Full Review: Dragon Quest V - Hand of the Heavenly Bride (DS)

I just finished Dragon Quest V: Hand of the Heavenly Bride (hereto referred to as DQV) on Sunday afternoon and thought it apt that I have a post to do today, which was originally intended for Monday's post but I wasn't able to get around to writing/posting it because my sister was in town.  Yes, I'm blaming my sister for my inadequacies as a blog posting human being.

I started this game on the DS maybe six months ago, so around the middle of January 2012.  I had recently completed Dragon Quest IV: Chapters of the Chosen (DQIV) and wasn't tired of 1990's style Japanese role-playing games. And DQV, is very much that, a typical RPG where you have a main character, up to three companions who all raise levels while completing story elements and end up saving the world from an evil king/tyrant/overlord/dictator who is somewhat one sided.

~*SPOILERS*~(With intentional bits left out)

Monsters & Villains

In these types of RPG's, I don't seem to immediately question why the world is full of monsters. I don't care that there are random encounters or how world economics would work with all these effing monsters everywhere. But you know what, I don't care. I just figure that the world work well enough until Grandmaster Nimzo decided that the Underworld wasn't where it was all at and decided to take over the rest of the planet, there-by releasing a shit-ton of monsters upon the earth.

As previously mentioned, I felt that Nimzo was a bit of a flat, one sided main villain. He was talked about quite a bit by his lackeys, but really only as this all powerful being who will take over the world. So he's not an overly original villain, but again that was fine with me as I was able to keep in mind that this game was developed in the early 90's and came out in 1992; so it's a 20 year old game with updated graphics.

The monster design was very similar to DQIV and had some familiar characters from the previous Dragon Quest games, which I feel is very much a part of the series.

Music

This will be the shortest of the sections. As with previous Dragon Quest remakes, the music has been revamped from Koichi Sugiyama's original score and it all sounds great. That's it.

Gameplay

Like all previous games in this series, it's a top down view in both world map and towns.  You walk around and talk to people.  When you're not talking to people you're fighting in battles.  Battles are fought in first person and are turn based.  There's not really any use for the bottom touch screen, which is kind of sad considering the system it's on, but the lack of a touch function didn't detract from the game.

Story

The story here is somewhat non-original but it's done in a very original way. Wait, what!?

Here's what I mean. The story goes that a "Hero," someday, will arise and save the world from the destructive plans of the evil warlord Grandmaster Nimzo. You start the game with that bit of knowledge. The world is already going down the toilet, but a Hero is coming. Oh, and when the game begins, you're only six years old and traveling with your father who's some kick-ass travelling warrior with an honorable reputation. You find out soon enough that your father is on a quest to find the "Hero," already knowing that he isn't it because he can't equip the Hero's gear (A sword, shield, helmet and armor).

The child aspect was really interesting. You couldn't read many books(shelves) and only understood some words or basic themes. You were often told by NPC's that you couldn't leave the town or enter certain areas, again, because the character is only five.

One thing leads to another and your character and friend are kidnapped and sold into slavery, helping to build some grand temple for Nimzo. Jump ahead 10 years. Your character and friend and another random slave manage to escape to find the world very similar to how it was left. This was a bit of contention for me. Both you and your friend have been in slavery building an evil temple for the last 10 years and after escape, come away nearly unscathed emotionally. A kingdom even makes your friend their king because he was their prince before said kidnapping. Okay, maybe it didn't/doesn't bother me all that much, but maybe I just wish that it did. I'm suspending my sense of disbelief anyway.

So your friend becomes king and you're going back to adventuring, like any good son-of-an-adventurer would. In your travels (by boat), you come across the scenario where you are "forced" to be married. In the original 1992 game, you had a choice of two women, but in the DS remake (as opposed to the 2004 PS2 remake) you're given a third choice, who is the vindictive sister of one of your choices. Just before choosing, I decided to make multiple save files to find out how parts of the game progressed with a different wife. The first time though, I chose Bianca (who was a childhood acquaintance) as it seemed like that's what the game was setting up for you to do anyway. So you're married and like any solo adventurer, you have sex with your new wife and she becomes pregnant, eventually giving birth to twins, a boy and a girl.

One thing leads to another and you and your wife are turned into stone statues by one of Nimzo's lackeys. Your bodies/statues are found and sold to a rich family living on an island. You then watch the game as eight years pass by, seeing your wife eventually sold off again as the rich family seem to lose money because the world is becoming worse because of Nimzo's eventual coming into the world to take it over. Eventually your children and friends find your statue and are able to restore you to your normal self.

While out adventuring with your children and searching for your wife (their mother), you find pieces of the Hero's armor (thought I'd forgotten that bit didn't you?) and discover that one of your kids is able to equip them. Oh, and you also get your "airship" and are able to traverse the entire world now, or at least the places where it can land.

The End Game

After you find your wife and restore her to normal, it's about time to enter the Underworld and kick Grandmaster Nimzo's ass. Which is pretty much all that you do. There's a quest to obtain a key from some giant-ass giant in a bottle (as in you have to fight him from the top of a tower because that's how tall he is), which I admittedly had to look up on gamefaqs because I didn't even know that this existed and didn't know where I had to go to progress the story.  But anyway. 

So you travel to the Underworld, defeat Nimzo. My issue with this battle is a little minor. One of your children ends up being the "Hero" that will save the world from Nimzo. We know they're the hero because of the Hero's gear. Aside from having really good stats, it doesn't seem to play in anyway into the final battle. The child that was wearing all of the said gear, I had casting support spells and then attack spells for the majority of the battle. The so-called awesome sword, I don't think touched Nimzo because it didn't do as much damage as casting a lightning spell. I found that to be a little disappointing.

Okay, so peace is restored to the world. You travel back topside and visit a couple of notable cities from your quest, eventually taking you back to your kingdom where a dance is held. Roll credits.

Final Thoughts

Was this the most compelling RPG I've ever played? No, it was not, but it was a lot of fun. I did really like the age progression, even if it was done in odd jumps. However, how often is it you are able to play the same character at 6, 16 and 24? I also liked how the game didn't start with you somehow screwing up the world or letting out some impossible evil and it's your quest to go and fix your mistake. The world was already messed up by the time your character became aware. And then there's the whole part of the game about letting specific monsters join your party and training them, which sounds oddly familiar, but can't think of what it reminds me of.

Throughout the game, I didn't feel as emotionally attached to the characters as I have in other RPG's such as Final Fantasy VI or Chrono Trigger. I attribute this fact to that while the story was somewhat mature, the world created for the story was not. Keep in mind this isn't so much a criticism as it is an observation. 

So that's really it. I would recommend this game to anyone who has played any other Dragon Quest game or if you enjoy early RPG's akin to the Final Fantasy series. 

I put in 49 hours 13 minutes into playing the game, I think I can say that I enjoyed Dragon Quest V: Hand of the Heavenly Bride very much.

 ~JWfW/JDub/Jaconian

Full Frontal Reviews Done Here

Noir, noir, noir, Full Review: LIMBO

This post is going to contain *spoilers*  I will try to keep the details to a minimum, but I will be talking about game flow from beginning to end.  Since this game is a strongly atmospheric game, I don't want to break your immersion when playing, which would spoil the game for you.  LIMBO was released by Playdead for Steam on Aug. 2nd, 2011.  

Let me tell you the story of when I was first introduced to LIMBO.  I was over at my friend Steve's house, with a bunch of friends.  Steve's a guy who makes it a priority to have the latest and coolest giant flatscreen tvs and playstation y's.  We were all playing Rock Band and drinking beer in the prime time hours, having a great time and generally being hooligans.  I'm sure we annoyed the ever-loving piss out of all of Steve's neighbors, as he was living in a small apartment complex.  No one really thought twice about it for some time into the night.

But at some point, as these things happen, some responsible adult took charge, and we were told it was time to take a break from Rock Band and to stop making so much noise.  Everybody crumpled into their seats and slowly started breathing regularly again, in a daze brought on by so much hard rocking, hard drinkin' good times.  For my own part, I was not ready to stop, and I didn't have a clue what to do next.

As we all settled down, there was maybe a little idle chatter, but mostly our energy had gotten low, perhaps we had rocked too hard and only now were realizing we were exhausted.  While this decompression was going on John quietly started up LIMBO.  

We all sat, transfixed, as he played for the next half hour or so.  We were completely absorbed by the games atmosphere.  And this was not the usual gaming crowd.  These were the sorts of hooligans that haven't owned a system since the NES, and didn't usually make it out en force for a video gaming session unless it was a game like Rock Band.  But no one said a word, the whole time John played.  We just watched the shadowy little guy walk around on screen, push down a rotted tree trunk, avoid bear traps and fight a giant spider.  It was awesome.  I was so awed by the game that I made a firm mental note that I would one day play this game, and i would play it through to the end.  

And I did.  Twice.  In just the last two weeks.  It took me a while, but I didn't forget.  I was just waiting for the right time.  And then LIMBO was a part of the Humble INdie Bundle V that Jac' did purchase for me earlier this year, not realizing that he was giving me more than just a great set of games, I was getting one particular game for which I had been salivating.

So, one day, while I was at home sick from work, I played through LIMBO.  It took me about 4.5 hours.  I had a great time.  I knew I wanted to play it again as soon as I was finished.  I just finished it for a second time, and I actually got the same feeling.  But this time I won't.  Until I have someone to show the game to.  

Because really, for me, this game comes down to atmosphere.  The hazy black and white scheme, the background and foreground merge together seamlessly, the animation is very solid, and the sounds are haunting. I always feel immersed in the game's world.  

My immersion is broken when I die, but I'm treated with a gruesome death animation and then the game starts up again, usually very near to the place of death, and   immersion returns.  Immersion is only heavily broken when I die over and over again, which did happen a few times.  In one sense it was more fun to play the second time when I already knew how to do the puzzles.

I realize now that John had definitely already played it when he showed us.  He cruised through the first portion of the game without dying more then a few times and without puzzling too long over any of the puzzles.  It was a great way to be introduced to the game, I recommend it to anyone.  

I think my one strongest point of critique for LIMBO is that, after a while, it just becomes an excuse to put puzzles in front of you.  The earlier parts of the game, I had a sense of discovery, like maybe I would learn something about this strange world that I occupy.  Or maybe there would be plot development. There's a giant spider, there's these strange dudes with blowguns.  What does it all mean?  Now I'm in a factory, now I'm on top of a roof, what's next?

Oh, more factory.  And more.  By the last third of the game, it's some sort of mish-mash of factory scene and swamp scene, and puzzle after puzzle after puzzle.  This is where the game gets to be like many other puzzle platformers, in that the setting just serves as a way to put more puzzles in front of you.  Buzzsaws anyone?  Reminds me of Super Meat Boy, a game that didn't take itself seriously at all.  In LIMBO, I just found the factory scenes boring.  

Apart from the setting not being as interesting in the latter half of the game, I think I was let down by the lack of other creatures.  Early in the game, there was a spider, and corpses hanging from ropes, and weird blowgun toting dudes and then, finally a giant fly.  But then, for the next half of the game, there's no one.  Did I kill off the entire population of LIMBO?  A giant spider, three random dudes and a giant fly?  Well, I guess we'll always have brain slugs (way cool, but a bit overused in the game).  

I loved playing LIMBO.  It's the kind of thing I would call a "gaming experience."  And I recommend it highly to everyone.  It's not perfect, by any means, but it's damned good.  

-D


*the game gets an extra point for replay value because the first 1/3 of the game or so is worth playing again and again and again.

P.S.  Oh, and before anyone says "Boring?  But it's LIMBO, dude, it's supposed to be boring" - that is so not true.  It was very entertaining, it became boring when it felt like just a bunch of puzzles, one after the other, and not a really cool world to explore and move through.  

Ideas.

This actually brings me to several ideas I have for a sequel.  One is that it would be cool if they did have a 'second play-through' mode.  Really beat the player over the head with the idea of LIMBO, meaning no escape, no real progress.  Plus, the game already has replay value, why not reward the player for it with variations on the second time through?  

One way to do this would be to have multiple paths through the game.  Or your standard 100% discovery mode, similar to the one from Super Metroid or Castlevania: Symphony of the Night.  This would promote the idea that if you truly want a good ending, a way out of Limbo, then you have to earn it.  There were times in the game when I felt the immersion was broken when I died too many times in a row on a tough puzzle. I thought the puzzles were cool, but the real strength of the game was in the atmosphere, which the challenge of solving the puzzle-- or, simply executing the solution-- sometimes broke.  Perhaps the game could have an easy route with easy puzzles or less of them.  Just a stroll through the spooky atmosphere with no real breaks in the immersion.  Just an idea.  

And/or the puzzles could be tied in with multiple paths.  There's an easy way out and a hard way out.  The hard way will lead you along a different path.  Something of a 'choose your own adventure' method, but being controlled by the difficulty of puzzles.  The game wouldn't require a difficulty setting, because the variance of difficulty modes would be built into the game.  

It might have been nice would be for extended deaths.  Like, after getting hit with a blowgun, the game could cut to me stuck in a box, unable to get out, like one of the corpses I encounter.  Like: that's just what these guys do, they stuff people into boxes.  Also - game over, you're dead. The game actually did something like this in an unavoidable way when you are captured by the spider and wrapped in a cocoon.  I guess I feel like the corpses helped to create an atmosphere of horror and when I finally encounter enemies that seem to have some agency, they don't really do anything interesting or clever.  I'm sorry, I criticize because I love.

And my final idea for a sequel to this game would be to just straight-ripoff the multi-player in Journey, by thatgamecompany.  In Journey, the multi-player mode was like so:  The game was connected to the internet, and a random player who happened to be playing in the same stage of the game as you would appear in your game.  You couldn't talk, but you could communicate through actions.  I loved this mechanic, and I think a game like LIMBO can be a good fit for it.  As you progress through the game, you encounter another player, stuck in this dark, dreary and frightening environment with you. Mostly, this would be a break in the heavy loneliness that would (hopefully) enhance the atmosphere when it is taken away. 

I really love this game, and I am so glad it gave me all these ideas of how to improve it.  This is what all the best gaming has always been for me- loving the game and being inspired for improvements. But, ultimately, I'll leave it to the LIMBO fellows to do what they do and do it well.  Here's hoping for a badass sequel.  Later!

"More like a toy than a game."

I have a confession. I am 24 years old and I still play with dolls.  I build them elaborate houses, spend hours on their hairstyles and outfits, and keep track of their family tree. They have spouses, jobs, skill sets, and pets.
That's right guys, I'm talking about The Sims.
While reading the wikipedia article (because what else am I going to do tonight?) I came across a quote that says that The Sims has been described as "more like a toy than a game," and a light bulb went off. Growing up, I was all about playing with Barbies. I loved making them outfits out of scraps, and I somehow always seemed to come up with an elaborate backstory (I think my Barbie became the manager for the Beatles once. Yeah). It was around the time that I was getting "too old" for dolls that a friend introduced me to the Sims. Suddenly it was okay for me to keep making up silly stories and although the outfits were limited I couldn't complain.

Yes, she will do just fine.

From there, it was just... man. I bought every. single. expansion. for that game. At like $20 each, it meant that almost all birthday and Christmas money went straight to Maxis. I had Livin' Large, House Party, Hot Date, Vacation, Unleashed (you could get pets! come on!), Superstar, and the slightly lame Makin' Magic.  I even downloaded custom content. And then, The Sims 2 came out. My reaction :

Initial excitement, followed by "Wait, what. NO."

 Because guess what? It was definitely not backwards compatible. Which means all the money I had spent on The Sims 1 was essentially wasted if I bought the newer, much cooler looking Sims 2. I vowed that although I would buy the basic game, I would limit myself to one, maybe two expansion packs. You can guess how that went.

...Actually pretty well. 

I purchased the University expansion pack, since in The Sims 1, sims did not age at all; and in The Sims 2 the aging process went like this : infant->toddler->teen->adult->elder. Note the conspicuous gap between teen and adult. Having a sim go to college and go through a "young adult" phase was interesting and novel to me. Aside from being given the Seasons expansion pack by a friend, I only had the University expansion for The Sims 2. Sure enough, The Sims 3 came out a few years ago and is, in my opinion, much more interesting than The Sims 2. 

Which brings me to today. Now that I have more of a disposable income (or at least I did, until I went back to school), $20 doesn't seem like the astronomical sum it used to. However, I have become pickier about which expansions I buy. The most recent one, Showtime, seems like a rehashed version of a previous expansion but with Katy Perry weirdly tacked on, so I didn't buy it. World Adventures, on the other hand, takes the game from being a passive sandbox-style game to a sort of RPG-lite, with puzzles, quests, and mini-games. Definitely worth the money.

So on that note, I'm signing out. I got Sims to create!

-Conklederp

Post On Video Game Reviews diverges into digression about lacto-fermentation and local music

I grew up reading video game reviews.  If I was anticipating a game, or if I already played it and liked it, I would read the whole review.  Otherwise, I would just browse the scores.  I like numbers, always have,  so I figure that while I'm reviewing games, I may as well score them.

I don't know what categories I will use.  I guess I'll do 5 point system, or maybe a 4.  And only integers- no decimals.  I think I'll go with 4, it's more severe.   The greater the numerical range, the finer you can slice the rating.  I like the challenge of justifying a bigger slice.  But I also like the idea of earning bonus points, granted through a finer-tuned rating system.  A point for this, a point for that.  No, no, no bonus points.  Severe. 4 points.  Stars. Blogs? Or I may abandon the whole idea

 Or I may abandon the whole idea of a numerical rating system. Whatever.  I'm not too worried about it.

.  Whatever.  I'm not too worried about it.  The way I look at it, this blog is a stomping ground.  A place for me to practice expressing myself through writing.  I don't have to impress anyone- yet.

And that's my favorite part of writing in this thing.  You may not know this about me, but I have a deep-seeded desire to be cool.  Hip.  Both Funky and Fresh.  Like a good sauerkraut.  But this probiotic ambition of mine can sometimes lead to stress and anxiety.  Boo. No good.  Don't need any more of that, get enough at work, thank you.   But writing about video games is a way of relieving that stress.

Perhaps I'm writing this way because I saw a bunch of local bands and performers last night at the Davis Music Festival.  None of these people are "big-time," but they've all been doing this for years.  As I sat listening to their honeyed voices and guitar plinks, I thought "we are not so different, you and I."  The most important difference is that they're up there doing it, working at it, practicing.  And me, well, I'm a little behind.  By now many of these people I see on stage are a good five years younger than I am.  Belch.  Woops.

Alright, this digression has gotten me to a fifth paragraph, so it can't be all bad.  If it's half as enjoyable to read as it was to write, then you've probably already turned away to read something else by now.  But I'll keep on anyway.  Right- I was going to stop digressing.  Here goes:

I am not reviewing games as a demonstration of the authority I have gained through playing games for so many years.  I acknowledge that I've actually missed a great deal of the development of video gaming during the middle 2000's when I really didn't play very many games.  Truly, I don't know what I'm talking about.  But that's not why I'm writing reviews.  I'm writing reviews to Express Myself.

And if anyone out there, in this big crazy internet of ours, finds my writing entertaining or informative- well then that's just a great bonus.  Gold Star for me!  If anyone finds my writing irritating, then I hope they stop reading it.  Or offer helpful suggestions in a courteously delicate way.  My self esteem is a soap-bubble: fun to play with, but easily popped.  Or wait, maybe that's not right.  See?  This is why I'm doing this- to one day come up with accurate metaphors and similes.  

Or maybe I could just get an editor.

Link Dump

My full review of LIMBO is pending me completing the game again.  In the meantime, here's a bunch of links to video-games and video game related items:

Magical Game Time:

I just got linked to this comic and I am now a fan.  It's a wonderful blend of humor, imagination and nostalgia that is very close to how I feel about the video games of my childhood.  The artist has a similar taste to mine, based on the games he chooses to reference.  The art is rough, but very expressive.  

Today I die:

Video games as poetry. I really enjoyed playing this game. Today I die is one of the first truly independent games I played during my recent phase of indie game playing.  Free to play, in-browser.

Eversion:

This game is a simple platformer, doesn't take long to beat. It's a rough game, not a big show, like Braid or Limbo.  But this game really gets its concept across, and it is totally awesome.  I highly recommend it.  Actually, I think this was the first indie game I played.  Free to download.  $5 on Steam for the HD version.  

Abobo's Big Adventure:

I've already mentioned this one in a previous post.  But I thought I should include it while I'm posting free online games.  This game is a silly, violent and clever tribute to NES games.  Lots of fun.  

Cave Story:

Cave Story is utterly charming. I think this is the best Retro Game I have played.  It isn't the first indie game I played, but it is probably the best and most complete.  Beyond simple nostalgia, the game has some clever and well-implemented mechanics and plenty of those little touches that make a good game into more than the sum of its parts. 

In The Northwest, Every Precipice in Rainslicked

For the life of this blog, I probably won't be talking too often about games before they're released.  This is primarily because I don't have enough information that isn't already "out there" and if I'm talking about a game before it's release date, I can almost promise you that half of what I'll say will sound like, "This looks really awesome; I can't wait to play [insert game title here]; I liked the first two games, but I don't know why the developers are taking this direction, I guess it might be alright; This looks to be a fun game, but as I don't have the necessary system, I probably won't play it unless someone else I know buys it."

However!

Penny Arcade Aventures: On the Rainslick Precipice of Darkness - Episode III comes out this Monday, June 25th, 2012.  I played the first two games much later than nearly everyone else (as in ~3 years after they came out) and thought they were hilarious and kept in the spirit of the creators and the comic characters.  This third installment is a taking a different direction, artistically from the first two games (since they've moved away from Hothead Games and are now using Zeboyd Games (the people who created Cthulhu Saves the World and Breath of Death VII).  The first two games looked like a souped up version of the NES game Who Framed Roger Rabbit.  Wait, you're saying you didn't play that game?  It looked something like this then.  Well, my memory just failed me, because it didn't look much like Who Framed Roger Rabbit, just watch part of this and you'll get the gist.  

So, now that the context is set, my point can be made, even if it's in a different paragraph than the one where my point was mentioned.  Rainslick...III is not like those games.  It's more like Final Fantasy III/VI, at least the visuals and artwork are.  I can't say that they're trying to capitalize on some 16 bit hipster fan-boy thing since the people who wrote the game grew up playing these games when they were first out.  But anyway, just go have a look for yourselves at the trailer here:

I'm just really excited because I loved the story, style and humor of the first two games and like anyone who enjoys a series, I want to play more of that series.  And, and, and, AND!!!!  When/if you decide to purchase this game (through Steam), you will earn yourself a copy of Cthulhu Saves the World! Sadly, I already have the game (have yet to play it though) and I can't gift it to someone else.

That's all I'm going to say on this matter as again, I'm just a part of the gaming community, not part of the industry and I don't know anything about the game save what the trailer just told me.

~JWfW/JDub/Jaconian

The Sounds of Silence are Excited Too

Exploring A Different Side

I feel it somewhere...... and it mostly seems to be this "feeling" in my chest.  Somewhere just below the region of the heart, but not the area of the heart itself.  It's like there's this force threatening to take over.

Enough of the vagueness.  I've always considered myself to be a Console Gamer and in all respective purposes, I have been and still am.  Sure, I've enjoyed playing computer games, but they were never "very" current/cutting edge/ AAA rated/level  games.  

And now, some history of my computer gaming-ness:

The first computer game I remember playing was on a color screen in kindergarten (1985-86), which must have been something special, probably something akin to an Apple IIGS.  It was some Disney point and click game, similar to Shadowgate in that it was a "point-and-click" adventure that involved Mickey Mouse and outer space.  Then in the third grade (1988-89) we had an Apple IIe computer, which is where I was introduced to "classics" such as The Oregon Trail, Number Munchers, Lemonade Stand and Where in the World/USA is Carmen San Diego; these games were all on a monochrome black and green screen.  Sometime around 1991-92 (I don't remember exactly), our family got our first computer, an Apple IIe with a duel floppy drive.  [I believe we received/bought this system (as well as a dot matrix printer) from my aunt and uncle after they upgraded].  The games that came with this computer, from what I remember, were The Hobbit, some kind of Olympic game that may or may not have been Olympic Decathlon from Microsoft, some kind of graphics / drawing program that I was never able to make any sense out of and your basic word processing and spreadsheet program.  Most likely there were some other programs, but I can' remember anything else.

This computer we had until sometime around 1995 when my sister used some of her high school graduation money and bought herself an Apple Macintosh Computer; I believe it was a Macintosh 5215CD running the System 7.5 OS (To add, we had, I think, 8MB of RAM and a 500MB hard drive).  The few games that we had for this computer were Where in the World is Carmen San Diego and The Oregon Trail II.  Again, we probably had some other games at that time, but I don't recall what any of theme were.  Since it was primarily my older sister's computer (which was in my parent's room for whatever reason), I was mainly able to use it for homework assignments, and not too often then.  My letters to colleges when I was applying in 1997, I typed them out on one of our families two typewriters.  Don't get me wrong though, I'm not knocking my upbringing or our lack of serious computing power, I'm just trying to tell a story.

It must have been when I was a junior in high school (1996-97) that I was introduced to Warcraft II: Tides of Darkness, with an online demo (we had a 28/8 modem, recently upgraded from a 14/4).  It was the very definition of awesome computer gaming.  Shortly after playing the demo numerous times, I went out to Target and bought the Warcraft Battle Chest, which contained Warcraft: Orcs vs. Humans, Warcraft II: Tides of Darkness, and Warcraft IIx: Beyond the Dark Portal.  I played the ever-living shit out of these games, although never completing either the Orc or Human campaigns in Warcraft II or IIx.  I spent most of my time using the level editor, trying to perfect how the computer controlled its characters and how to create a compelling story.

In late 1998, I bought a Compaq Presario laptop, partly because I wanted a computer that was separate from the one my sister had bought then taken with her that year to SDSU, or maybe she bought another computer for herself and left the old one with my parents; I think that's what happened.  Either way, I wanted my own computer.  Shortly after I played quite a bit with the Diablo demo although never got around to buying the game.  I did buy the PC port of Final Fantasy VII, being the avid Final Fantasy fan, it seemed only natural. Within a year, my computer began experiencing odd issues when I tried installing a DOS D&D game; it was never the same after that.

Jump ahead to around 2002 when I was introduced to Baldur's Gate from my friend Dylan; this was on a Dell something-or-other.  That's all I'm going to say on that, as anyone whose ever played will know how much it can consume your life.  I also went through the sequel Baldur's Gate II: Shadow's of Amn, although I felt it was too linear and it didn't pull me in like the first game.  Then, in 2003, I purchased Neverwinter Nights, which was about the limit of gaming that my then Dell something-or-other (but better than the previous Dell that I had bought with an ex-girlfriend) could play.  I played this quite a bit as well, purchasing the physical expansion packs and like with Warcraft II, tried making my own games/stories.

This was really it for computer gaming until more recently, as in 2006-7 when I played the Bioshock demo on my roommate's (Vorlynx) computer.  I also got through Doom III on Vorlynx's gaming computer back in 2010 before I moved up to Portland.  With my previous netbook, I mentioned in a previous post, that I'd been playing Diablo, Diablo II, Plants vs. Zombies, and Portal.  I got about halfway (maybe?) through the first Fallout game, although I got to a point where I didn't know where I had to go or what to do.  With all this in mind, I've never really considered myself a PC gamer.

Now I have a newer-ish computer (Lenovo Ideapad Z575), I have a Steam account with over 20 games, some from Dr. Potts while others I bought because they looked awesome and pretty (Dear Esther), with Dear Esther and Portal 2 being the most recently released games.  Most of the purchases have been when Steam has a weekend or daily sale with a game being 50-80% off.  

I now have a computer that can handle newer-ish games unlike my consoles, the newest of which is the Nintendo Gamecube.  I do, however, as previously stated, play the DS and PSP a lot and would count those as my primary source of gaming.  I also just bought a Nintendo 3DS last week and am loving the shit out of it

I don't really consider myself a PC gamer, although I'm starting to feel the pull.  And the pull is quite strong.

~JWfW/JDub/Jaconian

The Grass Is Just A Different Shade Of Green

First Impressions: Mutant Mudds (3DS)

I first heard about Mutant Mudds quite a while back when it was still in development from Renegade Kid.  You know, the people who brought us Moon,  Dementium: The Ward and Dementium II.  I like to support developers who are somewhat small that create great games.  I'm looking at you too Silicon Knights (Eternal Darkness, Too Human).  Anyway, back to Mutant Mudds.

With the recent acquisition of a 3DS system, I purchased Mutant Mudds from Nintendo's eShop.  The game runs as a simple and basic platformer.  You have your character, platforms and enemies.  You're armed with a water gun that shoots more-or-less the width of the screen.  Your life meter is 3 hearts and so far, there has been nothing in the game to replenish your life meter.  If you land on spikes, you die (a la Mega Man) and have to start the level over from the beginning.  You have one life, but infinite continues.  The level length is really well constructed as well, with levels never seeming too long.  The first time through though, I sometimes wondered how much longer I could go with only 1 heart left, but on subsequent playthroughs, the levels almost seemed short, but that was because I knew what to do.

You also have a hydro-jet pack that lets you pretty much hover for a short time (Think Princess Toadstool in Super Mario Bros. 2).  On specific tiles, you can jump to the foreground or the back-back-ground.  Things in the other "grounds" don't get in your way and cannot affect you, you just know they're there.  In each level there're 100 "coins" that you can only collect once, even when replaying the level; you are able to pick up coins you missed though.  I don't know how many levels there are, but I think there're around 40.

Renegade Kidd, in my opinion has nailed a great 16-bit style platformer.  Even the music is simple and somewhat reminiscent of Super Mario Bros. or Super Mario Bros. 2.  It makes perfect use of the 3D effect and even if you don't have the 3D effect turned all the way up or even if it's off, it still looks great and plays the was it's supposed to be played.

At the moment, I've only played four of the levels, but it's still a blast and well worth the $8 I spent to tell a smallish game developer, "Hey, I really like what you do.  Keep at it."

Nintendo Power and Me

So, earlier today, I asked Jack what his first issue of Nintendo Power was. In response, he sent me this picture. Using the picture, he was able to determine which issue was his first, and I think I got a bead on my first one, which was Maniac Mansion. Looking at the picture of all of those Nintendo Power covers next to each other really go me going, and I started typing an extended email, which I decided I should just turn into a post. The results are shown below:

Metal Storm, a gravity shifting shooter.  Different from VVVVVV

Totally Rad. I remember a lot of these. Actually, what's really got me thrown is that the Super Nintendo was released so early on in the progression of Nintendo Power. I had this idea in my head that it took a while longer. But another thing I notice is that you can see both Castlevania II and Castlevania IV in this set of pictures.

I wish I had them too. The nostalgia is pretty strong here, I remember these issues, and I can almost remember what's inside them. I definitely used the game reviews very heavily. Metal Storm, I remember that one, there was lot of that 'model' art in the issue. I remember the power blade cover for some reason even though I never gave a crap about that game. Battletoads, definitely. And so on, and so forth. 

...omg, I just googled Nintendo Power and the first link that came up said "for 24 years our magazine has..." and I was like, holy shit. 24 years. I remember almost all of that. First issue was July/August 1988. So, if I started with Maniac Mansion, I think that puts me at about January 1990. Must have been my birthday. My 9th birthday. 

So, this will definitely become a post. This picture basically says it all. I don't really care to see any of the issues past 50 to tell you the truth. 1-50 pretty much covers it. 51-100 is probably pretty good too, but 1-50 gets the job done. Anyhow, I think it's interesting. When I got older, people gave me shit for Nintendo Power being "pretty much an advertisement for Nintendo." And yeah, sure, fine, whatever. The thing is: Nintendo had awesome products. They were a rad company. Nintendo Power was a great magazine. 

And I think it got me thinking critically about games for the first time. Maybe not so much about the Gaming Industry, which was a veritable Utopia for Nintendo fans from 1988-199X. But games themselves. Seeing level maps, and reading guides gave me a critical eye. It helped to teach me what to watch for. Also, it was like a form of readers digest, after a fashion. I had the source on games that were coming out, if they looked interesting, I could rent them. 

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The email ends here. Well, just after I talk about how this email would be a good post, but how I have to do laundry, so I'll post it later. But, then I decided "Some things are more important than laundry!" Well, that's not true. Nothing is more important that laundry. That's not true either, I just decided that I really don't want to go to the laundromat today, and I can still hold out and do it tomorrow or the next day. So, without further ado, back to the topic at hand:

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I love Nintendo Power. It was the first magazine I ever got. Well, we also had a subscription to MAD magazine that I used read, but it was for everyone. Nintendo Power was for *me*. I would get the mail every fucking day, for a least a week before the arrival date, just in case it had come early. I'd read it cover to cover, and then be insatiable for a weekend game rental or for the next issue to come out in 28 days. I hung up the posters, lined up the mags on a bookshelf.

I also wrote to the editors at Nintendo Power. I wrote dozens of letters. Most often telling them about my ideas for video games. It got to a point when they started sending me applications to Digi Pen Applied Computer Graphics School, which opened up when I was a teenager. Expensive Private School. In fact, I remember, at one point, they didn't even bother writing a letter, but would just send me the application packet. Like "shut up, you annoying kid, go design video games!"

And that is something that I'm going to ressurect here, my different, cocamamie ideas for video games. By studying video game design at home, by reading Nintendo Power and playing video games, I came up with bunches of ideas about how games could be. And I used to just send these, willy-nilly to the Nintendo Power Counselors (I think they called them counselors, go fig). Anyhow, I think I will post some of these ideas to the blog, A sort of "Message in a Bottle" to the internet, so that maybe someone out there with the resources and time will make a game similar to my little brainchildren. Sort of like a dandylion I am blowing out into cyberspace. 

I really liked that part in the article Jack links to about "being too old for games" -where the writer says: "They're just making the games I asked them to make ten years ago!" Or something like that. That really resonated with me, because I was asking the industry to make games. I had many ideas, general and specific that I wanted to see. And, in truth, a lot of it has come true, which is a truly wonderful thing! 

I am seeing much more customization and much more non-linearity. True, there's also plenty of junk still, but I'll trade it out for VVVVVV, Braid, Minecraft, Portal and all the others. And there's still so much I don't know, because I have given up competing for the latest, greatest games. If the game is that good, I'll find out about it eventually, and maybe even have a chance to play it. 

The Birth of the Name

The idea to do this blog is Dr. Potts' brain child.  He came to me with this idea sometime while I was doing the 60 Days of Gaming picture survey thing on Facebook.  I thought it was a great idea, which is why I'm still posting here.

The blog initially started out as "The Amorphous Blog," which is a play on the name of the radio show that Dr. Potts and I had on KDVS back in 2005.  That radio show was called "Cheeto! - The Amorphous Blob" since we didn't have a single genre of music that we settled on.  Later it was shortened to just "The Amorphous Blob."  At this time, the Blogspot URL was different than the title of the blog.  Now I knew that was more of a place holder until something more permanent came about.  Additionally, while I liked the title for the blog, I thought it was a little too obscure/random of sorts for the title of a video gaming blog.  One remnant from this time is the "Amorphous Archive" just over to your right, which I left because it has a nice ring to it and I see no real reason to change it.

Thus began the month long journey to come up with a name for the blog.  Little did we know that we were entering a world of annoyed frustration and face palming.  

1.  Amorphous Blog:  I tried variations on this along with the blogspot URL, and everything was taken and seemingly hadn't been updated in quite some time; as in years.

2.  The Konami Code Era:  On the morning of May 3rd (I still have the emails) I thought that "Select Start" would be a great name since it's what you do with the Konami Code when you want to select to play with two players then start to play.  I thought it would be a brilliant name.  Sadly, all variations of "Select Start" were taken and last updated sometime between 2002 and 2006.  I also thought about the long-ass "upupdowndownleftrightleftrightbaselectstar.blogspot.com" as a URL, even though it's ass long.  Weeks later I would find out that that is not a valid Blogspot URL.

Then we tried other variations on "The Konami Code" for the URL.  Again, everything seemed to have been taken sometime back in 2002 or 2003.  And haven't been updated since then.  I then tried variations of "The Code" as well, and again, all the real estate had been taken.

3.  Metroid Obscuria:  Dr. Potts then had the idea of using something obscure from the Metroid series.  That also, surprisingly or not, proved fruitless.  Yes, Norfair.blogspot, Brinstar.blogspot and even SR388.blogspot were already taken.  I don't think I tried Chozo.blogspot.com, so anyone's welcome to try and take it if it isn't already.

4.  A Boy and His Blob:  In one of my first posts I typed out back on May 7th, I mentioned "A Boy and His Blob" and accidentally typed out "blog" instead.  I quickly thought, "Awesome title for a blog!!"  Yup, you guessed it, already taken (which contains only three posts from 2002).  Later that afternoon, Dr. Potts suggested what is now the title of our blog, to which I simply responded "I like it!"

And thus you have the probably somewhat longer than it needed to be story of how our little blog received his/her name.  The whole process reminds me of the whole "We've got a band, now what do we call ourselves?"

~JWfW/JDub/Jaconian

For The Masses

Cheating, cracking, breaking?

As I got to typing my thoughts about what JWFW had to say about cheating in video games, they got to be so voluminous that I thought it was best to respond with a new post, rather than to write an very long comment.

It seems to me that from your point of view, Mr. Jac O'Nian,  a system of "best practices" outlines how you view 'getting help' vs 'cheating.'  It seems to me that you're actually interested in how the player cheats themself out of the experience of playing the game; when they choose to use cheat codes or maps without ever having put in the effort.  And I've got to say, that's pretty damn cool.   It does seem like it even cheats the game designers, because they are not able to show their game for what it is.  However, I do love the game genie for its ability to show what the game COULD be.

For me, the fun and the very best joy of using a game genie comes from using it on games that I already know intimately well.  I remember getting Super High Jumping for Super Mario Bros, which was very exciting.  I had no thoughts of how "easy" it would make the game, more like: "what can I do with this?"  With super-high jumping, I now had access to the top half of the screen, an area that is normally closed off to the player without the correctly placed blocks.  What was possible, with these new powers?

My favorite GG cheats were 'do your moves in the air' on street fighter, and 'give Terra Shock' on FFVI also 'Completely Random Item Drop' on FFVI.  By the time Street Fighter II had come out on SNES there were hyper editions of the game floating through arcades, where Chun Li could shoot a fireball and everyone could do their moves in the air.  I remember salivating over the all-out mayhem that this brought to the game.  Game Genie was able to replicate some of these, but the results were pretty silly, complete with graphical glitches and control kerfuffles.

For FFVI, the best cheats were much better integrated into the game.  There was  no doubting that Shock was a totally badass move, and one that the player only sees very briefly (in one of the best scenes of the whole game, I might add.)  Who could resist giving Terra Shock?  It certainly  made the first part of the game stupidly-easy, but I got a lot of mileage out of using that move over and over again.  And then the cheat that makes items-all items in the game- appear completely randomly.  I had a Genji Glove and Offering before I left Figaro!  The Offering is a unique (and totally badass) item that doesn't appear until 3/4 of the way through the game (and is also a General Leo tease).

Granted, I never beat FFVI with these codes.  While it was fun for a while, it got boring pretty quickly.  The Game Genie served to disrupt the flow of what was obviously a very finely tuned game.  And I gained a renewed respect for the craftsmanship that went into the making of Final Fantasy III (VI).  So, that's my favorite part about Game Genie, breaking the game to see how it works.

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I would like to also talk about Conklederp's observation #2, about the difference between Easter Eggs and cheating.  There are some easter eggs that make the game better.  Konami code when used in Contra being one.  That game is so hard, and really  not all that much fun without it.  And it's clear that the Konami designers knew how hard the game was, which is why they included the now infamous code.   Shout out to Gradius for the same code with a different, but still totally wicked, benefit.

And Goldeneye is a great example of Easter Eggs (among the many, many other things Goldeneye is a good example for).  They just nailed it with this game.  And let me tell you, getting that Facility cheat was fucking, fucking hard.  I could do everything correctly, but if the goddamn scientist wasn't in the first room I looked, I was fucked.  Man, that was a good game.  There was no better publisher in the world than Rare when that game came out.  So, yeah, I don't have the capacity to carefully explain every way in which Goldeneye is a great game, but Jaconian said it right in his post that they made 'a form of functional achievement.'

The only Easter egg I never got in 007 was Two RCP90's.  I think it's the cavern level in under 10 minutes.  I just.. never could quite do it.  Not patient enough, I suppose.

First Impressions: VVVVVV

So, on this lovely, windy, Saturday morning, I decided to give VVVVVV a shot. Played for 45 mins. I was very pleased with what I found.

1. Minimalism: this game has got it. Good Minimalism. For Example: 
2. There are four buttons. Left, Right, Action, Menu. That is all. 
3. It looks like something between an Atari 2600 game and an NES game, which I realize may be a wider field that I previously gave it credit for. 
4. Level design. This game has got it! And it is informed by the minimalism. I am consistently stimulated by each screen. This game keeps me on my toes. The designers don't seem to have any trouble keeping it interesting within the limits they've set. 
5. Fine touches. This game has a number of little, not terribly important things, that add depth to the game. I really appreciate it. 
6. And it's got a kickin' soundtrack too! 

-D