What I mean when I talk about Graphics

The body of this post was originally composed about two years ago when this blog was brand new.  Because of my difficulty in articulating my thoughts, opinions and convictions, this post sort of floated around in draft form for those two years.  I recently read an essay over at Gamasutra on the same subject and decided to dredge this old post up, dust it off and finally publish it.  I think the subject of graphics has long been an important one in Video Games, though it does seem to be pretty much the same story as when I was a teenager.  Bigger, better, higher, faster.  If this subject interests you at all, have a look at the Gamasutra article I've linked here, and share any thoughts or resources you have on the subject.  Thanks. -D   

no denying this is purty, but is it enough?

When it comes to Graphics, I have always been and will always be, something of a hypocrite.   At least, it will seem that way to everyone who isn't inside my head, or doesn't understand me in that special "nerd" way.  I will, on the one hand, whine endlessly about graphics.  About too much focus on good graphics.  Too many bells and whistles, and not enough depth.  And then, on the other hand, I will dance a jig and praise halleluja to the graphics of games I like.  This is a pattern I plan to never break.

For example: in the case of Minecraft: it’s hard to call the graphics ‘good’ per se, on some sort of linear scale of supposed ‘quality’  - however, it’s easy for me to call the graphics ‘awesome’ because they are.  It’s more a design thing than a photo-realistic thing.  Photorealism is a keyword here.  There is a belief somewhere that this is the pinnicale of graphic representation, and I have to disagree with that. 

When I was younger, I believed in photorealism.  I believed that was the sort of art that required skill, and that abstract art was just nonsense.  Funny thing though:  I have no memory of cartoons as art, or my opinion of cartoon art.  Cartoons were simply alive, and I loved them.  It never occurred to me that they might be art.  Maybe this is one of the best measures of art. 

Bridging the gap from cartoons to realism is comic book art.  I thought Jim Lee and Mark Bagley were the best comic artists of the 90s.  This was in part because of their ability to convey realism, but, growing older, I see that their version of realism was highly stylized and not really photo realistic at all.  But even that level level of realism isn't necessary for enjoyment.  

Quintessential Jim Lee artwork from my childhood

It would be nice to have a better vocabulary for these things.  To better be able to explain what I mean.  I'm going to work on that in this post.  Jac, I'm sure you know what I'm talking about.  Little help?

Jaconian's Interjection: I totally get/agree with what you're saying.  I'll argue that with some Final Fantasy games, that they've moved away from story and focused too much on the look and graphics of the game.  "It's not all about graphics!"  But then, when I play say, Wave Race, I'll be like, "It's a pretty standard racing game, nothing overly special.  But dear god man, look at the water!  It looks fucking real!"  That might not be a great example, but I understand where you're coming from.  Another one is the "updated" graphics in Dragon Warrior in the US from Dragon Quest in Japan. 

(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dragon_Quest_(video_game)#North_American_localization)  

In the image you can see the difference in sprites and in the article is says that the character always faced that direction, regardless of the direction.  I tell myself now that that would bother me and the "better" graphics are better for game play, even though graphics aren't a big part of why I find that game/series to be so awesome.

Another thing that I've found myself being a hypocrite about, in a similar manner to graphics, is the quality of music in games.  I can listen to the Legend of Zelda overworld theme for hours on end, with it's simple three tone musical awesomeness.  But then with the music from Ocarina of Time, I'll go on for hours about how the music sounds like not-so-great MIDI.  Additionally, the sound quality between the two is different and while there are sound quality improvements over the original soundtrack, ultimately I feel that there was a shift away from melody to atmosphere

OR, staying with Zelda, the graphics and design of the game (like what you said in your previous post) are perfect for  he game.  BUT, if there was an updated remake with either the Wind Waker or Majora's Mask engine, I would be singing its praises even before I got a chance to play it.  Maybe that's because it's something we've been talking about since Ocarina of Time came out.

Yes, graphics sure do represent a mixed bag of experiences.  And it seems like that is the key to the whole thing- how do the graphics affect your experience of the game?  Arguably, with the Dragon Warrior example, your play experience probably wouldn't have been affected much by the graphical updates.  If nothing else, the fact that the character always faces the same direction may have been slightly distracting.  But, then again, it may have been more distracting than I imagine.  I always accepted that the 'open world' style design of Dragon Warrior is a place with four cardinal directions, and that the characters within have a front, sides and a back.  The idea of every character sort of 'strafing' along is kind of distasteful.  But I'm probably over thinking it, which is okay; I like doing that.

I guess when thinking about graphics, it is good to think about how they are used.  In the case of Wave Race, it may be good to note that the game took place in many different settings.  The first that come to my mind is 'Drake Lake,'  which has the most dynamic graphics in that game.  Here, the fog-lifting action on the third lap sort of 'shows you what you've been missing' to great effect.

However, even without the fog-trick from Drake lake, the water effects on Wave Race are awesome.  More than any other racing game, Wave Race gave me the desire to drive off of the course and just go exploring.  I think the water effect had a lot to do with that.  A water environment is so much more interesting than a racetrack environment.  I only wish they had actually supplied an open world track.  Or, hey - you know what would be awesome?  A Jetski option in Pilotwings!  For close examination and exploration of the coastlines and islands. 

Alright, I'm getting distracted here with another one of my random 'you know what would be cool?' game ideas.  Ultimately, I'm not sure what my point is here.  Except maybe that 'my opinion is my opinion and that is that.'  Which is kind of... a moot point to begin with.  Anyhow, when I look at the industry, I see a lot of hyper-realistic big AAA games, but then I also see some really cool artful and abstract indie games.  So, I keep my attention on the indie games, but I do wish that the masses being catered to by the big-industry could see and appreciate the games I love.  And that's normal, isn't it?  

-D

P.S.  Since I originally wrote the bulk of this post, I had the great pleasure of reading Scott McCloud's fantastic 'Understanding Comics' series.  I highly recommend this book to anyone who is interested in comics, art and design. I found the contents relevant to subjects outside comics; including video games. He puts forth this idea of Realist vs Iconic graphics, and puts them in this nifty Triangle (below), which he cleverly calls the 'Big Triangle.'  He has a breakdown of the Big Triangle on his website.  Go check it out, why not?

MIDI Week Singles: "Fight Theme" - Dragon Warrior - (NES)

Title: Fight

Game: Dragon Warrior

Developer: Enix

Release: 1986

Platform: NES/Famicom

Composer: Koichi Sugiyama

Arrangement: Takenori Yamamori

I've really been on a Dragon Warrior kick lately, so why not share this singular musical track from the first Dragon Warrior?

To the unbiased ear, the early NES sounds from DW may be somewhat grating, really not the best MIDI, and the compositions, in general, may not seem like anything to write home about.  However, each song has a special place in my heart, and none more so than the battle theme.  I love it because it leads me to ask:  "What the heck is going on with this theme?"  It's so odd!  So delightfully strange.  It's only the bridge at the end that sort of ties the thing together.   

Instead of using speed and heavy rhythm to generate excitement and create a sense of danger, the composer chooses to use a bizarre melody.  And it works, the much calmer sounds of the overworld map are very relaxing by comparison.  So yeah, big kudos to Koichi Sugiyama and Takenori Yamamori for this unequaled track among video game battle music.  

-D

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.

Video Game Maps: Dragon Warrior (NES)

Dragon Warrior was released in the US in 1989 for the Nintendo Entertainment System [NES].  It was my first real taste of RPG gaming, and I enjoyed it thoroughly, whiling away many hours in the world of Alefgard.  While I completed the game more than once, many times I would play through only a portion of the game, walking the same areas, collecting the same item, defeating the dragon and rescuing the princess.  Repeat.  In my inaugural edition of the Video Game Maps segment, I'm actually going to focus on two games:  Dragon Warrior and Dragon Warrior 2*

Here is a map of Alefgard, the world of Dragon Warrior:

Cool enough world,  several continental shapes,  complete with geographic obstacles, and town tiles dotting the landscape. This seminal RPG took plenty of time to fight through.  Cleverly, the designers placed a key item at the furthest point counter clockwise from the start, only to send you back the other direction to get to the final battle. The difficulty of the enemies increases as you travel further from your starting point. Because you had limited supplies, it was necessary to return to towns periodically to resupply your healing items and magic points.  This leads to retreading a lot of ground, and an intimate familiarity with the landscape.  I can still, at a glance, pick out the little patch of woods where you harvest gold from the appropriately named Gold Man.   

Dragon Warrior featured a few landscape details. Water, can't walk on that.  Grass, standard walking speed.  Hills, slow walking speed. Swamp, damage every step.  Mountains were impassable.  Desert and forest were just like grass, as I recall.  However, in addition to appearance and walk-speed changes, different enemy encounters were often triggered by changes in landscape tiles.  There is a really cool map with enemy overlay that you should definitely check out if it sounds interesting to you.  That map and many other Dragon Warrior details can be found at The Almighty Guru. 

While assembling this post, I have enjoyed reveling in all these delightful details and memories.  Dragon Warrior is truly a game near and dear to my heart, and I must restrain my enthusiasm in order to stay on topic.  In my next edition of Video Game Maps, I will feature one of the best sequels of all time:  Dragon Warrior 2.   

-D


*please note:  I will be using the name 'Dragon Warrior' as opposed to 'Dragon Quest' because the games that I played, way back in the 80s, were called 'Dragon Warrior.'

My Time In Evoland (PC)

Dr. Potts already did a full-on review about Evoland, which you can read here, and I highly recommend it, and not only because we share the same space here in internetland, but because it's a good article.  I however, after only just finishing the game not 10 minutes ago (upon writing this, not publishing today on Monday January 6th, 2014), wanted to give my own thoughts.

I really liked Evoland, although knowing from Dr. Potts that it was a short(ish) game probably helped in the development of my feelings.  By "short," I expected the game to be somewhere between 2-5 hours in length, and it took me about 3.5 hours from start to finish, although some of that time was spent trying to raise levels only to realize that that didn't matter outside of overworld battles.

As the good Doctor stated, I too wish that more time was spent in the 2D pre N64/PS1 era.  There was an area where you reverted back to Legend of Zelda (circa 1985), but that was only after you had been playing in 3D-Land for a while.  One aspect of reverting back to 2D graphics, was that the music also switched back to the classic NES 8-bit tones, but the music itself was the same.  I enjoyed hearing how the layering of instruments changed based on what "era" you were in.

But game length is very important here.  I felt that 3.5 hours was a perfect length of time for what the game was trying to accomplish.  If the game had been longer, I definitely would have felt cheated by how much time was spent in the early 2000's (Final Fantasy IX and beyond).  If the game were to have been twice as long, I feel that more time would have been spent playing as Gameboy Clink, or maybe even started at an earlier point in gaming history, such as with the Atari or the Intellivision.

All of that aside, again, I really enjoyed Evoland.  I feel that I was able to pick up on most of the references to video game history.  Even non-video game history, but general fantasy works, such as including A'Tuin from Terry Pratchett's Discworld series.  Other references  include Super Mario Bros., Diablo, The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, Final Fantasy VII and a whole helluva lot more, which is where I found a lot of the fun with Evoland.  I'm sure/positive that there were references that I didn't get, but I can't/won't mention them because I don't know what they were, hence the not getting the references bit.

It kind of reminded me of the way that "Weird Al" does his parodies.  They are often shorter versions of the original songs, but he gets his point across with what he's trying to do, although this is not always the case.

I will say that around the time that the game took on it's definite Final Fantasy VII and beyond tone, I did lose some interest.  Upgrades to the look and mechanics of the game became less and less and treasure chests which once held quips directed towards the video game industry and semi-ridiculousness of certain RPG rules, these chests started to contain Stars and Cards (Stars are there just to collect and Cards are used for a TCG, similar to the game card game used in Final Fantasy IX).  I felt as if I had reached the pinnacle of game development too soon as there was at least another hour of gameplay left.

Unlike Dr. Potts, I don't know if I see myself going through the game again, even  knowing what I now know about the overall length of the game.  The story was not very engaging, but I never felt that the story was a driving part of the narrative, or lack thereof.  It would be like playing Final Fantasy IV minus emotional investment and 50 hours of additional gameplay and story arcs.  So then why even play Evoland?  Because it's a game that knows who its target audience is and I like getting the references to other video games that I played 20 years ago.  In short, because Evoland is fun.

You know, I could easily see this concept used for other over-arching gaming genres such as Doom-style FPS' or even a Streets of Rage / Double Dragon type brawler-beat-em-up.  Although at the moment, it looks like Shiro Games is in development of a multiplayer adventuring game called Until Dark, which by the name and font alone sounds promising.  And now, a new video game development company to keep our collective eyes on.


~JWfW/JDub/Jaconian
A Future That Ain't What It Used To Be

First Impressions: BIT.TRIP RUNNER, Super Meat Boy, Team Fortress 2 & Penny Arcade's On The Rain Slick Precipice of Darkness 3

Now there's a mouthful.

I've been playing a lot of games recently since I picked up a controller for PC gaming.  Oddly enough it's an Xbox 360 controller.  Odd because it's me and I don't particularly like Xbox (I personally see it as the Sega of the Console Wars Era), but their naturally USB controller and it's a Microsoft product running on a Microsoft operating system, so I thought, why not.  Anyway, onto the games.

I remember first hearing about this game from Dr. Potts when he did one of those "30 Days of Gaming" posts on facebook, of which I did one as well.  Then I saw it in one of the Humble Indie Bundles, again which Dr. Potts got for me, which I previously mentioned was how/why I got a Steam account.  Anyway, my thoughts on BIT.TRIP RUNNER.  I really like it!

I can't state that enough.  It's an amazing combination of side scrolling, rail-platformer, rhythmesque-type game.  Basically you play as Commander Video who hearkens back to a style reminiscent of Atari 2600 characters.  You run, jump, spring board, slide and kick to the sounds of 16-bit-ish style music that progresses and develops as the level progresses and as you collect speed boosts.  It's a really fun and incredibly frustrating game.  In one sitting, it took me an hour to complete a level, albeit the longest level in the game.  Then, when I showed Conklederp how hard the level was, I beat it in less than 10 minutes.  There's just something about how the music develops over the course of a level that is a real incentive to not "die" and be thrown back to the beginning of the level.  Anyway, ti's awesome.

Currrent Time Invested:  5 Hours

Super Meat Boy is another game that I received from Dr. Potts in the Humble Indie Bundle.  Again, SMB is a platformer with a penchant for completing levels as quickly as possible.  There's even a timer that counts to a hundredth-of-a-second.  That's how frantic/fast this game can be.

For the most part, I thought I was doing alright, until I watched one of the trailers and that got me a little discouraged.  I don't think I'm that "agile" and "quick" for this type of a platformer, but that's not going to keep me from playing a couple of levels every so often.  So, due to my lack to pretty-word-forming, I just recommend watching one of the teaser trailers which gives a great example of how the game plays.

In game, I've made it through only 19 seconds of this trailer.  And the first 4 seconds aren't even game play.

I do really like that whenever you pass a level, the game shows you a compilation of all your failed attempts to pass that level along with your successful attempt, all stacked up on each other.  Depending on the difficulty of the level, it could end up looking like a mass suicide cult on acid.  To sum up:  this is a really fun/infuriating game, although I don't know if I'll be "able" to finish (not "complete") it.

Current Time Invested:  70 Minutes

If you haven't already figured out, I'm pretty late when it comes to specific games, especially PC gaming.  Again exemplified by the fact that this game is 5 years old and I'm just starting to play it now; or well, late last week.  Early last week, I couldn't even tell you anything about the game except that it was an FPS, there was a Tank with a huge gun, and a Medic that always seems to be behind him.  In it's most basic form though, Team Fortress 2 is an FPS with character classes.  I think that's a really awesome concept that I haven't seen in FPS games before.  There's no campaign mode, from what I can tell anyway, only multiplayer madness, which I was a little surprised about and something I'll have to get used to.

So since this game is 5 years old, there's no sense in me going into specifics about the game that pretty much everyone seems to already know about.  Everyone except this guy!  Which is cool.  I don't feel shamed.  It's a fun game that I'll continue to play, as long as people aren't bigotty-ass-hats when it comes to shit talking.  Shit talking is fine, just don't be an annoying 10 year old bigotty-ass-hat about it.  That's all I'm asking for, just a friendly game where we can try and kill each other like civilized people.

Current Time Invested:  2 Hours

So out of the four games that I've been dipping my toes into, with Penny Arcade's On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness 3, I've sort of dunked my entire body in and only occasionally come up for air.  As of the writing of this, I've put in 8 hours of game play and I feel like I might be halfway through.  Maybe.  I'm not sure.

Precipice 3 continues with similar themes and styles of game play that were present in the first two installments, although there seems to be a serious lack of Fruit Fuckers in this game, but I think that was explained in the end of Precipice 2.  Either way, my reasoning for feeling that I'm at least half-way through the game is that since there are a pre-set number of enemy encounters (enemies are visible on screen), which means there's a pre-set amount of gold/gil/$ available and I just bought the highest level weapons for my party.  Maybe I'm farther along than I thought?  I hope not, because I really like this game, but since it's made by Zyboyd games (the same people who did Cthulhu Saves the World and Breath of Death VII).

There's a lot of references to previous RPGs of the NES genre such as Dragon Warrior, Final Fantasy, and there's a music cue that I swear sounds like the "Overworld" theme from Ultima III: Exodus, but maybe that's just me.

Current Time Invested:  8 Hours

~JWfW/JDub/Jaconian
The Parts of My Brain Fighting for Control

Also, this game comes out (again) in 11 days.
It will consume your life (again).

Starting Over: Final Fantasy: 4 Heroes of Light (DS)

The following is a post that I put up a short while back over on facebook, but I feel that it's perfect for our discussions here as well.  I've made a couple of small alterations/additions/subtractions, so it's not word-for-word, but pretty damn close.

I had been playing Final Fantasy: 4 Heroes of Light for some time and treating it like a traditional RPG.  That is in fact, was one of the main reasons why I bought the game.  

Before the game was released, it was touted as going back to early RPG roots.  That there would be no highlighted text "clueing" you where to go next; no near infinite inventories; you would need to talk to pretty much everybody in town to find out where to go and what to do next.  Your inventory was limited to 15 items, which included your gear (Weapon, Armor, Shield, Accessory), usable magic spells and consumable items.  You know, a lot like Final Fantasy I or Dragon Warrior/Quest I.

Once I started the game, I found out that everything that I'd heard was true.  Enemies weren't always easy.  You could only save with a guy who would record your save data and who could only be found in towns or usually at the end of a dungeon right before a boss and that was it. I didn't always know where I was supposed to go and sometimes was really confused where to go once I was able to "fly" around the world map.

The strangest thing, for me, was that when in a battle, you told one of your characters what action to perform, but not on "whom" to perform that action on.  For example:  You told your Thief to attack, your Black Mage to cast "Firaga," your Fighter to attack and your White Mage to cast "Esuna."  The game then decided who your Thief and Fighter attacked, who your Black Mage cast "Firaga" on and who the White Mage cast "Esuna" on.  Now the computer isn't a complete idiot as it'll cast "Esuna" on anyone who has a status ailment and the attacks would usually land on the same person if they lived after the first assault.  This sounds kind of like a bad idea, until you get past the fact that you'll have to deal with it if you want to continue playing the game.  And I got over it pretty quickly, unless my White Mage was casting "Cure" to give 50 hp to my Black Mage when my Fighter was down 250 hp while fighting a boss that was strong against magical attacks.  Whatever.

Another aspect of the game that I liked, but didn't know about off hand, was that the enemies would level along with you.  So basically, you couldn't overpower enemies.  As it turned out, the bosses leveled along with you too so that you could never be at level 47 fighting a level 25 boss.  They were hovering somewhere right along with you.  I didn't find this out about the bosses leveling until I reached the final form the final boss in the game takes.  Not going too much into the details of the three failed attempts (disasterous attempts mind you), but I looked up how to sucessfully defeat this boss.  Turns out, level 50 is the "just about right" level to be at to defeat the boss.  My characters are at 80 and above.  Which means that even with some of the best equipment in the game, I'm fighting a boss that's 30 levels higher than it should be with gear that's close to 30 levels too low.  Even with upgraded equipment.  (Hypothetically then, I should just try and beat the game at the lowest level possible!)

In short, I'm pretty sure I fucked myself over.  My three options at this point are:

1) Continue trying to fight the boss as is and hope that he doesn't kill my White Mage on it's first of two attacks (which it has done all three times; bastard likes to kill White Mages the first thing in a battle apparently).  Then, if my White Mage doesn't die, hope that whomever the boss attacks isn't either of my tank-type characters.  This all sounds very plausible as I'm typing it out, but when the boss does physical damage between 250 - 600 hp with multiple attacks per turn and my characters (again, at level 80) have between 330 - 550 hp, the outlook is not so good.

2)  Spend hours upon hours gem/gold mining so that I can use a special defense and attack  combination that uses up gold coins rather than hit points.  This doesn't sound too bad either, until you realize that after 30 minutes of gem/gold mining, I only earn about 25,000 gold and I would need close to 2,000,000 in order to take out the final boss.  Roughly, that would be an additional 80 hours, which I would rather not have to do.

3)  Start the game all over again, being careful not to level my characters up as I was previously doing.  And I'm about 98.47% sure that I'm going to take this method.

~JWfW/JDub/Jaconian

It's Like Failure In Reverse.