The Game Critique

I got to Boston around 3 pm on Thursday. Plenty of time for the pre-PAX meet up and Justin’s birthday. I spent some time at the Copley mall before heading up to the Cambridge Brewing Company.

I got there really early, so early in fact that I sat around doing nothing and that usually leads to worrying thoughts, like: am I at the right place? Do I have the wrong time? How in the hell would I recognized them? How in the hell would they recognize me, given that there is no known picture of me on the internet because I spent a good deal of effort to accomplish that?

After an hour or so and many dashed hopes two people began to walk up, and if they weren’t there for PAX I was in serious trouble.

Denis Farr is on the left and Alex Myers is on the right. Soon we were joined by another, though because he went into the Irish pub one door down of where we were meeting up, he was actually there half an hour before me and neither of us had seen the other.

Simon Ferrari is in real life exactly like on twitter and I have no idea why I had an almost diametrically opposed image of him in my head. He will argue your head off and do it enthusiastically, but concede graciously if you’re right and he is wrong. He also insulted my spelling and use of grammar…on twitter. But praised my blog as being edited. Still unsure how to take that.

One by one the others from the internet began to materialize from the aether. Before they had just been icons or disembodied heads and now were real people in front of my very eyes.

Sparky “Micheal” Clarkson showed up next. It was hard to recognize him without the thoughtful pose and sepia toned skin. He walked by us a few times, so apparently it was mutual.

If Roger Travis looks a little stunned in the photo, it might be because when he was walking up Simon leaped out of his chair, ran at him and hugged him in mid-jump. Roger is one of the nicest people you’ll ever meet. And he sounds exactly like he does on his podcast. I apparently don’t. I blame my cheapo headset mic.

This is Thomas Cross. I recognized the name, but couldn’t remember why. This would not be the first or last time this would happen. Justin would later say that he’s the perfect calm balance to the near hyperactive in your face attitude of Simon Ferrari. There really is no better way to say it. Every time I saw him this weekend, he was with Simon and acting as counterpoint.

The group as of 6:30. The main attraction from across the pond had not arrived yet. Everyone had forgotten about airport customs.

Here is Alex Raymond sporting a head of green locks and matching top. She had quite a trip driving up from New Jersey, walking, almost getting to CBC before turning back to her car to pick up Justin Keverne and Kate from the airport. And no, she does not look that crazed in real life. However, she did bring…

…the man of the hour. Happy 28th birthday Justin. His cake hadn’t quite melted yet. I ended up spending most of the weekend with Justin. He’s a fun guy to be around…

…if this is any indication. Die tiramisu die. To be fair he only had peanuts for the last 21 hours or so.

And here is the other Brit, Kate S. Thanks to her forward thinking her hair was easy to spot all convention long. Again it was a pleasure to meet her. The best blogger without a blog.

Chatter continued, with Simon doing most of it. And while everyone else bundled up or huddled up Denis continued to proudly display his bare arms and thin tee-shirt to the Boston cold. I guess Chicago is worse?

I was shutter bugging at this point. This pic makes her look a lot less crazy.

I have to apologize to Justin for this one. I was snapping pictures and he had just finished the tiramisu practically by himself. He was swallowing the last piece when I went to take a picture, but I had just turned the camera on, so it was taking its sweet time. All the while Justin being the good subject had frozen in place. So, sorry my camera almost choked you.

It’s been a long day, but the night has just begun.

And here we all are walking off to the Darius’ party. Me being the idiot that I am didn’t sign up for it on the PAX wave when I could have. I waved goodbye once they had gotten their name tags and went in. They I began the hour trek back to the BU campus. So I ended up heading for my friend…

…’s apartment. However, he was working sound at the Shakespeare play Titus Adronicus at the time. So I got to see the second half of it for free.

Then Friday arrived.

This was the scene at registration, where we picked up our lanyards and swag bags. This was room two on the whole line. I asked what was the point of the second room and why they couldn’t just let us into the show. Answer: crowd control.

This is one of the handheld lounges. I spent a lot of time here between waiting in line. FYI, those beanbag chairs are comfy. Before I went to the first panel, Interactive Fiction and Storytelling, I wandered around the Expo Hall where they were showing off games.

This was from the EA booth, the most crowded booth at the whole show, thanks in large part to the Red Dead Redemption demo. I had no inclination to get in that line that wrapped around the whole section.

I wasn’t so excited for this game when it was announced, but after seeing in action I feel Ubisoft beginning to earn my trust back.

Okay, this was the shot of the convention as far as I’m concerned. I was following him through the crowd, but I couldn’t get him in front. But then I realized this is the way to take it. It’s damn detailed too.

Met up with Justin after a while and he pointed me to the booth next to the main hall to pick up…

…a copy of Kill Screen. Regardless of it’s a worthwhile magazine or not, I was going to get it. Justin, lucky son of a bitch, got one for free from Chris Dahlen’s private stash the night before.

Yeah, iPhones suck down power. On the other hand, they are a lot more portable than my laptop.

This is Justin doing his best not to fangasm all over another Looking Glass employee. To be fair he did ask this one to apologize for him to the one from last night. If you could give me there names I will edit this part. (Edit: The Man in the photo is Alexx Kay from Irrational Games and the man from the previous night was Rob Waters.)

Another mysterious apparition from a person on twitter to prove they are not an ARG. I was checking out the arcade cabinet museum before getting in line for the IF Storytelling panel. When I was tapped on the shoulder from behind and asked, “are you Eric?” I know there are no pictures of me online and I didn’t recognize him from college. He introduced himself and I quote, “I’m Yu Zun from twitter.” Or at least I hope that’s what he said; it was very loud in there and I had to ask him to repeat his name. But I recognized the name, shook his hand and chatted a bit. I’m still not sure how he recognized me.

Unfortunately, I had lost track of Justin, but I soon found other friends.

This would be a very common scene throughout the weekend. I met up with them and then went to get in line about half an hour before the panel started.

This was the line. I’m actually in line around the corner. This was me reaching beyond the corner to snap the shot. The people along the wall are going towards the door at the very far corner, but then it loops back and laps around the escalators before going to the Wyvren hall. Then behind us it lapped around another room. Roger and Sparky showed up about then and thanks to the confusion we let them slip in with us. (*wink wink*)

These were the panelists. It was very interesting. They spoke a lot about the concepts of how to create a story that can react to player input. It’s wasn’t so much about branching paths, dialogue trees, but simply about how to tell a story ready for input. They didn’t outright say it like this, but it seemed context was very important to the otherwise well worn mechanics. They also rattled off a lot IF games I have to check out later.

I was at the back wall, until I saw Justin waving from near the front. He had gotten in line much earlier and was pointing out an empty seat right behind him. I took it without hesitation. I bring this up, because of the picture quality of the panelists above verses the quality below. I was much further away. (Edit: I apparently got the back of Jonathan Mills head in this pic.)

This was the panel Girls and Gaming. It was done as a Q &A, which I think only hurt it. There was little structure and they ended up answering the same questions over and over. I don’t really have many notes for this one. I really just wrote down a few of the question, because the answers weren’t worth much. Though at the top I have the note: “Apologists?” It’s covered better elsewhere.

Though, about halfway through, this woman, Beth,…

…made these two…

…levitate off their chairs, squeal and clap when she mentioned she wrote for the Border House. They spent several minutes on twitter trying to figure out who Beth was.

I didn’t get her in an action pose like I should have, but this was Friday’s witch. You could hear her from the other side of the convention hall when she was “startled.” She’d be crying in a corner, then someone would take a photo and the flash would startle her and she would chase that person down. Good fun for everyone.

There were a lot of Team Fortress 2 characters at PAX. Spy was by far the most popular character. I even saw two on Saturday that were dressed as spies with Gabe and Tyco masks on and people were going with it, asking for autographs and everything.

I finally got to meet fellow GBConfab lurker, Travis Megill late Friday. He didn’t get to speak long as he headed off and we were waiting for Kate and others to get out of a screening of Get Lamp, a new documentary about Interactive Fiction.

Yes that is my laptop in the lower right corner, the very laptop I’m writing this on.

So the movie let out and a bunch of people from ludodecahedron joined us, like…

…Mathew Gallant aka. Gangles. Didn’t get to talk to him much this night, but we chatted more the next day. All is good.

So I was tweeting who I was hanging out with and was writing down everyone’s user handle, but then I got to two people I hadn’t met and didn’t recognize. So I call Justin over and ask him who they were. He tells me they’re Dan Bruno and Chris Dahlen. I excused myself, tossed my laptop aside and went up to them. I introduced myself to Dan, but as soon as I said my name, Chris Dahlen…

…leaped to his feet exclaiming, “oh you’re Eric Swain,” and enthusiastically shook my hand. It’s very flattering to be recognized like this. Though at the time all I could think was, ‘I’m not that famous.’

Also, Dan took the heckling I sent his way about Rock Band content pretty well.

This is about the time my digital camera’s battery ran out. Luckily it was the end of the day. Afterwords a couple of us went to a bar, where we met Johnathan Mills. It’s was an obnoxiously loud place, where we could barely hear  each other talk. And Alex and Kate got hit on by some drunk guy who wanted the rest of us to be in a dance competition.

After we parted ways I walked Thomas Cross and Simon Ferrari back to Brookline. It was…interesting to say the least.

Next day I bought a disposable camera from CVS, so from here on the picture quality is going to go down a little.

Day started off with me running like hell to get in line for the Ten Best Games of All Time panel. Run by…

N’Gai Croal and Stephen Totilo, but I don’t have his picture. You can read about the game they made out of it here. This was definitely the most fun panel at PAX. At the end of the game they asked a few questions about some of the entries. They asked if Pac Man should be on the list. I actually got the mic and loved how they totally blew me off. I thought Space Invaders would be a better entry.

After the panel I got to meet Mitch Krpata.

His response at my introduction was more of what I expected instead of Chris Dahlen’s excitement. He shook my hand, posed for the pic and went back to who he was talking to.

Also met Sean Beanland for a few brief moments before security made us move along, because standing flat against the wall in a wide open hall was breaking some sort of rule. We got hustled out of there fast. Oh and note, Sean isn’t that pale, the flash is that bright.

Another homemade outfit by Alex on display here. A lovely purple ensemble. And off to the side is Grant getting into costume.

Damn straight he’s Sackboy. Very surprised Kotaku didn’t pick it up in their cosplay gallery. However, when walking with him, it took a while to get anywhere. People kept stopping us wanting pictures. One of the first ones who came up to him was a child, maybe 4 years old. His mother following asking can her son please take a picture with him, “you’re the first one he isn’t scared of.” Another dude came up a little later nearly shouting, “If I’m going to have my picture taken with anybody, it’s fucking Sackboy” He even got asked to take a picture side swiping them. Great fun by all, even the guy in the 200 degree burlap oven.

Seriously, how could I not take a picture of something this awesome. The detail is amazing.

There were two Bayonettas running around the show. Or so I’m told. I only ever saw the one. I spent most of the time wondering how on earth she got here hair to stay like that.

Correct me if I’m wrong, but this must be the most evil paring people could come up with. Damn good Sepheroth, again with hair. Gel like that is only supposed to exist in computers or foreign planets.

I took this picture a bit too far away, but you can still see it pretty good. Does he not look exactly like Ewan McGregor or what?

I will admit I made a sort of mistake on Saturday, which was waiting in line for over 3 hours to do a 1 hour demo of Dungeons and Dragons 4th edition. I haven’t had a chance to play it and see what the new rules entail. When it was finally our turn the DM asked each of us in line if we were by ourselves or with someone else. The man next to me had the best response possible, “Well we were individually here, but we’ve sort of bonded over the last three hours.”

Honestly I think the rules are so streamlined and simple. Even I could keep up without having to stall or crunch numbers. I’ll be testing it out with my players to decide if we switch over or not this weekend.

But back to PAX, the line took so long that I had missed the Choice in Video Games panel run by a bunch of developers from Obsidian. I got out about 10 minutes before it ended. So at least I knew where to find everyone else. I headed over there and saw two people I never thought I’d see again. Such is the world in geek culture that they were in line for the stage play of Dice and Men.

If you don’t recognize them I don’t blame you. They’re friends from college. This picture also has another meaning. This is the fist picture on the internet where I am the subject. Yes that is me in the red shirt and your hair would look bad too after 12 hours in a convention hall.

Apparently Greg knew I was at PAX without having ever seen me. I forgot he follows me on twitter. A word about twitter. Forget calling people, the single most effective way of finding people and meeting up was twitter. I thought my feed would ease up with so many of those I follow at PAX. No, I think the amount went up as people were excitingly microblogging about what was going and what they were doing. The night previously, Justin just sent out a tweet of where he and I were hanging out. No less than a dozen people found us throughout the evening. I had most people’s numbers in my cell phone, I used them maybe 3 times and each time was a pointless endeavor.

I got to get a better picture of me up.

After their panel let out – I didn’t miss much, apparently the panelists got drunk instead – I went out to dinner at a Mexican place close by with Justin, Alex, Grant, Gangles, Kate and others. Gangles, Justin, myself and another whose name escapes me at the moment, got to enthusiastically talking about games and critiquing them during the meal. I had dabbled in short conversations like this all weekend, but this was the first extended one I was apart of. This is why I came to PAX. To meet people and talk intelligently with them.

After dinner we went to a hotel room for a time then went our separate ways. I had some time to kill so I went back to the convention hall to wonder around. On the third floor this was the scene:

There was a rave going on to techno music produced by a gameboy plugged into a synthesizer and a laptop. Pity the picture wasn’t clearer.

Next day I got to the convention late, about noon actually. On my way to the hall to get to the Gay Gamer panel I saw these guys and paused to snap a pic.

I made it to the panel without trouble. I was near the end of the line and I still found empty seats in the second row right behind the others. The place was half empty. I could only think it was because of the schedule change from Saturday afternoon to Sunday afternoon.  That definitely hurt attendance. It was much better run than the Girls and Games panel. In fact they outright contradicted that panel and god bless them for it.

Once again the panel is covered better elsewhere.

After the panel we kind of hung around outside in the hall…

… when Hellen McWilliams of Harmonix and on the panel we just saw came by.

I went wandering around and ran into Alex Myers.

It was that time however, people had to go to catch their flights or start the long arduous drive home. Said my goodbyes to Justin and Kate as they made for the airport. Also said goodbye to Alex and Grant as I was going to one last panel and probably wouldn’t see them afterwords. Though before that, I sat with them for a while.

The man standing is carrying three poke walkers. This was an all too common scene at PAX. Some people would be riding the escalators with their walkers out to try and touch with anyone going the opposite way. People would approach lines just to see if anyone there had one. And as soon as someone whipped it out a crowd would amass and congregate around that person. It was a phenomenon. Releasing it right before a convention was probably the best advertising Nintendo could have done.

Just a guy nonchalantly carrying a very big sword around. Nothing else to see here.

I went to the Snake-oil and Sequalitis panel at the end of Sunday’s festivities. Sparky Clarkson, you remember him…

… was good enough to be line with me. It was a little dry, but full of discussion. At the end they gave out 5 Andrew Ryan figurines. Clapping was enthusiastic for 1-3, then died down at 4 and was dead silent when the last one was given away. I said goodbye to Sparky and went to the front.

Damn right I was going to get a picture of Ken Levine.

After I got out of there, I was effectively the last one at PAX. I wasn’t leaving until Monday, so I had no one to meet and there was little else to do. I hung out at the handheld lounge sucking down the wi-fi until they called the first ever PAX East to a close. I am out of pictures from the event, but I have one left.

This Ladies and Gentlemen is me. Now there wont be any confusion about what I look like anymore.

PAX East was a blast. Thank you to all the friends I met at this “reunion” and hope to see you again next year. I’m already making plans for it. I wish I had more time with people, especially Joe Tortuga and Johnathan Mills, both of whom I forgot to snap a picture of and only got a few words with each besides.

SLRC is dead Long Live SLRC

So reads the title of the ever changing acronym SLRC blog. Ben Abraham if not the most prolific internet critic is definitely one of the most important. Besides his own blog he was the creator of Critical Distance, an effort to bring all the best of game criticism under one URL after the game has had time to be digested. Probably the most ambitious project in the ludodidecahedron. Ben is the reason Far Cry 2 is recognized as much and taken as seriously as it is. He is the connected critic from down under. And now he ends his personal blog.

Ben moves on to his thesis project, on internet criticism. Whether it’s solely based on video games or not I don’t know. He is not removing himself from the field, just away from the formal essays and the like. His new blog can be found here: http://iam.benabraham.net/

Though man did you have to make your last post that depressing to the rest of us.

Well I have only one last thing to restate. So Long Righteous Comrade.

Last year I said I called it to a number of predictions I had made. Then in February I made several predictions about the coming year. Let’s see how I did.

1- On Resident Evil 5 I said that it would be an end to the series being about horror mostly because of co-op as an effect of its focus on action. I also said that it wouldn’t be as well regarded as Resident Evil 4. I nailed this one. Other than the discussion on race that the game spawned and some discussion on co-op this game was largely forgotten a month later. A few people in making their end of year lists had to be reminded that it came out and then ignored it.

2- I called Killzone 2 another competent, run of the mill shooter and would have as much influence as one could have. Yes, got this one too. After all the hullabaloo and yelling from the fanboys defending it, it really fell off the radar. Not to take away from the game, like I said a decent shooter.

3- inFamous, I said was a strong and solid title that would be a clunker when it came to the moral choice aspect like Bioshock was. Again I think I’m going to give myself a win for this.

4- Heavy Rain. Doesn’t matter what I said about it. It got delayed twice and is coming out first quarter of next year. So much for that one.

5- Prototype. There is some disagreement on this one. Some defend it, others fall on my side of the camp. One thing is consistent throughout, regardless on your stance on the play mechanics, the story is crap. Since that’s what I focused on, because that’s what their marketing focused on, I’m giving myself this one as well.

6- Uncharted 2: Among Thieves. Great game, a little better than the first in every way. As for whether or not I’ll end up defending every little nit pick that gets leveled against the game, we shall have to wait and see for me to get caught up on my reading. Glad to see everyone catching up for my love of the series.

7- I Am Alive. Another failure on my part. Ubisoft has got to get its facts straight when it will be releasing a game. Didn’t come out, so my comments are moot.

8- Assassin’s Creed 2. I said it would be an improvement over the first with more varied missions. From all accounts it does just that. It does stumble in some new territory, but I didn’t say it would now did I.

9- Alan Wake. I said it wouldn’t be out this year and I’m three days away from the end, so I’m calling it a win.

10- Dragon Age: Origins. The PC version is better than the console versions and no it doesn’t live up to Baldur’s Gate in my mind. Still an excellent game like no other. Nailed this one as well.

So in summery I called 8 out of 10. It all seems so obvious now. Maybe I’ll try and make a few more difficult predictions next year. And hope delays don’t screw up my guesses next time.

For those of you following me on twitter, which I suppose is all of you given my repeat audience, you will know of my present troubles. Two weeks ago I had midterms, which took up a lot of my time. The week after that I got a horrible case of the flu that my only condolence was that it happened after midterms. The unfortunate downside being that I missed a good deal of classes and did not write the essays that were due due to the fact my brain could not function properly. Then last Sunday, almost a week after I first became ill my computer corrupted itself. I had it fully reformatted by IT specialist and it seemed to be all clean and new. Then when I went to reinstall programs, it was a no go near the end. The whole system started to go down once again. Then earlier this evening when the whole machine crapped out and could not function. It doesn’t even recognize there being an OS on it anymore. The present theory is that the hard drive itself is corrupted, as in physically there is something wrong with the disk. Tomorrow I plan to purchase a new one and get it installed, then skip over Vista entirely and try out a free copy of Windows 7 a friend has and then get all my data and files back on. Hopefully that will be done by tomorrow night. I will then have all of Sunday to get myself caught up on the two weeks of school work I’m missed.

As of right now, I’m standing in the front hall of my dorm typing this out at a computer station as they vacuum the floor behind me.

That is my reason for not working on anything here. This is unfortunate, especially since this is the busiest and most important time of the year for a video game critic. Though I console myself with Q1 of 2010 is going to be the same or even more so.

Also I want to get one last word on this Citizen Kane of Video Games. This is a cry to the mainstream as anyone in the critical community, brainysphere or not, is pissed off at this subject for more than a few reasons. But as I was walking home from a friend’s apartment my mind wandered to it and I have to write it. Skip it if you want.

Most people decry “when are we going to get our Citizen Kane?” What they really are asking, “when are we going to get a sufficient enough example to point to when people give us that snobbish look whenever we get caught talking about them?” They want to have something where they can just say the title and have the other person nod and move on, because they will just know what they are talking about, even if they have not played it themselves. Just like Citizen Kane is that title even though most people have not seen it, but it became the emblem of film as art. Watchman did this for comic books.

In reality the Citizen Kane of video games has nothing to do with cultural relevance, or artistic viability, but with gamer’s own insecure egos. Our own predisposition fears of being cast as the outsider, while at the same time, hypocritically decrying anything that interferes with our own geek hierarchy when regular people come into the scene. We are a strange bunch, but personally I separate myself from that portion of the community. I like to think of myself as a geek with the ability to step back and recognize there is a larger world and have enough humility to realize I am not the end all be all.

I say that of course, without a hint of irony, as THEGameCritique.

Finally, when I do start writing again, it wont be anything recent. I have two essays for Heroes of Might and Magic II and then I’m probably going to move on to Silent Hill and/or King Kong. Unless I can get Dragon Age running of course. Also I plan to continue my Indie Game Spotlight over at Creativefluff.com and get more literary type criticism done over here. I also plan to start a new series looking at the form of video games. Rather than specific design choices of mechanics, I mean as Scott McCloud describes the six layers of art, Form is number two. I plan to start a series of posts, also at Creativefluff.com, of using example video games to explore the form of the medium. So look forward to that and see you on the other side.

I haven’t posted anything for almost a month. This is not due to lack of trying. My original plan was to finish up the last of my Beyond Good and Evil related posts now taking a total of 3 months of my life to complete, while the game took me less than two weeks. (Writing that post is like pulling teeth.) Then I was going to move onto Heavenly Sword and write out my thoughts there after replaying it for refresher. Then I was finally going to start on my first playthrough of Far Cry 2. (Ben you’d be so proud.) I also had a few post ideas for the interim while I was playing the games.

That was the plan and it looks like and has looked like for a while that will not be happening.

Instead what happened was a minor incident that escalated. Not to get your worries up, but it isn’t that big. A certain game on Steam went on sale a few weekends ago, Heroes of Might and Magic 5. For anyone who has noticed the few tweets that I’ve actually posted over the last week or two. This got me reminiscing about another game from my childhood that so thoroughly kicked my ass I have never won a single game of it. I would waste hours only for eventual defeat. Months passed and everyday I would be no closer. And that was before I learned there was a campaign mode. That game is Heroes of Might and Magic II.

For those of you who don’t know, Heroes of Might and Magic II is a turn based strategy game with fantasy monsters and your army controlled by heroes during battle. There is an over world filled with a variety of resources that have to managed and controlled. Everything is turn based and each individual turn doesn’t take up much time, but games take up a lot of turns.

I went on a short searching spree before tracking it down. I have all the manuals and extra inserts, but for the life of me I have no idea where the disc is. Wikipedia informed me of several compilation and one of them had games 1-4 for the price of one. I thought what a great deal. Now I think wikipedia lied to me. And none of the other compilations, for a reasonable price, exist on ebay or amazon that contains II. I eventually found a place I could download it for $15. I chose the 60 minute free trial first. After 60 minutes were up I was in the middle of my turn and a few seconds later I was $15 the poorer and one game richer. One hell of an addictive game richer. I am now on the last map of the good campaign and I have the evil side to go.

There’s more to this story.

At the beginning of this weekend another game was brought to my attention. This time on the PSN. It was Battlefield 1943, also for $15. It came with a 30 minute free trial demo. 30 minutes later I was kicked out and was soon $15 poorer and one game richer once again. I played and played this online multiplayer shooter. Then I noticed there was light outside, it was 5 am and I should get some sleep.

In short response what happened I got sucked in to two very addictive games that just ask of you “5 more minutes” at every twist and turn. The Battlefield 1943 Coral Sea challange doesn’t help one bit. I got sucked into games I did not expect, nor was I planning to. Is it just me? Am I that weak willed that I cannot do what I set myself out to do?

From what I’ve heard of people who’ve played Civilization 4, I am not alone in the turn based strategy game department, nor is that the case with online shooters. As for getting sidetracked by other games, isn’t that kind of the point. For a game to catch and hold the attention of the player. A game that distracts you from other games is a good thing, because it means you are engaged with the title. I use the term addictive and its true, both games are addictive. But a story cannot be as addictive as gameplay in our ludocerntric medium. It is the gameplay, the ludic elements that force us to continue on is such a manner. The continual interaction is not broken up and every second both both of these games has layer input and consequences. Not to say there aren’t story elements in either title, but they do not intrude into the game.

Another factor for their addictive quality is the quick play nature of the titles. For Heavenly Sword or Far Cry 2 I would have get over that initial hurdle of having to sit down for a significant amount of time to play the game. That hurdle may disappear once I am actually playing, but it exists as an obstacle that often isn’t overcome. No such factor exists with Heroes of Might and Magic II or Battlefield 1943. These are quintessential examples of in and out gameplay. I could stop typing and in 15 seconds be playing my next turn in Heroes and finish in another 15 seconds, save and be back to writing. of course one turn would lead to another and another and another and before I know it this would remain unwritten and I would have missed dinner…again. Same with Battlefield 1943. It would take about the same amount of time to jump in, then I can spend however long shooting, driving, running and then drop out and that be it, except one thing would lead to another and again I would miss my next meal for fighting in the Pacific campaign.

Both titles require a time investment to get what the game is offering, but unlike other AAA titles they don’t have the hurdle of time commitment that hype and excitement have to help to get over and actually put the disc in. It’s why everyone runs out for the first day, so when they run home the inertia lets them pop in the disc and they are off to the races. Maybe the real key is remove that hurdle altogether. The games can remain how they are, but somehow remove that hurdle that makes you think about putting the disc in, instead of just putting it in.

And now for the second half of this post’s title. The plan for now is, keep playing these addictive games, for I don’t think I can stop at the moment. Then post on them when the time comes. And if by some miracle of fate the mood strikes me, actually get back to all those drafts I have waiting to be finished and find their home here.

That includes some experimental stuff for here and for the design blog I work for, CreativeFluff, on the form of game design. Hope to write again very soon and not a month hiatus.

I feel like all I’m about to do is state the obvious.

A thought came to me as I finished up Heavenly Sword as my mind turned to stories in video games. Video games need stories crafted specifically for the medium. Every medium that tells stories has their own way of crafting a story. Length is one way to look at it, but detail, pacing, depth all contribute for a successful story in any medium. The measures of each is very different for each medium and transitions of a work from one medium to another takes effort in learning what to cut, shift or otherwise edit. Video games are different, as they usually require additions instead.

We have always known this; the difference for video games is that there is a need for the interactive elements, the gameplay elements, which changes the nature of how the story flows. The technical requirements of a game require a different type of story. Many of which grind to a halt when the interactive elements of the game show up and when transitioning between the two it’s like you can hear an audible clunk. The game portions are either wedged in or the game goes so outlandishly out of its way to force extra gameplay sections to make sense.

Heavenly Sword didn’t seem to have either of these problems, or at least not for the reasons I mentioned. I wish the game had smoother transitions between the varying sections and less load times, but back to the point at hand. The story was well crafted and the underlying structure was solid. With some edits it probably could be made into a movie, but most of it was specifically made for the video game medium. Not only did the story allow for the combat, it required it. The writer left spots open or crafted sections specifically so player interaction could happen. The gameplay sections are melded into the overall story because the story allows for their existence. The story in Heavenly Sword is simple enough that it’s easier to see the working parts from a conceptual standpoint, but once the process is understood it can be applied to more complex story ideas.

I wrote a three part series on CreativeFluff.com about the division of story and gameplay and what was being done to try and merge the two part together. I did not, however, consider the following. The first step to the process is to get a writer who understands what video games are and understands the medium’s specific needs when it comes to interactivity. It isn’t about cut scenes or in game dialogue or audio journals or visual clues for the story to be conveyed better in a video game. What is needed is a story specifically suited to the video game medium. Video games require a different set of rules when it comes to pacing, tension, information, etc etc. Those terms don’t mean the same thing in video games than they mean for movies or TV, the two most often imitated formats.

I don’t know the specifics of how to create working stories for the medium. That will take further thought.

Having played the 4 key Sonic games from the Genesis era recently thanks to the Ultimate Genesis Collection I have come to a realization. These platformers are very different than every other platformer ever made before and after it. There are other platformers on the collection as well and using them as a bench mark I notice a sharp difference not only in the game, but also in my mindset in playing.

The original Sonic games to me are Sonic 1, 2, 3 and Sonic and Knuckles. These four stuck with the basic premise that made the series great. They all have the same basic mechanics. Speed and a sense of momentum is key to these games. Much of the level design is based around moving fast and the rings are there as a safety net in case you run it to something. Several of the jumps require a good deal of speed for the distance. You get the instinct to constantly press forward on the d-pad. This is fine for the Sonic games, but it leads to instant death in other platformers.

There are even moment in the Sonic games that go against its own mentality of speed and momentum. Sections where you have to stand still and wait for some elevator to move or a platform system to come and pick you up. If you go get too impatient you find yourself running into spikes or getting crushed to death.

In the gamer scheme of things I am a freak of nature. I finish nearly every game I buy. Weird right? The fact of the matter is that most narrative based games are not completed. It was considered an enormous success by the developers of Bioshock that 50% of those who played it reached the end. Even the Half-Life 2 episodes, which are only about 6 hours long and have extremely friendly level design aren’t finished more that that. It’s been compared to elsewhere, and for the life of me I wish I could remember where, to imagine if 50% of people walked out of a movie mid way through, every movie. It’s strange.

It begs the question: what drives a player to complete a game?

Obviously the answer is going to be different for every person. Not every aspect of every video game is going to appeal to every person in the same degree. Hell, not every video game appeals to every person. I’m not going to pretend I can break it down it wide ranging categories that cover the basics. Personally it’s the stories that drive me to finish games. I want to see what happens in the end, the gameplay is a means to that end. I recognize this; because I have played some god-awful video games that had little redeeming value and I have finished all of them, save for two types of instances. Instances where the game collapses in on itself in a wondering display of corrupted saves, code or disc or the fact that its an RPG where I reach the point where there is no story and all grinding gameplay (in most cases a JRPG).

For example, a game I received as a birthday gift, Orphen: Scion of Sorcery. Go ahead and look it up, I’ll wait. Suffice to say the game was next to unplayable and the story a little loose unless you were paying attention. The combat was plodding and the puzzles trial and error. I dropped over 10 hours into that game to reach the end only to find the game sending me back to the beginning and tell me to pick up the second storyline. Apparently there were two narratives you could choose from and enough time travel to make you choose both. Two hours later I found myself in a room with no exit running in circles with a camera trapped behind the cramped walls most of the time. I looked up the walkthrough and found that I had to leave via a door that didn’t exist in my copy. Game dropped.

The other instance is when an RPG stops telling a story and continues on for long periods of grinding before you can move on to the next stage or doesn’t tell you where to go next and expects you to wander around the world map until you find it. This happens with regular frequency in the Final Fantasy series around the three quarters mark and I find myself stopping around that time too.

But then comes the exception to the rule. One of my favorite games of all time, if not my favorite game and yet I have never beaten it. I have started Baldur’s Gate on three separate occasions, sunk a good 40-60 hours into each play through and end up not finishing. Either due to a poorly chosen save point, changing computers or lose of data over a few years. I love the game and its story, but I cannot get myself to the end of the game.

Which brings me to my second question: what counts as completing a game?

I’m still speaking of narrative games only for the purpose of this question. Once again the answer is going to be different for every person and even different with every game. It could be as simple in reaching the end credits and maybe seeing whatever might be on after them (I’m looking at you Prince of Persia). Does epilogue DLC or extra episodes count towards the original game or do you subconsciously think of them as different games? For the actual end, if you put in the work, but couldn’t quite get to the very last spot is it enough to watch someone else complete the game? If there are multiple endings, is one good enough or do you have to play it through multiple times? And now with achievements and trophies, is complete all the points or the platinum trophy?

With Black I got through the whole game except the last room of the last level. It was nearly up to the point where I wanted to heave the controller at the screen, but I still wanted to see the end and couldn’t afford to pay for a replacement TV, so I contacted a friend to do it for me, saw the end of the story and felt I had completed the game.

With Kingdom Hearts I could have beaten the game long before I actually did, but to me that wasn’t finishing the game. I went and grinded up so I could get the ultimate keyblade and take out the two side bosses and finish all the tournaments. Then I went and beat the final boss. That was completing the game for me.

With a movie or book, or play, completing is seeing the ending. Only with video games does this become a near philosophical question to the nature of the medium. I am curious to hear your take on it and any stories of your own.

Ok, my presence on the Internet the last week has been next to non-existent. Not just on this site, but Creative Fluff, twitter, IRC ect. Call it laziness or school, but I’m still alive. It’s that time when my personal projects are numerous and I hope to finish them off before my school work takes complete focus.

Anyway I was thinking about what to write as a quick of the top of my head post and it occurred to me. I did a post last year, I Called It, which was kind of pointless being one of the first half a dozen things I posted on the site. I could have written anything that happened and said I say this would happen. Well I did say those things, maybe not on the net, but in real life to anyone who would bother to listen to me. This year I decided to put my money where my mouth is so to speak and play act as Nostradamus of a little bit, without the cryptic speech that can be interpreted any which way of course.

First off, my thoughts on Resident Evil 5. This game is not going to light the world on fire, nor is it going to get the same kind of “best game of all time” response that Resident Evil 4 received from non-hype machine sources. The game is just like RE4 and unlike it’s predecessor it is not fresh enough to escape the fact that it isn’t frightening anymore and is an action title with some very frustrating controls. Co-op mode, while assuredly fun, should be the first and only needed clue that this is no longer a horror game. It takes its lessons from the school of Gears of War, only with less amiable controls, and not, say, previous Resident Evils. I’m not even speaking towards the game’s quality or the debates that will go on with the game’s “racism.”

Killzone 2- It was marketed as a Halo killer. I’m not sure that’s accurate no matter how nice the grit looks on screen. I was in the multiplayer beta and its just a basic shooter. Which given how much gimmick there seems to be now, a basic shooter may be something new. I am willing to bet that this will be the PlayStation’s answer to Halo. Not in terms of advancement of the genre as the first one was, but I’d say closer to the third one. The multiplayer is the focus and the story is just sort of there for the “few” people that still get shooters for single player. You’re a space marine tasked with killing aliens. It will be a killer app for Sony, if they ever market the bloody thing, but frankly all it is, is another shooter. The best of the bunch, but still just another shooter.

I just looked over the last two paragraphs and realize they could spawn posts in and of themselves. However, since I’m here to make predictions I’m going to curtail reasons for latter game specific posts. Onward.

3. inFamous – I can get behind this game. It is going to be  solid title for the PlayStation 3. That’s it a strong and solid title. That’s not a bad thing, but I doubt the whole open world aspect that inFamous is in a long line of games trying to promote. I don’t think it’s going to offer the freedom to just do anything you want. And as for the choice of being a hero or an anti-hero as much as I love the idea, I think it’s going to fall as flat as Bioshock’s attempt did.

Cuatro: Heavy Rain- This game, like the Quantic Dreams’ last game, Indigo Prophecy, is going to fall squarely into the sphere of the Killer 7 argument. Like the term’s titular game and No More Heroes and Earthbound and Beyond Good and Evil, despite the flaws its worth getting and playing because of the utter uniqueness of the title. I haven’t a clue how much they are going to live up to the ever player action affects the story aspect, but I think its going to shoot for the moon, push the boundaries of what is currently being done and then fall short. Hence the Killer 7 argument.

Quinqu__ Prototype – Really, this is the game getting most of the attention and hype? Two phrases should have turned everyone off this title. “The main character has amnesia” and “Open world game with totally destructible environments.” If that’s your thing you don’t have to wait for the game to come out. Both Grand Theft Auto 4 and Hulk Ultimate Destruction will fill the space. Average, run of the mill, solid but uninspired and that’s being generous. At least inFamous got creative in its excuses for the character to do things.

Roku = Uncharted 2: Among Thieves- I predict that this game will have the exact same effect on me that the first one did. I like the game thought it was solid and even better than average, but on replaying it and on every reflection of the game it goes up in my esteem. I end somehow defending against all nitpicks and am not sure how I got to that point. But honestly, after experiencing that effect once, that’s really what I want the sequel to do to me.

& // I Am Alive – I expect this game to promise a world of new experience in the survival genre and then deliver only dressed up old experiences.

Eight || Assassin’s Creed 2 – An improved Assassin’s Creed game, with more varied missions and interesting interactions. Basically what the first title should have been. And of course another balls to the wall excuse to have it take place in the past.

Nove [] Alan Wake – It will not come out this year.

Zhen ; Dragon Age: Origins- It will not live up to the myth Baldur’s Gate built up over the last 11 years, but it will come damn close. The PC version will be better than the console versions.

Well those are all the games I can think of off the top of my head and is more than enough for ten months from now, when I see how I did.

I decided to not write on it immediately, get a good night sleep and and take some time to digest what Ubisoft has just done. I was angry last night when I checked IGN and found this little tidbit heading the day of news. Basically Ubisoft will release a DLC pack for their recent game, Prince of Persia. It will included an increase in difficulty, two new unlockable skins, a new attack for the Prince, and a new power for Eleka. So far there’s no problem, in fact the increase in difficulty is a much welcome addition, though a difficulty choice at the beginning of the game would have been much better choice, but whatever. However, it is the other additions that really pissed me off. A new location, a new enemy that amounts to a reskining of an old one, and, get this, an epilogue that continues on from the main narrative.

Part of my anger was probably that I found out just as I was putting finally touches on what I thought would be my last essay on the game. Now that I’ve let some time pass to coll off, I find myself still angry at Ubisoft, but not for the same reason. Why wasn’t any of this in the published game? This is seems like nothing more than a tool to gouge more money from the players.

My feelings on the epilogue content are thus. Their so called epilogue wont add anything to the story, but instead will create a new problem, Eleka and the Prince will go about like they did in Act 2 of their adventure, and then reset the status quo so that there can still be a sequel. The very fact that this DLC exists is proof that Ubisoft wont allow some reasonable conclusion to be reached in this game, not if there is room to do it in the sequel.

Fallout 3 offered a unique in game explanation for the DLC to be integrated. It is an elaborate VR machine of certain events in Fallout universe’s history. Or Mirror’s Edge DLC, which isn’t story based at all and is more time trials, which is just an extra to the main game.

We are given an end to the game, however we feel about it we do have an end. It just screams of a quick cash in, especially when their representative admits that the new enemy is a reskin of the Hunter/Warrior. Of course they also admit that you do not have to finish the game to play the DLC, so everyone could just figure it as AU, in which case it has no implications on the story, which they think it does.

Here’s the real question though. Since it does take place after the main game, will Eleka have any mention of the Prince reviving her or his new feelings towards her that caused him to do so? Given that you don’t have to finish the game to play it I think not.

…

Grrrrrrrr…