Holy Game Explosion!

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Valkyria Chronicles
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It's been forever and an age since I posted anything significant, and that's because my gaming world seems to have exploded. I've got so much stuff to play I don't even know where to start writing about it all - and so I've decided to post a written thumbnail gallery of what I'm going through right now.

Games I'm Still Playing

Star Ocean: The Last Hope, XBox 360

A Kingdom for Keflings, XBox 360 Live

Games I'm Playing But Haven't (Yet) Written About

Fantastic Contraption, http://www.fantasticcontraption.com

Amazing little web physics game along the lines of The Incredible Machine. You must get an object from one place to another by building fantastic contraptions out of various types of wheels and rods. Free to play with extra content if you're willing to pay a little. It's well worth it.

Little Big Planet, PS3.

I haven't dug too much into this one yet; I just picked it up a couple of days ago. I'm late to join this party and it's a shame, it's a pretty mind-blowing gaming experience. At it's core, LBP is a fairly typical platform game, but they expose that core in an unprecedented way by giving you all the tools you need to create a rediculous variety of worlds of your own to play in, alone or with friends.

Persona 4, PS2

I caved into temptation and started playing Persona 4, and was hugely impressed. As fantastic as Persona 3 is, Persona 4 takes a small step beyond it in nearly every respect. The steps may be small but the number of them adds up to a great difference; Persona 4 is one of the best RPGs I've played, so far. I'll be writing it up soon.

Valkyria Chronicles, PS3

This game really blew my mind, even more so than Little Big Planet. When I got myself a PS3, I got it for two reasons - it was the cheapest BluRay player available on the market at the time, and because I want to get Final Fantasy XIII for the PS3 when it's released. If I'd known about it, Valkyria Chronicles would have been more than enough justification. It's a strategy roleplaying game, not a genre I've ever tried before, but now I think I've been missing out. I'm not going to rave about this one too much, it's my #1 priority for an Impression post; I'll save it for that, coming up soon.

Pain, PS3 Store

This is a pretty small game I was introduced to just last week. The idea is to flick a living crash test dummy of a character around a scene, causing as much destruction as you can. It sounds kind of brainless and silly, which it is, but it's amazingly addictive and satisfying to play. The base game comes with one scene and a couple of characters to throw around. Two additional scenes and a large number of extra characters are available for purchase on the Sony Online Store.

Games I Am No Longer Playing

Persona 3 FES, PS2.

  • I'm still sucked in by the story on this one, but sadly I reached a point where I could not defeat a boss encounter and don't have enough saved games to go back and level up to try again. I will start a new game in the future, manage the early game days better, and possibly play at Easy level just so I can get through the story more effectively.

Harvest Moon - Tree of Tranquility, Wii.

  • A good game, one I enjoy, but I'm too far off the target audience for it to hold my attention against the likes of Star Ocean, Persona 4 and Valkyria Chronicles.
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Reactions: Max Payne 3

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Max Payne
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Rockstar has announced Max Payne 3, followup to two highly original shooters that introduced the gaming world to Matrix-style "Bullet Time" before even the Matrix games were able to do it. Slated to appear on the winter release schedule and featuring versions for the PS3, XBox 360 and PC, players will revisit the troubled life of protagonist Max Payne.

"We're starting a new chapter of Max's life with this game," said Sam Houser, Founder of Rockstar Games. "This is Max as we've never seen him before, a few years older, more world-weary and cynical than ever. We experience the downward spiral of his life after the events of Max Payne 2 and witness his last chance for salvation."

These words from the press release ring pretty true for me. Rockstar has a fantastic history with game releases, and I loved the original two games, but I can't help but (unfairly, I know) assign a little guilt by association that makes me think the full name should be "Max Payne 3: We're Sorry About the Movie."

Won't stop me from playing it though... and it sure won't stop me from enjoying it.

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Impressions: Star Ocean - The Last Hope

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Game cover
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As of this writing, I'm about 30 hours into Star Ocean - The Last Hope (SO-TLH) for the XBox 360 and I'm enjoying it. I had wished, when I started writing this, that I'd be able to say I was thoroughly enjoying it, but there are a few concerns I've got that prevent me from saying that.

The Last Hope is a fantastic Square-Enix RPG, no doubt. Anyone who likes Final Fantasy style Japanese RPGs will be into this. The title comes from the core of the story, which is that humanity has been up to it's old tricks and taken warfare to such an extreme that World War III has occurred and left the Earth unable to sustain life, at least on the surface. Humanity has taken refuge under ground, but they can't remain there indefinitely. The human race's titular last hope is the search for a new world to call it's own, hopefully one they'll take care of a bit better than they did the Earth.

The characters are decent, if a little generic-seeming at the start. They do begin to come into their own as you get further into the game, which is a bit of a relief. Your primary characters are Edge Maverick and Reimi Saionji, humans from Earth's underground who are determined to find humanity's new home. They're fairly typical anime/RPG character archetypes, the idealized everyman that you can identify with comfortably while a part of you wishes you secretly wishes that you could identify with them a little more closely. This makes it easy to slip into their shoes so to speak, but also makes them feel a little bland at the outset. As the game progresses they start to come into their own a little bit more with story events tugging on their personas and moulding them into something a bit more unique.

The combat is enjoyable, resembling other Square-Enix games in the broad strokes but with some twists that are new to this title. It took me a long time to get into the game's Blindsiding system because I found it largely unnecessary, but now that I do know how to pull them off, I find I do them a lot more often. Blindsiding is a way your characters have of slipping past an enemy's defenses to strike from their "blind spot" which always results in a critical hit for much more damage than a typical hit would do.

If I had any complaint about the combat, it's the same one I have with all Square-Enix games - it's often necessary to go "grinding", or fighting endlessly for the sake of fighting to build experience up when you discover that you're not strong enough to get past a particular encounter. This is not always a bad thing. In this game in particular I've found it less irritating than I have in other games, because it has led me to exploring the various planets I can travel to in more depth, and I've completed a large number of smaller side quests as a result. These side quests make for an effective alternative to grinding, in fact, because you can earn a fair amount of experience doing them,which levels your characters up just as effectively as the fighting.

Another nice side effect of the side quests is that many of them are crafting quests. People or shops will often ask you to find or make special items for them. The game contains a vast number of resources you can acquire in various ways. You can then take these resources back to your ship's lab, where you can launch the crafting interface and create a dizzying array of items that range from weapons and armor upgrades to ship upgrades to useless bits of arts and craft that can be sold for more than the cost of the components you made them from. Like blindsides in combat, this was not something I jumped into right away, but once I did start messing around with it, it quickly became a fun passtime in it's own right - and the more combat oriented items are yet another way you can reduce the need for grinding, as they can make those extra-tough encounters a lot easier to manage.

Visually... well, it's a breathtaking game that often inspires me to just sit still and pan the camera around the world to take it in. I won't go on too much about how great the game looks, because honestly, it's not often you find A-list games these days that don't look spectacular.

I have had some problems with SO-TLH that have driven me absolutely crazy. The game seems to be unusually crash-prone. I've had more problems with crashing games on the XBox 360 than on any other console, but this game in particular crashes more than any other 360 title I've played in recent memory. I'm not sure whether this is because the game is buggy, the console lacks stability, or because  my console is one of the earlier 360 releases, but no matter the cause, it's frustrating to lose progress due to lockups.

It does say something about the compelling quality of the game that I keep going back to it though. I'm anxious to see where the story is leading; what more is going to happen with these characters? What more will they go through, fight through, endure through? It's good enough to be worth a little frustration to see where things are headed.

Overall impression: I'd rank it a bit below Final Fantasy XII or Persona 3 FES, but still definitely worth a look for fans of this style of gaming.

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Impressions: A Kingdom for Keflings

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A Kingdom for Keflings
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A Kingdom for Keflings is a very cute game for XBox Live Arcade that caught my attention because it's one of those new games that makes direct use of the 360 Live Avatars in the same way that so many Wii games make use of Miis. The idea is that you play the game as your Avatar, who exists in the world of the Kelflings as a giant among small people. These small Kelflings want a great kingdom, and for some unspecified reason, you're helping them achieve this goal.

You start with a few Keflings and a large amount of resource-rich land. As a giant, you're able to work reasonably quickly to harvest basic resources and get the building process under way. This is essentially a resource management game; you could almost see it as  real-time strategy game, except that there's no opponent to fight. Much like Warcraft and it's ilk, you'll spend time chopping trees, mining stone and crystals, etc. all in the name of constructing buildings to unlock more advanced technologies to improve your kingdom and your Keflings themselves.

Though you are capable of gathering the resources you need yourself, you're better off putting your Keflings to work for you to handle resource gathering. This frees you up for the task of actually constructing all the buildings the new kingdom is going to need. That's something the Keflings can't do, so your time is much better spent focused on that.

In addition to the resource management part of the game, there's a bit of a collecting game as well. You can explore the land around your growing kingdom to find new tools that will help you gather different types of resources. Generally they'll be found smack in the center of a resource patch, requiring you to do some work to clear a path to the tool.

There's also a bit of a quest component. Once you've built your kingdom up to the point where you have a town hall, keep or castle, you'll be able to get quests from the Kefling you've put in power. These are largely resource quests, along the lines of "I need 50 magic gems, can you put them in the contractor's office for me?" So you'll go off, get the resource requested, put it in the building requested, and be rewarded with love.

That may not sound like much of a reward, but Love is actually another resource in and of itself. You need it whenever you build a new house to increase your Kefling population. Building a house is all well and good, but Keflings won't want to live in it until it contains love. Build a house, put love in it, and you get new Keflings to do your bidding. Quests are the primary means of getting Love, so you'll need to undertake them once in a while.

Constructing buildings is a pretty interesting process. It's not too heavy on the micromanagement, but not simplified to the point of pointlessness either. Among the many buildings you'll construct for your kingdom are various types of workshops. These workshops will take resources of various kinds and enable you to place orders for building components. The components are assembled and placed outside the workshop. Your giant then goes and picks up the component and you can put it wherever you want in the world. You arrange the components in the proper configuration (which you'll be able to see on the building's blueprint,) and when you have all the components in the correct configuration, the building is automatically finished off.

This may sound really simple, but you have a limited population of Keflings harvesting resources for you. You'll also have Keflings working at transporting resources from location to location, and others processing one type of resource into another. For instance, you may have one Kefling chopping trees into logs, one Kefling working in a saw mill, and a third Kefling transporting cut planks from the sawmill to your contractor's office. Your contractor's office is just one type of workshop though, you may have half a dozen others in your kingdom, and all of them need to be fed a variety of resources to create all the building pieces you'll need. Making sure you have all the resources you need where you need them can be a bit of an optimization dance. It's not too punishing if you mess up though; you can always have one workshop "build" a resource stockpile for you, which your giant can then move where you need it in a hurry. It's just tricky enough to be interesting but not so tricky as to be frustrating.

I started playing this game with the demo just last night and quickly found myself compelled to spend the 800 Microsoft Points required to upgrade to the full game.  It didn't claim ALL of my attention; Star Ocean - The Last Hope took the lion's share of it. But I did find myself playing it far more than I expected I would, given the fact that I had Star Ocean there waiting for me. That's a pretty good sign.

Speaking of Star Ocean - The Last Hope, that one is next on my Impressions list. Watch for a new post on it very soon.

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Script Writing: Capture the Flag

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Written by Gordon S. McLeodWednesday, 26 April 2006

This was a group assignment completed with the assistance of Mark Smith and Frank Messier, classmates of mine at the Academy. In this class we were taught to read, write and analyze scripts as used in film, theatre and television, and with thought in mind on how they can be useful in the game development world. Note we also studied the game design document in detail in this class.

CAPTURE THE FLAG Screenplay by

Gordon S. McLeod Mark Smith Frank Messier

February 4, 2005

FADE IN:

EXT. FOREST VALLEY - NIGHT

A carpet of trees covers the sides of the river valley, broken in places by clearings; some natural, some bearing the look of old battle scars. The sky is a pale green/blue of a shade never seen in any time or place on Earth.

Glints of metal in the starlight hint at recent wreckage not yet overgrown.

Two imposing fortresses stand off at opposite ends of the valley, the river between them. They crouch in night's shadows, facing one another like cathedrals of diametrically opposed religions, each convinced of its own rightness at the other's expense.

A full moon observes the eternal confrontation, small in the sky, as though distancing itself from a fight it knows will never end.

INT. BLUE BASE - NIGHT

THREE PEOPLE sit at a triangular desk. There's an air of tension and a hint of veiled hostility in the room.

BLUE LEADER, aka LITTLE PONY, a hard woman in her mid-twenties, faces RED LEADER, a sombre but sharp man only a few years her senior.

The THIRD FIGURE in the room sits in shadow, watching the two leaders in silence.

BLUE LEADER

I knew this meeting was a waste of time! Who are you, and what do you want with me?

RED LEADER

A good question. I too would like to know why I was called here. My time is valuable.

The THIRD FIGURE almost appears not to notice that the two have spoken to him. The orange glow of a cigarette rises in the shadow, casting the faintest of lights on his features. The eyes are large and almond, traced with fine lines, but there's a hardness to them that suggests it was acquired, slowly, over a long time.

Standing slowly, as though time held little meaning for him, he turned his head from RED LEADER to BLUE LEADER slowly.

THIRD FIGURE

This war of yours has gone on for generations. Centuries. Some say even millenia.

Pausing, he took a drag on his cigarette. The light it casts intensifies, revealing a craggy face worn by long years.

BLUE LEADER

Get to the point. Who do you think you are to call us together the night before battle?

Though her words are strong, BLUE LEADER seems taken aback by his demeanor, and perhaps more taken aback by her own reaction to him. There's a hint of uncertainty to her voice. She tugs unconsciously at her VIETNAM-ERA MILITARY UNIFORM.

RED LEADER controls himself somewhat better, though he too smooths a wrinkle from his VIETNAM-ERA MILITARY UNIFORM - the same era, and same army, as that worn by BLUE LEADER. An ex-wrestler, RED LEADER'S massive muscles keep the uniform from smoothing well.

THIRD FIGURE's eyes catch the body language, though he doesn't betray the perception except with the barest flicker of an eye.

THIRD FIGURE

There are those who might see opportunities in a situation such as this.

RED LEADER

Indeed. And what sort of opportunities do you see in us? Monetary? Military? Intelligence?

BLUE LEADER

You're from a rather large organization, I'd say. I'd love to know how he arranged this meeting otherwise.

THIRD FIGURE's mouth almost twitch in a smile around his cigarette at BLUE LEADER'S snide tone, RED LEADER'S down-to-business attitude.

THIRD FIGURE

You're perceptive. Yes, I represent an organization with certain... interests in your operations.

BLUE LEADER has heard this before. Eyes rolling, she immediately relaxes into what she mistakenly believes is familiar ground.

BLUE LEADER

Hold it there a minute... I've heard this pitch before. I thought for sure word'd gotten out that Blue Team doesn't hire out our services. I've never seen Red Team do so either. If you're lookin' for a private army, look somewhere else. Or am I wrong? Is that why HE'S here?

Eyes dangerously close to twinkling, THIRD FIGURE actually breaks the barest of smiles.

THIRD FIGURE

Oh no, no. We aren't looking for an army, private or otherwise, I assure you. At least, not for any genuinely military purpose.

RED LEADER glances at BLUE LEADER, and both share a slight frown of confusion at this. Eyes narrowing, RED LEADER takes a half-step towards THIRD FIGURE.

RED LEADER

Enough with the guessing games, please. We do have a battle to attend to in the morning. If you're not looking to engage our services as mercenaries, what is this all about?

THIRD FIGURE lifts a BRIEFCASE from under the table. Opening it with care, he withdraws a perfectly-aligned stack of documents on INTRAGALACTIC MEDIA NET stationary. With equal care, he withdraws an antique FOUNTAIN PEN.

THIRD FIGURE

Please, allow me to introduce myself properly. My name is Bronte. James Allan Bronte. I represent IntraGalactic Media Net. We see a great deal of promise in these... conflicts of yours.

BLUE LEADER

What... then... this is all about holovision? You want to broadcast our WARS?

BRONTE

We prefer the term "matches", but yes, essentially that is correct. We would like to sign for the broadcast rights to your... wars. We've already discussed the situation with Yellow and Green teams.

Eyebrows raising slightly at the stunned disbelief clear in the faces of RED and BLUE LEADERS, BRONTE pushes the stacks of paperwork towards them.

BRONTE

You would all be compensated, of course. But if you need a few moments to go over the details...

Open-mouthed in surprise, BLUE LEADER shrugs at RED LEADER.

BLUE LEADER

I've lost track of how many hundreds of years it's been since there was any point to this war anyway. It... it might be nice to fight with a purpose for once... even if it is merely entertainment.

CUT TO:

EXT. FOREST VALLEY - BLUE BASE - DAWN

An unaccustomed feeling of motivation hangs over the blue camp this morning. Though tired, BLUE LEADER moves energetically. The TROOPS are brisk and professional in their preparations.

BLUE LEADER loads ammunition into the GUN mounted on the back of her JEEP. The vehicle is an ancient model widely used in mid-20th century conflicts on old Earth, painted with her personal insignia, the LITTLE PONY. Crudely painted EMPTY COFFEE CUPS in rows count the number of kills she has racked up in years of CAPTURE THE FLAG conflicts.

BRONTE oversees unit directors installing holovision camera emplacements about the base, checking remote links to the crews doing the same about RED BASE. He pauses his activity, looking almost fatherly down upon BLUE LEADER.

BRONTE

Let's give them a show they'll never forget, my LITTLE PONY...

FADE TO:

EXT. FOREST VALLEY - MINUTES LATER

As the first missiles arch into the skies to rain down on advancing flag seekers, the IntraGalactic Media Net logo flashes onto screens across the galaxy.

ANNOUNCER

Welcome ladies and gentlebeings to the first IntraGalactic Capture the Flag Championships...

FADE OUT.