parents, her dad's attempts to make money constantly failing and getting himself in shady situations and so on. It wasn't the most terribly original story, but in the context of a game like Contrast, the story is not the main focus.
The platforming and puzzles all come from this motif, where you often have to play with shadow and light in order to solve them. To me, it's one of the more unique and clever approaches to puzzles in a game that I've come across in a very long time. They were challenging, but they were still possible, and it was satisfying when I found myself able to complete one.
Visually, the game is far from perfect. It would be pretty far down the list for a game I would choose to showcase what the PS4 and other nextgen systems are presently capable of, as it certainly does not do the system justice. As I had said before, this does not mean the game is looks awful by any means. In light of the small team that seemed to work on this game, going by those standards, I would consider the game to be very impressive.
The game is simple. It's there to tell you a new and compelling story of human drama (though I do find the characters charming and likable) nor does it really make ground-breaking changes to the way video games are played, particularly in the puzzle-platformer genre. But, the game does manage to feel different and give the notion that I'm not playing every other puzzle game I've played for. Contrast does manage to do some very interesting things with the mechanics it introduces in its puzzles.
Tuesday, June 10, 2014
Daylight
Horror is a genre that is very near and dear to my heart, as will probably become abundantly clear in upcoming reviews. I've always been particularly fond of the supernatural variety of horror, dealing with ghosts and various other things lurking in the dark hallways of various haunted places. In terms of games, for me, this goes as far back as the first time I played Fatal Frame and stepped into the halls of the Himuro Mansion and years later into All God's Village. Up to that point, my exposure to the survival horror genre was that of Resident Evil.
Those games are a fine introduction, but games along the lines of Fatal Frame showed me something new; something different. I was powerless in the horror setting that the game had put me into. I wasn't some well-trained soldier or part of a special task force, with enough allies and firepower to get me through whatever horrors awaited me. No, I was simply one person, alone, with a camera and nothing more. Resident Evil is still very special to me as a game, but Fatal Frame gave my the taste of what I really want out of a survival horror game.
Sadly, this is a taste that has rarely been satisfied in recent years of survival horror games. There definitely have been some quality ones, Dead Space being among one of my favorites in recent years. It did fall into the usual fare of them recently of giving me enough firepower to dissolve any fear I might have. Though, to the game's credit, the atmosphere of loneliness and isolation was excellently conveyed. But it left me still wanting that old sensation I craved. The feeling like I truly had to survive against supernatural and impossible odds.
Then I discovered Daylight. Daylight is a game developed by Zombie Studios. The moment I started up the game, I had the feeling it was what I was after. It started in the usual way, waking up in an empty asylum and realized I need to find my way out. I found myself armed only with a cell phone, providing me light and a map, and my main tools being glow sticks and flares.
The game itself exists in sections, usually placing you in various parts of the asylum and the island it rests on. There is a very simple goal for each of the sections. You have to collect what are referred to as remnants, pieces of evidence that fill you in on the past of the asylum and the spirits that haunt it now. You have to obtain six in each section, but there are always more than six and you can still pick up all of them.
That being said, there are two types of notes that you can pick up. The remnants, which tend to glow red, are the ones you need to get to advance. They get you closer to the next part of the goal in each area, but also increase the presence of enemies within the area. There are other notes that have more of a blue aura around them. They also shed light on the past of the asylum, but have no affect on enemy presence and they don't count as remnants.
Once you find them all, the mysterious and disembodied voice guiding you through this whole adventure lets you know that the sigil has appeared in the area and you must retrieve it. Now, this is where the game gets interesting. The game itself is entirely procedural game play. Everything is randomly generated. This was actually both what I liked about it and also what caused my biggest grievance with the game. It definitely added a good element of panic to the game, especially when you are trying to run and find the end goal of the area while evading enemies, sometimes getting constantly turned around and getting lost repeatedly got increasingly annoying and less enjoyable as it went on.
Many things about this game are simplistic, and intentionally so. Part of me welcomes the change, as it feels like an interesting direction for gaming to go. While it's never given me trouble, some games now can be fairly convoluted with the tools and skills that makes available to you. With Daylight, you really only need to make use of two. The one you will likely use the most are the glow sticks, which give a little more light to the surrounding area than the light from your phone will. As an added bonus, having a glow stick out makes it easier to find remnants, notes and important objects, like lockers and desks and so on. It gives them a more noticeable look that you can see from a good distance, and lets you find some item stashes that you may have missed otherwise.
Flares, however, are strictly reserved for enemies. Various ghosts and shadowy figures wander the halls of this asylum and much like the areas in the game, the enemies are randomly generated. They rarely spawn in the same place and can appear any time. As I played, the glow sticks seemed to keep them away from me and give me enough time to run from, but only the flares will actually kill them, or at least cause them to vanish for a while so you can continue on. Most of the time, these flares seemed to be in short supply and in later areas in the game I found myself running more than anything.
Interestingly enough, you don't encounter these aggressive spirits until after you go through the first few areas of the game. As you begin, the first few scares come in small doses. Mysterious figures darting quickly down a hallway in the distance, drawers suddenly opening, tipped over chairs righting themselves out of nowhere (even ghosts want their haunting grounds to be tidy, I guess), and so on. None of those really impressed me aside from making me startled for a few seconds. It's a cheap horror trick, but it did get me a little on edge, so maybe it's not as bad of a horror tactic as I think.
However, for me, the atmosphere really began to settle in when I started hearing the sounds. Most of the time it was strange, vaguely human howls echoing down the halls of the asylum, coupled with the map on my phone getting filled with an increasing amount of static and glitches. This is where I thought the game did a really excellent job of creating that tension. The periodic howls, with locations that were hard to discern, were extremely grating and unnerving. Sometimes they'd be far away, then sometimes they'd be closer and then far away again. I never really could tell if it was getting closer, searching for me, or just idling around making these tortured, animal-like wailing sounds.
A more common scare I found, a tactic more lifted from the F.E.A.R. games, were the sudden changes in scenery. There would be a crackling snap after picking up the remnants, and I find myself in a different room only to encounter a ghost. It doesn't attack me or harm me, but it will do something or say something unnerving or fairly creepy. A distinct one I remember was in a storage warehouse, a ghost approaching me from amongst the rows of shelves with an increasing amount of fire surrounding it. While an effective scene, it's one I've seen before, and is just about directly lifted from F.E.A.R. as I said before.
I'm not covering much of the story, for the sake of spoilers, but naturally as you play you learn more of the history of this asylum and what exactly happened. So, in the end, the major question is this: does Daylight satisfy the craving I've been wanting from survival horror games? Well, the answer is more of a yes and no.
Personally, Daylight doesn't reinvent in the wheel, nor does it really do very many interesting things with the wheel we already have. It's not a perfect game, and for the most part, seems to be making use of tactics that other games have previously used, only not as well. In that regard, I would say that it doesn't. Not as well as it could have.
But I do have respect for the game and for Zombie Studios as well. Because this, to me, shows that there is that realization of what a survival horror game should be like creeping back into the minds of developers. The way I see it, even if you create a great, creepy atmosphere for your game and give it some wonderful, memorable and terrifying enemies, the moment you give me a really powerful weapon and a suit of armor and even some allies, the feeling of terror gets lessened. Games like Dead Space can still be excellently creepy in their own right, but for me, this philosophy that Daylight is attempting to adhere to is what makes for a truly great survival horror game.
So, the game is not perfect or terribly original, but it gives me a good sense of hope that survival horror developers are thinking along the right lines again. There are a few more horror games in my lineup to play, and with hope, they'll succeed in giving me that flavor I'm so eagerly looking for.
Those games are a fine introduction, but games along the lines of Fatal Frame showed me something new; something different. I was powerless in the horror setting that the game had put me into. I wasn't some well-trained soldier or part of a special task force, with enough allies and firepower to get me through whatever horrors awaited me. No, I was simply one person, alone, with a camera and nothing more. Resident Evil is still very special to me as a game, but Fatal Frame gave my the taste of what I really want out of a survival horror game.
Sadly, this is a taste that has rarely been satisfied in recent years of survival horror games. There definitely have been some quality ones, Dead Space being among one of my favorites in recent years. It did fall into the usual fare of them recently of giving me enough firepower to dissolve any fear I might have. Though, to the game's credit, the atmosphere of loneliness and isolation was excellently conveyed. But it left me still wanting that old sensation I craved. The feeling like I truly had to survive against supernatural and impossible odds.
Then I discovered Daylight. Daylight is a game developed by Zombie Studios. The moment I started up the game, I had the feeling it was what I was after. It started in the usual way, waking up in an empty asylum and realized I need to find my way out. I found myself armed only with a cell phone, providing me light and a map, and my main tools being glow sticks and flares.
The game itself exists in sections, usually placing you in various parts of the asylum and the island it rests on. There is a very simple goal for each of the sections. You have to collect what are referred to as remnants, pieces of evidence that fill you in on the past of the asylum and the spirits that haunt it now. You have to obtain six in each section, but there are always more than six and you can still pick up all of them.
 | |||
| A good first note to find. Good for morale. |
Once you find them all, the mysterious and disembodied voice guiding you through this whole adventure lets you know that the sigil has appeared in the area and you must retrieve it. Now, this is where the game gets interesting. The game itself is entirely procedural game play. Everything is randomly generated. This was actually both what I liked about it and also what caused my biggest grievance with the game. It definitely added a good element of panic to the game, especially when you are trying to run and find the end goal of the area while evading enemies, sometimes getting constantly turned around and getting lost repeatedly got increasingly annoying and less enjoyable as it went on.
 |
| One of the sigil rooms... |
 | ||
| ...and the sigil door you need to bring it to. |
Many things about this game are simplistic, and intentionally so. Part of me welcomes the change, as it feels like an interesting direction for gaming to go. While it's never given me trouble, some games now can be fairly convoluted with the tools and skills that makes available to you. With Daylight, you really only need to make use of two. The one you will likely use the most are the glow sticks, which give a little more light to the surrounding area than the light from your phone will. As an added bonus, having a glow stick out makes it easier to find remnants, notes and important objects, like lockers and desks and so on. It gives them a more noticeable look that you can see from a good distance, and lets you find some item stashes that you may have missed otherwise.
 | |||
| Using a glow stick will give objects you can search a distinct outline. |
Interestingly enough, you don't encounter these aggressive spirits until after you go through the first few areas of the game. As you begin, the first few scares come in small doses. Mysterious figures darting quickly down a hallway in the distance, drawers suddenly opening, tipped over chairs righting themselves out of nowhere (even ghosts want their haunting grounds to be tidy, I guess), and so on. None of those really impressed me aside from making me startled for a few seconds. It's a cheap horror trick, but it did get me a little on edge, so maybe it's not as bad of a horror tactic as I think.
However, for me, the atmosphere really began to settle in when I started hearing the sounds. Most of the time it was strange, vaguely human howls echoing down the halls of the asylum, coupled with the map on my phone getting filled with an increasing amount of static and glitches. This is where I thought the game did a really excellent job of creating that tension. The periodic howls, with locations that were hard to discern, were extremely grating and unnerving. Sometimes they'd be far away, then sometimes they'd be closer and then far away again. I never really could tell if it was getting closer, searching for me, or just idling around making these tortured, animal-like wailing sounds.
A more common scare I found, a tactic more lifted from the F.E.A.R. games, were the sudden changes in scenery. There would be a crackling snap after picking up the remnants, and I find myself in a different room only to encounter a ghost. It doesn't attack me or harm me, but it will do something or say something unnerving or fairly creepy. A distinct one I remember was in a storage warehouse, a ghost approaching me from amongst the rows of shelves with an increasing amount of fire surrounding it. While an effective scene, it's one I've seen before, and is just about directly lifted from F.E.A.R. as I said before.
 | |
| Alma would be proud, I'm sure. |
Personally, Daylight doesn't reinvent in the wheel, nor does it really do very many interesting things with the wheel we already have. It's not a perfect game, and for the most part, seems to be making use of tactics that other games have previously used, only not as well. In that regard, I would say that it doesn't. Not as well as it could have.
But I do have respect for the game and for Zombie Studios as well. Because this, to me, shows that there is that realization of what a survival horror game should be like creeping back into the minds of developers. The way I see it, even if you create a great, creepy atmosphere for your game and give it some wonderful, memorable and terrifying enemies, the moment you give me a really powerful weapon and a suit of armor and even some allies, the feeling of terror gets lessened. Games like Dead Space can still be excellently creepy in their own right, but for me, this philosophy that Daylight is attempting to adhere to is what makes for a truly great survival horror game.
So, the game is not perfect or terribly original, but it gives me a good sense of hope that survival horror developers are thinking along the right lines again. There are a few more horror games in my lineup to play, and with hope, they'll succeed in giving me that flavor I'm so eagerly looking for.
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