Blogging the experience of gameplayhttps://www.gamelog.cl/gamers/GamerPage.php?idgamer=489https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=3218Gameplay After trying my hardest to play the game the "real" way, i.e., react as I would if I were actually in the situation, and finding myself either ignored or punished by the characters, I opted for the "fun" way on subsequent plays. I've tested out nearly every curse word, every innuendo, and every ludicrous thing I could think of. Interestingly, not only does Trip and Grace's apartment lack a bathroom, they don't even seem to know what one is. I only succeeded once in convincing them to say something about food, but the AI cut the line short due to conflicting reactions, so I may never know if you can get them to feed you. I spent one run through standing in the hallway, insisting that THEY come to ME, instead of the other way around. Trip came out of the apartment, picked me up, and carried me to the front door, just so he could slam it on me. Oh also, if you botch up the first line, as I mentioned in the previous post, and get the door slammed on you, if you're fast you can rush into the apartment before the terrible collision detection catches up to you, and, if you so wish, the evening can proceed normally from there. But who would wish that? The reason why playing this way is more fun than playing the real way, the bizarre reactions of the characters aside, is because the real way involves a completely linear progression that the night HAS to follow. There is some variation in what the characters say, independent of the player's choices, and when exactly each stage happens, but the distinction between each phase is so distinct the game might as well be broken up into levels. But I suppose that would break the Facade. Any attempts to make real small talk, talk about yourself, or shift the subject at all from the vapid, predictable drama the characters engage in is met with confusion, frustration, or ignoring, on the part of the characters. The fact that the story progresses so quickly (an entire run through takes about 5-10 minutes, which means by minute 2, you're already knee deep in their emotional garbage), makes it feel even more unnatural. I tried my best on my first run through to claim myself neutral, stated clearly that the conversation was making me uncomfortable, and that we should talk about something else. Trip's response was "What? Come on, we're talking about Grace right now. Let's stay focused on the issue at hand." Design This game, on the surface, seems like something groundbreaking. "The computer actually listens to you, and exerts social reasoning!?" The sad truth is that, yes, that WOULD be groundbreaking, but that's not what's happening here. When the designer of this game gave us a lecture on narrative, he insisted that the right way of going about telling a story was not with "pixel collision" triggering off pregenerated elements of story, and that his game was the first move away from that paradigm. Yet all he's done is replace "pixel collision" with keyword collision. Instead of "If player kills X, reveal story element Y," or "If player enters room Y, reveal story element Z," it's "If player types 'sex,' play offended reaction." Granted, this is a more complex if-then statement, because the computer has to decide first if the character is offended, then which line of dialogue they've progressed to, and then how the overall story is effected by this. But the fact remains that each of these elements is pregenerated, and simply awaiting the correct collision to play them on the screen. Not to mention the fact that this isn't even a new idea. Text based games, or interactive fiction, is one of the oldest kinds of video games. If this game were not graphical (and to be honest the characters are so ugly and the movement of your avatar so clumsy I almost wish it weren't) then it would bring nothing new to the table. Indeed, it would probably be blasted, because the quality of the fiction is so terrible. It doesn't even feel interactive. It's more like an "observed fiction" with occasional, optional interjections by the observer. The influence you have on the story is so limited that the characters actually verbally sum it up for you at the end of the night. "You said I suck, you said Grace is stupid, you said 'Yes' (this is one is actually in there--a response to a question you're asked that is constantly and awkwardly referred to in this exact way: "Remember when you said 'Yes'?" "So anyway, about the fact that you said 'Yes.'") This completely transparent narrative "influence," means this game essentially boils down to a "choose your own adventure," where the "adventure" is the mundane at best, annoying and self-involved most of the time, marriage of some rich, spoiled, American nobodies. I'm going to echo what I said about Shenmue here--we have a game that wants to be story-centric, and character driven, with a boring, broken story, about boring, stock characters. However, while I could say of Shenmue that at least the new elements that game introduced helped develop the state of video games as a whole, I certainly hope that future games will only use the somewhat unique thing Facade has to offer (its conversation engine) as an example of how NOT to execute social or dramatic interaction. (This entry has been edited1 time. It was last edited on Fri, 07 Mar 2008 21:13:19.)Fri, 07 Mar 2008 20:57:39 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=3218&iddiary=6056https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=3218Summary Facade, widely critically acclaimed and said to be "the future of video games," sets you in the role of yourself, going over to your friends Trip and Amy's house. The night quickly escalates into a melodramatic clash of personalities, and you are presented with the option of either patching up or destroying their marriage. Gameplay The first thing I noticed, besides the painful loadscreen, were the limitations on the game's core mechanic--typed entries. You can only fit about 5 words on a screen, and the computer doesn't recognize individual entries tied together. To boot, you have a window of maybe 5 to 10 seconds in which to make your responses, after which the characters usually move on, sometimes assuming a response, sometimes just stumbling over it awkwardly. Also, the logic of the engine is essentially limited to keyword sparsing, so any entry you make with the word "sex" in it, for example, regardless of context, evokes the same response from the characters. The engine is further limited by the number of key words it sparses for. I answered Trip's opening "how are you?" with "can't complain," what I assumed to be a perfectly understandable colloquialism, and was surprised that it evoked the stock "I'm confused, and kind of insulted by this" response. On this note, nearly all of the character reactions do feel very stock. An exception to this rule is the time when I answered Trip's opening "how are you?" with "just fine, loser," to which he made an unpleasant face, said nothing, and slammed the door on me, ending the game session. (This entry has been edited1 time. It was last edited on Fri, 07 Mar 2008 17:06:17.)Fri, 07 Mar 2008 16:50:46 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=3218&iddiary=6055https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=2815Gameplay So we all know that no one plays Soul Calibur for the Arcade mode. Arguably, highlights of the series have always been the vs mode and the story modes. The vs mode doesn't need much analysis; it feels just as balanced and tight as playing against the computer, but with a lot more smack talk and joking. And of course etiquette--if you know someone out of the ring, you have to jump off after them. But, personally, the story mode has always been what drew me in. The classic Tales of the Soul mode is back, wherein you can actually learn a thing or two about the dark, yet quirky, version of feudal Europe that the game takes place in through text, (often interactive) cutscenes, and regular fighting battles. Personally, I've been engrossed in the story of the Faust-like Siegfried since I first played Soul Blade, and I was overjoyed to find that his story has more or less come to dominate the central narrative. In addition to this is a new game mode, Chronicles of the Sword, which allows the player to create a new character and journey through a brand new fictional world and storyline completely unrelated to the original Soul Calibur world. The gameplay is something of bastard child between an RTS and a fighting game--you control an army of a few characters, and attempt to defend and capture nodes from the enemy army, with the option of resolving actual combat through fighting sequences identical to the arcade and vs mode battles. Similar to the other kind of "alternate" game modes in previous installments of the series, it's not the kind of deep experience that you'd expect from a standalone RTS, but it is pretty nice for something tacked onto a fighting game. Design As already discussed, the core engine is pretty well balanced, feels fast, intense, and violent. While I do give this game a hard time for being anime styled (what can I say, it's Namco) it's worth noting that Soul Calibur does try laudably to not stray too far into the zone of cartoonery that only the Japanese can truly understand. There's a good mixture of realistic fighting styles and moves, over the top anime style combat, and some dark twisted stuff thrown in for good measure (seriously, Voldo, how are you so amazing?) The "other" game modes provide an interesting alternative to the brainless button-mashing of the arcade and vs mode, though often get kind of repetitive. Perhaps the thing that sets this game apart from other fighters the most, or at least from previous installments of the series, is the character customization option. Being able to build a character from scratch is a refreshing change of pace from seeing the same vertically haired anime stereotypes leaping across the screen, and there is a special kind of satisfaction to seeing the character that you made yourself (often in your own likeness) putting the hurt on the stock cast or, better yet, the character someone else made themselves (often in their own likeness). Also, the fact that fact that you can unlock more items to customize your character, as well as earn the cash to buy those items, in virtually any game mode means that you can simultaneously try out new characters, explore new storylines, and practice and work your way towards making your pet character look as awesome as possible. While this game doesn't do anything revolutionary for the fighting genre as a whole, what it does, it does well.Thu, 21 Feb 2008 01:41:08 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=2815&iddiary=5341https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=2815Summary The Damned Sword returns, and once again there's a slew of feudal warriors willing to kill each other for possession of it. Insert anime logic to explain why this twice destroyed artifact STILL isn't gone for real, and why everyone thinks owning a sword will solve all their angsty social problems. Gameplay I fell in love with this franchise the first time I played Soul Blade, the PS1 port of Soul Calibur. I can't recall exactly, but I think the ad on the back of the jewel case of Soul Blade said something along the lines of "It's Tekken....with swords!" That tag is still a fairly apt description of the core gameplay mechanics of this game. Subsequent episodes boast neater graphics, more characters, and more varied game modes, but basically what we're looking at here is a 3D fighter where instead of throwing punches you're swinging axes and swords. And you know what? That's ok by me. Sometimes a better aesthetic is all you need. Of course, we all love the Enter the Dragonesque martial arts tournament thrown by the maniacal overlord, but, personally, a mythical quest of swords and souls is probably the only thing that can capture my attention more. That being said, the arcade mode is nothing to brag about. The little bits of story they try to squeeze in here usually end up being more confusing than anything else, but, you can basically get the gist of something about everyone wanting that sword again, but oh no it's cursed and you touch it and it eats your soul unless you're pure and blah blah blah. The point is that there's giant swords, and the combat is just as tight as any Tekken game, if not tighter. You really have to strategically time your blocks and throws to get the most effectiveness out of them, and strategically time your Soul Charge ability to make it look as awesome as possible. And the ∆ attack is still always the most overpowered one.Thu, 21 Feb 2008 00:27:41 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=2815&iddiary=5265https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=2526Gameplay I progressed through a few more levels. I was pleasantly reminded of how amazing the music in this game is. Several of the songs are actually covers of popular metal songs, and some are just fittingly awesome--both the fast paced adrenaline pumping tracks, and the eerie tense ones. Graced with the Rocket Launcher during this session, I was also pleasantly reminded of the joy of fragging. That satisfying flesh obliterating sound effect, and the grotesque explosion that reduces your enemies to a red blob. Of course this weapon is nowhere near as useful as the shotgun or the chaingun when it comes to standard combat, for the obvious reason that it damages you as well, and it's outclassed when it comes to heavy duty tasks by the later acquired plasma gun, and, naturally, the BFG. Also, conserving your rockets mean those few occasions when you really need them (the final boss battle of E1 for example). The awesome scene at the end of E1, wherein, having just vanquished the big baddies, you enter the portal to what you presume to be home, only to be torn to shreds by a horde of monsters, has always been one of my favorites. An excellent segue into the E2. Design As I mentioned, DOOM is a game of simple, fast paced action. Though not the first FPS, it was the first to make use of a Z axis (though without the ability to directly manipulate your position on said axis, save dropping down.) The player progresses through increasingly difficult levels, each one reflecting a different portion of the Phobos-Diemos stations (and, climactically, Hell itself, each level representing a circle of Dante's Inferno.) The player never has a chance to lose interest, because while each level is simply a matter of reaching the final switch of the level (which is usually behind any number of sectioned off rooms, accessed through keys and switches) at every turn you're simultaneously trying to survive the horde of demons infesting the place. The AI is pretty amazing, relatively speaking. The monsters can interact with the gameworld in every way you can (with the exception of hitting switches or unlocking doors), which is to say, they can move, shoot, and open unlocked doors. They're also fairly vicious, seeking you out even if you move out of visual range. A quirk of the AI (and it can be argued whether this is a bug or an intentional mechanic to be manipulated by the strategically minded) is that monsters, if by chance they happen to damage each other while aiming at you, will immediately turn on each other. If executed properly, you can get an entire room full of monsters to eliminate each other, reducing the amount of work you have to do. All in all, every mechanic of this game is executed in spades. From the suitably creepy music and sound effects, to the tight controls and brutally paced action. Even the graphics are impressive for a simple sprite based game, and they succeed very well at establishing the atmosphere.Sat, 09 Feb 2008 02:40:03 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=2526&iddiary=4868https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=2526Summary DOOM, one of the first FPS games ever created, is an examination of the complex relationship between space marines and demons. As the sole survivor of an invasion of your station on the moons of Mars, your goal is to find a way home, putting a load of buckshot into any demons who get in your way. Design The first few levels of DOOM take it easy on you. I was able to get through the first couple of levels without falling far below 100% health (on Ultraviolent. Only a masochist would play on Nightmare). The gameplay is fast and straightforward. See a monster, shoot. You're getting attacked, strafe. You see a prize, pick it up. If you've read my review of Super Mario 64, you know that I give games a hard time for being too simple. But the difference between DOOM and Super Mario is the quality of the experience. DOOM is visceral. You're constantly wary of what's around the next corner, you see see the explosion of blood when you stick your chainsaw up that demon's ass, and those fangs and teeth and fireballs evoke a genuine survival instinct. True, both Mario and DOOM can be boiled down to one or two interactions repeated ad hominem. But the difference is that DOOM is brutal. Perhaps it's a stylistic preference. Of course I feel the drive to rescue the princess and beat King Koopa, as any true gamer should. But my desire to blow up demons and zombies is just so much stronger. The dark atmosphere, the violence. The demons. Perhaps its overt pandering to pubescient male fantasies, but it works.Sat, 09 Feb 2008 00:53:19 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=2526&iddiary=4767https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=1965Gameplay So, my girlfriend and I did the classic "play until you die or beat a level, then switch" method for determining who was alotted how much gametime. As it became apparent that my skill was dramatically dwarfed by that of my girlfriend's, much of my gameplay experience was spent replaying levels to farm for 1UPs so we could progress through the game. If we had had a memory stick the necessity for this would have been lessened, but as it stood I was hearkened back to my days of playing Super Mario World, playing the first level over and over again for the same reason. I found myself growing less and less nostalgic, and more and more frustrated as I remembered why I stopped playing 2D platformers, and why I never got into 3D platformers. Jump...grab...jump...grab. A fine way to kill 10 minutes, but not something I'd do for hours on end, at least not without the appropriate company. But the compulsion I felt to get the 30 stars needed to continue onto the next leg of the game was undeniable. There's just something about it, the need to save the Princess, beat King Koopa, to see at LEAST one star out of each of the levels. So I kept playing. Design As I said, this is one of the first 3D platformers ever made, and so its shortcomings are forgivable in light of its innovation. That being said, there are shortcomings. Movement is clunky, being manipulated by the awkwardly located control stick. The lack of an independently controllable camera is responsible for countless nightmare spots. The fact that there are no checkpoints in the levels means a wrong jump puts you at the beginning of the level. Throughout the game are a couple "bonus stages" involving sliding downhill. These games are difficult and tedious, and seem completely out of place. The basic gameplay is simplistic, often too simplistic, and usually every task that needs to be completed is explicitly spelled out in exact detail, leaving out much of the joy of discovery, and accomplishment when a task is completed. However, Super Mario 64 does many things that even the platformers of today don't do right. The facts that many levels have more than one set path to beat them, that each level has different objectives to complete to gain stars (often mutually exclusive except for the extremely skilled), and that levels change depending on your progress in the game adds a great deal of replayability. Each level can be completed for the max number of gold coins, to complete the set of red coins for the level, to beat the boss of the level, or to complete the "quests" certain characters offer in the level. As I already mentioned, the goofy humor is spot on, and goes hand in hand with the cartoony, childlike feel of the game as a whole. (This entry has been edited2 times. It was last edited on Sat, 19 Jan 2008 20:25:25.)Sat, 19 Jan 2008 20:15:45 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=1965&iddiary=3845https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=1965Summary Super Mario 64 is a "jump 'n' grab" platformer, and was one of the launch titles for the Nintendo 64. As in previous installments of the Mario series, Bowser has kidnapped Princess Peach, and it's up to the harshly stereotypical Italian plumber to jump, smash, and collect his way to freeing her. It seems she's a prisoner in her own castle, the key to her cell locked in a different room. Mario has to adventure through the paintings hanging in the castle (which have been corrupted by Bowser's minions), finding stars hidden throughout the levels. These stars will allow him to unlock different doors in the castle, eventually unlocking the room that has the Princess's key in it. Gameplay Having never owned a Nintendo 64, this was my first experience with this game. I have fond memories playing 2D platformers as a child, Mario games among them, but the 3D variety have never been my style really. The music kind of grated on me--I found myself longing for the original Super Nintendo midis. The straightforward gameplay, if not incredibly deep, was as addictive as it was simple. The ancient desire to get all the coins was instantly reawakened within me. The addition of the kick/punch abilities seemed a little out of place, but I suppose there's enough difficulty controlling the character without relying on precisely placed jumps to defeat any enemies. The dialogue (or perhaps more accurately monologues) that take place when characters or signs communicate with the player throw bits of oddball humor that I found myself chuckling at. Playing with a friend, the classic "ohhhh!"'s of those barely missed platform hops and slides into oblivion made for some fun moments, even if those misses were caused by awkward controls and camera angles. (This entry has been edited2 times. It was last edited on Sat, 19 Jan 2008 20:21:20.)Sat, 19 Jan 2008 17:41:05 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=1965&iddiary=3844https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=1617Gameplay As I got into the rhythm of receiving the instructions "Go here and talk to X," doing what I was told, rinsing and repeating, I almost looked forward to completing the tasks set before me, if only so I could get through this game and get it over with. As much as I wanted to get into the story, I found myself caring more about the minigames than I did about the nuggets of plot advancement I was alotted in between sessions of timwasting waiting for NPCs to spawn or open shop. The few actual action scenes I got to play through were short, remedial, and left me feeling completely disconnected from the, albeit occasionally awesome, kung-fu the main character executes. Design The central flaw is that this is a story driven, character based game with a boring, slow, story and flat, uninteresting characters, a fact not helped by their ridiculous voice over acting, terrible script, and often creepy graphical rendering. Shenmue does it's best to make the player feel immersed in a real life city where they have free roam, but if they actually look around, they'll realize that the world is as linear as the story they're torturously muddling through. Any sense of exploration, which itself is quickly followed by a sense of being lost and frustrated, is quickly killed as soon as the player learns where the dozen or so shops they're allowed to enter are located, and attempts to move on to a different part of the city are met with invisible walls and the main character reciting "I should look for more clues here first." The "interactive" cutscenes amount to little more than button mashing, and are over too quickly to hold the player's attention. When not in cutscene mode, movement controls are cumbersome and clumsy, and the fighting techniques are too complex to execute with any sort of strategy. I suppose it should be noted that the limited openness the game does allow was somewhat ahead of its time--things like a day/night cycle and NPC routines independent of the player. It's fortunate that games with better core-mechanics of gamepay would later adopt these features. (This entry has been edited1 time. It was last edited on Sat, 12 Jan 2008 19:52:06.)Sat, 12 Jan 2008 19:48:32 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=1617&iddiary=3346https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=1617Summary This is a cinematic style adventure game. Gameplay takes place wandering through the town the protagonist lives in or through interactive cutscenes requiring timed pressing of sequences of buttons. The objective is apparently to uncover the details surrounding the main character's father's death, with the ultimate goal of avenging it. Gameplay Initially, the game set itself up to be an interactive form of a cheezy kung-fu movie. I was stoked as the first cutscene ended, as this is a genre of movie close to my heart. However, once control of the character was relinquished to me, the pace of the game itself quickly put me to sleep. The actual mechanics of moving and fighting were cumbersome and difficult to work with. The story was relieved in agonizingly slow bits of dialogue, with people telling you who to get the next piece of information from. The redeeming parts of the game involved completely random bonuses. Of particular note involved prank calling directory assistance, looking at a cutely rendered cat in a box, and full playable versions of Space Harrier and Hang On, and joking with other people in the room about the terrible script, voice acting, and mundane gameplay.Sat, 12 Jan 2008 16:11:22 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=1617&iddiary=3335