Sunday, April 26, 2009

Fighting Against Fixations

The Japanese Role Playing Games (JRPG) genre exists since the NES era. The first Final Fantasy games set the tone for the genre for years to come, and the concept remained the same for many years. However, there are some games that belong to the JRPG genre, yet they defied some of the core principles and the way we think about JRPGs. In this post, I will talk about two genre-defying JRPGs from two completely different eras: The first is Mother 3, to which I was acquainted by Michael Abbott, writer of the Brainy Gamer blog, in his post about the new fan English translation for the game (a post I will probably write about again in the future). The second game is The Last Remnant, for which I received a recommendation from the lovely Lauren Wainwright (also known as Atheistium).

Mother 3 is a sequel to a JRPG called Earthbound that was apparently was a big hit on the Super- Nintendo (SNES). Like many of the best games to appear on the SNES (Final Fantasy VI, Chrono Trigger), Earthbound also eluded me because of my location. Long story short, Mother 3 was never released in the English language, until now, when an amazing group translated the entire thing into English. So now, like most western gamers, I was able to play the game. Finally, I understand why so many people worked so hard on translating it, and why so many people love this game so much. The game has a unique writing style, with a quirky sense of humor that does not get in the way of the more serious parts of the story, some of which are truly emotional and heart breaking. It is a campy game, and it knows it, which makes it even more fun to join in.


Don’t expect fancy graphics in Mother 3, this is a GBA title.

What I want to talk about is how the game separates itself from other JRPGs. From the start, the game distinguishes itself from others in a few ways. There is no money. When you enter a store, you can just pick up whatever you want, as long as it is in stock. I was shocked to discover this, because it breaks one of the most fundamental mechanics of any RPG, which is to accumulate wealth. Mother 3, in an attempt to tell its story without compromise, eliminated that mechanism. No longer was I required to hold on to equipment I did not need just to sell it later. If I did not need something, I could just throw it away. To me, it seems like a brave design decision. The best part is that half-way through the game money is introduced into the game as part of the industrialization of society, but instead of making me feel more comfortable with the familiar mechanism, it made me feel… dirty. I think that when a game is able to make me accustomed to new mechanics for the sake of the story, and then for the same reason feel uncomfortable with the old and familiar mechanic, it is impressive. Not only did it defy the genre, it also made the “normal” mechanic less appealing (in the context of the game).

Another way Mother 3 does things differently is the battle system. Sure, every JRPG has its own unique battle system, but most JRPGs rely on grinding. It is true that you can grind your way through Mother 3, which is a legitimate choice. However, the game is designed in such a way that you do not have to grind your way through it. In fact, you don’t need to grind at all. Beating monsters in the game is like solving a puzzle. If you realize their weaknesses and exploit them, you can easily beat the monsters and bosses as they come. On the other hand, a fight that is not fought wisely can be very difficult, if not impossible, even if you did grind the hell out of your party. In any case, if you die, the game lets you continue from the last save frog (yes, frogs are save points) with all your experience and items in tact (as if you never died but only transported back to the frog). The game focuses on telling its story, and therefore does not want you to get stuck for too long on monster battles.

 
The Last Remnant is gorgeous to look at, and the PC version runs smoothly.

The second game, The Last Remnant, does the exact opposite of Mother 3. It is a JRPG for “advanced” JRPG gamers. The story in The Last Remnant takes second place to gameplay, which resembles western RPGs more than it does JRPGs. The Last Remnant is a new Intellectual Property (IP) by Square-Enix, which is the leading company when it comes to JRPGs, and are the creators of the Final Fantasy series. It is a game of epic proportions, designed to be on par with other great names such as Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest. It was released with many technical problems, which made many critics write it off as “average” at best, and I don’t blame them. The shameless way that companies, especially large ones, allow themselves to release defective games just so they can release them on time should not be encouraged, even if they are the biggest names in the industry. Nevertheless, a working version of The Last Remnant was released for the PC, and without the technical issues the game can be played as it should have been from the get go.

 
Where should I go now? The amount of possibilities can make your head spin.

So what could be so “genre-defying” about a game from a company that practically created the genre? First, as I said already, the game is not for beginners. Most JRPGs take you by the hand for a large chunk of the game just to get you started, and some of them guides you through a linear story for most of the game. The Last Remnant does not. It teaches you the basics of the game, but sets you free to do a lot of things that are unrelated to the actual story almost from the get go. In fact, it encourages it, but making you roam the cities and dungeons before calling you back to the story. Beginners to JRPGs may feel a bit lost and overwhelmed by the amount of possibilities. I found it rather refreshing to be able to explore so much of the game world almost from the start. The amount of side-quests is mind-boggling, and many of them are available early on. I would go as far as to say that, in this regard, The Last Remnant can be compared in gameplay to a western RPG.

The battle system in The Last Remnant is also quite interesting. Whereas in JRPGs you control each of your characters individually, in this game you control groups of characters (called unions). This makes it possible to conduct huge battles, and the battles in the game are spectacular for it. The downside is that when controlling a union, you cannot micro-manage individual characters. However, I am not really sure that this is a downside, because micro-managing the units in a large scale battle (of which there are many) could have been quite tiresome. While battles are very strategic in nature, many of your important decisions will be made prior to the battle, when creating unions and choosing formations for them. The battles themselves are fast and dynamic, and choices in battle can quickly determine the result. As with the exploration, combat in The Last Remnant could be difficult for beginners. Dying is not uncommon, even with constant grinding. Sure, grinding can make it easier to win some of the battles with brute-force, but the game is designed so that it is far more satisfying to win by using a good strategy, especially when it comes to tough, large-scale battles.

 
Large-Scale battles can be difficult to handle, but are spectacular to watch.

So these are two games from two completely different eras. They both somehow defied the JRPG genre, and mostly in a good way. I am enjoying these two games, partly because of the fact that they did something different, and showed that JRPGs do not have to repeat the same formula over and over again in order to be good. In fact, sometimes the old mechanics are just there because everyone are used to them (such as the linear JRPG storyline). I am glad to see that a big company, Square-Enix, took the chance on a JRPG that employs new battle mechanics and did not dumb it down for beginners. It probably hurt their sales, but it made me, and I assume other regular JRPG gamers, appreciate the game for providing a good challenge and not wasting hours on tutorials. As for Mother 3, I must say that to me it seems that the fan translation is amazing. Coupled with another fan collaborative effort to create an amazing strategy guide, Mother 3 was one fun ride.

Monday, April 13, 2009

Time is of the essence

TimeHave you ever experienced one of those times when you had the best idea ever only to find out that somebody beat you to it months ago, and then somebody else created something that is so much better than the original idea, that the original idea would be considered obsolete at best? No? Well, to me and a few of my friends it happened.

Consider to following setting: Four computer science grad students on a hiking trip, Coffeetrying to come up with an innovative idea for video game design. While drinking black coffee with the trees above and the flow of the water, an idea is born for a time travelling mechanic. Slowly, ideas formed into specifics, leading the naive men to believe that this was an idea that was meant for greatness.

Little did we (yes, I was one of those poor men) know that this neat little flash game was already on the market… Unbelievably, it was almost identical to the the game we formed in our minds, down to the smallest details of the time travelling mechanic and paradoxes! Playing it was just like travelling to the future and playing the game we designed just a few days ago. It was as if the creators of the game listened to our conversation, travelled back in time in a manner no so different from the one in the game and created the game before we even thought about it. Kind of a lame usage for a time machine though…

So somebody had already thought about (and implemented) our idea. Bummer. But here comes the good part: it didn’t matter. Enters: Braid. Braid was released on XBLA (Xbox Live Arcade) about two months after we had our “big idea”. Although it is considered an indie game, Braid was richly funded. The time manipulation mechanics in this game could, I am sorry to say, wipe the floor with our mechanics.


The trailer shows some of the mechanics used in this magnificent title..

Without getting into an artistic discussion, Braid is carefully implemented to include puzzles that are on one hand complex and diverse, and on the other hand accessible and satisfying. Each world in Braid employs a new time manipulation mechanism that is usually completely different from other worlds, and then immediately puts you in a position to use that mechanism to solve carefully planned puzzles. The puzzles were planned thoroughly and it shows.

I only played Braid for the first time when it came out on the PC three days ago, and I am enjoying every minute of it. This leads me to several conclusions to this story: First, if we want to design an innovative game, we need to think faster. Second, even though we came up with our idea too late, it was a good idea in retrospect. I can say this because, as I said, I can play a game that implements it almost completely. Third, if our idea is not as innovative as we thought, we could still create something that makes better use of it, just like Braid did.

Saturday, April 11, 2009

Princely DLC

Shady I have already ranted about shady Downloadable Content in a previous post. It seems that the big publishers keep on pushing the limits on how low they can go with ripping off their legitimate customers. This time, the record is set by Ubisoft, publisher of the newest Prince of Persia game.

First off, I have to say that I loved the new Prince of Persia. It is, to me, an amazing accomplishment. The flow of the game is fast and catches the essence of what the prince is all about. Paired with one of the nicest cel-shaded graphics in gaming history, production values in par with Disney films such as Aladdin and Hercules, and topped with genuinely loveable characters, the game is just breathtaking.

Princely Graphics
How awesome that this is an actual in-game screenshot?

Therefore, when I have heard about the DLC planned for Prince of Persia, I got pissed. No, I was more than pissed. I was furious. I will explain with as few spoilers as possible: The game has a rather bleak ending, with no real conclusion. Since Ubisoft had already established that the new game is to be a first of a trilogy (an annoying trend, but one I can live with), I was satisfied with the ending, hoping that the next two would deliver the conclusion to the story. However… the new commercial DLC released by Ubisoft is called Prince of Persia: Epilogue. Can you see where I’m going with this? The DLC is an extra portion that contains a more “proper” ending for the original game! This isn’t a real expansion to the game. It contains a couple of new levels and moves for the prince and a new ending sequence that actually makes more sense than the original ending. And they are charging 10$ for it! They are charging the customers additional 10$ for content that was supposed to be an integral part of the original package for which legitimate customers paid 50$/60$ (depending on whether they bought it for the PC or consoles) . It’s as if that the game wasn’t completed by the time Ubisoft released it, and now that they finished the rest of the game, they have the nerve to release it as additional content for money! It is almost like being kicked in the nuts by a porn star; She lets you watch all the good parts but then she kicks you in the nuts.

Yup... It feels just like this. 
It feels kind of like this

This is no less than a spit in the face of the customers by Ubisoft. Whereas companies like Valve are constantly releasing new maps and features for games they released years ago for free, Ubisoft intentionally cut the last part of their game, released the game and a few months later released that last part, charging no less than 10$ for it! There just aren’t enough words to describe how despicable this act is. I just pray that the majority of gamers, even those who loved the original game, would have the restraint and common-sense not to pay for this. We must draw the line somewhere!

Thursday, April 2, 2009

Not for Everyone

Watchmen

You could probably stop me from writing a Watchmen joke, but you are 35 minutes late.

I will start by saying that this is not a review. This post is merely my thoughts and feelings about the movie Watchmen. Although I would love to actually review a movie, It’s too soon for me to do that. So please keep this in mind when you are reading the rest of the post.

Watchmen isn’t a movie for everyone. I could find tons of reasons not to watch it. However, if you are one of those people to whom these reasons don’t apply, you are in for a great ride.

Superheros?

I have read the Watchmen graphic novel, and I loved it. I only first read it about two years ago, so I’m not your typical ‘hardcore’ fan. However, I do believe I was able to appreciate the book for what it is. That said, with the story set in an alternative ‘present’ (1985) with the cold war and the fear of nuclear war being the main threat to society, I probably couldn’t get into the atmosphere as far as I would if it was actually 1985. However, that did not stop me from enjoying the book and the powerful messages of the story, which hold up even today as very innovative and deep.

The End Is Nigh
I loved the 80’s version of the apocalypse

Watchmen is a story about people. You might think that it is a ‘superhero’ story, but it really is just a story about the fact that there is no ‘right’ and ‘wrong’. There were others who tried to convey that idea, but Watchmen did it spectacularly, with style and a lot of blood. Watchmen did not take any prisoners when dealing with violence and sex, so when I first heard about the movie coming out, I was afraid that it would be another Hollywood pg-13 adaption gone horribly, horribly wrong…

Horrible
Hollywood’s version of otherwise great stories…

My fears dissipated quickly though, for the movie has no restrictions when it comes to violence. That isn’t to say that this is a mindless gore film. The violence is tasteful and helps to convey the powerful messages of the story. The movie does, however, manage to stay as faithful to the book as possible, which makes it the one and only movie that I can whole-heartedly recommend on viewing without the need to actually read the book. It’s that faithful to the book. I know that this is a very bold thing to say about a movie. It is obvious that even a three-hours film cannot really contain an entire book with all of the little details and nuances, even if the book is a graphic novel which has less text than a typical book. Nevertheless, after watching this film, I cannot think of a better way of telling the story. The characters are as round as they are in the book, and the background stories fit perfectly into the timeframe. If anything, the movie may even surpass the book because of a breathtaking soundtrack. Never before did I encounter such a rich and fitting soundtrack in a movie, such that it enhanced my experience as deeply as the Watchmen soundtrack.

Rorschach
This is one of the good guys!

All in all, Watchmen is an amazing movie. However, if you are sensitive to graphic violence, this movie is probably not for you. It contains graphic violence which, in my opinion, is tasteful and powerful, but may not be for everyone. This isn’t a superhero movie, and it is definitely not for kids.

If you loved the book, you would probably love the movie, as it is very faithful to the book. For the same reason, if you read the book and didn’t like it, you needn’t bother with the movie. If you love rich and detailed stories and are not sensitive to graphic violence, then I recommend it.