More Originality, Please

When I was a kid I had quite a vivid imagination.  I could be a warrior rescuing a mermaid, and have fellow clansmen that could cast spells and conjure genies with bazookas.  I’d swing my baseball bat like a sword and use tubes of paper towel as gun barrels.

There were no bounds to my imagination.  I think that is why I eventually gravitated towards playing video games, because they had a way of taking me to the places I could only imagine as a child. 

But the more I play games these days, the more I realize that games are not keeping up with my ever-changing imagination.  Games keep revisiting the Greatest Hits of Imagination’s Past and it is becoming sort of tiring for me.

Characters both futuristic and (supposedly) fantastic need a new coat of mental imagery.  Worlds ostensibly far removed from Earth offer overly sexualized females with slender legs, ample breasts, and human like facial features.  No matter what color the skin or how misshapen the ears, these are all recognizable homo sapiens’ characteristics.  Where are the characters that have ten eyes, see with their torsos, and manipulate objects with their minds?

We have games set in outer space, the Wild West, and fantasy worlds with orcs and elves, or variations thereof.  Is there anything left to explore?  Many people right now are bashing The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword for being too derivative.  But these days, when it comes to fully envisioned game worlds and indigenous peoples, everything seems to be derivative.

Maybe there are no games worlds left to imagine.  Maybe it is a matter of taking existing worlds and reimagining them and forcing the player to experience them in different ways.  Or maybe not.

Xenoblade Chronicles encouraged me to explore the bodies of two vast titans, one mechanical and one biological.  I have to admit that I got a bit of a chill when wandering the vast plains of the Bionis torso and exploring the forests of its distant backside.  Granted, the game had a typical JRPG storyline, but the gameplay experience and the world itself were invigorating.

I would have loved to be in the meetings where Capcom decided that a reimagined version of Devil May Cry should actually be greenlit.  DmC, in the capable hands of Ninja Theory, looks to take Dante and the hellish environments we are all too familiar with and set them on their heads.  Who wouldn’t want to play a hack-and-slash game set in a warped, limbo version of contemporary cities that is constantly warping and evolving?

It’s easy for me to sit here and say that designer’s need to be more creative in engaging gamers in their worlds.  Yes, you still need the gameplay to back up the imagination, but there also needs to be more creativity from the outset, and you can build the gameplay and story off that.  Honestly, why are space marines and military soldiers always the last line of defense?  How often can Mario save Peach from Bowser?  And why must our heroes all look like Matt Damon instead of Garcia Hotspur?  More variation on that front would not be a bad thing.

And neither would genies with bazookas.  For sure.

You Should Go Play… Skies of Arcadia Legends

In some ways, Skies of Arcadia is a hard game to objectively judge. In the eyes of many Sega fans (myself included), it's more than just a video game, it's a symbol. And by virtue of appearing on the Dreamcast, it's almost automatically lumped in with the likes of Phantasy Star Online and Jet Grind Radio as the ideal, making it a shining example of Sega gone right. Basically, it's the personification of aching nostalgia.

Adding to the warm fuzzies of memories is the fact that, unlike the two games mentioned above, Skies of Arcadia never got a sequel. Instead, it got an enhanced port on the GameCube, substantially bolstering the console's scant library of RPGs while cementing the title's status as a classic. Fitting that it should be tagged "Legends," being as it was already a legend in the minds of most RPG fans by that point.

What's interesting is that Arcadia was never exactly a revolutionary RPG, even for its time. For one thing, not only is it fairly linear, it has quite a high number of random encounters. And its battle system isn't exactly a revelation either. But it's solid, which is really all Arcadia needs to be successful. It's the tried-and-true gameplay that provides a great foundation for Arcadia's real strengths -- its entertaining premise and its unabashed sense of adventure. Arcadia's is very much a back to basics approach, shunning the narrative mindscrews and brooding protagonists of the time for air pirates and fun.

As a result, we get characters like Vyse and Aika, who manage to entertain more by virtue of their fighting skills and love of treasure than any serious character development. They star in a story that's brisk and fun, offering plenty to do over the fifty or so hours that it lasts. Like the original Star Wars or Indiana Jones films, it's a throwback that's never really takes itself too seriously.

Unlike many other RPGs of its type, it manages to keep things comparatively fresh, throwing elements like ship-to-ship combat into the mix. Actually, many of my favorite moments came from those battles, not the least because it made me feel like the captain. It's one of my favorite feelings in the world, and one that's similar to the experience I had with another Sega game more recently -- Infinite Space. The latter is quite a bit deeper, but both made me feel invested in their respective ships, which is a feeling I crave. Whenever I get the chance to play Infinite Space these days, Skies of Arcadia is always foremost on my mind.

Beyond that, Arcadia is a gem of an RPG, one that uses its traditional mechanics as a springboard for providing a fast-paced, well-designed adventure. It may be old, but its time has hardly passed.

You may also recognize Skies of Arcadia as the work of the legendary designer Rieko Kodama, who also played a heavy role in the likes of Phantasy Star and the Sega Saturn's surprisingly excellent Magic Knight Rayearth. Arcadia represents some of her finest work, holding up rather well over the years despite a few visual rough edges. It's a fine example of an old-school RPG, proving that traditional mechanics work just fine if the concept is well-developed and entertaining.

Those who happen to have a Dreamcast around the house probably have a copy of Arcadia as well, if only because it defined so much of that console's RPG legacy. For the rest, there's the GameCube port, which can be found for relatively cheap online provided it's bought used. It's billed as an enhanced port, but the enhancements mostly extend to the faster load times, lower encounter rates and features like the wanted list. Otherwise, it's much the same, which is to say that it's darn good.

Legends makes for an excellent purchase for anyone wanting to fill out their Wii's RPG library. The Dreamcast may be long gone, but it's nice to know that Skies of Arcadia still has a good home even after all these years.

You Should Go Play... FF Tactics

Final Fantasy Tactics is considered by a classic by many, but by the new millenium it was in dire need of an upgrade. Classic PlayStation games were hard on the eyes during the PlayStation 2 era, but outside of a select few like Valkyrie Profile, they were positively unplayable on high-definition televisions. And that went double for Tactics, which eventually got so pixelated that even the text was almost unreadable at points.

Thankfully, Square Enix heard our cries of help, and responded with an excellent PSP port. In the process, the graphics weren't given much of a facelift, but that didn't really matter. The pristine visuals were improvement enough, making the classic tactical experience bearable while adding some lovely cutscenes for the bargain. Oh, and War of the Lions had the added benefit of being readable!

And when I say readable, I don't mean, "Now the text is legible." I mean that the original game had such an awful localization that most people couldn't even begin to comprehend the plot. How could they, when FFT was filled with gems like, "I didn't think the God made holy stones but... more evil... Well... Lucavi made them to land in this world..."

Even now, I have only a vague idea of what poor Ramza is trying to talk about. Believe it or not, there was a pretty good story hidden under text like that, it just took War of the Lions to help bring it out. The surprisingly mature story is full of political intrigue and tragic characters, standing apart from its own sequel as well as other Japanese fare with older, more complex characters. It's a trait that carried over to Final Fantasy XII, and both games are the better for it.

In the meantime, Tactics keeps the classic gameplay of the original PSOne game completely intact, with the secret being that it makes full use of the franchise's trademark Job system. It proves a perfect fit for the likes of Final Fantasy Tactics, the AP earned in missions providing the perfect catalyst to play one more mission. And with missions being relatively bite-sized, it's easy to plow through a load of them on work breaks and the occasional bus ride.

In many ways, Tactics proves itself a game that was always meant to be a portable experience, ensuring that the experience's depth never overwhelms as it is broken down to bite-sized chunk for easy consumption over a long car ride. It also proves itself an ideal fit for the PlayStation Portable, as demonstrated by the positively gorgeous cutscenes that accompany the introduction and other scenes. All that, and barely noticeable load times (at least, barely noticeable from what I remember).

Tactics ends up being something of a curiosity, because it's not a direct port, but neither is it a flatout remake. Rather, I tend to think of it as a homecoming of sorts, an end to the game's wanderings. Several years after its original release on the PSOne, I can't imagine playing it anywhere other than the PSP.

So why do I recommend it?  As one of the three best strategy RPGs on the PSP, Jeanne D'Arc and Disgaea Portable being the other two, there's really no reason that Final Fantasy Tactics shouldn't be in your collection. With the original being next to impossible to play in this day and age, picking up War of the Lions should be a given.

Tactics proves itself most at home as a portable game, soaking up dozens of hours with its quick and easy missions and deep character customization. And the remake throws in quite a few extras as well, making use of the PSP's extra power to offer some incredibly stylish cutscenes while offering new characters and other goodies.

All that's beside the point though. All you really need to know is that the original Final Fantasy Tactics is one of the best games ever made. If you go out to buy a PSP (but who knows why you would in this day and age), don't forget to pick this game up while you're out. For SRPG fans, and even those who are relatively unfamiliar with the genre, it may just be the most essential PSP RPG of them all time!

Zelda Magic

I can’t stop smiling. My stomach is full of butterflies. The memories of my childhood start rushing through my body. The anticipation is unbearable.

 For me, and for many other gamers, these are the feelings we experience before playing a Zelda game for the first time. It is an event. New console Zelda games don’t come around very often, so when they do, playing them is a momentous occasion.  But why is this? What makes playing Zelda games so special? What makes it so exciting? What makes it so beautiful?

Having recently started playing through The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword, I think I have finally figured it out. I think I finally understand what makes playing a Zelda game so magical and memorable.

In my opinion, no series in the history of video games has created a more inviting, wonderful, fantastical world than the Legend of Zelda series. Shigeru Miyamoto, the creator of Zelda, has always said he was inspired to create the now legendary series after wandering through the woods as a child and discovering a hidden cave.  This sense of exploration and discovery comes through in every Zelda game ever released. Whether the game takes place in the lush kingdom of Hyrule, the mysterious, haunting island of Koholint, or the doomed land of Termina, each setting in every Zelda game is full of amazing characters, stunning environments, and numerous secrets.  Every world is thriving with life. Every place has a history. Every character has a story. When playing a Zelda game, the world feels like it exists even when the console is turned off.

Nowadays, most videogames like to start with a bang. Whether the train crash of Final Fantasy XIII or the epic battle of Lost Odyssey, most modern videogames like to open with a loud, over-the-top set piece to get the action started.  With Zelda, there is no rush to overwhelm the player’s senses with any kind of visual fireworks.  The games just quietly start, most of the time with Link waking up in a small village, going about his normal day. Instead of forcing anything on the player, Zelda games awaken and let the player awaken with them.

 The worlds in Zelda games slowly start to expand as the player explores more and more. There is no need to reveal everything right away. If the player wants to explore a new, hidden village, the game goes along with them. If the player wants to stop and take some time to fish in a beautiful, serene lake, the game stops and waits with them.   Instead of the game dictating what to do and where to go, the player makes all the decisions. Or, at least, the game makes them believe they are.  And that is something quite special.

When I was younger, I used to go on tons of adventures with my friends. We used to fight dragons out on the playground at recess. We used to climb our school’s monkey bars to retrieve golden treasure from the towers of trolls. We used to fear for our lives as we climbed from precarious ledge to precarious ledge, trying our best not to fall into the lava right below us.

Of course, all of this happened in the confines of our school yard. And there were obviously no dragons. No treasures. No trolls. No lava.  But in our imaginations, it all existed.  With Zelda, this same sense of glorious adventure returns every time I play it.

I don't care how old I am, I know for a fact that I will always play a Zelda game and be able to lose myself in Link's fantastic, epic adventures. I am Link as he finds the Master Sword. I am Link as he scales the sides of Death Mountain. I am Link as he triumphantly holds the Triforce above his head.

 Every time I play a new Zelda game, I embark on the adventure of a lifetime.  I have this feeling when I play Skyward Sword, and I have had this feeling while playing through each Zelda title prior to it. 

When Miyamoto was a child, he discovered a cave in the woods. That moment was so special for him, that he remembered it for the rest of his life, transforming his memories into The Legend of Zelda.  Every time I play a new Zelda game, I discover that cave.  A cave full of magic and mystery.

The Skyward Sword Diary: Entry #3: (15 hours in) Yeah, so these diary entries are getting kind of dumb, in my opinion.  I think this is going to be the last one, since I don’t think anyone really cares about me praising a game that has already received tons of critical and fan acclaim.  Sure, Skyward Sword has some control issues, but it is still a fantastic game and I highly recommend it.  I’ll be sure to put forth my final opinion on the game before the year closes out.

My 3DS Rant

Nintendo, I really want to be able to play Ocarina of Time 3D, but you are making it increasingly difficult for me to justify investing in the current model of the 3DS.  And as die-hard of a Nintendo fan as I have been all these years, that is not a good sign.

REALLY BAD launch lineup?  Okay, most launch lineups aren’t that great.  The price drop however was pretty much the worst things have ever gotten – so soon and now the first money-losing hardware for Nintendo in years.  And now pretty much a complete backpedal on the 3DS hardware design?  To put it quite simply, I have not seen this much apparent loss of confidence in a Nintendo platform in such a short time, much less a handheld.

Maybe I’m looking back on the N64 and Gamecube with rose-tinted glasses, but that’s part of the point.  This is coming from a guy who stood by the N64 during that console generation, did the same for the Gamecube, and still owns a launch Wii.  Why?  Because Nintendo still makes some of my favorite games.

That should really be the point of it all.  The main reason I initially defended the 3DS against the Vita all this time is because it always had more games that I wanted than the Vita.  Bravely Default: Flying Fairy looks simply gorgeous.  Monster Hunter Tri G releasing in Japan means Nintendo’s pretty much got Japan on lock.  Super Mario 3D Land is supposedly one of the best games of the year.  I even want the Star Fox port and am interested in some other games like Ace Combat 3D and Shinobi.  I have never outright refused to buy a platform that has a great selection of games on it, but this is a new precedent.

I cannot in all good conscience purchase a platform knowing that within probably 12 months there will be a newer version that has much-needed extra inputs.  Yes Nintendo frequently revises their handhelds, but only cosmetically.  I didn’t even really have a problem with the 3DS only having one analog stick.  Developers (especially Japanese developers) typically design great games around things like that.   I stuck by Nintendo in the previous generations partly because they themselves had confidence in what they were doing.  I don’t see that anymore.

When I first heard the rumors of the second analog stick attachment, they sounded like Nintendo-hater trolling.  Now that they’ve been confirmed I’m starting to doubt less and less the additional rumors that next year Nintendo will relaunch the 3DS entirely with new hardware and a new name.  I’m almost ready to say that’s exactly what the platform needs.

It goes without saying that Nintendo has some explaining to do.  Other than Square Enix announcing that they will release Kingdom Hearts 3D tomorrow, I honestly don’t think there’s much anyone can do to convince me to buy a 3DS anytime soon.

 The next few months or so will be very telling of where the next generation of handhelds is going.

The Skyward Sword Diary: Entry #2:  After about 9 hours of play, I can still confidently say that Skyward Sword is one of my favorite games released this year.  The bosses (so far) are my favorite part.  Each one requires its own clever mechanic and each one utilizes the motion controls in a really compelling way.  However, I HATE flying around on my loftwing and I HATE trying to catch things with the bug net.  The motion controls for those two actions are much too wonky and unwieldy for my tastes.  Ugh!  But other than that, this game is really REALLY good.

On RPG Accessibility…

Accessibility is a big issue for RPGs.  The subject has come up quite a lot on forums around the internet, mostly as criticisms against games like Resonance of Fate, Infinite Space and Pokemon.

All of these games have somewhat oblique mechanics and can be difficult to understand without a guide or manual of some sort. But the games listed above don't offer much in the way of guidance outside of dense tutorials, and even those aren't always enough. The question is how much oblique mechanics hinder the overall experience of a game.

Let's start with Pokemon. It might seem like an odd choice for this list since the basic mechanics have long been capture a monster, level it up and kill some bad guys. Even at that level though, the game is more oblique than it really needs to be.

Pokemon is of course infamous by now for its hidden stats like "effort values," but let's put all that aside for a moment. The Pokemon games could probably benefit from a preview function that offers a complete list of moves that a given monster can learn. At the very least, being able to look the information up in the Pokedex would save a trip to the computer or the guide book.

The same sort of functionality would likely benefit breeding, which currently requires a fair amount of outside of research when it comes to passing along the proper moves in a chain. And, of course, it would be nice to know the difference between a Docile and a Mild Pokemon without having to resort to Bulbapedia.

Infinite Space's mechanics are similarly vague at points. While a rather extensive Help menu exists to take care of most of the basic questions, there are still points where it's easy to get lost without the help of a guide.

The poster boy for oblique mechanics is obviously Final Fantasy VIII and its infamous Junction System. The funny thing is that the system is not that hard to grasp -- most of it revolves around training up abilities like Strength + 30 on the attached Guardian Forces. It's just that it's all buried beneath layers upon layers of menus, so most people didn't even know that those skills existed, let alone that they were critical.

I don't believe that these are crippling problems, because there are plenty of hardcore players who are willing to keeping digging because they find the game interesting. And I do believe that it's possible to go too far in trying to ensure that the player grasps every bit of a system's minutiae, as was the case with Final Fantasy XIII and its interminable 20 hour tutorial. But I also think that part of designing a good game is giving the player the tools they need to succeed.

As an example, Shin Megami Tensei: Strange Journey has just the sort of preview function that would make a solid addition to Pokemon. When fusing, it's possible to see both the resulting demon and which moves would be passed along before I ever commit. On more than one occasion, I've found myself engrossed in just the possibilities, trying out every possible combination.

I think that's just one example of how an RPG designer can make the overall experience more satisfying. I can't speak for other people, but part of the reason I like RPGs is that I like parsing stats. If it's not clear what exactly all those numbers or terms actually mean, some of the enjoyment is diminished.

With that in mind, I want to stress that complex mechanics aren't automatically bad. Resonance of Fate has caught a lot of flack for being inaccessible, but that doesn't mean it ought to be easier. It's just the designers went the opposite direction of Final Fantasy XIII and threw players right into the fire. Consequently, it takes a certain amount of patience to get to the point of being comfortable with the battle system.

By their very nature though, RPGs are less accessible than the average action game or shooter. An RPG with an overly simple combat system risks being seen as shallow or even being branded as an "action game." Witness Mass Effect 2, which inspired much debate among genre enthusiasts as to whether or not it's actually an RPG (I maintain that it is, albeit of a different sort).

Basically, designing an RPG is hard. The more complex the mechanics get, the more care the designers have to take to ease in players without alienating them with overly lengthy tutorials. There are plenty of ways that designers can help themselves though, starting with designing a clean, easy-to-use interface that makes all the numbers as transparent as possible.

Failing to adequately explain the battle system doesn't necessarily make the game bad, but it will likely ensure that many players never get to the point where they can truly enjoy and appreciate it. That's a shame, because there plenty of worthy RPGs out there that probably aren't being properly appreciated because they are too oblique or difficult to understand for the average player.

Thus, there needs to be a pact between players and designers. Developers need to do a better job of explaining their wondrously complex battle systems, but players need to have some patience and give these games a chance. Given that, we can truly have the best of both worlds.

The Skyward Sword Diary: Entry #1: I’m loving it, so far (I’m 3 hours in).  The impressionistic art style is quite striking and the individual quirks of Skyloft’s denizens are just hilarious.  In terms of characterization and setting, I think this is my favorite Zelda title thus far.  I’d rather be able to use a standard controller to play the game, but after waiting 5 years for a console Zelda, I’ll take whatever I can get (even if it requires a bit more waggling than I’d like).

Skyward Sword! Ho!

This is it.  This is THE weekend: the weekend that The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword gets released in North America!  It has been a long time coming, that’s for sure.  I’ve been looking forward to this title ever since Miyamoto teased us with that little clip of artwork after E3 a few years back.

Anyways, I’m excited.  Also, I’m going to try to keep posting on here regularly even though I know I’m going to want to play Skyward Sword each free moment I get.  My posts for the next few weeks won’t necessarily center on my playthroughs of the game, but I expect I’ll type up some little nugget about my progress and attach it to each piece I write.  It’ll be a sort of Zelda “progress diary,” I guess.

So yeah, Happy Skyward Sword Weekend everyone!  Feel free to post your thoughts on the game here or anywhere else on the site if you feel the desire to do so.  I’m always up for some Zelda chat.