it all started with Chrono Trigger...

Status Update - Alive

2012-01-10T11:28:00.000-08:00

Subject: Source Material Drought

Re: Skyrim

Start Time: 01/06/12

Approximate Date of Crisis End: Unknown

Happy 2012, everyone.

http://www.itallstartedwithchronotrigger.com

In the News...

2011-12-19T16:32:00.000-08:00

I know this announcement is strictly for the toys that will be available in the summer of 2012, but I’m still doing a happy dance about the prospect of a LEGO Lord of the Rings video game. I don’t read a lot of fantasy novels, but I have read The Hobbit...for a creative writing class…in high school…so I am sure that qualifies me as a super fan. Plus I’ve totally seen all of the movies (the extended films) and played the Risk version once…at a friend’s house…where I moved a ring around a map? I am obviously an expert.

Tee hee! Tiny LEGO Legolas! Priceless.

I am currently halfway through LEGO Harry Potter Years 5-7 and, as anticipated, I am enjoying it immensely. Exploring Hogwarts feels a bit less lighthearted this time around, understandably, considering the source material, but moving through the stud-filled storyline managed to almost completely erase all of the downtrodden feelings I had about the series after trudging through the final licensed title. It’s sort of amazing how TT Games has managed to tell the story in LEGO form in a far more satisfying way, using mini cut scenes with a combination of tense emotion (well, as emotional as a LEGOs can get) to keep the weighted tone of the story while still saying, ‘Hey, it’s LEGOs. Don’t be too sad.’ with cheek pinching adorableness. I am having a great time. The team has learned several new spells, tiny Luna Lovegood is oh, so pretty, and no one had to die in the final chapter, except the man himself. Voldemort’s disintegration = Freakiest LEGO scene EVER.

Unlike Pirates of the Caribbean, I haven’t run into any bugs in Harry Potter, which is surprising. Normally the LEGO games lie in wait for you to step off the right platform and get stuck in some sort of digital quicksand, your only hope of salvation a total reboot (after mashing every button into oblivion, of course). To me, this says that either using the same environment as a previous game is a total win (Hogwarts and the surrounding areas are the exact same in both Years 1-4 and 5-7), or that TT is getting better at this whole LEGO video game endeavor. So, once again, although I know that no one has said anything about making a LLOTR video game at this point, I am still going to call it my Game of the Year for 2012...or let's say 2013, just to be safe. It’s obviously going to be amazing.

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Make Peace, Not War

2011-12-13T12:55:00.000-08:00

Around this time last year I compiled two lists in my head. The first one, titled ‘Fallen Soldiers’, was about the video games I started but never finished. The second was a compilation of my favorite moments in gaming from the previous year. I was happy with both and assumed that I would end 2011 using a similar theme. But you know what? In terms of great, memorable experiences, the 2011 pool to choose from has been pretty limited. In fact, if a complete stranger ran up to me on the street and hot spotted me into naming the game I would suggest as a stocking stuffer for anyone who ‘plays video games’ in some capacity, my instant response would be Skyrim. And I haven’t played Skyrim, basing my reflexive decision solely on grand forum focus, so that should tell you just how tepid my memories of the previous year are scaling right now. But this isn’t really the start of my end of the year gaming series, just some typed out thought bubbles, so let’s talk about my post-play impressions of Assassin’s Creed Revelations instead, the only game I have played in any real beginning to end capacity in the last month or so.

First off, let me say that I loved Revelations. When the credits rolled after my 30+ hour full scale, nothing-left-behind run through, my chin started quivering and my eyes welled up with fat crocodile tears. Quiet weeping ensued. But it wasn’t because Revelations had any real Oscar-worthy moments (new category – best animated performance in a game of the video variety), it was because of the sheer volume of time and emotion spent with the character’s and their continual devotion to the cause, their constant struggle to outwit the Templars, and because it finally marked the end of four years’ worth of strange Italian accents and awkward Ezio flirtatiousness. And that’s very sad. As much as I am eager to dive into a new time period with a new assassino, a poignant melancholy settled over me when saying goodbye to both Altair and Ezio. I mean, crap, I first met Ezio in AC2 shortly after he emerged from the birth canal, so a fond salute to his fifty year old distinguished self seems natural and completely necessary. Truly, the best moments in Revelations came via cut scenes and flashbacks, the character drama the highlight of the final chapter. Meeting Sophia and Yusaf was fantastic, and their roles in Ezio’s Constantinople chapter vital and engaging.

But Revelations was no Brotherhood. With the exception of some hiccups here and there (I hate you, race missions, die in a fire), Brotherhood took on new mechanics with ease. I thought the restoration of Rome was a tad silly in the beginning, but grew to like it over time. Leonardo’s weapon missions were a little disjointed, but not enough to distract from the beauty and overall gracefulness of the ancient city spires and outer buildings, and having clandestine meetings with the man himself via special benches was such a wink and smile that I couldn’t help but love it. Sometimes a cathartic ride through the grassy fields alongside the city walls on a magnificent horse (totally hijacked from a guard) between missions was all that was needed to prepare for the next assignment. In playing the original game again, I can see the advantages of keeping it simple and allowing the player to merely explore the territories without any pervasive urgent qualities. Toss in the well-earned Cristina missions in and, to me, Brotherhood was spot-on perfect. Any additions from AC2 were either discarded or nurtured, and no one shoved any more or less than you wanted into your repertoire.

And…Revelations took the peace and quiet away. Along with my beautiful Italian countryside, I lost my horse. In its stead, I gained a hook blade and ziplines. Instead of freedom to restore and evolve Constantinople to my liking, in my own time and via my own design, the Templar presence was now ubiquitous, and any actions that could be construed as subversive are tracked and noted via a gauge that needs to be constantly monitored to ensure that a den takeover does not ensue. If it does, a mini tower defense game follows, which is so rare and clunky that there was never a chance to perfect it. I spent a lot of wasted time avoiding them by circling around blocks to pay off heralds in order to keep the meter on simmer, not boil. Revelations injected urgency into a game that responds best to stillness and stealth. It shoved bombs into my pockets and encouraged assassin/guard shoving matches. I couldn't even finish Desmond's journey, the sudden first-person perspective so abrasive and ill-suited to the normal flow that I gave up after the second chapter. And where these moments didn't fully deter my normal grinning from ear to ear Assassin’s Creed experience, because of course there was rooftops and running, it certainly made me long to repeat all of the Constantinople missions within the sanctity of Rome, regardless of how grand and glorious the sun appears when setting over the spires of Hagia Sophia.

If the franchise was scheduled to continue along the same vein, I believe without a reassortment of mechanics it would start to crumble underneath the sheer weight of its toolbox. My hopes for Assassin’s Creed 3 is not necessary a complete reboot, but possible a reimagining of how to breathe spirit and soul back into the game. The majesty of this series is built upon the grounds of silence, not explosions and noise. If they stop peering so heavily into the weapon wheels and instead continue to focus on the tightly coiled tenseness of each narrative situation, I think they will find all the tools they need to keep the series colorful through characterization and not silly video game mechanics. I’ve continually called this series a book, with many different chapters and volumes, and I hope the next in the series repaints a picture using a color palette and an ink quill pen, not a strategic war board.

Even through the smears of lamb’s blood and poisoned gas, Revelations still had meaningful glances and tulips. And sometimes the details make all the difference.

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New Alan Wake!

2011-12-10T22:21:00.000-08:00

Love this!

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My World

2011-12-10T21:44:00.000-08:00

Okay, I have a confession to make. Deep breath. Here goes:

I have never, in my entire 32 years of living here, on Planet Earth, in the United States of America, in the shape and form of a female of the species Homo sapiens, been told that I should or should not do anything based on my gender.

When I was eleven, no one told me that I shouldn’t collect baseball cards with my little brother because I was a girl.

When I was in high school, no one told me I shouldn’t play soccer or baseball or kickball or whatever-ball because I was girl.

When I was in college, no one told me I shouldn’t sleep in the boys dorm...wait, yes they did. They had strict separation rules about those things, for good reasons. Wink wink. Teenagers are naughty.

But more than anything else, no one ever told me that I shouldn’t be playing video games because of my ovaries and XX chromosome pattern. Not once. Never ever.

Maybe I’m lucky. My first video game memory is playing Atari at my neighbor’s, a home that contained primarily three women as the man of the house was often away on business. When my little brother received a NES for Christmas one year, affectionate fights starting breaking out as to who was going to play it more often, him, me or my mother. When I was twelve years old and moved away from my hometown to a bigger, scarier environment (rural Idaho, population 4000), I was welcomed into a new community of peers via a Tetris watch that I started lending out during study hall. A GameBoy on my belt never attracted any negative attention, and falling for a pixelated Setzer in FFIII (SNES) and later a white-haired villain named Sephiroth in FFVII delivered nothing but amusement and affectionate ribbing amongst my friends. In art class I painted silhouettes of Magus and taped video game posters in my lockers. And all of that was a-okay. I never encountered a single soul who thought otherwise.

In fact, I can’t recall a single instance in my youth when the notion of being a female gamer evoked anything other than admiration from the gentleman in my life. With the exception of a few incredulous “I can’t believe you just kicked my ass at [Killer Instinct, SSX Tricky, Soul Calibur 2, etc]” moments that at first prompted some swearing or controller throw-downs, all my guys, after learning I was ‘adept’ at gaming, would want desperately to play alongside me, as though they had been awarded some precious gift to be treasured. The idea that I would sit silently and just watch an entire run through of a JRPG was something new and refreshing, and I was never admonished or berated for my hobby. And none of them told me I shouldn’t be doing it. After awhile, any excitement or surprise would peter out, and playing video games would become part of normal life, just as any other chosen pastime between couples or friends.

So now that I am old and couldn’t care less what anyone thinks about the things I choose to do or not do, I tend to ignore all of the he said-she said sexism debates ever-circulating around the gaming community. Because none of them have ever offended me, personally. Getting all up in arms about my role as a female gamer is silly and divisive, when all I want is to have the best experience I can have within my chosen hobby. I don’t really play online, as I enjoy the more personal aspects of video games, so I get to avoid all of the icky name calling and colorful adjectives spewed by shabbily parented twelve-year-olds. But if I was in the middle of an amazing run in a multiplayer environment and someone with a XY called me any of a dozen offensive female-directed four-letter words, I am smart enough to realize they are just totally uncivilized and ignore them completely, not run straight to my blog to write about how oppressed I am as a female, and how misrepresented I am by developers and how giant boobs on female characters in Dragon Age games makes my self-esteem plummet or other such nonsense. My husband occasionally swears at the television and the Xbox during particularly difficult gaming moments, but I don’t think either device takes it personally.

Recently, a mini s-storm started up online because a particular journalist said that adult women don’t know about Skyrim. He meant it as a gentle riff towards nerdy male gamers, but sectors of the female gaming community got all miffed about it anyway. The truth is, he is probably right. If I polled my female-dominated workplace and asked all the ladies over 25 what Skyrim is I would primarily get one of three responses: my child plays that, I saw a commercial for that during Modern Family, or I is that a new type of airplane? (I work in the travel industry.) Notice I said “primarily”, as sure, statistically a few of them would either recognize it offhand or know about it intimately based on a primary source, such as a friend/roommate/significant other playing it or playing it themselves. But jeez, the response demons his offhand remark summoned were genuinely boring and tiresome. It’s as though a team of female gamers have a telephone tree and a template standing by just in case someone steps over the line and offends them, even in jest. And I can’t help but think that these people are supposedly defending me as an female gamer entity, right? So why do I feel like they are talking about the opposite of me? Why can’t we all just be gamers, play whatever we want and feel free to say things that are probably true without being terrified about offending half of the community? Can’t we just take things in stride? Why is everyone so defensive about what is, for most people having the conversation, a hobby, not a life imperative?

And before everyone starts stabbing me with lectures and reminders about our oppressed sex*, let me remind you that I have never experienced any of those things. I have received nothing but encouragement and praise from primarily male blog writers and friends. All of those who have requested words or opinions from me concerned gender neutral topics, and no one has flamed me about any of my overly romantic paragraphs concerning Assassin’s Creed or my loving attachment to Fenris in Dragon Age 2. Maybe it’s because I am so openly a girly gamer. I play what I want, I say what I want, I feel what I want and I have no shame about any of it. I have never censored myself or tried to be anything other than what I am. My non-gamer friends love and support me, and get excited when I get excited about something in my virtual habitat, even if they have no idea what I am talking about. If someone were to try to provoke me based on my gender I would shake my head and ignore them, as any child is told to do in the schoolyard when being bullied. To be honest, after reading and writing within a teensy little corner of the gaming world for almost two years now, I can visualize my fellow ladies being more critical towards me than any of the gents. This sort of sharkish mentality is famous amongst women, as we tend to be way cattier than boys concerning anything that can be construed competitive in nature.

Bottom line is, if a huge balloon of sexism exists in the gaming world, I have never experienced it firsthand. That doesn’t mean I don’t believe it exists, but I think that angry dog-piling onto anyone who makes even the slightest mention of a potential line between the male-female gaming community is probably the wrong tactic. Whether video games are something you play on the bus, via a handheld, or in your living room, via a controller, it is a personal experience. And no one can disrupt that experience if you don’t give them the power to. If you like Call of Duty multiplayer but hate the boy chatter, mute the damn thing, or find a group of girls to play with every night. Yes, the whole environment should be sunshine and unicorns, but reality says differently, so instead of beating against a brick wall, just become empowered and create your own world.

And while all of you are nitpicking each other to death, I will continue to play video games, unheeded by anything or anyone, because I love them like peppermint and ice cream and I can do whatever the fuck I want, as no one ever told me I couldn’t and even if they did I wouldn’t listen to them anyway.

*Total Disclaimer: Of course, I don't believe that all female gamers have these streamlined opinions about gender exclusions within the community, because I believe the majority of them are like me, and enjoy it as a face value experience, without analyzing its deeper sociological meanings. They are awesome.

http://www.itallstartedwithchronotrigger.com

Rant Rant Rant

2011-11-30T23:44:00.000-08:00

Last weekend we traveled to Idaho to visit family for the holidays. Unfortunately, this short vacation also happened to coincide with the final hours of my trip through Revelations, forcing me on a brief hiatus before I could put the cheevo checklist to bed and call it complete. So although it didn’t plague me during every waking moment, I did spend some introspective moments plotting the best way to maximize my Assassino babies to achieve Master status and imagining the most strategic point in which to parachute from the top of a tower onto a zipline. Sadly, most of these thoughts came in the middle of the night, as foreign beds always equal epic insomnia. So instead of carefully planning the best approach to the last bits of Revelations upon our return to Seattle, most of the visualizations came via wonky half-sleep madness, with Ezio starring as himself in a madcap trip down the rabbit hole. Oh, and parachuting onto ziplines. For some reason, I could not stop ruminating on that one... But it was during one rather sleepless night, in anticipation of an ungodly early alarm setting, that my mind started pondering my future 2011 highlight reel blog (Ezio parachuting onto a zipline, obvious contender), then drifted further into my anticipatory 2012 list, where I found myself suddenly and inexplicably angry about Bioshock Infinite.

I first wrote about Infinite in August of 2010, where I yelled and screamed and threw my hands in the air with joy when the news broke. Then I wrote about it again in September of 2010, where I made a promise to ignore all of the marketing hype around the game until they named a release date, which at the time was a vague ‘2012’. Let me quote myself from over a year ago:

“The game is not slated for release until sometime in 2012, for goodness sake. If I peer diligently into each and every new press snippet and gameplay teaser, I feel as though the mystery of our fair Columbia will be completely lost. …with age and experience I have learned how to tune out aggressive advertising campaigns, as I tend to lose interest if I am bombarded by a product long before I can actually get my hands on it. I want to be surprised, I want to be shocked. So I apologize, Irrational Games, but I am going to resist the press leaks and try to avoid seeing too much of your newest gem before the game is in my Xbox and I am exploring it on my own. But I can promise you that once you name an actual release date, I will put my money where your mouth is.”

Here we are, at the tail end of 2011, where I feel as though I should be saying, Hooray! I can rest easy knowing the game is in its final stages of development with the team itching to emerge with a glorious product. And I could be preparing myself for a new chapter in a beloved franchise, devouring the small tidbits of information that are slowly released over time, ramping up to its scheduled release date. But when it comes to Infinite the trail of information stretches backwards from here to August 2010, with booths at gaming conventions, panels, articles, interviews with the voice actors, Q&A’s with the developers, magazine covers, contests, supposed ‘changes’ they are making because of the Occupy Movement, features on Xbox Live, more trailers, etc, etc. Ugh. I adamantly dislike marketing campaigns, even to the point where I ignore 99% of the junk that Ubisoft tosses out as marketable tie-ins to Assassin's Creed (one could get buried underneath that mountain of nonsense). I feel as though there is so much data out there about Infinite that when it’s released none of it will be a surprise. Well, except to me. Due to sheer strength of will and a sassy (re: ornery) attitude, I have managed to boycott, ignore, cold shoulder, shield my eyes, etc, etc, all of the above list of marketing goo that’s been spreading all over the internet and gaming media world for almost a year and a half now, skimming headlines for intricate mentions to get basic facts without any substance.

Because they still haven’t announced a release date. And at 4am on a cold Sunday morning after a scant three hours of restless sleep, this fact suddenly made me feel a tad resentful. Now, I know that Irrational Games doesn’t owe me diddly squat when it comes to delivering anything, but I’ve turned from an avid and gleeful supporter, still feeding off the last vestiges of Rapture love and Little Sister adoration in 2010, to an irritated watch gazer, sighing in frustration as I skip yet another article in my RSS or Twitter feed about Columbia and her supposedly awe-inspiring and photo-worthy main cast. And as a fan, this means something. Where originally my self-inflicted ban was based on the idea that I didn't want to be exposed to too much material pre-release in order to be surprised, now I skip it because I feel weary of its existence without the promise of a physical actualization in disc format.

Please, Irrational. I don’t care if you slyly avert your gaze and mumble ‘...probably in the summer of 2014...’ while still pouring out conceptual art and pasting pretty cosplayers all over your website. As a future investor in your game, I beg you to just slate a damn date so I can pin a glitter covered star on the calendar and start counting down the days. I don’t want to have any more hazy and hallucinogenic nights feeling all petulant and pouty-face at you.

Please?

http://www.itallstartedwithchronotrigger.com

Magazine Love

2011-11-29T15:39:00.000-08:00

If you have been reading this blog regularly (here's a cookie!), you may have noticed that I don’t play a lot of modern war games. In fact, when I mention them, it’s usually disparagingly. I have some opinions on the matter, but nothing worth ranting about here for any length of time, considering it would just be a lot of whining about loud, obnoxious noises, juvenile insults and fist-to-floor bro mentality. So when I was asked by a social networking acquaintance if I would be willing to write up a few words about why I believe war games are so popular in modern society, I shied away, confessing that although I have a great love of games, I have a great disdain for war games and could not speak about any of them specifically, considering I have never touched one.

Lucky for me, he was still interested in my thoughts, so I sent him roughly 100 more words that he requested about why I am wary of modern society’s love affair with war games, and he wrote a fantastic article for AU Magazine, a fun and free publication that circulates around Belfast, Ireland, that includes some of my opinions. Big thanks to my new friend Ross for helping put my name in print for the first time in relation to video games, and in such a fantastic article to boot.

Here is the link to the online version of the magazine. Ross’s article, titled “The Art of Virtual Warfare” begins on page 44.

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Screenshot Friday!

2011-11-18T14:27:00.000-08:00

Dear Claudia,

Constantinople is pretty freakin' sweet. I met a helpful gent with a fetching bandana headband and a smoking redhead named Sophia who's love of books is equal to her fondness for low-cut corsets. Both of them are assisting with my search for Polo's books that are ridiculously easy to find. Seriously, I may beat this letter home it's been so wicked simple to suss them out of hiding. But whatever. It's just fun to stir the pot in a new city. Rome was getting uuuggghhh, so boring.

Found some Templars. 'Sassinated 'em.

Played a lute, which was amazing. If this whole assassin thing doesn't work out, I'm thinking about joining the Bard's Guild.

Wish you were here!

Hugs from your big bro,

Ezio

http://www.itallstartedwithchronotrigger.com

Assassin's Creed Generations

2011-11-16T16:33:00.000-08:00

One of my favorite aspects about the release of Revelations is the increase in speculative chatter about Assassin’s Creed III, which instead of being a vague maybe, is now an absolute certainty. I’ve thrown my voice in here and there, lauding the people vs. government aspects of The French Revolution, noting the perfection of its old world architecture and style as the picture perfect setting for the next chapter, but who knows? Maybe it really will be Desmond’s chapter – enough has happened to the poor guy to warrant a happy ending somewhere, right? I’m saying this a little prematurely as I have yet to complete Revelations, but I really feel bad for poor Desmond, bartender and Animus lurker, his only crime to have some deeply enriched DNA fragments that everyone wants to pick and prod at for their own gain. Then again, to finish Desmond’s story would practically kill the franchise, since he is the element that ties all four games together, even while Ezio’s wink and smile charms the pants off practically everyone who comes in contact with him.

Revelations is amazing in the same way Brotherhood was innovative, although with a new paint job to make everyone look a tad better than in the previous games. And boy, the new graphics are a wonder to behold if, like me, you just stepped away from the stark grays and pale blues of the original game. Constantinople is azure and red, a jewel in a harbor full of giant ships and reflective water. It’s residents wear robes of green and gold, with ornately masked guards and the highest steeples and towers propping up the starry sky. It. Is. Gorgeous.

But where Brotherhood transitioned from Assassin's Creed II with an arsenal of new ideas and mission selections that cluttered the map while adding unending choices (a trait that continues with Revelations), all of the shiny new ideas in Revelations feel a little forced. The bomb crafting is meh. A new little tactical game for recovering Assassin Dens from the Templars feels tedious and weird. Desmond’s adventures in the Animus are really strange and very reminiscent of Portal puzzling. Every time I find a new element in Revelations that wasn’t in Brotherhood I am left either frustrated or shrugging my shoulders, feeling more distracted than engaged. Well, except for the hook blade. That wicked weapon-slash-tool makes climbing Hagia Sophia from the ground up a total breeze. Never leave home without your hook blade.

All those things aside, because Revelations is so similar to Brotherhood, I love it to itty bitty pieces. I ignore most of the crap that bores me or makes me shake my head and focus on soaking up the ambiance and Ezio and Altair and Desmond and--holy crap, is he zip lining through an underground waterfall? And Oh My Altair (OMA). His memories are accessed fairly infrequently, but when they are I am on the edge of my seat, riveted by the idea of more. No offense to suave Ezio, because I heart him like a brother, but the enigmatic set of Altair’s gaze is just perfect. All broody and take chargey. I’m savoring them to the point of avoiding the flashing booklamation icon on the screen in favor of my intricate methodologies of raising a new fleet of assassino babies and collecting treasure chests. I am a professional at dragging out my Assassin’s Creed experiences for as long as possible. It doesn’t really matter what I am doing, I just love being there, in that world, running through the streets and leaping off ledges, collecting twitching origami Animus pieces, succumbing to Romani charm and rousing the guards in playful chases around the city. Whether it’s Jerusalem or Florence, Venice or Rome, Constantinople or…Paris? I’ll be there.

More later.

http://www.itallstartedwithchronotrigger.com

Extra Life: Hours 17-22

2011-11-14T21:35:00.000-08:00

Having a blog entry in draft form is an itchy and annoying thing, yet I have been sitting on my Extra Life: Hours 13-17 entry for awhile now, staring at its unending blankness, attempting to conjure up some sort of Kirkwallian ghost to spill its spectral secrets and assist me in the opinionated blathering about Mark of the Assassin. But alas, continual silence. I think the problem is that I only played through it once, and it's hard to talk about anything Dragon Age 2 related after only one go around. I used my second playthrough character, Skye, adding more dual-bladed roguishness to the mix, and brought along my honey bunny, Fenris, to aid Tallis with her thievery mission, which projected me on a very sarcastic and fairly mean path. But, as with the main DA2 quest, I can clearly see another narrative trail winding away to the east, begging me to use my mage, mix up my party and try again in order to experience Tallis's story from all dimensions. So I think I will. The blog will stay in draft format until I can find the time to test drive it again, choosing opposites to see what Assassin has to offer in terms of variation. I have to believe there is more to this particular chapter (note: I haven’t watched any of Redemption) than my first impression of it as a goofy side quest; much like when your favorite uber-dramatic television show goes off the rails for an episode and gets all farcical with time travel or alternate reality situations. I mean, who would believe that our hero of Kirkwall, rich and satisfied, would suddenly decide to join a strange elf on a mission to steal some random shiny? Pure silliness, indeed. Instead, I give you Extra Life: Hours 17-22, where I come full circle in my neo-gamer life, erase my existing save file and begin replaying the original Assassin’s Creed.

Hours 17-22: Around 2am, roughly 17 hours into my 24-hour gameathon, I started to feel the spins. Sort of like imbibing a bit too much alcohol, but from a more internal source, as in, my own body turning against me. After finishing the Dragon Age 2 DLC, I figured I would dive back into Deus Ex, a game that had been politely sitting on top of the 360, waiting for me to continue...playing the first chapter (/hides head). But I’m ridiculously inept at Deus Ex when I am fully awake and functioning, let alone 17 hours into a gaming marathon, so... After browsing through our library titles, I stared at Assassin's Creed, it stared back, adoringly, and I decided it was time. My memory of the original game was spotty at best, visions of mechanical difficulties and ultra-repetitive missions ghosting through my mind. I especially recalled how frustrating it was for Altair to stealth assassinate a guard using actual stealth, as I usually just clumsily countered with my sword until a pile of them were dead around my feet. No matter how much I wanted to replay the original, I figured that being spoiled by the sequels (especially since I had just invested 13 hours into the most recent chapter, with its picture perfect controls) was going to be a detriment to my success in revisiting Altair's realm, and frankly, sort of a drag. But after about an hour into my replay, I realized something pretty remarkable. The great pit of disconnect between Jerusalem and Rome wasn’t the game, it was me.

As I have stated on numerous occasions, my love of video games stems from childhood and carried on throughout high school and into my college years, finally petering out around 2002. I spent five years being a social butterfly, flittering from this bar to that club to this state and that country, before finally settling back into a more domesticated lifestyle with a lad who loved video games. He brought me Bioshock and Guitar Hero, and I fell back in love with a whole new world of video gaming. But I was also struggling. First person shooters weren’t something I was too familiar with (if you don’t count holding a plastic gun in my hands and aiming erratically while playing House of the Dead 2 in the arcade, which I do not), as I was always more Final Fantasy than Doom. And then came Assassin’s Creed. Being a super-big time-holy-crap-gushity-gush-gush romantic and an Ancient to Medieval Western Civilization history lover, I was all lovey dovey, eyes a’ sparkle with Altair and his bratty temperament. Playing the game itself was really tough for me, however. I had not yet reacquired all of my hand-eye coordination skills from my childhood, and sometimes movement was clunky and stilted. I spent most of my time running or respawning. But I did it. I finished it on December 27, 2007, a date I not only remember because it is logged as the last day I earned an achievement in the game on Live, but also because it was the night before my birthday, nearing midnight. After the last of the big fights I recall jumping into the air and dorkily yelling ‘HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME!’ I think I almost broke out in tears, I was so delighted (and exhausted), mostly because it was really, really hard work.

Now, however, I am breezing through like a mother-effing champion. I can almost feel Altair sighing in relief as I escort him around the Kingdom, collecting flags here, stabbing Templars there, throwing archers off towers, and all the while stealthily assassinating almost every guard I see. I feel like Jessica 2.0 or something equally nerdy. When an achievement popped the other night for stealthily killing 50 guards, and I had yet to even move out of the poor section of Damascus, I felt almost ashamed for the meek little mouse I had turned Altair into four years ago, when he is so obviously meant to be held in the hands of someone who knows how to use him properly. More than anything else, though, I finally have a good measure for how much I have grown in the past four years, not only in gaming knowledge due to RSS journalism feeds and writing this blog, but in actual skill. When it came to Assassin’s Creed, my mindset was wrong, thinking it was the freshman effort of the game designers that made the mechanics so off-kilter and clunky. Nope, it was me. I’m back, and am spending way too much time with Altair, running around, hunting for Templars, checking the scene and happily breathing the air around him, much like the copious amounts of time I have spent with Ezio in the past three years. Oh, and I’m collecting flags. Forever.

http://www.itallstartedwithchronotrigger.com

State of the Union

2011-11-03T15:36:00.000-07:00

Welcome to November! In my current world of video games, this month is “The Month of Milk and Honey…and Modern Warfare 3”. I spent my annual twenty minutes on the phone yesterday tracking down which media superstore would be offering a midnight launch for ACR in order to fully maximize my available playtime. One very kind gal at the closest Gamestop location to my house sadly informed me that other midnight launches were taking precedent over Assassin's Creed (something something Skyrim, something Call of Duty, blah blah), but reminded me that should I order it from them, I could pick it up first thing on Tuesday morning at 10am. I gently reminded her that a full ten hours lie between midnight and their posted opening time, and the very idea of wasting it sleeping is preposterous. Luckily, I tracked down a Gamestop in mid-town Seattle that assured me they would be open. I was peeved for about six minutes when I learned it would be disc-only, as I was considering acquiring an[other] Ezio figure and a teensy flying machine, but decided that I could [probably] survive without them. I do believe that directly after making this decision I distinctly heard my bank account sigh in relief. So that bit is all set. Twelve days!

I’ve reached the midpoint in Arkham City and am enjoying Batman's mega-urban environment despite the henchman’s new night-vision goggles and seemingly limitless supply of firearms that drive me insane with controller-abusing anger. I heart stealth games that don’t involve ze guns, so my normal ‘hide on gargoyle until BAM! Inverted Takedown’ trick isn’t working as well for me as it did in Arkham Asylum. And maybe it’s premature to say this, considering I have stayed mainly on the narrative track and have only completed a few of the side missions, but I’m not feeling this one as much as I did AA. I’m not ready to say that it’s the open-world setting as opposed to the nestled together environment, but there is an element to that contrast I find a little lacking. Just as AA gave me no reason to stop seeing the world through detective vision, AC gives me little to no reason (so far) to explore the city streets. Until I reach my destination, every bit of game-encouraged exploration I have done has been via rooftop. And sure, the skyline is extra pretty, and travel-by-grappling-hook is oh, so convenient, but there has to be something down below worth seeing...right? It’s possible that I am just pouty because I haven’t seen Poison Ivy or the Scarecrow (...yet?). My current plan for Arkham City is to step off the rails after the bossy fight with Mr. Freeze and start doing ‘other’. I’ll put my fingers in my ears and stop listening to the urgent tone of Oracle's transmissions and ignore the Joker’s phone calls. With reviews as sky high as they are, there must be something I am missing.

Speaking of reviews, this current dialogue on journalism sites concerning reviewer scores vs. commenter opinions is hilarious. On one hand, I can almost see the point of the commenters who love these games like they gave birth to them and want everyone to think they are pretty despite their flaws; but on the other, and more strongly (because largely, the commenters haven't even played the games they are defending), I fall on the side of the reviewers who are paid to give their opinions based on their own likes/dislikes. Journo sites trust these folks to be objective but also come from a particular subjective point of view, and allow them the freedom to express these views and represent the brand. It's why they hired them. Guess what, players? You don’t have to care about any of that! You can still dig in, spend your money and play the shit out of that title you have been looking forward to for days, months, YEARS and that reviewer can have zero impact on your enjoyment! The only time I ever peer into review scores is when I am considering renting something I haven’t heard much about on Gamefly, and then the reviews are largely peer based, not professional. Even if seven of the major gaming journalism sites give ACR a 5/10, I will still play it and one, either think their points are valid based on my own experience, or two, believe that they simply don’t enjoy the same types of games as a 32 year old female named Jessica from Seattle who likes cats, ice cream and Halloween. They could give Modern Warfare 3 a 10/10 and I still won't play it, because taste is subjective. You kids and your uber-protectiveness of personal video game experiences are so funny. If only you had this much enthusiasm about something offline, like planting trees or saving endangered cat species. Bottom line is, no one decides what you play or not play except you. It’s your experience that matters most.

Stop crying. I made you this:

http://www.itallstartedwithchronotrigger.com

Pumpkins! Final Chapter

2011-10-27T16:32:00.000-07:00

After racking my brain for several days trying to figure out what I would artfully carve into my two carefully selected pumpkins, I finally settled on two designs: one from Assassin’s Creed 2 (…in a move that surprised no one…) and one based on my original idea to honor Chrono Trigger in gourd form.

For Pumpkin One, a bit of background, including a story about corporate branding and tattoos:

When I made the decision to carve another Assassin’s Creed pumpkin, I actually had another motive in mind. You see, last spring a friend and I made a pact to get inked together. She had something she wanted to get covered up, and me, well, I just like getting tattoos. After doing my normal hunt and gather techniques for the right design, I finally settled on what I affectionately refer to as my “Frankenstein” tattoo. During the time of my search I also happened to be reading the Sandman graphic novel series, a collection I adore due to both its thought-provoking content and its glorious art style, much of which is created by one of my favorite artists, Dave McKean (the movie Mirrormask is his love letter to visual expression). Within the pages of the Dreaming, I found a beautifully rendered key. Because I have a mild passion for antique keys, I was instantly drawn to it and Xeroxed it the first chance I got, keeping it folded within the confines of my bag for a few months, anticipating the day when my friend and I would take the journey together to Ye Olde Tattoo Shoppe. As much as I loved the design, however, there was always something about it that struck me as a tad too gothic...but it didn’t bother me enough to alter my intention.

A year prior to this I had been speaking to my husband about possibly getting a tattoo for Assassin’s Creed somewhere, arguing that the game meant a lot to me and I would love to commemorate that feeling by adding it to the eight other symbols gracing my person in the most permanent of fashions. He tactfully informed me that to get the most recognizable symbol, the “A”, would be akin to branding myself with the Golden Arches of McDonald’s, as Assassin’s Creed itself is purely a cash cow for Ubisoft. He suggested I find something within the game itself that had a higher meaning beyond the brand, knowing that AC is full of historical and conspiratorial symbology. After searching through the huge bank of symbols, I found the perfect glyph, the Mandelbrot Set; it’s beautiful fractal pattern representing in mathematics a ‘complex structure arising from the application of simple rules’, and graphed out as one of the ‘best-known examples of mathematical visualization’. The hidden puzzle points in AC2 were one of my favorite new additions to the series, so the symbol fit my wants perfectly. The only questions left were where (on me!) and when I was going to commit.

At this point my friend entered with her idea. And now I had two designs. So…I combined them. The bit in the key that bothered me was gone (a rather sharp top piece) and my homage to AC was cleverly disguised. The tattoo now resides on my back at the midpoint, underneath three other carefully selected designs and will eventually be a spinal centerpiece when I am finished. I love it, as I love them all, and feel more complete, in a pagan sort of way, knowing it’s there. So even though that explanation is ridiculously long for such a simple pattern, I thought I would give some background as to why I wanted to carve it into a pumpkin as well. It seemed fitting, considering my new art and a new game on the horizon. An Ode to 2011, if you will.

For Pumpkin Two, I used an exacto knife and carved the half-clock from the Chrono Trigger logo. It was messy, but fun, and I am happy with the results. That is all. Oh, and I titled this blog after the game, hinting to the idea that my love and life of video games started with this particular title. Isn’t that reason enough?

Happy Halloween, everyone!

http://www.itallstartedwithchronotrigger.com

Screenshot Friday!

2011-10-21T16:20:00.000-07:00

So. Very. Yes.

And from the trailer, it appears that he has his one-shot hidden pistol. Quite fancy for a fighting game! I do believe I am suddenly looking forward to the next SoulCalibur more than I could have ever anticipated.

http://www.itallstartedwithchronotrigger.com

Extra Life: Hours 0-13

2011-10-19T19:41:00.000-07:00

Last weekend I participated in the Extra Life 24 hour game-a-thon, raising charitable funds for Seattle Children’s Hospital. A small group of donators assisted me with my monetary goal of $200, of which I raised 119%, so a heartfelt thank you goes out to my supporters. I thought it would be really difficult for me to pull an all-nighter, considering I haven’t done anything close to that since…well, nevermind, I stayed up all night playing the original Assassin’s Creed in November of 2007. But at 32, I must say that my waking familiarity with the hours between 2am and 5am have diminished over time, so I was happily surprised when, on Sunday morning at around 7am, I watched the sky lighten as the sun rose over not only my third story apartment, but also over the road to Damascus as I, and my heart, was back with Altair after four years of being apart.

I didn't anticipate when signing up for the event that I would ride a bit of an emotional roller coaster as I approached the twentieth hour. Somewhere between cycling through caffeine-induced alertness and sleepy delirium, I felt an almost indescribable fondness for being part of an amazing community doing something wonderful and, simultaneously, the sort of abject loneliness that comes from doing something solo that is better done with a group of people. And although I adore my friends, it's these moments that make me realize how lovely it would be to share my love of video games with a close friend, and not just in a casual, anecdotal way, but as a cooperative experience. Lucky for me, I have the best support in my husband, who stayed up as late as his body and brain would allow him to, bringing me trail mix and Lemonade Rock Stars, conjuring up the best energy-drink-consumption-to-time-played ratio in order to have the most impact. And bless him for sitting with me while I immersed myself utterly and completely back into Ezio’s Roman Chapter for thirteen straight hours in Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood.

Hours 0-13: When I ‘finished’ Brotherhood last December, I knew there were a few random assassination and/or courtesan missions that I left incomplete, but I had no idea just how much more the game contained. And I am a tad ashamed for that. For example, I freaking adored the Cristina missions, which were added successively to the quest map at particular percentages of sync, but had only reached around 50% when I finished (due to some failures on my part to fully actualize every goal in the process). This means I experienced three of them, leaving two undone, and finished believing the only way I could acquire them would be to re-play many of the previous memory sequences. I was wrong. At this point I should probably finally admit to you, dear readers, that my relationship with Assassin’s Creed is a bit complicated and, well, sort of bat-shit crazy. I have this totally irrational fear that one day the whole experience will be over due to over-commercialization or poor development or whatever other reason game franchises go off the rails and die. Because of that, I find myself constantly leaving little bits and pieces undone like a squirrel preparing for a long winter. Best example: the DaVinci Disappearance DLC released in March, I downloaded it approximately four months ago and played it for the first time last Saturday. I feel more comfortable revisiting all of the unplayed quests and guild checklist items with Revelations on its way, but am sure that I will still compulsively leave small objectives undone here and there in order to better prepare for…well, hell, I don’t know. I suppose I just don’t want to imagine a world where I can’t play Assassin’s Creed. The embarrassing confessional portion of this post is over.

After thirteen additional hours in Rome with Ezio, I can now say that I believe I have left only piddling things incomplete. I finally acquired the last two Cristina missions and executed them with a romantic glisten in my eye, cooing softly at the television with my hands clutched against my overly romantic heart. I sent my Assassino babies on so many contract assignments that about halfway through the evening I noticed I was repeating ones I had already completed. The DLC was great, with a satisfying combination of puzzle, platform and assassination mechanics. While Ezio and DaVinci were temple diving, there was a frank acknowledgement of Leo’s, um, 'partner preference'. Ezio showed his support in a ‘duh, dude’ sort of way and our inventor friend left relieved he would no longer have to hide his ringlet-haired ‘apprentice’ behind closed doors. A mannish shoulder slug sealed the deal. I do believe that I am getting better at playing this game, mechanically. At first I couldn’t imagine scoring 100% on all of the memory sequences, but now I can envision it without too much trouble. The places where I failed to meet the requirements usually came with a few swear words after an accidental counter attack or unintentional weapon swap, not because of a lack of skill. I feel like Revelations is going to be a sort of professional-style culmination of four years of training. So. Excited.

And just when I thought Brotherhood couldn’t deliver any more surprises, I found what I consider to be the most beautiful bug in video game history. Right around the time my loving husband was about to request I take a small break to devour a plate of pesto pasta for dinner, I guided Ezio into a mini-fight along the road to the Colossuem, where a leap off a horse glitched and propelled our hero into the sky, as though his shoes had suddenly developed wings. Although I could no longer see him (unless I tipped the controller skyward, and then was greeted with an Ezio up-skirt), the view of Rome was enchanting as we soared higher and higher, the landscape features growing smaller as we climbed, turning from day to night after about 15 minutes. As I ate, I kept my thumb on the right analog stick a to keep the focus pointed on Rome, watching as the sunlight faded and the lanterns and fires were lit, glittering across the virtual city as though viewing it from the curved window of an airplane at dusk. At roughly the 5000 ft mark (thank goodness for the map marker) the visual aspects of the game finally tapered out, showing nothing but a blue graphical scape below and a starry, clouded sky above. The musical score continued on, with only a slight wind noise accompanying Ezio’s ascension. I know it was a bug, but it was truly magical, a perfect memory for Brotherhood.

Obviously there is more to tell, considering I mentioned Altair earlier, but I'll divide it up in order to avoid any tl;dr moments.

http://www.itallstartedwithchronotrigger.com

Pumpkins! Chapter One

2011-10-12T16:08:00.000-07:00

When my now husband and I first started dating several years ago, one of the ties that bound us so tightly was our shared love of video games. So it made sense that after almost a year together we would spend our first Halloween season carving pumpkins along the same theme. I was head over heels in love with Assassin’s Creed in fall of 2008 (...and 2009...and 2010...and ongoing...), and decided to devote two of my artsy carvings to Ubisoft and the most recognizable symbol of the Creed. Forget spooky faces, it was much more fun to design something we could associate with our everyday lives. The following year we decided to keep this new tradition going, with Matt cutting a silhouette of a splicer mask from Bioshock into his, and me, well, I just really loved the testing lab in 2009, even though I didn’t make my eventual escape until the summer of 2010...which turned into a bountiful year for great games in my book. Being two of the spookiest games of last year, I honored the season by devoting my pumpkins to Alan Wake and Costume Quest, the former being spine-tingling horror, while the latter warmed your heart with pure trick-or-treat nostalgia.

For this year's creation, however, my idea bank has remained empty. I haven’t really loved any games so far in 2011 (note: might change post 10/18, re: Arkham City). But after mulling it over for awhile, I have decided to devote my pumpkins to the namesake for this blog and finally give the multitude of folks who have arrived here by using the keywords “chrono trigger pumpkin” a real picture of what they are searching for, and not just a mashup of two concepts both featured independently over time. So in a couple of weeks, I will attempt to pull off something probably more difficult than I can currently imagine, considering the hundreds of 16-bit pixelated sprites and scenes that are conjured up during a Google image search. So…wish me luck; I’ll post my results should they honor my beloved favorite, but can’t promise a big reveal if they turn out…unrecognizable…and thereby icky.

Here are our fantastic pumpkins from years past:

2008: The Year I Loved Everything Ubisoft, and Matt recreated the Red Ring of Death.

2009: The Year I Loved Portal and Matt Went to a Rapture Masquerade, circa 1959.

2010: The Year I Loved Bright Falls and Fall Valley

http://www.itallstartedwithchronotrigger.com

November, Wherefore Art Thou?

2011-10-11T13:43:00.000-07:00

In the real world, being an insanely obsessed lover of all things Halloween, I am currently soaking in the sights of jack o' lanterns popping up on porches all over the neighborhood and the gloomy fall weather, complete with red and orange hued trees. But when it comes to video games, I find myself perpetually coaxing the calendar to crank forward in anticipation of Revelations. New stories from media sneak peeks have been popping up in the online world, gaining steam and revealing content exponentially since roughly around E3. I have ignored most of the multiplayer aspects, because blah, but have tried to keep up with the single player news. From the demo showcased at PAX, it appears that the new crafting element has the developers in a tizzy, but I am less interested in the bombs as weapons than I am in the continually improving stealth elements. In my mind, assassins don’t throw exploding objects in the faces of his victims-that is bully behavior, definitely not the way suave Ezio would conduct business. But the creative director, Alex Amancio, reassured the audience during the Prime demo that their goal is to simply give the player more tools, not command their actions. If you want to hug the shadows and rooftops to avoid detection, by all means go ahead. And this is my kind of play. I heart being a master of mystery. If bodies are exploding around me I can’t keep my romantic vision of the series intact.

Kotaku ran a story this morning about their experience playing a few hours of Revelations, where Kirk Hamilton ‘accidentally’ got to see a bit of Demond’s new realm inside the Animus, which sounds ridiculously interesting: “…when I paused the game, the menu had an option for 'Return to Animus Island.' Naturally I selected it and was greeted with Desmond, standing alone on a misty, mysterious grassy hill. I began to run forward and… an Ubisoft employee came up and physically removed the controller from my hand.” Obviously they are keeping Desmond’s role an enigma at this point, focusing primarily on revealing bits of the interaction between Ezio and Altair in recent and distant past alterations, but the idea of Desmond having some sort of free reign inside the Animus sounds fantastic. So many secrets to uncover.

Between now and November I will continue lapping up the information being released by Ubisoft and remember to fill out that time off request at work for 11/15, my only real decision to make between now and then being which version to pre-order. The basic disc-only version? The Ultimate Bundle that comes with a fancy new Ezio doll and a Leo flying machine? The Signature Edition that comes with extra downloadable goodies? The Animus Edition that arrives complete with the new encyclopedia (currently doesn’t appear to be available in the US market, but a girl can dream)? So many choices…

It doesn't help that this photograph of the Istanbul skyline showed up in my employer's blog this morning, as our cruise line embarks and disembarks in this gorgeous city several times a year. So many reminders...

http://www.itallstartedwithchronotrigger.com

Harry Potter and the Disappointing Game, Part Two

2011-10-11T11:23:00.000-07:00

Even though most games based on films are total crap, I have always been a supporter of the Harry Potter tie-ins. I played only one of the earlier PC titles, as I never really had a computer worth its gaming salt, but have devoured all of the console versions, with the exception of the Deathly Hallows, Part One. The fifth and sixth chapters, Order of the Phoenix and Half-Blood Prince, were surprisingly delightful to play. Each of them followed the order of events in the movies faithfully, but also gave the player a ton of optional activities, such as mini-game style homework and hide-and-seek for collectible items. Also amazingly, the controls didn’t completely stink. This is one of the banes of the licensed titles-quick toss releases without too much testing, which usually creates a bug-filled, erratic environment that rides the line between a beloved franchise and an unplayable mess. But both OOP and HBP managed to be quite satisfying. I believe I spent roughly a week trying to max out the achievement list in Half-Blood Prince, simply because I found the game so enjoyable.

When Deathly Hallows Part One was released in theatres, I manipulated my Gamefly Q to increase the chances it would be sent to me soon after. When it arrived, I popped the disc in my 360 and snuggled in for another grand adventure with our little band of wizards-in-training. Except something terrible had occurred. The gameplay was wretched. And no amount of thumb/finger training could get me through the first two hours of the game. I failed mission after mission for being ‘too slow’ during a side quest skill challenge, which I couldn’t avoid, and never made it back to the totally icky main storyline. It was a total disaster. I have no idea how the targeted market of teens and preteens were able to get through it. I certainly didn't try too hard-probably because I have played enough games at this point to comprehend when I am doing poorly in a well-crafted game (Catherine) and when the game is totally screwing me by being a hastily released pile of basilisk goo (HP&DHP1). Oh, and when you read the Wiki for this particular title, it contains this little gem: “The gameplay for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1 is different from the previous games after developers decided the game required a new direction to suit its growing adult audience.” I am the adult audience, and I respectfully disagree with your choice. And by looking the overall 4-5 review scores, I can assume most people felt the same.

Because of this experience, I was hesitant to play the second part in the series. After doing some review checks and finding mostly 7-8 scores, I wished on a falling star and added it to my queue. The disc landed in my mailbox last Friday and I snuggled in for the last grand adventure I would virtually have with our little band of world-saving-wizards. And I was pleasantly surprised-the controls were back to being fairly slick and easy to maneuver. And the game itself looked great, with the movie scenes recreated well and the characters moving on the sticks like they should, the spell casting relegated to the triggers and switched around using single or double taps on the buttons. Hooray! Maybe I would get the last hurrah I was looking for!

After about an hour in it becomes clear that this is the absolute laziest of the Harry Potter games. It’s as though the developers themselves were so tired of the franchise that they couldn’t even bring themselves to add any creative elements to the game, simply following the movie timeline without a single deviation, and only managing to come up with one mechanic besides running: tactical combat. By using bits of broken Hogwarts, Harry/Hermoine/Ron/Ginny/[insert character here] takes cover and shoots at the bazillions of Death Eaters aiding Voldemort in his megalomaniacal plan to dominate Hogwarts. As you can see from my Raptr blip above, I played and finished the game in four hours, and I am positive that number has been rounded up. I've played $10 downloadable content that took longer to complete than this full retail disc-based title. The entire game takes as long to play as it does to watch the movie, with some bathroom and snack breaks thrown in for good measure. There are some collectibles and a few challenge rounds, but by the time I finished the game its plodding blandness had almost erased all of the good/sad/real feelings I had while watching the film and reading the book, and I just couldn’t bring myself to damage it any further. Shame on you, EA Bright Light, for ending this particular series on such a deflated note.

The one bright side? After the credit roll, a montage sequence of all the video games starting with the first cartoony little PC version are highlighted and a brief ‘thanks for the memories’ tag flashes across the screen. And for sure, there were some great ones, especially for a game series that has managed to keep up with its film counterparts, but to end such a life in such a way just seemed sad.

Okay, there is a second bright side, as LEGO Harry Potter Years 5-7 should soon erase this brief memory from my mind. I have high hopes. /crosses fingers

http://www.itallstartedwithchronotrigger.com

Actors + Video Games = Weirdness

2011-10-07T15:38:00.000-07:00

Usually when there is less than a week until the release of a Dragon Age related DLC, I start making little hearts on my calendar and refrain from spending my MS points on trashy rom-coms and fun avatar accessories in preparation for the inevitable downloadin’. But I don’t know, guys. The Mark of the Assassin kind of weirds me out. I can’t help but think, huh, Felicia Day-that is her right there. That is not a character in a game series with elf ears and a sassy name. That is the actress Felicia Day. I hear her voice, I see her slightly distorted animated features and it totally creeps me out. And please let me emphasize-I have only the utmost respect for Ms. Day herself. I have enjoyed all of the features and web videos she has written, and even admired her singing voice in Dr. Horrible. But the idea of placing a really real person that I have an association with as a flesh and blood entity into my beloved fantasy game creates a sort of disjointed perspective in my mind. Frankly, I think it’s so bizarre that for the first time ever I am considering skipping the DLC completely.

This isn’t the first time I have had this problem. I remember when animated feature films started using bonafide stars as voice actors. I’m more used to it now, but at the time I had a hard time separating the character from the picture in my head associated with the voice. The 1998 animated version of the Prince of Egypt had both Sandra Bullock and Jeff Goldblum voicing particular characters (and in Goldblum’s case, his distinct gestures and mannerisms were infused into the animation as well), and although I really loved the movie (still do!) I could never fully invest during particular scenes because I kept seeing the actor's faces superimposed onto their 2-D counterparts. Like I said, this is so common now that big actors get top billing for merely their voice work, but it’s still sometimes difficult for me to become 100% immersed in a fantasy world when I keep seeing the wrong face attached to an audio association. But at least in these cases the physical representation is different-in Dragon Age, I now have to believe in the actress as an actress inside an interactive experience. And it’s beyond strange.

I can’t help but think that if I felt the opposite of how I do, and didn’t admire Felicia Day as an actress, that this would potentially create a sense of apathy and disconnect me from the experience in a way that has nothing to do with the normal bad mechanics, poorly written storyline or any of the other usual reasons why people would shy away from a particular game. It would be simply because I didn’t care for the playable character, and wanted to avoid having an intimate experience that involves her, even if it meant turning my back on a chapter in one of my favorite series. I imagine if they modeled my favorite of the DA2 characters, Fenris, on one of the young actors gracing the covers of the magazines, I would have had a completely different experience. If so, I would never have had my DA2: Part Two playthrough, “What Would Fenris Do?”, where we argued passionately and kissed awkwardly, our love blooming and manifesting over time (obviously, I am still a teenager). I would have said meh a lot while shaking my head, knowing that Mr. Disney-They-All-Look-the-Same-Youth was just nailed by the tabloids for having a late night kiss with Ms. Starlot-Who-Gives-a-Crap and wouldn’t have invested as heavily. These characters work because I can semi-mold them into my own vision of who they should be, especially in a BioWare world, where the player often leads the story, even if the multitude of choices are predetermined.

Oddly enough, I had the opposite situation happen recently, where I encountered an actor as a video game persona before I experienced him as a film star. After playing LA Noire with all of its hyper-realistic characters, many of them sketched, modeled and voiced by B- or C-List actors that you recognize vaguely but can’t quite pinpoint from what or where, I got pretty close to a man named Cole Phelps. We drove together, we interrogated perps as a team; I saw him through his proudest moments and emotional dark times. Heck, I even helped him climb into a fountain to retrieve Elizabeth Smart’s social security card and held him while he cried (added for dramatic emphasis-that never actually happened). Between Cole and I, we had some serious times, man. And then I started watching Mad Men a few months later. Seeing the actor, Aaron Staton, chilling on the couch in an outfit resembling the ones I repeatedly chose for him in LA Noire, my brain did a back flip. To this day, I have seen an entire season of Mad Men and I could not tell you the name of Aaron’s character in the show. To me, he is and will always be Cole Phelps, the cocky police officer who wormed his way up the proverbial ladder in Los Angeles circa 1947. LA Noire is now my primary source for this man, no matter what he does in the future. We spent 40+ hours together solving murders and nailing investigation tracks. This experience will always supersede any one hour show where he is a supporting character or even a two hour film where he is a lead. To me, Aaron Stanton is Cole Phelps.

So because my knowledge of Felicia Day is primarily as herself or someone resembling herself in shows like The Guild, or even through the many book reviews she writes on goodreads.com, I know that I am going to have an extremely difficult time suspending disbelief if I jump in to the Mark of the Assassin. Maybe if she was merely the voice actor and not completely recreated as her own personal elf vision, I could at least try to focus on the movements and choices of who she is depicting, but seeing and hearing her within the game is unnerving. I’m sure in the end I will play it, as I am total goo when it comes to Dragon Age, but I am seriously doubting that I will be able to feel the normal immersive qualities when such a recognizable person is continually pulling me back into reality.

Totally got through this philosophizing without using the phrase 'uncanny valley' once. Pretty proud right now.

http://www.itallstartedwithchronotrigger.com

Internet Love

2011-09-27T14:12:00.000-07:00

Breathtaking...in that sexy tingle sort of way. /blushes

Originally saw it via Kotaku's Fine Art series, but above shot sourced from Alessandro Taini's blog here, where he also has some beautiful images from Enslaved and Heavenly Sword on display.

http://www.itallstartedwithchronotrigger.com

Snapshot Friday!

2011-09-23T16:47:00.000-07:00

Over the past year I have become quite the Instagram addict. At first it was innocent fun, taking photos with my poor outdated iPhone 3G and saucing them up with a small selection of pre-programmed filters, but my obsession quickly snowballed. First, all of the pictures I uploaded to my various social networks began to take on the Insta-finish. Most of the photographs that I post here have been uploaded straight from my phone after being modified via this, the most holy of apps. Then I found a tag filter, much like Twitter, and started browsing for likeminded people specifically in the #xbox and #halloween sections. Then came the followers and the followees. And it’s been a blur ever since, with my photo count now at around 400 uploads. I love to heart beautiful photographs, spending entire evenings just browsing these intimate moments in time shared by people all over the globe.

I soon discovered that the Xbox tag contained a few trends. There is the usual half-nakie ladies, stroking their controllers while declaring their enthusiasm for Black Ops in an obvious cry for male attention. Others are as simple as the depiction of a console, controller or game box in an artful way. My absolute favorite, however, is the ‘my kitteh loves to use my controller as a pillow’ shots. And they are UBIQUITOUS. No matter how you feel on the subject, we now live in a virtual world where cats are king. It’s gone so far that I just recently viewed a Powerpoint slideshow on the super serious topic of international airfare tariffs, and the whole thing was littered with pictures of LOLcats. So it’s no surprise that Instagram currently has 436,865 photographs in its database currently tagged ‘cat’. Finding so many cats snuggled up to 360 controllers in #xbox is delightful…well, especially when you are me, and the perfect happiness equation looks something like:

ice cream + xbox controllers(cats + internet pictures) = ZOMG

Here are my contributions to the ever-growing community of folks who love their felines and their video game accessories in equal measure. And just to show that my kitty believes in equality, here is Mina with both her white and black plastic pillows.

http://www.itallstartedwithchronotrigger.com

Lord of the Thongs

2011-09-15T12:27:00.000-07:00

Approximately eleven months ago I typed these words on this blog: I hope they make another Deathspank...but not for at least a year. Now, I am not saying I am psychic or in cahoots with Hothead or anything, but I am pretty sure the release of The Baconing coinciding with my previous statement means I am a genius. Or it’s a total coincidence. Either way, hooray! Another chapter of Deathspank is upon us! I love this series like I love bromance movies and television shows about babies. When news headlines are full of nothing but grim forecasts of the future or whiny politicians pretending they know anything about how real people live (/takes a deep breath), it’s lovely to delve into something specifically designed to make you giggle. Deathspank is action-adventure role-playing at it’s very lightest, with full-color, cartoonish backdrops, easy weapon choices and auto-loading armor, allowing the player to settle in and merely enjoy the scenery with semi-glassy eyes if they so choose. I could criticize the game for these elements alone (when all you have to do is travel from one area to another and occasionally mash buttons, how mechanically interesting could it be?), but I am a diehard apologist for the overall interactive experience, where the story and setting matter more than the mechanic. In lieu of elaborating on this idea, I will just say that this topic has been mulled over by peeps who have done extensive psychological and analytical research on the matter, whereas I only care about how I personally interact with the games I play. And I am here strictly to talk about multi-colored thongs, bacon fire and orphans. And how they all connect to a building called the Pleasuretorium.

The Baconing starts with Deathspank learning that he has erred dramatically by tugging on all five thongs of power at once. This makes total sense, as wearing five pairs of underoos at once would be a tad snug, but apparently doing so has also made them quite unstable. Now Deathspank must travel to several different lands to seek out the locations of legendary bacon fire, which is the only thing that will destroy such objects of power, as well as searching out his arch nemesis and shadow character, Antispank. Along the way he gets help from orphans and meets up with many of the characters from the previous chapters. Each area is themed, with a love-bot infested Pleasuretorium in a post-Cold War infused theme park and a leprechaun inhabited Casino in Rainbow’s End. My favorite was Valhalla Heights, a retirement community for Norse gods…and Elvis? Anyway, you get to play mini-golf with Thor and dive into the Underworld to save Hades and mail some hellish property deeds. One of my favorite missions involves doing twelve tasks for old geezer Zeus, who is hunched over a walker, in order to become a god. After two deeds (mainly landscaping in nature), he asks Deathspank what number he is on and DS replies “TWELVE. This is definitely the last one!”

As a whole, the game hasn’t changed much from the previous chapters. As opposed to being boring or repetitive, though, it was comforting not being forced to learn a new inventory management system or weapon selection process and could instead focus primarily on the elements I like best–the story and the setting. Because even at its most random and ridiculous, I greatly enjoy the flow of this series. I am fond of the contained, hilariously themed areas, and the step-by-step mission layer in each that builds to a level boss crescendo. This sort of rinse and repeat progression keeps the game from sinking into anything resembling serious, as the kinds of missions undertaken are usually a touch juvenile in nature. For example, one mini-quest has our hero, the !Ultimate Vanquisher of Evil!, spiking a lovely fountain with poo to further provoke a feud between rival princesses in the Forbidden City. I can’t help but lose myself in the ambiance of the game, even if it isn’t terribly heart engaging or thought provoking. By not having to think too hard about my next step, I can enjoy the game purely for the colorful and well-designed environments our hero traverses during his main quest while taking on mini-quests akin to eating ice cream bites or buttered popcorn-merely a diversion from the central storyline, but just as satisfying in their snack-like qualities.

I recently played through Torchlight and am currently co-oping through Crimson Alliance with the husband. As bored as I was in Torchlight, I am finding that the basic story parameters of Crimson Alliance are far more engaging, especially since it’s a buddy game at heart, encouraging players to find real world partners in order to maximize the experience. But although at their core these games have almost everything in common with Deathspank-the action adventure RPG, the level up of characters or weaponry, an intricate, stat-filled inventory system, epic smashing of barrels and jars to collect coins and trinkets-I have much less to say about either of these more ‘serious’ titles, even though they are generally thought to be ‘better’ games. I suppose those who support more serious endeavors to invest their precious time in would find Deathspank quite immature and ultimately too ridiculous to even bother with a demo, but I think the creativity and ingenuity of Hothead, with what appears to be a now ongoing franchise, should be held just as high as the traditional dungeon dive arcade titles. Deathspank is silly fun, perfect for an arcade title, with beautiful graphics and a rather intricate storyline-even if that narrative has zero serious qualities. I think it’s probably time I download Monkey Island…considering I have yet to play it… /cringe

Best part about writing this review? Adding the word “Deathspank” to my MS Outlook internal dictionary.

http://www.itallstartedwithchronotrigger.com

Confused, Please Explain

2011-09-15T10:29:00.000-07:00

Let me see if I understand...

1. Smoking Hot Dante:

2. Younger Dante, also Ridiculously Good-Looking:

Why is everyone in such a tizzy about his appearance? I think ya'll are crazy.

DmC looks amazing.

http://www.itallstartedwithchronotrigger.com

Still Alive

2011-09-06T16:25:00.000-07:00

I could sit around feeling guilty about not meeting my personal goal of seven posts in August, but instead I am going to give myself a pass. Life is made of busy and I checked off two or three of the 'top life changes that cause the most amounts of stress' in only four weeks while managing to remain upright and breathing, which I consider a win. I am currently fluttering about in both El Shaddai and Deathspank: The Baconing, but instead of chatting about those yet, here is a highlight reel from the small bits of gaming I have been doing since I finished Bastion:

Alice: I finally finished Spicy Horse’s newest chapter of Wonderland: A Study in Cuckoo Insanity. It took me roughly the entire month of July to play, which should give you an indication on the scope and size of Alice’s journey. Completing this game is a testament to two things: my love of beautiful imagery in games and my often foolhardy vow to see something through until the bitter end. But no matter how gorgeous the scenery, this game is way too long-much, much lengthier than it needed to be. I imagine that die hard platformer devotees may lap this one up like cream, but I was exhausted by the time the experience was over. Even the narrative was only so-so. In the end, it was the visual aspects that provided the most reward. If Spicy Horse had designed two or three more chapters, culling the current ones down and infusing new ones with more variations in the stylization, I think I would have been more content. As it stands, Alice is quite pretty, but also quite dull. My feelings of accomplishment almost outweigh my regrets of wasted time and effort when surely there are better experiences to be had.

Child of Eden: It only took one level in the newest version of Rez for me to realize that no matter how brightly rendered and aurally beloved a game is, if it’s frantic in nature, I must put it aside. I have a complex relationship with anxiety, so when my heart is racing and my white-knuckled hands are still gripping the controller long after the level has ended, I know I am in trouble. In saying that, however, I can see that everything about this game is glorious. As a living narrative character, Lumi is painstakingly beautiful. Her innocence and grace introduced the game in such a captivating way that I swear I wanted to write epic poems about her hair and drag out brushes to paint her luminescence across the world one concrete wall at a time. I wish I were up to the task that Child of Eden sets before its player, but alas, my eyes are too big and my poor nervous system is too small.

From Dust: I only tried the demo for this one, as after confidently purchasing a few too many titles that ended up being less than savory, I have started dipping my toes before I commit. And…it was okay. I had a lot of high hopes for From Dust and most them abstract in nature, just relying on another beautiful setting to wrap me in its loving arms even while the miniscule story elements trail doubt behind in skeptical swirls, knowing me better than I know myself. Manipulating the environment is extra huggable, and I could pretty much do just that for hours on end. There is something quite calming about the flow of the water and the brief blip each time a palm tree grows in the sand. So I was quite peeved when a timed interaction completely broke my glazed-over sense of peace and tranquility. In a game that appears very ebb and flow, throwing in a holy-crap-a-tsunami-you-have-to-get-over-there-pronto mechanic is just mean. I am pretty sure that I will try this one again at ‘some future point’ when I have an extra $15 that isn’t already dedicated to Starbucks lattes or Halloween crafting materials. Imagine a lovely rainy autumn night, when the sun has just sunk below the horizon at 5pm and the room is lit by only a few candles and some purple running lights. A blanket covered in little bat patches is snug across my lap, a hot cup of peppermint tea is steaming nearby and From Dust is magically on sale for $10. When that happens, I’m sure I’ll document the experience.

Catherine: This one I still have in my ‘in progress’ column. I started it a couple of weeks ago and loved the bits that made it a mega-loony, interactive anime with innovative, thought-provoking questions, but am pretty bored with the block puzzles. I totally understand the metaphor concerning the subconscious grappling that our hero Vincent is doing during his sleepy-time hours about his K-C-atherine problems and relationships in general, but hot damn, I wish it were more like his waking hours, where I get to wander around a bar, chat with my friends, tool about on my mobile phone, toss back a pint or three, and occasionally play a few rounds of the arcade hit, Rapunzel, after messing about on the jukebox a time or two. Sometimes I think that the great thinking games, those designed for hardcore story lovers, are wasted through actual game mechanics. I would be just as happy playing the game if it were primarily investigative rather than puzzlicious. Either way, I know I will end up back in dreamland with Vincent and his wooly dilemma soon. This one is definitely still in the pending pile.

Beyond periodically mucking about in video games in August, we also attended PAX a couple of weekends ago, where for the most part I left the television gaming to those patient (and younger-bodied) enough to wait in long lines behind to participate in a lot of table-top gaming and dungeon diving in the basement annex as I learned how to properly take on a creature encounter in DnD. Of the few digital games I played, my experiences were surprisingly poor. I jumped into a demo of the new Assassin’s Creed Revelations multiplayer midway through its ten minute timer, which was disarming and totally icky. The headphones were broken and the screen kept telling me to ‘listen to the whispers around you for clues’. Yeah, can’t. One of the players in the demo was obviously a tad more experienced, so basically I spent 5 minutes getting stabbed and waiting to respawn. After patiently standing in a short line to try a run in the new SSX, the exhibitor decided to switch the demo over to NBA Jam the minute it was my turn and refused to do anything other than shrug even when everyone in line behind me booed in disappointment. Due to the long lines and high walls surrounding the Gearbox booth, I totally lacked the motivation to see the Borderlands 2 demonstration, which I figured would pop up online post-event anyway (yep, totally did). Boo on you, triple-A’s…boo on you.

After venturing up to the new Indie Hall (Expo Hall Part Two) on the 6th floor, I tried Armillo, a 3-D pinball-like game set on a spherical landscape (planet) filled to the brim with Sonic-y critters needing to be rescued. The ball is a fuzzy little fox-armadillo hybrid who rolls up in the cutest way. As adorable as the game was, I can’t even imagine buying it, but I did love the little paper craft Armillo the rep gave me. I tested another indie title, Vessel, which was graphically stunning and quite fun to play, but my experience was tarnished by an exhibitor for the game who spent most of his time charming a Media dude and sighing heavily every time I would ask him any questions about the game, either barely responding with one word answers or pointing sarcastically (I swear, it happened). Either way, my PAX experience in the Expo Hall arena was pretty blechy compared to previous years. But the panels I attended, mainly Acquisitions, Inc and the ACR in the main stage, were full of the normal PAX awesomeness, so I can’t complain too much.

Plus we made fantastic Halloween pipe cleaner art in line for the last round of the Omegathon, which still, days later, delights me to no end.

http://www.itallstartedwithchronotrigger.com

Snapshot Friday!

2011-08-26T23:49:00.000-07:00

We are attempting to take on this PAX a bit more casually than previous ones. Instead of adhering to any panel schedules or must-see events (with the exception of the ACR demo in the Main Theater, located in the absolutely gorgeous historic Paramount Theatre a couple of blocks away) we are trying to take it easy and see the sights without engaging too much with those games with the extra long lines wrapping around enclosed booths. (Side note: This has to be my least favorite new thing -- the exhibits inside little rooms, forcing those who want to see the game to wait in line for hours to even get a peek. Sadly, Gearbox is showcasing Borderlands 2 in one of these spaces, and I am not about to stand around for two hours to try a game that is a sure thing. I know I will buy it at launch, and I am fairly certain it will be great.) So today the plan is to play some tabletop with friends, try an encounter or two in DnD and generally relax...if fighting off 65,000 other people crushed inside a building can be considered relaxation, I suppose. Either way...on to day two. But first...Zzzzz...

http://www.itallstartedwithchronotrigger.com

New ACR Trailer to Fill My Heart with Joy

2011-08-18T09:03:00.000-07:00

Hey little blog, long time no...type. Just wanted you to know that I love you and miss you. I was under some minor stress in the last couple of weeks because I recently married a wonderful man; and although we had the most intimate wedding ever without being called an official elopement, the planning and proceeding of the event were still on the forefront of my mind, distracting me from the playage of video games and the writage of it post-playage.

Rather than beg for forgiveness and promise that something great is on the horizon, I thought I would give you a gift. Here is the newest Assassin's Creed Revelations trailer, straight off the Gamescon floor. Personally, I think it is the sweetest thing-it makes me near on twitter with glee just watching the frames switch between Ezio and Altair. November can't come soon enough. I hope you feel the same.

/hugs

**Edit**

I am not sure why, but this little blip of Desmond near the end of the trailer gives me goosebumps:

http://www.itallstartedwithchronotrigger.com

Bastion

2011-08-09T00:01:00.000-07:00

I can pinpoint the exact moment in which I fell utterly, shamelessly and completely in love with Bastion. Shortly after a soothing voice introduced the tale of a wide-eyed, white-haired boy simply called "The Kid" and his role in reshaping the world following the Calamity, a devastation that destroyed the world as everyone once knew it, we met a character named Zia, initially called The Singer. Zia was a surviving member of the Ura clan, a race that lived alongside the Kid and Rucks before the Calamity. And her voice was simultaneously the hued honey of a campfire and an Old West frontier ballad. Her song was so beautiful I literally felt my eyes well up with tears. It's rare when video game music can reach right in and grip my soul in such a way, especially one that I just purchased virtually for merely fifteen dollars, but I was completely lost in its eyes from that point forward, and all of the elements mixed in around it only added to that blooming fire of adoration.

Bastion is a story about a Kid as told by a narrator named Rucks. Strangely, even though I controlled the movements of the Kid, I always felt closer to Rucks. And I believe this was deliberate -- Rucks and Zia had names, the Kid was always just that. A nameless hero, destined to bring the story to a climax and resolution, his tale carrying on as a living legend through the powerful medium of storytelling, more legendary in his deeds than by his face. The Kid is helping put together the Bastion, a central island refuge amongst the tatters of the Calamity. By venturing out to the now monster-infested pieces of the old world to collect the core materials to infuse the Bastion with its full powers and potentials, he is also uncovering the secrets and startling revelations concerning the origins of the Calamity. As the Bastion flourishes under his touch, a wide variety of options is revealed to the player in order add more depth and customization to the experience.

As twitter-pated as I already was about the music in the game (and seriously, it's brilliant, changing pace and tempo in such a fluid and meaningful way), I was equally impressed with how the player could change the game. It wouldn't change the narrative or the landscape in any way, but instead changed the Kid himself and how he interacted with the environment and the creatures that inhabited the surviving chunks of the old world. The Forge allowed the Kid to manage his arsenal, using a variety of different weapon choices. Unlike other games, the weaponry didn't gain in power or achievement as the game progressed-instead all weapons started at a lower level and stayed customizable to the player. If you loved using a wide-spray shotgun and a giant hammer, you could. If you wanted to use a bow and a machete, you could. My personal favorite was the Fang Repeater and the Fire Bellows, because it's just mega-cool to use a fire breathing bellow as a windbag killer. Using the Distillery allowed the Kid to keep tonics with names such as Stabsinthe or Dreadrum in his pack, one for each level gained, that would increase his powers in a variety of ways as he progressed through his quest.

For those who love a challenge, the gods were waiting to hear your prayers in the Shrine. By holding vigil to the right combination of gods, the way (enemies) became more difficult to overcome, but the rewards were greater for those who chose this path. A visit to Who Knows Where sounded ominous, but...well, I'll just let you experience that one for yourself. All of these choices gave the actual playability of the game more than you would expect for such a short game.

Also unexpected is how easily a secondhand story could affect your real emotions. As told by a narrator and depicted through visually stunning game play, the fallout of the Calamity managed to raise some serious questions for the player as well. I adore games that force the person at the helm to confront his own sense of right and wrong in order to progress. Even simple choices contain much deeper consequences. Other games have done this well, such as Heavy Rain, but in a more thoughtful way. Instead of relying on emotions, you were forced to consider a bigger picture in which clues could be gathered to craft a delicate chain of reactive behaviors towards a much larger goal. In Bastion the emotional side rules all, and the choices are purely that, tugging on your heart and not your head. All choices made are based on love alone-love of family, love of new friends, and for the poignant and unconditional love of a breathtaking world filled with high-spirited characters and remnants of a past that should never be forgotten. And above all, Bastion is a love letter to a storyteller, the masterful wordsmith who crafts a brilliant tale against an otherwise dismal backdrop of Calamity and monstrosities, whispering the tale of the Kid to a rapt audience in the glow of the brightly lit pillar called the Bastion.

http://www.itallstartedwithchronotrigger.com

Treasures in the Mail

2011-08-08T19:02:00.000-07:00

I've got so much going on in my really real life right now that the idea of PAX still seemed so far away. But receiving the badge is a gentle reminder of its imminence and the promise of well known delights on the horizon.

After last March, Matt and I decided that 2011 was probably the last year we would attend PAX East. We flew over for the debut year and then again for the sequel in the echoing halls of the enormous Boston Convention Center and feel like it's in good hands with the droves of east coast attendees now loving their PAX just as much as we love ours. With only so many vacation days a year, it's time we set out an explored other areas of the country and the great green planet Earth in ways that just might not be video game related. Best wishes to you, PAX East. To us, Prime will always be home.

And now, with badge in hand, I can't wait to go home.

http://www.itallstartedwithchronotrigger.com

Extra Life

2011-08-05T11:36:00.000-07:00

I've decided to devote 24 straight hours in October to video games in a gallant attempt to raise some monies for the Seattle Children's Hospital. Extra Life organizes this event every year, and I am excited to be a participant instead of a spectator. I still haven't decided what games I will play...but since it's two weeks prior to Halloween, a Costume Quest run through sounds quite appropriate.

If you would like to assist in my cause to help Children's Miracle Network, please click here to donate - the going rate is $1/hr or $24 total. As a 32 year old woman who loves her sleep, this is no small task, but if you donate, I will be sure to give it my all.

If you would like to be a participant, please visit www.extra-life.org.

http://www.itallstartedwithchronotrigger.com

Fashion Show

2011-07-28T20:06:00.000-07:00

I'm back in Wonderland this week, and must say that taking a brief respite from the rather monotonous platforming in Alice was just the thing I needed to save the life of my precious black Xbox controller and all of the windows in my living room. Chapter 3 was exhausting, and now that I am tucked neatly into Queensland, or Chapter 4, I am feeling downright jovial about the prospect of seeing the Queen of Hearts in all her head-lopping, stiff-lipped majesty.

If I asked the people in my life who know me well to describe me in a scant few words or phrases, the last thing they would say is 'fashion-conscious'. Not that I leave the house in pajama pants or tube tops by any means, but I tend to spend more money on my weekly coffee habits than I do my wardrobe. But that doesn't mean I can't appreciate a well designed piece of fashion artistry, and I feel like the creatives behind Alice's revolving dress patterns have done something amazing. Most of the time, changing outfits on a video game character means donning new gear and/or upgrading armor specifically to add to their stats-more defense points, less weight or swifter maneuvering. I can't recall a time when entering a new level in a game changed the protagonist's look just for the visual fun of it. But Alice adapts to each new area by donning the most appropriate threads for the environment. And this interesting little bit of artistry is my number one motivation factor to continue towards the credit roll.

Although I love the semi-Steampunk dress from Chapter 1 (first picture, middle panel), I must say that I am partial to the newest in Wonderland's Summer Collection from Queensland:

Smashing.

I've also dabbled a bit this week in Bastion, the glorious little freshman title from Supergiant. Now, I'm not saying I told you so or anything (I totally am), but I had a hunch it would be one to watch a year ago when I first reported on it after Prime last year when it was part of the PAX 10. I loved the vibrant color scheme of the landscape at first sight, but am surprised by how touched I am by the soundtrack, which easily moves from something that sounds vaguely Middle Eastern to a haunting ballad last heard around a campfire on top of a mountain during the Gold Rush times. And this is just one small piece in an otherwise gorgeous puzzle filled with blue-eyed squirts and delicious tonics, interesting weapon choices and a silent-yet-determined hero. I've yet to grasp the story completely, as I have this horrible tendency to tune out voice-overs when I am fully engaged in a high-combat situation, but I hear this one encourages replay through the holy of holies, a New Game Plus, so I will try to maintain total narrator discipline on my second run through. I am quite impressed.

http://www.itallstartedwithchronotrigger.com

Retro Revisit-Ghosts N' Goblins

2011-07-25T23:53:00.000-07:00

I started my love affair with video games roughly around the same time Nintendo released Super Mario Bros. and Duck Hunt in dual in cartridge format. Tragically (melodrama added for emphasis, not to make my mother feel guilty) our family wasn't rich, so my brother and I weren't spoiled with an endless rain of gray plastic boxes, our choices limited to the first two Zeldas, Friday the 13th, Dr. Mario and Ghosts N' Goblins. If we had more than that for the original NES, my memories of them have been scrubbed clean by the bright and shiny new experiences of today. It's possible that those were the best and worst of the bunch, the best being the original Zelda cased in gold and the worst being Friday the 13th, which I have talked about in previous blogs (I have no idea why I have so much to say about such an insignificant piece of licensed fluff, but there it is). But if I could name my arch nemesis of the video game world, it would be Ghosts N' Goblins. Curse you and your naked little knight to the seven levels of hell, Capcom.

Ghosts N' Goblins is my white whale -- the one game in my life that I truly had desire to finish but found the task utterly impossible. Sure, I've given up on plenty of games due to lack of interest or because my hands no likey the controls, but nothing compares to GNG in the super failure department. Being a little girl who liked bats and Halloween a tad more than the other little girls in my class, the idea of a scary game with creepy music, zombies and a graveyard setting sounded spooktacular. I mean, I had already conquered the Adventures of Link -- what couldn't I do? As it turns out, the answer was get past the first level in Ghosts N' Goblins. Hours, days and months passed and still the haunted forest remained my torturous prison, limitless Continues under my now shabby and well-worn belt. I am sure my brother was able to do it, but if so my sense of self-preservation has blocked that out completely. Time passed, the SNES was born and newer, shinier titles replaced the old. GNG was forgotten like so many dusty titles from the NES era as the path was paved for A Link to the Past and Star Fox, Chrono Trigger and Final Fantasy III.

But I'd never forgotten about Ghosts N' Goblins. Any time I found myself in a retro game shop I would paw through bins of old cartridges, hoping to find it nestled innocently amongst the other titles of yesteryear. In order to make this coming together more organic and less forced, I vowed to purchase it during a chance real-world encounter, without the ease of a online shopping cart. And finally, yesterday, while visiting a out-of-the-way little used game shop in one of the stankiest parts of Seattle, I pulled out a large bin of perfectly alphabetized NES games and found FOUR copies of GNG. Scouring for the one in the best condition and confirming with Matt that we had easy access to our NES (of course, he replied nonchalantly), I shelled out $8 and the deal was done-and this time I would prevail. How silly-nay, how naive I was to believe that twenty years of training could lead to a victory over such a clever master.

Matt & I took turns playing the first level for over an hour. Much cussing ensued. Between the two of us we managed to die in the forest dozens and dozens of times. We memorized the landscape, the enemy pattern, when to duck, when to jump-but nothing worked. And then the game rewarded us with a new weapon-instead of a spear, we now had fireballs. Hiss, groan, the fireballs turned into a handicap that we never overcame, as their trajectory was limp and ineffectual. I left the room briefly and returned to Matt joyously cheering that he had acquired knives instead! With knives, we would be unstoppable, right?! ...we were stoppable-and killable, and fall into a pit-able. And then...just when I had almost succumbed to the maniacal mastery of the Ghosts and the Goblins, Matt decimated the rhino-boss and was rewarded a key. A good omen, to be sure. A page in my mind instantly turned and my eyes beheld a brilliant sight-the Second Level. Success! Invigorated by our joint achievement, I set forth to clobber the flying beasties in this new area...and was utterly murdered for 30 minutes straight, thus crushing my dreams and any desire to keep playing.

Is Ghosts N' Goblins simply a crap title, full of the same glitchy, pixelated graphics and tinny, repetitive midi music that plagued so many nostalgia-inflated games from our youth? After watching someone run through the entire experience in 22 minutes on YouTube, I have to say that I can still see its greatness and feel humility in its presence. I'm not sure if I will ever get through it, maybe it exists to remind me of how games used to exist for the challenge alone-they didn't have to be beautifully rendered and contain depth and emotion, because they allowed us to simply play for the win. To complete goals and feel accomplished. Did the knight even have a name? I never knew his upbringing, his motivations for saving the purple-haired damsel or about how he ended up in a haunted forest near a towering mountain in red underoos. It never mattered. What mattered was the reflex, the quick maneuvers and the ultimate ya-hoo moment after a lengthy bout of Continue screens. These games were about championing an interesting setup of trials in order to feel like a conquerer.

I thought that revisiting my arch nemesis would be a easy victory. Instead, it was a nostalgic defeat. It's possible that I've become lazier as a gamer, evolving my skillset around the easier to play yet more fulfilling experiences of today. But that is a-okay with me, as I connect with games on a much deeper level now than I did when I was a little girl. My hands and my eyes used to be the only tools I needed, but now my heart is more involved. So in that regard, Ghosts N' Goblins, you will remain my white whale-my one that got away. And although I know others who still seek the pure sense of challenge when they play, I now know that I prefer to interact with my favorite titles based more on the sense of immersion and captivation more than merely overcoming adversity.

http://www.itallstartedwithchronotrigger.com

What the Torchlight?

2011-07-20T12:23:00.000-07:00

There I was, hacking away at another Insidious Ruin in Alice, almost near the end point of Chapter Three, when in a sudden moment of exhaustive clarity, I lost all motivation to even hold the Left Trigger and turned it off. I just couldn’t do it anymore. Spicy Horses’s Wonderland resurrection is just too damn long and ridiculous monotonous. ‘But it’s so pretty!’ my inner self whined. ‘Don’t you want to see the realm of the Queen of Hearts?’ YES. But I needed a freaking break from the incessant double jumping, a mechanic that I used to find appealing due to the curling butterfly trail our heroine leaves behind after every prance, but just like anything you do a bajillion times, now fails to entice. Have I sent it back to Gamefly, throwing in the towel completely? No. But I moved on for a minute to something else – a game that others have been recommending to me for ages now and was coincidentally on sale at the same moment I wanted to smash in a certain caterpillar’s face with my hobby horse: Torchlight. I chose the bespeckled alchemist character, named him Magellan, gave him a kitty companion and set out to see what the hoop-la was all about.

Torchlight was a breath of fresh air compared to the platforming nightmare I had just untangled myself from-no jumping at all! Just hacking and slashing…and more hacking and slashing. Um, and more hacking and slashing. Okay, not terribly interesting, but it was refreshing in the same way eating oatmeal is-not too tasty, but does the job and makes the hunger pains go away-especially in relation to what I had just set down. But…I don’t know guys, the more I played Torchlight, the more boring it got. Sure, the random loot cache is interesting, but it was better in Borderlands. And sure, it’s fun to min/max your character with the best of said loot, but that was better in Dragon Age. I am a huge fan of a linear loot progression-once I choose a mage, I just want to see mage weaponry. I wanted to be a mage and stay a mage. All mage, all the time. The least available random weapon stolen from dungeon crawlers? Wands. /sigh

One night, during a session of slayage ala dungeon, I fell asleep. I distinctly recall being inside of the Lost Fortress at the time, wandering down dark corridors and hacking away at flyers and creepers, but when I woke up I was next to a merchant in town. I can apparently play Torchlight literally in my sleep. I don’t know if this makes it a great game. It’s possible I am just amazing.

I do love the graphics and the environment-the spell casting is pretty magnificent. The variety of upgrade choices you can make is on par with the likes of Dragon Age and other more high budget RPG titles. Movement is fluid and easy. But in terms of narrative and innovation, I guess I just don’t see why Torchlight was lauded so lavishly. I know that the sequel is on its way, so I hope the influx of support will expand their horizons and allow for more depth, because I think it has amazing potential, it just lacks any real unique qualities. All of the things I enjoy about it I’ve seen done better in other titles. That being said, playing Torchlight certainly served as a fulfilling break from Wonderland. I’m headed back, specifically because I want more dresses. Wish me luck.

http://www.itallstartedwithchronotrigger.com

Seattle Indies Expo

2011-07-19T11:36:00.000-07:00

Last night we attended the Seattle Indies Expo, or SIX, for the first time. What a sausage fest! Ladies, if you ever want to 'network' with snuggly gents in the indie scene, SIX is the place to hang. But besides overindulging in testosterone, the event was comfortable fun. Located in an empty warehouse style building down in SoDo and hosted by Haunted Temple Studios, SIX featured about ten or so local developers showing off their creative projects, and we marveled at several accordingly. A few highlights:

After entering the muggy room and acclimating ourselves to the space (games along the walls, cookies and kegs in the middle), we started our self-guided tour at a table near the back windows where four dudes were cheering and jeering sporadically while hunched over an iPad on a teensy table. A small postcard was stuck to the wall behind them that simply said Orbit. The designer was on hand to give us a tour, showing us the simple yet engaging graphics and explaining what to do: "Collect the green stuff, avoid the red stuff and try to hit each other as much as possible". Basically, you play as a colored ship, which you control by using a similar hued button on one corner of the iPad. Holding the button will turn your ship around in circles, while letting go moves it in a forward trajectory. A central planet is available for ricochet movements, but I have to admit, I spent most of my time spinning in orbit. Points are rewarded for crashing into each other, so it's really all-for-himself here, but nothing creates a bond between gamer strangers quicker than some affectionate trash talk. Fast paced and wicked fun, I am sure there are some future drinking sessions in the world that will include rounds of Orbit. More information can be found at Caffeine Monster Software's website.

Next we wandered over to where Shadow Planet Productions was showing their beautiful, dual-stick side scrolling adventure, Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet. I tried a demo of ITSP at PAXEast and was impressed by the graphics, but failed spectacularly at actually playing the game. I don't think my left and right hands can communicate as quickly as they ought to in order to play this one successfully. So although I admired it for it's bright colors and equally dark shadows, I had my doubts about actually acquiring it next month when it releases on XBLA. At SIX, however, a second television screen was available for the multiplayer demo. Matt & I sat down with one of the reps and played part of a level together, which was still had the same dual-stick frantic qualities, but was a much more enjoyable experience for me than it was at PAX. With partners to assist, I didn't feel quite so burdened by my own limitations. One of the tasks each player is given is to pull a large colored lantern with them to each battlepoint, which illuminates the space. If all three (or four, one for each player) go out, then the game is over. Between shooting things with one mode, switching to carry or grab with another and simple moving forward, your fingers definitely need an education before starting this endeavor. It was great fun, and I was quite relieved. Even though these types of games have the potential to end in loving frustration, I think Matt & I will enjoy some multiplayer action -- I will probably leave the single player campaign to him, however. Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet releases on XBLA on August 3rd. Read more about it on the website.

The last title we were able to try was Haunted Temple's Skulls of the Shogun, another game we admired at PAXEast, but never actually experienced due to the long lines and claustrophobic qualities of the Expo Hall. During a point in the night where a raffle was being drawn, Matt & I snuck over to the now vacant space abandoned by hopeful prize winners and got to play a full campaign against each other. The designer let us try a 'winter' level that was still in progress and I got to show him my button from PAX. Aw. Anyway, I really dislike tactical games. Matt adores them, so I've spectated during lots of Valkyria Chronicles sessions and the like, but taking on something akin to a battleland chess game one careful move at a time? Snor-ing. But Skulls of the Shogun takes a tactical game and infuses it with mechanics that aren't so painstaking and graphics that are cartoonishly adorable, which gives it a sort of precious element and makes it digestible for even a naysayer like me. During the half an hour of play we consumed (I am kind of ashamed of this, since we totally bogarted the demo for so long, but...nah) I smiled, I laughed, I taunted Matt, I haunted temples, I created a raven character that stole resources (rice) and gusted wind, I nommed skulls of fallen soldiers, I moved little samurais with arrows and pikes around a brightly colored, adorably animated landscape and was totally still talking about it later that night. Even while I was getting massacred by my loving fiancee, Skulls of the Shogun was absolutely winning me over. Announced recently as being a future XBLA title, a release date is still pending but tentatively scheduled for January. More information can be found on the website.

Big thanks to the participants for another great Seattle night. Seriously, why doesn't everyone live here?

http://www.itallstartedwithchronotrigger.com

All Encompassing

2011-07-08T12:27:00.000-07:00

I thought that mastering the cheevo list for a particular game would feel like total victory, but instead it’s almost anticlimactic in direct relation to its exhaustive qualities. Somewhere in the thirty hours I spent breaking various crap into collectible pirate-themed LEGO studs I lost my mojo to actually play the game and instead turned it a laborious chore to reach the finish line in my mind. It doesn’t help that the LEGO games, albeit quite entertaining, are chock full of bugs everywhere you turn, particularly environmental ones, where falling into a tree or rock occasionally locks you or your partner in a perpetual jog, magnetized permanently to an object until you have to restart the level, grumbling. I loved being immersed in the adorable mini world of high seas mayhem and delight, but probably would have stopped after the first round had the mad-eyed completionist resting directly underneath my normally quite lazy skin not grabbed a hold of me and gripped me in its tempting grasp, visions of a 100% status flashing before my eyes. I wish you could choose either Story or Free Play right off the bat because I prefer the Free Play environments so much more, but I suppose that would defeat the purpose of the methodical plod-through that Traveler's Tales has designed for its players.

I had the newest Star Wars LEGO game in my Gamefly Q up until its release date, but took it out after realizing how vital narrative elements and theme are to me now that I have several LEGO titles under my belt. And I have zero interest in Star Wars, as a movie franchise, as a collectible catalog, as a lifestyle. Taking the Clone Wars out of my Q is merely a small bit of a bigger picture where I don't want to play games for playing sake's any longer. When I first started this blog, I felt obligated to taste test everything I could get my mitts on – primarily in the Xbox category, but not limited to my normal choices. After a year of dabbling in some of these less than Jessica-savory experiences where I start something just to set it down moments later, I am vowing to stick more to those titles that encapsulate the graphically stylized, narrative heavy, environmentally engaging, romance-is-a-plus themes that warm the cockles of my heart. Which means I am culling down my option list quite significantly. But I am pro this choice, as I feel less pressure to be a ‘I like all kinds of games’ kind of person and can really invest my attention and time in those titles that remind me why I love playing. Losing yourself in the majesty of a fantastic creation is an immeasurable emotion, and one I am quite addicted to. Going through the motions because of some sort of self-enforced inclination to heap variety on the pile is ridiculous. Until I get paid to do this (har-de-har-har)…

Enter Alice: Madness Returns. Good goddess, Alice is gorgeous. Spicy Horse had me the moment I walked into Victorian London and saw our heroine’s black and white striped stockings. I am shipwrecked under the sea in Chapter Two, and have only a vague idea what my objective is, but could care less considering how much I just like to jump around to see the butterflies and swirls flowing off Alice’s many different dress styles. Alice is an example of a game with boring mechanics-platforming, platforming, collecting, collecting, more platforming-that transcends its dullness through its artistic delights. Whereas a game like POP: Forgotten Sands overcame its boring environment with interesting platforming choices-freezing water, turning back time, memory items-Alice does the exact opposite. This isn’t really a problem, per se, but when you get inevitably caught in a platforming jam, such as continually failing to jump onto a ledge in a perfectly timed manner to avoid giant metal fists trying to pummel you, it’s unbearably annoying. I want to play more specifically to see more. I’m not sure if this is a fail or a success, but I am entranced enough to keep playing to find out.

http://www.itallstartedwithchronotrigger.com

Video Games in the Wild

2011-07-03T21:28:00.000-07:00

We decided to participate in the annual Zombie Walk this year, assisting Seattle in its attempt to steal a Guinness World Record for largest measurable zombie hoard away from New Jersey. We broke it with 4,522 blood-drooling undead attendees, so hooray! I find the most amusing bit about hand crafted zombie outfits is how costumey they are in their construction. It's as if each participant stepped into their closet Saturday morning, surveyed their options and decided that last year's Halloween costume was the best candidate for zombification. So instead of a bunch of boring old 'human-like' zombies shuffling about, it inevitably turns into a huge undead costume party. I like to imagine that should-nay, when the zombie apocalypse is upon us, everyone's last gasping thought will be to yank on an Elvis jumpsuit or a slutty Alice in Wonderland getup before succumbing to the virus pumping through their system, as though shuffling around this barren world in fairy wings will gain you some sort of edge in the living flesh department.

Along this vein, we encountered Mario & Luigi, probably unrelated to the naked plummer duo from my last post (although in the same location, the Fremont neighborhood), but still adorably disturbing. There were a couple of witches running around ala Left 4 Dead, and a couple of members of the elite Umbrella Corporation on hand to keep everyone under control. When it comes to choosing a zombie persona to don for a day, video games seem the perfect media to turn to for inspiration. Sadly, I missed getting a photo of a Silent Hill nurse and the Zombie Link, whose shield was covered in blood.

All in all, another great summer day in Fremont-this time with no rain, just brains.

http://www.itallstartedwithchronotrigger.com

Video Games in the Wild

2011-06-20T12:59:00.000-07:00

I have now officially experienced the Fremont Solstice Fair, an amazing Seattle event that I have missed every single one of the seven years I have lived here. For those of you still curiously scratching your heads, let me paint a visual for you. Hundreds of naked people use body paint, flowers, feathers, beads, etc. to decorate themselves in lovely patterns and/or character likenessness and ride bicycles down a parade route, cheering wildly and crying out "Happy Solstice!" to the gathered attendees.

I saw Mario and Luigi, one male and one female, wearing only logoed hats, fake mustaches and smiles.

I saw Bowser, dressed, with his spiked turtle shell sitting jauntily on his back, tossing a giant orange ball back and forth amongst the children (who were really hoping for candy, I'm sure).

And finally, I saw Chun-Li, also dressed, representing the Street Fighter presence here in Seattle.

Such an amazing time. It rained all day but no one cared.

http://www.itallstartedwithchronotrigger.com

Kids These Days

2011-06-18T09:15:00.000-07:00

I am constantly surprised by children. Because I don't have any myself, when hanging out with my friend's kids I try to relate by remembering what it was like when I was a youngster-but these memories are so riddled with holes and potential exaggeration that I would feel guilty even utterly the words, 'I remember when I was a toddler...' Sure, there are plenty of photographs of me at that age, but in most of them I am running through fields of grass in a diaper, pulling out cattails and smiling near flowers. My first recollection of a video game entering into my life was via a neighbor's Atari, which I marveled at briefly before heading back into the woods to explore a rundown shack by the river, which may or may not have included a trek across a 'crick'. My childhood years before the age of ten all took place outdoors, scuffing my knees and catching snakes with my brother. It was small town Idaho life, and it was pretty darn cool.

I grew up in Sun Valley, Idaho, which for those who do not participate in winter sports, is a fairly well known ski resort. There was a wide spectrum of kids who attended my elementary school, some of them quite rich and the others not so much. One week during every school year the educational powers that be would let everyone take a 'ski week', busing those willing up to the hills to take part in the glory of being a kid on the slopes. For those who were not so sporty, they offered "Arts, Crafts and Computer Week" instead. And here is where tiny little Jessica was introduced to her first video game, Oregon Trail. Yes, yes, dysentery for all. I have very fond memories of this time I spent with a monster of a computer, clicking away while my fellow students cruised down mountainsides. For the first time ever, I was connecting with a game in a very serious and captivating way, truly caring about my little family of go-getters, eager to chart the west in search of a better life. From there my gaming life turned from keyboards to consoles when we acquired our NES and has pretty much stayed there since.

I recently read a book by Harold Goldberg titled All Your Base Are Belong to Us in which he claims to have researched how video games have affected pop culture over the last fifty years. The premise was a little misleading, since Goldberg mainly described the lives of the people who started some of the bigger video game companies, such as EA and Rockstar, based on the current trends of their day. I was fascinated to read about how each company was brought to life by people who were passionate about gaming from childhood. For most of them, this wasn't a business venture, it was the fruits of a great lifelong love for text-based computer games or Dungeons and Dragons. They charted new frontiers because what they wanted did not exist yet. And these folks did not even have the tools that the kids today have-they had to invent those as well. In a lot of ways, I am envious of both those imaginative souls who paved the way to allow me to revel in such wondrous gifts such as my beloved Assassin's Creed. My mind isn't creative enough to have even conceived of such things. But I feel as though the children of this generation are blessed with not only the tools to create, but also constantly encouraged to believe that they can do anything with them.

I was visiting a friend the other night and her two and a half year old daughter, Devon (pictured above), toddled over with the family's iPad in hand. She navigated swiftly through the front page of the device, sliding over to the second and loading up Angry Birds with an effortless touch of one finger. 'Angry Birds' she called out with glee, launching her little cardinal friend to the stack of blocks and cages...oh, and 'Pineapples!' Ka-boom went the blocks while another bird waited patiently to be shot. I confess, I have only played a couple of rounds of Angry Birds, giving up after a few tries because it didn't pique my interest. But if I were two years old, I could see this sleek contraption, full of animated, interactive puzzles and colors that can be manipulated with merely a touch of my tiny, still slightly uncoordinated fingers being a tiny miracle. No D-Pad and buttons to navigate, merely a fingertip. Achieving her objective, to break items on a pretty screen with a chubby little bird, delivers an immediate and visual reward, much to Devon's delight. The game itself encourages her to keep going, giving her another puffy aviator to try again.

Maybe I am underestimating the learning capacity of a two year old, since I have been told they are wee little information sponges, but I was quite impressed when she called my iPhone 'like an iPad!' and insisted I let her play Tiny Wings for most of the night, another iOS game that she took to instantly. I don't have many memories of being two-beyond the dirt eating and cat fur pulling, so I can't even imagine how I would have reacted to an iPad in all its wonders. The children of this generation are extremely blessed to have such a well of limitless creativity to pull from, and need never fear that they are being held back by technology. They live in a world where almost everyone plays games in some capacity, not just fantasy nerds, computer nerds or rich nerds. And although there is also some pride that comes from being an old school gamer, recalling such ancient tomes as King's Quest and Excitebike, the kids today are winning when it comes the inexhaustible choices about which games they pick to play and how they choose to interact with them.

And I have to admit, the visual of my future daughter and myself, chilling on a couch with an iPad in her hand and a controller in mine...well, it kind of makes my heart grow three sizes right now.

http://www.itallstartedwithchronotrigger.com

Screenshot Arrrr-day!

2011-06-10T17:09:00.000-07:00

I loves me some LEGO games. Well, wait. Let me say this properly. I loves me some LEGO games that are based on movie franchises I can watch over and over again. With the exception of Harry Potter, I can't think of a series I would rather play in teeny LEGO form than Pirates of the Caribbean. (Possibly Hellraiser-more seriously, Back to the Future.) I didn't know that the fourth movie was featured in the game, so luckily I was able to catch it at the theater before the game was dropped in the mail. Beyond the films, however, I have been marveling at the Disneyland attraction since I was a little girl. My grandparents lived in Southern California and summer visits during school breaks often included a trip to the park, where I insisted we spend most of the day nestled within New Orleans Square, popping between the Pirates of the Caribbean ride and the Haunted Mansion with its holographic, grim grinning ghosts lurking at every turn. I have been back twice since the release of the films, and although its fun to play 'spot the Johnny Depp/Jack Sparrow robots', I still like the old mechanical players with their chins perpetually dripping from overindulging on bottles of rum and their cheeks forever flush with plump, old school Disney charm.

Truth? I went to Disneyland with my mom last year and insisted we visit the attraction three times in one day. There is no feeling in the world quite like the one you get during the first few minutes of the ride, floating slowly through a Louisiana swampland at twilight, fireflies dancing off the water while notes from a banjo twang nearby. And then...whoosh, the first flume. Dead men tell no tales, indeed. My heart goes pitter patter just thinking about it.

There's a sort of calm that comes from the repetitiveness of breaking everything into tiny studs and gathering them up into bushels of rum-soaked love. I am only about 10% in, but definitely see visions of 100% completion swashbuckling in my head.

Also, tiny Captain Jack Sparrow. /swoon

http://www.itallstartedwithchronotrigger.com

Assassin's Creed Revelations: E3 Screenshots For My Viewing Pleasure

2011-06-08T18:57:00.000-07:00

http://www.itallstartedwithchronotrigger.com

E3 Pre-Highlight Reel

2011-06-06T09:15:00.000-07:00

When I was a little girl, the one thing I looked forward to more than anything else in the months prior to Christmas was the Sears catalog. About the size of a phone book and fully loaded with colorful advertisements, it was the shopping Bible for my tiny girlish heart, giving me a ideal format for helping Santa Claus pick out all of the perfect gifts to put under the tree. The best part was taking up a crayon to make a list of the most desired toys, knowing full well that not all of them would be there on Christmas morning. But maybe, just maybe, the top two or three would be there, along with a few unlisted, unanticipated presents for added glee. Now, as an adult, when Christmas functions much differently and without too many surprises, it’s nice to have something like E3 to keep those anticipatory feelings alive. I’m still making lists and I’m still hoping that at least two or three of the titles on it will blossom into a fantastic experience, and that most of them will be playable at PAX Prime, my personal E3.

Assassin’s Creed Revelations: This one is a given, but I am hoping that Ubisoft will talk more about the future of the franchise than about ACR itself. I assume the focus of ACR is going to be primarily on Ezio, with only mere glances back into the life of Altair, but my ideal scenario would be a perfect split between both. I feel as though Altair never really got his due screen time, considering what a repetitive mess the series started as. Don’t get me wrong, I adored it for its originality and beautiful scenery, but the controls were extra wonky and the idea of gathering 300 different flags scattered throughout the countryside was OCD madness. I am excited to see what direction they take the story in the chapters beyond the Renaissance.

**Update** Beautiful Trailer. I'm totally basking in its goodness.

From Dust: Any game that is described as a ‘spiritual successor’ to Populus, a favorite from my childhood, is a winner in my book. The initial trailer for the game, released last year, showed a bird’s eye view of sweeping landscapes full of roiling oceans and erupting volcanoes. Absolutely gorgeous! Originally Ubisoft claimed we would see this game in the first half of 2011 on XBLA & PSN, but I bet it will be more like mid-summer. Either way, I can’t wait to see more.

Arkham City: After seeing the newest trailer for the game featuring Catwoman sashaying all over town, October can’t come fast enough. I adored Arkham Asylum, so I hope they don’t switch up the gameplay too much. The bat vision could probably go, or they could give you less incentive for keeping it on all of the time, but I am happy to see the Joker is still around. He’s such a delightful villain. I am less excited about the Penguin, but that is because Danny Devito ruined that character for me during Batman Returns – too much sniveling in thermal pajamas for my liking.

Bioshock Infinite: I am sticking to my guns about not delving too much into the pre-release material regarding Columbia in all of her finery. With the game still slated for 2012, my vow to be mostly surprised by its content is in full effect, and I am grateful for it. I don’t think I will be able to hide from it once PAX comes around if Irrational has any demos available by then, but I’ve done well so far. That being said, one of my favorite moments of PAX East was during the Irrational Panel, where they described the motivations for creating the game more than the game itself, which I appreciated. All I want from the press conference is the slated release date for the game. Then I can plan accordingly.

Alan Wake-Night Springs: Finally, the time spent sitting in front of a television watching a show on a television is paying off! I've only known about this game for a couple of weeks now, so I am eager to find out more.

Surprisingly, these are really the only titles I have any real interest in, but then again this list is mostly off the top of my head and not via extensive brainstorming and research. There have been some rumors of a new Fable game surfacing on the horizon, but with Kinect capabilities, which I am generally uninterested in considering that my teensy tiny living room has never and will never be able to support the motion sensor. Microsoft, if you are going to make the big titles Kinectible, please keep them ‘enabled’ and not ‘exclusive’, okay? It’s not that I am actively trying to boycott the little Wall-E looking device, I just can’t buy a new house in order to use it. Child of Eden is probably the only game I really want to play using the Kinect, but I imagine it will be just as fun with a controller.

Overall, I like hearing the news coming out of E3, especially the stories about things previously unmentioned, but am thankful I am not an attendee. Mostly because of this:

http://www.itallstartewithchronotrigger.com

Review: LA Noire

2011-06-02T10:00:00.000-07:00

If there is one word everyone is associating with LA Noire over and over again, it’s real. The graphics are so realistic, the city is based on what Los Angeles really looked like in 1947 and the facial and body movements look so darn real. This is the attracting element that Rockstar and Team Bondi had been stoking everyone’s marketing fire with for months now. But when a game introduces itself as being so close to reality, it sets up a sort of precedence what you are experiencing should be taken as such. And not much about LA Noire is real. In fact, much of it feels like you are constantly being led on by the writers. One of the more successful mechanics in the game is the interrogation process. The game truly makes you believe that your senses rule the environment and using your gut instincts is paramount to triumphing over the bad guys. But this could only work effectively if multiple outcomes resulted from personal choices, and that was never the case. The narrative remains on a rail, accommodating around your decisions but never overly influenced by them. I was manipulated into thinking that my choices mattered, when they never did. I was led to believe that Cole Phelps was the only decent man in the LAPD, but he was merely trying to rise above a sordid past. I was told that I was in a sandbox of California delight, but just like all of the stereotypes about the superficiality of Los Angeles, those promises were empty of anything other than structural beauty and showy pride.

At its best, LA Noire is merely a stylized representation of historical fiction, all surfaces with little substance...more like a stage play with a graceful, painted flat set and one-dimensional, goal-driven performers. And because of this the performances are exaggerated, characters turn into caricatures and all of the elements of real life disappear behind the grandiose narrative drive. No one eats, no one sleeps, no one visits the loo. There are a few casual mentions of domestic, post-work life beyond the nonstop investigatory process, but no one goes home at the end of the evening after punching out and hanging up the gun for the day. Children are almost non-existent and never out on the streets where all NPC’s seem to have one goal: to end up beneath my tires. Women all have the same severe hairstyle and red lipstick, serving as secretaries and lounge singers but not respected leads. You can stand in front of Grauman’s Chinese Theater, but an entrance is elusive as it does not pertain to any interactive environments within the case files. The guise of an expansive city, locked away behind cardboard facades.

Although I wasn’t terribly convinced by the twists and turns in the central plot, I have to admit that the subject matter had some depth. The narrative was twofold, set in the present and through a series of flashbacks from WWII Japan, parallel and perpendicular lines tying everyone together in 1947 Los Angeles. The rise and fall of Cole Phelps was imaginative and engaging, while the rise of Jack Kelso even better. With the sharp pin stripe suits and jaunty hats, Team Bondi could have devolved the story into something akin to the early American idealistic heroes encapsulated within the noir novels, rescuing long-stemmed dames and haunting speakeasies, but they never did. The dialogue, while peppered with dialect, never sounds comical or farcical.

[TWO PARAGRAPHS OF SEMI-SPOILER MATERIAL AHEAD - NOTHING SPECIFIC, BUT...]

It becomes extremely difficult to suspend disbelief in the story during a midpoint in the game, however. Our lead, Cole Phelps, is a model police officer that climbs the ranks from Traffic to Vice quickly and seemingly without effort. His partners are so ridiculously idiotic, constantly refusing to see evidence and patterns in the crimes in which they are investigating, that it is obvious they are merely supporting cast members sent in to make the spotlight on Phelps even brighter. He is the golden boy, a star detective, headlining every newspaper, a look of pride mixed with a touch of humility on his face while praise is heaped on him by his superiors. Suddenly, the scene turns bleak and Phelps is reduced to merely a man once again. His fall from grace should have been epic, considering how morally devout his performance has been to this point, but instead he is merely mocked by his coworkers and given a new caseload on the arson desk. Nothing about this transformation feels like anything more than a twist in a crafty story arch - the foreshadowing should have been evident from disc one, but instead a steadily moving plot turns on its face, then swivels around again as Phelps gets back to work. Instead of being captivated, I was disappointed.

In stage plays they call something similar to this deus ex machina or “The God in the Machine”. Usually it refers to a neat little tie up at the end when it becomes obvious that the characters themselves are overwhelmed by loose ends and need a little supernatural assistance, but I feel like an insensate plot device used primarily to add more drama to a narrative is just as lazy. Instead of the previous feeling that I was commanding the ship through careful investigatory tactics, the sense that I had any control over the mechanism was instantly gone. I had been asked to use my instincts and gut feelings to determine outcomes throughout the entire game, even when the game itself wouldn’t let me, so not having any real premonitions about the darker nature of Phelps felt like a betrayal.

Although visually constructed like a sandbox game, LA Noire doesn’t exactly follow the paths of its Rockstar predecessors. The investigative trail is a fairly linear one, interrupted only by brief street jobs to put away petty thieves and bank robbers. With the exception of location hopping, the only real exploration you are nudged to do is find thirty different Los Angeles landmarks, but even those are merely drive-by experiences. It’s only confusing to those hoping this would be GTA: Sam Spade, I suppose, but it’s appearance is fairly deceiving when you open the menu and pull out a giant map of Los Angeles that looks just like the ones in Vice or Liberty City. The game is almost action-free, which is probably the biggest reason I enjoyed playing it, focusing more on human and social conflict than urban conflict. Corruption is nestled deep into the core of Los Angeles, and as a player, you need to root it out using your sense of intuition and evaluation more than forcing the desired answer with gunfire. Clue gathering is a central element to the core gameplay, and probably my favorite mechanic overall. A true detective leaves no stone, hairbrush, or watermelon unturned.

If you can’t describe the narrative as anything other than linear, then why place it inside a sandbox environment? Well, I believe it’s because Rockstar just loves developing expansive, well designed environments for players-and apparently, Team Bondi agreed. And transporting from location to location sure isn’t as fun as driving around in it. I found (re: commandeered) 71 out of the 95 different cars throughout the map, but don’t ask me to tell them apart. I do know that driving some was akin to maneuvering a tank, while others jetted along with ease and speed. A beautifully rendered little model of Los Angeles is encapsulated in LA Noire, and smoothly driving through it is ridiculously fun. I unlocked the achievement for going 194.7 miles pretty late in the game, which was surprising considering just how much pavement skidded neatly beneath my tires.

As a game, I believe that LA Noire is successful. It is innovative if you never played Condemned, CSI or Sherlock Holmes because of the poor design and low budget qualities. Or if you liked Heavy Rain but didn’t like the constant cloud cover and finger extractions-and longed for more car chases. I am a big fan of the crime genre in gaming, loving the mechanics associated with sussing out information and peering at objects to determine whether they hold the key to solving the investigation. There is something quietly rewarding about matching objects to interrogations, making your heart race even while the room is silent and still beyond the scratch of a pencil or a nervous hand gesture seen through the corner of an eye.

When I first heard about LA Noire, I imagined a dark alleyway, lit only by the cherry from the cigarette of a notorious bad guy, and grim characters with shadowed jaws and sullen eyes, tarnished by corruption and greed. After seeing some of the screenshots and the motion capture mechanisms, my vision of what it would be like didn’t change, only got grittier. And I did expect something akin to GTA, with a foul-mouthed protagonist and a open world. Instead, LA Noire is much more lighthearted than I anticipated, with fresh faced police officers walking the bright, sunny streets and the big criminals being more of the white collar type than the Gotham City creepers. This view, along with my preconceived notions that the game was going to be some sort of paradigm for ‘reality’, were quickly dismissed a few cases into the narrative. When you start seeing it like a great interactive play, the game gets more engaging and the missing details no longer matter. Taken at face value, LA Noire is innovative and Team Bondi should be applauded for their effort in bringing Los Angeles, circa 1947, to life…even if the paint is peeling on one side of the backdrop, an actor forgets his line in act two and trips over a prop in act three. All is forgiven.

http://www.itallstartedwithchronotrigger.com

Internet Love

2011-06-02T00:56:00.000-07:00

I bought this on Etsy last week, had to share. Lots of fun video game charms via the link.

Now I can threaten all those who anger me with instant zombification.

It reminds me of the Resident Evil: Apocalypse trailer, which I got a huge kick out of during its run:

http://www.itallstartedwithchronotrigger.com

Snapshot Friday!

2011-05-27T08:40:00.000-07:00

After being lied to by two different Gamestop employees concerning purchasing a damn magazine within the hallowed halls of their strip mall temple, I finally was able to get my hands on the newest copy of Game Informer with Ezio gracing the cover. Sadly, my week has been so chock full of socializing and LA Noire-ing that I haven't had a chance to crack it's shiny cover open with a tiny pair of tweezers in a airless room while wearing hypoallergenic gloves. *wink* Luckily, a holiday weekend is looming on the horizon, with plenty of time to bring peace to Los Angeles and savor the juicy Revelations teasers. I am still resolved to stay positive about the future of the franchise-not reacting the same way I did last year concerning Brotherhood, all huffy and nervous about the quality of the single player content in relation to the multiplayer hype. Of course, you could say my sudden change of heart is due to the fact that they are showcasing the single player environment almost exclusively this time around, with only an aside here and there noting that the multiplayer will still be included. So...yeah, I won't lie, the focus on Ezio and Altair's ongoing plotline is pure seduction. I am just going to assume Ubisoft got my letter.

Truth be told, I am actually ridiculously excited about the new Assassin's Creed release. Instead of avoiding the press in fear of serious spoilage, I am going to spend the next six months wallowing in beautiful screenshots, listening to Ezio's gravely romance novel voice-overs, and joining my fellow fans on message boards and blog sites, tossing my two cents in when they speculate about how the franchise is going to pursue it's eventual progress toward present day building structures and weaponry.

And one day I am going to sit down and unravel an utterly compelling argument about how the series is really just an interactive love affair with art and architecture from ancient to modern times in Western Civilization. *double wink*

http://www.itallstartedwithchronotrigger.com

Screenshot Friday!

2011-05-20T17:30:00.000-07:00

A disturbing image, to be sure, but one that represents just how fearless L.A. Noire is with its depictions of grisly murders. The one thing about attempting to achieve hyperrealism-it really has to sell itself as such, bloody noses, bruises and all. I peeked into the achievement list for the game and found that the highest rank you can aspire to is Arson Investigator, which is awesome. I like the homicide division because it seems like bloody weapons are everywhere, crimes of passion are frequent, and the suspects are all super shady, but all of these brutalized ladies are making me a tad sick to my stomach.

If they are going to base all of the characters on living, breathing people, I think I would prefer that they be completely unrecognizable instead of using semi-famous actors. It’s akin to watching an animated film where all of the actors voices are incredibly distinct and you can’t help but imagine them as their public persona instead of the character in which they are depicting. It sort of breaks the fourth wall. Plus I find myself being slightly disturbed by the fact that unless you are interrogating someone, people often forget to blink. In other games this minute detail would not matter in the slightest, but when you are sitting on your couch marveling at eyelashes and perfect half moon fingernails, the unblinking stares are unnerving.

Another thing that seems a little off is the head versus face shapes. Occasionally the neck movements of the perps during the investigation process slide the facial features into the shadows of their jaw lines. It appears almost as if the faces are being projected onto balloons, and any jerky tilts or shakes put them slightly off their perspective centers. Luckily, the lead detectives were built with sturdier stuff and this oddity only seems to occur on the mugs of the various suspects and interviewees. I know it seems like am being excessively nitpicky, but it's difficult to find the line between where the designers are attempting to achieve something cutting edge and where the whole uncanny valley theory comes into play. But it truly is remarkable, and I really don't want to take anything away from it's progressive and innovative qualities by being overly critical.

I have progressed to the point in the narrative where it’s not as obvious whether the people being interrogated are lying or telling the truth. Sometimes the evidence doesn’t place a flashing neon arrow in the air, and even when someone is lying they could be doing it with a calm and straight gaze. These little details are so compelling that you can’t help but end up in a case loop, telling yourself that just one more street job won’t take much time, no matter how long ago the sun went down and what time your alarm clock is set. I watched the moon make a full trek around the my living room from east to south last night before I reluctantly trudged off to bed.

And amazingly, sometime during the evening my index fingers and my brain made some sort of connection and I mastered steering the lugging vehicles in a straight line, as opposed to the erratic snake shapes I am famous for on the streets of Los Angeles. I may not be able to take a corner without crushing a mailbox or the occasional bench, but there appears to be hope for me yet.

http://www.itallstartedwithchronotrigger.com

IRL

2011-05-19T19:55:00.000-07:00

Since birth, my life has pretty much revolved around airplanes. My father was a pilot, my mother is currently in aviation and I work in the travel industry with an emphasis on airlines. When I hear the roar of an jet engine flying overhead my first instinct is to shade my eyes and look up to determine what kind of craft is soaring above my head. I learned the phonetic alphabet about the same time I was stomping Goombas in the original Super Mario Bros, and can indicate where contrails stream across the heavens with merely a peripheral glance. I notice weather patterns in relation to air travel and can visualize the earth's topography as seen from 30,000 feet when I shut my eyes. I imagine that most of you can relate to this sentiment, replacing ‘airplanes’ with some other trade or passion, and if you are reading this, you may also have considered at some point the role that video games has played in the shaping of your life and how you see the world. I know that other than seeing the world through the eyes of a pilot, I occasionally find myself seeing the world through the eyes of a lifelong gamer.

I am not the biggest fan of racing games. With the exception of some wheel-gripping San Francisco Rush and OutRun marathons in the arcade with friends, I am a terrible virtual driver. I am the Queen of the Oversteer, thumbing the analog stick in a painfully erratic way, taking out lampposts and innocent citizens in my wake. Thank goodness L.A. Noire gives you the option to let your partner drive. Carmageddon was probably the last car-centric game I connected with, for obvious reasons. Yet I’ve watched plenty of friends cruise gracefully around the racetracks in Forza, and now can’t help but take on the mountainous roads surrounding Seattle with the panache of someone keen to reach the finish line. The feeling increases exponentially when I glimpse a sign warning of a tunnel ahead. Nothing makes me feel more like I am living within a racing game than the shadowy horseshoe entrance to a hollowed out mountainside. In my imagination I stomp on the gas and veer around the other cars in pure darkness, reckless and unafraid. In real life I take the curve into the tunnel smoothly and smile-I know when I get home I can potentially take that same turn via a controller and feel totally satisfied.

Anything underwater now reminds me instantly of Rapture. While cruising through a curio shop over the weekend we came across the old diving helmet pictured above and immediately thought of a loveable Big Daddy and I had to take a picture. I can't watch oceanic documentaries without foolishly squinting into the distance to perhaps get a glimpse of Andrew Ryan's dystopian city, and anytime I hear scratchy music from the 30s and 40s I am instantly transported. While watching movies set in the Italian countryside I study the architecture of the ancient buildings, searching for the handholds of an assassin (and often finding them!). I see a winking Bayonetta in every colorful butterfly wing. I often hear the trickle of music drifting down from hidden speakers in stores and restaurants and think of countless Guitar Hero and Rock Band sessions with friends and family. Being a video game enthusiast means that you see a score challenge in every highway sign reading “Warning: Speed Multipliers Ahead”. Reminders are everywhere, influencing the way I see the world in a giddy and enthusiastic way. It's my own personal fantasy aspects, come to life.

It’s been awhile since I last felt comfortable playing a Rockstar game. GTA games are always a little too thuggish and rarely hold my interest; and although I liked RDR conceptually, I couldn’t quite master the mechanics. I adore Bully, but have yet to hear whispers of the sequel that would make all of my mischievous high schooler dreams come true. But L.A. Noire is glorious. Nothing says modeled after real life like the beautiful expressions and movements strolling arrogantly around the City of Angels post WWII. I am absolutely fascinated with walking up and down stairs in the game because the movements are so realistic. It motivated me to put the same spring in my step while traversing my own stairway today. I am currently working on a case called "The Red Lipstick Murder", which is a copycat killing based on the infamous Black Dahlia murder of Elizabeth Short in 1947. As you can see from the photo above, I had a morbid interest in the case a few years ago, so adding this little bit of history is downright captivating. I love mysteries, I love clue gathering, and I love seeing real life and video games connecting in such an obvious and captivating way.

http://www.itallstartedwithchronotrigger.com

Video Games in the Wild

2011-05-16T09:11:00.000-07:00

Unfortunately, we didn't get a chance to attend the concert at Chop Suey last weekend, but since he is a Seattle native, I am sure the occasion will arise again soon.

See more about The Icarus Kid and his Nintendo-inspired, 8-bit musical styling here.

http://www.itallstartedwithchronotrigger.com

In the News...

2011-05-13T16:09:00.000-07:00

I suppose it would be terribly irresponsible if I didn’t mention that Chrono Trigger has been slated for release on the Wii’s Virtual Console on Monday. If you’ve never played it, you should. I’m not too hot on JRPG’s anymore, but when I was a teenager Chrono Trigger was the dreamiest dream come true. I remember the awe I felt the first time I saw the shadow of a winged beast against a beautifully rendered moon, and can still hear the slight mew of Chrono’s kitty prowling around his bedroom before he heads to the fair. My relationship with Square (Enix) was glorious, and I played round after round of Chrono Trigger, FF3 (SNES) and FFVII. Sadly, the formula no longer holds my interest now that Western games have seduced me into their adventurous arms, but I am considering another go around purely for nostalgia’s sake.

Time travel? A chivalrous frog? Giant mechanical robots? The beat of a tribal drum? An awesomely nerdy girl named Lucca? What’s not to love?

Link to neat picture above, used without permission.

http://www.itallstartedwithchronotrigger.com

failbloggery.com

2011-05-13T11:18:00.000-07:00

Recently, I’ve been having some trouble playing video games. This is a very discouraging sentiment, considering one of the things I have listed in my life bio under general interests is ‘video games’. March was a glorious month full of Dragon Aginess and I was extra cozy with my wicked skills to slice, dice, min & max-I wielded that dialogue wheel like a goddamn professional. But after my second playthrough, my gaming life turned dull and slightly lifeless. I was anticipating the glory of Portal brimming on the April horizon and mindlessly Clashed some Heroes in the lull between titles. The disc for the RDR add-on, Undead Nightmare, and Dead Space sat collecting dust on top of my entertainment center while I made some lame excuse why I couldn’t play them yet. The truth is, between all of my available titles, I had a hunch that I was going to be skirting the line where my aforementioned mad skills are not so proficient. Having previous given up RDR due to constantly being killed by wolves and my tendency to frantically shoot the tops of trees instead of bandits, my eyes were bigger than my thumbs when I acquired RDRUN, convincing myself that maybe the novelty of headshots and horror wouldn’t be as challenging. Yeah, I actually said that to myself – that headshots wouldn’t be as challenging. Hey, at least my faith in myself is resolute.

What happened first, however, was that I finally downloaded Swarm. And wow, I am really awful at playing Swarm. I know one of the objectives is to kill tiny swarmites in order to gain multipliers, but I’m so good at offing them that there are none left to progress. I made it to chapter two (!!) before I got a massive fail-ache (re: actual growling) and stopped. And all of my good intentions to go back in are merely that, intentions. Fail Diagnosis? Controller/button combination issues. Either the analog stick movement is very sensitive or I am guilty of over steering. I’m going to chalk it up to my thumbs.

Lucky for me, Portal was released soon after. I had high hopes, considering I have now mastered control over the first person aspect that used to plague me in the past, keeping me from progressing through the rooms because I was always too clumsy for the quicker portal changes. This time around I am having a ball, flinging portals with ease, dancing across faith plates, sliding effortlessly through orange goo and grabbing companion cubes in mid-air. The rooms, although puzzling to be sure, haven’t stumped me in the slightest…until Chapter 7. After flying through the previous few rooms with ease, I became stuck trying to puzzle out how to get a cube off of a hanging platform and my brain started to ache. I’ve felt this in the past, chalking it up to the motion sickness I tend to feel while playing, keeping me from going full on Marathon with Portals. But this is a much different feeling. Maybe it was a late night, maybe I am just not intelligent in the same way a chess player is, but I’m feeling a little glassy eyed. Unlike Swarm, I absolutely intend to head back in and solve it, but during these moments when I start to doubt my own abilities, I tend to get cranky and frustrated, turn off the game and sit on the couch with a petulant pout scrolled right across my little girl face. Fail diagnosis? Temple-throbbing idiocy. Curable, but the symptoms are sob worthy.

It was during one of these ‘Migraines with Portals’ moments that I decided to finally untuck RDRUN from its sleeve and give it a try. I’m pretty sure I don’t need to tell you how that went, but I will say one thing: having a melee weapon (a torch) was delightful. I burninated dozens of zombies in town, then headed out into the big bad world to light up some more. But just as I started to think that everything was going to be okay, I ran into the woods…the darkest woods you’ve ever seen…and got caught in a hoard. My torch with its three hit per kill minimum was zero help (and I'm pretty sure I accidentally tried to light my horse on fire), so I died, respawned, charged back into the fray (or the empty forest, it was so ridiculously dark I am unsure) and got killed by a pouncing mountain lion. I give up. Red Dead Redemption and I are not fated to be. I tip my hat to its obvious beauty and grace, but officially bow out for good. Fail diagnosis? My utter inability to manage the mechanics. Once again, I don’t know why I thought adding zombies would make the game easier for me, but between the wolves, mountain lions, bears and dusty undead, the Wild West is nothing but a Jessica kill fest.

Back to Portal 2, where a giant ibuprofen should aid all that ails me. You can read a little bit about my experience with the co-op mode via an interview I did on Wired.com's GeekDad blog here. I may not be a dad, or even a parent for that matter, but I'm awesome, so it counts.

Next, LEGO Pirates of the Caribbean, because sometimes a girl deserves a sure thing.

http//www.itallstartedwithchronotrigger.com

Ezio's Sudden Trilogy

2011-05-05T16:44:00.000-07:00

"Delivering the final chapter of the Ezio trilogy is an important milestone in the Assassin’s Creed franchise for us and for our fans," said Ubisoft Montreal creative director Alexandre Amancio, in the announcement. "Assassin's Creed Revelations includes lots of new features and some significant surprises. We can’t wait to show our fans what we have in store at E3 this year."

The Ezio Trilogy? Since when? Ah, but Hagia Sophia and the Fall of Constantinople? And Altair? I have to admit, the combination of all of these elements could be sublime. And the visual of Ezio heading toward his winter years paints quite a distinguished picture.

I resolve to stay positive about Revelations. I spent a lot of time wringing my hands about Brotherhood, and in the end it was all for naught because I was absolutely transformed by every bit of it's juicy goodness. That being said, just as I was unhappy about the aggressive campaign for the multiplayer last year, I am not fond of this new marketing machine that forces fans to spread the word via social networking sites like an unholy plague in order to savor small bits of information. I like the mystery element, but not the digital littering. Once again, I am less interested in the 'community' aspect and more in touch with my personal relationship with the final product.

In the end, however, I know that once I put the disc in my machine in November and see the DNA sequence striations blipping across the screen I will fall headfirst back in love. I think during the summer lull I will replay all three games in a row to immerse myself in the now rather sprawling storyline and character development. A new summer challenge awaits...

http://www.itallstartedwithchronotrigger.com

Video Games in the Wild

2011-04-30T17:48:00.000-07:00

Bin after bin of NES cartridges, but no Ghosts and Goblins to be found.

http://www.itallstartedwithchronotrigger.com

In the News...

2011-04-29T13:59:00.000-07:00

My intuition is telling me that this will not be the epic French Revolution romance novel I was hoping for...

If Altair is involved, it could be similar to what ACB is to AC2, which I would hardly complain about if it's done in full console glory, but didn't we have a base form of that in Bloodlines? And I don't think they had nearly enough time to flesh that concept out in only a year.

I will hold further judgement until more information is delivered via Game Informer on May 13. I'm sure I will be chock full of opinions after the big reveal.

"Altair Ibn La Ahd"

http://www.itallstartedwithchronotrigger.com

Screenshot Friday!

2011-04-29T08:10:00.000-07:00

During a panel at PAX East, Irrational's Ken Levine discussed how adding environmental details enhanced players sense of belief in the world they are navigating. I can't recall the exact phrasing, but it was along the lines of 'if you show them someone's living room, they are more likely to believe everything else going on around them, even if people are shooting fireballs from their hands'. In a game like Portal 2, where the test lab acts as a central character, most of the objects lying around may as well be a painted on facade due the lack of interactive capabilities with any of them. You can see papers on a desk, but nothing moves when pushed, while doors with handles stay frustratingly closed and are rendered flush with the wall. In a world where most in-game objects are manipulatable in other titles, this almost seems funny, but the choice is obviously deliberate. Why bother with those details when the character interaction with the lab is so utilitarian? When your goal is to solve intricate puzzles quickly and craftily, there is no need for in-depth environmental choices beyond the best way to move forward.

But if the lab, and the broken bits of areas outside of the lab, were just stark white, like in the first game, or cracked and in shambles, like the second, the narrative, which is about 10x more important in the sequel than in the original, would suffer. So, to give the player a sense of the humanity that once inhabited Aperture Science, Valve does something that I am fascinated by -- they leave telltale signs of the once flesh and blood scientists tucked within the areas outside of GLaDOS's direct control. In the first game we initially saw the mad scratchings once you broke out of the lab, informing you over and over again that the cake was a lie. In the sequel, however, these messages are scrawled on whiteboards and office walls, make no real sense other than 'we, the scientists that worked here, have got bat shit crazy and it's all because of her.' A backstory unfolds even without anyone being there to testify. And that is Portal's 'living room' moments, where your belief in the setting dives deep, because for a long time it's the only sense you get that Aperture Science was not always a devious place of infinite testing, but once an office building where white coated men and women cheerfully went about their day, not knowing that one day it would come to this.

I am about 80% done with the co-op and 15% in to the single player. I find with a brain squeezer like Portal, it's best to do it in small doses lest my ticker explode. Plus, it's just so delightfully juicy, I want to savor every moment. Oh, except with Wheatley. Yes, he's funny, but his little ball of comedy is adding nothing to my perception of and relationship with the lab. I like the silence being broken up by nothing but the calmly insane voice of GLaDOS and the soft pleads of the turrets. His weird British witticisms break my fourth wall in an unpleasant way. Maybe I will warm up to the critter later (or maybe he's dead forever), but for now I would be pleased to see robot pinchers squish him into oblivion over and over again.

http://www.itallstartedwithchronotrigger.com

Empress of the [Place That is Totally Not Rapture]

2011-04-26T21:36:00.000-07:00

I'm pretty sure I've talked about my lack of enthusiasm for iOS games in the past...yep, here. I still feel that way, my iPhone being primarily a way for me to text friends, bury people in Instagram photos and be perpetually annoyed with facebook's mobile interface-so really, nothing's changed. Recently, however, an iPad has made it's way into our household and with it comes a veritable smörgåsbord of new games that Matt has been attempting to entice me with over the past month or so. I glance at my Xbox, it winks back, we understand each other and I usually decline. We're like this. Yesterday, however, while pursuing the news, I read a little blurb about an iPad game called Empress of the Deep. Described by the reviewer as a mix between Myst and Bioshock, I was intrigued enough to remember it later when Matt was playing Clash of Heroes, his iPad sitting innocently next to him as opposed to in his lap. He found the demo, plunked it in my hands and invited me to go to town. (Secretly, I think he wants me to fall in love with the sleek little device and get one of my own so we can be iPad iPals.)

Confession? Before yesterday I had no idea what kind of games Big Fish designed. The reason this is so shameful is because their corporate HQ was located right across the street from my old work, the employees strolling past on their way to eat lunch or get coffee every day. If I stood up in my cubie, I could see their fishy logo dead center on the building. In my head I thought, 'probably some sort of browser bs' and dismissed them. God, I am such a snob. Turns out I was only half right. Anyway, Empress of the Deep is indeed a puzzle game like Myst, only much more straightforward as in 'the plot actually exists'. The mystery begins in an underwater, dome-enclosed city that for some reason is fully lit with sunlight and contains lighting storms -- but let's not get caught up in details, shall we? Because overall, the game itself was actually fun. You play a woman named Anna who has been awoken from what appears to be some sort of stasis sarcophagus by a man named Jacob, who speaks to you from a book that also serves as your menu/inventory/quest log. A masked woman named Pandora is attempting to control the realm and it is your job to figure out her wicked plan. After exploring the first room, the game gives away most of its mechanical secrets, which include hidden object seeking, clue gathering and puzzle solving. Rinse and repeat throughout, add progressive difficulty levels and wa-la, Empress of the Deep: The Darkest Secret.

What made the game interesting wasn't the fairly cliché, twist happy story, but the gorgeously rendered setting, complete with a creepy-yet-compelling soundtrack. Now, I don't want to make a lot of comparisons to Rapture, because when you are actually navigating along the cobblestone pathways and through the few high arched Roman buildings there is zero sense that you are visiting Davy Jones' Locker, but there are a couple of corridors and a pull switch on a little underwater travel pod that made me seriously nostalgic for splicers and crazy, bloody political messages streaked along the walls. Other than these few moments, though, most of the game is spent traversing an area that looks like Nebuchadnezzar's idea of the most perfect garden ever, searching for three family relics in order to find the truth. The book you carry contains an section specifically for pressed flowers and vine-draped statuaries guard the pathways. A soft underwater gurgle can be heard throughout the journey, with the disturbing laughter of a child piercing through occasionally to heighten the creepy factor.

It is truly beautiful. Even I, the queen of details, managed to suspend disbelief during my playthrough, ignoring the nitpicky questions flashing through my head. Like, if this place has been abandoned for so long, why are the pathways completely clear of debris? Why does this place look like a garden exhibit in the British Museum? And seriously, where is all that sunshine coming from? I took it for what it was-a simple puzzle game with a great setting and a shiver-inducing soundtrack-and was content. It costs five bucks, takes about a hour to play, and is quite satisfying for those who like point and click mysteries. Now that I have been woken up to what Big Fish is up to, I might just see what else they have along the same vein.

Back to Portal 2. Where I have been known to describe the co-op mode as 'For Lovers'. More later.

http://www.itallstartedwithchronotrigger.com

Snapshot Friday!

2011-04-22T11:15:00.000-07:00

I found this while dusting today, a present from my younger brother during our Tricky days. I can't be sure, but I think the board spins around his neck while he balances on the bit of blue plastic that looks like a wave.

...Googling...Googling...Googling...

Yep:

...FRENCH TOAST AND SYR-U-U-U-UP!

http://www.itallstartedwithchronotrigger.com

Snapshot Friday - Video Games in the Wild Edition

2011-04-15T10:30:00.000-07:00

If you live in Seattle, you may have this strange sense of déjà vu on your commute to work every morning. Don't worry, fellow residents. It's not a fleeting feeling that you are experiencing something that has happened before, but an extremely aggressive billboard marketing campaign for Portal 2.

I have two of these within a three block radius of my office building near the waterfront.

There are two in the immediate vicinity of my apartment.

I pass two on my drive between them.

Two + Two + Two = Six. I live 5.4 miles from work and it takes me approximately 16 minutes to travel the distance between destinations (according to Google Maps).

Um Valve? ...that's a lot of billboards. Just sayin'.

http://www.itallstartedwithchronotrigger.com

While I Was Sleeping

2011-04-13T18:22:00.000-07:00

According to Jane "Reality is Broken so ZOMG, Let's Gamify Eating Dinner" McGonigal, one of the highlights of being a gamer is that we have a higher chance of experiencing lucid dreaming. Unfortunately, I am not one of those individuals. During those rare moments when I can recall anything other than swatches of visual cacophony, I am usually a participant in some abstract situation looking out of my own eyes but without any real control over the environment. Nothing is ever terribly clear and the conditions I find myself in are normally quite bonkers. For example, I once had a dream about rescuing my younger brother from a cage surrounded by Nazis in a canyon by luring the guards away with a pink-frosted birthday cake. What the hell could that mean, dream weavers?

A couple of weeks ago I had a dream about Dragon Age. I would love to say that in my dream I took on the role of Hawke, haughtily swinging my staff in the direction of a hoard of darkspawn, but sadly it wasn’t a dream within the Dragon Age setting but about the game itself. Remember when I mentioned a three week training class I was teaching? Instead of showing my students the intricacies of using an airline system to book flights for cruise passengers, I was guiding them on the best way to play Act One in DA2. Could my sleeping mind get any more boring? I’m actually pretty disgruntled about this. Although it led to a great status update on Facebook:

I suppose it didn’t help that I was going from work, which was fairly strenuous and life consumptive, to home, which was quite Kirkwallian, every night for 15 working days straight. My brain just didn’t know what else to do, so it created an environment for me that was the perfect blend of my dual activities. I recall lecturing everyone on the best way to invest in the Deep Roads Expedition, warning them about the future consequences of accepting Dougal as a financier instead of raising the money on their own, but ultimately leaving the choice in their hands. Eight serious pairs of eyes peered at me over television sets while diligently taking notes. I then directed them to pick up their controllers for a hands on demonstration. I may have been wearing a cardigan and a pencil skirt. Best. Job. Ever.

I am of two minds on the idea of dream gaming. On one hand, dreaming about video games has the potential to be awesome, as we play some of our favorite titles merely because of the intense immersion factor within a desirable environment. I adore Rapture and would love to place myself within the setting and narrative of either Bioshock game, especially knowing that I couldn't get hurt or had the tools to protect myself from harm. And if I can’t spend my waking hours truly experiencing Ezio’s Renaissance flavored Italy, it sounds amazing to dive in using my subconscious self as an avatar, walking stealthily alongside the assassins and running along the rooftops to our next imperative mission. If I could learn the art of lucid dreaming, I would be free to choose this every time and would absolutely gamify my dreams, burying goals and cheevos into my own personal fantasy settings.

But on the other hand, I don’t think my brain could separate being part of a video game environment with the act of playing the game. For example, last night I dreamt I was in a café with a few friends from high school. We were chatting about how isolated one of our friends had become. I reached into my pocket to retrieve my phone and instead pulled out a Playstation controller. On a wall over the counter was a television screen and I instantly started playing Chime Super Deluxe while calling and talking to my friend. It was as though my sleeping mind was dealing both with the dream images and settling a round of Chime that I was engaged in earlier that evening. This went on for the entire dream – simultaneously experiencing the situation with my friends and their issues, but also playing rounds of the Tetris-like puzzle game on blank walls and television screens scattered throughout the environment. Although I enjoyed the musical soundtrack of this particular instance, I woke up rather exhausted. Have you ever heard people say ‘I woke up this morning so tired. I guess I was running around in my dreams all night’? Playing video games in a dream feels pretty similar. Instead of random images chasing each other around in some sort of semblance of order, I was actively focusing on putting tiny geometric pieces on a board in a logical pattern. And, ugh, I definitely woke up with a creak of an eyelid instead of a bounce in my step.

I’ve heard it said that whatever you are doing (or eating) before you go to bed can affect your dream state, but unfortunately I can’t recall any other game related ones in my past, even though the last thing I do almost every night is turn off the Xbox. But until I can figure out how to interact with a game environment within a dream instead of visualizing the game as a physical thing or merely repeating a playthrough step by step, I think I would rather wake up with a fading memory of boring conversations or of trapping guards with delicious birthday cake.

http://www.itallstartedwithchronotrigger.com

Hot Coffee

2011-04-11T15:20:00.000-07:00

Early last week a ripple went through the internet as Irrational's Ken Levine declared sex scenes in video games ridiculous, equating them to puppet sex a la Team America and saying that although he doesn’t think that sex should be removed from games as there is a time and place for it, it is not yet graphically possible to render them as something other than snicker-worthy. And whereas I agree, I have to admit that even the graphically stupid clinking together of lovable characters within my favorite video games still resonates high on my girl level as a cunning reward. But while I say this, I am thinking about my passionate embraces with Fenris, the elf with a wicked chip on his shoulder and an intense hatred for mages in Dragon Age 2, in particular because it’s the most current example I have in mind. Choosing a mate in the BioWare series often involves a lot of investment-giving them gifts, carefully choosing the correct way to interact with them and investing a lot of time into the relationship to achieve this climax of snuggles. But when I sat back to think about what other sex scenes I have experienced while traversing the video game world, I have to admit that some of them do border on ridiculous-beyond just visually-and I started to wonder whether they are totally unnecessary or whether the addition of more adult themes adds more to particular games due to the gravity of their theme or narrative.

My first exposure to the idea of sex in video games was while playing GTA. This is a pretty sure way to perceive the whole topic as largely negative. I remember watching as a friend pick up a ‘lady of the night’ in a stolen car, the car then rocking back and forth while moaning noises floated out, and then him physically booting her from the car. I think he even tried to run her over. So...yeah...silly, obviously, but not the best portrayal of ‘adult sexual themes’ in the video game world. Then the whole San Andreas debacle went down, turning the phrase ‘Hot Coffee’ into a visual of poorly depicted oral sex every time I walk into Starbucks even to this day. Overall, though, these representations, while being fairly negative, were also depicted in a fantasy world where you spent most of your time stealing cars and outrunning the law - a sort of exaggerated big crime novella. No one took this too seriously, right? No one except parents, the media, everyone who played video games, retailers, etc...

Okay, so is there an example where video games, silliness and sex exist together in a positive way? I would say that the sex scenes in Fable do just that. It’s as easy as crooking your finger to a random NPC, leading them to any available bed and choosing whether to ride the risk rocket or play it safe if you happen to have a certain item in your pack to prevent unwanted children or STDs. The screen fades to black, but we still hear the characters engaging in the horizontal mambo via naughty phrasing such as 'well, aren’t you a big lad?' Sadly, in a markedly discriminatory move, the more gruff, workman types, such as the blacksmith, also spread the most diseases, and the prostitutes that hang out along the dockyard are the only ones likely to engage in group sex, but you never actually feel like you are participating in anything other than pure silliness. When my character and her husband made the big love it felt more like cheering on a sports event than interrupting a private moment of intimacy. The loading screens show you how many marriage partners you have compared to your friends, as though it’s a contest. A promiscuous contest, to be sure, but all very funny and fanny-slapping as opposed to serious and a necessary bit if you wanted to produce offspring.

If I can think of the most absurd way to use a QTE, it is during a sex scene. Yet right now I can think of two games that I have played recently that have employed that particular mechanic to do the deed, Heavy Rain and God of War 3. Here you are, sitting on your couch with a heightened sense of anticipation as to what button will display, your finger itching to punch the correct one. Instead, you end up taking off Madison’s bra with a slow tilt of the controller while hitting L1 and it felt really stupid. Even in the context of the narrative, the whole ‘I’m hurting , you’re hurting’ desperation didn’t come though because of the stop and go button choices. And they meant this to be extremely poignant, as nothing else in the game was done for humor’s sake. But it just came off as farcical and clunky. Especially if you got one wrong and had to start over. I imagine this is what it feels like to be a teenage boy trying to unhook the clasp on his date’s undergarments while in the backseat of a moving car, only without the murder mystery looming in the immediate present. I liked Heavy Rain, but this whole scene between Ethan and Madison was just unnecessary.

Now, Kratos, on the other hand, had to please a goddess with his quick button pressing. Seen from the voyeuristic perspective of hand maidens who either coo in admiration or cringe in disappointment, the whole scene is obviously supposed to be taken lightly. Aphrodite leers and beckons, Kratos grins and grunts. It’s pretty much perfect in context, and takes you away from the gloomy setting of the underworld for a few minutes. Plus as the...event...heightens in intensity the hand maidens actually lean forward and practically lick their lips. Kratos is all man in that mannish way. Girls in gossamer costumes should be giggling behind their hands and fluttering their eyelashes suggestively. Totally unnecessary other than to drive in the point that your hero...yeah, he's not that kind of hero.

But for all of the ridiculous ways that sex has been used in the aforementioned games, there are a couple that employed this tactic with full-on visual representations that were indeed corny, but still made my heart swell with the aww factor. The first one is in Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood. Just returned home to Monteriggioni from the whole Roman affair, Ezio takes to his rooms to relax while soaking in a claw-footed tub. Without invitation, Caterina Sforza decides to join him (that brazen hussy). Within moments we are treated to a cut scene of them cavorting joyfully in a giant bed, with Caterina wearing just enough to cover the naughty bits and Ezio being covered solely by Caterina. While watching this scene, I wasn’t shocked or surprised-in his environment Ezio is a powerful assassin, for crying out loud, I’m sure if we were asked to guide him to a bed each night to ‘sleep’ a willing maiden would be waiting every time. I was more wondering what happened to Cristina in that moment. So, yes, even though Caterina riding Ezio like a horse for a few minutes was silly looking graphically, it tied well with the story and gave those who hadn’t touched any of the previous games a bit of insight into the kind of man Ezio was during his time in Italy. A rogue, a deviant, a murderer...and a sexy, desirable man.

My other favorite game to employ this tactic is obviously Dragon Age. Although the ‘laying it down by the fire’ scenes in Origins were sweet and goofy looking all at once, I have to admit that part of the fun in playing the game is getting to that specific scene. It took a lot of work (aka, talking and listening) to finally get a high enough respect or ‘friendship’ level with someone else in your party to achieve the cut scene. So it really is the culmination of a lot of time invested in just one character, making party decisions based solely on their opinions and principles in order to win their favor. I thought of the intimate scenes in the tent to be a sort of achievement (and it was, for 360 users), representing not only how my character felt about another, but that they felt that way about me, too. It’s the same way in Dragon Age 2. I recently finished my second playthrough, titled “What Would Fenris Do?” because his character captivated me enough to want to invest another thirty hours into the game just to see him smile at me (as opposed to hate me as he did when I was a mage). I chose a LOT of responses based on not only how I thought a templar-loving, mage-hating champion would, but also because I knew it would please my man. When our ‘sex scene’ turned more into a passionate make out session resulting in a ‘elf-who-hates-himself’ the morning after, I, as the player, was actually disappointed. It all turned out in the end, which meant more passionate make out sessions that looked exactly like what Levine was describing-two puppets clanking together-but I was incredibly satisfied because it was still emotionally resonant, even through the cartoony visualization.

Truthfully, I am not looking forward to the day when graphics can design the perfect sex scene. I'm not sure if it has to do with my age, my femininity or my personal sensibilities, but I prefer the wink of the developers showing just enough to let the player picture the rest with pure imagination. This is the beauty of books, telling in words what your brain must imagine on its own. Hardcore scenes are totally unnecessary in video games because they will add zero to the narrative. But as an adult, playing an adult-rated game, I can see the benefits of the hints scattered here and there, even if they look like two cut-outs bonking up against one another in a less than romantic way because they add a depth to narrative in a mature tone. Well, maybe not GTA. That’s just trashy.

http://www.itallstartedwithchronotrigger.com

Video Games in the Wild

2011-04-09T14:40:00.000-07:00

Lookin' mighty suave, Link. I'd like to think that this is his more danger seeking, lady killing alter-ego, a la Michael Cera's dual role in Youth in Revolt. Must be the mustache.

Artist unknown.

http://www.itallstartedwithchronotrigger.com

Spring Cleaning

2011-04-05T11:57:00.000-07:00

I have come to the conclusion that teaching may be the worst career for an introvert to pursue. For the past three weeks I have been tethered to a classroom with eight students who look to me to teach them the ins and outs of a rather intricate computer program, and as a direct result of their eager attention focused solely on me I have found myself completely drained of energy when I get home every night. Sadly, this means that when I am at home I spend most of my time sitting on the couch either staring the wall or mindlessly playing Drop7 marathons on my iPhone. Serious zombie town. Many, many arcade titles have been released that I fully intend to play, but when I pick up a controller I immediately load up Dragon Age 2 without fail. It’s partially because I lack the mojo (and money) to download Chime Super Deluxe, Swarm or Torchlight (or the new ACB DLC, for that matter) and partly because I just can’t seem to extract myself from Kirkwall.

I am being incredibly careful with my choices during my second playthrough with Hawke, which is adding a lot of depth to the game that I didn’t catch in my initial campaign. The first time around I tried to be the good guy, helpful all around and only choosing one side over another due of the inevitability factor and my chosen class, but this time I am more grounded in my character and hardly ever extend the olive branch to anyone unless I see that it would be the absolute best option. Taking a ‘firmer hand’ approach with my companions and the characters sprinkled around the area adds more to my personal idea of a 'champion' archetype, even if I end up missing a lot of the missions I played through in the first run through. For example, I won’t help Anders with any mage escape missions and missed one of the Enigma of Kirkwall codex chapters, but considered it a rightful sacrifice because my rogue would never assist a mage unless in meant shipping them off to the Circle. It’s possible that this is how I should have been playing it all along, but sometimes I get caught up in the sheer momentum of a quest-driven game and forget to peek into the dingy alleyways to experience everything the game has to offer. I just picked up The Exiled Prince DLC yesterday (well, I was just able to access it yesterday in Act 3 due to a bug in Act 2 that doesn't allow Hawke to interact with the Chantry Board) and am loving Sebastian. Either way, I am sure I will write more about DA2 in the future (lucky you!), but for now I am happy being totally immersed in it (clocking in at around 55 hours total so far...) and nothing else.

And in other real life news...

After a lengthy internal debate concerning my life goals, my personal philosophies and my peace of mind, I have decided to resign from my job, which, unsurprisingly, has added another tiny layer of stress on top of the one already lingering there due to the above reasons. I am relieved, terrified, and totally optimistic that one day I will be able to say the words “I quit my job without having another and truly, it was the best thing that ever happened to me”. But for every worry I have in my real life, my writing tends to suffer, so I hope to get back on track and writing more regularly after I finish off my last two weeks and head out into the big, bad world of [temporary] unemployment. I am lucky to have an amazing support system in my family and friends, so I am hoping the extraction of this portion of my life will also be personally uplifting and my creative juices will flow smoothly once again. It sounds like I am going to have a wee bit of time on my hands to catch up on a huge backlog of games in between the job hunt. Hopefully, it’s not a lot of time, but maybe just enough to finish Psychonauts, Beyond Good & Evil, RDR Zombies, Dead Space, ACB DLC…okay, now I’m tired again. See you soon.

http://www.itallstartedwithchronotrigger.com

In the News

2011-03-31T08:41:00.000-07:00

Bad omens for the Assassin's Creed franchise...

But hell, if I couldn't whine about the 'business' side of my favorite game series, this blog would only contain half the content it currently does, so maybe I should be saying thanks for more controversy. I guess we'll just have to wait until May to find out more about the future of Desmond and his ancestral posse.

http://www.itallstartedwithchronotrigger.com

Tragic Magic

2011-03-22T21:54:00.000-07:00

[ARE THERE SPOILERS? DOES A GIANT SPIDER DROP MONEY IN A CAVE?!]

After being labelled a despicable mage full of tainted, power hungry blood that tempts beyond measure, my lover turned cohort, Anders, and I have taken to the hills after a horrible massacre in Kirkwall, where all of the major authority figures were felled beneath the judgement of a magician’s staff. Anders may look innocent, but pray you don’t mistake that shocking blue glint in his eye for charm as I once did. He means business and won’t be caged anymore-and no matter how sweetly he continually declares his love for me I can see Justice steering from his shadow. Our freedom is also our downfall, as we are forced to hide in the mountainous regions beyond the fallen city and into Ferelden once again. But I know we will be victorious because our decision to side with the mages, our kin, was absolutely right. One day everyone will understand that not all mages are created the same, and that some of us can overcome our more primal urges for power and continue on the path of morally good and ethically sound. Oh, right, except for that one hot night with Fenris...

And so goes my initial playthrough of Dragon Age 2. I am starting Playthrough Two tonight, but I just couldn’t wait to gush some of my thoughts and emotions about the sequel to the massive endeavour that was Origins. If I could sum the experience up in one word, I think that word would be giddy. I think that DA2 was supposed to be extra serious about the heavier topic at hand, that is, the conflict between the Templars and the Mages in a small, yet grand, walled city beyond Ferelden called Kirkwall, giving everyone steely eyed determination and long-winded speeches complete with furrowed brows and clenched teeth, but I just didn’t buy it. From the get-go the narrative is tinted with a kind of coy mirth as our narrator, Varric, tells a tall tale to a demanding Chantry Seeker concerning ‘The Champion’ and her sibling taking on a horde of darkspawn. When I picture it in my head, I see an amused dwarf holding his hands apart in a gesture that tells his audience that the dragon was “THIS BIG”. Nope, it wasn’t, but my sister’s plushies sure were. Holy crap, BioWare. Could you keep the bodacious ta-tas off my mother at least? Yes, yes, darkspawn, Ogre, Flemeth, all scary and very un-funny. Oh, but those hair horns?! Hilarity abounds.

Once you get to Kirkwall and the overarching storyline starts to piece itself together, it becomes clear that Hawke’s tale is going to be much more compact and localized than the heroic saga in Origins. I suppose we could've guessed from the beginning, since Hawke is merely a champion and not a hero. At first I was disappointed by this, but then I became so distracted by the dungeon clones that I forgot all about the diminutive narrative and instead focused all of my disgruntledness on the copycat areas the game takes you to during it’s endless mission checklist. Hey, Hawke? Go to the Wounded Coast and kill some shit. Check. Okay, now go back to Kirkwall and see Aveline. Check. Could you check on Darktown? I think there are some slavers there to kill. Check. That locket you found while unselfconsciously rummaging through a pile of bones? Take it to a gentleman in Hightown and selfishly demand a reward. Check, check. There is zero encouragement to explore areas that don’t contain a flashing arrow pointing to them on the map, which is how I completely missed Isabela during Act One of Three. It was during Act Two when I realized that my robotic movements through Act One had caused me to miss a crucial party member that I slowed down and started to really embrace Origins's cute little pinchable cousin of a game.

For me, the real strength of DA2 lies in the interactions with your companion characters during your ten year stint in Kirkwall. Now, I know you could fully embrace all of the characters in Origins and take their missions upon you, but I never bothered. I only really liked a few of them and even then I grew bored listening to them talk about themselves ad naseum before I could finally count them as friends or lovers. And playing Awakenings made it even worse when it cut out the ‘getting to know you, getting to know all about you’ objective entirely. In the sequel, your much smaller group of companions is incredibly well designed and desirable. There is more involved than just being a 'good listener' or 'giving great gifts' to gain an individual's favor. As time progressed I realized I barely cared about the story thread winding its way through the three acts and itched to have the opportunity to interact with all of my party members. I maintained a mutual respect with Aveline, my warrior, threw meek Merrill down in the dirt as often as possible (Achievement Unlocked: Rival!), gave affectionate guff to Varric, my loyal rogue, and romanced my mage-mate Anders while still seducing Fenris, the lyrium infused, mage-hating elf who hated to love me so much (most awesomely awkward in-game sex scene ever). I loved them all. I can’t wait to join them (and finally pick up that gypsy chick) in my second Playthrough, where I do it all over again in a much different way.

I could go on and on concerning the ways that Hawke’s story doesn’t live up to the expectations as set by the enormous saga in Origins. As I stated before, the 'narrative that could fit in a shoebox' was much different than the grandiose Warden objective to save everyone from an Archdemon. And spending thirty hours diddling around Kirkwall and it’s surrounding areas was very constrictive after experiencing the geographically expansive country of Ferelden. But taken alone, without piggy-backing on the shoulders of such a well-received game, I think DA2 deserves it's own accolades. The character interactions are compelling and tidy, the voice acting is fantastic, the awkward kissing and lovemaking scenes are touching and made me giggle with glee, the fight sequences are highly responsive and clean (even if they go from ridiculously simple to holy shit, a high dragon) and the conclusion halting and abrupt but still digestible. I was initially worried about the dialogue wheel because I thought it would unconsciously steer me into being consistent with my responses, but I was never once tempted to constantly choose the olive branch of peace. Using the sarcastic choice just added fuel to the giddy fire as it led to the best NPC responses. I imagine if you decided to be cheeky the whole way through the narrative balance would teeter significantly, bordering on absurd. Or you would just be perceived as a total a-hole. Either way, these little touches kept me from taking any of it too seriously, which was unexpectedly charming. I sensed the game was winking at me the entire time as though we were in on the same joke. Overall, playing Dragon Age 2 was the most in-game fun I have had in a really long time and I am delighted to do it all over again.

My second go around is officially called “What Would Fenris Do?” Trying to 'thoroughly' (re: marriage, tattooed babies) win him over as a mage was a lesson in futility as he really hated me and 'my kind'. And here I thought I would never love another elven pretty boy after my tumultuous and decidedly dirty affair with Zevron...

http://www.itallstartedwithchronotrigger.com

Video Games in the Wild

2011-03-19T17:53:00.000-07:00

I love my neighborhood.

http://www.itallstartedwithchronotrigger.com

PAX East Round Up: Warp Preview

2011-03-17T14:14:00.000-07:00

While wandering the expansive Expo Hall during PAX East, it was hard not to hear whispers and mentions of a little game off in a back corner called Fez. Without knowing anything at all about this new indie title, I thought it would be a good idea hunt around to see what the buzz was all about. After finding it and thinking, ‘yep, that little spatially interesting platformer sure does look neat’, my attention was instantly diverted to another upcoming indie game sharing the same block of space as Fez. I delicately shoved through the small crowd surrounding a console/television combination guarded by a tiny alien figurine. And what I found was Warp, a new mini-stealth and splatter game designed by Trapdoor. Call me new fashioned, but the slick graphics and adorableness of my newfound alien friend called out to me more than the blocky art style of Fez.

I didn’t get a chance to actually play Warp that first day, but it stayed in the forefront of my mind the following afternoon when we headed back into the mob. An adorable antennaed alien, brief glimpses of men in long white lab coats exploding into red splashes on floors and up walls…I needed to know more. I convinced Matt to head over with me and he was patient while I anxiously waited for my turn, taking the lovely profile shot pictured above. A Trapdoor employee was on hand, answering questions about the gameplay without revealing any real information concerning platforms or release dates, but EA is listed as the publisher, so at least it seems that they are secure for now.

Finally, it was my turn. The first thing you see is a small room where an alien critter named Warp has been imprisoned by…well, I’m not sure, but it looks sort of like a military laboratory in space. The doors swish open with the same noise as those in any good science fiction spaceship and the halls are silverish in color and lined with technological ropes and doodads. The perspective is semi-top down so you can see the tops of the technicians's heads as they shuffle about doing serious research-like business. Warp, understandably, is not happy about being captured and your objective emerges-you must help him escape. But unlike other games, where stealth/escape mechanics involve a lot of waiting behind doors or hanging out of windows, patience is not the only weapon at your disposal. Warp has the ability to transport, or ‘warp’, himself through walls, under doors, into different objects and even inside the people wandering about. But instead of functioning like a possession, where the person turns into a controllable puppet, the bodies you inhabit in Warp start shaking uncontrollably and explode, splattering the room in blood, as though you have just taken a can of red paint and dropped it from the tenth floor. And let me tell you, this reaction is ridiculously entertaining. We cackled in glee every time it happened.

At its heart, Warp appears to be a stealth game. When you transport through walls and doors into new rooms, it’s important that Warp isn’t seen or else the one shot he receives means instant death. When he possesses someone it’s vital that he moves to the next person or object quickly because that person/object will start shaking and any guards in the room will become suspicious and shoot you. If the doctors see one of their comrades start shaking and explode, they realize something terrible has occurred and start weeping in the corner with their faces in their hands. Having the NPC’s aware of what is happening to their companions and visibly react is a nice effect. The demo ended with Warp entering a pretty brutal looking room, lined with dangerous looking robot killers and lasers, leading me to believe that the difficulty will intensify as you progress. This small taste of Warp was more than enticing enough to keep the game on my short list for (hopefully) sometime this year.

http://www.itallstartedwithchronotrigger.com

PAX East Round Up: Swarm Preview

2011-03-15T17:25:00.000-07:00

Last year at Prime, Hothead Games had two different games they were showcasing, the sequel to Deathspank, which was playable, and Swarm, which was not. I was happy to get another chapter of Deathspank and a souvenir pair of thong underwear, but left without too much knowledge about their Pikmin-like game which featured a mass of tiny blue critters who appeared to ‘swarm’ together in order to survive. Well, the wait is over because Swarm, an action-platformer that is as sadistically cute as a toxic waste covered button, is out next week. I was able to play through the first level during the convention, which was fun and horrible at the same time. You start with 30 tiny, fat bellied blue critters and instantly kill most of them by progressing over the treacherous terrain. When I squeaked out a sound of protest the Hothead employee consoled me by telling me that it was intentional. “You have to get used to the idea that part of the objective involves a lot of sacrificing”. I was mollified, but still tried to save as many as possible with a pouty expression on my face. Poor little dudes.

The introduction level takes you through the basic mechanics of how to control the swarm, from dashing forward to leaping across pike covered valleys while hurrying along a crumbling platform. Although you can’t prevent them from splatting into blue goo all over the place, spawn points appear periodically and replenish your count, so the ultimate goal is to keep the group from reducing in numbers below zero. At one point Matt was running through a landscape full of mines and managed to keep just one terrified swarmee alive until he reached the spawn point. It appears that a large portion of Swarm’s fun factor will be in these moments of held breath, cheering on the survivors in an environment hell bent on eliminating everything in sight. In that one instance I wanted nothing more in the world than for that lone critter to prevail. For those who favor the cruel side, finding the most creative way to ‘off’ your swarmites could be equally entertaining, but doesn’t seem terribly challenging since they are itching to jump off cliffs or dive into toxic goo at your command.

I am a fan of these dark humor, full color arcade experiences. I can almost hear the laughter of the development team as they introduce new elements to the design. There is definitely a time and place for long and emotionally charged narratives, but the light and intentionally tongue-in-cheek games remind me of the more simplistic, 2-D titles I played when I was growing up that required you to merely push buttons on the controller in a satisfying way while enjoying the scenery along the path. No intense storyline to follow, no complicated choice patterns, just me and my console spending a few hours entertaining one another. And now that I know how it works, my personal challenge will be to do whatever it takes to keep my troop of critters alive, no matter if Hothead thinks I should just accept their imminent demise.

Swarm will be available on PSN on March 22 and XBLA on March 23.

http://www.itallstartedwithchronotrigger.com

PAX East is Ridiculously Huge

2011-03-12T06:25:00.000-08:00

After attending six different Penny Arcade Expos in three different venues, first at the tiny little convention center in Bellevue, then the much larger Washington State Convention Center in Seattle and the trial run East location, Hynes Center, I am still in awe at just how enormous the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center is in comparison to all three. The Expo Hall, Tabletop Freeplay area, the Queue Room and a giant food court are all the size of a small airplane hanger each, but still manage to be sunk into the same area on Level 0. While the space is cavernous, the 64,000 attendees are still managing to fill it quite nicely, making traversing the Expo Hall a bit of a challenge. Lines wrap around the booths, with thousands of like-minded people waiting for tidbits of upcoming games such as LA Noire, Portal 2, Child of Eden, Duke Nukem Forever and many others. I haven't had a chance to fully absorb all there is to offer in the Expo Hall as we only scouted the land briefly on Friday before heading up to the Irrational Games panel, but we plan to head back in to root out some of the Indie games and give them a try today.

Yesterday was amazing and tiring. We attended Jane McGonigal's keynote, the PA Q&A, the Bioshock: Infinite panel and the Friday night Protomen concert while still managing to squeeze a couple of board/card games in between. It's possible that I am getting too old to sit on the ground for long stretches of time, so I am happy to have Saturday solely devoted so far to wandering, soaking in the ambiance and playing some tabletop games with friends and strangers alike as opposed to waiting in snaking, squished together lines. I hope to get more time with actual video games, but the wait times look a little daunting and there is so much more to see and do. And as you can see from the first picture, the tabletop freeplay area can hold about a bajillion people, so it's a lovely way to pass the afternoon if fighting the crowds milling about the ever-crowded Expo Hall is not your cup of tea.

All three of these photographs were taken from the perspective of the sky bridge connecting the east and west halls of the center.

See you soon!

http://www.itallstartedwithchronotrigger.com

My Lady Hawke

2011-03-08T18:51:00.000-08:00

If I have one teensy tiny little disappointment about Dragon Age 2, it's that its release date coincides with our trip to Boston for PAX East. It's wonderful to be back in...well...Kirkwall, near Ferelden. I have been playing two classic titles in the past couple of weeks, Psychonauts and Beyond Good & Evil, but as great as both of them are it's a breath of fresh air to play the sequel to Origins. I don't want to be one of those people that has a hard time looking backwards, but I have to admit that I am craving my new champion's story far more than either of the games from the past. And now that I am toe deep into Hawke's tale I am pretty sure the others will not receive any further attention until I am done. I am fairly well known in my inner circle for exclusively kicking it new school.

I will also admit to spending about 45 minutes in character creation, and I am quite satisfied with my Hawke. I am a little obsessed with facial tattoos-I long for the day they are fashionable and acceptable in real life but confine myself to putting them on my avatars. She is a mage, just like my character in Origins. I also chose to carry over my save from Origins to keep the story consistent, but after a few hours in it doesn't seem to matter beyond one mention. But I do like that the one mention was about 'her' and 'her companion', which would have been Gaia and Zevron, my two travelers. I do find it odd that although our family members looked the same during the demo, Matt's male warrior has a completely different looking family than I do in my game. The characters are the same, just with new noses, eyes and other facial features. Oh, and also-[MINI SPOILER ALERT] I love Flemeth's hair horns. Seriously, best ever.

I am going to try to do a bit of semi-live blogging from Boston. We'll see how much access I have via the over-clogged wifi. Either way, expect updates! Or...see you there!

http://www.itallstartedwithchronotrigger.com

Internet Love

2011-03-04T19:00:00.000-08:00

Beautiful.

http://www.itallstartedwithchronotrigger.com

Snapshot Friday!

2011-02-25T13:50:00.000-08:00

After several months of playing through the new song library in Rock Band 3 with just the standard set of guitars, a drum set and two microphones, Matt decided it was time for us to get the new keyboard peripheral. He tested it out initially using the normal “Keys” mode, but switched over to the “Pro Keys” after only a couple of songs, suggesting I do the same when it was my turn to play. So after settling in with the mini-keyboard in my lap, I gave it a try, skipping over the normal mode and starting with Easy “Pro”. I played a couple of songs without too much difficulty and switched to Medium…where I promptly failed. So…yeah…back to Easy for awhile. It’s a strange thing to have to teach myself a new Rock Band instrument after years of proficiency on guitar and vocals. I was never much for drums, but I find that I want to be good at the keyboard, so not figuring it out instantly is a little frustrating. It’s as though I expect to be great at it right away because the game itself is so familiar. I mean, if I can sing on Hard/Expert Mode and 100% almost every note playing guitar on Medium (Hard Mode makes me feel anxious), why can’t I just pick up another color-coded instrument set and effortlessly start rocking? Overall, though, it’s quite fun to learn something new. And once I figured out several note changes in a row by feel and not by staring at the keyboard intently, I started to feel like it just may be an enjoyable and rewarding experience…eventually.

http://www.itallstartedwithchronotrigger.com

First Impressions

2011-02-23T17:59:00.000-08:00

In a moment of insanity last weekend, I came up with a handful of reasons why I wasn’t going to play the Dragon Age 2 demo. One, I like having a continuous beginning to end experience that moves smoothly without interruption, and I find that demos distract from that initial immersion factor. Just when I start to fall in love, the game abruptly ends, cutting off the new and still vulnerable connection between myself and the characters. And two, I’ve already pre-purchased it, so there is no need for a taste test to decide whether or not it is worth the investment, further propelling my determination to wait. But, feelings of excitement and temptation overcame my self control and I couldn’t help but try it out. The demo does give a bit of exposition concerning the narrative direction and how it relates to Origins, but I am not going to mention the storyline in this highlight reel because I still don’t know enough to give it a fair analysis. The visual and mechanical aspects alone show the vast improvements that BioWare has made to the sequel.

Graphically, it’s beautiful. All of the facial structures are softer and the characters move with grace and ease. The demo doesn’t allow you to make any appearance changes (boo), but you can see from looking at Hawke, our protagonist, and her (or his) party members that your choices are going to be vast and more realistic than Origins. You can’t choose between races this time around, Hawke is definitely human, but the Mage, Rogue, Warrior options are still there. I chose a Female Mage, just like my character in Origins, and intend to do so during the real game as well. While it may be fun to try something new, I also like the idea of creating a sort of flow between the two games, even if the character personalities are wildly different. You only see a snippet of the world in direct relation to the Battle at Ostagar, but what is viewable is also more graphically defined, with the lines of scenery sweeping cleanly across the horizon.

The movement and combat controls are more responsive. I found Origins to be a little clunky and slow in places, with combat being the worst (as a mage, anyway, I didn't play any other class). But the sequel has cleaned up much of the slower, heavier movements. The spell casting is swift, using the same functionality as Origins with sets of spell choices assigned via a wheel. And, most importantly, I didn’t hear any of the silly vocal phrases that repeated endlessly in the original after each attack, such as the silly 'If I give you a ladder will you get off my back' mantra I had to listen to thousands of times during fight sequences. I desperately hope that is a permanent change and it wasn’t just an aspect of the demo. Many of the menu system options were locked; for example, even though you could loot new equipment from glittering bodies littered around the environment, you couldn’t equip them and test them out. But the rest of the new menu system is functionally similar to Origins-the interface is different but works pretty much the same way during the level up phase. They altered the assignment of Attributes slightly to show exactly how each skill point actually affects the character's stats, which I approve of wholeheartedly.

The dialogue graphic is more like the one in Mass Effect than in Origins, with each option displaying a little picture to show more depth of response emotion. If you are being virtuous, or generous, the wheel center will show a little angel picture, whereas if you choose the more impartial or unemotional dialogue line, you will see a little gavel. If you are ‘Investigating’, or asking more questions about the situation, you will see a highlighted question mark. I am not sure how well I like this change. For me, picking which response to utilize in Origins was a more thoughtful aspect of the game that I enjoyed. Even though it was fairly obvious which ones were helpful and which ones were more dismissive, occasionally I could see the value for a couple of exchanges and considered what it meant to me, as the player. By seeing exactly which emotion I will be yielding, I am concerned I will want to be consistent as opposed to reading and considering the inherent effect of every option available.

I am not sure if this is the same demonstration they showed at PAX because I wasn't willing to wait two hours to see it (I chose to wait for the multiplayer Assassin's Creed instead). I died twice during a big battle that I assume was near the end last night and chose not to proceed because it was midnight and I work fairly early in the morning-I figure I will be more willing to lose sleep while experiencing the full game with my customized Hawke. Moving through the teaser highlighted all of the gameplay improvements and updated menu system as well as giving the player some prologue material to introduce the narrative, my favorite part of the original. I did take March 8th off work to take care of the cleaning and packing process before we leave for Boston, so in between I hope to get a few solid hours in Ferelden. But for now...I wait.

http://www.itallstartedwithchronotrigger.com

Stackability

2011-02-21T21:14:00.000-08:00

Ah, Double Fine. I think that you and I have a good thing going. Last year you captivated my heart with Costume Quest and now your most recent endeavor, Stacking, has charmed me right out of my recent video game stupor. Keeping this short, but sweet, formula for future adventures would be ideal.

Stacking is set at the turn of last century during the Industrial Age. The Blackmore family is surviving in less than ideal conditions, living mostly off love and the meager pay Papa Blackmore can bring in from odd jobs. One day he comes home in a delighted frenzy, announcing to his wife and children that a mysterious figure named ‘The Baron’ has hired him for real work, guaranteeing they will no longer go hungry. But when he leaves for his first big day, he doesn't return, leaving Mama Blackmore to provide for everyone with little success. The Baron sweeps in soon after to declare that the family must make good on their numerous debts and takes the children as collateral, forcing them to work for him in a variety of enterprises. He leaves one child behind, however, little Charlie, the smallest of the Blackmores, declaring him much too tiny to be an effective worker. Charlie, albeit the tiniest of children, has a powerful determination and an even bigger heart and immediately announces his intention to save his family. And here is where the game starts. Charlie sets off to visit several different areas, a Train Station, a Cruise Ship, a Zeppelin and a Triple Decker Train, in an attempt to rescue his missing brothers & sisters who have been forced to shovel coal or clean smokestacks and defeat the Baron, a notorious overlord to a wicked Child Labor ring.

I never thought I’d see the controversial topic of Child Labor used in such an adorable way, but Double Fine manages to display the atrocities in such a manner that gently reminds you of the horrid conditions during the Industrial Revolution without sinking too low into the reality of the situation. Charlie’s small stature makes him the ideal hero to champion his tiny compatriots and defeat the masked evil Baron, keeping the tone light and fun while dealing with such a heavy subject by using 'silent film' cut scenes and brightly colored scenery. With the exception of some innocent eyes peering out from dirty, coal streaked faces, most of the kids deal with this struggle in a childlike manner, using giggling, hide-and-seek sort of mechanics as though the situation is horrible merely because they no longer have the freedom to play tag. In addition to his goal to save his imprisoned family, Charlie becomes the Voice of the People, using his secret weapon to trick the Baron’s goons. You see, he is the tiniest piece of a Matryoshka Stacking Doll Set, which allows him to sneak up behind any other characters/dolls in the environment and ‘stack’ into them, giving him the ability to use their unique capabilities to solve puzzles and challenges. This ‘stacking’ mechanic is the heart and soul of the game, and each level requires a different combination of dolls be used for a variety of challenges, ramping up the difficulty as you progress. And although the puzzles are fun (yet always ridiculously simple), the highlight of the game beyond the engaging and cheek-pinchingly adorable narrative is the different character dolls inhabiting Charlie’s world.

The gameplay requires you to use a variety of different dolls to proceed through each challenge. Each challenge has several different solutions, so you can choose to do the same one multiple times using different methodologies if your goal is to achieve 100% completion. Doing so adds a fun multilayer experience to a fairly simplistic and straightforward progression. One of the tasks is to collect all of the ‘unique’ dolls in each level. These dolls only show up once, as opposed to a handful of NPC dolls that are duplicated around each area. My absolute favorite is the Widow doll. Located in the Train Station, the Widow allows you to ‘Seduce’ male adult dolls in order to move them away from doorways or other guarded areas. As she walks, the Widow swivels her hips and when prompted, does a boom-boom burlesque move that causes the target doll to fall instantly in love and follow her wherever she goes for a short amount of time. The Pied Piper is another great ‘unique’ doll, using his flute to lure groups of mice to ruin certain objects by nibbling through them. Each level contains around twenty of these dolls with personality, and it is great fun finding them and using their abilities to complete what the game calls ‘Hi-Jinks’. Hi-Jinks add yet another level of gameplay to Stacking, prompting the player to use the unique dolls to perform very specific acts of mischief, such as using one of the little child dolls in the Train Station to play Tag with five other tiny dolls or using the ‘Towel Folding’ children to throw sheets over others, making them look like wee little ghosts. My favorite Hi-Jink involves using a female doll onboard the Zeppelin to, um, pass gas, over other dolls – you see, instead of the green toxic cloud that some dolls would exude using the same action, this doll passes potpourri in the shape of a giant cloud of pink and purple flowers all over her fellow dolls.

So, yes, many dolls use the power of bodily functions to distract or disgust other dolls. But just like the Child Labor storyline that stays fairly innocent and light, the use of belches and flatulence never distracts from the sophistication of the Industrial steam and coal powered environment, serving only to enforce the idea that this game is told by the perspective of a child. And when you are a child, an adult letting out a powerful and stinky belch is hilarious, not sophomoric. Seeing a giant clown face (as pictured above), is absolutely terrifying in a curious and mysterious way. As with Costume Quest, Stacking reminds you what it is like to see the world through the eyes of an innocent, imagining conquering the boring and boundary-filled world of the adults around you with playful and mischievous behavior. Double Fine does another great job at seeing the world of the grown-ups as fairly useless, counting on the ingenuity and unyielding dedication of a child to beat the ultimate evil, a masked bandit who dares to see Charlie as an inconsequential piece of a larger, more formidable formation...his loving family.

I didn’t love Stacking as much as I did Costume Quest, but then again I am utterly enamored of Halloween and need no additional incentive to be devoted to Wren and Reynold’s tale. Stacking also required you to wander the same areas over and over again if you wanted to acquire that enticing 100% completion score, which was a bit tedious. But after several weeks of failing to engage with any other games, I was delighted to rekindle that loving feeling of immersion while guiding Charlie along his path. I would highly recommend Stacking for people who may need a break from the more serious, expansive experiences of other games and want to spend five or six hours merely having fun in a beautiful environment full of interesting and lovable characters.

http://www.itallstartedwithchronotrigger.com

Treasures in the Mail

2011-02-20T10:36:00.000-08:00

Boston, I don't care if your weather is crap, just don't let a blizzard keep us from landing safely into Logan International on March 9. I promise to bring a scarf this time.

http://www.itallstartedwithchronotrigger.com

Internet Love

2011-02-16T13:59:00.000-08:00

As internet rumors and hearsay go, this one is definitely my new favorite.

http://www.itallstartedwithchronotrigger.com

Encore, No More

2011-02-10T15:56:00.000-08:00

And so it ends, not with a blaze of glory and a grand, firework heavy encore, but in a single sentence on a financial report. Activision has officially announced the end of the Guitar Hero franchise, leaving the musical genre to its successor, Harmonix’s Rock Band. This is pretty fitting, since Harmonix was the company that originally helped create Guitar Hero. But this isn’t a sad, lamenting eulogy about the demise of Guitar Hero; this is a heartfelt thanks to the series for being the spark I needed to get back into video gaming after a several year hiatus post college.

I moved to Seattle in 2004 after a tumultuous and unhappy six months in Atlanta, Georgia where I spent most of my time clicking my heels together in hope that I could return to the Pacific Northwest as soon as possible. During that time I watched my boyfriend at the time overuse my PS2 to the point where it was no longer playable. Instead of offering to replace it, he bought himself a new one. After two years of being a bit of a video game voyeur, watching him play Dark Cloud and GTA: Vice City, I had left behind my more interactive side after a long period of time playing SSX Tricky with my brother and his friends, so I was upset more on principle-I had no real desire to replace it. When the heavens smiled back upon me and a glittering trail of gold led me to the Emerald City soon after, I spent most of my time as a free spirit, exploring my new urban environment with my great friend, Danyale. We built bonfires, painted our eyes black, donned lace and vinyl and spent a year dancing through Seattle’s nightlife in hedonistic delight. No time for video games in that world, it was too full of music, a sparkling skyline and a newfound craving for bubble tea. A year later I was snuggled back into the green-hued suburbs, enjoying the trees and a new partner, who reintroduced me to the world of video games. He played Warcraft and Counter Strike, purchased the best headphones and brought an Xbox 360 into my life.

One day he came home with a tiny plastic guitar tucked under one arm, lent to him by a co-worker. This was Guitar Hero. It was like nothing I had ever seen before and was ridiculously loud. I hated it. I thought the music was obnoxious and he turned the volume up way too high. But in true Jessica style, a visit from my younger brother changed everything. If you recall from previous posts, my brother, Jordan, is my video game hero, my lifelong digital role model. When he took an interest in Guitar Hero 2, I started paying more attention. After watching him dive into the sets without struggling, my interest piqued. He handed me the guitar, turned on Freezepop’s ‘Less Talk More Rokk’ and I was back. I started jamming every night, which soon turned into my own XBL account, evolved into a devout interest in Rapture and Bioshock, fell headfirst and passionately in love with Altair in Assassin’s Creed and have been knee deep ever since. When the aforementioned boyfriend and I no longer came with an ‘and’ between our names, I took it upon myself to purchase my very own 360 and GH3, where my friend Krystle and I co-oped an entire tour together and I made my first move into an online multiplayer environment playing The Killers ‘When You Were Young’. My hands shook the entire time. Whether it was from nerves or several blue cans of Rock Star, we’ll never know for sure. It felt like home.

Alas, this was my last positive encounter with a Guitar Hero game. As the Muppet-faced characters in GH3 evolved into the beautiful and customizable avatars in Rock Band, I picked up the microphone as a loyal convert, never to return. And although it was inevitable based on the ever declining popularity and sales of the Guitar Hero franchise, I will continue to have fond memories of the game that brought me back to the fold.

Au revoir, Guitar Hero – thanks for everything. Especially Carry on My Wayward Son.

http://itallstartedwithchronotrigger.com

Static

2011-02-09T15:55:00.000-08:00

It finally happened. After an entire year of regular posts as a result of fairly consistent game consumption, I have hit a bit of a wall. The three games I have at home, Venetica, Majin & the Forsaken Kingdom and Create, do not inspire the sort of avid attention I would normally give more desirable titles. Truthfully, I am suffering from media overload and taking a bit of a break from the noise by catching up on some mindless television via Netflix, reading a lot of graphic novels, such as Fables and Sandman, and making plans with friends. I think it’s mainly because I don’t really care about any of the games people in the ever-streaming video game journalism world are currently chattering about. The EA/Bulletstorm controversy seems old and stale – the product of a high-fiving marketing team of dudes facing a finger-wagging group of concerned parents, psychology ‘experts’ and the ever-alienated ‘girl’ gamer audience. I watched the trailer and thought it looked hilarious, but then again I am less sensitive to these overarching political ‘issues’ that people love to drag to every table as though making a negative point about something will somehow lessen its marketable value. People love extremes, so if Bulletstorm is judged based solely on its playability and fun-factor and turns out to be a terribly executed game, it will still be purchased and rented by the millions so a whole bunch of hardcore gamers can nonchalantly say it’s nothing special. That marketing staff, while under fire in the public world, is still high-fiving behind closed doors. And it’s boring. Yes, video games are violent. Yes, sometimes they are sexual. So are books, movies, music, etc. The difference continues to be that parents don’t seem to be held as accountable to the rating system of games as they are to other mediums, as though keeping your child from seeing a NC-17 rated movie is excruciatingly more difficult than keeping them from playing a Mature rated game. I remember getting into passive aggressive arguments with parents while working at Blockbuster:

Me: “Just to let you know, the game your ten year old picked out, Grand Theft Auto III, is rated M for Mature and is recommended for people over 17 due to mature subjects such as violence and sexuality.”
Parent: “Whatever, they will just play it at their friend’s house anyway.”
Me: *shakes head in revulsion*

I am an adult – I understand that shooting bitches in the face is only acceptable when it is simulated in a heavily animated, completely fantastical format using a controller. As a twelve year old I understood this as well, but lucky for me my mother paid avid attention to what I was reading/watching/playing and kept me flush in puzzle games, Zelda and the Baby-Sitters Club books so I wouldn’t even be tempted to search out my own instruments of media terror. Oh, and she played with me. I remember watching her march through Hyrule to rescue Zelda just as clearly as I recall doing it myself. I have fond memories of pills falling from the sky in Dr. Mario and marveling at her color-matching skills. I hate these arguments so much. Parents need to parent. Media needs to be kept uncensored but rated accordingly.

*steps down from soapbox*

Anyway…I’m semi-interested in Dead Space 2, but not without finishing the first one, which right now I have no desire to do. If while reading this you think I am being grumpy, I am not. I am just uninspired and in need of a break. I have fallen victim to too many announcements, editorials and controversies in the video game journalism and promotional world due to a devout attention to Twitter feeds and an overload of Google Reader subscriptions. I joined Twitter to find people to play with and discovered just how much I love playing alone. My devotion to this interactive, virtual world is very personal and intimate. By listening too closely to everyone else’s opinions to try to ferret out ‘information’, I started to feel less connected to playing and more paranoid about how my opinions would come across in the grand schematic of journalistic networking. My original intent when I started this blog was becoming lost in outside voices and I needed to take a huge step away from it all in order to gain some perspective and remember that I started this simply because I love video games. From Tetris to Assassin’s Creed, I have been interacting with games since as far back as I can remember because I love the feel of a controller in my hand and the sense of adventure and accomplishment when progressing through the digital landscape. I read a lot of books, I see a lot of movies, and I play a lot of video games. And right now I am working on getting back to my roots by disconnecting from a large portion of the world of press releases and opinionated chatter and focusing back on writing about personal reflections and experiences while simply playing.

So if February starts to pass quickly by without a lot of regular posts from me, just know that it’s just because I am a little burnt out and in need of a breather. If anyone who likes graphic novels hasn’t read the Fables series, I would highly recommend it. In anticipation of our trip to Boston for PAXEast in 28 days, I logged in to Orbitz and reassigned our airline seats (it’s the little things). I will probably leisurely play Stacking, Double Fine’s newest downloadable, in the next week. I continue to play Chime because it’s magnificently beautiful and incredibly useful for mindless video game meditation. Oh, and speaking of sex and violence, I finally preordered Dragon Age 2, the one game coming out in the next month that I am truly excited about:

And, somehow, taking a break now, after my 100th post, seems quite fitting. See you soon.

http://www.itallstartedwithchronotrigger.com

DLC Mania-Pigsy Finds His Perfect 10

2011-02-03T19:27:00.000-08:00

Before I talk about my experience playing Pigsy’s Perfect 10, I need to confess something. As much as I carried on about how simple the combat was during Monkey and Trip’s journey into the Wasteland, describing it in a casual manner based on the simple mashability of our hero’s staff, I found the downloadable content incredibly difficult and would not have completed it unless my loving partner hadn’t stepped in and gracefully cleared out several areas in order to keep me from destroying our living room. You see, where Monkey employed the standard melee technique to defeat his foes, occasionally adding a stun or plasma burst for the more complicated scenarios, Pigsy’s weapon of choice is a sniper rifle. And coming from someone who sold off every sniper she received in Borderlands because my love affair with the SMG was longlasting and sustainable, I can safely say that I was not destined to see the end credits of Pigsy’s journey to find his Perfect 10 without the help of my own.

I was a tad confused when I learned that Monkey and Trip would not be part of the story, and instead the focus was going to be on a character that had little redeeming qualities in the main story and showed up four chapters before the epilogue. Set right before the time when our dynamic duo rendezvoused with him amongst the ruins, our goal is to help lonely Pigsy collect the mechanical components to build the perfect companion-aka a robotic bombshell of a lady. To assist, Pigsy has a sidekick named Truffles, whose appearance is akin to a puppy dog trapped inside of a computer monitor that can fly...yep, I’m sticking with that description. Together they use mainly stealth, a sniper rifle and a mixed bag of patience mechanics - decoys, bombs, tons of concrete pylons to hide behind - to defeat the enemies in their path. It sounds a bit trite, but in the same amazing narrative style employed in the original game, there is more depth at work here than can be comprehended from a brief synopses. Although Pigsy is not the most lovable character, he does learn some touching lessons along the way. There are a few fairly unnecessary collectibles around, including pin-up posters and packages of food, but instead of being persistent, they serve as a sort of nudging reminder of Pigsy's whimsical vices.

When I talked about Enslaved’s shortfalls, I mentioned the clunky mechanics and infuriating camera angles as the main offenders. Well, Pigsy still has a hard time getting around in his spotlight chapter, but I chalk it up to his bulk more than anything else. You see, Pigsy is, well, a bit of a sloth. And a bit of a lecher. Beyond the complex bits of mechanical modifications he has made to his face, including a chrome colored snout-like object covering his nose, our latent hero has all of the makings of his own stereotype-a misogynistic pig. He wears an upside down kissy-mouth belt buckle and a stained tank top over a hefty, overflowing frame. Instead of the graceful platform to pipeline leaps Monkey performs effortlessly in the main story, Pigsy can only pull himself up onto shorter ledges and must use a grappling hook attached to his arm to get to the higher points in the game. But surprisingly, the aspects of the game that felt heavy and clumsy in Enslaved work much better with the armory that Pigsy employs. The snipe mechanic was clean, the decoy/EMP distracts were helpful and the progression felt much more like a game than the repetitive melee in the main story. Even though the jump ability still felt slightly unresponsive and the cameras continued to be part player driven and part forced POV, the overall narrative plus stealthy stylization in Pigsy’s story melded well in a way the original story did not. Playing them successively was a bit of a shock, however, because although they are set in the same world, trading action adventure combat for stealth creates a sense that you are not continuing in the same manner and tone as before, but starting an entirely new game.

So why couldn’t I have finished it? Well, I am not the most clever girl when it comes to tactical games. And when my melee happy game turned into a lesson in patience and strategy, I was a bit left behind. My thumbs tend to overreact during high stress situations and I am not the best quick shot even when my survival depends on it. Instead of taking deep breaths and plotting out the best way to approach the scenario with just a bag of stealthy tricks at my hip, I tend to take out the first few enemies I can and then attempt to run out, swords/staffs/axes/giant hammers blazing to take care of the rest. Apparently, I need my stealth to involve a lot of 15th century Roman buildings and a hidden blade. I can say that I made it to The Furnace (Chapter 12) before I stopped and said enough. But being a completionist at heart, I lamented and Matt took over for several of the more difficult mech-infested areas. In the end, I saw the cut scene epilogue and the credit roll, but in my heart I know that the credit belongs to my loving fiancee, because I would probably have stopped playing soon after The Furnace. I like my games fun, and challenges are a-okay, but when I spend several hours stuck on something that YouTube claimed took a player 7.36 minutes to accomplish, I know I am in unrealistic territory. If the occasion ever rises again, I think I will gleefully stick with Monkey and Trip, bashing my way through Post-Apocolyptica.

http://www.itallstartedwithchronotrigger.com

Fashionably Late to the Chime Party

2011-01-31T19:37:00.000-08:00

I play a lot of video games. Naturally, this is bound to happen if one of your main hobbies is writing about video games. Sometimes the experience is brilliant, engaging the player with great mechanical qualities, such as the fluid movements and controls in Bayonetta or The Forgotten Sands. Or maybe what grabs the player is a compelling story or beautiful graphical elements, such as Assassin’s Creed or Dragon Age. But sometimes I find games that are captivating based merely on their simplicity. I can sit for hours and play mildly strategic puzzle games like Luxor, Hexic or Jewel Quest because doing so creates a sort of mindless zen-like atmosphere where my hands do more work than my brain-the perfect way to end a stressful day at work. These games are more instinctual, reactionary and, tragically, usually come shipped with repetitive, uninspired background music that you can’t help but tune out after a few minutes. When diving into another ball shooting session in Zuma or a gem switching marathon in Bejeweled, my first ritualistic step after turning on the game is to switch on the music in our personal library via a media server and listen to such lovelies as Air, Conjure One, Oceanlab and We Have Band to add a multilayer of enjoyment on top of a single dimensional experience. I am blissful, I am euphoric, I am combining elements to achieve personal satisfaction. But now I have Chime.

Chime was released on XBLA at the beginning of last year by Zoe Mode with the help of OneBigGame, who aids in the development of games for charitable organizations. Until last November, when you purchased Chime a portion of the money went to the Save the Children and the Starlight Children’s Foundation. If you didn’t know this prior to playing (and I didn’t), you will be clued in by the generous 50G Fairy Godmother achievement you receive just for starting the game. Real karma points! Chime plays a bit like Lumines, a Tetris-like puzzle rhythm game that combines the act of building with an ever-heightening musical accompaniment. Chime is more like Tetris than Lumines, however, with a variety of different geometric shapes falling onto a grid and interlocking much the same as the classic Russian game. Your objective is to create squares or rectangles on the grid while an activation line creeps across your screen in time to the music and clears away blocks with a flourish of butterflies and spiral shapes. And as you build, the music grows from a simple melody or voice into a full symphony of sound as you cover the entire grid. The music crescendos and flows perfectly as you reach the end of the level.

Chime’s five different songs all fall under the ambivalent genre of electronica, with a selection by Moby and one by a member of Orbital being my personal favorites. The PC version includes ‘Still Alive’, Jonathan Coulton’s mega-popular credit song from Portal. Instead of the bubble gum chewing, headache-inducing techno pop combinations in Lumines or the uninspired background music in Bejeweled, I now have a puzzle game full of music I would actually listen to. And being an avid Tetris player (I was a master in my youth, touting a Tetris watch and a belt pouch for my GameBoy with the Tetris cartridge tucked away in a side pocket at all times), the combination of puzzle game, score multipliers, competitive ranking and gorgeous ambient electronica carefully built together in what is ultimately a simple experience has captured my undivided attention for an entire week (and counting). Maybe you aren’t the type of person who can listen to the same music over and over again for hours, even if you think it’s brilliant, but when the instinctual, quick reaction puzzle mechanics of Chime drive you to continuously consider your choices from every geometric angle, you will be thrilled that it is happening in a place where such engaging music moves with you, adding layer upon layer to create a sweeping, fully interactive combination of hand movements and aural delight.

Zoe Mode recently announced on their website that a new version of the game, Chime Super Deluxe, will be available on the PSN sometime this spring and feature a multiplayer mode and additional songs. So it looks like I wasn't late to the party after all, I was just in time for more.

http://www.itallstartedwithchronotrigger.com

DLC Mania-The Last Time I Write About Origins...Maybe

2011-01-25T19:41:00.000-08:00

Last weekend I took advantage of the sale on EA Add-ons on Xbox Live and finally played the last of the seemingly unending Dragon Age DLC, Golems of Amgarrak and Witch Hunt. Both were fun, albeit short, new chapters in the story, including one with Morrigan that resolved...some...of her issues (nothing can erase her complacency about that demon baby situation). I liked Witch Hunt in particular, because it took my heroine and her gang to familiar places-the Circle of Magi, Korcari Wilds & the Deep Roads-and involved intrigue, magical relics and intricate library usage. When I play WRPGs, I normally prefer to be the knight character because melee is my primary combat choice. For Dragon Age I chose to be a human mage, deviating away from my tendency to prefer long swords, battle axes and giant hammers to get the job done (keep your Freudian opinions to yourself). During initial setup, I decided to challenge myself with a different skill set that paid out in the end-I adored my staff wielding heroine and the interactions with the Magi. Plus the outfits were far more stylish.

The Golems of Amgarrak warned at time of purchase that it was ‘extremely challenging’, but it wasn’t. Your objective is to uncover what happened to a missing group of dwarven explorers attempting to locate some previously lost secrets about golem construction. The challenging piece, I imagine, was supposed to be during some fight sequences against groups of pretty epic stone protectors, but sheer persistence got me through them without perishing (although everyone else in my party did-total wusses, obviously). In one area several colored lyrium switches scattered throughout changed the overall room/item accesibility based on what shade happened to be enabled at the time. The blueberry hued switch seemed to take everyone into another dimension (of sorts), but none of the other colors did this as they were primarily used to guard doors and chests in force-field like wrappers. The final room forced you to play SIMON with colored switches in order to progress and I thought to myself, ‘Aha, here is the difficult piece!’, but then I recalled that Dragon Age gives you the answers to the puzzling bits if you were diligent about collecting all of the codexes and quickly found the answer in a note. So alas, no challenges to be found. But the story was pleasing, the whole lyrium aspect interesting and different, PLUS you gain a party member that is a giant rhinoceros named Snug wielding a deadly horn, so I would say it was worth buying at the sale price.

I found Witch Hunt to be much more engaging because chasing after a devious character like Morrigan is delightful. I like quests that involve the Circle Tower and the Magi because they hold more mystical appeal than the requests to clear out darkspawn from underground lairs. Beyond finding Morrigan and the Elvin Book she has stolen, there is some delicious library puzzling and tears in the Veil to mend. And if you have been dying to have one more conversation with our Witch of the Wilds, well, she is more than willing to chat with you. Since I generally defaulted to more virtuous choices in the game, Morrigan and I were always butting heads, so when she took off right before the big boss battle with the Archdemon I was surprised, but not overly so. Logically, her reasons for ditching us were sound-I don’t think I ever did her any favors and denied all of her requests during the main quest in order to keep my moral compass on the right side. I intended to use my second playthrough to sneak into her isolated and slightly wicked sleeping bag, but...there is just not enough time in the day for another 60 hour game (I finally counted) if I want to keep writing about anything other than Dragon Age. If you only have a couple of bucks and need to choose between them, I would say that Witch Hunt is the better investment.

Although playing Dragon Age showcased my ongoing ideal to be a better virtual person, I am truly regretful that I didn’t get to know Morrigan better because she seemed like a fascinating character. I stayed almost exclusively on the straight and morally narrow path-my one misstep in the land of virtue was consorting with Zevron when my heart belonged to Alistair, which was a choice that plagued me until long after the game was over because it was so unlike me, as a real person. I have a really hard time being the nasty, vengeance wielding, puppy kicking character. If requested, I am the person who will spend several game hours fetching things in order to win the favor of the villagers for little reward. Because of this I always feel like I am missing out on essential plot devices or relationship possibilities-like getting to know Morrigan in a more intimate and scandalous way, so I faithfully start new characters and give them selfish, steely-eyed personality traits but then abandon them when intent becomes actuality my evil choices make me feel a little queasy. Maybe it’s because I love kittens so much, but it’s just really hard for me to be the bad guy. Maybe one day if I have enough time to devote to another mega-time eating game I will slide into the dark, demon baby riddled, side, but for now I think I will look forward to Dragon Age II hoping that I still get to be the hero of Ferelden.

http://www.itallstartedwithchronotrigger.com

Happy Birthday!

2011-01-20T20:38:00.000-08:00

After a grand total of ninety-five posts full of editorials, reviews, gritty iPhone pictures of my television and general blathering, it all started with Chrono Trigger turns one year old today. I never imagined last January when I started this project that it would turn into one of the more meaningful things in my life. To be completely honest, I started writing as an escape from the hum drum of routine life, believing that adding a reflective element to an otherwise solo interaction would enhance the experience and keep my creative juices flowing. But over the past year it has become so much more. I have met so many great people who have been nothing but supportive and encouraging, received positive feedback from peers and found unbelievable happiness with no aspirations or ambitions simply beyond the act of playing video games and writing about it. And with 2011 already holding great promise, I am extremely excited to continue forward, recognizing that my tentative new hobby from last year has flourished into a place to explore new ideas and challenge myself to see video games from different perspectives, as well as an arena to continue recovering the writing skills that lay dormant for ten years beyond college graduation.

Happy Birthday, it all started with Chrono Trigger! I got you a cake! When you blow out the candle, please ensure your wish is that we spend another year avoiding the wrath of SquareEnix and Nintendo by brazenly using the name of one of their games in an individual player review blog without caring about any potential consequences.

http://www.itallstartedwithchronotrigger.com

Being Enslaved

2011-01-18T19:36:00.000-08:00

I firmly believe that I am falling in love with cinematic games. Graphics have never been better, Guillermo del Toro is hard at work on a trilogy, and although Alan Wake wasn’t as successful as it should have been, I believe it was a great example of a game genre that I have started calling Cinematic. If you take out the long strolls through the woods fighting possessed lumberjacks with a flashlight and a revolver, Alan Wake would have made a great, twist-happy film. The narrative was as engaging as any movie, but because it wasn’t a movie, it stumbled under the interactive and varied pacing of a player controlled game. The writing, although a tad abstract, seemed more expansive than the game mechanics allowed it to be, and if you didn’t soar through the entire game in one sitting a lot of the emotional investment tactics were lost. Imagine yourself sitting at a campfire with a group of friends surrounded by towering trees and flickering shadows. You are listening to someone tell a totally gripping and terrifying ghost story. But partway through the story, the narrator gets up to eat dinner, go to the bathroom or hell, even leaves for work for eight hours and then comes back to continue the tale. The tingling, anticipatory feeling is sort of lost at that point and the story starts to look jumbled and confusing. Luckily, Enslaved doesn’t have this problem. Loosely based on an old Chinese allegory and co-written by Alex Garland, the literary genius who wrote 28 Days Later and The Beach, Enslaved’s narrative also has a cinematic quality about it, especially because the story is so much more engaging and fluid than the more interactive, mechanical elements.

Enslaved introduces you to Trip, a technologically inclined teenage girl (who also happens to be a ravishing redhead), and Monkey, a Neanderthal-like giant of a man that she takes prisoner via a headband intended to control slaves. Trip and Monkey live in what appears to be a post-Apocalyptic New York City, and bear marks and scars to support the hardships associated with it, but since a large part of the game looks like it takes place in New Mexico, I am going to assume that the United States split up the middle during the war against the machines and overlapped. After a devastating plane crash they both survived, Trip now needs to be escorted home to her village beyond the Wasteland (New Mexico), and has forced Monkey to protect her along the way via the headband. Normally, escort missions are tedious and dull because following someone around means walking at their slow, NPC pace, but fortunately, as an AI partner, Trip is pretty nimble on her feet and the two work together extremely well. As the story progresses the two characters build a relationship that becomes tenderly dependent on one another, both physically and emotionally, forcing the player to invest the same way in them as you would while watching any great film. Cut scenes are delicious and highly anticipated. I won’t spoil anything, but a few of the intense moments of peril or decision making between the two made my romantic heart jump into my throat. I cared about the culmination of their journey just as much as they did, even though I wasn’t anywhere near the rust-covered landscape they are traversing. The writing is fantastic, and the voice acting even better. After playing the lugging, half-English, half-American, all horrible, monster that was Arcania, it is absolutely refreshing to listen to the banter between this unlikely duo.

Enslaved is set in a world where, absent of most humanity, Mother Nature has begun reclaiming the landscape. Whereas other games along the same theme show desolation, this one blooms with green grass, and red flowers wrap around old lampposts and creep up crumbling cement structures. Tiny blue butterflies flit about all of old New York and trailed alongside Trip and Monkey for awhile in the first few chapters. There is a serene beauty in the stillness of an abandoned concrete jungle that Enslaved captures perfectly. And because of their isolation, it becomes easy to imagine captive becoming captivated and vice versa.

So, cinematically Enslaved is wonderful. It has a protagonist, mechanical villains, a quirky damsel in distress, a captivating plot and an ending I didn’t see coming for miles. I actually teared up in Chapter Thirteen. But, just like Alan Wake, it’s beautiful qualities get bogged down in its mechanical and game play aspects. Monkey moves like a dream, but can’t jump off of a four foot platform unless you are standing in a particular spot. The camera lets you control it completely half of the time and gives you tunnel vision the other half, which is infuriating. The game requires you collect ‘tech orbs’ which are glowing red balls spread throughout the landscape that function as currency to upgrade your combat skills, health, shield and weapon, but every time you go off the path to wander around collecting them all, Trip is constantly calling out “Let’s get going, Monkey”, or “Come on, Monkey.” Um, I would, but the game wants me to incessantly collect these things, so I’ll be there in a minute. The combat switches between melee bashing and tactical area clearing and is consistently simple; Monkey uses an electrified staff that stuns and bashes mechs from here to next Tuesday. His staff also has two ranged settings, electricity to stun and plasma to fire, which is actually fun and handy. Most of the central movement is platforming, which is ridiculously easy unless you are standing on something that is crumbling underneath you (remember, post-Apocalyptic). I found the most interesting trick up Monkey’s sleeve was his Cloud, a quick little hover board that could glide over toxic water and pebbled ground with ease. I am not ashamed to admit that I whooped a couple of times while sliding across the water under the bridge in Chapter Five.

With only fourteen chapters, Enslaved isn’t terribly long-each one takes about an hour or so. Despite my problems with the camera and some of the controls, I was quite satisfied with the experience and would highly recommend anyone with a love for quality story-telling and character development in video games to spend a day with Trip and Monkey on their journey to the west.

http://www.itallstartedwithchronotrigger.com

Handhelds

2011-01-12T19:25:00.000-08:00

Confession: I feel fairly apathetic about handheld systems. I have tried numerous times to turn my DS Lite into something other than a larger way for me to play puzzle games on plane rides, but after a few valiant attempts at playing more substantial RPG-like games, it always ends up back on the shelf next to a little black pouch containing my original GameBoy. Last summer we were going on a fairly sizeable road trip and I asked Matt if we could stop by GameStop so I could pick out a couple of DS games because I was determined to spend some time with my lonely handheld device. I bought a Prince of Persia: the Fallen King and Meteos. I played a few levels of PoP, never opened Meteos and before long my newly charged DS was back on the aforementioned shelf, slowly leaking its ability to turn on without having to be plugged in again. I always pack it in my PAX-bag to laugh at dirty Pictochat pics (32 going on teenage boy), but ultimately, I am just not a tiny screen kind of girl. I prefer the feel of a controller in my hand while my eyes stay focused dead ahead on our 60” television and my surround sound serenades me with in game symphonies. My iPhone gets way too much attention, but most of it focused on various social networking sites, my Google Reader app and figuring out ideal movie times. I recently purchased Drop7 during a Child’s Play draw and have been lazily playing it while listening to the television or sitting on the bus, but the really epic iPhone games that 60% of the Western world are staring at devoutly RIGHT NOW, WHILE I TYPE THIS have passed me by. Wait, hang on-I did play three levels of Angry Birds before realizing just how idiotic it is and deleting it. And I do have an ongoing Scrabble game with my mom via facebook at all times using the mobile app. But that really is the extent of my tiny screen gaming. All of the other games in the photo below get little to no face time and haven't been removed largely because I paid actual pennies for them.

So it’s baffling to even me that I suddenly have an interest in the rumors and speculations regarding the PSP2. I am going to have a bit of extra funds to put towards something pretty for myself in the near future, and instead of shoes or earrings or whatever the girls are buying themselves these days, I want something video game related. I rarely buy anything superfluous for myself over $50 unless there is a dire need for it (like the new Xbox slim we bought when our old one bit the dust-that was clearly an emergency), so wanting a small piece of machinery that will cost hundreds of dollars is a pretty big deal, especially if you factor in my history of ignoring handhelds shortly after acquiring them. But something about the rumors floating about in regards to the prototype models and specs has my attention. I think the idea of multi-functionality interests me most, even though I know Sony has yet to release any real information about it. But to compete in the world of the iPad, I am sure they have some tricks up their sleeve to make it fancy enough and the screen big enough (hearsay!) to warm my anti-tiny screen heart. I also feel as though if I invest the money myself (my DS Lite was a gift) I will baby the hell out of it and try to play it as much as possible, considering how I normally feel about buying unnecessary items for myself (Stay out of debt, kids!). Beyond functionality and the various ways you can use the PSP2 (movie player, rumored e-book reader, obvious zombie apocalypse communications device, etc), however, my choice also depends on what titles are in the backlog and which ones are announced at launch. I know that Matt would love to play Valkyria Chronicles 2 and I am curious about Ghost of Sparta, so at least we are a couple of games in to justifying the potential investment (assuming it's backwards compatible, of course, which would be ludicrous if it turns out not to be). I am going to start doing some research and listening to the information pulse as it gets closer to the fall season, when this little gadget is rumored to be revealed to the public.

http://www.itallstartedwithchronotrigger.com

Good Omens & Puzzle Games

2011-01-06T22:33:00.000-08:00

Valve sending out a press release including the cover art for Portal 2 is a pretty good sign that it will actually be in stores in April. I am really, really excited for this one. Interactive co-op modes that are playable in the same room, on the same television, are few and far between unless you count all of the puzzle and 2-D shooters available on XBLA, so this is a game that Matt and I are looking forward to playing as a team. When we were at PAX, the gentleman presenting the demo said that they were excited to learn that people were playing the original Portal together. While progressing through a puzzle, if it became too complicated for the person in control they would often ask the advice of another or pass the controller over to a friend or partner eager to take a stab at it. From that feedback they created a full cooperative two-player experience alongside the new single player story. I know that I will play both, even if during the single player experience I still end up passing the controller to Matt to figure out some of the timed puzzles. My main problem is quickness of movement. I can usually parse together the structure of how I am supposed to solve a room, but often have problems when it involves pushing a switch, running to platform and leaping across an abyss to slide through a doorway before the switch disengages. I would blame my old age, but since my fiancee is a few years older than me and has no such problems...

And speaking of puzzle games, we also downloaded Halfbrick's Raskulls last week and both caught what I like to call 'Video Game Tourette's (VGT) from playing it. (No offense intended to people who actually suffer from this debilitating disorder.) Raskulls has a variety of puzzle formats in it using adorable little costumed skull-faced characters and cutesy humor usually involving hitting someone with a half brick. I really like a few of the puzzle formats, such as racing and one that requires you keep a certain number of 'zaps' in order to successively break a top to bottom room full of multi-colored blocks in the correct order. But the crazy difference in pacing between the puzzles can be calming or rage inducing, depending on whether you are moving from one where speed is a determinant to one where deliberate choices are the objective. And the VGT enters in full force when you continue to play the same puzzle a hundred different times without success. My favorite little Raskull is the pirate, shown in PAX pin-form above, who is available in the multiplayer format and dances to a little sea shanty when you choose him. I didn't get a chance to test it out during the convention and have only made it to Chapter Two in the game because I hate migraines and continue to love my couch and living room windows, but I am sure it will be a great party game. Raskulls is now available on XBLA.

Playing SouthEnd's ilomilo is as peaceful as Raskulls is excitable. The graphics are gorgeous and the puzzles fairly simple. The two lead characters, ilo and milo, meet together in the park every day for tea, but often forget the way to their favorite meet up spots and need some help reuniting. The picture book story compliments the visuals, the controls are tidy and the environment welcoming. The puzzles themselves consist of connected blocks, floating in the air, with ilo stuck on one side and milo on another. The player must reunite them using the blocks in a particular way according to the nature of the dilemma, switching back and forth between the two in order to accomplish the task. For example, there is a special block that the player must pick up to fill a gap in the pathway, allowing either ilo or milo to complete the trail and greet each other once again. Gravity can be manipulated using a block with a little red carpet draped across one side, and another contains a trap door to carry you to the underside of the block formation to explore every angle of the structure. I am so in love with ilomilo. The colorful graphics and 3-D environment flow together extremely well and there is even a collectible element to engage the player more firmly into the story arch. ilomilo is now available for download via XBLA.

http://www.itallstartedwithchronotrigger.com