Monday Musings - 5th Sept, 2011

It's September and all the big releases are starting to drop. For a poor gamer like myself though, i keep going with old games in my backlog, steam sales, and cheap imports. Every now and then i'll splurge on something, but that hasn't happened for a while. Anyhow, let us begin to muse.


Kirby's Epic Yarn (Wii)

This was a split purchase with my sister mainly cause it had co-op and you can't die in the game (this was a great bonus for her). This was also the #1 game i had wish i played last year, and boy has it not disappointed. I think i need to begin with the music. This is the big stand out feature for me so far (we're on world 4 at the moment). Each level has such amazing music. It's orchestral, it's catchy, it's astonishing... and the developers know this. Each level has 3 treasures and the final treasure is always a disc of the music for that level so you can play it at your leisure.

The actual game is great fun too. The yarn aesthetic gives everything an amusing and playful feel, and the sheer amount of crazy contraptions Kirby and Prince Fluff can turn into is astonishing. The not being able to die would make the game boring, or so one would think, but not so. See, through the level you're collecting gems (the game calls them beads, but they're gems). Every time you're hit you lose a bunch of gems, although like Sonic and his rings, they can be collected up again if you're quick. The amount of gems you have warrants you a bronze, silver, or gold medal on completing the level, and for boss levels, if you get passed gold, you earn an extra patch.

After every level, you are given a patch that Kirby throws to affect the world in some way and open up the next level. This adds excitement to the end of each level as you're curious as to how the world will change with every new patch, and many of the changes are quite humorous and entertaining. So now you see why the addition of a patch for completing a boss fight with a full gem bar adds a sense of tension to a fight that should have none because you can't die. A really clever solution.

And of course arguing over gems and throwing each other around during the level is both hilarious and maddening. Nintendo games really do bring out the worst in people. :)


Metro 2033 (Steam)

This was cheap on the weekend and was gifted to me by my friend James, which i really appreciate as i've been hearing good things about this for a while. I've only played about two hours, but so far it's very atmospheric and the way the game utilizes lighting is incredible. I was also quite pleased at the difficulty select screen.

There was a couple of choices with ranger in front of them. A quick google search told me that this was added in a later patch, and the ranger mode uses more realistic damage, so a couple shots can kill both you and your enemies. I picked this option immediately. I've always been a fan of the more realistic FPS (realistic in terms of damage). The original Operation Flashpoint, and Rainbow Six games where a single bullet to a vital region could take both you and your enemies out. It adds a level of gravity to the gunplay that i find missing in most FPS' i play.

Despite the game playing with monsters and mutants, i haven't really felt a tense horror vibe. There's more a bleakness and element of survival. You find yourself scrounging for ammo off every corpse you find just so you have enough bullets to make it to the next area... and when you exit the metro system to go up top? Breath-taking.

The game also utilizes taking control away from the player for short cut-scenes incredibly well. I'm looking forward to more of this as play progresses.


Fallout: New Vegas (Steam)

It turns out i just needed a short break from the game as i'm back in and having fun again. How about those Deathclaws huh? I went to the quarry to grab some eggs and man, even at level 22 with some awesome guns and companions, those things are dangerous. I managed to kill off about five of them, and then an alpha came up and swiped my head off with one blow. I think i shall return to the quarry when i level up some more.


Escape (PC)

I followed the link on Destructoid over the weekend to this. It's an infinite wall climbing game that uses the esc button to jump. What's amazing about this is how the pressure with which you press and hold esc affects your jumping and sliding. Very fine tuned and this is pretty addictive because of it. It can be played here.



Final Thoughts

Originally playing Escape i felt a little depressed. You see, i often have a few neat ideas for video games running through my head, and if i ever stick with learning how to program long enough to make any of them a reality, i just might turn a few heads. Sadly the idea of an endless wall jump was one that's been rattling around in my brain the last couple of months, and so even though when it comes to game ideas, "you snooze, you lose" is all too truthful, and while escape is amazingly made, i felt that twinge of annoyance and regret.

The same thing happened with VVVVV. A game where you press a button to switch gravity in order to get through levels was one that myself and a few fellow game students at Bond had in 2008. We started planning the game but our plans fell through, and again when VVVVV was released, while i thought it was pretty awesome (even though i get stuck on one of the early game screens every time i try to play it), there was that jealousy that someone had actually followed through on creating a game similar to an idea i had toyed with.

Now of course this is just sour grapes. Hell i could still make my two games based on these mechanics and i think my spin on them would differentiate enough from Escape or VVVVV to be worthwhile, but that would require following through and completing a game (or how to program). It's the same with novels and screenplays too. You got to hand it to any work that is finished no matter how bad it is, as that person actually finished something. There are heaps of people with talent and potential for talent that will never have their work known because they can't finish a project.

Ah well, i'll continue to dream of games and plan when i'm going to start programming... and take solace in the fact that the big daddy of my game ideas, that's been in my head for years hasn't had anything like it released that i know about... for now :)

Til next week, happy gaming all!

Monday Musings - 29th August, 2011

I'm musing a little later than normal today but i have tea and am ready to start talking. Let's muse!


Fallout: New Vegas (Steam)

I think my forward momentum of the game finally gave out around the time i hit level 20. I was exploring Vault 22, i put the game down, and haven't been back for the rest of the week. If i have grown weary of the gameplay, i think i'll just load up and finish the last mission. Perhaps i need a break.


Persona 4 (PS2)

I am in the middle of making my way through the Void Quest dungeon. I gotta say, i just love the music, and of course the old school RPG feel of the hallways (makes me think of 3D Dot Game Heroes). Storywise the game seems to be trying to telegraph that i'm approaching the final boss but looking at my level, the time of year it is, and how long i've been playing the game, it doesn't feel like the end. It could be a clever ruse. Years ago when i was playing Tron 2.0 (fantastic game btw), there were two points during play that i felt i was coming to the end of the game, and then it just kept going.

It would be a shame if the game were to wrap up here though. I want to max out all my social links and then fuse together everything. Ev-er-y-thing.


Final Thoughts

Hmm, it seems it's taking me a while to warm up to writing today. In the past when this has happened it's been ok since i usually played enough games that i could work myself up to discussing the later titles more in-depth. Well hopefully i'll blab on for a little while here. Destructoid has a community blog suggestion every week and this last week it was on social gaming. I thought i'd talk about that a bit.

I am not the biggest fan of online gaming. Now before you jump down my throat for that statement, let me explain myself. I actually like multiplayer gaming a great deal. I even enjoy multiplayer experiences on single player games (passing the controller around with friends for instance). To start i'll have to delve back into my multiplayer gaming history. I started gaming in the mid 80s. My neighbour and best friend at the time had an Atari 2600, we eventually both got NESs, i got a PC, and we both went to the arcades every chance we get. Now with the exception of the PC, most of the experiences on the Atari, NES, and of course in the arcades were multiplayer experiences... and even on the PC, i had Rampage and spent a lot of time playing adventure games with the aid of a friend, or my father.

The Snes was the same and when i got my N64 (the first console i saved up for myself), that 2 player fun extended to 4 players. By this time arcades were close to dying but modems and LAN PC gaming had come along. The first real experience i can remember is Duke Nukem 3D, but i do recall getting some fun out of Doom 2 with friends over a 56k as well. Then around the turn of the century and fresh out of highschool, i discovered LAN gaming as an event. There were two main ones where i live on the Gold Coast of Australia but for me Frags was the place to be. To lug your computer over to the local Youth Club and play some Counter-Strike, Quake 3, Unreal Tournament, and Worms with other gamers was a memory i'll always cherish, even if i did get my ass handed to me more often than not.

I moved to the US for a couple years and when i came back i had a Gamecube, 4 controllers, and Smash Bros Melee. My friend James would host LANs, and while PC games were played, the Gamecube stayed turned on for a couple years (eventually causing it to come up with an error message. Yes, we blue screened a Gamecube). Around this time though is when i noticed that online gaming was now the thing... and it's never really clicked with me.

I think the reason is that all my multiplayer gaming experiences have been with friends or around the people i was playing. One thing i've hated about online gaming is the conduct of many of the anonymous people you play with. There's too much mean spirited-ness and too many people are too obsessed with winning rather than having a good time. Back when i started lanning i used to play Counter-Strike and UT online as well (to keep in shape for when the monthly LAN came around). The online community at the time basically stopped me playing CS in the span of perhaps 6 months (though by then a new mod was getting popular and had only a small player base so i jumped on board. That game was Day of Defeat).

So since then i've become lukewarm on online gaming. I still prefer local multiplayer, and will enjoy Wii Tennis or Street Fighter: Third Strike more than a game of CoD against a bunch of people i don't know. I will play cooperative online multiplayer with friends and i enjoy that a lot, mainly because voice chat makes it close to being in the same room as them... but for the most part plug in a 2nd controller or leave me to the twists and turns of a single player experience.

Well that was a little rambling but be honest, that's part of the reason you read this column.

Til next week, happy gaming all!

Monday Musings - 22nd Aug, 2011

This week i will be primarily talking about Fallout: New Vegas. With that said, let's muse.


Persona 4 (PS2)

I only played one evening of this last week. To say that Fallout: NV has a hook on my game time is putting that sentiment lightly. Still i spent a couple hours dungeon crawling and fusing personas into better personas. I now have a spell that can exit from a dungeon if i need to go renew my SP (the mana of the game) so that's really handy.

I said last week that the dungeon crawling is my least favourite aspect of the game so this is another factor to my lack of playing the game. I do find it amusing though that the two main games i am playing at the moment happen to be an Eastern RPG and a Western RPG. Good examples of both genres too in my humble opinion.


Fallout: New Vegas (Steam)

I hit the 20 hour mark last night. I'm up to the final mission, so since i'm loving the world so much, i've decided to travel and see all the other quests i can do. I had a lengthy discussion with my friend Andrew (our gaming podcast is returning soon by the way) last night about it, as the game didn't click for him, especially after Fallout 3 and i'm the opposite. His main criticism is that there seemed to be no reason for people to trust you and main story aside (until you get to New Vegas) he felt like he was wandering a desert wasteland.

Now last week i said part of the appeal of the game was this cowboy atmosphere, and that has continued, but now that i've played so much of the game and started clearing off all the side quests, the reason for my enjoyment is becoming more apparent. Those who have played a Fallout game know part of the charm of the series has been the multiple ways to finish quests and solve people's problems. This can also come at a cost. Sometimes you don't have the skill points to finish a quest the way you want to and things end sub-optimally. Other times you finish a quest and get the feeling you've missed out on a large chunk of the story. Part of this i put on the back of the faction system (although my plans for the White Glove Society were ruined by a glitch in the quest chain i believe).

There are a few factions i am hostile with, and a couple of those are by choice, but what's funny is that even with the White Glove Society glitching out (which caused me to slaughter them), i'm sticking by my decisions. Sure it makes things annoying having to deal with groups of enemies ambushing me whenever i travel the Mojave, but it makes things interesting.

I've kind of sidetracked off my point though. By exploring and side-questing, i'm filling in the blanks of all the story. I'm finding areas that other groups talked about. I was questing for the Van Graffs and picked up a companion called Cass. In the end this made me turn on the Van Graffs and i felt bad for having to do so until more of the story unveiled itself. I think what it's teaching me is make no assumptions about any of the groups, play things out to the end, and deal with the consequences.

Also funnily enough, in New Vegas i'm enjoying levelling up and becoming a badass. I dunno if it's cause i stuck to the main story and was always looking for better weapons (i love my hunting rifle) or that it's just cause i'm enjoying the game that much more. I'm level 19 now, and can't wait to max out. Heck, i'm even wondering if i'll still be enamoured with the game enough to purchase some DLC. We shall see. We shall see.


Final Thoughts

The past couple weeks have seen domination of this column by pretty much one game. Before New Vegas it was Persona 4. Now i've talked about having trouble sticking to one title (and i think this column benefits from that trouble as talking about one game a week might be kind of boring), but perhaps it's a sign of my attention span growing more focused. I have a form of Attention Deficit Disorder. It's a mild form, and i've never taken anything for it, but the signs are there, especially when it comes to focusing on things.

In the past i have put the blame of this on the games themselves. If they don't hold my interest, it's not meant to be. Then again, if a game holds my interest to the end, i have cherished it. I think it's a gamer thing though to always be lured by the new. I bought New Vegas in a steam sale last week and i wanted to give it a try so i put down Persona 4 and did so. If NV was a bad game, i would have returned to Persona, but the opposite happened. I've been hooked and almost exclusively playing New Vegas for over a week now. This also makes me feel really bad about leaving Persona 4 alone because i want to finish that game (and even have made plans to max out all my social links and create perfect fusions of every persona). Perhaps once i'm done with New Vegas i'll return to Persona and there will be no issue, but in the past leaving a game for a new game has meant that the game left gets put on the back burner.

I guess i'll have to let this ride out and see what comes. I try and make sense out of all my gaming habits but most of the time they're just confusing. Still, playing one game exclusively is a nice change of pace. It changes my normal game time from "Do i want to play a game, and if so, which one?" to "Ok, game time! Loading up New Vegas!".

Till next time, happy gaming all!

Monday Musings - 15th Aug, 2011

This week started out to only feature one game, but a steam sale purchase and a little soul searching, and we have a couple more things to talk about. Let us muse.


Persona 4 (PS2)

When i write these, i try and give as little spoilers as possible as there are probably many readers who a) haven't played the game but might, or b) are playing the game and might not be where i'm talking about. So to work around that problem, i try and make broad references to characters and plot points so that people who have played the game should know where i'm coming from without giving much away to other readers.

With that being said, i saved Rise this week, and i have played past the point of time you had to save her. Not only was the boss fight in her dungeon absolutely crazy (for reasons i will not go into), but the story progression after the foggy day just blew my mind. It centers around Teddie, and i think raises even more questions about that crazy bear.

Now that my social links are coming along pretty well (with now two links maxed out and most others at least halfway along), the benefits are really showing themselves. I have been spending probably too much time fusing personas because all the extra exp you get more often than not will max out their abilities, giving you... well i hesitate to call them perfect versions of the personas as you could probably fuse a version with some really nice abilities from other personas, but having all their abilities unlocked gives you more to work with. Also there's a social link that has opened for fusing personas with certain abilities, so this furthers the time i'm spending on this sub-section of the game.

I must say though that the dungeon crawling aspect has become my least favourite part of the game. It's really hard to get a player advantage opening on a monster, and maybe it's just me sucking, but the depth of field seems a little off, and i often miss hitting the monster with my weapon to initiate combat (which in turn allows the enemy to get an advantage over me). Don't get me wrong, i think the combat is great (well perhaps it is too easy for certain enemies to exploit weaknesses), and the persona fusing has risen to the level of enjoyment i have with improving social links and experiencing the story, but this past week especially, it seems the dungeon crawling has become a necessary evil to put up with to enjoy everything else the game has to offer.


Mega Mall Story (Iphone)

I am often reluctant to talk about the games i play for review purposes, as then this column would be a lot of moaning and groaning, plus i'd essentially be reviewing most of these titles twice. I think though that if i am playing a game past writing the review, it deserves to get a mention here.

Mega Mall Story is by Kairosoft, the guys who made the wildly popular Game Dev Story. It's a sim game where you have 15 years to create a 5 star mall. You create shops and utilities, research new ones, invest your money, and upgrade your stores. based on how good you're doing, customers will spend more cash and send you on your way to build a better mall.

If you've played any sim game like Theme Park or Simcity, it runs off a similar idea, though a little simplified for iphone. Still, this thing is mightily addictive, and funnily enough, talking about the Sim genre has gotten me itching to install and play my favourite sim game again, Simgolf. God that thing eats away the hours. Perhaps i'd best let it be.

Hmm, this kind of sounded like a review again, but quickly detoured into scary nostalgia. Some may say that's the best kind.


Fallout: New Vegas (Steam)

A couple weeks ago i went back to Fallout 3 and decided the game was no longer doing anything for me. On Monday i discovered that New Vegas (shortened to NV from now on) was on sale for $20... so i grabbed it, and installed it over a couple evenings. On Friday my resolve gave way and i booted it up. I'm now 7 hours in and have just dealt with Benny.

See part of my issue in F3 was that i think i dicked around with side quests too much, and so not only did the storyline lose steam, well i didn't feel any challenge when i entered DC. So with NV i made the decision to keep to the main questline and dick around with sidequests afterwards if i still felt like playing the game.

First off i'd like to comment that i like the feel of the wasteland a little more out in the Mojave desert. It gives the game more of a cowboy feel rather than the post-apocalyptic feel F3 had. I kind of dig that. Also the slow mo death animations even on non-VATS kills give the combat a little more punch. It makes things that much more visceral and also is a nice signal for the end of combat. The highway network is interesting too. It gives definitive routes through the wasteland, complete with groups ambushing merchants and lone wanderers. I've had to reload an ambush fight many times to come out ahead and i've quite enjoyed it.

Seeing that i've ran through the main storyline, i really haven't seen too much of the faction system except for little bits and pieces, but now that i've got a quest to rule over the area, i will definitely start exploring that system more, and making some choices about who i want to align myself with.

I'm keeping a little weary though as the first 8 - 10 hours of F3 i was having a blast too. Let's see how things run their course.


Final Thoughts

What is it about videogames that has gamers always chasing the new? I don't mean specifically the new releases, but just new experiences. I am thoroughly enjoying Persona 4, yet i jump on board a new experience (Fallout New Vegas) without a second notion. If another game were to come along that engaged me, no matter what time period the game was from, i'd probably hop onto that one too.

Perhaps it's because there's so many games out there to play. I dunno though. My movie queue is stupidly long, and the amount of books i want to read is even longer, but i let those forms of entertainment run their course. I don't start a new one till i've finished the one i'm on.

Perhaps it's the length of games then? I mean i'm 25 hours into Persona and i dunno if i'm even halfway. True most games these days are 6 - 10 hours, but not in the RPG genre, which is where i find myself mostly these days. Hell i haven't gone back to Vanquish in a few weeks, and that game is supposedly really short.

Is it cause games constantly improve upon themselves? Well possibly, but this improvement is mostly in aesthetic areas. A good story and good game mechanics were just as important back in the nes days as they are now, but what is acceptable in game design has indeed come a long way since then.

Perhaps it is the players just not satisfied in experiencing one small planet when an entire universe is out there (ok lame metaphor but i think you get the idea).

Perhaps it's just me, and this is why i hardly ever finish games.

Till next time, happy gaming all!

Monday Musings - 8th Aug, 2011

It's Monday, i got my coffee. Let's do this!


Persona 4 (PS2)

So after last week, i went and attacked the optional boss, then fought the bathhouse boss. It was a very long battle but in the end i was victorious. Since that time i have been back to the bathhouse to fight that optional boss and am just at the start of the next dungeon (with lots of amazing story and character development in between).

The funny thing about the bathhouse optional boss is that in order to fly through the levels of the dungeon again (once you defeat a dungeon, you have to fight through it again to reach the optional boss), i stuck all my teammates on AI mode. This is of course an option to allow the computer to choose all the attacks of your party members leaving you with control over only your character. From a design and story standpoint it's an interesting idea. You're not actually controlling your friends, you're only controlling yourself, but they are confident enough in your leadership to allow you to order them around if you so wish. It's nice to run through dungeon levels, but it might not be the best option to leave the decisions in their hands when it comes boss time.

Funnily enough, i forgot to take them off AI mode for the optional boss. I instantly thought of restarting the game, but a voice in my head said, "Hey just hold on a minute, let's see how this plays out. You can always reload if the boss kicks your ass". So i did. Actually the fight went pretty well. The boss was weak to lightning so having Kanji in the group automatically hitting it each round allowed the team to follow up with an all out attack. All the boss spent the fight doing was using a strong ice spell on Yukiko as that's her weakness. Equipping a persona with Diarama (a medium level healing spell), i could heal her, have all my teammates wail on the boss with magic and the fight was over without too much hassle. Now i'm sure i could have beaten the boss sooner if perhaps i had played things a little more strategically, but the AI did a pretty decent job covering my ass in a fight. I'm almost tempted to leave the AI on for the next boss.

Oh and one final note, i maxed out my social link with Yousuke, and his persona evolved. If there was ever any doubt that the persona system was partially based off pokemon, it's been eradicated. After maxing out his link, i went to the velvet room and fused the highest level Magician persona i could, taking full advantage of all the extra exp the social link provides. I was able to create a persona that levelled up through all its ability unlocks. I can for see a lot of time spent at the end of the game with maxed social links creating perfect versions of each persona and then fusing them. This could be dangerous.


Ms. Splosion Man (XBLA)

This week was pretty much just Persona on the table, but i did head over to my buddy Andrew's house on Saturday night, and we passed the controller around with his roommate Josh level by level of Ms. Splosion Man. I love my platformers, and this game certainly does not disappoint.

It's based around one mechanic really. You can splode three times in a row, each splosion having a certain arc to it. The game is heavily based around timing and minimal puzzle solving. The checkpoints are generous (although some are far enough apart to create a gnashing of teeth while playing), but what i really want to talk about is the character of Ms. Splosion Man and the atmosphere Twisted Pixel have created.

I have never played a game with such a happy-go-lucky, ADHD riddled, exuberant protagonist in all my time as a gamer. Ms. Splosion Man exerts such joy and frivolity as she twiddles her toes around a level, exploding into a cartwheel, making references from some 90s pop song, and somehow never losing her charm (at least in our playthrough of 10 or so levels). Then you have the world itself. Populated by oddball scientists who explode into chunks of meat and who create machines that shoot lasers, and machines that create lifeless inhabitable female husks. Also the whole world is powered by Beard.


Final Thoughts

One thing about Ms. Splosion Man is that there was so much colour and so much going on visually (especially in the Jetsons hover car segments), that my eyes couldn't actually follow what was going on some of the time. To kill some time on Sunday i briefly loaded up Deathspank on my PS3 to play around with for a few minutes and found that again, too much small detail, and i couldn't focus or follow the action. Both of these games were played on practically the same TV, an LCD 32 inch flat screen.

Now i wear glasses for a lazy eye. A very lazy eye. A "yo right eye, can you handle vision cause i'm gonna take a nap" kind of lazy eye. I have to wonder if this is part of the issue or is it that games of this nature require a larger TV (or at least require one to sit closer).

At my PC i'm right up close and personal. I've never had a problem with game detail, just an over saturation of information (i'm looking at you Beat Hazard). When i play my console, i sit at least 8 - 10 feet away from the TV. Mind you most games i've not had this issue with. Persona 4 is fine, so was Metal Gear Solid 4, and most of my game library (i admit i would prefer a larger screen for Vanquish).

As for preference, i do enjoy the close intimacy of being right next to a monitor... it's just my PC chair is very uncomfortable so prefer the cushy couches console gaming is known for. That's a topic for another Monday however.

Till next time, happy gaming all!