A Rebuttal For eSports

Recently there was an article that went up titled My problem with eSports and after reading it, I noticed that I felt about the same way towards real sports as he did about eSports. Throughout my life, I've loved playing football. My dad is a coach and I played it during my formative years, from Atom all the way to Midget. I couldn’t get enough of it but the actual act of watching it never really caught my attention. And this goes for most sports: I just never really found it very fun.

This changed slightly when I started watching professional League of Legends, like Adam said in his article. I first started off watching streams to get better. I had heard a lot of streamers studied VoD’s (Video on Demand) of their games to see mistakes and strategies used by their opponents, similar to the way other sports teams might do it. So I figured why not learn from the “best” and see what I can pick up. Overtime I grew to like and enjoy the streamers.

The first streamer I ever started to watch outside of attempting to better myself was Dyrus. Now Dyrus has been around for a long time in the competitive scene and it’s weird to say but I’ve seen him develop over time and become a better player, eventually establishing himself as a dominant force in the League community. The weird part is this is exactly like following the career of a college football player. You see there are a lot of similarities between eSports and real sports, aside from the physicality. There's really not that much different and I think that's why so many people gravitate towards eSports. If you ask a sports fan there’s something innately fun about watching a good game even if you're not invested in the teams; if it’s a good back and forth it’s fun to watch. The same goes for League of Legends: you can watch two teams of unskilled nobodies go at it and if they know what they're doing, the games are incredible to watch. Streaming has made this extremely accessible for the fanbase. At any given moment you can go onto Twitch and see actual competitive League of Legend play, which isn’t as easy with all sports.

The biggest factors though for me are the teams and the players. Professional League of Legends is broken up into five major divisions. There's the North American division (NA LCS), the Europeans (EU LCS), the Korean Championship League (OGN), the Chinese League (LPL) and lastly, the south-east Asian group Garena Premier League (GPL). These divisions each have their own stable of teams all playing against one another during the regular season fighting for the top spots to go to worlds, while at the same time there's also the Challenger division.

When you think about Challenger, consider it the minors to the majors and it’s built up of several teams all jockeying for a spot in the majors. The top twenty teams that climb the ladder in-game are pitted against each other weekly and accumulate wins and losses. After the regular season finishes, the top three teams go up against the bottom three teams in an attempt to knock them out of the LCS (League Championship Series) and take their places. This is honestly one of my favourite aspects of the competitive scene as it allows you to see teams come and go, and it keeps the game from becoming stale. If a team is on a massive losing streak there’s consequences; it forces the players to recognize their position and strive to better themselves or get relegated and have to fight their way back.

The last thing—which I think is the most important—is the viewer to pro interactions that go on in eSports. In eSports there’s not even remotely as much money as in traditional sports, which makes sense, but it forces the players to look for alternative sources of income, which basically means computer equipment sponsorships and streaming. The latter portion leads a lot of players to have great relationships with the community because you're never gonna see a professional hockey player practicing and simultaneously interacting and entertaining a crowd, which is what these guys do on a daily basis.

You see, professional League is a job. Professional players have to play eight to twelve hours a day just to stay relevant in the scene. And I’m not trying to say that they lead the hardest life out there, far from it, but it builds camaraderie and friendship between the players and the people who watch them. All of this culminates into these rabid fan bases you see for these teams because the community feels a personal investment in these players. They want to see them succeed because they know that they can do awesome things. I’ve been a fan of Team SoloMid (TSM) since I started watching the LCS and they have these insane fans—and they really are insane. They're the most diehard group of people out there and they constantly just chant TSM over and over again at live competitions. This affects the players: they’ve come out of so many do or die situations as the winners. It's insane to watch and the feeling you get as a fan watching this is the same as watching any other team you like succeed. eSports may not be considered a “real” or a “traditional” sport but like the wrestling fans of my childhood used to say, "It’s real to me damn-it."

Read more »

The Beauty Of Turn-Based Combat Done Right, Pt. 1

It’s only fitting to be critical of things you hold dear. At least, that’s my thinly veiled excuse for why I consider myself to be a horribly demanding JRPG enthusiast. I torture myself by playing almost any JRPG I can get my hands on, but often label my experiences as resoundingly mediocre.  What’s that you say? The world is on the brink of social and economic collapse and only my group of 13-year old amnesiacs can save it? And the best way to accomplish this feat is by inexplicably approaching and engaging in conversations with strangers, and accruing riches by ransacking village homes and talking to their dogs? The genre is silly and bloated by so many tropes that a part of me dies every time I see one spring to life in yet another pre-industrial world whose basis for religion, art and culture has flourished from one of four crystals.

Sadly, combat is generally worse. Turn-based and tactical RPGs (among my favourites in the genre) are particularly notorious for their static or inorganic presentation of visual information and feedback, with one side waiting to be assaulted before being able to strike back. Thankfully, I’ve come across hidden gems whose dormant depth is elevated by thoughtful cinematography and fluid animations. In part 1 of a 2-part series, I detail what makes some of the genre’s best combat systems so great.

Front Mission 5

The Front Mission series is generally distinguished from its contemporaries for leaning quite heavily on its tactical bend, at the expense of its light RPG mechanics. In fact, Front Mission is not traditionally even considered an RPG; though I’m somewhat lenient using the term myself, and thus include it within the genre.

Your party consists of Wanzers, predominantly bipedal mecha that can be completely customized, similar to the Armored Core series. Whenever a party member attacks or is attacked by a foe, the camera pans in to a scene of the two Wanzers attacking one another. Front Mission 5, one of the most recent entries in the series, takes things a step forward by introducing links, a system which enables allies and enemies within range of the selected attacker to participate in combat too. Combat skirmishes feel busy and dynamic, but are grounded in a turn-based design. It’s brilliant, frankly.

Resonance of Fate

I assert that Nolan North’s singular purpose in life was to play as Vashyron, a blond devil may care mercenary who’s day-to-day involves attacking mutants and dressing like Ryo Hazuki from Shenmue. Also, the combat in Resonance of Fate  is stunning. Each of your three party members takes turns moving along a single line while building up an attack metre, enabling them to shoot at enemies. Each party member can equip handguns, machine guns, or grenades, with each serving a very specific role in combat. It’s a droll explanation for arguably the most stylish combat system in the genre:

Valkyrie Profile

There’s a poetic beauty to how Valkyrie Profile’s combat plays out: the player attacks enemies by using four party members, each of which is assigned to one of the PS1/PSP’s four face buttons. Its simplicity and innovative approach to combat both hold up really well, even today. Much of the system’s depth lies in its ability to allow players to time their attacks, cascading one party member’s animations into another’s so as to maximize damage:

Tune in next week, where I’ll discuss three other JRPGs whose turn-based combat systems are marvellously entertaining. Or don’t, and live the rest of your meaningless and dynamic life in ignorance. 

Read more »

That’s All Folks: My Thoughts On Completing Video Game

After spending the little time I did with Legendof Dungeon last week, I decided it was best to return to, and hopefully finish with, Breath of Fire: Dragon Quarter. Not that the game is bad, mind you. It’s a decidedly engaging dungeon crawler with a tempered encounter rate, unique common foes, challenging bosses, etc. In other words, it’s difficult and variable enough to warrant my focus and energies.

Psychologically, deciding to finish any form of entertainment endeavour is always a herculean task for me. Not that I don’t enjoy finishing games; more, I often negatively stigmatize my remaining hours with an IP to the point where I no longer enjoy it. What results are feelings of apathy, apprehension and excitement, all mangled together into an intolerable anxiety, which plagues me as I mindlessly approach encounter after encounter leading to the grand finale, and the eventual ending cinematic—which is often very cathartic.

For instance, the last three-four hours of Breath of Fire: Dragon Quarter felt excruciating. Much of the time was spent felling foes far too strong to simply strong-arm my way to victory. They demanded strategy and foresight which I didn’t want to devote to defeating them. I became weary to the point of almost stopping. But I mustered on, and eventually began a gauntlet of 5 near back-to-back boss encounters.

Upon finally defeating the last boss, I felt the excitement that comes with being unshackled from a weighted and dissatisfying obligation. But what is it about endings that force me to consistently devolve into an irrational fit?

Today was good. Today was fun. Tomorrow is another one

Much of this dissonance, I feel, is rooted more deeply in a general disinterest in finishing with any entertainment medium more generally, including TV shows and books. As I’ve mentioned before to Adam, I don’t feel that many endings are simply worth the energy to see through. They often feel inorganic, stiff and unoriginal.

I tend to prefer endings which suggest an ongoing existence of the fictional characters portrayed in a story. For this emotional resonance to exist however, much work must go into properly establishing a historical past and present, so that a hypothetical future can be envisioned organically.

Breath of Fire: Dragon Quarter is not one of these games, sadly. Characterization is severely lacking, and much of the game’s world is hidden behind an intuitive new game plus feature. What I’m left with on my first play through is very little emotional payoff, and thus a great deal of apprehension toward finishing the game in the first place.

Fin

Ultimately, I’m glad I played Breath of Fire: Dragon Quarter, and would highly recommend it to most RPG-enthusiasts. My gripes with the late-game are more a general malady I contract whenever I recognize a game’s ending in sight. More generally, it is the recognition that something I’ve invested time into will have its value weighted, calculated and determined. I often find that intellectualizing this process is a taxing experience. Thankfully, much of the time leading up to this ending often outweighs its final moments. Thankfully still that I’ve developed this confusingly psychological manner of thinking. As a consequence, I was actually able to enjoy Mass Effect 3’s pre-patched ending! How’s that for a Hollywood ending, internet.

Read more »

Bring On All The Feels

Alright, how about we delve into a bit of gaming psychology this weekend. Countless amounts of people record gaming sessions, review their favorite titles or simply enjoy an all-nighter with a good game and their preferred brew. However, what makes one gaming experience different from another? Sometimes you'll come across a player killer in your favorite RPG who fowls your entire night. On the other hand, sometimes you'll run into the friendliest of company who make your gaming day. Perhaps you find yourself raging in a Call of Duty match but, you find yourself overjoyed when you pick off your nemesis for the third time in a row. Players come across moments that overflow of euphoria and we don't focus on them as much as we should. Let's change that this weekend while I recount some of my favorite gaming moments that sparked a sense of jubilation in me.

One of my fondest moments is probably amongst my most embarrassing in my gaming history. I never fancied myself as a big first-person-shooter gamer. I was never very good at them and never bothered to invest time into them. People raved about COD and Battlefield and when I played with my buddies, I seriously sucked all kinds of rubbish. Furthermore, I received COD Ghosts for Christmas and figured that I should give the online mode a shot. Surprise, Surprise, I was still the worst player ever. I was so bad that I wished people reversed their K/D scores. I started to really invest myself and got a few kills, like four kills coupled with twenty-five deaths. It was an abysmal attempt. COD Ghosts has a bit of customisation and I remember really wanting the wolf emblem and looked up how I could possibly obtain it. I need a ten kill killstreak. YEAH RIGHT! As if I'd ever be able to obtain it. Safe to say, I grabbed my favorite shotgun and went on a rampage one day and nabbed nine kills. My face should have been filmed; I was so nervous. I need just one more kill but I had a shotgun and I couldn't just risk running around. Therefore, I planted my butt in an entrance of a building and waited for my prey. When someone, possibly worse than I, ran into the building and got a face full of lead I leapt with pure joy. I felt like the king of the world, a king who just wrecked some nubz. I may have dropped my glass of rum and shattered it on the floor in that scenario, but casualties happen when you kick online ass! Rum and I have reconciled and we game better than ever.

By the same token, a story I find myself retelling often enough involves Montreal's Otakuthon. I used to attend Otakuthon a lot in my younger years. Sometimes I faced the crazy horde of anime fanatics with my buddies, sometimes with my gals, but I always investigated the gaming room. There was always an alley of game consoles set up to play the hippest 2D fighters. The year in mind, Blazblue was set up on a Ps3 and to my surprise, there was a dude wrecking the competition. I laid back with a good friend and watched as this guy tore people up. Was I impressed? No, not quite. The line up was about to loop back around to the first man I saw get his arse whooped so I looked over to my friend and said: Watch this, t'will be a joke. I interrupted the fellow just before he grabbed the controller and said if I could have but one turn. The "champ" smirked with arrogance as the other man kindly let me have the controller. He was playing Rachel, a short vampire girl who focuses on pressure plays and long combo chains. I picked Iron Tager, a slow but heavy hitting grappler. I barely touched my controller as I let him take the first round flawlessly. The crowd awed at the first round. Second round debuted with allowing him to damage me to about mid-health before I combed him into a special. KO for myself and the crowd took such intrigue in me. Round 3, I let loose on my opponent. I made sure to not allow him a single hit on my health bar. I built up meter for my special move which is a grapple that normally deals about half a health bar of damage. Since he had burst (a combo breaker that makes you more susceptible to damage) and used his ultimate, I backdashed (allowing me a frame of invincibility) and used my Genesic Emerald Tager Buster (ultimate Grapple) to end the match in a blaze of blue glory. I got up, said nothing and walked away as the on-looking crowd cheered. It felt amazing as my friend commented "You wrecked him". I probably ruined that guy's day but it was inevitable. If I'm having a good time, you're probably having an awful one.

All in all, I've had plenty of moments while gaming that really got me hyped. It's so easy to find yourself lost in rage when playing with others. Sometimes you swear yourself off of online games. Sometimes your friends refuse to play Blazblue with you because of mad Tager Skills, bunch of wimps. Just remember that games are meant to be a fun divertissement. Next time you're raging on Dota 2 because your team lost a tower, remember that the player who got that tower might be having a field day. Play the games like they're meant to be, for fun! Make some late night memories while you're smashed with buddies, play some COD a la strip poker style and prepare yourselves for the awkward madness that ensues. This is Charlie bidding you all some fond gaming memories and an adieu. Also, Rum and I are no longer speaking, he found out about Gin and I.

Read more »

What Influences Creators?

Last week I talked about my enjoyment for the roundabout way that TombRaider and Uncharted both benefited from influencing each other. It really got me thinking about how games can share common influences. Sometimes this influence is obvious or even stated by the developers, as is the case with Tomb Raider and Uncharted. Other times people try to make comparisons that are valid but never thought about our even intended by the developers.

Dark worlds

A number of weeks ago Sean mentioned how similar the game he was currently playing, Vagrant Story, was to the Demon's and Dark Souls games. Both share disturbingly dark worlds with all manner of monstrosities to combat.

The way each game approaches combat is different, but the feeling is largely the same. Not necessarily one of hopelessness, but sort of this foreboding feeling that doom is around every corner.

The real question is: was Demon's/Dark souls actually influenced by Vagrant Story, or was this just a mere coincidence? I don't really know how well known Vagrant Story is. It was a pretty obscure game for Squaresoft to release and this was pre 2000. And considering it didn't have the words "Final Fantasy" in the title, many people could have easily skipped over it without a second thought.

Cold-Blooded

Taking some personal experience into account, I feel that a lot people put a little too much effort into seeing things that aren't actually there. Having worked on the most Canadian game in existence—Sang-Froid: Tales of Werewolves—so many people on the forum were like "Wow, this game remind me so much of (insert title here), did you know/do that on purpose?". As a developer (and an ex video game store lackey) I do know my fair share of game, but I don't know every game.

The one influence we had when making Sang-Froid was tower defense/strategy games. We didn't look into older games because we were dead set on making our own game the way we wanted it. The funniest game to come up was an old DOS game called The Horde. None of us on the team had ever even heard of the game before it was brought up in the forum. I have to admit though the similarities were pretty crazy.

Final thoughts

It's hard to tell what really influenced a group of developers when designing a game. You can make a guess, but unless you can read minds or they flat out tell you what it was, you're pretty much just blowing smoke out your ass.

Read more »

Drakengard 3: Nierly As Good

What was the last game you played which was co-constructed by the collective video game media as being largely inconsequential or unlikeable? For me personally that game was Neir, an unapologetically idiosyncratic experience which demanded players cope with often lacklustre gameplay and mundane objectives in order to appreciate beautifully composed music, poignant writing, and brilliant characterization.

I would likely rank Nier as one of my top 5 PS3 gaming experiences

Nier was experimental in many ways. For instance, dungeons would often host unique camera angles for seemingly no reason, actual gameplay would often devolve into tedious combat, the game was padded by mundane fetch quests which managed to effectively convey the day-to-day life of protagonist Nier, the game’s story would reveal itself incrementally by playing through the game more than once, etc. These features would prove endearing to some; though they would also force away a lot of potentially interested gamers before the really good story started to warp itself around your waking thoughts.

Unfortunately, Cavia dissolved shortlyafter releasing Nier, being absorbed in some capacity into Access Games. Fast-forward to 2014, and the crux of the team who worked on Nier (including director Taro Yoko) have brought the world Drakengard 3(released in Japan as Drag-on Dragoon 3). In many ways, Drakengard is a series which is antithetical to Nier: it presents a more immediate experience, with gameplay which feels strikingly like Dynasty Warriors, emphasizing high death counts and therefore a more traditional playstyle.  

Thankfully, despite the differences in the way the games actually play from one another, much of what makes Nier so fantastic is also present in Drakengard 3. For instance, I immediately found myself enamoured by how honest the game’s characters are, and how enjoyable the game’s story is. Protagonist Zero is a goddess of sorts, and is out to kill her goddess sisters along with thousands of soldiers which stand against her, for reasons which are not initially clear. Her motifs are clearly those of an apathetic and morally ignoble person, and director Taro Yoko along with Access Games are quick to point this out. What results is the sense that Drakengard 3 is honestly shouldering one of the medium’s common uses of violence as a means of encouraging players to consistently return to the games they play.

Having been away from the world of Nier for the better part of two years, I’m happy to commit my time to its kin. If like me, you’ve played one too many overly polished and dull video games, and are looking for something unusual to play to cleanse your palette, I would be hard-pressed to recommend anything besides Drakengard 3 to you. What may begin as a generic action title will very quickly reveal itself to be one of the most unique video games you’ll likely ever play. 

Read more »

Explosions In My Mind: My Early Memories Of Video Games

I came across an article yesterday posted onto Kotaku written by guest author Adam Sessler, a man recently divorced from the gaming press turned media and entertainment consultant. In brief, the editorial is aimed in part at chronicling Adam’s memories of games: his early life, his professional career as video game journalist and his repose from the industry and casual consumption of games. The article itself is touching, and should be read in full if you find yourself with fifteen minutes and a mind for sobering memoires.

After reading the article, I began to think about how I too often frame many of my memories in the context of video games. Accordingly, I’ve opted to detail 3 video games which helped to define my tastes in games during my formative years with them.

Mario 64 (1996)



Mario 64 reminds me of why I love playing video games. The game is inventive, challenging and fun. It is likely one of the primary reasons why I’ve become so enamoured with the medium.

I recall being in the first few years of elementary school when Mario 64 first came out. I did not yet own my own console, and would play this game at a neighbour’s house. I recall how fragmented my play experience was with the game. One weekend I would be playing around in the early stages of the game (Bob-omb Battlefield springs to mind immediately); and then next, I would be trying to muster up the courage to make it through Big Boo’s Haunt.

I really enjoyed how novel every stage felt, and how Mario’s limited skillset (walking, crawling, jumping, swimming, climbing, etc.) was used to its fullest and in varying ways depending on the level/land that the player found him/herself in, in addition to whatever powers were unlocked for use in those levels (being able to fly, vanish and/or become immune to damage and sink in water). Mario 64’s many secrets, high level of replayability, and sheer ambitious scope all culminated in a personal hunger to experience more of the medium.

Pokémon Red (1999)

Several years following the release of Mario 64, Pokémon was released on Gameboy. My first encounter with the franchise was with Charizard, Venusaur and Blastoise, each presented as a card to be collected through a string cheese company I’ve long forgotten. The mystery surrounding what these creatures were came to head when several of my schoolmates began purchasing the game on their Gameboy. Soon enough, nearly everyone I knew owned a copy of either Red or Blue version. I found myself compelled to follow in tow. In the end, I chose Pokémon Red because many people I knew chose the Blue version.

Many of my memories of this game were entirely social: I recall linking with other friends on my block to trade Pokémon, I remember the thrill of making progress in the game only to tell my friends on the discoveries that I’d made, and I remember learning about some of the game’s many peak moments through other schoolmates’ experiences (how to pass the first sleeping Snorlax, having to choose between Hitmonchan or Hitmonlee, which Pokémon were exclusive to which version of the game, etc.).

Final Fantasy VII (2001)

Pokémon, much like Mario 64 before it, helped me to identify qualities I would later seek out in video games: namely, exploration-heavy experiences which tested my dexterity and wits in various ways. Interestingly, neither game was particularly story-heavy, which I feel is oddly ironic, given how each game played a major role in shaping my eventual tastes in JRPGs (which are usually as much about story as they are about gameplay).

As with many others, the first console RPG I played was Final Fantasy VII (FFVII). Though I had played several other console-based RPGs (Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars comes to mind) FFVII was the first console RPG I played on a console that I owned, and for that reason deserves a special mention on this list.

Perhaps more importantly, FFVII introduced me to the two levels through which exploration is experienced in many RPGs. On one level, the story itself motivated me to continue playing the game, often serving as a catalyst for me to venture on, to strengthen my party by grinding out levels, and ultimately to earn further story exposition. On a second level, I found myself curious to see how I could incrementally improve my party through repetitive common encounters and cinematic boss encounters. Each of these levels of exploration (story and mechanics) helped reinforce my desire to play more games; a sentiment toward RPGs rooted in the strong sense of exploration adopted through my earlier experiences with Mario 64’s beautifully crafted levels, and Pokémon’s own RPG mechanics, in addition to the game’s strong sense of tangible progression.

In the end, my formative years with video games centered on many more games than the three I’ve listed here. That said, I find myself thinking about my time spent with Mario 64, Pokémon and FFVII with a fondness that has since been lost; with a nostalgic haze that has since been devoured by my adult responsibilities. The crystallization of these games in my memories, and the pillars they’ve contributed to which now prop my interests in RPGs, may very well become lost to other more pertinent memories eventually. In some ways then, this article is an ode to what may come to be replaced. Take care.

Read more »

Changing My Convictions

Throughout my gaming life I've never been a huge fan of stealth-based gameplay. With the exception of playing a thief in Skyrim, shooters, sports/racing games and RPGs have always been more of my forte. Recently however, I've been whistling a different tune. 

Having played the Bioshock Infinite: Burial at Sea Episode 2 DLC I found myself wanting for a taste of something comparable. The NHL season is slowly coming to a halt so, with minimal hockey on TV, I've had some time to dig into my backlog and finally popped in Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell: Conviction for my 360. The game has been around for about 4 years now but, to me, it looks brand new. I have played games from the Splinter Cell series before, and I've enjoyed a few of them, but none were very memorable—I couldn't tell you any of the other games’ story lines if my life depended on it. I just remember being frustrated at my inability to shamelessly go on a murderous rampage when stealth got boring. Conviction changed that.

In this chapter of the series you are no longer working for anyone in particular, meaning you don’t have the restraints of pacifism like in the older games. You still play as the infamous Sam Fischer, but the game starts with you trying to enjoy your retirement until certain events pull you out of it. Straight from the get-go you’re thrown into a combat situation that doesn't require you to fully rely on stealth abilities. This is where the “Mark and Execute” mechanic of the game is introduced. After performing a hand-to-hand kill you gain the ability to mark and execute. As long as you have a visual on the target you can mark him by pushing the right bumper and once you get close enough you can take him out quickly and efficiently. In the beginning you only have the ability to mark 2 targets but as the game progresses you get upgrades and newer weapons that allow you to mark up to 5 or 6. This feature is perfect for taking out larger groups of enemies instead of having to sneak around the whole damn map for half an hour just to get past a meaningless section of gameplay.

Another thing I really enjoyed about this game, so far, is the awesome visual effects. The scenery and ambiance seems to have a big Noire style influence with a lot of heavy shadows and minimal colour, sort of akin to the movie Sin City. Whenever Sam is hidden to enemies your whole screen goes black and white. I thoroughly enjoyed the way that was handled. On the topic, the game’s entire design philosophy seems very minimalist. For instance, there are very few menus to navigate through, and all of your weapon selection can be done with quick lists on the D-Pad. Additionally, whenever you get a new objective during a mission it is displayed in a big wide white font on a wall nearby—however if you want to view it again you just press Select and it will appear on whatever surface you’re looking at.

The gadgetry you come across also adds a good deal of different ways to neutralize your enemies. Besides your basics like flash bangs and frag grenades, you get things like the deployable Sticky Camera. The camera is a throwable device that sticks to walls and allows you to get a look at what might lie ahead of you. The camera has a noise maker to distract enemies and if they get close enough you can detonate it to take them out. I had a lot of fun luring unsuspecting foes to their untimely demises.

The game isn't perfect of course: there were a few things that got on my nerves. At one point in the game you’re given a pair of sonar goggles to detect enemies and laser security features. Shortly after that you have to go through a series of rooms guarded by this laser system and the whole thing just seemed tedious and didn't contribute much in the way of gameplay. I’m all for a good puzzle but the story was so enticing and I really disliked wasting 20 minutes trying to figure it out. Furthermore, there are several instances where, if you die, you have to repeat a cutscene that happened at the last checkpoint. One particularly problematic level had me dying over 15 times and I had to rewatch this 30-second cutscene each time. I found myself lowering the difficulty just to ease past it to avoid the scene again. The worst of it is: it was a really great and powerful scene and its repetition really ruined it for me.

All in all I highly recommend Splinter Cell: Conviction to anyone who hasn't played it yet. The game also has a multiplayer option which I haven’t taken advantage of. From what I understand it’s the same story but you can play with a friend on the same TV. I haven’t fully finished the game yet but I intend to in the near future and I’m hoping to buy the next installment, Splinter Cell: Blacklist. If anyone has any recommendations for similar games please leave me a message in the comment section.

Thanks for reading.
Later days.

Read more »

TBT - Dumbfounded Epiphanies

You know that moment when you're playing a game, and you just sort of get it? You've been playing a game for a number of hours and sure you like it, but then it hits you, and you start loving the game.  Maybe that is a bit vague, but I'm sure you have an idea what I'm talking about.

I don't really have those moments anymore. Maybe when I was younger I just didn't think about what I was doing in a game as much, and it took a while for me to come around. Maybe newer games have become too simplified nowadays, never leaving enough to be discovered on your own. In any case, I want to share a couple of Eureka moments I've had.

Everything Is Better With Monster Breeding

I used to play a ton of Monster Rancher 2 on the PS1 and this was partly due to the anime that was on TV at the time. It was a fun show to watch, almost like Pokémon but the creatures in the show actually had personalities in it—unlike Pokémon where they just annoyingly say their name over and over again, only in a different tone. 

The game itself was so unique because in order to get new Monsters, you had to put physical CDs into your Playstation and each disc was different, just like in the show! I remember spending hours looking for any manner of CD I could find in my house to see what it would generate in the game. Once you had the Monster of your choosing you had to train it and enter it into tournaments. The training was okay, little mini game type things, but the fighting was pretty sick. Combat was sort of set up like a fencing match. You would control your creature and move them up and down a straight combat area. Monsters could have up to 4 different abilities each with different attack ranges, which makes the ability to move around the ring actually meaningful. 

Now the Eureka moment I had in this game was when I learned how to give my Monsters better longevity. Prior to figuring this out, my Monsters would sadly only live to the age of about 2 or 3, which is abysmal. See, there were these items you could buy from the shop that sort of boosted the Monsters physique, but they don't really explain it properly anywhere in the game. Anyway, feeding this item to your Monsters on a monthly basis doubled their lifespan, minimum, which was amazing because being able to train a Monster for that much longer was super fun. Higher levels, new abilities, harder training regimens, stronger competitions, it was all good fun.

Into The Abyss 

I have played every single game in the Disgaea series, but none as much as the very first one. I loved it so much, I've also pretty much played every single game that the developers have pumped out. 

Aside from being your typical turned based strategy game, Disgaea has ridiculousness out the Yin-Yang: you can get your characters up to level 9,999; you can do millions upon millions of damage; lift and throw units; even go inside your weapons to make them stronger. At first I was playing this game like any other, going through the motions taking it one chapter at a time.

As I mentioned you can go inside your equipment, this is done through the item world, and that is where my Eureka moment happened. In essence the entire item world is one giant grind, but instead of just walking around a world map getting into random encounters like in a JRPG, this felt like it had a bit more to it. You weren't just grinding levels, you were making your equipment stronger at the same time. Part of the allure to it as well was capturing residents—which were creatures that lived inside the weapons that increased its attributes depending on its type—once captured, you could move them into different pieces of equipment, it was a pretty flexible, if not time consuming, system.

Times Are Changing

So yeah, I don't really have moments like this anymore, but I'm curious if any of you do? What game was it, and what part of it did you just get that made the whole experience that much more enjoyable? Leave a comment at the bottom!

Read more »

[A -> B] Life: Measuring Progress In JRPGs Through Common Encounters

Earlier this week I read an article in which an author pondered over what made common encounters in JRPGs good. Broadly, in JRPGs common encounters are battles which occur frequently as the player’s party explores the game world. The author’s focus here is on encounters which occur randomly (in games where enemies do not physically appear on the world map and in dungeons) in addition to those which the player can initiate (in games where all enemies are visible). While his thoughts are worth exploring in their own right, my own idea of what makes common encounters “good” is far simpler; far more systemic; and far more measurable.

In my opinion, JRPG encounters are noteworthy institutions in the RPG subgenre quite simply because they help to define the core experience of playing these types of games: namely, each common encounter serves as a tangible time commitment made in the effort of achieving level, skill and monetary maximization within the game. Perhaps this answer is far too simple to come across as enlightening; however, I would urge you to think about it throughout the rest of this post.

I’ve recently begun playing Bravely Default for the 3DS, which was released earlier this year to commercial and critical success. Part of the warm critical reception was grounded in the game’s mechanical transparency: players are free to change the game’s difficulty at will, how fast battles play out, how much experience they acquire after battle, and the occurrence rate of common encounters (among other options not pertinent to this post). Importantly, the option to customize the relative value of common encounters has caused me to re-focus my attention of why these encounters exist in the first place.

JRPG exploration

Most avid JRPG enthusiasts will agree that the institutionalization of what is regularly defined as a “common encounter” was initially crafted due to hardware constraints. Early JRPGs such as Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest could not render battles in real-time without sacrificing memory which was committed to world-building and exploration. Therefore, battles which took place in separate areas from exploration became the norm.

JRPG common encounter

While common encounters can certainly become draining (due in large part to their frequency and repetitive nature), they function as effective roadblocks which help the player chart his/her progress through the game’s story. As I’d touched on during my last post, battles in RPGs generally feel necessary to varying extents, as they often enable players to empathically understand the personal milestones which the game’s characters themselves are going through.

Beyond the value that common encounters bring with respects to enriching JRPG stories, I feel as though “good” common encounters also actively encourage experimentation. Much of the praise for the Bravely Default plays with this element of relative necessity well. By inviting players to dictate the value they place on common encounters (“value” here is defined through battle frequency, battle duration, and victory spoils), developers Silicon Studio is gently nudging players to consciously appreciate each battle they fight.

Moreover, common encounters become experiments, where players can incrementally improve their battle strategies through micro-level resource management. It’s worth noting that Bravely Default, like Final Fantasy Tactics, has a job system, whereby your four-person team’s roles can be changed before/after battle. By encountering the same foe multiple times, I felt that I was able to actively gauge the effectiveness of my job combination, equipment setups and subspecialty abilities, which I measured through damage output and team synergy.

In this way, common encounters enable the player to play more effectively; to learn from his/her choices immediately through constant feedback. This strategic management loop of battle/resolve/tinker/battle helps define the pacing of a good JRPG, in addition to contributing to the player’s active understanding that his/her actions (however seemingly small) are actively contributing to his/her level, skill and wealth maximization within the game world. It’s all good stuff, and I find myself fond of how transparent the entire process is.

In other words, the next time you find yourself facing off against the exact same combination of ecological beauty (natural predators such as bird-, dog- and cat-like abominations all working together in a harmonious attempt to kill and consume the player’s party), thank me for providing it with context and meaning. You’re welcome.

Read more »

Illusions Are For Kids, Right?

Free for Playstation Plus users this month is Castle of Illusion—both the old 1990s version on Sega Genesis and the HD remake. I have fond memories of renting this game for the Genesis, and I also happen to own World of Illusion, which came out a little later in 1992.

Both the Genesis and HD remake follow the same general storyline: a witch called Mizrabel captures Minnie Mouse and, of course, Mickey is tasked to rescue her.

So I began playing the Genesis version, if only for a brief moment. My memory is hazy, but within the first few minutes, I realized you couldn’t simply jump on top of enemies to attack them (like most 2D platformers of this era). I found some jumps would register a kill, but 95% of the time, Mickey would get hurt. A few minutes later, I realized you needed to hit down on the d-pad before landing on an enemy to get the kill. This mechanic felt odd at first, but I continued playing and realized how jumping on some enemies would result in an even higher jump; a pretty smart game mechanic.

Move over New York, this is the real Big Apple

Just like games of its era, you learn from your mistakes as you go, so you generally feel some sense of accomplishment. There are a few cheap moments. For instance, I died at the first boss, which cost me all my throwable items (apples). As such, I had nothing to throw at the boss, which was kind of annoying, since my only option was to use a jump attack.  Also, from what I can tell, you can’t jump and throw your items at the same time.

What I really loved about this game was that I learned everything as I played. At first, I thought you couldn’t jump on your enemies, which made me think that I could only throw projectiles at them. You truly feel some sense of accomplishment, and this is coming from a 24 year-old game meant for children.

On the other hand, the HD remake makes life easier: you can jump on top of any enemy without any problems. No need to hit down on the d-pad, because you automatically bounce off enemies. The gameplay feels very gimped, and frankly too easy. I found it simple to bypass most enemies by jumping over them, which was much less possible in the Genesis version. The controls felt loose, and I found Mickey would slide everywhere. This made me feel less in control of Mickey and less satisfied overall.

What it does do well is re-introduce this game to a new generation of children. The game looks great, and I love how the soundtrack is updated yet remains faithful to the original.  It adds voice acting and a narrator, which adds some charm. It also allows you to jump and throw at the same time, which is a welcomed addition.

Final Thoughts
I highly recommend playing the original over the new version. It’s really great once you learn the controls, and you’re bound to sink a few hours into this game. The HD remake is somewhat forgettable because it sticks to the tried and true, offering very little to differentiate it from similar games. The remake works well, but the original allows you to learn as you play. I truly had a ton of fun, and I hope you will too.

Read more »

No Gods Or Kings. Only Man.

No Gods or Kings. Only Man. This is the motto of Rapture, the city built by Andrew Ryan and quite possibly one of my favorite video game environments of all time.  This is the city where you start the amazing adventure that is the BioShock series. I think it’s safe to assume most of you reading this are seasoned gamers and have played these games but if you haven’t, you’re doing yourself a great disservice.

Irrational Games has taken their creative concept and turned it into a work of art. The gameplay itself in the BioShock series isn’t mind blowing or out of this world: it’s simple but difficult. Simple in the sense that it’s your basic point and shoot FPS game but difficult in that you’re left with limited resources (lack of money to purchase ammo and upgrades) which makes defeating the tougher foes near impossible to do at times. The combination of dual wielding weapons and plasmids gives you a nice variety of ways to destroy your enemies. Plasmids also allow you to take advantage of your surrounding environment. For example; the Electro Bolt plasmid from the original BioShock gives you the ability to damage multiple enemies if they’re standing in water. Campeau explains what I’m talking about in his last post.  The gameplay isn’t what draws you into these games; it’s the gaming experience as a whole. The music, the art-deco themed rooms and the old school classy vibe these games give you is just remarkable. The series provides the player with all the anticipation and anxiety you get from a horror genre without actually scaring you (aside from maybe a handful of confrontations).The shadowy landscapes and eerie music choices make for a very nerve wracking atmosphere. For those of you who follow Adam on Twitch and have seen him stream gameplay of Outlast with me screaming like a child in the background, you can guess I don’t do well with terror.

I’ll warn you now, if you haven’t played either of BioShock Infinite’s "Burial At Sea" DLCs, tread lightly: my analysis will be covering the ending to Episode One and various gameplay elements in Episode Two  

I recently got the chance to dive back into Rapture when I downloaded “Burial at Sea Episode Two”. I had a lot of trouble with the first episode because the whole thing felt really rushed through development. There were tons of glitches and random hints were frequently popping up for no reason. This was not the case with the second episode. The first episode had me stuck at the end of a chapter because of a glitch that wouldn’t prompt Elizabeth to crawl through a vent to unlock a door for me. I had to restart the whole chapter and it finally worked. The ending of the first episode was pretty mind blowing, which is pretty par for the course when it comes to anything in the Infinite series. 

*SPOILERS*. Booker DeWitt/Comstock gets impaled by a Big Daddy while he’s trying to save a Little Sister named Sally. I’m pretty sure she’s supposed to be his daughter but all of these alternate universes kind of skewed my understanding of the story lines a little. *SPOILERS*.

I wasn’t a huge fan of this short and hurried DLC, but I was happy to be back in Rapture. Episode Two was infinitely better though. It took me maybe 3 hours to get through to first one but the second one felt almost like a whole extra game;  I got at least 6-7 hours out of the second episode. I’m normally not the type to buy DLC but my brother bought me the season pass for my birthday last year and I’m pretty happy he did.

In Episode Two you get to assume the role of Elizabeth. She is much weaker than any other playable character from the series and the whole episode turns into a stealth game because you’re not strong enough to take on hordes of splicers. Typically, I’m not a stealth-mode enthusiast but BioShock made it work for me. My main issue with stealth games is always sitting there and waiting for your enemies to come to you so you can knock them out from behind. In Episode Two, you have the ability to take out enemies without having to wait to sneak up on them because of a crossbow that holds multiple ammo types like tranquilizer darts, noisemakers and knockout gas. When you encounter a larger group of enemies you can pull them all to a certain location, using the noisemaker ammo, and knock them out with the gas bolts. You also get a bunch of regular weapons (hand cannon, shotgun, radar range, etc.) but ammo is pretty scarce.

If you really want to enjoy this DLC I highly recommend you replay the first BioShock. The whole episode is spent figuring out how the revolution in Rapture originally happened, how they bonded Big Daddies to the Little Sisters, and how Elizabeth is a key part to the whole thing. It revisits all the old characters from the first game and I found myself forgetting who they were since I originally played BioShock back in 2008. After the game was over I had to look up different fan explanations to figure out what the hell I just witnessed. The whole thing is just one mind twisting wrap-up that goes all the way back to before the first game.

Unfortunately for us BioShock fans Irrational Games is shutting down and we may never see another one of these fantastic games again. I hope you enjoyed my pseudo-review of the series and if you haven’t played these games, you’re missing out and it’s time for you to visit Rapture.

"I am Andrew Ryan, and I am here to ask you a question. Is a man not entitled to the sweat of his brow? 'No,' says the man in Washington, 'it belongs to the poor.' 'No,' says the man in the Vatican, 'it belongs to God.' 'No,' says the man in Moscow, 'it belongs to everyone.' I rejected those answers. Instead, I chose something different. I chose the impossible. I chose... Rapture. A city where the artist would not fear the censor. Where the scientist would not be bound by petty morality. Where the great would not be constrained by the small. And with the sweat of your brow, Rapture can become your city as well."

―Andrew Ryan

Later Days.

Read more »

Ohhhhh Brother

A couple of weeks back I managed to sit down and play through Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons. The game, which should be experienced by everyone I might add, is singular and focused, and reminds me of why so many more ambitious titles often feel lacklustre.

Briefly, the player assumes the roles of two brothers, where the actions of one are controlled using the left analog stick and L2 button / left trigger, while the actions of the other are controlled using the right analog stick and R2 button / right trigger. The entire experience involves navigating the environment, often through a combination of platforming and puzzle-solving.

Most importantly, I felt very strongly connected to each brother. Occasionally, you would be tasked with controlling one brother while the other brother is inactive. These moments served to remind me of the connection I began to feel with both brothers as an operational duo. In other words the interface used to play the game to purposely connect the player emotionally with the artistry grafted onto the underlying codes used to give rise to the final product.

The entire point of this post is to point this fact out. Not only is it rare for a video game to purposively exist, it’s rarer still for one to draw me in using just a singular mechanic.

The last time I felt so utterly in awe by this complimentarity was with Spec Ops: The Line. It too needed to exist in video game format. By game’s end, I felt repulsed by the actions that I made throughout the game, and distanced myself morally from the avatar I was controlling. The result was a strange dissonance between what the developers demanded I do and what I very unwillingly was forced to do. Choice became a false dichotomy, and I became disgusted with the main character—even though by virtue of me playing as him, I was the one at fault for these machinations to begin with. 

Before that was the original BioShock, which served as a vehicle for discussing how little agency a player has in a story-driven video game.

Unfortunately, both of these titles were held back by occasional pacing issues, pedestrian combat, and a general feeling that, despite best intentions of bridging game mechanics with an overarching narrative, each of these games needed to be functional action experiences. In other words, these larger titles managed to create emotional resonance but failed to be consistently fun games.

Brothers did not falter in this manner. Brothers did no falter at all; period. 

Read more »