Indie Games and the Return of the Console Wars

Sometimes I slip into an incorrect assumption:  that Indie games are universally accessible to anyone with a computer, regardless of operating system.  This is not so, as there are definitely games, such as Journey, which are console-exclusive.  This has been frustrating for me, so I'm going to write a post about it, to work on the subject a bit, so that I can be better prepared and to avoid disappointment in the future.

To start off with, here's a nice little 7-minute mishmash of indie game promotion supported by some design theory:

I went through this video with a few thoughts.  One:  Wow, look at all those rad games, I can't keep them all straight!  Two:  Wow, look at that crazy atari-graphic style first person game?  What's it called?  I really want to play that game!   Three:  Wow, I'm overwhelmed.  Fourth:  Oh, that bird jumping game looks fun!  I want to play that.  What's it called? 

Jaconian tells me that the bird jumping game is called Tiny Wings, and Conkelderp has it on her ipoodle.  Google, Google, Google...And I found out it was only available on Apple products :P   So this proprietary platform thing happens between handhelds and game consoles vs PC.  Not to mention Linux/Windows/Mac. With big-budget games and little productions as well.

So, it's the Return of the Console Wars.  I guess they never really left.  Truly, it's my own return to the Console Wars.  After some time spent away from gaming, as my re-interest in gaming grows, I realize that I am limited by platform.  Not to mention time and money.    

I would like also to mention that in the description portion of the above youtube video, there are dozens of games listed (all those featured in the video).  So many that it may be overwhelming.  In my next post I will be copying and posting that list, with a brief mention of which platforms each game is available for.  And, over the following months, I will be plundering this list for games to play and to talk about.  Special attention to free games and demos, of course.  

-D


This video was originally shown to me by none other than JP Bruneau.  

Read the TV Tropes breakdown of the Console Wars for a great overview of the subject.

Full Review: Gunman Clive

After 1 hour 57 minutes and dying 76 times, I was able to finish Gunman Clive, playing as Clive.  I could spend another hour playing as Ms. Johnson and probably another hour and-a-half playing as The Duck (you read that correctly) and write a full comprehensive review, but that word is not part of our title.  So I'll begin this review of Hörberg Productions' Gunman Clive with just having played as Clive.

Until I learn how to take screen caps on my 3DS, you'll have to settle with this.

Graphics

The graphics for Gunman Clive are pretty simple, in that their line drawn and have a constant "sketching" appearance.  It reminds me a lot of the FMV used in the updated Final Fantasy Tactics: War of the Lions.  Initially you might think it would be distracting to have everything around the character looking like it's constantly being sketched, but I didn't notice any distraction.

3D Effectiveness

The 3D effect in this game was subtle and while it looked cool while it was on, I didn't feel like. . . ok wait.  With the exception of the glitch during the second boss battle, I had the 3D effect at about 75% on the rest of the time.  There wasn't a whole lot that made me feel like it needed to be on, but when it was, it pushed the background back and added a subtle cool factor that the game didn't have when playing in 2D.  Is the game playable in 2D?  Yes, very much so, but at certain times, like on the train stage, it was cool having the things. . . I don't know what their called, I'm not up on my train car anatomy, the things that hold logs and such, but having those on both sides of the train car in 3D, it looked pretty cool.

Game Play

The game plays like your standard platformer.  There's stuff to jump on that moves while enemies and automations shoot at you.  there are ducks, wolves and horses to avoid while said jumping.  Pretty standard stuff and not breaking any new ground.  BUT!, that's perfectly fine and not a fault I find with the game.  It was a refreshing short platformer that was quite difficult at times.

Some of the gameplay differences though lies with the different characters.  Clive is a straightforward character.  He runs, jumps, ducks and shoots.  Ms. Johnson can hover, similar to Princess Toadstool (before she became Princess Peach), but she'll only hover as long as the B button is depressed.  I did notice with Ms. Johnson that bullets will pass through her hair, which sticks up even when she ducks  The Duck can fly/hover for 5-6 flaps of its wings.  That's it.  The Duck can't attack so your approach to the game is run and dodge.  It's a pretty clever way to play through a standard action platformer.

Story

Depending on who you're playing as (Clive, Ms. Johnson, The Duck), the story is pretty straight forward.  Either Ms. Johnson or Clive are kidnapped and you have to rescue them.  As The Duck, um. . ., I don't really know.

Music

I commented on my own post about Gunman Clive after it's initial posting that the soundtrack was available to buy from the composer, Arne Hörberg.  I also noticed that the music runs continuously through the stages.  When you die, the music doesn't abruptly stop, but continues indefinitely until you complete the stage and the next stage begins with either a new music cue or the same music.

Final Thoughts

There are a lot of games that try to recreate both the platforming glory days of the 1980s and 90s, as well as the difficulty level of games like Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Mega Man, or Ninja Gaiden.  Gunman Clive manages to create some of the difficulty, but also the fun at being able to kill a boss that has killed you a half dozen (or even a baker's dozen) times and still not be frustrating to the point that you don't want to play anymore.

Gunman Clive is a short game, comprised of four leves, each having five stagesl including a boss fight.  Sure it's short by most game standards, but it's an independently created game that's selling for only $1.99, a price probably created by Nintendo, possibly because of the shortness of the game.  I would have been happy even if I had paid $5 for the game.  

~JWfW/JDub/Jaconian
"Shut Up and Take My Money!" Very Much Applies Here

Weekend Link Dump

Indies guide to game making

http://www.pcgamer.com/2012/11/03/the-indies-guide-to-game-making/

This is a great, informative and compact article that reviews six different game making programs.  The writer dedicates one page to each, and the review comes in the form of an interview with a person who has completed and released a game using that system.  Examples are:  Cannabalt, To the Moon, AAAaaAAaa, Spelunky and more.  Written by Tom Francis, currently developing a game called Gunpoint.
Wow, I have to say that there is WAY more going on in the world of gaming than I can ever hope to contain!

Some kind of art   

http://jpbruneau.tumblr.com/

This is the tumblr maintained by my friend John.  Like many of us, I tend to just consume and talk about games, but John studies, works with, curates and organizes games and events.  He doesn't seem to sleep all that much, though.  Anyway, he turns me on to a lot of good stuff.

Extra Credits  

http://www.penny-arcade.com/patv/show/extra-credits

This is my favorite video game related series of videos.  I love these guys; for me, they really sparked a new interest in the craft of video game design.  Something I have always been interested, ever since I was a wee lad.  They've got four full seasons now, and I recommend s1ep21: 'Narrative Mechanics', s2ep2: 'playing like a designer' , s2ep13: 'Games you might not have tried'. 
Or just start from the beginning.  The episodes run about 10 minutes, and they always come with cool rearranged video game music at the end.

Free Indie Games

http://www.freeindiegam.es

A website for free indie games.  I just glanced at it, but I want to spend some more time here.  I think it just may be a gold mine.  Or... a... umm... some other kind of mine.  It seems that there are a lot of experimental or abstract games here.  Anyway, the game that brought me here is called Corpse Garden.  And I want to check it out.  The images are pretty rad.
And then another game that I just happened to wander over to, and just take a good look, was called Anne Hathaway: Erotic Mouthscape.   It seems to be a poetry game dedicated to Anne Hathaway's Mouth.  Amazing. Weird.

Nintendojo

http://www.nintendojo.com/

I can't believe this website is still active.  Way back in 1997, when I was a newbie to the internet, Nintendojo was one of three sites I used to cruise.  It turns out, they stayed alive, even when n64.com was swallowed up by IGN, and ... the other... one.. that I can't remember.  Anyway.  1997 was a lont time ago, and it turns out Nintendojo still has archives going back that far.  It's very interesting to me to see how defensive some of the game reviews on.  Those console wars were turbulent times.



I did another link dump a while back, if you're at all interested.

Emulator Hour: Nintendo 64 - the return

Hey all, so, when I moved into my new place, I discovered an old friend:  My Nintendo 64!

Nintendo 64 was the first video game system I purchased entirely with my own money.  This system was certainly controversial for being cartridge based in a brave new, cd world.  And for the lack of RPGs, which is totally related.  Or at least it seems to be.  The games were also pretty expensive, most being between 60 and 80 bucks, while the Playstation was pitching out hockey pucks at a cool 50 a piece.

No worries or concerns, that just meant I had to love the games I owned all the more.  And I still do!  Waverace, Pilotwings 64, Goldeneye, just to name a few.  I played the ever loving SHIT out of these games.  got all the qualifiers.  Or... almost all of them.  Still no 2 RCP 90s and there's one gold I can't get on Pilotwings.  But I got some pretty high trick attack scores on Waverace.

So, the unfortunate news is that some of my games are lost.  As in I don't know where they are.  I want to believe I gave them away to some needy collector, during a brief period when I was giving away all my worldly possessions.  Or something.  But the thing is, I can't find my copy of Ocarina of Time, the oft declared Greatest Video Game of All Time.  Nor can I find the gold controller I received with my purchase--  You damn well bet I pre-ordered that game!

Actually, I don't really give a shit.  I will probably change my mind about what kinds of shits I give, but at this moment, I can shrug it off.  I'm pretty sure Jaconian has his gold controller (though it was sacrificed during a period of house-wide 1080 Snowboarding competition)  and also his copies of Ocarina of Time and Majora's Mask.  That's good enough for me.  He kept the fires burning and I succumbed to  the darkness.  Oh well.

It's cool, I'm rebuilding.  That is to say, I saw that the website half.com has a bunch of used n64 games for cheap!  I bought Blast Corps, Tony Hawk's Pro Skater, Excitebike 64, Turok 2 and Body Harvest.  It cost me about as much as it would have cost me to rent those games in 1998.  If you're too young to remember Video Rental, then I'm sorry.  There were some good times to be had in those stacks.

Anyhow-- the nintendo 64 is a real fun machine.  I had great times alone, and I had even more great times with friends.  It was a joy to play these games again and indulge in some nostalgia.  

-D

First Impressions: Gunman Clive

It is fun!


I have however experienced a bug during the second level boss that seems to be a fairly common occurrence.  Hörberg Productions (the creator of Gunman Clive) has issued a forum post saying that they'll be releasing a patch sometime after the holidays in 2013.  The current pre-patch fix is to have the 3D turned off during the boss fight then set back to normal after the boss.  I don't even care I like the game so much.

In the game you can chose to play as either Clive or Ms. Johnson.  As Clive, you're trying to save Ms. Johnson and as Ms. Johnson, you're trying to save Clive who is kidnapped in the exact same way/animation.  The only difference (that I've experienced) is that Ms. Johnson can float as she descends, similar to Princess Toadstool in Super Mario Bros. 2.  Even the ruffles on Ms. Jonson's dress flutter while she's descending.  It's a nice little touch.

The graphics are very brown, as almost everything is in this game.  It also has a sketch look that adds some kind of charm.  I think it does anyway.  I've linked the trailer below (again), because really, really like this game.  Even more so because it was only $1.99, but that's not the only reason.  The game play is simple: Jump w/ B, Shoot w/ Y, Move w/ either the directional pad or the joystick.

Like Contra, there are a number of powered up guns you can collect.  Apart from your single shot pistol, there's a scatter shot gun; there's a "heat" seeking bullet; and lastly (at least through the 2nd level anyway), there's a large slow moving large bullet that does extra damage against the enemies.

I guess I should talk briefly about the enemies.  There are your standard thugs who shoot at you from the ground, windows and blue colored trap doors and all take only one hit to kill.  At times they ride horses at you and sadly, your only defense is to shoot the horse so it jumps over you then stumbles and presumably dies.  Okay, I lied.  You can simply duck and the horse and rider will jump over you, but where's the fun in that?  There are also wolves that charge you, pelicans that drop bombs, jumping rabbits and a duck.  Maybe the duck is a cultural thing?  Maybe they're like the monkeys in Time Splitters?

The music is very nice too.  There's a western flare to it that doesn't come across as unintentionally hokey.  Think of the music in Blazing Saddles.  It knows the genre and what our expectations for a western/cowboy world are and it delivers and all the music I've come across has been catchy.  Kudos to Arne Hörberg for his compositions.

So if you have a 3DS (it's also available on Android and Apple iOS), I highly (highly) recommend Gunman Clive.

~JWfW/JDub/Jaconian
I Can Still Feel My Toes

Sim City IV and emerging storylines

The above video is an hour-long lecture by Jonathan Blow.  I think he's the guy that wrote Braid.  Yup, the guy who wrote Braid.  Braid is an award winning indie game, a puzzle platformer.  Braid effectively weaves, or "braids" if you will, great graphics/sound, game play and story.  Recommended for everybody.  If you have the time, go ahead and listen to that lecture.  Maybe you'll like it, maybe you won't.    I enjoyed it.  I like seeing all this college-level theory stuff as applied to games.

In the lecture, he talks about the concept of an emerging storyline in games.  The idea is that there isn't a written storyline, or what storyline there is is minimal, and the story comes out through play of the game.  I think this is a pretty cool idea.  And I think I 'get it.' I think that my previous experience playing MineCraft had an emerging storyline.  Today I want to talk about Sim City IV, a game I've been playing lately, and another example of an emerging storyline.


I should let you know that Sim City is a city simulator.  If that wasn't yet clear from the title.  In Sim City, you play the role of an all-powerful 'mayor,' with complete control over the cities budget, zoning choices, and even the ability to cause natural disasters.  (But let's leave that last one alone for now.)  The gist of the game is: If you build it, they will come.  People will populate your city as long as you provide the basic needs of modern industrial society:  residential, commercial, industrial zones and infrastructure such as roads, power and running water. After setting up shop in your city, the residents will immediately begin approving or disapproving of your job as mayor, and this is the driving force behind my own emerging storyline.

I play this game with the overarching goal of winning approval of the residents.  I have sub-goals of increasing population, of using clean energy and public transportation.  I've got the first goal down, but the following goals are proving to be a lot trickier.  Twenty four hours and five cities deep, My story has gone from the need for approval, to a near-obsessive desire to build an ideal city according to my own design.

I realized that emergent storylines make games like Sim City IV more like a toy than a game, as my esteemed colleague Conklederp put it in her post about the Sims series of games.  Playing Sim City is not unlike playing with Legos or blocks, with the specific theme of city building and a near infinite number of resources.  Watch the video below for an example of an emergent storyline using more traditional toys:

I don't imagine that the Gene Simmons doll featured in the above video was originally intended to be used to crush matchbox cars. But through the emerging storyline, Al was able to find a new role for Gene to play.  

The key difference between toys and video games is that, with video games, there is a computer program providing feedback.  This is a role that used to be occupied by the imagination of the individual player, or the cooperating imaginations of a group of players.  I'm not quite sure how I feel about this.  What is it about computer controlled feedback that is so alluring?

Perhaps it is easier and more relaxing to allow a computer to run the simulator, rather than using my imagination to fill in all the gaps?  I certainly know I'm tired most days after work, and if I were to engage in imaginative play as Al did above, all my toys might just talk about how tired they are.  

There is also, for me, a challenge in figuring out the dynamics of the computer feedback.  Similar to figuring out an opponent in a multi-player game, I am trying to learn how to balance the programmed needs of my Sim-citizens, with my own, changing concept of my perfect city.  And I must admit, while I sometimes want to invite Gene Simmons to come visit my failures, I don't have the heart to destroy them.  Fortunately for me, the cities remain in stasis when I'm not playing them.  It would certainly add another dimension of challenge if they did not.

Sim City IV was released in 2003, and there has been a long drought of Sim City titles since.  However, there are plans to release another in the series, simply titled Sim City. This game is slated for March of this year, 2013.  There is talk of online, co-operative play and for these features, I am excited.  

I would love a chance to build neighboring cities with a friend, and perhaps work together to help one another with our particular mayoral shortcomings.  Sim City IV has the ability to cooperate with neighboring towns, but it is only a one player game, so I am only able to cooperate with myself.  I'm pretty good at playing with myself... ... ... but the possibilities of emerging storylines increase greatly when more than one mind is at play.

Sim City is a game which is a great abstraction.  The player views the action from above, removed from the concerns of the individuals in the town, which can number in the thousands.  This makes it a good candidate to talk about emerging storylines and also a bad one, because the abstraction may interfere with the players ability to relate.  

However, it is a game that has its hooks in me now.  I will continue to meditate on the subject of emergent gameplay, and I will try to see if I can find it in other games as I play them.  

Emulator Hour ~ First Impressions: Castlevania: The Adventure

I first apologize for the overuse of colons in the title.  Well, there're only two, but even that seems like a lot for a single title.  Maybe not.  Now on with the show:

Until I started writing this article, I've apparently been saying the name of this game incorrectly.  I've always called it "The Castlevania Adventure" instead of it's official title, Castlevania: The Adventure.  This game came out in 1989, the same year of Gameboy's release and only four months after it's August release in North America.  Some of the games shortcomings could be attributed to the fact that companies were still figuring out both the software and what could be accomplished with the hardware.  I'm just speculating of course.  I can't say what Konami's limitations were with the 256/512 KB cartridge.  Just think on that for a second though.  An entire game contained in 256 - 512 KB of information.

All of that aside, the game plays very much like the original 1987 Casltevania on the NES.  You control a character, this time Christopher Belmont (Simon Belmont's ancestor) delves into Dracula's "gloomy castle on the outskirts of Transylvania."  The controls though, are a bit sluggish.  By "sluggish," I mean that it feels like Christopher is moving through mud, even if he isn't.  The enemies though (especially those fucking bats) have the agility of drunk five year old (the five year old is the neighbors dog, so it's probably legal).  

Like most Castlevania games, your main character starts out with a simple whip which can be upgraded with items (magically appearing from whipped candles) and turned into a ball and chain whip.  Unlike most Castlevania games though, the whip can be upgraded again and shoot fireballs.  I believe this is to make up for the fact that there are no sub-weapons (knife, axe, boomerang) as found in the previous two installments.

The game is made up of four stages, although I've yet to make it through the second stage.  I've been playing for only 41 minutes and there's one jump in the beginning of Stage 2 that is constantly screwing me over.  Which jump you ask? This one I reply:

Gameplay from jrdu44 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Gympf3pQ5Q)

Now that at first glance doesn't look too hard, but like a lot of platformers, platforms like that usually mean that they'll fall once you step on them, which these ones do very well.  To note, that first candle produces a whip power up, but the power up will pass through the steps and unless the jump-whip-land on platform-jump are timed perfectly, you will fall and die.  To date (and as of 15 minutes ago), I cannot make the second jump off the platform onto the ledge leading to the rope.  I don't know how many times I've tried, but it's been a lot of failed attempts.  A very nice thing with this game is that while you start out with 3 lives, you do have infinite continues although the continue starts you back at the beginning of the stage.

No, I don't suck at video games, this game is just incredibly difficult.  And no, I don't base that off of this one (pain in the ass) jump.  The game is difficult, mostly because of the sludgey controls and the awkwardness of jumping.  Like a lot of early Nintendo games, this one is designed to be difficult, otherwise you could beat the whole game in a single 30 minute sitting.

I should also point out the music, which falls under the category of awesome Castlevania music.  The music was composed/programmed by Shigeru Fukutake, Norio Hanzawa and Hidehiro Funauchi.  The soundtrack is only made up of four songs, one for each stage; a track for when you fight a boss and two tracks for Dracula.  Presently, I've only heard two of the tracks in game, but having a "version" of the soundtrack on my computer, I've heard all the tracks quite a few times and they're all standard fare for a Castlevania game.

So my final recommendation for Castlevania: The Adventure, is that if you are a fan of the Castlevania series, you enjoy challenge and don't mind monochrome graphics and often times sludgey controls, shelling out $4.99 isn't a bad way to go.  Now if Konami and Nintendo would just release the rest of the Castlevania back catalogue, I'll be very happy to give them my money.

~JWfW/JDub/Jaconian

I'll Never Lie To You, And That's The Truth

Perusing The Electronic Gaming Store

Before I started today, I was a little stuck as to what to talk about.  Then I went to the bathroom and it came to me.  I really want to play Castlevania II: Simon's Quest.  I can't say why this thought popped in my head while I was standing above the toilet, but it did and that got me thinking.  Not only thinking about the Castlevania franchise, but about Nintendo's eShop on the 3DS and all the games that I would like to see in the shop that just aren't there.

My most recent eShop purchase was The Castlevania Adventure and I'll be doing a First Impression with it soon.  Those born after 1989 may not remember this Gameboy release, but when I saw it crop up in the eShop, I got really excited and purchased it.  I never played it in its original Gameboy release and this gave me the opportunity to put it with all the other Castlevania games that I have and can't beat; although that list isn't very long.  Right now I'm hoping that Nintendo and Konami will release the rest of the the Gameboy Castlevania's, of which there are a total of three: The Castlevania Adventure, Castlevania II: Belmont's Revenge and Castlevania Legends.  The point is, Nintendo and Konami really should consider releasing not only these three Gameboy games, but also the three NES Castlevania games as well. I was really excited back in 2004 when the first game was released on Gameboy Advance and sad when they didn't continue to release the other two.  I am aware that all the NES Castlevanias were released via Wii's Virtual Console, but I don't have a Wii.  And besides, these games are perfectly suited for a 3DS eShop release.  Especially with Castlevania: Lord of Shadows: Mirror of Fate being released on the 3DS in early March.

Castlevania aside, there're a couple other games that are available via the eShop, one of them being Night Sky, which is somewhat of a simplistic puzzle game visually akin to LIMBO, but with a different color palette.  I've played Night Sky on my PC with keyboard controls but playing on the 3DS with a touch screen would be perfect.  In the game you're moving an orb through a level fraught with. . . well, pits.  It's a game that I'd really like to play on the 3DS, but since I'm cheap, I'm not ready to spend the $9.99 for a game that I already own on another platform.

On the other side of the price spectrum, is a game I just saw called Gunman Clive which is priced at a paltry $1.99.  Now, you could just look at the pictures from the game and be "meh'd," or you can watch the video and be "awe'd" and greatly amused:

What immediatly comes to my mind, is Elevator Action and Contra, and those two games together, sound like they'd be awesome.

~JWfW/JDub/Jaconian
Starring Clive Owen

First impressions: IWBTG:G

Hey, check it out, this is the oldest 'draft' post I have on the whole blog, and I'm actually revisiting it!  I guess the readers don't know this, but now you do!

If life was like I Wanna Be The Guy:Gaiden, You would wake up in the morning, scratch your head, and put your feet on the floor.  The floor is covered in spikes and you die.  You go to feed your cat, and he slices your head off.  You go to the bathroom to relieve yourself, and the walls cave in on you.  Breakfast would also be a disaster of stabbing and crushing. In this game, everything is trying to kill you.

Since downloading and playing, I Wanna Be the Guy: Gaiden has provoked different reactions from me. Initially, I thought it was pretty funny, then, with quickness, I began to hate it. It became clear that I do not have the patience to progress through this incredibly difficult game. Finally, after watching someone else beat the game without dying, I am left with a grudging respect for the game and its designers.

IWTBTG is a parody game.  As a parody game, IWTBTG:G is excellent; the best I've seen.  The game is made up mostly from a collage of sounds and images from other games, mostly 16-bit and NES games.  The implementation of the boss characters is fantastically clever, interesting; And awesome to watch-- on youtube videos (I didn't manage to reach a single boss.)  

Opening map for IWTBTG:G

IWTBTG is stupidly hard, emphasis on the stupid.  The game is designed, purposely, to piss people off.  It works.  So, to me the challenge of describing this game is to not get too hung up on the challenge, to try to critique the game as though it were a legitimate attempt at game-design.  I'd like to punch the game in the nose, but I realize that will never happen, and if I tried to scrap with IWTBTG, it would beat the tar out of me.  It's just too goddamn difficult.

I had heard of the notorious difficulty of IWTBTG, prior to playing, but I didn't realize how purposeful it was.  It's like a series of practical jokes. The designers like to mess with the player, and the first twelve things that killed me were sort of out-of-place and unexpected.  These things would never find their way into a properly edited mainstream game, and I think that's the point.As far as I can tell, gameplay is mostly memorization and quick, precise movements.

I Wanna Be The Guy is very  much like Super Meatboy or Bit.Trip.Runner: One-hit-kills platform games- but not as well designed.  One key thing those games have to keep gameplay moving, that IWBTG lacks, is to have the music play continuously even when the character dies.  This feature helps to reduce the jarring sensation that comes from character death, and the quick restart of the level.  I hope if there are further editions of IWBTG released, that the designers will implement endlessly cycling music.

I originally set out to write a slanderous review to make myself feel better after being utterly crushed by frustration. I changed my mind after I took a time-out to watch a you-tube video of someone beating it without dying.  Watching this video gave me a renewed respect for the designers.  It's much more fun to watch someone else play, to appreciate some of the ridiculous traps and  fantastically silly boss fights.  So, ultimately, I'd like to declare a truce with I Wanna Be The Guy.  I won't play the game, but I will appreciate the design safely from my role as a non-playing spectator. 

If you have an amazing tolerance for game-related pain and frustration, then I recommend giving IWTBTG:G a play-through, and then show your friends; it's a great game to watch.  If you can't manage that, there's no shame.  Just head over to youtube and watch someone else beat it.  I do recommend playing it for at least a half-hour first, or until frustrated.  It will give you a greater depth of appreciation for the playthrough video.  

-D


P.S. After writing this review, I discovered that IWTBTG:Gaiden is actually a sequel.  However, after checking out the original, I see that most of the outstanding features are the same, and so I use the two names interchangeably in this review.  I recommend playing Gaiden first, simply because it is more immediately entertaining.   

First Impressions: The Elder Scrolls Chapter One: The Arena

Yes, you read that correctly.  The Arena, being the first installment in The Elder Scrolls series.  Briefly, the game was created by Bethesda back in 1994 and it very much looks like it came out of 1994.  From what I've played (made it through the first dungeon/sewer), the game's graphics haven't aged too well, but that's something that I don't care too much about.  It's the story, mythology and world that I've been playing in Skyrim, that brought me to The Arena and are what are going to keep me here for sometime.

The Arena is available free of charge from Bethesda, which is extremely awesome on their part.  The initial intimidating thing though is that the game is still run on DOS and requires a DOS operated window to play the game through.  So, I had to download DOSBox, a freeware program that took a minute to wrap my head around.  I grew up using an Apple IIe followed by a Macintosh 5125CD and I only started using Windows with Windows98, so I never really had to deal with DOS as a way of navigating a computer.  For this, I had to learn some simple jargon that will make a number of my friends laugh.  For myself, it was a quick test of, "How much do I want to play this game."  So now, every time I want to play The Arena, this is what I do:

This was after I found out that, for simplicity sake, I had to put the folder for Arena directly on the C Drive as opposed to a complicated (normal) series of folders, but it's actually pretty simple, now that I've loaded the game a few times, and I'm sure I could go into the CONFIG file (with step-by-step instructions) and alter the the start ups so that it automatically loads with the C: drive "mounted" so that I don't have to do it every time, as well as running it at ~13,000 cycles instead of the default 3,000 (control+F12).  The point is, doing all this through a DOS window quickly puts me in the right frame of mind for a game that looks like this:

And honestly, I like the way the game looks.  I like that the first game in this series is a POV action/adventure/fantasy game.  I like that to swing your sword you have to hold the right mouse button and move the mouse in the direction you want your sword to swing.  I love that there are different animations based on how you swing your sword: horizontal slash (R/L), diagonal slash (R/L), vertical slash and stabbing.  I don't know if there's a damage difference based on how you swing your sword against a particular type of monster, but I don't care (at least not right now I don't care).  Just the fact that there are six different animations (for the sword alone) to kill something instead of a simple left click, that's the kind of attention I love to see in video games.

At the moment, I'm currently wandering around whatever city it is that you come upon after exiting the jail.  Since I chose to be a Nord, I think it's North Keep.  The game is a bit difficult in that people in towns are constantly moving (as they right should be), but I find myself chasing down someone just to ask them where the nearest place to purchase goods is, since your map of the city only shows buildings, but not what those buildings are.  There's a lot of running.  Thankfully you can make notes on your map and if you're close by a desired building, one of the citizens will make locations on your ,map.  That's honestly all I've done so far: errands for various people in town and was attacked by some crazy guy and his wolf/rats after it became dark.  Then I quickly found an inn and slept until the morning.

Do I like the game?  Sure.  Am I going to plug 75 hours into it as I've done with other video games?  I might, I don't know how long it takes to finish Arena, and by "finish," I mean "finish" the storyline, not every single side quest in the game.  I'm sure to do that you'd have to go through with each one of the eight races.  I am, at the moment, 89% sure that I will finish (at least) the Nord storyline for this game.

~JWfW/JDub/Jaconian
Bring It On


P.S.  Apparently, 1994 was a massive year for video games:

SNES
Super Metroid
Final Fantasy VI (III)
Earthworm Jim
Mother 2 (EarthBound)
Mortal Kombat 2
Donkey Kong Country

PC
Warcraft: Humans vs. Orcs
Doom II: Hell on Earth
Marathon
TIE Fighter

Arcade
Killer Instinct
Tekken

Returning To Normalcy

Merry Christmas.

Happy Holidays.

Happy New Year.

I'm now making this post from Conklederp's iMacpadairintoshBook, although it says MacBook right in front of me.  Don't get me wrong, I don't have anything against Apple.  I grew up on an Apple //e and every other computer I used until college was some form of Mac, but I digress from my lack of there being a point.

I got my computer back from [Name Omitted] after having spilt a small amount of beer on the keyboard.  I figured the keyboard was shot, due to the H, G, "Up Arrow" and 7 (on the 10 key) not working (and H is part of my password to log on to my computer; at least it was), I just wanted to make sure that nothing else was damaged, even after I performed a fairly thorough cleaning job right after the spill happened.  Turns out that it's just my keyboard that needs to be replaced, which the guy at [N.O.] sounded a little surprised at.  He then quoted me a price that seemed a little high, but maybe that was because I knew what had to be done, knew to do it, and how much a replacement keyboard would cost.  For a moment, it sounded like he was trying to hoodwink me when saying that it would be difficult/costly because of the metal shell that makes up the casing of my laptop, suggested that the keyboard was backlit, which I said it wasn't, then said something about the possible difficulty in removing the keyboard.  I thanked him for his time, paid for the diagnostics and check up that he ran and said I would perform the necessary repairs myself.  I was polite, but knew that I could replace the keyboard, minus the $60 labor fee.

Moving on to gaming now.  I fully admit that I have a weakness for games in a series.  They don't even have to be related to each other, just add a 3 or an VIII and I'm interested.  Bare in mind though, that this doesn't happen with all genres, just mainly RPG's but there are always exceptions.  I feel it'd be pretty obvious that I'm a fan of the Final Fantasy games with the only games that I haven't played are VIII, X, X-2, XI, XIII, XIII-2 and XIV.  I currently have Dragon Warrior/Quest I - VI, VIII and IX.  After playing through Doom 3, I immediately wanted to know about the story from Doom  and Doom 2: Hell on Earth, so I bought those shortly after acquiring a Steam account.  The Baldur's Gate and Diablo series I also love, although I've been resistant to buying Diablo III for reasons that I've gone into before.  I have also yet to play Warcraft III even though I loved the first two games, which is possibly because I've heard about the Orcs not really being evil, I call bullshit on that.  After seeing a lot of Fallout 3 (but not having played it), I really wanted to know what the Fallout series was like, so Vorlynx got me the first three games a couple years back.  Recently with The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, I fell in love with the world and backstory of events that may have happened in previous games or were never covered.  There was talk among people (as well as books) referring to "the Oblivion Crisis," so after some hunting, I was able to locate and download the first two Elder Scrolls games and only yesterday, purchased Morrowind and Oblivion (The Elder Scrolls III & IV respectively).  There's also the Professor Layton series, of which I need to play Diabolical Box (yes, I know I'm two and-a-half years late) and then get the rest of the series.  And dear god!, The Legend of Zelda series, although with the exception of The Adventure of Link, have avoided using numerals but instead have used subtitles, which is a nice change of pace for any genre.

I have missed this, our little moments together in our little corner of the internet.  I've since ordered a replacement keyboard which will hopefully arrive by the end of the week and will be installed within 10 minutes (as opposed the hour the guy at [N.O.] said it would take) and then I'll be able to get back to my regular routine.

~JWfW/JDub/Jaconian

Absence Makes The Heart Wonder Why There's No Beer In The Fridge.

Web CHESS

Please note: My esteemed colleague and co-blogger, life-partner J.Conian has been out for a bit, while his computer rehabs from its drinking problem.  In the meantime, I'm going to talk about chess and count the days until he returns to regular posting.

So, there's this chess website:  www.gameknot.com that I play a lot, and have been playing for several years.  My sister tykedyke turned me on to it.  It's pretty fun, and I've been playing chess a lot these days.  I'm sure there are a million and one online chess websites, but this is the one I use.   

The way it works is that players have anywhere from 2 to 14 days to make a move.  A player may participate in many different games simultaneously.  There are enough other users so that I usually have about five or so active games. I like this system, in part because I am compelled to view games in terms of 'one move at a time.'  Very often when it is my turn, I've forgotten what is happening in a given game, so I have to analyze the board and make my move all over again.  I feel like this is improving my chess playing skills.  But with a handful of games running at once, I usually don't have to wait long to take my turn on one of them.

Gameknot.com is a membership based site, and you will need to create a profile to play. Membership is free, but they've got two pay-membership levels: gold and silver. Basic 'free' memberships allow you to run a bunch of games, but only by joining other games already proposed by other players.  When a game is proposed it appears in a queue, and is marked 'looking for a challenger.' A player may join any number of these. With free membership, you are only able to submit one game at a time of your own.  I never find this to be a problem, as there are always a bunch of players waiting for opponents. Silver and Gold memberships allow you to propose as many games as you like, and perhaps some other perks that I don't know about yet.  I briefly had a silver membership, when I was feeling generous, but that didn't last long, and budget cuts set me back to the free membership.  

Another element of the player profile is that there is a point system that evaluates your ranking within the community. Everyone starts with a rating of 1200, and you gain and lose points as you win and lose games.  The points lost or gained are adjusted based on the difference between your total points and your opponents total points.  My current point count is 1065, and if I beat a player with 1300 points, I'm sure to get a big bonus.  But if I lose to that same player, I shouldn't lose too many points.  However, if I play an opponent with 935 points, the point ratio will be reversed, and I'll stand to lose more, and gain less.  I started with 1200 at first like everyone else, and was quickly knocked way down.  I think I bottomed out somewhere in the 700s, at which point I began my slow climb back up. 

My one concern about using video-chess is that I am becoming spoiled with the overhead view and flat pieces.  It is much clearer to me than playing on an actual board with actual pieces.  I find my brain gets more scrambled when I play real chess, and I am much more likely to overlook pieces.  That said, I still overlook plenty when playing chess on gameknot. 

Final notes:  There are tournaments and other special events, but I've never participated in these.  There are also daily chess puzzles, if that's your thing. Also, there is a sort of instant messenger client attached to every game, allowing you to talk to your opponent.  I rarely use this.  You can also create a friends list; I haven't done that either.  But it's never too late to start!  I just now requested friendship from my sister, tykedyke, after probably five years of using gameknot.

if you ever want to play a game of chess, my screenname is: drpottsiv


-D

From A 3DS

I'm having Conklederp post this [which I am now posting] because my computer is in the shop
after having spilt part of a bottle of Widmer Bros. Milk Stout on the
keyboard.  I tried posting this from the blog website, but the 3DS web
browser couldn't handle all that windowy non-sense, which doesn't
bother me as I didn't buy the 3DS to use the internet, I bought it
as/to be a dedicated gaming platform.

Okay, my hand is getting a little tired with all this stylus typing.

Hopefully I'll have my computer back by Monday so I put up a real post.
~JWfW/JDub/Jaconian
There's Always Something.