Random Encounters in Imaginary Realms

Ramblings for Summer 08

nobody@vox.com(Random Encounters) — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 10:53:32 -0700

And now for a random post!

Nepotism and Shoddy Voiceovers go Hand & Hand. I understand cost cutting needs. You could probably get some insane anime fans at a community college who dream of being voice actors to do the job for a beer or something.

Game Stop has been liquidating some of their floor sample copies of games for 50% off or so. These games were opened and placed on shelves for players to peruse.

Given the success of Age of Conan, I'm curious to see if Capcom will localize Monster Hunter Frontier to English. It simplifies the number of attacks you can use which I like. The use of timing, positioning and attack choice looks rich, which I also like. Oh MAN it's bloody too! Blood isn't a huge turn off to me, but I don't seem to go seeking out the bloodiest games I can find anymore.

I'm being cautiously optimistic about a job I recently interviewed for. I had 2 good prospects; one was a long shot for a senior position. The company liked my potential, but in the end they really did want someone with at least twice my experience. I knew it was a long shot, I'm glad that I made it as far as I did. So I'm down to 1 really super prospect that fits my experience and will help me overcome a lot of my present shortcomings. I so don't want to jinx myself for this position.

It's a week until Etrian Odyssey 2 comes out, I entered a contest for it. If by some random chance, I both win and have to buy a copy, no worries, Etrian 1 is fetching prices over MSRP on the gray market. Atlus has conservative print runs; buy early.

I'm enjoying Kotaku's review of Ninja Gaiden II. This is really what I'd like to see. No numeric score or letter grade, since they really don't make sense to me. How is a 98 game better than a 97, especially when they're usually entirely different kinds of games. Tell us what's going on, what works and why(yes, that is an opinion...) and make the reader feel ready to decide for themselves whether or not they want to buy, rent or skip the game.

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Turn Based Games - Why Are They Still Here?

nobody@vox.com(Random Encounters) — Thu, 08 May 2008 00:12:29 -0700

I understand the origins of turn based games. There was an era when your PC or game console had far less memory and CPU horse power than your pocket calculator, let alone your cell phone or some Happy Meal toy with a little game embedded.

Now, consoles are super computers. At least, by the definition of a super computer while I was growing up. There's a physics lab that uses Playstation 3s. That's a lot of power to compute all manners of events simultaneously. Regardless, decisions to make games turn based are still made. Why's that?

First, what exactly do I mean by Turn Based? The flow of the game is broken up into phases the player can discern or "turns." There's of flexibility as to when turns can occur and how much happens within a turn. Chess what I'd refer to as a rigid turn based system. You and the other player each alternate. There's no way that your opponent can move twice in a row; all players get an equal number of turns throughout the game up until a winner is declared.

I remember Final Fantasy Tactics considering itself a "semi-real time" strategy game. Really, what this game does is shuffle turns about, making them depend on the in-game characters' relative speeds. If character A is twice as speedy as character B, A gets twice the number of turns as B in a given time frame.

Simplicity.
This has to be the biggest strength of making gameplay turn based. It's a sweeping generalization, which I'll break down.

One Thing at a Time.
By definition, turn based is a sequence of well defined phases of gameplay as mentioned before. In a sequence, the next item doesn't start until the in-progress item has finished. Think of it as series vs parallel processing. The player can devote all of their attention to what goes on in this particular turn. Not to say that what will happen in the turn isn't necessarily going to be complicated, but by focusing the player on a certain phase, the game's "signal to noise ratio" goes up.

Allows for Strategic Thinking
I did not want to paint myself into the corner by saying that Turn Based is inherently more strategic than any other play style, but a lot of turn based games I enjoy make it easier to assess information and make decisions based on the long term of the battle than a real time strategy game.

Pace Control
The player has it. My friend's sister sticks to RPGs with turn based combat. Why? She's got 2 crazy children that could wreak havoc at the drop of a dime. Hitting a "pause" button doesn't enter her mind when junior is sticking his fingers precariously close to a wall socket. While this is a very extreme case for the benefits of a turn based system, allowing more player control of how fast the game progresses certainly has its benefits.

Ease of Prototyping
At least, in theory, it's easier to do a paper game based off, say, Final Fantasy 7 than it would be, Star Craft. Punch some buttons to calculate who goes first then start dishing out the damage. This is more of a development related issue, as I doubt that the masses out there will go forth and create a Final Fantasy 7 board game.

So, what are the weaknesses to Turn Based gaming? Pretty much, everything I mentioned before. As in, what makes turn based gaming strong can also be spun into a weakness. I haven't had a turn based game really engage me much these days, I've been gorging myself on realtime games such as shooters and RPGs with real time combat like replaying the previously abandoned Ys Origin.

Number, not Skill Driven
This has to be my biggest qualm of a lot of turn based games. I have a reasonable set of reflexes. When a monster charges at me and I see an opening to get away, I'll go for it. However, with most turn based games, this sort of thing gets determined for me by my character's agility or some other type of statistic. There are some games that mix things up like Eternal Sonata and give you chances to block and counter attack real time while the rest of the gameplay is turn based which works.

I'll have more on this, my thoughts about turn based gaming still feel a bit disorganized for my tastes.

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Games Worth Remaking

nobody@vox.com(Random Encounters) — Fri, 02 May 2008 16:02:50 -0700

I still love my old games. Not too long ago, I hooked up my Turbo Duo to play some Rondo of Blood on my regular TV. I don't know, I have the original, never bothered to play the PSP remake, even though I picked it up. Porting older games to newer systems has been nothing new, but when I talk about a remake of a game, I'm expecting more than a mere graphic and sound update. Fill some plot holes, at least the damaging ones. There's a fine line between a plot hole and just leaving something to the player's imagination. Do a re-translation, if needed. Symphony of the Night and Final Fantasy Tactics both have lines laughable like "Life is short! Bury! STASIS SWORD!" That "campy charm" is fun to laugh at now, but at the time of release, it was horrifying. Anyway, on to the list!

Final Fantasy VII. I loved and detested this game all at once. The background images were amazing but the character models looked like a pile of Tangrams. And at the time I played it, Cloud was more of an irritation than a suitable main character. Playing a game of "Chase Sephiroth" all over the place got old. And until Advent Children, I really wanted to punch Yuffie in the face.

With Advent Children, Crisis Core, Before Crisis, etc the Final Fantasy VII canon is larger than the one Shinra built. As much as the Materia system was cool and all, there were some cheesy exploits like taking 0 damage when defending, then as you defend, block attacks to another party member. These little things didn't break the game, but I'd take an FFVII that makes the most of all the wonderful, shiny CG of Advent Children along with the meatiest character development parts of all the FF7-set games outside of...well...FF7.

Phantasy Star IV. Sega made good with some remakes of Phantasy Stars I and II for the PS2 that have a retro vibe but make the games way more accessible. The difficulty curves have been ramped down from "every moment could be your last" to "Alys is a can of whoop-ass." Boss battles were still difficult, so don't let the ease of regular fights let you completely take your guard down. Of the traditional Phantasy Star games, IV is still the best of the bunch in my book. Well done story, characters and the best turn based combat system of its kind. Seriously, I enjoyed Etrian Odyssey, Lost Odyssey, etc, and all, but none of you thought to use PSIV's macro system. Shame on you.

Remake-wise, Phantasy Star IV would highly benefit from an expansion and re-translation. When I replayed the game about half a year ago, I was disappointed how short the game felt. That's always the case with good games, isn't it? Dungeons were maybe 3 floors, tops, side quests were easy "go buy this" or "kill that" quests. These ordinarily banal quest types were at least given amusing scenarios. If PSIV was to go the longer and more route, I'd also request that I be able to save my game anywhere. Otherwise, there's very little about PSIV's core that really requires updating.

Super Off Road & Motoroader. I remember playing the SNES version of this old game and loving the heck out of it. This racer shows you the entire course on one screen with an isometric view of the track and cars. The tracks may be cramped compared to other racing games, but the density of mayhem per pixelled tile is greater than just about any other driving game I can think of.
Motoroader is a Turbo Graphix 16-based battle racing game with a nice level of customization of weapons, etc. Throw the battle mechanics of Moto into Super Offroad's viewpoint and you'd have a delicious party racer that can be enjoyed locally or networked.

This game is screaming for online multiplayer. A graphical update that preserves the viewpoint and style would be welcomed. Physics, well, adjust them for fun if realism doesn't bring any.

Guardian Heroes. I think I'm effectively getting a remake of this game when Castle Crashers comes out, but hail to the original! This mult-path hybrid between Final Fight style Beat 'Em Up and RPG is and always will be a winner. Each player character has loads of highly animated special moves bursting with personality. The style honestly stands up to the test of time, but some monsters start looking fairly nasty when scaled up or down too far.

A lot of text in this game didn't get translated for the US release, notably when Kanon tells the story of how the Sky Spirits feared him, the origin of the conflict between the worlds and so forth. Wikipedia's article on Guardian Heroes states that Valgar was supposedly going to be a player character but got turned into a boss due to time constraints. If this is actually true(as he plays a very important role in the story) it'd be interesting to see what the plot would have been like had Treasure not had time going against them.

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Still strumming along...

nobody@vox.com(Random Encounters) — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 12:50:16 -0700

Job? Still looking. I did manage to score a few good leads at GDC, lost another lead(things seemed promising then I just stopped hearing from this one company.) I'm getting some game development out of my system. HUGE thanks to my friend Kyle for engineering and support. The game isn't quite playable yet but at least there's a source control system in place now.

Playing? The Japanese import of Etrian Odyssey 2(whether the game gets that name for a US release is beyond me.) I do love this quirky series of DS RPGs. They're markedly old school, but what intrigues me the most is how utterly well balanced they are. At one point or another, you are very likely to need just about every skill that the game boasts. In the first game, I actually had to stop and power level a new band of characters just to get past a very long series of battles. I had a party built to destroy opponents in a few turns but they completely lacked the ability to survive long fights. EO2 gets rid of a lot of the abilities that were "cheap" in the first game, makes a number of very useful abilities a lot easier to access. Players have a lot more freedom to tweak stats. I can now pile a bunch of points into agility for a typically slow character, allowing them to act first, etc.

Also playing through Lost Odyssey. What's with all these "Odyssey" games lately? It's...typical of a JRPG. Unfortunately, I think I've got a great big sign on my back that says "SUCKER" that only Japanese RPG companies can see. Not that I disdain Western ones(I am very impressed with Mass Effect, I might add.) I guess JRPGs are my equivalent of reading celebrity tabloid magazines. At least, very typical games like LO feel that way. There's plenty of JRPG gold that shouldn't ever be lumped with anything lesser. Or I'm just playing through it to pass the time until Tales of Vesperia or something really good comes my way.

Audio Surf. That Romanian disco track that we all know as the Numa Numa song is one heck of a stage! I've been sticking to Mono Pro(occasionally Ninja) and I still need to futz aroudn with the other play modes.

When I get money again, I'm picking up Bully for 360. And Echochrome for PSP.

I also have a strange bout of guilt. I know a game reviewer. Said reviewer had a game that wasn't their cup of tea. However, it was mine. After much frustration of being unable to pass this one mission, I was given the controls. The mission was hard, and I failed quite a few times. Later, I checked the game's official site. It touted some game mechanics that would make the player's characters more powerful. Possibly enough so to pass the mission. If this feature is so widely touted, why wasn't the reviewer able to pull it off? They sounded like they'd never heard of the mechanic.

To be fair, I wonder how this game taught the reviewer to use this powerful mechanic. If the game did at all. Then again, I skipped the Ring tutorial in Lost Odyssey. BIG mistake, given how integral they are to game play and doing well in battles.

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There are no Gods, there are no Heroes.

nobody@vox.com(Random Encounters) — Wed, 10 Oct 2007 17:56:48 -0700

It's bound to be all over the internet now, the ancient Rome themed MMORPG, Gods and Heroes has been canceled.
A lot of work went into this game, and to hear news of its cancellation is a huge disappointment for all of those involved. Studio Head Chris McKibbin posted the reasons up on the official GnH website here.

During my time testing Gods and Heroes, the differences between it and WoW were lost on me. Differences beyond cosmetics ones, that is. Run around as an RPG archetype from the earliest of pencil & paper games. Kill stuff. Watch numbers go up so you can go on to killing bigger, badder things. Those bigger, badder things also better be shinier. More particles. More light bloom. More rares to slave to.

For the love of online gaming. Really. There's got to be more to MMOs than just trying to knock off WoW. There's a lot of stuff that WoW does correctly. There are a lot of people on WoW. There are of course, a lot of people not on WoW.
Monster Hunter 3 is slated to hit the Nintendo Wii instead of the PS3. Interesting choice. What made the last Monster Hunter so outrageously popular on PSP in Japan is being able to play with your buddies. So has Nintendo finally got that whole Online Gaming thing together so you can easily get with your crew and roll or will we still have to deal with that per-console and per-game online friend code rubbish? Either way, by being on the Wii, Monster Hunter 3 might be something new to the world of online gaming. Or, as Zero Punctuation notes, probably not. And I agree with him this round.

Anyway. My main worry concerning Gods and Heroes is my friends who worked on it. I was quite close to the artist teams during my tenure at Perpetual. When you're looking for work, it's so much nicer to have shipped titles so you don't need to worry about violating Non Disclosure Agreements to prove your skills.

Best wishes, friends.

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Ideas and Evolutions

nobody@vox.com(Random Encounters) — Fri, 08 Jun 2007 13:56:12 -0700

When I was a kid, I came up with all kinds of game ideas. Mechanics, plot twists, you name it. I started playing video games at the start of the 16 bit era in consoles. Games were pretty darn simple then.

The idea of playing through a game as the good guy first then the bad guy, only to realize the bad guy really wasn't that bad then the good guy isn't really that good probably wouldn't fit into an 8 meg cart. Now thanks to CDROM that's no longer an issue. Space is cheap.

Have a game where your objective is to chart and explore unknown territories. Document the creatures there and how they can be useful as food, domestication, whatever. Some notable changes in input devices and again, another in storage space have made this childhood pipe dream a reality.

Did I actually get to make these games? Alas, no. Or I would really like to say, not yet. Other people have independently come up with these ideas and implemented them in their own games. When I played these games as a kid, I was livid! I wanted to be the one to pioneer the idea to market, not these people!

As a designer, not all of my decisions have been good ones. I directed the engineering team to make some strong changes with a game because I thought it would work. After playing the protoype with the adjustments I ordered, I would know if I was right or wrong with certainty. This little exploratory diversion cost money. Time for engineering, art and myself working to create and polish a tangible form of the idea.

When I see ideas I dream of in other games now, I breathe a sign of relief. Compared to some of the things I've read written fellow designers, I feel like I am an alien from another planet. Most other designers talk about "fully interactive stories" and "emotionally engineering the full experience." Boy was it nice to hear someone else in the industry say they wanted players to use their imaginations. Or, they didn't really care if a game isn't realistic, as long as it's fun.

I wanted to put in some kind of power meter that depletes if an attack button is repeatedly hammered upon. Odin Sphere does something like this, and when your power meter is completely spent, your chacter sits there dizzy. The power meter did succeed in making me plan my strikes better, but I thought leaving a character open to attack standing still would be a little severe so I'll just take that into consideration when utilizing the mechanic for my own purposes. I just got to enjoy a prototype created on someone else's dime.

Usually, it's children that are considered more creative and imaginative, as the harshness of reality hasn't hammered "impossibilities" out of their heads. Still, I guess it's amusing that I didn't truly consider my ability to take an idea, break it down and pick out the pieces I like, thus -to me- making it better.

It really is pretty amusing.

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Accessability questions

nobody@vox.com(Random Encounters) — Mon, 21 May 2007 18:39:39 -0700

I do have a game where matching things is part of the game's core.

Color is obvious. Shape is too, but then I don't want to make shapes too crazy since the use of physics would confuse players.

I was thinking of a combo of color and some kind of pattern. I wonder how much contrast I'm going to need?

Enough of that, experimentation time!

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What have you been playing?

nobody@vox.com(Random Encounters) — Wed, 13 Dec 2006 18:21:00 -0800

I've heard there are a number of people in the game industry who don't play games.
This is rather sad, especially coming from designers. Why waste your company's resources on trying something out if someone's already done it before? Even if you're playing games that are completely unrelated to whatever product you're working on, who knows. There could be lessons in UI, camera, etc. learned from playing other games.

I will hopefully beat Valkyrie Profile: Lenneth soon and view the almighty "A" ending. Man this game has an amazing amount of replay-ability but sadly, it has high chances of making users repeat crap grinding sessions they may not care to repeat. If someone was able to figure out how to do the A ending without any guides or FAQs, either they have amazing luck or fortitude. Or both.

Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin has been a load of fun too. This game is allegedly overflowing with secrets warranting a strategy guide purchase. I'll see how well I manage without one. I am liking the multiple character action big time. The touch screen gimmickry that irritated me in the first Nintendo DS Castlevania is thankfully gone. The sidequests I've beaten so far are quite amusing.

Gurumin: A Monsterous Adventure will be released in English come next Feb but I've been playing through my import. It reminds me of all the things I liked about Threads of Fate. Yes, I know ToF was a crap game but there are apsects of that game that have merit and are worth rescuing from the sludge. If you like Action or "Real Time Combat" RPGs, this game definitely warrants a look. I was hoping to finish this game before Ys Origin enters my life. Probably won't happen alas.

Phantasy Star Universe: Yeah, I'm a sucker for these darn "real time RPGs." I'd have to say between strategy RPGs such as Fire Emblem and action RPGs, you'd coverabout 80% of my absolute favorite games of all time. Sega gave me an action RPG that while flawed, I could enjoy with my friends. As I've seen from the crops of MMOs out there, a shitty game no one would dare touch as a single player game can be made enjoyable when you get to talk smack over it with your buddies. Behold the power of friendship - nullifies bad gameplay.

Metal Gear Portable Ops has the real time stealth action with friends that can wrench me away from Phantasy Star Universe. I just need more of my usual gaming crew to jump on this game. Alas, asking them to get PSPs just for this is unreasonable.

For those of you with Wiis, Gunstar Heroes is going to hit the Virtual Console soon. Now there's a great platformer I miss.

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Random+Mumblings=Ramblings

nobody@vox.com(Random Encounters) — Mon, 18 Sep 2006 00:17:42 -0700

Got an email from Apple Computer at work the other day. They've received my request and are looking into it. I wonder how much a debug iPod costs? I wonder if they'll force the company to buy a Mac? Everyone in the company except for the audio guy loathes Macs. Yes, even the artists. Both of the 3D modelers are some of the most vehement Macintosh haters in the company.

I'm somewhat of an artist and I've been doing some of my own concept art. The in-house concept artist is pretty amazing; part of me is morbidly curious what he'd come up with if I gave him a description of the main character's personality and the traits I'd want her to visually embody. There are some characters out there that really make me think "damn I wish I drew that first!" every time I look at them. Feeling like someone ran in and plagiarized your thoughts before you even got a shot to write them down has to be one of the most frustrating feelings ever. Especially when you're someone who takes pride in being creative and original.

I picked up a 2 gig memory stick for my PSP today. I need to transfer the save files from my 32 meg stick over. Times like this make me really wish the PSP would have 2 memory stick slots.

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