The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim- Real Fantasy: Not An Oxymoron, After All!

 

     “Is anyone else as absurdly excited as I am about this game?” Seems a difficult question to answer these days. Gamestats.com’s Top 10 Most Popular list puts Skyrim at #8. Their Xbox 360 list ranks it at #3, as does their list for the PC, but the PS3 lags far behind at #24. How odd. Skyrim doesn’t even rank in Gamespot’s Most Popular list.

     What on earth is going on? Has anyone even watched this?

Remember Oblivion? After this, you won’t.

 

     It hasn’t been the topic of much discussion, but I’ve noticed the most in these videos is the striking difference in animation quality. Characters move across the ground with real, convincing weight and strides, the action has finally surpassed the robotic rhythm of Morrowind and Oblivion, and even more telling, the fighting is much more interactive and dynamic. I’m thrilled to see that damage looks less like an algebraic equation and more like physics. Everything feels so organic! Heck, I’ll even embed a video of Oblivion for a comparison:

Gotcha! Okay, but really, this spoof is spot on.

     Physics-bashing aside, it is great to see the Elder Scrolls series continuing the standard of excellence it has achieved. Some new elements to note:

• The inclusion of dragons, in case you hadn’t noticed.
• Dragon Shouts! Watch the gameplay video carefully- when the Dragonborn shouts, there’s an actual aura. Apparently it inflicts damage. KEWL
• Real sneak attacks. We’re not talking robotically stabbing an enemy in the back and watching him groan and fall over like a felled tree- throat slices!  

      Well, that’s all I have to gush about at the moment. Let’s all look forward to killing the Adoring Fan over and over! …Oh, and some dragons.

New Contributor!

 

     Before moving on to the next moving, relevant and entirely pertinent topic, I’d like to acknowledge the appearance of a new writer on my blog. TheSugarRay has a tendency to wax philosophical on the more literary areas of entertainment- however, don’t be surprised if he touches on everything and then some. Just make sure not to confuse my writing with his- he gets jealous. Of course, so do I, for the record.

Thoughts on Narratives

Ever since games moved past the pure skill and guts stage of Contra and the story in games has become increasingly more important. Many times games are even graded down for having a shallow storyline. Some critics may be too hard for expectantly more than two dimensional characters out of every game. Typical stories in video games only serve as an excuse to kill things, jump around on platforms, and solve puzzles. Tetris Plus' story was a professor and his hot anime assistant are trapped in crypt and need to solve puzzles to survive and that’s all it needs, actually, it might have been a little too much story. Not every game is going to have witty dialog and real feeling characters like clerks or anything written by Woody Allen.

This being said, games that focus on story better blood well have good ones. Stories do have rules that need to be fallowed in order to qualify. Plot usually accompanied by a theme or several overtone themes. The plot is what happens. The Animaniacs, as the theme song announces, is about crazy siblings escaping from a water tower. Themes sublet and not so subtle are messages and ideas in the plot that are related to the genre of the story. Genre is the job class of movies and can be predictable because they fit the genre archetype. It isn't a horrible thing, being predictable. In Shakespeare's plays he gave away they end in the opening lines and if that wasn't enough constantly foreshadowed the ending. Tragedy, the protagonist dies-sad. Comedy, everyone gets married- happy mood, any sadness or discomfort from of a character is funny. Drama, about personal character conflict heavy handed with emotion- the mood is usually messy. Good stories have complex characters; they are not completely good, evil, smart, stupid, or any extreme. Like in DnD stats the idea is balance. A story can get away with a larger-than-life character if there is a huge glaring weakness. Superman is not a balanced and could only become balanced if his weakness was something more than magical items and kryptonite. The phrases cookie cutter or two dimensional (that I've used) mean that the character balance is stereotypical or there is no balance like the big strong character that is stupid. The protagonist, often referred to as the hero,

Enough of my expectations, to the point of Grand Theft Auto, The first game was focused on the sandbox. Do what you want and the character won't object because he is a mute pipit to your desires. This worked because in order have an character do the crap that we do in GTA they would have to have almost no character like cloud from GTA3, be a egotistical maniac like in Tommy Verceti, be deprived and conditioned like CJ, or be really Fscked up like Niko.

Sparkly Retro Magic: Part 2

 

Touching back on my previous post, I'd like to summarize what made Mega Man 2 so great. Just like any good story, a video game requires pacing to keep the player interested. Given the limitations of that era's technology, the Mega Man franchise on the NES excelled in continuously interesting the player with new abilities and not revealing too much at any given time. Generally the player was given a single new ability after defeating each level. Of course, there were other ways of pacing the game to reveal just enough at any given point in time, but for a game like Mega Man that had separate levels within a menu structure, a new ability per level was a natural way to maintain player interest.

     Mega Man 2 was also one of the earlier games to exhibit non-linear game progression. As mentioned before, the player was given a variety of levels to choose from in any order they wished. However, defeating a certain boss was usually easier using a certain weapon they were weak against. Navigating levels in Mega Man was not unlike a puzzle- trying different combinations to find the path of least resistance. There is a surprising amount of dpeth to be found in this simplistic structure.

    

The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past is one of the finest classic examples of fantastic pacing. However the structure is far removed from games like Mega Man. Whereas Mega Man gave you a level menu to choose and rewards you based upon your completion of that level, Zelda gave you an open world- you rely totally on your own exploration skills to find new items and progress. I suppose, in that sense, it is not best to refer to the game's progression as "pacing"- because in reality, the game waits for you to make the decision to progress. A Link to the Past is in my opinion, one of the best Zelda games- because it is a full world, so to speak. At every turn there is new content to interest and engage the player, each new item or event complimenting his overall quest. It never feels broken or disjointed. Rather, the game is an uninterrupted whole from beginning to end in a single, expertly interwoven story. Unless, of course, you can't complete a quest- then you'll run around frantically like a bee with no hive and eventually regress into controller-flinging rage. The temper tantrums are your OCD's fault, though, not Zelda's.

On a related note, is it kosher for me to insult my reader? Oh well, too late.

     If you're interested in purchasing a copy of either of these games, you can find both Mega Man 2 and The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past on the Wii's Virtual Console. If you're cool, you can also find them on their original consoles.

Because Cleaning Up Squished Diapers Off The Cement Is Not Anyone's Favorite Pastime.

     

    Over the past year, in between my frantic search for a stable income and the bustle once I ad found that income, I have been working towards a hopeful future in video game development. FatHat Games has just released the PC version of Baby Savers, a game initially released for Android phones back in September of last year. Go to Kongregate.com and try to beat TheSugarRay's current high score of 4,056. That's just pure insanity.

Baby Savers on Kongregate

     If you haven't heard of Baby Savers, it is an arcade-style game in which you control firemen holding a trampoline- and your goal is to save as many babies as possible as they fall out of a burning building. While that pretty much summed up the entirety of the gameplay for the Android 1.1 version, We are spicing things up a tad with the PC version. Watch out for the debris that will catch your trampoline on fire. We've also included music tracks ( and there are more on the way) and a day/night cycle.

     ...Are you waiting to hear me blather more? GO PLAY!

Sparkly Retro Magic

 

      Between working a shift at my job that cuts out the center of my day like the hole in a donut and spending time with my lovely wife, I don’t play video games as much as I would like. However, seeing as how I am a compulsive, near-obsessive over such things, perhaps that’s for the better. That being said, I have had a little time to shovel into my thick retro video game past, thanks to a sinus infection that has rendered me unable to walk several feet without losing my breath.

Longevity

No, actually, I’m not talking about Sean Connery- although, while I’m talking about him- that man knows how to age. *ahem* ANYway, I’m referring to many titles from a few generations earlier in this little medium we call video games. These are games that, like Sean Connery, only get better with age. Allow me to enlighten you.

 

 

     This picture just made a paragraph title superfluous.

Here’s some things you need to know about Mega Man 2:

- Mega Man 2 debuted on the NES (Nintendo Entertainment System) on December 24th of 1988 in Japan, and was released in mid-1989 in North America.

- This game was the first well-received installment of the Mega Man series. The original did not fare well in sales- as to why, I have no idea. I mean, robots were the SHIZ in the 80’s. *ahem* actually, the first game was incredibly difficult. Mega Man 2 expanded on the gameplay, giving you more weapons, better graphics, and easier levels( for all of you PANSIES).

-Mega Man 2 contains some of the most memorable video game themes of it’s generation.

    Mega Man 2 Intro

    Dr. Wily's Castle

    Heat Man

 

     This game continues to impress with its simple, smooth, challenging gameplay, inspiring music, and colorful art design.

 

*gasps profusely* I really need to stop getting up for food. I’ll be touching on more classic games later.

I Guess I Do Still Post, After all...

Sorry to all my faithful readers! 

     *crickets*

     Okay, maybe not. Regardless, apologies to whoever may read. I've recently been through a whirlwind of life-complicating events that involved a lot of me not posting on my blog- also, laziness doesn't help. 

     On a personal note, I am happy to mention I will be getting married on Oct. 9th to an especially morbid, creative, sometimes brilliant girl. 

     To get back in the grind, let me briefly touch on some past topics. 

     The Old

    

     Halo: Reach

     Assuming that there were people that agreed with what I said regarding Reach's worrisome grapple/melee scheme, fear not. To be honest, I feel like a fool for questioning Bungie's design prowess. Reach is Bungie's magnum opus- Not only has the combat been fine-tuned, but the game itself is beginning to look and feel like what it has been touted to be- the last great Halo game. Everything that you loved about Halo has been painstakingly shined and polished to perfection, when unique new concepts aren't being ladled out with a 5-gallon bucket. The inclusion of the kick-butt magnum pistol is a testament to Bungie's open ear to their fanbase. Forgeworld was a brave, awe-inspiring move by Bungie- a massive level that dwarfs everything you've played through online in Halo before. Even better is Forge 2- the creation aspect of Halo is becoming less limited with every installment. However, Bungie has mastered the art of working smarter as well as harder, and this is evidenced by the editing options included in Forge 2. Such options as phasing- so the objects you edit can be fused with the environment, terrain editing (I'm totally making a Hello Kitty stone fortress, just because I can), and even some new physics toys (Who's game for a little arbitrary gravity?). All in all, mid-September just can't come fast enough.

      The New

    

Subzero decided it was better to let baby Reptile feed himself after he acid vomited all over his armor. 

     

     MORTAL KOM-waaaaaiiit a minnit...

     I have to confess- I freaking LOVED Mortal Kombat, even as a kid. Actually, especially as a kid. I mean, what boy doesn't love gratuitous blood and gore packed in a game with ninjas, thunder gods, robots, and lizard men? 

     Only the effeminate variety, and their gender is in question. Gamescom, E3, and PAX have all said the same thing to me: Mortal Kombat is back, and Ed Boon is finally through playing silly games. Maybe I could've reworded that better, since the majority of this blog is about silly games, but... I digress. In other words, no more torture experiments to put MK through- the series is going back to its roots in spectacular, gloriously detailed form. Here's a few things we know about the newest incarnation of the MK franchise:

     -The game is going to be a 2D fighter. Obviously the environments will remain 3D. This allows not only for  a nostalgic, streamlined game, but it frees up space for more detail in the enviroments. Seriously, go check out a video for MK if you haven't- it looks hotter than habanero peppers.

     -The game is set to release later this year.

     -There is a renewed emphasis on gore. Watching the characters become beaten and bruised was impressive. There's even a x-ray slo-mo so you can watch bones crack in high-def. Awesome.

     http://www.qj.net/qjnet/news/mortal-kombat-pax-2010-scorpion-vs-sub-zero-gameplay-video.html