1313: What Never Was

I'm not the biggest Star Wars fan out there but I can still enjoy the series, and I damn sure respect it. I sort of see Star Wars the same way I see the Beatles: I'm a huge Beatles fan, and considering they were together for less than a decade, the shear amount of quality music they put out is crazy. People can choose not to listen or even enjoy them, sure, but they have to at least appreciate and respect what they did. I see Star Wars in the same light. I happen to be a fan of the genre, but personally I've always been more of a Star Trek kinda guy. All that being said, what makes Star Wars so fantastic is its extended universe. There's a stupid amount of novels released for the series and it's pretty impressive how they've never really slowed down. There is so much source material there for anything: games, movies, TV shows, comics... not sure what else you can turn it into, but you get the point! Some of the best stuff doesn't even have a Jedi involved.

For instance, the recently canceled Star Wars: 1313 was going to be about the Coruscant underworld; bounty hunters abound and scum of the earth running rampant. The E3 demo video they had released before Disney purchased Lucasfilm was pretty crazy, and to say that Disney's decision to cancel the game was a disappointment would be an understatement. In any case, the way that Disney is handling the control of Marvel is reason enough to have some hope for the Star Wars franchise and hopefully its future games and not just movies / TV shows.

There is still Battlefront 3 to look forward to though, and considering DICE is handling the development, you can expect it to be good. I know I haven't been the biggest fan of the Battlefield franchise of late, but with a fresh coat of Star Wars paint on it, who knows, maybe it will be better by proxy...at least I hope so.  Unfortunately not much is known about Battlefront 3. Last E3 there was a teaser for it, and DICE released a dev-blog type video for it, where they went on to express their enthusiasm for working with this franchise, but not much else.

Back to the books. Just to give you a little bit of an idea for how many novels comprise the expanded universe of Star Wars, have a gander at this photo:

That's not even all of them. There is another page I did not bother capturing that shows all the novels that take place years after the original trilogy. While I have not actually read any of these novels, I do know some shit does go down. It's also really cool that the novels come with a timeline. There is just so many books, and for anyone just starting out, it's kind of intimidating / daunting to figure out where to go. Speaking of which, I actually picked one of these up the other day. I decided to start with Scoundrels, since it's the first novel after episode IV that actually has characters I know in it...all those "Tales From" books are anthologies of short stories, which I knew I did not want to start with. Let's see how into this I become.

For curiosities sake, has anyone read a handful of these? Where did you start and why?

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Hunting For Classics

When I used to work at a local Microplay here in Montreal—Microplay being something similar to a Gamestop, but also with video game rentals—I used to pick up every single used classic game I could get my hands on. Picking up games like Secret of Mana and Chrono Trigger, in the box no less, was awesome. Along with buying gems from Microplay, I did play around a bit on eBay, but as many games as I bought and added to my collection, there was still a few to this day that I would love to have a look for again.

Alundra

The first Alundra for the PS1 is supposed to be fantastic. Like many games of the generation it was 2D-sprite based, and it was suppose to play and feel sort of like a Zelda game/ Secret of Mana. The reason I even ever heard about this game is because I had picked up Alundra 2 for the PS1 as a kid way before I ever started collecting games. Alundra 2 is actually not that great if memory serves. They changed the graphics from 2D to 3D, removed any semblance of an RPG from it and turned the game into this sort of sub-par, level-to-level action-adventure game. I remember having fun with it as a kid, but considering how much praise the original gets, I'm a little sad the second one just isn't quite as good. In any case, I would still be interesting in adding this game to my collection.

Valkyrie Profile

This is the game that got away. When I was a kid, Videotron (which is like a French Blockbuster in Quebec) used to sell their old PS1 games they used to rent. I got games like Front Mission 3, and Suikoden 2 like this. One day, there was Valkyrie profile for sale, but I was a broke kid and it was $45. Having no knowledge of its actual worth at the time ($200+), I just couldn't justify the price...I know, stupid kid! Anyway, with the fact that you can now buy this game on the PSN for like 10 bucks, I'm sure the price of the original disc has come down pretty hard and I would still love to have this game in my collection.

Brigandine

Last up is this incredibly obscure strategy game called Brigandine. To be honest I have absolutely no idea what this game is about and I remember Sean and I coming about this game on eBay when we were searching for titles. I'm pretty sure Brigandine is a turn-based strategy game, and with both of us having a strong fondness for games like Final Fantasy Tactics at the time, I tried pretty hard to purchase this game. Of course I was constantly beaten out by other online shoppers. At one point I forgot about it and just dropped the game. As I said, I have no clue what to expect from Brigandine, and it's one of those games I would still consider buying while never looking it up just for the fun of it. One day; one day.

This list represents games which I’ve attempted to buy and have since failed. They are my white whales so to speak. That said, I have cooled off quite a bit when it comes to collecting old games. I still buy quite a few new ones of course, but who knows, maybe I'll get the eBay itch again one day and continue to add. Do you have a game that forever eludes you?

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Indie Games: Jonesing For More

I think there used to be a time when I saw an indie game and thought, “Oh, it’s good…for an indie game”. Nowadays, I can easily and simply say, “Oh, it’s a good game”. The negative stigma I had for the indie scene has quickly dissipated because there is such a great track record from indie developers.

It’s safe to say that many peoples’ first exposure to indie gaming was with Braid. It was easily one of the first popular indie titles that drew considerable attention and critical praise. It was simple in its concept, but brought in some interesting mechanics (time manipulation) as well as a good plot twist.

Games like Limbo took the puzzle/platformer genre just like Braid had but added some amazing atmosphere to draw the gamer in—another critically acclaimed game.

Fez might have changed the industry more so than the previously-mentioned games. It brought a nostalgic, 8-bit vibe, yet adds an extra dimension to its 2D platforming. It forced the gamer to think much more than most games we saw at the time, and looked gorgeous while doing so.

Again, Bastionwas great in its visual presentation; looking like an artist’s canvas. The game was much more fast-paced than other games I’ve mentioned, being an action-RPG. The animations of the world coming together as you move were a nice touch, and everyone praised the amazing narrative.

Hotline Miami broke the mold since it was a top-down shooter. Its cruder, dirtier-looking 8-bit graphics nicely contrast the clean and colourful palettes found in Fez and Bastion,  helping to distinguish Hotline Miami as a game. By this I mean that Hotline Miami was bloody, addictive and crazy. The 80’s Miami tone is pitch perfect too; this game feels like a drug trip. Oh, and the music was impeccable.

Now, Child of Light and Transistor are brand new indie games, but they feel to be much more than their predecessors in the indie game scene. They seem to be much more complete games, which makes me believe these are great games, indie or otherwise.

Note: While there are tons of other great indie games, I had to exclude games I haven’t played (sorry to the fans of Sang-Froid: Tales of Werewolves).

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Welcome to the Basement

Welcome, this is the Basement Gamer blog. My name is Adam, but it can also be Duomtl if you've joined my stream on Twitch or maybe saw me on the Steam forums on behalf of Artifice Studio. I wanted this to sort of be a mini introduction to myself and my fellow friends and gamers who will be joining me on this blog.

I may be the only one of the group who actually is a part of the video game industry, but we are all quite passionate about games. I myself have an incredibly broad range of tastes when it comes to games (and a large tolerance too haha), but we're all different. My best friend Sean and I started our friendship many years ago over a common love for Final Fantasy Tactics. While I can still enjoy a good RPG, Sean almost seems to go out of his way to play nearly all of them haha. Brandon, the jokester I would say, it's actually a funny story of how he joined the group, since we all knew him way back when, but only since have become great friends with him. He and I are much the same when it comes to our taste in games: we play pretty much anything. Campeau (his real name is Matthew, but that is the only time you will ever hear him called that) is actually my brother's best friend, but over the years, we've all sort of mixed together at parties and whatnot. I've played my fair share of MMO's, but I can easily say that I have never quite scratched the surface of them compared to Campeau—this guy fiends them.

I really want this blog to be a very personal account of our time with our games. I used to work in a video game store here in Canada called Microplay. It was sort of like a Gamestop/EB games but friendlier, and much of my time over the years, although not as much anymore, was spent collecting rare games (or at least what I deemed rare). I don't have a crazy collection by any means, but it's fairly comprehensive. Largely filled with ps1/ps2 games, there are a number of Nintendo products lying around as well. Along with talking about new games I've been digging my teeth into, I want to share this collection with everyone in the hopes of reminding someone of a past gem, or maybe opening their eyes to one for the first time.

Around 70 games. A modest collection.

Everyone's tastes evolve over time, mine sure have, but the connection you make with some games can last a life time (just try not to revisit some of them though haha, some games have a bad habit of tarnishing your fond memories of them as the years pass on). 

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