Haters Gonna Hate: A Brief Look At The Motivations of Villains in Video Games.

In the spirit of Halloween, I've been saving this post for a while and after a few additions, changes and alterations, I feel it's ready for public eyes.

I started Dragon Quest VI: Realms of Revelation a month back while awaiting the return of my computer charger (which was left in SoCal) and like a lot of JRPGs, the game started with the player controlling a teenage boy with spiky hair in a small mountain village.  As was the case with Secret of Mana and Paladin's Quest, I half expected to do something to piss off the town elders that would get me kicked out of town with my so-called close friends abandoning me upon my being exiled.  That was not the case at all thankfully.  There were, however, murmurs of an evil being somewhere out in the world threatening the rest of humanity with destruction/domination/desolation/dismemberment, basically any evil word starting with "D."

This is what I actually wanted to talk about today.  The ultimate bad guy (final boss) in video games and their motivations.  In a lot of JRPGs, the ultimate goal of the main antagonist is world domination either with or without destroying the rest of the world in the process.  This article will not be all encompassing as I have not played against every type of villain ever created, so there is going to be some unintentional bias on my part.  But in the meantime, let us look at a few games and the motivations of the main villains.

Dragon Quest/Warrior:  In the first game, the Dragonlord simply wants to take over the known world.  I do not recall there being much else in the way of motivation.  The Dragonlord hates the Orbs of Light, steals them and you have to get them back.  It is a pretty simple story line, complete with rescuing a princess from a dragon; although that happens about a third of the way through the game.

Zelda II: The Adventure of Link: In this game, the main antagonist, Ganon, is already dead (spoiler: killed at the end of the first Legend of Zelda), but it is the threat of his return that propels Link forward to complete his quest.  The enemy correctly believes that if they sprinkle/pour the blood of Link over Ganon's ashes, that he will return to continue his plan of ruling over Hyrule that he had began in the first game in the series.  And while not needing to rescue Princess Zelda, she is under a sleeping spell that will only be lifted upon . . . you know I forgot.  I know Shadow Link is the final (pain in the ass) boss and maybe something to do with combining the Triforces together.

Final Fantasy VI: This game has multiple main antagonists with Emperor Gesthal being in the forefront for the first half of the game and Kefka taking over right before the beginning of the second half.  For Emperor Gesthal, he wants unlimited power as a ruler, for every civilization on the planet to be under his rule.  Kefka on the other hand just "want[s] to see the world burn."  He is a true socio/psychopath.  He does not care about ruling the world or enslaving the world population, he simply wants to destroy everything, himself included if need be.

Portal: Moving away from JRPGs (for the moment), Portal changes the role of the main antagonist, GlaDOS, away from world domination to just wanting to continue to do the role she was programmed to do: conduct tests.  Yes, I know there is more to it than all that, but those are the basics.  And yes, it is true that GlaDOS does exhibit some typical sociopathic behaviors.  GlaDOS sees what she is doing is not wrong, but necessary to continue testing of test subjects.  Left to her own devices, she might run out of test subjects, or maybe she will learn how to artificially inseminate her stock of female test subjects and create a constant supply of growing subjects.  This outcome is hinted at in the Portal 2 co-op portion of the game, but it is hard to believe anything that GlaDOS says.

Dead Space:  One thing I love about this game is that there is no official main boss.  Sure there is the hugely giant tentacled Lovecraftian creature that came out of who knows where because why not!?  The majority of the game is spent repairing parts of the USG Ishimura so that you can escape all the horror that is happening on board.  The stereotypical villain here is more of the presence and influence of the Red Marker, but in this case is somewhat similar to Sauron as an overseeing enemy that has no direct contact with the main character but exudes its will against them.  Yes, there is Doctor Whatshisname who keeps trying to unleash the constantly regenerating brutish thing upon Isaac, but that creature functions more as a mini-boss.  The appearance of the final boss at the end seems very rushed and unclear by the end of the game, which is when it makes its first and only appearance.

Super Mario Bros.:  Let us take a step back to 1985 and take a quick look at Bowser and his Koopas.  They have invaded the Mushroom Kingdom, turned all of the citizens into bricks and plants and have kidnapped Princess Toadstool, thereby preventing the Princess from reversing the spell.  So why did Bowser want to invade the Mushroom Kingdom in the first place?  The manual is not clear as to Bowsers motivations and although Wikipedia expounds upon Bowsers frequent kidnapping of Princess Toadstool/Peach, these motivations are never stated.  Sure he wants to take over the Mushroom Kingdom, but what then?  What are his long term goals?  Marry the Princess (because his first wife died after giving birth to the seven Koopalings?) and rule the Kingdom.  Simple I guess.

Donkey Kong:  I am referring to the original arcade game from 1981 for this, the last character in today's article.  In this game, Donkey Kong is the main villain with Jumpman (aka Mario) attempting to rescue Pauline.  But why does Donkey Kong have Pauline?  The story behind the game states that Donkey Kong belonged to Mario/Jumpman, but Mario mistreated Donkey Kong so DK retaliated by kidnapping Pauline.  So what is DK's endgame then?  I believe that DK does not have a final plan as to what to do with Pauline, although Miyamoto has said that the game originally began as a love triangle Popeye game, but changed the characters when they could not acquire the license.  So maybe Donkey Kong is in love with Pauline but that premise would be absurd, right?  I would like to think that he lashed out at being abused too many times and Pauline was just in the wrong place at the wrong time.

I am going to leave this painfully short list of villains and main antagonists now as even attempting to do an all encompassing list is the very definition of time consuming.  I also do not get paid enough to take on such an endeavor.  From this abbreviated and biased list, it would appear that the motivation behind the majority of known evil is world domination.  I guess that would be the simplest motivation to write a story around with a clear and cut ending.  Just something to think about.



~JWfW/JDub/Jaconian
Instrumental

Emulator Hour: Dragon Warrior 2

Honestly, I think the Box Art says it all. This cover art represents everything I thought totally awesome when I was ten.  Look at the heroes' sweet horns!  You know those capes are imbued with properties of magical awesomeness causing them to always look cool and never get in the way.  Let's go fight some monsters in an exciting and triumphant fashion like it's what we were born to do!

As I previously said: As a sequel, Dragon Warrior 2 delivered .  Not only is it a true sequel, continuing the story of the previous game, but it has an expanded world and game mechanics.  This is the kind of growth I had always wished for in games and DW2 heavily informed my expectations.  The age at which I played Dragon Warrior 2 does a lot to color my memories.  The game was so BIG.  I remember dedicating hours and hours on weekend rentals getting my first party member, the prince of Middenhal.  That obnoxious prince of Middenhal who always seemed close to death. I remember upgrading my weapon to the iron sickle, feeling pretty badass.  I also remember having some coaching during this game as my other family members were still participating in video game time.  

It's not that I needed the coaching (my pride would not allow it) but it is always nice to have someone along with you for the adventure.  I think it qualifies as a Family Fun Time game, because I remember EMZ helping with and also commenting on the different creature designs.  Gotta love the smiles on the slimes and on the drakees.  There's something funny about that goofy smile on a creature whose only desire is to kill you.

I only ever rented Dragon Warrior 2.  I didn't beat it then, though I tried and tried.  I loved having a party to build, I loved raising levels and I loved that each character was different.  I could usually pick up the sorceress by the end of one rental (at Placer TV Video).   But then I'd have to return it, hoping and praying the save file would still be there next weekend when I aimed to rent it again.

In this way, Dragon Warrior 2 has always been a special title for me.  I owned and beat the first game more than once, but the second was elusive and expanded.  I never knew what the limits of that game were, and it leaves a nice feeling of possibility.

-D

P.S.

Here's the wikipedia article for some background.

Also, a gamasutra article about the history of dragon quest.  For further reading.

As previously mentioned, I will be calling this game and series 'Dragon Warrior' rather than 'dragon quest' to keep with my own experience.  It wasn't until many years later that I learned of the name difference, and that the US games began being called dragon quest.  For me it was always dragon warrior.

MIDI Week Singles: "City Zone" - Faceball 2000 (SNES)

"City Zone" from Faceball 2000 on the Super Nintendo Entertainment System (1992).

No official soundtrack release

Composer: George "The Fat Man" Sanger

Developed by: Xanath Software F/X

Unsurprisingly, there is not a whole lot of music from Faceball 2000 out there in the Interlands.  There are even fewer videos up on Youtube to pull music from.  The music from Faceball 2000 was composed by George "The Fat Man" Sanger, who also composed the music for all other iterations of this game that previously came out on the Gameboy and Atari ST (1987 and 1991 respectively).

What I find interesting for myself, is that I never owned any version of Faceball 2000, but played the hell out of the copy that Dr. Potts had on the SNES.  I could probably still never sing you any of the songs from game as they are all odd in both their melody and cadance.  But, but, BUT, I still find them all catchy and make me feel like a 12 year old all over again, maybe riding my bike over to Dr. Potts house for a weekend of video gaming and pb&jers.

It is most likely one of those songs that unless you grew up playing this game, you may run the high risk of not only not liking this song or the rest of the music from the game, but find it grating on your ears.  Just throw in a bunch of "BOW" sound effects and you'll be right at home.  Nevertheless, I still like it, which is how and why "City Zone" found its way here to MIDI Week Singles.  

~JWfW/JDub/Jaconian

Instrumental

P.S.  And if anyone out there actually has all the MIDI or mp3 files for this game, let me know, as I seem to be unable to locate them out there in the hinterlands.

Whatever Impressions: Fallout (PC)

I say "Whatever" not because this game came out 17 years ago or because its graphics are dated, but because I have started various characters in Fallout, the first being about four years ago after Vorlynx bought the game for me while we were browsing around Best Buy (I have since forgotten our reason for being in Best Buy in the fist place though).  

Anyway, my first run through, I thought I had beaten the game when I acquired the computer chip required to fix the water filtration system and brought it back to Vault 13 before the 150 day time limit expired.  People who have played before know that this is not the way to win the game.  I then did something very stupid.  I found a gun that I did not really care for, only later realizing that said gun happened to be one of the rarest guns in the game and can only be found by a random encounter with an alien saucer.  That gun, I sold for a paltry sum, so I created a new character, intent on finding that gun again.

That was when I found out that the gun could only be found by random chance and was not a static item in the world.  Needless to say I became a bit discouraged having scrapped my first character and now finding out that the super awesomely powerful alien gun was simply random.  So I continued playing until I reached an underground military-type facility full of things that wanted to kill me that I could not escape.  I think it had to do with the Brotherhood of Steel.  So I had to start over.

My third character, I did a lot of similar actions and stories that I did with my first two characters, but this time I found a dog as a companion that fought along side me.  I went on a mission to oust a bandit that was raiding in the nearby area.  At some point during the umteenth time I tried taking out all the bandits, the dog was killed.  I of course did not realize this until after I had been successful in taking out all of the bandits.  I was seriously at a crossroads as to whether or not I should restart for the sake of my digital dog.  After some time to grieve, I decided that the death of the dog was a character building moment and went on with my life.  The last I saw of this character, I was in town that had some kind of rad-creature infestation in a warehouse area that I was trying to clear out so that I could potentially have better gear/weapons/money.

Then Conklederp and I moved up to Portland and I rediscovered Diablo II.  A few months later I poured a pint of Guinness on my computer.  I have not played or attempted to play Fallout since that dark time.  Until today (today being October 23rd as opposed to the 27th).

What I have noticed so far, and it is something that is leftover from the previous times I have played, is that I am constantly afraid that I am going to do something that will fuck up the story.  I am not referring to the 150 days I have to fix the water filter in the vault or the extension you can buy from the water supplier, although those deadlines do not help.  I am referring to the many stories and side quests that exist within this game.  I want to be successful.  I want to save the people in Vault 13.  I want to not have my dog (wherever it may be) die.  I want to explore the world and I want to build the best character I can without the help of a "Build the Best Fallout Character to Have the Most Fun or You Suck at Gaming" guide.  

Wasting time in Junktown, or finding a way to save the people back in Vault 13?

I just feel that I am doomed from the outset.  It probably has a lot to do with the time limit established at the beginning of the game, and even knowing that I can extend that time limit by an extra 100 days.  I honestly do not know what happens when Vault 13 runs out of water.  Does the game end the same way as if you were killed?  Do you just go on exploring the world knowing that everyone you grew up with has died from dehydration?  But I love this world.  I want to know what happens to the people in Vault 13 and all the other Vaults that I have yet to come across.  However, there is this constant nagging feeling that I am wasting time and that I have not done something correctly.  That is probably not the best feeling to have going into a game for the fourth time.

Yet on I play.

~JWfW/JDub/Jaconian

Like Pawns On A Distant Shore

Video Game Maps: Dragon Warrior 2 (NES)

As a sequel, Dragon Warrior 2 was a game that delivered.  Nowhere is this more clear than the Overworld map.  Allow me to... illustrate (pun intended.) Have a look at this:

In that little box there, is the original map from DW1.  Yes, not only did Dragon Warrior 2 introduce Enemy Groupings, a party of three characters to play and a ship to cross the sea, but it also expanded the world map, so greatly that the entire map of the original game is able to fit in one corner of our new, expanded world.  Each one of these additional continents is full of towns and dungeons for you to explore.  You just can't beat that.

Enix could easily have invented a new world, of comparable size to the original.  They could have introduced new features, or simple shuffled around the old ones.  Instead they built a much larger world around the location of the original map, the inclusion of which is not only great for the sense of scale, but also a sense of time and history (Dragon Warrior 2 takes place 100 years after the first game).

-D

P.S. There is some loss of detail between the two maps.  The continent of Alefgard is actually slightly smaller than in the first game.  Hills no longer slow you down as you walk. But these losses are small in comparison to the amount of real estate you gain.  

Apologies from Afar in the Past, Brought to You from the Future, Currently in the Present.

So Conklederp and I were married 13 days ago and a honeymoon was followed shortly thereafter.  I also attempted my darndest to not fall behind on the schoolwork that I knew was due periodically throughout the last three weeks.  This is why there were intermittent posts the last couple of weeks as well as not having  the standard and MIDI Week Singles post for the last two weeks.  I promise that starting next week, everything will be back on track.

So in the spirit of our little Internet site and rather than subjugate everyone to pictures of the honeymoon, I will instead talk about games.  Specifically some game related gifts that Conklederp and I received because apparently publically declaring that you want to spend the rest of your life with someone means that people want to give you things; which is pretty awesome, by the way.

First off, coasters.  Yes coasters, but not just any coasters, these coasters.  I'm actually pretty good when it comes to using coasters, either at my own place or at the abode of another person who has them out and I hope that there will be at least a couple of people in the future who will, 1) Use coasters when we have them visibly put out, and 2) recognize that they're from Portal 2.  Part of me actually wants to see our friends fight over who gets their favorite coaster from the person who has never played/seen/experienced this masterpiece of a game.

If anyone else is interested, they can be acquired over at ThinkGeek.com.

Next we have a board game that until recently, neither Conklederp nor I had ever previously played.  Then we played with Chreekat and his mom, who told us that she played in a league with other people when she worked down in California with other fellow geeks.  I briefly talked about the experience back in July, but now Conklederp and I have no excuse to force our other friends to know the struggles of establishing a colony and society on an octogonal island with a finite amount of resources.

Even though the game says that it's designed for three to four players, I'm sure that there are rules somewhere that says how the game could be played with only two people.  Or Conklederp and I will have to break out of our proverbial gel capsules and play with other people, perhaps Salty Liver and her hubsband (yes, I intentionally spelled husband as "hubsband").

Next on the board game listing of greed is a game that I'm pretty sure I had seen played on Wil Wheaton's Table Top, but I might also be thinking of another game.  That game is Pandemic, a game that I have not played, but again, I love the concept.  Think of it like the film Contagion, but with less Matt Damon and Kate Winslet and more of your friend who only took that one biology class that one time, just because.  Although I will go on record to say that one of my friends, whom I'm sure I could convince to play, has a Ph.D. in immunology. On second thought, this might not be the best game to play with them as they might be tempted to talk about all the inaccuracies in the game.

Luckily, this game can be played with just two people so I think Conklederp and I could give this game a go before we unleash it upon our very suspecting, and potentially questioning friends.

Lastly is the newest expansion for Munchkin Apocalypse, the Sheep Impact collection of cards.  I was rather impressed when I read through some of the cards in this expansion and even more so with some of the Seal cards.  I won't say specifics, but there is one card that can eliminate all the cards in play.  Okay, I lied as that was very specific, but I won't say the name of that "singular" card as that would give some of the fun away.

Now all we have to do is convince our friends whom already play Munchkin that we need to play Munchkin Apocalypse even though the number of customization cards is limited to class as opposed to also including race.

In reality though, it's going to take a lot to go through all of these games and still go through Mansions of Madness, which I did have the pleasure of running a week-and-a-half ago with three other people.  Too many games and not enough time to play them all, but really, that's not a bad problem to have.

Oh, and I'll be factoring in my coursework somewhere in there as well.

Yes, we are those kinds of people with a lot of pretty awesome friends.

~JWfW/JDub/Jaconian

Would You Like To Buy A Carrot?

Broken Controller leads to Symptoms of Game Withdrawal

This is really just a 'post-let' as I just hopped on to show you that neat picture and to complain that I broke my USB controller and now I can't play Starseed Pilgrim and it's driving me nuts!  (like the proverbial pirate with a steering wheel stuck down his pants).  I had such a nice, 30-minutes a day, groove with that game. 

While I loved my logitec-brand, generic gamepad, its cord sure broke easily, right at the point where it meets the controller.  I will be paying the extra ten bucks and getting a cordless one this time, for sure.  I'm thinking just a ps3 controller at this point, unless there's a better option out there.  

Is there a better option out there, hmmm?


-D

11/22/2014 update:  I bought a ps3 controller.  That was a mistake - not easy to connect to my PC.  I do not recommend.

Humble Mozilla Bundle - Voxatron

I stumbled onto the Humble Mozilla Bundle while at work.  It appeared to me when I brought up the Google Search page using my Firefox web browser.  Google often has games linked to the search page, so I wasn't completely taken aback.  However, I had a happy moment of recognition:  this was a game from the very first Humble Bundle I ever bought:  Voxatron.

 Voxatron is a platform/shooter game that uses controls similar to Smash TV.  You move in the four cardinal directions and you shoot in those directions as well, independently of your movement.  You can also jump, which is important, though clunky and difficult.  Still, the game's style is charming, and totally worth playing.  The sound effects are cute, and the graphics are unique, built using something called Voxels, rather than Pixels or Polygons.

Similar to Minecraft, everything is designed in a very blocky style.  My understanding is that this is because it is made up of 3 dimensional pixels called Voxels.  I guess the resolution is still low on these things.  However, they make for some delightful graphical effects, as enemies melt into existence, or blocks and pillars are smashed into tiny pieces.  I gather this is much easier to do with Voxels than it is with polygons, and the results are neat-o.

Anyhow, it was a lot of fun to squeeze out a little game play at work  (shhhh)  And- if you haven't already, I recommend giving Voxatron a shot.

-D

Here's Voxatron in Action

Magic the Gathering: OCD, Deck Building and Sorting Exercises

I recently started playing Magic: the Gathering again after a five year hiatus.  These hiatuses are fairly consistent for me, and I'm glad to be again indulging in this fun strategy distraction.  

After about a month back to Magic, one thing I really find interesting is that one of the more appealing things about having a card collection is, actually, the process sorting and organizing the cards.  I already know that I like sorting-- I've done a lot of it, files, books, albums at KDVS and so on.  But with Magic cards it's particularly nice because they are compact, but contain a great deal of information and there is an element of strategy even to the sorting.  On one small card there is color, casting cost, card type and then the actual abilities of the card itself.

My first wave of sorting is always color.  It's just how the game is played.  Five colors plus Artifact, Multi-colored and Lands.  I usually put the last three in one pile, but if I've got the time and inclination, I will separate them.
 
Second wave is, for, me, casting cost.  When building a deck, I like to be sure to have plenty of cheap spells, for the early phases of the game.  This is also nice because Ghost says he doesn't even consider casting cost when building a deck.  This might/could give me an edge.

Third is card type.  This is another item of consideration when building a deck.  Creature/spell balance is important so you don't find yourself consistently lacking.  I don't usually make it this far in the sorting.   

The next step would be to separate the spells into Instant, Sorcery, Enchantment.  This could be useful, as each of these play different.  However, when building a deck I usually have an idea of what I'm going for by this point, and 40 cards runs up pretty quickly.
   

One of these is worth fifty bucks now!  And I just so happen to have a few.

Another advantage to sorting the cards is that it gives me a chance to review them.  It's always nice to have a good vocabulary of the cards you have, so that when building a new deck, you can go straight to something that might have a nice place within the deck.
One thing I will do when sorting is to pull interesting cards out and set them aside.  

When building a collection of Magic cards, one thing you will find is that there are a LOT of cards.  A lot.  And, unfortunately, a great number of htem are unremarkable.  Typically, these are common cards, though uncommon and rare cards can be equally 'Meh.'  So, sometimes when I find a card that catches me fancy, I'll set it aside, to look at later when I'm coming up with deck ideas.  Separating the wheat from the chaff, as it were. My biggest issue in this way is that I don't face the fact that large swaths of cards I own are useless.  But some really are.  My next idea for sorting is to remove the truly BAD cards.

To be fair, I don’t think this is OCD.  If things aren’t sorted, I don’t have a conniption.  I have many times had unsorted Bookshelves and CD collections.  I’m neither obsessive nor compulsive about it.  However, I do enjoy the sorting.  It’s nice.  It’s a nice process and it’s nice to look at when it’s done.  In addition, because I am not OCD, it isn’t always a high priority item.  And there’s a great feeling in getting to low-priority items.  Yes, there’s procrastination, that’s always fun, but there’s also getting to things in due time, and taking the time to do them right.  So many high-priority things got to be high priority by force of stressing me out.  It’s the low priority things that leave me alone, wait for me to come to them, and are generally more enjoyable. I don’t think this is OCD, but it’s probably something with a name.

-D

The Flashlight of Doom

I first saw Doom 3 back in 2006 when Vorlynx was playing it.  I saw him get as far as shortly after the lights went off and the infamous choice between flashlight or gun was the ultimate question.  I myself played Doom 3 back in 2010 knowing full well what I was getting into, knowing that the choice between seeing an enemy and not seeing potentially a dozen denizens of Hell was the choice to be made.

By this time I already knew of the duct tape mod but I knew that the game had been created with the idea that the game could be played without a constant light source.  I could not believe that that would be an oversight by both id and the game testers.  The game could be played and completed with the game played as is, without the duct tape mod, designed as is.  So, that is the way I played the game.

Granted, I did require Vorlynx's help, but I have previously talked about that and it happened in a very well lit portion of Hell, so it had nothing to do with the lack of light.

I will hipsterize myself and say that I am proud of the fact that I could go from beginning to end without the use of the flashlight mod.  Although not using the flashlight did not leave Duke completely in the dark as the area would be illuminated by the muzzle flash, which I felt was more terrifying as creatures lumbered towards you and you filled them with bullets upon bullets upon plasma blast upon everything else in your arsenal.

When Bethesda released the BFG edition of Doom 3, the duct tape mod came pre-attached and I personally am glad that I bought the Doom pack on Steam before the revamped edition.  I however, do not know if the now soldered mod is able to be turned off, but I would imagine that is should be.

This was a similar issue with the first Dementium: The Ward game from Renegade Kid.  In the sequel, Dementium II, the ability to hold a flashlight and a single handed weapon became available.  Again, for single handed weapons only.  If you wanted to hold a shotgun/assault rifle/flame thrower you were unable to hold or attach the flashlight since, as obviously both hands were occupied with your death dealing boomsticks.  This adaptation from the first game I was perfectly fine with as it was created and implemented by the creators.

But now here is where the potential hypocritical view comes into play.  Why would I be fine with the flashlight in one game and not with a similar modification in another game?  I think it really comes down to the audience reaction being "I'm going to make this game better/playable because you didn't when you made the game."  The difference I find is that Dementium could not be modded so the change to Dementium II was made by the developers, but only to a certain extent that made sense within the game.  

Now, if Doom 4 were to have the option of having a flashlight mount on two handed guns, I think I would be fine with that mainly because the game would be made with that in mind as opposed to the afterthought that the Duct Tape Mod was.  

Basically Doom 3 was designed without the Duct Tape Mod in mind as opposed to Dementium II which was designed with a modified flashlight.  If Doom 4 follows suit, I will be perfectly happy.



~JWfW/JDub/Jaconian
Noooooooooooo!

MIDI Week Singles: "Temple Theme" - Zelda II (NES)

Title: Palace / Temple Theme
Game: Zelda II: The Adventure of Link
Developer: Nintendo
Release: 1987
Platform: NES/Famicom
Composer: Akito Nakatsuka 

I have payed tribute to Zelda II before on this blog-  Zelda II, the ignored stepchild of the Zelda series.  It was so formative, yet somehow not uniformly appreciated across the fandom.  For me, this game was an important part of my developing appreciation for the medium.  This was a game embraced by older members of my family, that validation resonating with me as oriented myself toward my future identity as #1 video game player in my home.

In my many hours I've played of Zelda II, I have heard the Palace theme rotate through countless times.  This song is something like one of those big singles from your childhood that triggers memories.  Songs like 'Born to Run' or 'Changes' or 'Back on the Chain Gang.'  But really, the Zelda II Palace theme is more like that particular Christmas recording my Mom always played.  The difference is the circumstances.  It is far less likely for me to run into Zelda II dungeon theme throughout my life.  I've heard those Top 40 Rock singles from my childhood a bunch of times in the intervening years.  But a lot of these video game singles not so much.  They were played on repeat for a period in my childhood, and then rarely revisited.  And then only by choice.  They weren't piped in at the mall or the bar.

I love this song.  I always think of going deep and deeper into a dungeon and not being sure if I'll make it out.  As I imagine the song- even without playing the file on my computer, I can hear different sound effects from the game:  The high-pitched, wobbly sound of Links blade striking something it can't hurt: a brick wall or the shield of an Iron Knuckle.  The low grinding sound of the Palace elevator, or the satisfying crunch of an enemy being destroyed, followed by the happy little trill of an item appearing.

-D

Game Scores - Jackal (NES)

Time to go to the land of Obscure, at least obscure from my point of view as I have only seen the NES game Jackal out in the wild in one place and I have never seen the arcade cabinet either.  This is a game that I played and borrowed form Delaños frequently, but due to my not great video gaming ability, I was unable to finish the game, or at least I remember being unable to finish the beast.

Since the soundtrack to Jackal is somewhat limited (clocking in at a second or two over four minutes), let us start off with the music from the first stage, title "Stage 1 & 4."

"Stage 1 & 4," as you could surmise from the title is the music that you hear in the first stage of the game.  For me, even the chugging bass line at 0:07 seconds reminds me of a not-s0-well carburetored engine.  The music is even timed to line up with the arrival of the jeep, which I find brilliant considering this is a straight up action run-and-gun that came out on the NES in 1988 (arcade cabinet was released in 1986).  What is interesting is that in the arcade version, the same music is still present, although it sounds very subdued and unlike the NES version, the chugging does not line up with the arrival of the jeep.

As for the melody, I cannot place it as being reminiscent of anything in particular, although it suits the game and action perfectly.  And what perfection those 32 seconds of music make!  Yes, this main theme from stages one and four lasts only 32 seconds, which probably should not come as a surprise, again considering this was 1988.

"Stage 2 & 5" is the longest track from this unreleased soundtrack, clocking in at around 1:26.  And this was not Shinya Sakamoto's first foray into military run-and-guns mind you, having worked with Konami in 1985 on Rush'N Attack (aka: Green Berets), which is why the music to "Stage 2 & 5" might have conjured up the memories from the first stage in that game; well, at least for myself it does.

By now you may have noticed the similar "bum-ba-dum-ba-dum-ba-dum" beat running through each of the previous two songs, as it will in the third, even though the melodies are all different from one another.  Again, possibly reminiscent of the sound of the jeeps, but this beat, I feel, keeps the player in the game, having a consistent and familiar beat running throughout the game.

Finally, "Stage 3 & 6." There is that beat again!  Like "Stage 1 & 3," this track is only about 32 seconds long and personally, the least interesting of the three songs used for the six stages in this game.  There is not one thing that I do not like about it, I just find the main melody to be not quite as catchy as that from the first two tracks.  It could also be that since the songs are broken up as 1 & 4, 2 & 5 and 3 & 6, that I heard the first two songs more frequently than I did the final track, probably never or at least rarely making it to the sixth and final stage.

So, more-0r-less, that is the main score to Jackal, although there are also the tracks for the boss battles, the prologue,  the credits and game over, but for a game that centers around drive-and-gun, the music for the stages has to be interesting enough to keep the player playing through similarly designed stages, breaking up the monotony and tension of not being killed.

Good music does that and Shinya Sakamoto's score is exactly what Jackal needed.

~JWfW/JDub/Jaconian

Instrumental

P.S. And for anyone wondering, "Jackal" refers to the type of vehicle used in the game Jackal, although fighting with the ferocity of a jackal is also perfectly valid.

P.P.S.  Just to note, this article started out as a MIDI Week Singles post, focusing on the music from "Stage 1 & 4" but while writing, I realized that the rest of the score was equally important and for the most part, just as catchy and nostalgic.  Half way through I decided that this would have to be turned into a "Game Scores" post instead.

Packing Strategies for the Modern Gamer

I hope you didn't click this post hoping to find a list of smart and effective approaches to packing, with special attention to the subgroup sometimes known as the  'modern gamer.'  Because all this post is going to contain is my musings about packing.  Because I am faced with a game-related packing dilemma, and I thought I'd work it out on LIVE TV... I mean, on the internet.  On this blog.  Right now.  It's live as I'm typing it anyway!  Jaconian, I imagine you have thoughts on this subject, and I'm pretty sure you've shared them in the past.  Also, he is indirectly responsible for this dilemma as the trip I am packing for is his WEDDING  TO CONKLEDERP!  Hooray!!!

I have three portable gaming devices that get regular use.  In order of frequency of use, and in reverse order of portability, there is my laptop, my Nintendo DS and my cell phone.  I intend to bring all three.  However, for many games, my laptop requires* a funny, irregularly shaped device known as a game pad.  This is what is giving me pause.  Somehow, packing the game pad seems to push it all over the edge.  Maybe it's just because it doesn't fit nicely into anything, with its funny handle grips sticking out and power cable projecting from its midsection.  Anolog sticks catching on everything as it bounces around inside my backpack.  I just shouldn't bring it.

Yet, I find it hard letting go of my primary gaming device (laptop + controller).  Afterall, isn't it awesome that I can bring my primary gaming device with me on a four-day trip?  I think it's pretty great.   And it's pretty great that the same device is what I use for all of my computing and internet surfing.  Oh, the laptop is coming with me, there's no doubt about it.  But perhaps it comes with reduced gaming capacity, ie: without the controller.

Yes, I know this to be the right decision, but I am just really compelled to hem and to haw about it.  What I should do is use this as an opportunity to play some games that don't require a controller.  To play DS games, or some classic games on my DS emulator.  Maybe one of those Android games I bought in a Humble Bundle, but never play.  It turns out Mc Pixel is pretty fun!  God forbid - I could even read a book!

Okay, thank you for taking this time to skim this really dumb post from me.  Potts MD.

-D

*I say that the games require a controller because I really don't like using the keyboard for platformers.

Moonthly update- Octubre

Not a Dragon, exactly, but you might call him a...Wyrm?

Welcome to October, the Spookiest of Months!  

No, I have no plans to dress up and party hearty on Halloween.  But that may change between now and then.  I don't place a lot of stock in Holidays.  Call me Scrooge or Grinch if you like.  I think I just haven't developed traditions of my own as an adult.  Also I've never been all that into costumes. But I'm not completely without seasonal cheer.  I may just carve some pumpkins, which is always fun. 

Because it's October, I think I’ll dust off that Lovecraft Collection Jaconian picked up for me a couple years ago.  Have you ever read Lovecraft?  If you have any interest in American Gothic Horror, you pretty much have to read Lovecraft.  He’s like the awesome sequel to Edgar Allen Poe.  Seriously, he's like the Terminator 2 of American Horror.  Between Poe and Lovecraft, pretty much every Classic Element of American Gothic Horror is brought to life.  Seriously, he’s that good.  You’ll find it familiar.  It will comfort and terrify you.  At least that’s what it does for me.

I would also like to indulge in some horror games.  At least try, if not beat Amnesia: The Dark Decent.  Others I can revisit, such as Six Days a Sacrifice and Lone Survivor.   On the other hand, it also looks like this October is Dragon Month, given our two Dragon Themed posts so far in October, with more planned for the near future.  I've also got a Dragon Themed Magic deck in the works.. This previous month I have been playing Magic: The Gathering – buying lots of packs, building decks, sorting cards.  This marks one of many returns I've made to this game.  It seems like about every five years now. 

Also, I have continued playing Starseed Pilgrim.   I love this game, I've gushed about how much fun it is to figure out how to play it.  But now that I've figured it out and gotten through a lot of the game, I've discovered that it's frickin' hard!   I've confirmed that it has an end.   And I think I'm near it.  But geez louise, this game is tough!  I can only go further through tenacious obsession!  Painfully crawling my way up a hill.  Sysiphus, eat your heart out. 

 I’ve got a new job, with lots of down time, which has led me to write more posts.  Of course, I'm always nervous composing this stuff at work.  .... shiver!  There's a horror game for you, sit at a desk for eight hours, but you never know when boss man will suddenly appear and catch you surfing the web! Ahhh!

-D

Monthly Update: October 2014

Madd MS Paint Skilz Yo!

It's that time of the month again, and I'm pretty sure I've used that opening before. . . but you know what?  Neither do I.

This is going to be a hectic month.  First off, Conklederp and I are getting married on Saturday (11th) so some of the posts early in the month might be sporadic, depending on how much I am able to get accomplished ahead of time.  We are presently (at the time of posting) preparing to make our way to Nor*Cal tomorrow, with our goal being ultimately in the south (by California standards) and we'll be back about the middle of the month.  Goodtimes shall be had by all and yes, "goodtimes" is a legitimate word.

I spent a good amount of time during September playing both The Elder Scrolls: The Arena and Path of Exile.  It would seem that the Diablo type of play that is PoE is more enticing and engaging than what I found with DOTA 2, which makes me a little sad that I'm not as interested as I was hoping to be with the free-to-play MOBA, but I think solo game playing is too ingrained in my system.  I did play a session of PoE with Chreekat for an hour or so a few weeks back and since then I haven't seen him on Steam playing PoE, so I'm hoping that I didn't tarnish the 37 hours he's put into the game, but it looks like he was on yesterday.  I on the other hand, have only quested for a paltry 26 hours.  Oh the humanity!

And this just in, I am a Steam Stalking Creeper, but no, I still haven't played Minecraft in any of its many iterations.  Line me up to be stoned.  Again.

What the hell!  While writing today's post, music from Dead Island: Riptide (composed by Pawel Blaszczak) has come up a couple of times and it's a lot better than it has a right to be.  Now I've never played Dead Island: Riptide, yet anyway and I'll get to it eventually, but this soundtrack (acquired through the Humble Deep Silver Bundle) is really good.  I'm tempted to even say that it's "beautiful," but. . . you know what?  No buts.  The track that just played, "Let it be Haven," was indeed a beautiful simple piano piece.  There I said it.  Cue the onslaught of hate.  Maybe, but probably not.

Let's briefly take a look at October.  I restarted schooling a couple days ago so I'll be trying to get ahead for the first couple of weeks seeing as how doing school work during a honeymoon so video gaming and said activities will not be as prevalent as normal, at least for the first half of the month.  Game-wise though, October will probably be fairly similar to September with PoE, Arena and I might even delve into Fallen Earth, which I just spotted as being an open world free-to-play post-apocalyptic adventure game.  If I'm able to find time that is.  Although in the next week, I'll be hoping to play another round of Mansions of Madness with our friends so I'll have more tales to tell upon our return.

So have a happy October and I'll see y'all when I'm around.

~JWfW/JDub/Jaconian

Instrumental