Contracts, Hunger Games, and DOTA2

 Reviews  5 Responses »
Sep 262012
 

Not the most original title in the world, but honest, at least.

So, first of all, I have a 30-day contract with a company here in NYC, starting tomorrow. This will be basically a try-out period; after the contract is up we’ll have an evaluation, and see if I could come on board as a full-time employee. Definitely good news on that front, and also good news in that it’s right back in to game design. And trust me, finding game design work is not exactly the easiest thing to pull off here in NYC. Also handy is that the new place is merely 1 stop further along the F train from my old place of employment. Before, I exited at 23rd street, and now, it’s 34th. This also means that I’ll be working right across the street from the Empire State Building. Sign that I am a New Yorker: I didn’t even realize this at first until I stopped to see what everyone around me were taking pictures of.

The company has headed up the Facebook version of “The Hunger Games,” a property that you “may” have heard about. Actually, from what I have heard, “The Hunger Games” books have now outsold the Harry Potter books, something that is not only impressive, but also reminds me that I really need to get cracking on some original IP tale of my own. In any case, I didn’t know anything about the series, having never read the books or seen the movie. Hence, I picked up the movie from Best Buy during a city excursion, and watched it upon my return home.

I enjoyed the movie quite a bit. I agree with another person’s assessment that the shaky-cam approach, at least in the beginning, was a little on the heavy side, but otherwise I enjoyed a lot about what I saw. I was reminded of “The Running Man” film, “Lord of the Flies” (which, actually, I never have seen), and “The Truman Show,” but not in bad ways. Rather, more like, “Oh, yeah, so it’s like ‘The Truman Show.’ Okay, got it.” I’m also more interested in reading the books now, as there were a number of side characters that I’m willing to bet have even more depth and robustness to them. Some of the things I enjoyed were that the movie doesn’t “talk down” to the audience; a lot of parts of the film are presented in a way that make you understand what’s happening without the need for heavy exposition dialogue. Likewise, the characters act in believable ways, and parts of characters back stories are explained in very simple, quick pieces, so you get the gist of things within a matter of minutes. Even better, the way that the movie is put together hints at more beneath the surface, hence my greater interest in the books. Suffice to say, I was pleased with my purchase.

Finally, after wrapping up the first 2 “Thief” games, I wound spending quite a bit of time playing DOTA 2 — Defense of the Ancients 2. This is a new game from Valve that, while technically free, is also in a closed Beta (of sorts). You can’t get in without an invite, but you can actually buy an invite for like $30. So, either you spend $30 to buy the game, really, or you can play for free. What really makes this weird is that that game already has so many players that they have been holding international tournaments the past month or so, with serious cash prizes to the winning teams. Not many Beta games do that.

This game is, as the name implies, a sequel. The original was actually a mod for the Blizzard game, “WarCraft III,” which was developed by one guy, and then later on picked up and really promoted & maintained by another guy. For like, the past 10 years. Valve then hired him to make this “official” game. This is another weird thing: the game started out in the Blizzard game universe that eventually brought us World of WarCraft: you have tinkering gnomes, tough orcs, water elementals, cat riders — I mean, you can really just look at the 100+ classes that they have and almost trace them all back to a WarCraft base. Yet, this game is being made by Valve. I can only imagine that there is some licensing deal going here, as otherwise, I would suspect that copyright injunctions would be flying.

Anyway, the game is mind-bendingly complex, as you have the aforementioned 100+ classes, plus around 80 different items, each which can give you extra effects, modify your abilities, increase your stats, etc. You earn gold for each “last hit” you get on a NPC or a PC, and then use that gold to spend on items. You also gain XP, and as you grow in level (to a max of 25), your powers increase. Like most spooky deep games, it could take days or weeks to learn the best “build” for just one character; each has their own play style (support, nuker, etc.), and their own quirks that you need to get familiar with before you even worry about the items to get.

So far I’ve played about 15 matches or so, most against a team of bots (you play as part of a 5-man team). I’ve mainly been experimenting with different characters, trying to get a feel for the ones that I enjoy playing, and the ones that I think are just too deep for me to think about yet (like The Invoker (who, by the way, looks a lot like a Blood Elf from WarCraft — funny, that)). I’ve started to experiment more with a couple characters in particular, and once I get them to a spot I’m not embarrassing myself, I’ll probably move on to another one to experiment with.

Finally, something that I’ve really been enjoying in the game has been to little details to the audio, in particular the voice acting of each character (called a “Hero,” in the game, which differentiates them from “creeps,” which are NPCs). Now, it’s not that each character has an array of comments to make when you move, attack, retreat, get coins, buy an item, etc. (as neat as that is), but no, I’m much more impressed with the fine attention to detail that they have put based on which characters are playing, and against whom.

Two examples:

The first is one that backs up the established story of each Hero. In one case, it’s 2 sisters who are magic-users, one who uses fire (the older one, Lina), and one who use ice (The Crystal Maiden). Because both sides pick 1 Hero each, you can easily wind up in a game where the two sisters are playing against each other. Once while playing, I saw The Cyrstal Maiden (with help from others) take down Lina. As Lina fell, instead of giving one of her standard lines of defeat (“My flame… snuffed out!”), she actually said, defiantly, as she fell, “You.. were… adopted!” And The Crystal Maiden, instead of given a standard line of victory, merely said, simply, “Sorry, sis!” I actually laughed when I heard that because suddenly, these Heros became a lot more like characters.

Another example is when I was playing The Crystal Maiden (a support Hero) alongside Juggernaut (a “carry,” as in “you carry them through the early part of the game so they can carry your team to victory at the end). As we were playing, I heard The Crystal Maiden make the comment, “Make them feel the cool of your blade Juggernaut!” So, in this case, the developers deliberately added some special dialogue options for when two players who work well together (support & carry) are fighting alongside each other. It’s little things like that which really tend to sell me on a game, and this one was no different.

I’ll be playing more of it going forward, but for now, I have real work to attend to. And I really mean that: I have “real” work to do which results in a paycheck. Here’s hoping that it easily goes beyond that first 30 days.

The Master Thief with a Brain of Lead

 Reviews  3 Responses »
Sep 242012
 

Back during the Steam Summer Sale, I stocked up on multiple titles at severely discounted rates, and included in that package was the “Thief” bundle, including “Thief Gold” (the original title with a few new maps and elements), “Thief 2,” and “Thief: Deadly Shadows.” Over the past week and a half, I’ve played through the first two games — “Thief Gold” and “Thief 2,” primarily because Ben “Yahtzee” Croshaw of “Zero Punctuation” talks up “Thief 2″ a lot, and I generally agree with his take on things, so I figured I would give it a whirl. Especially when the whole package for all 3 games was something like 5 bucks. I mean, that’s about the cost of a medium hot chocolate here in NYC, so hey, pretty good value, right?

The following is what I took away from the 2 games thus far, both the good and the bad.

  • The stealth mechanic is still a refreshing change of pace from today’s standard model of in-your-face shooters and over-the-top action. Both games adhere strongly to this motif, with a lot of emphasis placed on how well you hide in shadows, and also a huge amount of importance on how you move over different surfaces and the noise thus created. Likewise, this is also a game of patience, something else that is a major change from games like “Gears of War,” or even the “Madden” football series. A lot of the game can be watching and waiting for the time to move, or strike. There are some moments of quickness, but overall, I tended to be the silent lurker, waiting to get a sense of the guard patrols before making a move.
  • In the game, you have a variety of arrows that you can use; standard, water, fire, gas, etc. A lot of the arrows have one main function, but a nice game design touch is how most arrows can be used in multiple ways. The water arrow, for example, is mainly for dousing torches, making it easier to hide in shadows, but in the first game, you can “bless” them with holy water, and take down the undead with a couple of shots. Likewise, in “Thief 2,” you can use them to take out the various mechanical creatures from behind, shorting them out. I’ve even used the standard arrows to make noises away from me, distracting guards, and even to set off a mine or trigger a secret button. This sort of flexibility allows for a lot of different strategies to emerge, depending on the play style.
  • Still, I found the games to be, at times, incredibility frustrating. The biggest annoyance that I ran across was that it was very hard to tell if I was close enough to blackjack someone or not. It might take a swing or two before I would connect. In some cases, when I was behind the target, this was not a big issue. But there were multiple times when I only had one shot — a miss and I would be noticed. Part of this was just the graphics of the time — mainly the first game, released around 1998 — but still, for such an important part of the game, it got under my skin that I be whiffing at air so often.
  • Another pet peeve was that when people are alerted to your presence, but can’t see you, they always — always! — walk right into you the very first time they start moving. You could be in Candlestick Park in total darkness, not making a sounds, and still the guards would always just happen to walk right to walk 3F every time to start their search. What got me about this was that through experimentation, I realized that it really was that they homed in on you; no matter where you hid, even if they had zero visibility, they would always first walk directly at you, which was just really damn annoying.
  • Speaking of which, sometimes it seemed utterly arbitrary as to when someone detects you; sometimes you can sneak right in front of them without them noticing, but other times you’re 300 yards away in total shadow and walking on moss carpeting when they suddenly spot you and come charging. I can only assume that this is due to some type of programming that goes into the awareness factor of the guards, but come on; if I can’t trust my UI to tell me when I’m hidden, then there are some serious flaws with the UI system.
  • The combat mechanic I never got a hang of; keep the sword on the side of the person you want to hit, space to block, etc. It was cumbersome and flowed like dried plaster. This didn’t phase me too much, since I generally avoided combat, but there were other times that it would have helped to have had a better combat system.
  • In the first game, by the way, the controls themselves were weird. I don’t know if this was because the standard WASD control scheme wasn’t fully implemented at the time across all games, but here you had “w” as run forward, and “s” as walk forward. “x” was walk backward. This royally screwed me up for a long while as when I kept trying to move back, I would actually move forward and fall off a ledge, or run into a guard.
  • The main character, Garrett, is an idiot. Maybe he is a master thief and the best in a century or something, but gadzooks, this guy is inept beyond belief at common sense. First of all, the man can’t keep his finances in any semblance of order. He always seems to be in need of rent money, despite the fact that he can break into any place and steal pretty much anything. Plus, you see his apartment in Thief 2, and man, it’s really pretty modest, so it’s not like he’s spending his cash on home decor or even buying his own place. Maybe it all goes to food, drink, and entertainment, but the guy speaks in that smarmy, self-satisfied manner which doesn’t portray him as possessing any hint of a personality besides self-confidence.
  • He also is blind to the embarrassingly obvious danger of stealing the eye in the first place. Let’s see, here’s this eccentric, unknown, new noble in town who has hired me to steal a unique gemstone called “The Eye.” This thing just happens to be in the center of a section of the town that was obliterated in some catastrophe that happened 50 years ago. It was then sealed in a cathedral by a group known as the Keepers, who have vowed to (apparently) safeguard mankind. They decided to seal the eye by placing the keys to the cathedral in the most God-forsaken places they could find, and have them guarded by traps and creatures. In short, they really, really did not want anyone to get the eye. Oh yeah, and The Eye also apparently has its own intelligence and talks to Garrett, then, when Garrett basically frees it from its prison, it shows its gratitude by sealing the doors, trapping Garrett unless he can find another way out. I mean, how much more of a hint does this guy need? This is like a modern thief being hired by a shadowy group to steal them all the components that they need to make an atomic bomb, but strictly for “their private collection.” Even if the person hired is not in any immediate danger from the bomb itself (which, in Garrett’s case, is not true), anyone with a working synapse is going to realize that the first step to ensure secret is to get rid of the person who stuff the stuff in the first place. It’s the first rule of successfully concealing an assassination: assassinate the assassins.
  • Buying tips is kind of silly; you can buy them, read them, then immediately restart the level so you don’t have to pay. You, as the player, still retain the info, after all.
  • Why 2 lockpicks? There’s really no need for more than 1. Often you have to switch between the two, but so what? All you do when using them is hold down the right mouse button, so it’s not like one is better than the other. All it really does is add unnecessary steps to the process for no real reason.
  • Thief 2 tended to have the better levels of the 2 games. In particular, the rooftop part of the level where you break into a Mechanist sanctuary and the part where you have to steal a series of masks from an exhibition were the parts were this game really shined. In both cases, I truly felt like a master thief, traveling over rooftops, sneaking over the guards on rafters, and climbing down ropes to swipe the goods without ever touching foot on the ground. It really made for the most fun of the games.
  • By contrast, the end level of “Thief 2″ was, in my opinion, too big, and didn’t feel nearly thiefy enough. It also took a long time to get through; this may be the point, as it’s the end level, but when have the time is just running for 5 minutes to get from one end to the other, that felt more like busywork than gameplay.
  • Oh, yeah, and the main villain of “Thief 2,” Karras, really needed a different voice. When I first heard it, I thought it was supposed to be a joke, because the guy sounds like Droopy Dog. I mean, it really sounds like someone is deliberately trying to make as goofy-sounding voice as possible, and it’s hard to take your main opponent in a game seriously as a result.

Overall, I did enjoy the games. Despite the many annoying parts, and there were a lot, the over stealth mechanics, level design, and even the main story arcs worked well enough for me to get into the game. Some parts I thought needed some serious work, but other parts were perfectly set up, and those spots more than made up for the shortcomings. I would not include either game in my top tier of games, but I would definitely include some level parts as great examples of perfect game design.

The Power of Matt Compels You To Clear The Lanes!

 Games, Interactive, Life in General, Stuff I Made, Work, Writing  2 Responses »
May 112011
 

You can tell when I am in a zone for basketball these days: I run into, over, or through at least two of my teammates.

Tonight, one of the teams did not show, so that meant our team played the other team twice, in 20-minute games. Which each got 2 wins for the other teams forfeit, but we really needed to work to get any other wins — 20 minutes is quite a bit of a push. The first game we lost as we had a slow start, but more importantly, a slow finish; they pulled away with three free throws to make it 17 to 12. Second game, however, we shut down their drives to the baseline, and topped them by a score of 12-4. Also, in the second game, I really had another good game. I played for about 10-8 minutes at first, and when I can out for my break, I was really tired. Probably the most winded I’ve been in a long time. But, it was great, because I was a monster on defense, using my height and size really well. In fact, I don’t think anyone I was covering ever scored, so that was pretty nifty.

I also jumped into a pick-up game with some guys from work yesterday, and played for about 90 miniutes (60 total playing time, really) and again managed to do fairly well.

It’s worth a thought if I might have missed out on playing basketball in high school, but honestly, I really don’t think so. The big difference between now and then is that I have the motivation to do this, and that only really came about because I was hit by that damn car and broke my leg. As I was grunting my painful way back to recovery, it wasn’t until over a year later that I got clearance to try any sports, and I swore to take full advantage of that. Also, I think a big difference is that rec leagues are more relaxed and fun, whereas playing competitively probably wouldn’t have been quite my thing. Here you can make some mistakes and generally shrug it off. In more structured programs, you get benched — assuming that you even see any playing time.

In any case, summer leagues are signing up, so I’d better grab a few sports. Laura T from work actually is on a soccer team, so I think I’ll try signing up for that. I’d also like to do another basketball season, and maybe football. Just anything to keep playing outside. :)

[ S H E I L D B R E A K ! ! ! ]

So I finally got my 1st byline! The marketing team at work has put out the calls to writers for articles we could send out to various print and online publications, and after a slow start, I wrapped up a short opinion piece concerning the role of reality within games:

http://www.develop-online.net/news/37615/OPINION-The-designers-need-to-forget-reality

It’s nice to finally get something up and in “print,” and I definitely own Tina at work a big thanks, since she’s the one who is contacting all the possible locations for publication. Now, the trick is whether or not I can maintain a steady pace of articles. I have a couple of ideas for more, but the question is whether or not they pertain enough to the business/industry. I’ll need to write up the basic ideas and bounce them off Tina to get her feedback.

If nothing else, though, this was really nice. :)

Oh, 3-day weekends, how I love to waste thee

 Life in General  3 Responses »
Feb 222011
 

I had a three-day weekend, thanks to President’s Day; my first ever, I think, since I entered the private workforce. Vanessa was out of town, so this was a perfect time for me to really dig into some of my personal projects, and just crank out a vast amount of work; or really hit the workout routines, both at the gym and at home, to start seriously training for the Tough Mudder.

Instead, I slept in until around 2 PM, had a video game binge, and didn’t get anything productive done until the last couple of hours on Monday night, when I (finally) washed the dishes and took out the trash.

I really don’t mind the time spent playing video games — I finished up “Mass Effect,” and then jumped right in with “Mass Effect 2,” knocking that one out in short order. (Well, so to speak.) It was nice revisiting the game, story, and mechanics, and comparing the changes made between the games, but the main reason was also just because I wanted to play through a space opera game, and I realized a couple of weeks ago that there is actually quite few around, esp. compared to the number of fantasy games with swords and sorcery. Of course, I did play a couple of hours through “Dragon Age,” as well, but that one I doubt I’ll be as engrossed in playing through.

Also, to be fair, this really isn’t any different as if I had been watching movies or reading books that I already experienced, so culturally, it’s all good.

However, I did not go to the gym/do a workout, not did I work on some game levels that I wanted to, or work on my board game, or any number of other things that would have been more “productive.” Hence, for the rest of the week, I’ll have to see what I can power through to show that, “There! Got a lot done this week! And it never would have happened if not for my completely restful 3-day weekend!”

That’s the the plan.

Party in The ICC

 Stuff I Made, Writing  Comments Off
Aug 102010
 

It’s been quite a while since I wrote up a parody, but this one was stuck in my brain and refused to vacate the premises until I actually put it to paper. Or to a word processor file, at any rate. It’s a song about the final raid instance of World of Warcraft, so, yeah — might not make a lot of sense to many of you, but it’s still fun. :) 

Party in the ICC
(parody of Miley Cyrus' "Party in the USA")
By Matt Plotecher

I hopped off my mount in Icecrown's map
Stoked! Close to an aneurysm
Welcome to the land of level cap, (boo)
until "Cataclysm"

Just to be honest,
My last raid was Molten Core
Look to my right and I see Jania Proudmoore
This is all so crazy
Gear is all over 270!

My tummy's turnin' cause all the Scourge kinda smell sick
Too much pressure but I right-click
That's when the Vento chat turned on in my headphones
And the leader called our spots
And we skipped the story plots
And the leader said "More dots!"

So I get my buffs up
They're calling out "tank"
And the thunderclaps are set free
Tauntin' the shades like yeah
Pullin' the wraiths like yeah,
And I got my threat up,
They're focused on moi
The restro shaman's healin' me
Yeah, it's a party in the ICC
Yeah, it's a party in the ICC

Get to The Spire as DPS
Everybody's lookin' at me now
Like "Who's that bro, that's drawin' aggo?
He'll get killed like a Goldshire cow."

So hard with my guild not around me
It's definitely not a Outland party
Cause' all ore drops are saronite
What happened to adamantite?

Bone Storm is spinnin' and I'm bleedin' from that Coldflame
If we wipe now it'll be a shame
That's when Marrowgar dropped 2 Emblems of Frost
Now it's time for Deathwhisper
Then a Gunship Battle tour
Finishing with Deathbringer!

So I get Thottbot up
I'm searching my class
Also hittin' up WoWWiki
Readin' 'bout Rotface, yeah
Checkin' Festergut, yeah
And I got add-ons up
With my cooldown times
Tracking my threat will be easy
Yeah, it's a party in the ICC
Yeah, it's a party in the ICC

Feel like hoppin' in a PuG (like a thug)
Gather lots of loot to lug (bags are snug)
Something tells me it's worthwhile (in style)
As long as we don't get all wiped by Defile!

So I put my heals up
All on Dreamwalker
Here comes a Blistering Zombie
Floatin' through orbs like yeah (Emerald Vigor!)
Stackin' buffs up like yeah (Healin'!)
Now Sindragosa's up
Battle for survival
Damn Blistering Cold, time to flee (that damn icy grip)
Yeah (brr cold), it's a party in the ICC (ouch)
Yeah, it's a party in the ICC

And now there's the Lich King
Just chilling in his throne
But then summons Horrors with glee (and Drudge Ghouls)
Quakin' the floor like yeah (collasping the floor, yeah)
Plaguin' the raid like yeah (stacking us up like yeah)
And I got those DOTs on
of Plague and Infest
I hope we reach Phase 4 quickly (Where the hell is Terenas?)
Yeah, it's a party in the ICC
Yeah, it's a party in the ICC (Party in the ICC!)

By the way

 Life in General  1 Response »
Jun 102010
 

For those who don’t already know, the birthday went pretty well. I went in to work, had a basketball game that night (we lost three of four, but at least won the last game), and afterward hit up a little restaurant/bar with the teammates for some nice celebration time. I had 4 shots bought for me, and also drank 6 beers, and hence wowed the crowd with my Plotecher tolerance. I had a slight buzz, but nothing major. I felt fine when I went to bed, and still felt fine when I woke up the next morning. It’s nice to know that I at least still have the “good” genes from Wisconsin….

I also have started the beach volleyball league, which is definitely more causal than the basketball one. Some folks, truth be told, are still a wee bit too serious about it, but overall it’s definitely more relaxed. My v-ball skills aren’t quite up to snuff (the serves were less than graceful), but hopefully it catches up next week. Especially as we lost all three games the first night.

This post shall be short, and to be frank, the main reason for my silence the past couple of weeks has be due in large part to my rediscovering Team Fortress 2! I forgot how fun, well-balanced, and often hilarious it is. There are still people who are just too good to be real, but the flip-side is that since it is a team game, you can actually have those guys on our team as well, and recently it seems like my wins and losses have been a bit more balanced. I’m also looking at getting back into WoW, so it’s probably really good that I’m already signed up for beach volleyball, or I might have some issues getting out of the house.

A Golden Time Piggy Bank

 Life in General  Comments Off
May 282010
 

In the game (so to speak) of WiiFit, there is what’s called a time piggy bank, or a time bank, or whatever. This keeps track of how much time you’ve put into the game, and by extension, your exercise. When you first start out, it begins as this rather bland brownish color, although shiny. But, a while back, I noticed that when I topped 20 total hours, it shifted to a silver — ah! The brown was actually a Bronze!

I guessed that if I topped 40 hours it would turn gold, and last night, I was finally able to confirm it. This was quite spiffy, although I’m wondering if I get to 60 if it shifts into platinum, or diamond, or something. If not, well, then, I guess we might as well give up now, right? Can’t get any better.

The sad part is that 40 hours over the past 325+ days that I’ve had the game is not all that impressive. In fact, it sticks. Basically, it means that I’ve been using it much, much less that the lovely golden piggy bank would have me believe. True, there have often been times when I have not recorded in the WiiFit (via the Activity Log) my exercise for the day, such as the various rec league sports I partake in, but the reality is just that I tend to swing back and forth in spurts of activity. The past week, I have gotten back into it, and hopefully I can keep it up for a while. If nothing else, just doing something outside and then recording it in yonder Activity Book would be good. After all, I have managed that in the past, and it was quite cool to look over my month history and see some work happening every day.

Beach volleyball is supposed to start up, so I’ll be continuing to hammer away at WiiFit, I think, both to stay moving, as well as to try to make a last ditch effort to get myself “beach ready.” Personally, I would need a personal trainer, personal chef, and an act of God to shape up within the week or so that we have, but every little bit helps, right?

Audio — “Empire Craft” Intro

 Audio, Stuff I Made  3 Responses »
May 272010
 

So, some of you may remember my reaction to an online game that was going by the name of Empire Craft. Well, I had meaning to try a somewhat dramatic reading of that “intro” blurb that they had on their site for a while (looks like it’s down by now). A quick reading followed by some classic background music, and taa-da!

Intro to Empire Craft! Dramatic!

Good Game Design = Good Times

 Reviews  Comments Off
May 112010
 

Sunday night I was burning some major midnight oil as I progressed through “Zelda: The Ocarina of Time.” To be precise, I did not get to bed until around 4 AM. Good thing I had slept in most of the weekend to bank up some sleep time, eh? Some people have a bedside lamp; I should get a bedside DSi. On second thought, that would be a bad idea – I probably would not get any sleep again. Well, aside from while doing dull things, like driving or listening to people.

Also, this late night marathon highlights my complaint against the asynchronous games that populate Facebook: there are times when I just want to play straight for about 30-45 minutes (or more), instead of the “Ding! Sorry, your five minutes are up; please come back again in an hour to play some more, or shell out $5 to keep playing.” Of course, there are some games that make this work, but they are few and far between, alas.

Anyway, in this case of late night playing, it was largely the same thing that keeps a person wrapped up in a good book: “I just want to see how this part resolves before I call it a night.” In my case, it was the Water Temple; 4 levels of tricky access. See, you can control just how much water fills the temple, and thus, which corridors you have access to. One of things that has drawn me in to the game, especially in the temples, is watching how the levels are designed to provide the player with a large space which still has a linear pathway through out. In the current deluge of games that are claiming “sandbox” and “open world” environment, it’s refreshing to be playing a game that often shows why a linear approach to a level is just as much fun (and more, usually) when designed so that a player can only take one path through while making it feel like a completely natural progression.

I also continue to be amazed at how much I enjoy the reactions of Master (the name of my hero) and the other characters in the game, despite the low poly count and non-existent high-res textures.

Oh, and hey, how cool it is, indeed, to be playing a game with true Boss Fights? The boss fight for the Water Temple also had a way wicked intro sequence, showing things from the monster’s point of view as it snuck up on Master from behind.

Also, there was also a very nice touch of psychological weirdness in one room, where you enter what appears to be the outside, in front of a lake with a mirror reflection surface, and stretches off into a opaque, light fog. Turns out you can run across the surface, and it’s eerily quiet, aside from your footsteps across the water echoing about you. Then, without warning, you are attacked by a dark version of yourself. Now, we’ve seen this in many games, but the presentation of it here was really pretty well done. Honestly, I’m not doing the scene justice, either.

Plus, many of the fights are, so far, balanced enough that you can figure out what the weak spot is and how to win without having to get spattered several times beforehand. Navi acting as a mini hint guide is handy, but since she doesn’t always have the answers, you still have to do some thinking on your own.

Mind you, the swinging camera continues to be a great annoyance, the L-targeting can be mind-bendingly picky about when it will lock on, and the collection of subscreens (map, quest, inventory, etc.) is a pretty sad UI design that was clearly made to “show off” the “3D” abilities of the game. Fortunately, all of this continues to remain merely petty annoyances rather than major pitfalls.

As Always, Gameplay Trumps Graphics

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Apr 292010
 

I have been moving back into “Zelda: the Ocarina of Time,” and I am continuously getting impressed with it. I’m still fairly early into the game, but man, there a number of things that I’m just really liking — many of which are also little flair elements that aren’t crictical to the gameplay itself, but go miles into drawing me into the experience and deepening my enjoyment.

Again, for those not aware, this particular game is about 10-12 years old, and the 3D graphics are incredibly simplistic. Still, I’m having much more fun with this game than any number of more modern releases. “Ocarina” has often been referred to as one of the very best games to be released, not just for the Zelda series, but also for the Nintendo library as a whole, and it’s not hard to see why.

So far, the game has been moving along fairly quickly; I was momentarily stumped on one puzzle, but there enough clues and hints around that so far it hasn’t been an issue. Navi, of course, makes a nice way to remind players what the next major objective is, so you don’t have to worry about wandering around lost for ages.

But it’s the little things that have really been making this game come alive: the “rockin’” (so to speak) music in the Goron city, the dry humor that (every now and then) bubbles up in the word balloons, and the various idle animations & sounds that the kid (“Link,” we’ll call him, even though you can name him whatever you want) has which always makes it clear that he is just a little boy.

There are also a lot of things that take place which I find myself greatly amused by; last night, I ran across two separate scenes that actually made me laugh:

  1. When Link plays a tune and the Goron King, a big, rock like creature with a big frown, starts dancing like a maniac (maniac!) on the floor (dancin’ like he never danced before….), Link actually slowly backs away from him, which is exactly what I think anyone watching would have thought.
  2. Later on, the King is impressed with Link’s help and pats him on the shoulder. However, given that Link is a little boy, the King accidentally knocks Link flat to the ground. The timing was worthy of Laural and Hardy.

I will admit, I have been getting a bit frustrated with the camera swinging around, especially during battles. The Lock-in system works, but a number of times I keep screwing it up and wind up losing track of the enemies. there’s also an odd quirk which is that I can kill spiders up on walls, but then am unable to retrieve the “golden skulls” which I need to complete a side quest. I’m hoping that this will be rectified when I get the boomerage, but we’ll have to wait and see.

Regardless, though, still having a lot of fun with the game. And so far, Link (despite being, like, 6 years old) is as much of a Mack expert as Commander Shepard: already it seems that he has three love interests. Talk about getting started early.

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