Incoming New Challenger

Hey basement gamers,

My name's Charlie and it looks like I'm the team's new rookie. I've been given the opportunity to write alongside these fellow game enthusiasts and hopefully I'll be half as entertaining.

So where to begin? I suppose the basics will do just fine. I'm nearly twenty-five and have lived in Montreal my entire life. I just recently graduated from Concordia University with a double major in English Literature and Classics (God of War fans brace yourselves, I'll be covering the franchise quite a bit) and currently combating with the fates for a half decent career.

Incidentally, being born in '89, I saw the emergence of the original NES. I feel like a bloody dinosaur. I remember gazing upon that Duck Hunt/Mario cartridge in awe. Here it was, presented to me in grey plastic glory, my first video game. Do you know what conclusion I came to after investing an hour or so into that cartridge? That I hated that nuisance of a dog. Subsequently, I began my quest to discover new pixelated adventures. Fast forward a few years, the SNES is released. Conversely, the NES was great, what with the golden Zeldacartridge and its Megaman "I die every 5 seconds" difficulty and what not, but holy Olympian gods did the Super Nintendo blow my mind. Especially in 1992 with the release of Street Fighter 2: The World Warrior. The moment I picked up the controller and mashed the buttons resulting in E. Honda's hundred-hand-slap, I knew I was in love with gaming. In '94, I was introduced to my very first video game crush, Cammy from SUPER Street Fighter 2. Interestingly enough, I still play as Cammy twenty or so years later.

You may have guessed it by now, but I'm an avid 2D fighter fan. Guilty Gear, BlazBlue, Marvel Vs Capcom, you name it. However, recently I've started exploring outside of my comfort zone. Not that I exclusively played 2D fighters but those were the games that I excelled in (I'm decent, I guess?) and devoted most of my time to play. In fact, I skipped three days of college upon Street Fighter 4's release just so I can get some serious online crunch time. Nevertheless, I still played all your classic game genres and big name games such as: Final Fantasy, Kingdom Hearts, Resident Evil, Call of Duty, etc. Besides gaming, I'm also a huge Transformers geek. Now, when I say Transformers, I don't mean the Michael Bay cluster-f*ck of machinery, but the 1984 G1 cartoon and toys and onwards. I've got a pretty ridiculous collection of Transformers figures alongside a modest assortment of He-man, G.I. Joe and X-Men. I feel like I'm rambling on; am I rambling on? I need to stop.

Above all, you must all be wondering why am I here and what you can expect from me. Well, even though I've got a super academic mind, I tend to enjoy the simple things when it comes to gaming. All I want is to be entertained when I play a game. I have certain criteria that I follow when I play but I don't expect award winning gameplay or narratives. I'll enjoy a Dynasty Warriorsas much as I enjoy The Last of Us, it simply depends on if it properly executes what I need at that given moment. I'm also very fortunate to have an incredible girlfriend who enjoys gaming with me, so I'll have the opportunity to discuss the couch-based multiplayer of games who have that criteria. Lastly, I want to bring a distinct, genuine and fun opinion to compliment this extraordinary team. 'Kay, it's over, I swear.

Cheers!

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Link-ing My Worlds

Hello, my name is Alex. I am actually the younger brother of Adam and long time friend of everyone on the Basement Gamer. A little bit about me: I've been playing games from a very young age, as long as I can remember, really. The NES we had was hooked up in my parents' bedroom, so my brother and I couldn't play it 100% of the time. Then we got a SNES and I was only a 5 year old little kid or so, without the dexterity to complete any game on my own.

2 Years later when N64 was made available, I remember the day we got that from our local store, I think we bought it from Blockbuster at the time. I couldn't even tell you honestly. But oh! It wasa glorious day when we went home and popped in Super Smash Brothers. Holy hell did we pump hours upon hours into that console, much like everybody else in the late '90s. Not to mention Mario Kart and then... The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time and 007 Goldeneye. Fast forward over 15 years of gaming and here we are today.

But I'm not here to talk about the good ol' days. No no! Not today. Today I'm here to talk to you about The Legend of Zelda, but not Ocarina...sadly. On this day I'll talk about the most recent addition to the franchise. Nintendo originally started developing it as a remake for one of the most iconic Super NES games of all time, A Link to the Past, which was later decided to be made into a completely new game, with fresh mechanics never before seen in the franchise, labeled "A Link Between Worlds".

My first thoughts while playing this game were, "Alright, so they're mixing A Link to the Past and Ocarina of Time". That is to say they took the best aspects of the bird's eye view Zelda games and the Third Person Zelda games, both of which have been blended absolutely amazingly. Where the other DS Zelda titles had you doing these gimmicky touch screen commands—such as drawing the path of the boomerang, etc—the developers instead made the touch screen your User Interface, where you change your items, look at your map, so on and so forth. All of which can be done in real time or by pausing the game as is customary in Zelda games. Then we come to the actual gameplay which is executed as you'd expect: everything is smooth and fantastic.

A couple of things I welcomed with open arms, much to my eventual dismay. Firstly, being that they added the possibility to play on a harder difficulty. This is where my frustration began. The first 8 hours of playtime was just me dying over and over again in every single situation. Previously, I very rarely died playing any Zelda game. Most of my deaths in previous titles were attributed to not paying any attention to my health or simply dying strictly during boss fights. This is no longer the case on the harder difficulty, and it's not because of smarter enemies, more difficult enemies, or even just more enemies. No; the harder difficulty was simply Link taking more damage. But not just more damage, no, thatwould be too simple. It is a ridiculous amount of damage. Simply put, a basic octorok deals about 4 hearts of damage, something a little bit stronger like a Crab would do about 8 hearts of damage. So any dungeon monster deals about 8 hearts of damage give or take 4. The only time you can ever take less than 4 hearts of damage is when you accidentally hurt yourself. So until you're 4 or 5 dungeons in, when you get 9 hearts, everything kills you in one hit. This wouldn't be such an awful and frustrating thing if the other new mechanic introduced didn't exist.

The other mechanic is the fact that you no longer get important items in the dungeon and therefore keep your items after you acquire them. No, this installment introduces a merchant who basically steals your home and turns it into his store, then allows you to rent any item of your choosing. You choose whichever items are your favorite and run with those until you die and the merchant takes them back. So couple that with dying at every corner, and you get the time consuming and annoying lap race that is: Rent your items at your house, walk to a dungeon trying not to die along the way, enter the dungeon and try to progress to the boss, try to defeat the boss, but probably die along the way, respawn at your house and repeat.

Luckily this isn't actually as bad as I'm making it out to be for one reason. That being said, you meet a witch early on in the game who allows you to fast travel to certain statues that you can activate, which also act as save points. These statues are excellently placed directly in front of almost every single dungeon as well as all over the world map. This made my trips back to the dungeons much faster after dying. However, once you unlock the ability to purchase and keep items even beyond death, the entire problem dissipates and the game becomes even more amazing.

All in all, A Link Between Worlds is fantastic and I am enjoying every minute of it . I'm finding myself unable to put down my 3DS, even as I write this I have my trusty Link Between Worlds box in my pocket ready to be taken out and continue my quest. Like a good book, it is always at my side. 

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It Was The Best Of Times

Greetings fellow gaming enthusiasts, my name is Kyle, and video games have been a big part of my life since as far as I can remember. I have pretty fond memories of my little corner in the basement, with my foam Ninja Turtles chair in front of the little TV I had hooked up to my Nintendo.  Kicking some Goomba-ass or sucking horribly at Tetris. I grew up with games. As I grew older, they evolved with me and currently I’m not entirely sure if I’m happy with the way that games have turned out.

A little bit about me before I get started: much like the majority of our little blogging cast, I’m 25 and I’m born and bred in Montreal, Quebec. Back when I was younger I would’ve definitely labelled myself as a hardcore gamer; World of Warcraft (WoW), Counter Strike and Diablo 2 were most definitely responsible for my trips to summer school because, who needs to study when there’s raiding to do? Over the last few years gaming has taken a back seat to hockey, my true passion. That said, I still play enough games to stay relevant in these conversations... I hope.

These days, real life has taken its toll and I no longer have the vast amount of free time I used to. I often speed through games on their easier settings just so I can get the story faster, otherwise I’ll lose interest and never go back to it. Bioshock Infinite is a good example. I love the game and its main story but, once I played Episode One of the Burial at Sea DLC, I lost interest. The gameplay was way too glitchy and it took me out of the whole immersive experience that Bioshock offers. I haven’t touched it since I encountered a glitch that completely prevented me from continuing the level.  

Dropping back to my glory days of gaming: I miss the days where I could just sit my ass down with a bag of chips, a peanut butter sandwich, some chocolate milk and just bang out 8 hours of gaming in a sitting.  My “/played” on WoW still kind of haunts me to this day though. I probably could’ve used that time much more productively. The only current game I found myself dedicating copious amounts of time to was Skyrim. It gave me that vintage RPG feel that I missed so much. Yes, the main story is a bit brief and all over the place but, it still makes you feel like the character you’re playing. I’ve found that quality in games is a lot harder to come by presently.

Now, this brings me to my next nostalgic point about my “glory days of gaming”. Back when I first really got into online play through Xbox Live, I remember making actual new friends through Halo 3 or Call of Duty Modern Warfare (CoD4). The same thing happened with WoW and other major multiplayer games.  I had a friends list full of randoms from all across the globe who would just hop into a game with me and we’d play together. Now…gaming communities can be some pretty dark places. League of Legends comes to mind as one of the worst I’ve seen, CoD is a close second. Gaming, to me, used to be about Clans, Guilds and this random sort of virtual-camaraderie, but now it seems to have fallen into this really weird cesspit of horrific social warfare. Maybe I’m just playing the wrong games in the wrong places, or maybe I’m becoming an old man, but this is something that has turned me off from the online communities.

I’m hoping that I find a game soon that takes me back to those days. If anyone has any suggestions please share them with me in the comments. Hope you enjoyed my wistful rant as we sauntered down memory lane.

Later Days.

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OSUUUUUU!

Hey, my name is Campeau, and I'm an alcoholic... Oh wait wrong website, I'm a gamer.

I figure I should intro myself as the other guys on the site have. I'm 23 heavily bearded and have been gaming since my parents put a genesis controller in my hands so they could do whatever people did before we had the internet.

This week I figured I'd tell you guys about OSU! and why you should be playing it. Osu is a rhythm game from the far off and ancient land of Japan and, I mean, it would have to be with gameplay like this.

                                    And yes a living, breathing, human being did that.

So that APM(Actions Per Minute) wet dream is Osu and it's addictive as hell. So a bit of back-story: I got into rhythm games back during the heyday of Guitar Hero and Rock Band. Eventually I also played Elite Beat Agents, which was my gateway into the beatmap gaming genre. Now that you know a little about where I'm coming from let me tell you how the game works. Osu uses three different elements:"hit" circles, sliders and spinners. You interact with each of them differently and overall the mechanics aren't overly difficult, it's the pace and speed of the song that really affects the difficulty. One of Osu's benefits is that it's an open source game, so any and every song you can imagine is out there for you to play. There's really no end to what you can do with the game. Also there are other game modes tacked on and each bring a unique change to the game and its gameplay. Most of these modes have gameplay similar to guitar hero or are a piano/drum simulator.

One of the draws of Osu is the variety of peripherals you can use to play it. Traditionally it's played with a mouse or keyboard but, through modding and other means, you can use an ipad or similar tablet or even a graphics tablet (which I don't recommend). I do however recommend playing it with a mouse, if you're any kind of PC gamer it's definitely something you should play. It's amazingly useful for hand eye coordination and reflexes; I've even heard a lot of Starcraft 2 and League of Legends players play it in their off time to speed up their reaction time. So not only is it crazy fun and addictive but it actually makes you a better gamer overall. There are a few downsides though; the game does have a pretty steep learning curve, which can be frustrating at times but overall once you get the hang off things you'll be having fun in no time. I've logged way more hours in it than I can count and turned a bunch of friends onto it as well. In summation the game is free and there's really no reason you shouldn't give it a try, I mean are you too good for free?

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Mind Grapes

Hello, my name is Sean, and I enjoy writing almost as much as I enjoy playing video games. Really, it’s the marriage between both passions that’s possessed me to commit some of my time to writing about my weekly exploits with a medium I’ve grown fond of.

A little about me: I’m 25 and much like Adam and Brandon, am born and raised in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. I’ve just recently graduated and am looking for permanent work. Besides writing and playing video games, I enjoy reading, cooking and jogging. 

Contrary to Brandon, I consider myself a relatively hardcore gamer: I often play most titles on the hardest difficulty, and have a passion for games of any size or genre. That said I often find myself drawn to Japanese RPGs, which embody a perfect mix of escapism, challenge and purpose that I don’t often find in other genres. My platforms of choice are the PS3, 3DS and VITA.

My backlog is sizable: at last count I have Soul Hackers (3DS), Etrian Odyssey IV (3DS), Bravely Default (3DS), Dead Space 3 (PS3), Assassin’s Creed IV (PS3), Lone Survivor (VITA), and Killer Is Dead (PS3), among other less pertinent titles that are waiting for me whenever I get around to them.

I just recently finished To The Moon, which I felt was touching. My current playlist is comprised of Spelunky (VITA) and Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII (PS3).

My history with FFXIII has been spotty. I enjoyed FFXIII, mostly because of its combat; felt FFXIII-2 was unchallenging, and lacked a clear identity; and am currently enamoured with Lightning Returns’ challenging mess of an existence. Perhaps I am contrarian. Likely I am contrarian. Maybe I enjoy this new entry because so many vocal members of the internet have been so singular in their attempts at destroying any credibility which this trilogy has built for itself? Or maybe I simply wish to play Majora’s Mask and, lacking both the hardware and willpower to procure a copy myself, have instead transferred all wonder and excitement toward this mess of ideas? Video games can become complicated mirrors of self-inflection, and discourse on this topic can often be used to create satirical rants. This is the power of blogs, I guess.

I don’t feel as though I need to touch on To The Moon any more than I already have. But I will, if only to stress how perfectly it managed to stir feelings of sadness in me. I guess video games are powerful outlets of emotional catharsis.

Spelunky feels right in a lot of ways. It’s infuriatingly random, and strangely gripping. Similarly to Demon’s/Dark Souls, it is a game which rewards patience and learning. All of this is presented to the gamer in the form of a procedural and platform-based title, in which the objective is to reach an exit while avoiding all manner of danger. But then that doesn’t really do the game any justice. I guess that video games are sometimes very difficult to explain to people, if only because they are meant to be played.

I guess video games are a lot of things to me: they are quiet moments of reflection and immediate and brief instances of distractions. And on that note, welcome to the existential basement of my inner consciousness, where my intentions will never be clear, and my words jarringly structured. You’re welcome. 

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Gamers Anonymous

Hi, my name is Brandon, and I’m a gamer.

A little bit about me: I’m 25, born and raised in Montreal, Canada, and have recently graduated. I have many hobbies, but for this blog I’ll concentrate on games.

I've never considered myself a casual nor hardcore gamer: I follow gaming news quite a bit, and love reading about and watching new games, be it indie or mainstream. On the other hand, I don’t play through too many games, and usually play them on normal. I have a backlog of at least 30 games that were never truly played, so most of them collect dust (I guess I like to collect).

I just recently beat Pokemon X, which oddly enough, I’ve put 80 hours into. I’m on a huge nostalgia kick, because I’m also wasting time on Roller Coaster Tycoon 2 and Age of Empires II HD. I also have Zelda: A Link Between Worlds lined up.



I first played Pokemon when Pokemon Red/Blue came out. I didn’t even own a GameBoy, so I borrowed my friends GameBoy Pocket and he was nice enough to let me erase his file so I could play the game all the way through. I must’ve gone through a ton of AAA batteries. Besides Pokemon Red, I never played through and beat another game in the series until X. Post game and I’m still having a ton of fun with it. I’m not someone who cares much about EV/IV training or playing for competition, but I love the trading system itself. Currently I’m just breeding and trading for other starters from the past few games.

As for Zelda – same story. I only played through Ocarina of Time in full. All other games in the Zelda franchise seem great, but I half-assed tried playing them and never took much interest.

As for Roller Coaster Tycoon 2, I don’t remember winning all of the maps, but I loved drowning people! Anyway, I started playing it because I saw PeanutButterGamer play through it and it brought back good memories.  They should totally do a HD remake. Redo all the textures and add new maps, pretty simple. I would gladly fork over $20 for those minor improvements.

Speaking of HD remakes, Age of Empires II HD isn’t all that good. It doesn’t feel like much of an upgrade, but then again I don’t really remember. All I remember was that I was playing the free demo that came on my Windows 98 (second edition of course, i.e. the best version of Windows ever) when I was 12. I remember being absolutely horrible at it. Back on topic, I don’t feel like any textures were really upgraded, but rather upscaled and given widescreen support. I only paid $5 for it so I guess I can’t really complain. So far I’ve played about 5 hours of just random single-player maps, and it’s already paid for itself, in fun.

That totally reminds me: Red Alert 2 was amazing. I should totally play that next so that I can brush up on my Russian accent.

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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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