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Kenori

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The Emotional Connection to Video Games - The Last of Us

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I am sitting in my living room as the prologue to The Last of Us finishes. The opening credits and sound bites are rolling, but its all just a blur of noise and haze. My head is in my hands, the controller forgotten on the table in front of me. There are tears in my eyes and I'm not really sure how they got there, and I am contemplating putting this game away and never touching it again. We are still within the first ten minutes of the game. Finally, after what seems like an hour, I pick up the controller again and steel myself for what lies ahead.

Gaming is generally considered a hobby of wish fulfillment. The idea of killing aliens, or bouncing on goombas, or solving complex puzzles allows us to wind down after a hard days work, relaxing while we (relatively) turn off our brains. But, while that might be the general idea, there are some games that come along that are special. There are some games that try to tell a better story than the bit of exposition between stages. There are games like The Last of Us.

Its hard to say what is truly the best part about the Last of Us. I could go on and on about how the player becomes so emotionally invested so early in the game, and that feeling of investment carries you through the entire narrative until its bitter, sad conclusion. I could talk about how the combat is cinematic and fast paced and brutal. I could talk about how the real-time crafting system brings the “survival” back into the survival horror genre, or how even though you gain a really great list of weapons, the most dangerous enemies are specifically designed to terrify and unnerve you every single time you fight them, and do their job perfectly. I could spend an even longer time talking about the wonderful voice acting and minimalist, heart-tugging score. But, of all the things The Last of Us is good at (and the list is quite expansive), what it does better than any other game I have played in a very very long time is bring all of these wonderful elements into a concise, cohesive whole that turns a great story with decent gameplay into something wholly different from any other video game I have ever played

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As I've said in other reviews, there are other less traditional ways to tell a story in a video game, but The Last of Us tells a more traditional story better than nearly any other game out on the market today. The way it uses it's gameplay to sell its harsh, uncompromising world, the way it ramps up the horror by adding undertones of dark, moody moments. It is a hard game, emotionally, to play. It is a game that needs to be played in shifts, taking time to let it's moments sit with you as you contemplate things that have happened. A lot of times it aches to play it, the feeling of some dark, foreboding conclusion just around the bend as the game nears its final few hours making you want to put the controller down and walk away, picturing a happier world where these characters lived a better life.

Can games really provide such a deep emotional connection? Is it possible to become as emotionally invested in a game as you can in a movie or a piece of music? As I neared the last 80% of the game, I came across a small moment moment hidden in its depths, a small moment that shook me to my core in ways I have never felt happen in a game. Once again I had to put the controller down and sat as Ellie does, staring ahead, unspeaking, not moving, lost in her own dark thoughts.

Unequivocally, video games can tell just as much of a story as any movie or piece of music, a better one in fact. One that allows you to be more invested in the characters than you ever could in a movie. The tear stains on my coffee table are testament to that.

(Originally Written 07/14/2014)

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Looking Back - I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream

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Point-and-Click adventure games are all but dead in this day and age. With the exception of Telltale Games' story based games and Double Fine's Broken Age. However, in the late 80s and early 90s the point-and-click genre was booming, with wonderful games like the King's Quest series in full swing, companies were clamoring for different types of adventure games. Out of the slew of different types of adventure games came a subgenre of horror games. Phantasmagoria, the Gabriel Knight series, Hellknight, all of these games found a place. But, arguably the most thought provoking and intense of those games was I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream.

Based on the Harlan Ellison short story of the same name, the game is an expansion of the

original story, it's script was written by Ellison himself and keeps intact all of the horrorific elements of the original story, while providing a backstory for each of the five protagonists/torture victims of AM. The overall story is a much broader study on the themes of Freudian psychology, rape, delusion, and redemption. This is the part of the game that truly shines. Harlan Ellison also does the voice of AM, and while the other voice acting in the game is spotty in some areas and downright terrible at the worst, Ellison's manic hatred of AM is a pure joy.

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The game is also brutally difficult, divided into as many as six different parts: One for each character and one last part if you are able to complete the others to a satisfactory conclusion. Each character starts with a black border around their character profile that steadily turns green as they choose certain options, realize their own faults and weaknesses, or go against their better natures to do something morally good. While a lot of these tasks are easy to figure out once you know how the game works and you begin to get a feel for each of the character's own flaws and personalities, some of the tasks needed for the perfect ending are downright mind boggling. That coupled with the spotty detection of some items needed for the game's completion will leave you scratching your head and going to GameFAQs in a heartbeat.

If you can embrace the games more mature themes, haunting realizations, and gruesome images, there is a lot to enjoy here. The story alone is worth the price of the game, which can be easily found on Steam as of October of 2013. This is a game that deserves a look for any fans of old school 90s adventure games.

(Originally Written 07/21/2014)

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Can Video Games Tell a New Kind of Story? - Gone Home

Minor Spoilers For Gone Home

Every single square inch of this living room can be explored
Every single square inch of this living room can be explored

Videogames are still a burgeoning medium. In the grand scheme of things, when compared to other forms of auditory and visual stimulation, the medium is still in it's infancy. The idea that videogames could be considered a valid form of storytelling "art" would have been laughable 30 years ago. But as time has worn on and the people who grew up playing Tetris and Super Mario Bros. have matured, so too has the idea of what constitutes a "story" in gaming. Where once the idea of a "plot" in a videogame would be a text dump at the beginning and a few words in the manual, now the games have become more complex, with intricate cutscenes and dialogue from top voice talent to shape a story that is interactive.

But even in this emerging field, most videogame stories are little more than gameplay concepts and ideas molded around a very Hollywood-esque story. And while thats not always a bad thing (The Last of Us crafts an amazing story that melds gameplay with an oscar-caliber Hollywood movie, but more on that game at a later date), the video game industry holds the potential for so much more than that. For the longest time, I was completely content with the stories that videogames were telling. I had never dreamed that there was a compeletely different style of story that the medium could tell. One that could use the abilities of the medium to push the boundaries of storytelling that Hollywood could never hope to accomplish. Then, along came Gone Home.

Gone Home is a not really a "videogame" in the classic idea of what a "videogame" is. There are no enemies, there is no antagonist, no bad guys whatsoever. It is more of an adventure game of the old Myst style, but even that sort of puzzle-solving is beyond this game. What it does have in common with it's 1993 brother is a sense of exploration: The idea of learning something new by yourself, without the game holding your hand to do so.

One of the great things about Gone Home is it's sense of 90's nostalgia.
One of the great things about Gone Home is it's sense of 90's nostalgia.

It is entirely possible to beat Gone Home in the span of an hour, but it's the act of exploration and learning about this big house you're exploring and the people in it that will push you deeper into this world, and realize that there is more under the surface. The main story is well crafted and a great achievement in gaming for it's own reasons, but by going through each of the rooms, looking at all the details lovingly crafted by The Fullbright Company, you begin to get a sense for each of the characters in the game. From the sister secretly learning Street Fighter 2 moves in the hopes of impressing a crush, to the father whose novel was a moderate success, but who struggles to write a decently marketable followup, each of these discoveries lend voices and personalities to people who you never meet, and by building this foundation on these characters, the main story grows roots as you realize the consequences of the actions of each of the family members.

The Fullbright Company have crafted something truly special with Gone Home. By using abilities and features that can only be done in videogames, they have managed to create a story that becomes more involved, more pervasive, and more emotional each time it is viewed. I personally cannot wait to see what they do next.

(Originally written 07/02/2014)

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Let's Analyze - Fallout 4 Reveal Trailer

Bethesda has just released it's teaser trailer for Fallout 4, and while a proper gameplay segment will be shown at their special conference for E3, Bethesda is also well known for adding little bits of info and secrets in their trailers, and this one is no exception. So, without further ado, sit back, enjoy the trailer, and then let's get to analyzing.

  • 0:00 - 1:29: Nice callback to the opening of Fallout 3. The music is a great touch, and having it zoom out from a Please Stand By tv was the perfect way to get this going. Also, first things first, this game looks FANTASTIC. I'm assuming this is all in-game footage, Bethesda is not known for creating trailers using anything other than their own software, and it would be one of the only companies that I'm not skeptical about when it comes to that. The houses interior looks great, both in it's dilapidated and original states. One of the first things you would notice with the trailer for Skyrim was it's considerable leap in quality from Oblivion, and it looks like Bethesda has done it again. Instead of going with a super-realistic style, Bethesda seems to want to take a more stylized approach: Everything is bright and colorful and less of a brown/green smudge that the original games suffered from. The game reminds me more of a moving Norman Rockwell or J.C. Leyendecker painting. The overall feeling of the opening is very desperate. This might be one of the first times we've seen footage from right as the war is about to begin, and they nail that terrified tone as the world slips off the brink into a full blown thermonuclear annihilation using very simple camera pans and images. Ron Perlman does an awesome job as the radio announcer, and I hadn't even noticed it was him until he says his iconic line at around 1:26. I wonder, however, with as much footage as we have seen from before the war, how much that might factor into this game. Will we actually get to play part of the game before the war? It would be a massive departure from what we're used to in a Fallout game, but not an unwelcome change.
  • 1:31 - 1:34: According to reports and some things at the end of the trailer, Vault 111 will be the starting vault for your character this time around. Not much else to say here yet, except that once again the art looks fantastic.
  • 1:36 - 1:39: Very similar to Skyrim, we get a few sections of landscape to ogle over. It appears that the vault door into the world this time will be vertical, maybe requiring you to physically climb out of the vault. We also get a first look at a lighthouse or some kind of spire next to an official looking courthouse building as well as a docked/crashed ship. The scale of this game looks just as big as Fallout 3's, if not even bigger, and I have no doubt that you'll be going inside that ship at some point.
  • 1:40 - 1:42: A dark, rainy street. Very noir in its look, possibly implying more clandestine behavior. Also I want that dudes trenchcoat/fedora combo. Looks great.
  • 1:43 - 1:49: More vistas, showing off a few more enemies and locations, highlights include: Either some kind of huge angry tribals or possible a tribe of Super Mutants. I really liked the continuing plot of Super Mutants in Fallout: New Vegas, so here's hoping that continues. Redesigned Robotron (here's hoping he has the same voice), a fantastic looking Deathclaw in what appears to be some kind of radioactive desert, and a Vertibird landing at what appears to be some kind of communication or radio relay, and ghouls attacking you in a grocery story (very Fallout 3 of them).
  • 1:50 - 1:55: A town, possibly your hub-type location ala Megaton or New Vegas called Diamond City. There appear to be several types of stores, including a chem store and a weapon shop. Also what appears to be another Ed-E. Hopefully the loyal companion will return for this game.
  • 1:56 - 2:01: Holy cow! What an amazing airship! Could this be the return of the Enclave? Or have the brotherhood gained the power of flight? Also their was a lot of rumors going around that the game would take place in Boston, and now that seems to be confirmed. The decor and architecture seems to indicate a colonial style, and that compared with the overall artstyle of the game feels a bit reminiscent of Bioshock Infinite (you know, except for all the apocalypse stuff).
  • 2:02 - 2:11: The scenery continues to impress, I can't say that enough. The game is made to impress, and even in such an early trailer the game looks spectacular. Also, more footage of prewar, right up until the bomb hits. I'm pretty much going under the assumption that this is fluff, but it would still be pretty fantastic if you did spend a little bit of time in the game during Pre-War, learning how the other side used to live.
  • 2:15 - 2:33: A good look at some Power Armor. The fact that it's just hanging in this empty garage might indicate that the Brotherhood of Steel haven't been here yet.
  • 2:26 - 2:32: Probably the biggest moment in the trailer: SPEAKING PROTAGONIST! If this is really the man that we will become in the game, then this marks the first voiced protagonist in a Bethesda game, and opens up a huge can of worms. Are they going to be going the full Mass Effect/Dragon Age route with every line of dialogue voiced? That would seem to be the case going by past Bethesda titles. Will there be multiple voice options? Its obvious that we will either have a male or female, but how many different people can they get to voice your characters? Will this limit the dialogue that could potentially be spoken? The Bethesda games are well known for their massive scripts, with many different dialogue options being thought out ahead of time; but one criticism leveled at previous games was its lack of actual voice actors. Many characters, especially those not relevant to any plots, were given the same voices and you would hear them over and over. Hopefully that won't be the case here, and you wont end up hearing your own voice talking back to you from a different character as you play.

Fallout is a series near and dear to my heart; with several, several hours having been put into both Fallout 3 and New Vegas, so its heartening to see that Bethesda might be doing it again. If this trailer is any indication, then we might just be in for a wild ride when Bethesda holds its press conference for E3 on June 14th, as they have promised 20 minutes of gameplay. I'll hold most of my opinions for when I actually get to see how the game is played, but as of this moment I am optimistic and hopeful that this game will be amazing.

5 Comments

Let's Analyze - Fallout 4 Reveal Trailer

Bethesda has just released it's teaser trailer for Fallout 4, and while a proper gameplay segment will be shown at their special conference for E3, Bethesda is also well known for adding little bits of info and secrets in their trailers, and this one is no exception. So, without further ado, sit back, enjoy the trailer, and then let's get to analyzing.

  • 0:00 - 1:29: Nice callback to the opening of Fallout 3. The music is a great touch, and having it zoom out from a Please Stand By tv was the perfect way to get this going. Also, first things first, this game looks FANTASTIC. I'm assuming this is all in-game footage, Bethesda is not known for creating trailers using anything other than their own software, and it would be one of the only companies that I'm not skeptical about when it comes to that. The houses interior looks great, both in it's dilapidated and original states. One of the first things you would notice with the trailer for Skyrim was it's considerable leap in quality from Oblivion, and it looks like Bethesda has done it again. Instead of going with a super-realistic style, Bethesda seems to want to take a more stylized approach: Everything is bright and colorful and less of a brown/green smudge that the original games suffered from. The game reminds me more of a moving Norman Rockwell or J.C. Leyendecker painting. The overall feeling of the opening is very desperate. This might be one of the first times we've seen footage from right as the war is about to begin, and they nail that terrified tone as the world slips off the brink into a full blown thermonuclear annihilation using very simple camera pans and images. Ron Perlman does an awesome job as the radio announcer, and I hadn't even noticed it was him until he says his iconic line at around 1:26. I wonder, however, with as much footage as we have seen from before the war, how much that might factor into this game. Will we actually get to play part of the game before the war? It would be a massive departure from what we're used to in a Fallout game, but not an unwelcome change.
  • 1:31 - 1:34: According to reports and some things at the end of the trailer, Vault 111 will be the starting vault for your character this time around. Not much else to say here yet, except that once again the art looks fantastic.
  • 1:36 - 1:39: Very similar to Skyrim, we get a few sections of landscape to ogle over. It appears that the vault door into the world this time will be vertical, maybe requiring you to physically climb out of the vault. We also get a first look at a lighthouse or some kind of spire next to an official looking courthouse building as well as a docked/crashed ship. The scale of this game looks just as big as Fallout 3's, if not even bigger, and I have no doubt that you'll be going inside that ship at some point.
  • 1:40 - 1:42: A dark, rainy street. Very noir in its look, possibly implying more clandestine behavior. Also I want that dudes trenchcoat/fedora combo. Looks great.
  • 1:43 - 1:49: More vistas, showing off a few more enemies and locations, highlights include:Either some kind of huge angry tribals or possible a tribe of Super Mutants. I really liked the continuing plot of Super Mutants in Fallout: New Vegas, so here's hoping that continues. Redesigned Robotron (here's hoping he has the same voice), a fantastic looking Deathclaw in what appears to be some kind of radioactive desert, and a Vertibird landing at what appears to be some kind of communication or radio relay, and ghouls attacking you in a grocery story (very Fallout 3 of them).
  • 1:50 - 1:55: A town, possibly your hub-type location ala Megaton or New Vegas called Diamond City. There appear to be several types of stores, including a chem store and a weapon shop. Also what appears to be another Ed-E. Hopefully the loyal companion will return for this game.
  • 1:56 - 2:01: Holy cow! What an amazing airship! Could this be the return of the Enclave? Or have the brotherhood gained the power of flight? Also their was a lot of rumors going around that the game would take place in Boston, and now that seems to be confirmed. The decor and architecture seems to indicate a colonial style, and that compared with the overall artstyle of the game feels a bit reminiscent of Bioshock Infinite (you know, except for all the apocalypse stuff).
  • 2:02 - 2:11: The scenery continues to impress, I can't say that enough. The game is made to impress, and even in such an early trailer the game looks spectacular. Also, more footage of prewar, right up until the bomb hits. I'm pretty much going under the assumption that this is fluff, but it would still be pretty fantastic if you did spend a little bit of time in the game during Pre-War, learning how the other side used to live.
  • 2:15 - 2:33: A good look at some Power Armor. The fact that it's just hanging in this empty garage might indicate that the Brotherhood of Steel haven't been here yet.
  • 2:26 - 2:32: Probably the biggest moment in the trailer: SPEAKING PROTAGONIST! If thisis really the man that we will become in the game, then this marks the first voiced protagonist in a Bethesda game, and opens up a huge can of worms. Are they going to be going the full Mass Effect/Dragon Age route with every line of dialogue voiced? That would seem to be the case going by past Bethesda titles. Will there be multiple voice options? Its obvious that we will either have a male or female, but how many different people can they get to voice your characters? Will this limit the dialogue that could potentially be spoken? The Bethesda games are well known for their massive scripts, with many different dialogue options being thought out ahead of time; but one criticism leveled at previous games was its lack of actual voice actors. Many characters, especially those not relevant to any plots, were given the same voices and you would hear them over and over. Hopefully that won't be the case here, and you wont end up hearing your own voice talking back to you from a different character as you play.

Overall Fallout is a series near and dear to my heart; with several, several hours having been put into both Fallout 3 and New Vegas, so its heartening to see that Bethesda might be doing it again. If this trailer is any indication, then we might just be in for a wild ride when Bethesda holds its press conference for E3 on June 14th, as they have promised 20 minutes of gameplay. I'll hold most of my opinions for when I actually get to see how the game is played, but as of this moment I am optimistic and hopeful that this game will be amazing.

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Retro Done Right - Shovel Knight

A warm fire to soothe the aching soul...
A warm fire to soothe the aching soul...

There has been an increasing interest in the last few years in the idea of the "retro game": games made using 8 and 16 bit graphics, chiptune sound tracks, and very old school sensibilities in game design. And while the idea of new videogames looking back on their roots and using the old style of game design to create an interesting mash of old and new, isnt a bad one, there seems to be a lack of innovation in the design, especially with platformers. Game designers sometimes seem to look back on those games with such fondness that they forget that newer game design implementation is also important for the industry to grow, change, and become more meaningful so that one day a new generation can look back on these games and remember them as fondly as we remember the games of our past. This is a problem that Yacht Club Games hopes to resolve with Shovel Knight.

Shovel Knight is the culmination of over a year long Kickstarter campaign to create a "hot mashup of new and old that may remind you of Mega Man, Castlevania, or Dark Souls", and while you can definitely see those influences in game, their are also many more homages and inspirations throughout, including Ducktales and even Super Mario World. But the game does not merely rely on older mechanics, instead using them as a base to create a wholly new experience that is at once both new and familiar, made even better by the fantastic control scheme. Your be-spaded champion controls like the best Mega Man game in existance. All of his movements are very tight, his jump is controllable, and the ability to use his shovel as a pogo-stick ala' Scrooge McDuck allows for some of the best platforming I have had the pleasure to experience since Super Meat Boy.

The game is scored by an amazing musical soundtrack provided by both Jake Kaufman, who also did a fantastic remake of the Ducktales theme, and Manami Matsumae, who did the original music for Mega Man, and its a testament at how great the score is that I can't definitively say who's track is who's. The entire score sounds like the composition of one incredibly talented artist. The sound effects aren't anything too spectacular, but the 8 bit graphics are some of the best that could never be possible on the NES. Particularly the last level of the game has some of the best backgrounds I have ever seen in a video game period, with gorgeous rain, thunder and lightning.

One of the best parts of Shovel Knight is its engaging cast of characters.
One of the best parts of Shovel Knight is its engaging cast of characters.

The only small issue is the bosses, which feel a bit easy when compared to their levels, but their personality and Mega Man-esque designs give make them incredibly memorable. Plus the inclusion of New Game Plus ups the challenge of the bosses by increasing their damage and severely reducing the number of checkpoints you receive, ramping up the difficulty to potentially brutal levels.

Shovel Knight took me 6 hours to complete, and ranks as the best 6 hours of my weekend, owing to its fantastic pacing, level design, and music. It wonderfully balances the nostalgic retro game feel by providing its own creative twists on tried and true formulas that work in ways that can only make me smile, even if it's through gritted teeth as I die for the eighth time while navigating Propeller Knight's airship. At 15 dollars on PC, WiiU, and 3DS anyone who is a fan of old-school platformers should definitely give this game a try, you will not walk away disappointed.

(Originally written 06/30/2014)

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Praising The Sun Is Hard To Do - Dark Souls 2

I never had any intention of playing Dark Souls 2, or any of the other Souls games for that matter. I had always been of the mind that the Souls games were difficult only for difficulty's sake. The gifs and memes of the first two games never held my interest. It wasn't until a good friend of mine pestered me about it over and over and over that I decided to check the newest of the games out.

Dark Souls 2 has several beautiful vistas.
Dark Souls 2 has several beautiful vistas.

Dark Souls 2 is a game in a very old school vein. There are no overly long tutorials or long winded cut-scenes showing you where your next objective lies. The game has a very small tutorial section full of small stones that tell you the basic controls, stones that you could easily accidentally hit and destroy in the middle of combat, preventing you from reading them, and even if you do read all the messages and learn the basics, the game tells you nothing about its more advanced features. Getting your estus flask to restore your health, leveling up, upgrading weapons and armor, all of this information is up for the player to find. The game does not hold your hand, it gives you exactly the tools you need to overcome your situation and beat the game, but it gives you nothing more than that, and it requires you to find it all yourself.

At first this was my most hated feature of Dark Souls. The fact that it explains nothing to you, that you have to scrape and scrounge and dig for everything the game has to offer really got under my skin. But the longer I played the game and the more experience I gained in its unapologetic style, the more I came to realize that the reason I railed against this game's style was because I had been spoiled.

He looks like a friendly fellow.
He looks like a friendly fellow.

I really think what turned me around to a game like Dark Souls was the same thing that originally turned me on to the first game I ever played: The Legend of Zelda. Both games have a grand sense of scale and adventure. Both games give you very little in the way of detail and just allow you to go out and explore the land. Both games can be brutally difficult if you dont understand how the enemies operate.

But I think, as time went on, I lost that sense of exploration. I forgot how much I enjoyed the idea of being thrust into a world with only your own wits and a few subtle clues. Over time maybe the video game industry lost the idea of that challenge factor in favor of more visually stunning graphics and gameplay that is more appealing to a wider range of audiences. And unlike most gamers, I don't necessarily think that is a bad thing. However, I do think that it dulls us to a lot of fun that can be had out of games that challenge us more than the standard "Reach the Objective, Kill the Enemy" games, causing us to forget just how fun those old games were.

At it's heart Dark Souls 2 isn't the flashiest game out on the market, and it will never be accused of holding anyone's hand, but it has a sense of freedom and exploration that games these days are sorely lacking. And it charmed my heart to the point that I have 182 hours on my main character at the time of this writing, and I'm still finding new things I didn't know about and enjoying my time with the game. And I think that, regardless of minor graphical glitches and some frustration at the beginning, if a game can hold your attention for so long, it at least should be fulled explored before an opinion can be formed. I learned that the hard way.

(Originally written 06/25/2014)

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