I like lists. I like checklists. I like ticking things off and completing objectives. I like quests.
As such, it surprises me that despite having had a Backloggery account for about two years now, I’ve not done a whole lot with it. It is, I’d say, an ideal means of both tracking your game collection and your progress through beating as much of it as humanly possible — although the site isn’t without its flaws.
The main issue with any sort of curation system like this, be it a database you set up yourself (which, to be honest, is pretty much what Backloggery is; the site simply provides an easily understandable front-end for your particular chunk of said database) or a pre-built solution is that it takes time to set things up appropriately. Backloggery, for example, is not at all useful until you’ve manually added each and every game in your collection to your account, a process which is not at all automated, and which requires you to go through, enter the title (without suggestions), choose the platform and any other pertinent details you might want to add.
I spent a bit of time playing around with it today and despite the initially daunting prospect of inputting the games I own and haven’t yet beaten — there are a lot of them! — I actually started finding it quite fun after a while. What I particularly like about Backloggery is the ability to add your own personal flavour text to your database entries: you can add both a “progress note” describing what you’re working on in the game at any given moment, or what you hope to achieve in it, and a review (complete with star rating) for some more detailed thoughts once you feel comfortable enough to express your thoughts about it in a bit more detail. The latter option sensibly has a character limit, so you’re forced to be brief in your thoughts; it’s not a space for an in-depth critique, rather simply some personal, immediate reactions to the game and perhaps a link to some more detailed thoughts elsewhere if, as I often do, you feel the need to write in great depth about something you’ve really enjoyed.
My Backloggery account at present is not complete by any means, but I’m going to work on adding my collection to it piece by piece. It might, then, provide the incentive for me to work through some of these games and share my thoughts on them. And, in theory, the site acts as a sort of social network, too — though I only have one friend I know on there at present — so you can use it as a means of sharing your thoughts on games and perhaps convincing friends to try out some particular favourites you’ve discovered in the course of delving into your own backlog.
As I say, it’s not the perfect solution for this sort of thing by any means, but its presentation is cute and the fact it’s been around for a good few years now without turning into something complete shit means that it’s unlikely to just disappear in a puff of smoke one day, leaving all the curators’ hard work for naught. I’ll be interested to start using it a little more regularly to see if it adds any value to my gaming life. If you’re on there, feel free to add me to your “multitap” via the link above.
It’s one of those times of year that there’s seemingly hundreds (well, all right, that’s an exaggeration) of great new games coming out, and relatively little time in which to play them all. That’s not stopping me picking up the ones I’m interested in, mind, as I feel it’s important to show your support to companies that are doing the right thing and releasing (or, in the case of most of the games I’m particularly interested in, localising) titles that other publishers might see as risky or too niche-interest to take a gamble on. (In actual fact, it’s clearly not all that much of a gamble at all; if it were, I’m sure companies like NIS America, Xseed and Aksys, who bring these games from Japan to the West at an impressive rate, would have folded long ago.)
Just off the top of my head, games that have been recently released (or that are imminent) and that I am either in the process of playing or am interested in playing soon-ish include Hyperdimension Neptunia Re;Birth1, Ar no Surge, Akiba’s Trip, Freedom Wars, Danganronpa 2, Senran Kagura Shinovi Versus, Tears to Tiara 2 and doubtless several others I’ve forgotten. And this isn’t even getting into the stuff that I’ve previously acquired and haven’t touched yet, which includes stuff like Drakengard 3, Monster Monpiece andthe numerous non-Rorona games in the Atelier series. Nor does it cover the Pile of Shame I have that extends back to the PS2 era — largely acquired through spotting bargains and through taking full advantage of UK video game retailer Game’s misfortunes when it was struggling a while back.
I don’t mind though; I’m building up a library of things to enjoy that will last for literally years at this rate, since a significant number of these titles are fairly lengthy affairs, many of which also reward multiple playthroughs. It’s because of this huge stack of games that I don’t feel at all bad about not having jumped on board the “next-gen” (PS4 and Xbox One) bandwagon as yet, since 1) there’s nothing yet been released on either that I’m personally interested in playing (though a new Neptunia game is on the way to PS4, which will more than likely tip me over the edge) and 2) I like to finish my games — even if it takes a while.
I was talking about this latter point with a few people recently; the figures for people who actually beat games — now a lot easier to track in the age of achievements, which are essentially nothing more than metrics, after all — are depressingly low, and indeed, outside of very short games regarded as “must-play” experiences by popular opinion (things like Gone Home, The Stanley Parable and their ilk) it is, anecdotally speaking, quite rare for me to hear someone else talking about beating a game and what they thought of the ending. That doesn’t mean people don’t do it, of course, but with the pace of new releases these days I kind of feel like it’s probably getting rarer as people feel pressured to play the latest and greatest thing simply to keep up with their peers.
I prefer a more leisurely pace, myself; it may take me weeks or months to plough through a lengthy RPG, but I enjoy myself a lot more in the process. Since the only multiplayer title I play is Final Fantasy XIV, which is a “constant” rather than something more seasonal like the latest first-person shooter release, I don’t feel the pressure to be playing The Next Big Thing the moment it’s released — and no longer being a member of the games press means that I don’t have the responsibility to do so professionally either.
Consequently, I intend to spend the next few months playing the Ace Combat series — which I am now absolutely smitten with, incidentally — along with Hyperdimension Neptunia Re;Birth1 and, as ever, Final Fantasy XIV. After that, who knows? I might move onto something new; I might decide it’s time to tackle some of the older games in my collection. I have that freedom to do so, and it’s nice.
Over at the Squadron of Shame, our original remit was to go through all those games in your “pile of shame” — titles you bought but never quite seem to get around to due to something bigger, better, fancier coming along. As time has passed, we’ve changed and grown, discussing wider gaming issues and exploring unconventional games such as Katawa Shoujo, but all the while the Pile has been there, mocking us.
For 2012, one Feenwager among us decided that it might be a good time to start tackling said Piles, with the caveat that you can stop working your way through your backlog should something massive and awesome come out. For many people, this is Mass Effect 3, due out this week, though I won’t be touching it with a barge pole for reasons I will expand upon in a post in a few days’ time.
I have a pretty big backlog, so I thought what I might try and do is add an additional little twist to said challenge: to see if it’s possible to get through the remainder of the year without purchasing any “triple-A” titles from publishers such as EA, Activision, Ubisoft and the like. Basically anything that gets talked about so much prior to release that I’m already sick of the sodding thing by the time the discs hit store shelves (or not, in the case of new EA titles and GAME.)
In short, I can purchase downloadable, retro or smaller-budget games if absolutely necessary, but no Call of Duty, no Assassin’s Creed, no Mass Effect. To be fair, I don’t think this will be very difficult to achieve.
I am allowing myself one exception to this rule: Diablo III, and it’s perhaps arguable as to whether or not this counts as a “triple-A” game anyway as despite its (hopeful) quality, it’s PC-only and a little bit niche, if we’re being honest. The reason I bring up Diablo III as an exception to my self-imposed rules is because I have friends who live in the same country as me who are planning on playing it, and it would be lovely to be able to play something multiplayer without having to stay up until 3 in the morning for once. (I don’t begrudge staying up until 3 in the morning, North American friends, it’s just nice to get some sleep sometimes!)
So then, my official rules are “get through the remainder of 2012 without purchasing any triple-A PC or console titles and clear as much of your Pile of Shame as possible”.
I am currently using this challenge as an opportunity to explore the PSP’s rich library of JRPGs, as after finishing The Last Story I find myself hungry for more JRPG action. As you may have gathered from yesterday’s post, I’m currently playing through Corpse Party. This will be followed by Persona on PSP and possibly Shadow Hearts on PS2 alongside it. I will not be playing Mass Effect 3 at all.
Here’s my current Pile of Shame. If you’re comparing this to previous Piles I may have posted and it seems somewhat different, I’m not including games I’ve given up all hope of playing to completion, and neither am I including games which have “indefinite” play periods such as arcade games, multiplayer titles and, to a lesser extent, strategy games. Any entries on the list marked with a dollar sign are games that I don’t own yet but have been intending to purchase for quite some time, so they’re on the Pile even though I don’t own them yet.
PS2
Killer7
ICO
Shadow of the Colossus
Metal Gear Solid 3
Odin Sphere
Persona 3 FES
Shadow Hearts
Shadow Hearts: Covenant
$ Yakuza 2
Project Zero (aka Fatal Frame)
$ SMT: Digital Devil Saga
$ SMT: Digital Devil Saga 2
PS3
3D Dot Game Heroes
Demon’s Souls
Dark Souls
Yakuza 3
$ Yakuza 4
Midnight Club LA
PSP Corpse Party (currently playing)
$ Persona
$ Persona 2: Innocent Sin
$ Persona 3 Portable (this may replace Persona 3 FES in the above list)
$ Trails in the Sky
Xbox 360
Rayman Origins
PC
Amnesia
Aquaria
Assassin’s Creed II
Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood (OnLive)
Breath of Death VII
Chantelise
Cthulhu Saves the World
Far Cry 2
$ Fortune Summoners
GTA: San Andreas
GTA IV
GTA IV: Episodes from Liberty City
Hacker Evolution
Hacker Evolution: Untold
HeXen II
Hard Reset
Jade Empire
King’s Bounty
King’s Bounty: Armored Princess
King Arthur: The Role-Playing Wargame
Magicka (Squad multiplayer sometime, hmm?)
Mata Hari
Neverwinter Nights 2
Portal 2 Co-Op
Puzzle Agent
Sherlock Holmes vs Jack the Ripper
Sherlock Holmes: Nemesis
Sherlock Holmes: The Awakened
Sherlock Holmes: The Mystery of the Mummy
Sherlock Holmes: The Mystery of the Persian Carpet
Sherlock Holmes: The Secret of the Silver Earring
Take On Helicopters
Thief: Deadly Shadows
Time Gentlemen, Please!
TRAUMA
Trine
Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines
VVVVVV
X-COM Apocalypse (and possibly the previous two)
Baldur’s Gate II (inc. Throne of Bhaal)
Gabriel Knight 3
Ghost Master
Master of Magic
Ultima Underworld
Ultima Underworld II
$ Ultima VII
Since I’m currently going through my backlog of games and beating them one at a time, it seems only fitting that I should write a sort of “review” of each one as I come to their (hopefully inevitable) conclusion. So tonight it’s the turn of Final Fantasy XII, one of several “black sheep” of the series thanks to its complete defiance of established series conventions and adoption of a quasi-Western RPG style of gameplay. I will try and avoid as many spoilers in this post as possible.
I will preface this by saying, as always, that I am a total Final Fantasy fanboy. I don’t care if they’re clichéd, I don’t care if big tentacley angel monsters as final bosses are overdone, it’s what I expect from a JRPG, and it’s what I inevitably get from the Final Fantasy series in particular. Overwrought melodrama, gratuitous and unnecessary love stories and the inevitable destruction of the world that only a plucky band of teenagers (and one guy in his twenties who inevitably gets referred to as “old man” throughout) can prevent? Sign me up. I love it.
So it was something of a surprise that Final Fantasy XII eschews most of these things. The melodrama is kept to a minimum, any romantic subplots are handled with the subtlest of nudges and winks rather than faintly embarrassing scenes accompanied by someone singing and the small ensemble cast is likeable, realistic and “human”, typically ridiculous Final Fantasy costumes aside. (Penelo must be really sweaty by the end of the game.)
In fact, for once in a Final Fantasy game, the plot almost takes a back seat to the gameplay. There are large tracts of the game where you’re given a lot of freedom—something happens, the party comes to the conclusion that what they really need to do next is travel to something that is inevitably on the complete opposite side of the game world to where they are right now and then it’s up to the player how to proceed. They could go straight there using the various means of fast travel. They could walk straight there. Or they could wander off and go and do some of the many, many sidequests, most of which are available throughout the game rather than the usual Final Fantasy trick of saving them all until just before the world really needs to be saved right now please. Granted, you still have the somewhat silly opportunity to go and do all these things while the final confrontation patiently waits for you right in the middle of the map, but you just know that people would bitch and moan if you didn’t have the opportunity to do this. It’s also worth noting that the amount of time between the “point of no return” and the ending of the game is actually pretty short, so it’s not as if you have to go off and do all the sidequests then spend 6 hours battling through the final dungeon. This is a refreshing change.
By far the most refreshing thing about the game is the battle system, though. I waxed lyrical about this back on Day 5, but it’s worth mentioning again. The combat system, combining the best bits of a quasi-real-time MMO-style combat system and the “active pause” style of a BioWare RPG whilst keeping it optimised for a console, works astoundingly well, especially once you get the hang of using Gambits. By automating common actions such as curing and buffing, you’re not making the game unnecessarily easy, you’re making your play more efficient. Are you really getting any more from a game where you’re manually selecting to cast “Haste” on your attackers every few turns?
I described the Gambit system as being akin to the “huddle” you have when playing an MMO with a well-organised group. The best way to use it appears to be to give everyone clearly defined roles. For me, this means one tanking attacker, one who solely focused on healing HP and status effects and a third who focused on buffing the tanking attacker with Protect, Shell, Regen and Haste. All of them got stuck in hitting things with sticks and hammers when they didn’t have anything else to do, but this setup worked extremely well and saw me through most of the game. Any mishaps could be quickly dealt with by popping up the menu and dealing with them manually. And in boss battles where circumstances suddenly shifted, such as them suddenly becoming immune to physical attacks? Well, that was just a case of popping open the main menu and adjusting the attacking Gambits to use Magicks instead.
It’s a great-looking game for a PS2 game, too. Sure, there’s rough edges when playing on an HDTV, but it’s clear to see this is a well-crafted, well-designed world with distinctive-looking characters. The animations in cutscenes are excellent, too, with some high-quality facial animations doing a great deal to help forget the laughing scene in Final Fantasy X. One tiny bugbear with the graphics is that all the FMV sequences are in 4:3 while the game itself happily runs in 16:9 but this is a minor issue, as the vast majority of story sequences are rendered in-engine.
The sound is probably the weakest bit of the game. The voices are heavily, heavily compressed, though the acting itself is generally very good. The music is unmemorable, however, which is quite unusual for a Final Fantasy game. It has character, and sounds like Final Fantasy Tactics (which is understandable, given their common setting) but there’s nothing anywhere near as iconic as One Winged Angel on display here, which is a shame. There’s also a couple of areas that repeat music from earlier in the game, too, which seems a little lazy, given that the vast majority of areas have unique music. It’s hardly a deal-breaker, though.
Final Fantasy XII is often described as the FF for people who don’t like FF. And it’s absolutely true—the crushing linearity of earlier entries in the series is nowhere to be seen (although the main plot is firmly on rails, you’re free to wander off and do your own thing at any time right up until the finale) and there’s very little need to “grind” by running around in circles waiting for random battles to happen. In fact, it’s possible to “grind” without noticing simply by travelling from one place to another—the numerous long-distance journeys that the plot tasks you with seem to set you up to take advantage of this fact.
At the same time, these elements may put some people off. Some people enjoy the tight focus that a strictly linear plot gives, and indeed in FFXII it’s very easy to lose track of what happened in the story when your last cutscene was eight hours ago. The plot picks up pace towards the end, though, and you find yourself wanting to press forward and see things through to their conclusion. How quickly you choose to do so is entirely up to you—so if you’re a fan of a tight plot, you could probably romp through fairly quickly. If you’re a completionist, though, there’s plenty to keep you occupied here. I beat the game after 98 hours with barely half of the sidequests completed. Then there’s secret weapons to find, a boss with 35 million HP to take down, secret Summons, optional areas to explore and doubtless many other things besides.
So in summary then, I was very, very impressed with the whole game. As a Final Fantasy fanboy, I enjoyed the fact that it still felt like a Final Fantasy game whilst playing very differently to the more “traditional” entries in the series. And as a fan of good games? Well, this is very much a Good Game.
The only thing that makes me a little sad is how few people will probably be inclined to play it these days. With the lack of backward-compatibility on new PS3s, playing it will either involve tracking down a PS2 or using an emulator. It’s wholly worth it, though, as it is without doubt one of the best RPGs I’ve had the pleasure to play for a long time, and certainly one of the finest entries in the Final Fantasy series. A pity we probably won’t see its like from Squeenix again.
We’re coming up on holiday season. If you’re American, it’s already started with Thanksgiving. And you know what that means if you’re a gamer: Steam sales.
Steam sales are terrible, awful things in the most wonderful way imaginable. Top quality games up to 90% off their regular price. Bundles of games a fraction of the cost of their individual components. And, of course, the resignation to the fact that your Pile of Shame will inevitably be getting bigger, because after all, you’d be stupid not to purchase these games while they’re so cheap, right?
Right. Glad we’re on the same page. With that in mind, and with my broke-and-unemployed status in mind, I thought I would attempt to list my current Pile(s) of Shame in an attempt to convince me that I don’t really need Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood, despite the fact that I’d very much like to play the multiplayer with the Squadron of Shame.
All right. Here goes. Let’s start with the least-depressing part of the list:
Games I’m Currently Playing And Intend To Finish Before Playing Or Buying Anything Else, Dammit
Deadly Premonition (Xbox 360) – fantastic game, and contender for Game of the Year 2010 in my eyes. Definite contender for “most memorable protagonist of all time” and “best ensemble cast”. And “worst use of next-gen graphics technology”, but that’s really not the issue here.
Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit (Xbox 360) – one of the most entertaining driving games I’ve ever played, and looking likely to be the second driving game I ever beat, after Split/Second. I would beat this much quicker if the stupid Autolog “YOUR FRIEND BEAT YOU BY 0.02 SECONDS! DON’T YOU THINK YOU SHOULD GO AND BEAT THEM?!” thing wasn’t in place… but that’s part of the fun.
Pac-Man Championship Edition DX (Xbox 360) – You can’t “finish” this, unless you give up on it after getting all the Achievements, which you will do after approximately 30 minutes of play. But it’s worth noting that this is perhaps the perfect retro reimagining. It’s Pac-Man, but not Pac-Man. It has the perfect blend of frantic gameplay coupled with some modes that actually force you to think quite a bit.
Games I Stopped Playing When I Got Deadly Premonition But Intend To Go Back To When I’ve Finished Deadly Premonition, Dammit
Fallout: New Vegas (Xbox 360) – Controversial to some, but I was enjoying this a bunch more than Fallout 3. I’m a particular fan of how much the main quest appears to branch.
Castlevania: Lords of Shadow (PS3) – Epic is not the word. A stunning soundtrack and the most gorgeous graphics I’ve seen since Uncharted 2. Looking forward to getting back into this one.
Games I Think I Should Probably Play At Some Point But Don’t Own, Dammit
Assassin’s Creed, Assassin’s Creed II, Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood – I played a bit of the first one and enjoyed it, but traded it in when something better came out, as I recall. I’d like to go back to it and play through the whole series, up to and including Brotherhood. The multiplayer in Brotherhood is a lot of fun, for sure.
The Mario Galaxy series – I have not played a mainline Mario game since Sunshine, which I didn’t like much. I hear the two Galaxies are rather good, though.
Games I’m Not Sure If I Want But Think I Might At Some Point, Maybe When They’re A Bit Cheaper, Like After Christmas, Dammit
Gran Turismo 5 (PS3) – I said on Twitter yesterday that I probably wouldn’t bother with this, but I’ve since watched a few videos and read a few bits and pieces and it sounds potentially interesting, if a bit flawed in its current state. I like cars, too, though I don’t know anything about gear ratios and whatnot, apart from the fact my friend Woody and I once got some Mitsubishi thing up to over 300km/h in the original Gran Turismo by playing with gear ratios and not really knowing what we were doing.
Fable III (Xbox 360) – I really enjoyed Fable II, late to the party as I was, and I was impressed with Fable III‘s initial showing at the Eurogamer Expo. But reports of it have been far too mixed for my liking, coupled with the fact that you can exploit the game’s main “moral dilemma” by simply leaving your console turned on overnight for a couple of days. Still, I like the voice cast, I like the concept and I do like the Fable world, so perhaps I’ll come to this one very late like I did with Fable II.
And now, the main event(s). I’m going to split this into several lists to be less depressing.
Games I Own And Haven’t Played At All Yet And Feel A Bit Bad About, Dammit
Steam
And Yet It Moves
Gish
HeXen II
Jade Empire
Jolly Rover
King’s Bounty: The Legend
Multiwinia
Puzzle Agent
Recettear: An Item Shop’s Tale
Sam & Max 105, 106, 201, 202, 203, 204, 205
Time Gentlemen, Please!
Unreal II
Unreal Tournament 2004
Unreal Tournament 3
X-COM: Terror from the Deep
X-COM: Apocalypse
Games I Have Played Before (Maybe A Few Times) And Enjoyed, And Intend To Go Back And Finish Sometime (Probably Restarting From The Beginning… Again) Because They Were Rather Good, Really, Dammit
Steam/PC
Aquaria
Darwinia
The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind
King’s Bounty: Armored Princess
Left 4 Dead
Left 4 Dead 2
Mount & Blade
Peggle Nights
Plants vs Zombies
Torchlight
TrackMania United
Trials 2
Unreal Gold
Vampire: Bloodlines
The Witcher
World of Goo
X-COM: UFO Defense
Baldur’s Gate II
Icewind Dale
Ghost Master
Realms of Arkania Myst
Riven
URU
Martian Memorandum
Mean Streets
Handhelds
Professor Layton and the Curious Village (DS) Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories (GBA) R-Type Command (PSP) Ratchet and Clank: I Forgot The Subtitle (PSP) Final Fantasy Tactics (PSP, though I have beaten the PS1 version)
Xbox LIVE Arcade
Castle Crashers
Lode Runner
Peggle
Perfect Dark
Puzzle Quest
Rocket Riot
Shadow Complex
Splosion Man
Super Meat Boy
Consoles
ICO (PS2) Shadow of the Colossus (PS2) Project Zero (aka Fatal Frame, PS2) Psi-Ops: The Mindgate Conspiracy (PS2) Persona 3: FES (PS2) Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas (PS2) Final Fantasy XII (PS2) Darksiders (PS3) Final Fantasy XIII (PS3) 3D Dot Game Heroes (PS3) Silent Hill: Shattered Memories (Wii) Zak and Wiki Make A Porno… wait, that’s not right, whatever it was called (Wii) Demon’s Souls (PS3) Disgaea 3 (aka The Game I Always Forget I Actually Own, PS3)
Games I Own But Will Probably Never Finish Even If I Kept Playing Them Non-Stop Until The End Of Time, Either Because Of Immense Difficulty Or Sheer Volume Of Content Therein But I’m Still Glad I Played Them, Dammit
Alien Hominid HD (XBLA, difficulty) Braid (XBLA, difficulty, overratedness) Forza 3 (Xbox 360, volume of content) Trials 2: SE (Steam, difficulty)
Games I Own And Have Finished But Would Like To Go Back And Replay Or 100% Or Achievement Whore Them, Dammit
Dragon Age: Origins (Xbox 360, would like to play Awakening too) Bayonetta (Xbox 360) Canis Canem Edit/Bully (PS2, though I’d like to try the Xbox 360 version) Persona 4 (PS2) Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic (Steam) Gabriel Knight: Sins of the Fathers (PC)
Sooo… maybe I don’t need to play the Assassin’s Creed series just yet, huh.
Tomorrow night, The Squadron of Shame are back in action after something of a hiatus.
For those of you unfamiliar with our unique brand of discussion and podcastery, let me explain what it’s all about, and when the new podcast hits, you’ll be able to come and join the fun.
The Squadron of Shame started as a result of a feature on 1up Yours dubbed “The Pile of Shame”. The term has since spread around the Internet somewhat, and it refers to all of the things that you’ve bought and never got around to reading, listening to or playing. In the case of the original 1up feature, it referred to that pile of games you have on your shelf that are begging to be played, but somehow inevitably get left behind whenever the latest triple-A hotness makes an appearance. The first game they took on was the excellent Psychonauts.
As it happened, the feature was somewhat short-lived on the 1up podcast. But a number of community members ran with the concept on the companion forums for the 1up “radio” output. We formed a club page on 1up which is still there, though largely inactive these days. We’d pick a game which was supposed to be good (or at least interesting), play it through as a group and discuss it all together. Some fascinating discussions resulted, and it also allowed many people to expose themselves to a variety of games which they might not have done otherwise. Games like Star Control II, Freespace 2, Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth and Psi-Ops.
As time moved on, the group wanted more. The merging of all the 1up boards into one mangled mess meant that the reasoned debate of the old threads was much more difficult. Topics would get derailed and it was clear that a new approach was needed.
Thus began the SquadCast, the Squadron of Shame’s official podcast. Starting with independent rabbinical adventure game The Shivah, select members of the group banded together to do what they did best: play through a game together, then put their heads together and have a discussion about it. Ably hosted by the fine Mr Chris Whittington and edited/produced in a sort-of OKish manner by my good self, the show is now 29 episodes strong and has covered subjects as diverse as the Commodore 64, Russian FPS-adventure depress ’em up Pathologic and charming indie puzzler Machinarium.
Following circumstances beyond their control (mostly beyond my control, I admit) there’s been something of a gap since our last episode. So we’ve thought that now is the time to take a break, consider how to make the show better and come back stronger than ever with some brand new output in a whole new format.
So, tomorrow we’re recording. And next week we’ll be proudly presenting The Squadron of Shame SquadCast, Season Two. Taking some of the advice we got from Jeff Green, Shawn Elliott, Ken Levine and some others who I’ve forgotten speaking on the Podcasting for PR panel at PAX East, we’ve made some changes.
The show’s going to be bi-weekly. This means that rather than have variable gaps as everyone clamours to complete a “mission” before we talk about it, some regularity will allow us to build up a more, well, regular listenership.
Next up, it’s going to have a static cast of host Chris Whittington, Mark Whiting, Jeff Parsons and myself with occasional guest spots available where appropriate. Jeff is in the process of composing us a brand new theme tune, too, so it’s going to be a complete sonic reboot.
Most importantly, though, each episode is no longer going to be focused on a specific game. Instead, the focus will be on particular “topics”, with occasional traditional “mission” podcasts interspersed as appropriate. This means that people will hopefully be more inclined to tune in regularly and hear what we have to say, rather than skipping episodes about games they have no interest in. As part of this, the official Squawkbox of the Squad will be playing a more prominent role, with community questions and discussions a regular occurrence. If you already have a WordPress account, you can head right over and start chatting with us. If not, it’s simple to sign up. Everyone who’s interested in discussing video games and who isn’t afraid of the odd (all right, frequent) wall of text is very welcome to pay us a visit.
Besides the changes, it’ll be our same wordy, intellectual, chin-stroking discussion about video games, representing one of the most unique podcasts on the Internet. We’d love it if you could join us for our relaunch. Visit the Squawkbox, follow us on Twitter, become a Fan… sorry, Like us on Facebook and find our past episodes and those of our sister podcast The Exploding Barrel Podcasthere.
2010 is going to be a great year for the Squad. We hope you’ll come along for the ride.
Hello everyone! Late again. I’m just going to stop writing that at the start of my posts, as it appears that 2am is prime blogging time in my stupid world. Oh well. I could have worse vices at 2am. Or indeed at any time.
Few fun things to report. Well, one really, and one I can’t talk about yet until I know a bit more. First up, I’m going to be writing for an upcoming retro-gaming site called B4HD, which specialises in games from the pre-HD era. (B4 HD. Geddit?) It was brought to my attention by the lovely and talented Jennifer Allen, who is also partaking in this One A Day nonsense (one of the few people who are still left) and also happens to be the deputy editor of the site. So thanks, Jen, for pointing it out. It’s right up my alley. Now I just need to write something ready for its launch.
I also have several potential freelancing irons in the fire, so we’ll have to wait and see if those come to anything. I’m being more proactive about it now, though, and badgering people I haven’t heard from for a while. It’s not really in my nature to act like that, but I’m learning. Assertiveness and all that. Plus journalism can be pretty cut-throat, so I better toughen up, right?
For the remainder of this post, I think I may just be lazy and list my current Pile of Shame – in this case, games I haven’t finished – since it was Jen’s post I linked to that inspired this one. So here goes. Starred games indicate games that I have at least started and played a reasonably significant amount of in the past. Non-starred ones have either not been played at all or very little. Some of these I will probably never get around to ever. But they’re still there, mocking me.
PS1
Final Fantasy V
Final Fantasy VI
PS2
Final Fantasy XII*
ICO
Metal Gear Solid 3
Resident Evil 4
killer7
Persona 3 FES*
Odin Sphere
Project Zero/Fatal Frame*
Psi-Ops
Shadow of the Colossus*
GameCube
Resident Evil Zero*
Resident Evil Remake
Xbox 360/XBLA
Borderlands*
Numerous titles in the Sega Mega Drive Ultimate Collection (particularly the Phantasy Star series, Story of Thor, Shining Force II and Shining in the Darkness)
Alien Hominid*
Braid*
Castle Crashers*
Forza 3*
Lode Runner*
Perfect Dark*
Puzzle Quest*
Shadow Complex*
Splosion Man*
PS3/PSN
Matt Hazard: Blood, Bath and Beyond
Final Fantasy XIII*
Disgaea 3
Shatter’s last two Trophies
Uncharted 2 multiplayer
Building a level in LittleBigPlanet
PC – god-damn Steam sale in early January saw to this one.
King’s Bounty
King’s Bounty: Armored Princess
Mount & Blade
Uplink*
Jade Empire
KOTOR as Dark Side
Neverwinter Nights: Hordes of the Underdark
Neverwinter Nights 2
Baldur’s Gate 2*
Baldur’s Gate 2: Throne of Bhaal
Icewind Dale
Icewind Dale: Heart of Winter
Morrowind* (played EXTENSIVELY, never got anywhere NEAR finishing)
Homeworld 2
Dungeon Siege 2
The entire Myst series
Gabriel Knight 3*
The Police Quest series
King’s Quest IV
The Witcher*
Freelancer*
Startopia*
Ghost Master
Martian Memorandum/Mean Streets
Realms of Arkania
Relams of Arkania 2
No-One Lives Forever 2
Unreal Tournament 3
Yeah, that’s right. Kicking it old-school with some of those PC games. It’s actually quite fortunate I have little-to-no money coming in right now as I clearly have a backlog to last me until the end of time. Couple that with the fact that I’m in a World of Warcraft phase right now (halfway to level 75 with my best character now) and there’s clearly plenty to be getting on with. So a big middle finger to all the triple-A games that have come out since Assassin’s Creed 2.
Of course, when Blur and Split/Second come out soon, this will all go to pot. Still, never mind.
I’ve had a personal pile of shame lingering for many years now of video games that I bought, played, loved and never got around to finishing. It seems to keep growing, and PC games seem to be ones that I am particularly guilty of leaving ignored for some time. So it was with that in mind that I started to delve into said pile of shame to actually finish some of them. Prior to this post, Divine Divinity was the game that kept me occupied. I remember when I first bought it, my PC wasn’t quite up to the job of running it particularly quickly, so that put me off playing it a bit. When I bought a more powerful PC, it was left on the shelf in favour of more fancy-pants games that showed off my shiny new processor and graphics capabilities.
Now I’ve got my even-more-powerful-than-that Mac happily Boot Camped up to the gills, I find I’ve been returning to the older games more and more. I think the fact that I can run said older games at 60+fps at 1920×1200 is one of the somewhat attractive aspects of this arrangement – especially when I consider that the intro to The Witcher, which I also picked up recently, ran at approximately 1.5fps at 1920×1200. Ouch.
Anyway, now DD is out of the way I’m going to talk about one game in particular which I’ve always had genuine affection for because it’s just so utterly charming. It’s moderately well-known in certain circles for many reasons, but I think there’s an equal or possibly even greater number of people out there who won’t be familiar with it at all. So what is it?
No One Lives Forever
No One Lives Forever, of course; or, to give it its full title, The Operative: No One Lives Forever, hereafter referred to as NOLF for the sake of my sanity.
NOLF is a first-person perspective shooter from the era of games such as the original Deus Ex. DX is actually quite an apt comparison to this game as both proudly boast of the player’s ability to approach situations in a manner of their choosing (normally boiling down to either bursting into a room making lots of noise and shooting everyone in the face, or sneaking into a room quietly and then shooting everyone in the face) and the then-trendy “stealth action” elements.
Where NOLF shines is in its characterisation – both of the game world and of the people in it. NOLF’s world is a brightly-coloured Sixties-inspired caricature of the world of secret agents and acronym-based criminal organisations. Many have compared it to Austin Powers but NOLF’s humour is in many places far more subtle and less slap-you-around-the-face-with-a-vaguely-phallic-object-whilst-shouting-“Laugh dammit!” than Myers’ ouevre. The protagonist Cate Archer, for example, is far from being a wisecracking caricature. In fact, she’s actually quite a realistically-portrayed character battling against the sexist tendencies and chauvinistic attitudes of many people from the Sixties who just happens to get into some spectacularly over-the-top scenarious, including, amongst other things, falling out of a plane without a parachute and having to steal one from an enemy goon on the way down.
This is one of the brilliant things about NOLF – juxtaposition. Cate’s deadpan and sarcastic delivery of many of her lines (including some brilliantly cutting comebacks to aforementioned chauvinism) contrasts brilliantly with the absurdity of some of the situations she finds herself in. Couple this with the famous “overheard conversations” which few games have handled quite as brilliantly as this game, and you get a great spy tale with a wonderful sense of humour infused throughout.
One thing struck me while playing this game, and it was this: first-person shooters used to be fun. I don’t know what it is about recent FPSes but I just don’t enjoy the new ones. I’ve never been inclined to finish a Halo game since the first one, I have absolutely no interest in Crysis and don’t even get me started on Gears of War. Yes, yes, I know, it’s a third-person shooter but it might as well be in first-person for all the blood, gore, shooting, unimaginative gameplay and brown backdrops. (Yeah, you heard.)
NOLF and other games of its era (and earlier) were something else, though. I haven’t been able to pin down exactly what it is I find so compelling about them, though. Maybe it’s the fact that they’re more colourful. Maybe it’s the fact that the gameplay is more varied – for all the great set-pieces in Halo, you were still running around sci-fi themed areas for the duration, whereas NOLF sees you doing everything from diving out of aforementioned plane to doing a deep sea dive to heading to a brilliantly camp Sixties space station, with different gameplay conceits to take into account in each environment. Or maybe it’s the fact that the protagonist is an interesting, compelling character that you feel inclined to stick around with for the duration of their journey. I know I couldn’t give a crap about Master Chief as he’s dull as ditchwater as a character, at least in the way he’s represented in the Halo games – the books may be another matter but as Halo interests me so little I’ve never felt inclined to check it out. Cate, on the other hand, is intelligent, sexy, sarcastic and has a wonderfully dry sense of humour.
I think many modern developers and publishers could learn a lot from revisiting some games from five to ten years ago rather than churning out identikit shooters with pretty graphics. I’d love to see a modern sequel to NOLF. Who knows if it will ever happen?
Next on the Pile are the X-COM games and NOLF2, along with The Witcher, which I’ll post some thoughts on soon.
I’ve got three games to talk about today. Depending on my stamina and how long it takes dinner to be ready, this may take more than one post. But I’m sure you can cope with that, and I’ll endeavour not to finish on a cliffhanger… unlike current DVD-du-jour Alias which is currently driving Jane nuts with the cliffhanger that every single episode ends on. Me? I love it, but then I’m a sucker for that sort of thing and could happily sit and watch a whole box set in one go. I’m that lazy.
But I digress. Let’s begin this triptych.
The Antiquity
Divine Divinity
Antiquity in question is actually not that old, hailing from 2002, but it’s actually been sitting on my shelf gathering dust almost since I bought it for full price back upon its release. I’ve started it several times but never played it in any great depth.
“What is it?” I hear you ask. Well, it’s a game with a ridiculous name. Divine Divinity, to be precise, which I can only assume is more meaningful in the original Flemish. It’s an RPG by Belgian developers Larian Studios, who remain relatively little-known to this day, but are currently working on a sequel to DD.
Why did I start playing this? Well, several reasons. When I’m between “big releases” on the consoles, I often think about picking this game up again and playing through it but inevitably something else distracts me. This is much the same reason I have never completed Baldur’s Gate II, despite the fact that I would very much like to. The main reasons I’ve decided to stick with it this time include firstly a thread over on the Quarter to Three forums discussing “Diablolikes” in anticipation for the as-yet-undated release of Diablo III, where DD’s name came up, and secondly remembering that DD was one of the earliest suggestions for the Squadron of Shame to cover, being a game that garnered considerable critical acclaim on its initial release but is still a relative unknown.
So what is it, and why did it gain such acclaim? At first glance, it appears very much to be a Diablolike, right down to having an interface lifted almost wholesale from Blizzard’s classic. However, it’s once you get into the gameplay that it becomes very apparent that it’s an extremely well-thought out game with a lot more depth than the hack-and-slash of Diablo. If you must compare it to things, it’s a curious blend of Diablo, Baldur’s Gate and Fallout – taking, as it does, the real-time “twitch” combat and single-character focus from Diablo, the huge world, character interaction, quest systems and ability to strategically pause from Baldur’s Gate and the interesting barter-based trading system from Fallout.
It’s a blend that works well. What we end up with is a game with considerably more variety than Diablo (not that that game’s purity works against it – on the contrary, it is probably one of the contributing factors that makes it so addictive) and the depth of story and interaction of Baldur’s Gate without any of the scary intimidating (for some) cogs and gears of AD&D 2nd Edition.
Plus it’s huge. We’re talking Baldur’s Gate II huge here. You spend a considerable amount of time in the first village and the dungeon underneath it before going out into the wider world. And said world is pretty huge – particularly due to the fact that what initially appears to be the “overworld” map is actually just a fraction of a much bigger game area filled with things to kill and quests to complete. Part of the joy of the game is just exploring this world and discovering what it has to offer, but there’s a well-structured quest system in place to give you a bit of direction too.
In the foreword to the game manual, the game’s designers note that they hope that people will find “their own way” to play the game, and while there are always obvious limitations on any RPG system to do EXACTLY what you want, I do get the impression that you could play DD quite happily as a Diablo clone, wandering around the wilderness and killing things for experience and only completing storyline-critical quests. On the other hand, the way I’m playing is more like a “traditional” (for want of a better word) RPG where I’m travelling between places and attempting to complete quests in an efficient manner.
It’s a really excellent game, but I can see the size and length putting some people off. I’m certainly glad I’ve decided to give it a chance though, as I’m really enjoying it and fully intend to see it through to the end.
The Rarity
Ulala
This is a game I actually didn’t think existed. I remember reading about it before it came out and then it disappearing without trace. The game in question is Space Channel 5 Part 2. I adored the first game on the Dreamcast and then again on PS2 when it was re-released, despite it being absolutely 100% the most gay game on the planet. And I don’t mean that in an Internet-Fuckwad-“Gay-means-crap” sort of way, I mean that this game is super-gay. Don’t believe me? Watch this clip.
Convinced now? But didn’t you find it utterly infectious? That’s the charm of Space Channel 5, a game which is essentially Simple Simon in a camp 1960s sci-fi parallel universe. Part 2 is more of the same, but it has the dubious honour of being one of the rarest PS2 games ever, at least here in the UK.
The reasoning? It has Michael Jackson in it for a few minutes, and was released around the same time as the TV report that suggested that MJ might be… you know, a bit wrong in the head (like no-one knew that already). As a result, the game was hastily pulled, never to be seen again – so much so that boxed copies of the game now go for up to £100.00 apiece. Yes, US-based readers, that’s about $200 for one game without any peripherals or anything.
Fortunately, I had a stroke of luck in a browse through Amazon and managed to locate a seller who had the game for considerably less than £100 because it wasn’t brand new, but it was pretty much untouched. As a result, I scored the game for under £50 including shipping, and I didn’t think it was going to get any cheaper than that to get my hands on a genuine rarity.
But enough about the hard-to-findness. What’s it like?
Again, it’s super-gay, and super-fun. The gameplay remains fundamentally unchanged, though it adds both a strange two-player mode where one player is in charge of directional inputs and the other is in charge of pressing X and O to “Chu!” and “Hey!” as appropriate along with a survival mode. There’s something about it, though, that makes you want to play it again and again, even though the whole game can be beaten in about an hour, and I think it’s the infectious cheerfulness of the damn thing.
With the number of damn games that have been predominantly brown ever since Quake came along, it’s always refreshing to play a game with lots of bright colours and cheerful music, where even the villains are entertaining rather than threatening. It is impossible to play either Space Channel 5 game and not come out sporting a huge grin on your face. And that’s worth a lot – to have something that’s genuinely uplifting to play is always a pleasure, and it’s something we seem to get a lot less these days as graphics improve to the point where the Holy Grail of “photo-realism” is getting closer and closer.
The Hilarity
Castle Crashers
Castle Crashers hit Xbox Live Arcade this week after three years of anticipation and I’m pleased to report that it’s an excellent game bringing back memories of chugging 50p pieces into the Turtles, Simpsons and Asterix arcade games (and being inevitably frustrated by the shoddy home ports).
It’s also, to tie in with what I said about Space Channel 5, genuinely funny. Developers The Behemoth make a point of creating visually appealing games, as Alien Hominid will attest, but CC is filled with so many laugh-out-loud funny visual jokes that again, it’s a game that makes you smile, and a game best experienced with friends, while drunk.
I’m out of time. There may be more discussion of any or all of these titles later. For now, I hope that’s given you a taste of my current gaming. Screw big releases, these three are keeping me more than busy enough for the moment!
