You seem trustworthy

A lesson in, er, trailer-ing

2011-12-07T00:07:00.002+02:00

I don't know why, but THIS TRAILER has impressed me so much I decided to post about it.

Oh wait. I think I do.

It's a lesson in what a good trailer should contain:

1. Actual gameplay footage. IT MUST CONTAIN GAMEPLAY FOOTAGE. Sigh.
2. Showcasing of the more interesting bits without horrible spoilers.
3. Catchy, retro-spy-movie themed music (ok, just catchy music that fits in well with the overall theme will do)
4. Quirky, funny, well-flowing presentation.

PLEASE NOTE that I am passing NO JUDGMENT WHATSOEVER on how good or bad the game appears to be. This is not about the quality of the game itself, just the trailer.

That's it, really. LINK AGAIN just in case.

-Chiller

Random Thoughts On Some Games Or Somesuch

2011-11-10T23:29:00.002+02:00

The Binding of Isaac seems to be quite a success. I don't really like it. I am tired of it already without having finished it once. I think this game is popular simply because it's so hard to begin with that it takes a lot of time to make any progress (so essentially you'll keep on playing just to see if you can get anywhere). As far as I can tell, there are two ways to win:

1) The random item generator gives you some overpowered stuff
2) You get really, really good through a LOT of repetition

I don't find the first mechanic pleasurable (or, FINE, if you want me to put it another way, I find it outright DESPICABLE. There!), and I don't find the controls and combat to be tight enough to provide an enjoyable experience so that I can keep playing and to get better. This game fails for me. However, the art direction and music are very good!

Also, I can't BEGIN to understand the current trend of sprite-based games to run really sluggishly on modern machines. All three of the games I've played recently (The Binding of Isaac, UnEpic and Stealth Bastard: Tactical Espionage Arsehole) had this problem, in some cases to a ridiculous degree. People must be building these games on top of REALLY shabby platforms. You know, devs, even if you (understandably) don't want to program your own engine, there's better stuff out there. Nifflas's games come to mind for some reason.

Rant over.

-Chiller

I Hate Advertising

2011-10-08T16:50:00.005+03:00

I think we've reached a point where the annoyance:usefulness ratio of advertising is approaching infinity. I'm pretty sure that about 90% of the people who aren't involved in corporate management would be pretty happy if we just ban it outright. Alternatively (and possibly more reasonably) it might be a good idea to enact legislation which would allow individuals to have more control over the amount of advertising they are subjected to. Because, really, I'm quite tired of the unskippable advertising clips at the beginning of some internet videos, advertising pop-ups popping, er, up during other (or sometimes the same) internet videos, not to mention your basic new window pop-up which happens regularly.

Yes I know there are tools to deal with some of these (probably not with embedded player issues, though), but there's the issue of RL advertising too, which is a different mollusc altogether.

-Chiller

Chemistry In Space Might Be The Best Thing Ever

2011-01-21T22:00:00.003+02:00

Unless you've been living under a rock for the past few months (which probably covers around 1/2 of my audience), you might have heard about this game. It's also been featured here. And later they also did a short interview with its designer. Well, it's about normal length for this kind of thing, really, but I wouldn't mind it being about 4-8 times this size. That guy's mind is a potential goldmine. I particularly like how he divides puzzle games into categories, it's pretty obvious that he's given more thought to this than we ever will. I would also be a lot more smug than he is, for sure. I'd be like: "puzzle games can be divided into categories 1, 2, 3 and 4 and the hardest one to design is #4 which btw, I've totally ACED, bitches!"

So yeah, SpaceChem. It's a rare game that feels so damn perfect (Deus Ex comes to mind - more on that later). I'm not going to tell you WHY it's so awesome. That's for you to decide. I'll just throw some highlights, and hopefully make you try it out for a bit. That's all I can do with this one.

It's a puzzle game. It's a PURE puzzle game. You know Braid? That was a puzzle game too - but a puzzle platformer. There was a disconnect between finding a solution, and solving the puzzle. You had to implement the solution - make your character jump, avoid monsters, reverse time and so on. You could fail on the implementation part. In SpaceChem that gap is very small. There are some spatial constraints - you are limited to the 8x10 grid and 1 symbol of each color on each square of the grid. It is an important constraint which plays a major role on later levels, for sure, but if your solution is reasonable you can usually make it fit somehow. The main thing is solving the puzzle in the first place. And because of the nature of the game, you don't need to stay in front of the computer - you can do that anywhere! Just be careful not to walk into a tree or something while figuring out how to break and reform triple-bonds.

It's a game about industrial chemistry in space. It's not a game about real industrial chemistry (obviously, because real industrial chemistry happens on Earth). Don't be scared that it might have some educational subliminal message. It's all a cover of paint, for the convenience of having something familiar to work with.

It's a game about programming (in a visual medium). If you're reading this, you should probably know how you feel about programming. If you don't yet, it's a good place to start. I think it's IMPORTANT to have the kind of mindset that enjoys programming, in order to be able to enjoy this game. That's the main reason I'm reluctant to recommend this game to absolutely EVERYONE. But if you're ok with that, this should be good for you.

It has the best difficulty progression of any game ever. BAR NONE. Fuck me, that's a tall order - and done to perfection. Let me recall my experience with it:

1. "Ah, the first tutorial level. Ok. I'm just following these instructions. Look at the pretty colors! I don't really have any idea what's happening here but whatever."
2. "Ah, the second tutorial level. Let me get this done with so I can get to the real thing. I mean, I still have no idea what I'm doing, but it's gonna come together at some point, I'm sure."
3. "Huh, where's the tutorial messages? ...."
4. "So, there are these inputs over here... and this output thing over here... so I guess that... yeah."
5. "Hmmmm, that doesn't seem to work."
6. "I DID IT! Hooray! On to the next level! I'm sure it will be a piece of cake, now that I've figured things out!"
7. "Huh, they want me to do WHAT????!"

There are no intermediate levels. There's no slightly more difficult task. Once you've mastered a piece of the game, you're given credit for it. The next thing will be something new. No wonder the players report amazing feelings of accomplishment when solving every puzzle - your intelligence is never insulted with trivial tasks, but always taxed, forced to adapt and discover new things. And it does all that for more than FIFTY freakin levels.

Also, it's a long game. No, really. It might be a 200-something meg game, and it will still take you the best part of a week to complete. From that point of view, it's also RIDICULOUS good value for your money - at $20, it has at least 4 times the total playtime of something like Modern Warfare 2 which is about 3 times as expensive. Yes, you might spend a lot of that time just staring at the screen, but your mind will be working double time.

So, er, that's it! Now for a promotional message from myself: play SpaceChem! (hint: demo here).

-Chiller

Pretty Unplayable: Alpha Protocol

2011-01-06T12:08:00.004+02:00

You know, I'm beginning to believe that the most damaging effect consoles had on PC gaming wasn't the escalation of DRM, or the dumbing down (which may or may not be true), or even those horrible wheel menus. Right now, I'm pretty sure it was, in fact, the introduction of the over-the-shoulder third-person camera.

See, there's very few reasons a 3D game should use that camera in favor of the first-person perspective. Except that... first-person handles much worse on a console (controller, actually, HAR HAR - see previous post). So, theoretically, you could keep the first-person perspective for a friendlier platform, like the PC. Except that... you're on a budget - can barely afford to do all the design and testing and bug-fixing for ONE perspective, let alone two, not to mention all the technical problems that crop up when trying to have both in one game. So, you'll just use the one perspective that works for all platforms, the third-person (and the players will get to admire your exquisite character models - oh yes, that's what they care most about). Except that... when you use third-person, you have to take good care about how you handle the camera movement, because if you don't do it correctly, the camera will keep pointing in all the wrong directions, frustrating the players horribly (we know you also want the players to see the front of the character model, so that you will not feel like 50% of polygons are wasted, but trust me - they prefer to see the backside and be able to actually play the game). No problem though - developers have been doing this for decades already! Surely there are good, effective solutions in place by now (try telling this to Yahtzee to kill him with laughter) - and if not, you can probably implement something workable, how hard could it be, right? Except that... sometimes you still screw up horribly, and then you get Alpha Protocol.

Hilariously, I wasn't expecting it. I hadn't played the game until now, and finally decided it was actually up my alley and I should stop ignoring it. From what I had read about it, the general conclusion was that it's a good game, albeit flawed. People had mentioned the occasional crash bug, or maybe its insistence on making you fight instead of stealthing. So I steeled myself against all of that - and then fell to the sneaky attack of the deadly camera.

The general rule seems to be: if you're next to a wall, and you try to turn, the camera might end up ANYWHERE. And that ANYWHERE is most often not where you'd like it to be. Seriously, it would be freakin' hilarious if I was watching someone play it instead of doing it myself. As it is, I can only scratch my head at the legions of players who managed to complete it, once more mourn the loss of a potential great first-person game, and press quit. I'm not uninstalling - yet. But at this rate, I see that happening in one or two more sessions.

Ah, and for a quick conclusion about the rest of the game - it's decent, and gameplay-wise very much like Mass Effect. Which is also something I don't remember reading anywhere, but it's not such a horrible thing anyway.

-Chiller

I need to bash this: Super Meat Boy

2010-12-24T21:23:00.004+02:00

TLDR version: I don't like this game, and I rant about that.

I have tried, really. Each time, I was thinking: this time it will click. This time, I will realize its greatness. Each time, I quit after an average of 1.5 levels. Today, I removed it from my computer. It's pointless for it to be there. It's not going to get any love.

Some people seem to consider it the absolute pinnacle of platforming to this day. I am talking here about people whose opinions about games I usually respect, if not agree with (read: RPS). But in this case, I simply don't get it. This might be the pinnacle of platforming - but of 80s platforming, not today's. It uses those old, outdated mechanics we should have grown out of - trial and error exploration, instadeath, lack of checkpoints, reliance on muscle memory...

(Also, it's got inertia, which is indeed more of a personal preference than anything else, but I don't see why include such a thing in a precision platformer - all it does is add some artificial difficulty that doesn't improve the play experience in any way, and ONLY REALLY DOES ONE THING: lower the enjoyment of the players by frustrating them until they get used to it. Ok, that's out of my system.)

There are other games I don't like, but I respect. Like World of Goo. It's totally not my thing, but it does something new and quite interesting. But I cannot possibly respect SMB, because it does something old and outdated, and it tricks people into thinking it's the new best thing.

See, what I like about the indie scene is that every year, I see innovation - either a new twist on old things, or even, unbelievable, something entirely new! And I see this even in genres that have been done to death a few times over already! You know how they say that 90% of indie games are platformers, right? So EVERYTHING must have been done already, right? Well, amazingly, there's constant innovation there as well. But not in SMB. Mechanics-wise, the first Mario was probably more exciting than this game.

Well, it's on the (buttse)XBox360 (you can blame RPG World for that joke), it's got nice graphics, and you can (possibly) play as a headcrab (no idea how/if/when you unlock that). Also, it's got loud, flashy and slightly retro menus. If that's what it takes for you to like a game, it's a good time to jump on the bandwagon. You'll have a lot of company.

Well, this is it. My opinion, for what it's worth (hint: not much). And one last thing...

...do you know what really managed to tick me off? Its insistence on the supremacy of controllers. FUCK THIS. As a gamer, I know you can play things on a keyboard just fine. As an amateur game designer, I know it's possible to design a keyboard control scheme that works for its intended purpose, even if the original design was for a controller. As a programmer, I DAMN WELL know it's possible to implement keyboard controls that don't suck. So STFU already.

-Chiller

Hooray! A link!

2010-03-22T00:25:00.001+02:00

I just have to link to this, because it talks about something I have learned the hard way, in my previous job as a game dev.

LINK HERE and the important stuff is the second chapter thing ("Fired and Fired-Up: Jobless Developer's Rant").

Probably the crux of the matter is this:
"The next game was harder to make than the first. It took even longer and it cost even more. There started to be a name for this kind of work: "crunch." The game after that took even longer than that and it cost even more, again. Crunch was becoming the norm. EA-spouse happened (and more recently, Rockstar-wives). When you fast forward, what happened is that crunch became institutionalized. It was woven deep into the culture [...]"

From what I can tell, things haven't changed much, and that's what you can expect even now from most (bordering on all) places where you can get a job as a mainstream game dev. Something to keep in mind if you are considering that path.

My personal advice - go indie, if you can manage it. Of course, that's the tricky part.

-Chiller

This is a title

2010-03-21T05:10:00.004+02:00

Final Fantasy XIII is out, and I can't play it because I don't own a current-gen console. But even if I could play it, I probably wouldn't enjoy it all that much. I've seen a video review, and while I do appreciate the streamlining of the RPG mechanics, what I REALLY wanted, the mechanic that I was hoping would make a return, is definitely not there.

World exploration might be gone from FF for good, and that makes me sad.

What is Final Fantasy ? Final Fantasy is epicness. Or it used to be. The series has changed a lot with every new game, and it's changed various mechanics, gaining new ones and losing others, and in the process, it might have lost something vital.

For epicness has failed.

I might save the world, but I can't possibly feel as strongly about it when I've only seen a small part of it. In the newer games, I'm just a part of the world - in the previous games, the world was mine. Being able to zip around in your airship, looking down upon your domain, knowing that you've explored every single nook and cranny of it, is a mechanic that's irreplaceable. I do think they should change things with every new game, even everything if they feel like it, because it's their game. But I also think it's a mistake to lose that feeling of epicness so easily, not because a FF game should be like the previous FF games, but because there's no other game that does that. It wasn't just a good part of the series, it was an element that set it apart, it gave it unity, cohesion. It was something to look forward to - and now, it's gone. The worlds got bigger, and you got smaller, and now you only see a little corner of them, and it's sad.

-Chiller

Emergent gameplay in MMORPGS and other seriously serious issues

2010-03-02T22:47:00.004+02:00

I came upon this recently. I'm amazed that I had missed it for so long, especially since I had read stuff by David Sirlin before (read his "Playing to Win" book online here if you feel like it, I think it's great and it helped me quite a bit).

(A bit of a warning here, if you couldn't be bothered to follow the first link - I don't think it's necessary in order to understand this post, but it helps)

After reading Sirlin's 2006 article, I cannot but agree with it (which is actually an understatement - it mirrors my feelings on the matter with frightening accuracy). Two things came to my mind after reading it:

1) At first, I didn't much care about his angle of "what does WoW teach our children" (and us, presumably). However, after a while it clicked - it's necessary, because if you don't like some aspects of a game, that's just your opinion and can be discarded, but if those aspects have implications that reach a large audience, then it might affect us all, and we should care. I think he makes a good point that they do. In what follows, I ended up discussing other such aspects.

2) I've been meaning to write stuff about game design as applied to MMORPGs, with a focus on emergent gameplay, for quite a while. This is not treated explicitly by Sirlin, so I figured out I'd give it a try now. It turns out I ended up writing about more than that, going into some issues that are only loosely related to the subject matter, but hey, you can't have everything.

As part of my passion for game design, I tend to read everything I can on the subject. This is how I came upon the concept of "emergent gameplay". What it means is essentially player behaviour unforeseen by the developers - finding ways to play the game that "emerge" from the design, rather than being intended for use in the first place. An example - players climbing on top of one another to reach a high window in Counter-Strike, taking a route that avoids the enemy choke points.

It might seem natural that modern game design (a current I subscribe to, although what "modern game design" means for you might be different from what I think) holds emergent gameplay in high regard, even seeing it as some sort of "Holy Grail" of game design. However, there is a genre which has quite a different mindset - the MMORPG. Here, emergent gameplay is seen as "exploiting", which is synonymous with "cheating".

There exist two successful MMORPG models right now (and even though I say "successful" their scale is totally different, you'll figure it out in a sec). The first one is the Everquest model (which is actually the Meridian 59 model for those of you who know their MMOG history), whose current exponent is World of Warcraft. The second one is the Ultima Online model, currently best represented by EVE Online. The problem affects both, but the second one seems to be more lenient due to its intrinsic nature (might just be my outside perception, though), and the first one is much bigger, so I will be focusing on it (also, I like to bash on WoW as much as the next guy, so there :p).

Because of WoW's position in the field, it's natural to expect that anyone looking to make a MMORPG based on the first model is going to look at it for inspiration. And as you well know, they really do that - in a big way. It's not just the basic gameplay mechanics - everyone is trying to emulate Blizzard both in regard to their code as well as their management of the game, hoping they will get to experience at least 10% of that level of success, and at least for a while.

Therefore, what Blizzard does is what everyone does and furthermore, what everyone takes for granted, and that includes the not-so-great aspects. Hence, we have raids, bind on pickup items, grinding, PvP with mechanics which don't really make PvP fun (really, MMORPG gameplay is horrible for PvP), gold and item sellers, prohibition of gold and item selling, and the big ban on creative ways to play.

And, of course, (almost) every player eventually gets into the mindset that this is how things should work, FOR ALL ETERNITY.

(From here on, when I say Blizzard, I mean everyone who owns/runs an MMORPG - but make no mistake, considering the scale of the games in question, Blizzard is the major factor here anyway)

Here's the catch: from a gameplay perspective, MMOGs have fundamentally bad design. Think about it - what Blizzard actually wants is to keep every player playing (and paying!) for as long as possible. Therefore they simply MUST include some form of time sink, or the players will burn through content at a frightening pace (NB - MMORPGS which were light on the time sinks, like my beloved Tabula Rasa, pretty much crashed and burned eventually. It could be argued that the simple existance of WoW was a factor in their downfall, but that is an issue for another time. Anyway, time sinks are needed). They must limit item availability or every player could get the best equipment by trading instead of investing in the aforementioned time sinks. They must create content that is only accessible by groups, the larger the better, or every player could play through all the content at their own pace and wouldn't be forced to wait for others (and, of course, pay while doing so). They must not allow people to buy items or in-game gold with real world money because... er... they can (really, think about it - what their anti-goldseller measures do is take a LOT of gold out of the game. But that gold is legitimately earned by gold farmers paying to play! Thus, they both render a lot of in-game effort obsolete, and prevent the potential buyers from evading time sinks - 100% win for Blizzard!)

And, of course, there can be no emergent gameplay, because emergent gameplay is exploiting, and exploiting is a deadly sin because -you guessed it- it might allow players to bypass some form of time sink and therefore lose Blizzard money.

This is all fine, because they want to make money, and it's their right to follow this goal to any degree they desire.

What isn't fine, is that they are being assholes about it.

(Necessary parenthesis here. I'm pretty sure that the game developers and game managers of Blizzard are (mostly) distinct entities. For the most part, I would never say bad things about developers, because I know that their life is not nearly as glamorous as portrayed, through no fault of their own (it's actually due to bad practices being so deeply engrained into the history of the games industry that they are taken for granted - again a discussion for another time). Of course, if some of them are involved in the assholery, they are fair game.)

If you've read Sirlin's article, there's not much I can add. It goes like this: instead of enforcing player behavior through code, they chose to do so through moderating, using the EULA as justification. Hence the unspoken, but ever present commandment: "THOU SHALT PLAY THIS GAME <<AS INTENDED>>, OR ELSE".

The way "as intended" is defined can, of course, be quite arbitrary. The end effect is that essentially, players are now responsible for making sure not to "break" the game (according to someone else's interpretation, no less!), rather than Blizzard, whose job you'd think this should be.

Worse still is the way the players become brainwashed into thinking alongside the same lines. Let's take a (not totally) hypothetical example. A group of players finds a way to exploit loot drops in a certain dungeon. They get maybe 2 or 3 times as many items as they should, using some weird method of defeating the boss.

Never mind what would happen if an actual moderator found out about this. Let's take a very different person: the average player. I'm pretty sure I'm not at all mistaken in expecting at least some degree of outrage. Yes, outrage at the actions of completely random people, which don't affect them at all and don't hurt any other player. Even from otherwise sensible people (like my WoW-playing friends - really, guys, I know you read this, leave a comment telling me how much I suck, will you ? :D Or maybe that you are not like that. That would be more awesome). Because Blizzard tells them: "The more time you pour into the game, the more special you are. If you get special enough, we will give you rewards (albeit in a somewhat random manner). But be ever-vigilant for other players who are not as special as you! They don't deserve those rewards yet, and if they get them somehow, they are THE ENEMY."

It's really the same as a student noticing a fellow student cheating during an exam, and telling on him or her. Why do that? The other student is not your enemy, and their results don't affect you (well, it's presumed so for the purpose of this example, but usually true in real life as well). You are just upset that you spent maybe upwards of 12 hours struggling to memorize a bunch of crap, while he or she found a creative use of, say, electronic devices. But it's not fair to blame on others what you do with your own time. If you can't or don't want to cheat, it's noone's choice but yours. Still, on occasion, people will actually do that (as I hear, and it baffles me), probably because of a misundestood concept of fairness. But under the conditions assumed, simple logical reasoning shows that fairness is not an issue here.

It would be easy, and dare I say, unfair, to label the people from both situations as some kind of scrubs (for those too lazy to click on the link, which btw leads to a great site: scrubs = people who make up their own rules, expect others to follow them without any prior agreement, and get upset when they don't). But it's not really that, if you look at it more closely. It's indoctrination - either by Blizzard or by those people who constantly tell you that "cheating" is bad under all circumstances (presumably, the teachers... never trusted the bastards :p). And my choice is to call the people who use indoctrination - assholes.

I shall tell you gently - people, don't be (metaphorical) sheep. Think for yourselves, using logic. It's not that hard and it might help you become a more interesting person.

On at least one occasion I've gotten extra loot in a dungeon in LOTRO. I'm pretty sure that doesn't make me a bad person (err... any more than before, anyway), but feel free to disagree. In that case, it's ok to be a sheep - sheep don't use logic, and you are obviously not using logic, hence the condition suits you. No, I don't think I'm being too harsh.

-Chiller

Dear XBOX360,

2010-02-13T01:14:00.002+02:00

I know that you, like all your console buddies/arch-enemies, have taken a lot of flak over the years from PC gamers such as myself, over such issues as bad ports, taking titles away from our beloved platform and the much-discussed "dumbing down games for the console 'tards".

On occasion, I have been in that camp myself.

However, I have just had an epiphany - indeed, I have realized the grand upside of your existence.

It is, simply put, the graphics.

Because for as long as you will exist as a current-generation console, your unchanging hardware will always serve as a stern arbiter for the great driving force behind graphic card (and other associated circuit boards) upgrades which is the prettiness arms-race.

Your existence is most assuredly the #1 reason why I am able to play Modern Warfare 2, Mass Effect 2 or Bioshock 2 (yay for sequels ?) on my 3-year old rig with high-end settings and not a single framerate issue.

As a firm believer that graphics have probably become good enough for (mostly) anything ever since the late nineties, it is my great pleasure to see you forcing developers to finally realize that they already have the tools to do whatever they want, to a very high standard. Plus, I'm pretty sure it's not my imagination that we are actually experiencing a slow but notable increase in game quality overall, due to the focus shifting from graphics to game design as the primary way to make a better game than the competition.

XBOX360, I salute you.

-Chiller

Galactic Civilizations 2: The Nitpicking

2009-06-17T02:17:00.003+03:00

Since the first time I've played Galactic Civilizations 2 (roughly when it came out) there have been a few years. A couple of expansion packs have been released - I read about them, but didn't try them out. You know how TBS games work - once you burn out on them, you really don't feel like touching them again anytime soon. [DISCLAIMER: might not apply to TBS enthusiasts in your area. Replace "enthusiasts" with "maniacs" in the previous sentence for a more true-to-life interpretation].

But anyway, recently I had an opportunity to give them a spin on a friend's machine. Enough said that it compelled me to get them for myself. Since the last add-on, Twilight of the Arnor, incorporates all the (or all the best) stuff from the previous one, this is what I play, and what I will be talking about (and nitpick on).

First, some history and personal recommendation: if Disciples (another amazing TBS I think you should probably play) struck me as "here's another way to do fantasy TBS that WORKS", GalCiv was clearly a case of "here's what you get if you take all the good parts of space TBS games and mash them together - oh, and we've improved it". When it first came out, GalCiv was like, the long awaited worthy successor to Master of Orion 2 (<--- the TWO is very important. There was a MoO 3. We don't talk about it). GalCiv 2 is essentially more of the same good thing, with improvements.

Some quick highlights of the things I really like about it: firstly and rather most importantly, the interface is fuckin' EXCELLENT. I can manage my economy from one panel! Heck, screw the last part - I CAN MANAGE MY ECONOMY!!! (this comes from someone who was perfectly able to go bankrupt in Civ in under 10 turns). Then, in no particular order: building planetary improvements on a square grid (don't forget the bonuses), clear listing of improvement benefits and maintenance costs, production focus, government types, influence, ethical alignments, ship builder... (decided to stop before writing the whole list of features. You'll see for yourself)

About the last expansion, Twilight of the Arnor - the main improvement is the introduction of unique tech trees to each race (in addition to the Super Abilities from Dark Avatar). I'd say that 50% if not more of the tech trees still overlap, but that's still a MAJOR change - the 12 races all play differently now, which gives the game a huge boost in replayability. Definitely pick it up - it's what made me get back in the game.

...so, that was the 5-paragraph introduction to the actual nitpicking content, which will probably be shorter :D [edit - was disproved]

Why nitpick? Mostly, because the game is really so good, any complaints I manage to muster against it will seem to be just that - nitpicking. However, I have hope that, should there be a GalCiv 3, this post will be used to iron out the last bad bits and create THE ULTIMATE SPACE TBS!!! (Or rather not since noone... er... only one person (sorry Gabi :p) will read it anyway.)

Firstly, these are problems I encountered while playing games that suit my own style of play - that means few habitable planets because if I have to manage more than 5 the game stops being fun, and AI difficulty around medium setting because I'm not too good at the game (and possibly never will). Either that, or I just enjoy crushing the poor computer players. Anyway, YMMV. Tread lightly and all that.

(In no particular order, except the first)

THOSE DAMN CONSTRUCTORS!!! Really had to put this at the top of the list, because it's driven me crazy ever since GalCiv 1. Don't get me wrong - I love starbases. They are a huge part of the game, and they improve gameplay oh-so-much. But having to build them out of individual ships, each built at an individual planet... surely there must be a better way? And don't tell me about waypoints - they help setting starbases up initially, but are less and less useful the more starbases you have. And there's never any reason not to build starbases - and even if you reach the limit, there's hardly any reason to stop upgrading them, thus requiring an endless stream of constructors, which I finally just stop producing when I reach that fine line between annoyance and insanity.
Possible solutions: a new starbase construction system that doesn't use constructors at all, or maybe starbases could build their own upgrades.

The colonization rush - this problem, also present since GalCiv 1, is actually a basic issue of space TBS games. To illustrate it, let's look at a different type a TBS, a land-based one (say Civ). There, if you need to build a new city, you build a settler then you send it over to any land tile of your choice. Depending on the size of the water bodies, that's between "quite a lot" and "the whole damn map". Yes, you would want a good tile with access to water and farmable lands and all that, but in a pinch, you can pretty much deploy it anywhere.
Not so in GalCiv. Here, most of the terrain is empty space. Habitable planets make about 1% to 5% of the total map. The fact they are at a premium is an understatement. Furthermore, whoever colonizes a planet first closes this possiblity for everyone else - finders-keepers, indeed! Thus, the early game is pretty much a rush for the best planets, and luck really does play a large part in it. If you play with few habitable planets like I do, you might not get any new colonies at all (which probably means you just lost the game, but it will take you 200+ more turns to realize it). Even if you play with an abundance of planets, the rush doesn't disappear, it simply changes focus. Since high-quality planets will usually subvert culturally small planets in the same region of space (esentially conquering them without military action), the early game changes from "get the planets" to "get the BETTER planets". There's no accident that strategies that emphasize colonization are extremely effective, even though the developers themselves have tried to address the problem (they even introduced new planet types that can't be colonized by everyone at the beginning. This doesn't work as well as you'd think since every race can still use the basic, Earth-type planet, by far more abundant).
Possible solution: take colonization out of the hands of the player. Make colonies pop up depending on other factors (essentially, "how well your empire is doing", however you decide to define that). I don't think there's any other satisfactory way to address things - it's a basic problem and needs a radical solution.

Random events: please note I'm not talking about the Mega Events here. Those are intended to be mind-fuckingly destabilizing, and I respect that, because I can turn them off :D. No, I'm considering the normal, garden-variety random event - many are ok, but some are just too swingy. The biggest offender seems to be the "Precursor Ranger" (a random race gets an uber ship). My first-hand experience with this is thus:
1st occurence: the weakest race in the galaxy (maybe 2nd weakest) gets this. Within two turns they declare war on me. I look at the stats on that thing, compare them to my usual fleet (far better than anyone else's up to that point) and go "holy crap". Fortunately, I was playing an evil empire with access to amazingly powerful weapons (no, really, I'm pretty sure the "extra evil" beam weapon is broken in half - just compare it to the extra weapons from the other branches). I put together a fleet of small ships with nothing but guns (defenses would've been SO pointless). Because of my eagerness in going out to attack with less-than-full fleets, I lost two of them before blowing up the damn thing. Note that I couldn't afford to place engines on my ships so it would've been possible for the computer player to avoid my fleets indefinitely with the Ranger's high speed, although in this case I still would have been able to invade his worlds.
2nd occurence: I'm playing as Torian (super-breeder pacifist lizards), on a bold attempt to conquer the galaxy by influence without building any military ships at all. Everything was going smoothly (unsurprisingly I had been attacked but the invasion fleets found out that high population + high soldiering + high population growth = I win land battles forever). Then the Ranger pops up. At first I misread the event and thought the Altarians got it, which would've been cool (they are perpetually good guys, will stay nice to you forever if you are nice to them and they never backstab). Unfortunately, it was actually the Arceans (far less friendly). Seeing the thing in action, I decided there was time to do something about it.
So I BOUGHT it from them (for a bunch of techs and some shinys). Yes the game is cool like that.
Unfortunately, I didn't realize the long-term implications. Next turn, because of this one ship, I was already the top military dog. The evil empire I was at war with practically begged for peace soon and were willing to trade an arm and a leg for it. Within 10 turns I was receiving unsolicited tribute just because that behemoth was so damn imposing. My "peaceful" game turned into pointlessness.
Lesson learned - I should've decomissioned the Ranger the moment I got it.
So, possible solution: um, balance or remove this, please? And while you're at it, take a look at all the other random events and make sure the balance is ok.

Ethical events: a good idea which could use some polishing. Firstly - they are extremely important if you want to change your alignment from the default, yet they are too random to be reliable. Maybe there could be a way for players to make these events occur, every now and then. Secondly, the bias for evil is silly. What would really work, actually, would be if the better bonuses were specifically OPPOSITE to your alignment, since it seems to me that it's better for most races to keep their initial alignment throughout the game.

The United Planets: another good idea, and this one could use even more polishing. Firstly - the bills vary wildly in usefulness and effect on the game, yet they are completely random. A way for players to get into some political games in order to push certain bills for voting would make for a rather interesting addition. Secondly, the bias for good is silly. Depending on what bills get proposed, evil races might get the really REALLY short end of the stick very early in the game without being able to do anything to prevent it.

[Yeah, I see a pattern here, although it seems to be an oscillating one :D]

Thirdly, the voting system is beyond silly. If you get only two choices, it's ok, but if you get more, it's really just a matter of luck (unless you happen to just control more than 50% of the votes, which is something many people strive for because otherwise you have almost no control on the outcomes). Also, most of time you have no idea what the other races will vote for, not even the ones that are allied to you.
Fourthly, you CAN leave the UP, but the penalties make it unlikely for you to ever want to. And the computer never does it either.
Possible solution(s): make the UP a much larger and complex system, with the possibility of getting bonuses based on how well you play the political game. Remove or lessen A LOT the penalty for leaving the UP - losing access to the aforementioned bonuses should be enough.

The space resources: basically the same problem as the colonization rush, but mining starbases are easier to blow up than staging planetary invasions. Still, if you are unwilling or not in a position to go to war, you're stuck. The computer never seems to want to sell his mining starbases either, the bastard. And those resources can make a difference, too.
Possible solution: allow the trading of these resources in the same way trade goods are handled, or maybe under a different system.

No multiplayer: err.... there's no multiplayer. There's some Metaverse stuff where the players can compare scores and stuff, but not the real thing. You wouldn't think it's that hard to implement in a TBS, really.
Possible solution: add multiplayer. Really, that would work out amazingly.

I'm sure there was more stuff. In fact, I had a few things I had labeled "minor nitpicks", but can't seem to remember them atm. I'll edit them in later.

Meanwhile, if you like TBS games, try GalCiv 2. You probably won't be disappointed.

-Chiller

Bust that glum ! (if you can figure out what it is)

2009-05-03T02:30:00.001+03:00

Glum Buster is more than just a game.
It's also more than a lesson on good game design.
It's more like a full course. With diagrams.

Yeah, you should play it.

...Really, stop reading now and go play.

-Chiller

Braid, or How I Need To Think Up Better Titles

2009-04-18T02:27:00.001+03:00

Braid is a great game.
I've had to apply logic to arrive at that conclusion, actually.
Because I hated it. Not all the time, though. Just... a lot.
I hated it when the difficulty spiked. I hated it when I couldn't figure out a puzzle (piece) for myself and I had to go to a walkthrough. Then, of course, I also hated the preposterousness of the game's creator, who had suggested that noone should ever use a walkthrough for Braid. THIS IS THE AGE OF THE FUCKING INTERNET, Y'KNOW ?!
I hated it some more when the difficulty spiked again later on, and again in the final level. Then I hated it because those damn stars are so well hidden that I didn't find even one on my own. Walkthrough in hand, I got the damn buggers eventually. In the process, I also hated it because I had to reset my progress to get a star, and have 2 hours' worth of patience for another.Of course, I also hated the "too-clever-for-you, try-to-figure-me-out" story.

For some reason, I didn't hate the bunnies.

But, despite all the hate, I totally loved it.
Ergo, Braid is a great game. It's logical.

And what did I really, REALLY love ? The graphics, the music, and world 4. Really, world 4. Awesome.

-Chiller

World of Goo

2009-01-06T17:48:00.000+02:00

It was the wonder game of 2008. It's 2D, original, well designed, with nice music and unique visuals. The world loves it.

I don't like it.

It's strangely liberating.

-Chiller

In which Chiller and mainstream games had a short, but mostly unpleasant, encounter

2008-11-05T05:20:00.003+02:00

I took a break from LOTRO these days to try out some the new big releases, since we've had quite a few of those. Here's the outcome (hooray, a list! Didn't have one of these in a while):

1. Far Cry 2. The game apparently boasts over 30 hours of gameplay. From my experience, it may well be so, but 15 will be spent driving through the jungle and 10 fighting the same respawned enemies at the same locations over and over and over AND OVER again. Oh, and all the missions are basically the same. I'm not sure if I even lasted for 4 hours. Then I searched for a way to teleport around the map. There doesn't seem to be one at the moment. Gave up.

2. STALKER: Clear Sky. Optimistically started the game on 'Stalker' difficulty (figured I could do it easily in Shadow of Chernobyl, so I should be fine). About halfway through the first zone, I took it down to 'Novice', since there wasn't any lower setting. This way, I managed to make it through to the third area eventually. There, I was hailed by some bandits. I approached to talk, and they demanded all my money. This is where I found out that your character apparently has no balls, because there is NO option to refuse them! Sigh, reload. Shoot on sight. Get wasted. Reload. Shoot. Die. RELOAD. DIE. Oh God, THE GRENADES! I was beginning to get a nagging suspicion that the total reload time will eventually exceed my gameplay time (honestly, this game REALLY needs to have the quickload be, y'know, QUICK). A new approach seemed to be necessary. Search for cheat codes! There aren't any (ORLY ?), but the game is easily moddable. Modded myself a god mode, faster running speed and more inventory capacity. The game becomes bearable. Unfortunately, the story is lackluster and the basic gameplay is rather boring. Made it to the Red Forest, eventually. Maybe I'll continue.

3. Red Alert 3. This one was actually the most entertaining of the bunch, although I was never at home with the way the RA games play (I'm much more comfortable with Starcraft). As such, for much of the campaign I felt like I was just going through the motions. For some reason I especially disliked the Allies (could never figure out how to play them except bombing the shit out of the enemy, fortunately my AI co-commander was nice enough to do most of the work), but the Japanese were rather enjoyable, on the sea maps at least. I really liked the raw power of their navy. The game has really nice music, and the videos can be a good reason to play it by themselves. Oh, and all the chicks are gorgeous ;) Overall, gameplay-wise it's not my thing and I'm not going back to skirmish now that I've finished the campaigns, but if you're a fan of Red Alert you'll probably like it a lot.

And now the conclusion.

Mainstream gaming is going to hell :(

Yeah, we all knew it was happening, but to see it first-hand it's a bit disconcerting. I visited Gamespot today and couldn't help but notice that all the feature articles were about sequels. Incidentally, most well-known gaming sites seem to have become irrelevant, since almost every major title of the last 2 years got over 9/10 (but you can still find some user reviews that are accurate). Well, under most scoring systems, they might deserve those numbers, but it really doesn't show anything except that the industry is getting better at making what are basically the same games, just, y'know, this year's. In my opinion, at the moment there's exactly one company that's 100% mainstream and still manages to make games with that 'oomph' factor - Blizzard. Let's just hope that I won't be proven wrong by the 'Starcraft 2' games.

So what's the answer? Well, it might be indie games (SHOCK!). We have (finally!) reached the point where the tools are available for an independent developer to really make their dreams come true by not having to worry about all those pesky programming issues (well, they will still need to get their art, sound and music from somewhere, which is a problem for people like, say, myself). I'm talking about things like AGS and Multimedia Fusion. Yes, you won't get the latest shiniest bump-mapped engine that supports DX11, Pixel Shader 15.4 and anti-aliasing 13x, but if that's what you want, just go back to Crysis ;) What you will get is good design and just a touch of originality, and sometimes even more.

I found some really good, awesome, and/or amazing stuff in the indie world. If you're interested, a good place to start is www.indiegames.com. The AGS website also keeps a comprehensive list of games made with, well, AGS, so if you're into adventure games that should be your next stop. And for my own personal choice, just try Knytt Stories and/or the other stuff from Nifflas.

Oh, and a gaming site that's actually GOOD -excellent reviews, no obtrusive adds, covers indie games too- is RockPaperShotgun. I really can't recommend it enough.

See you when I see you (this is meant as a half-hearted apology for not posting enough ;)

-Chiller

Death Note, in hindsight

2008-03-04T21:28:00.006+02:00

My experience with Death Note (the 37-episode anime, to remove confusion), hasn't been a regular one. Namely, I was so wary of the hype that I've only watched the first episode (my usual policy is to watch 3 episodes before deciding on whether to continue or not) before deciding that the premise was good, but the story was going in a direction I didn't care about, that it's going to end bad, and that the anime, overall, wasn't worth my time.
As it turns out, I was only right on two counts.
After seeing three or four episodes on TV (the series is currently being aired here on at least two channels), I was totally drawn in. So, eventually, I've pretty much watched it all in one sitting (during the last 2 days). It was... overwhelming. Good. Amazing! And totally worth it.
So, what had changed from my initial assessment? Nothing really. But my thinking was based on a hidden assumption, which wasn't right at all.
Death Note is not about story. Or characters, for that matter. Or action. No, this series is built upon one thing, and one thing only: SUSPENSE.

It's rather obvious in hindsight, and it would probably be obvious during the initial watch, too, if the experience wasn't so heart-pounding.
The whole series is wonderfully focused - the art style, the music, the way information is revealed, EVERYTHING works together towards one goal: creating the ultimate thrilling experience. To simply say that it succeeds would be an understatement. I don't think there's even one episode without a moment that made me hold my breath. Or laugh outloud. Or just pause the movie and take a walk to calm down. Even where the outcome seems largely predictable, the anime does an amazing job in fooling you into thinking that things might actually unfold in a different way (especially if you're willing to go along with it ;). And sometimes, they actually do. Overall, it was quite an incredible experience.
Yes, there are some plot holes. There are things that are left unexplained. But none of these are so glaring as to be upsetting, and the series moves forward at a fairly fast pace, giving you little time to take issue with these matters.
The biggest letdown, actually, is that it DID end bad. Sorry. Regardless of the individual characters' fate and whichever side you wanted to win, you're likely to be disappointed. Whether by design or by accident, the ending seemed rushed, was somewhat different from the usual tone of the series, and offered little closure. And from what I could discern from reading about the manga, it's pretty much the exact same thing, so no hope from that direction. Then again, as I said: story, characters... maybe (un)important, maybe not, but definitely not the focus here.

So, after all, I totally recommend it (well... maybe not if you hate thrillers). It's a series that manages to keep a very high level of quality and fun factor throughout each and every episode, so if I was to review this, I'd rate it 10/10 without a second thought.
(Ok, you caught me. I DID intend to write an actual review, but it just didn't come together. Maybe later.)
As for my thoughts on the characters and plot development, they will have to wait for another post, as I'm keeping this one spoiler-free. So, see you there after you watch the series :)

-Chiller, looking on the ground in hope of finding a black notebook

I Have No Skill (Left)

2008-02-26T03:06:00.003+02:00

There's a time for writing, and this might not be it. I've been itching to tell you about how I suck at Call of Duty 4, but the words just don't seem to come together.
...and, however atrocious it may be, I'm doing it anyway :)

For anyone familiar with my record with shooters (after all, the longest post(s) on this blog are about that genre), the statement before must be somewhat shocking. In fact, I myself wouldn't have given that much thought to the issue (after all, I did finish the game) if it wasn't for this little phrase I found in a CoD4 walkthrough while looking for something else:

"I can't for the life of me understand why someone would need cheat codes on this game[...]"

It was a total eye-opener, because I had been in situations where I would've just popped god mode and be done with it rather than die for the 100th time (the reason I didn't ? Out of pure silliness, I wasn't aware of the existence of the aforementioned cheat codes. I thought they had something to do with the "cheats" option you can find under the game menu, but those are actually just unlockables, and many of them aren't cheats at all. For godmode & co, the good ol' console does the trick, as usual. Silly me... I know).

By the way, the game is very good. Yes, it's 99% scripted, but this time they've actually done a good job (think CoD 1), to such an extent that even the fact that, in many places, enemies seem to spawn continuously until you push forward (yeah, yucky spawning) is much less of a nuisance than it could've been. It definitely has something to do with the absolutely great way they implemented weapons (except for the shotguns, which are powerful but... weird), so they actually feel real for a change and will usually drop enemies with one or two bullets, not to mention the absolutely CRAZY selection you have at your disposal, with probably every single gun in use today, with various mods, appearing in the game at one point or another. Grenades are also nicely effective even though they have a laughably short range (and equally bad loooooooong fuses), but that's probably good since they kill you just as easily. Also, many people complained about the game being too short, but it seemed on par with most recent titles in that regard (which is not to say it isn't short, just not shorter than usual. Sigh. Yes, I've gotten to THAT point of no return). It is indeed a pity that it didn't last longer, but I suppose that, given the heavy level of scripting, putting together even one level would take a long time (but I'm definitely playing it again with god mode :). Oh, and for anyone who's played STALKER, there's a nice (and quite familiar) surprise, towards the middle of the game.

That aside, back to the issue at hand. I played the game on the "Regular" setting (difficulty 2/4), definitely a bad move on my part (and something to remember for later). The game DID seem rather forgiving when it came to bullet damage (on this setting, you take some 10+ assault rifle shots before you die, sniper rifles and grenades notwithstanding), and you recover full health if you stay out of harm's way for a while, so it should've been pretty easy, right ? Sadly, in practice, some simple things like getting your aim thrown off when hit by bullets (a thing I pretty much hate whenever I encounter it), or the enemies' habit of flushing you out of cover with grenades (actually not a bad thing, if infuriating), often proved to be too much for me. If I got caught in the line of fire while out in the open, more often than not I'd be dead before reaching cover, and on occasion I've even been killed by dogs repeatedly (not exactly helping with my real-life hatred of dogs, either). It's actually funny, because I can shoot, run and hide with some degree of skill, it's just that I can't seem to integrate these actions together effectively.

I guess I'm just too used to playing all the games like they were Doom (incidentally, I had no problems with the equally new Unreal Tournament 3), and it's probably too late for me to change that. Looking back, I do seem to remember facing similar issues with pretty much every tactical shooter I've played: Soldier of Fortune, Max Payne, Call of Duty, Medal of Honor (although I actually dislike that series and only finished one of them - don't remember which), Far Cry, and even STALKER (and the list could go on, if only I'd recall them all...). A recent example would be Crysis, where on occasion I couldn't even hit anything with my rifle past short range (I could swear the enemies' movement pattern was SPECIFICALLY designed to frustrate ME), and many many times the only thing that saved me was the suit invisibility. Conversely, I have no problem playing something like Painkiller on max difficulty, and I'm actually having fun while doing so! I'm leaving Operation Flashpoint out of this altogether, because that game is in a category of its own, and I'm still waiting for something like it to happen again.

I should write something appropriate here to end this post, but... see the intro.
Oh wait! I found something: when blogging, dictionary.com is your friend. Not exactly related, but helpful :)

-Chiller (written while listening to Monoral)

The Magic Touch

2008-01-26T00:37:00.000+02:00

I went to an MTG prerelease last Saturday, which was somewhat of a historical event, considering that the last Magic prerelease around here was Onslaught (I think), and the last I attended was Oddysey. It's been just as much fun as they used to be. The new (small) set, Morningtide, together with the previous (large) set, Lorwyn, are a blast to play in Limited - we played Sealed Deck. TBH I was somewhat worried about the overall power level of the set(s), which I perceived to be quite a notch above "high", but it turns out that it's actually a good thing (well, unless you mix it with something like Masques block, I suppose). Almost all of the commons are useful and playable, and many are quite good, which nicely offsets the "luck factor" commonly associated with Sealed. And since the uncommon and rare slots are packed with bombs, it means every player will have a fighting chance, by using his or her bombs to counter the opponent's (unless your rares are something like 2 lands and a quirky Johnny card, and even then you'll probably still get some good stuff alongside them). The bad side seems to be that a few uncommons are quite ridiculous in Limited, especially (some) of the new Tribal Equipment, since the sets are light on artifact removal. And, at the high end, you get rares so bomb-tastic that they'll easily win games unless immediately answered (yes, planeswalkers, I mean YOU). Oh, and the clash mechanic is way too swingy on some cards.

But let's not dwell on their shortcomings, because these sets are FUN! They are based on the tribal theme, which has always been popular, and their mechanics further support it and create a lot of interesting interactions, which makes Limited play in particular to be very dynamic and less dominated by archetypes than in other blocks. Indeed, if you've never played with the cards before, as you play your deck, you're likely to discover some new interactions that didn't occur to you when you put it together. Needless to say, it's great fun. Also, since we're talking about fun, it's just not right to play a certain Morningtide card without announcing its name, preferably in a booming voice. You really should try it if you get the chance... it's an unique feeling.

There are also some good things to say about the art style, and the overall "Vorthosian" feel of this block. So consider I've said them. Because I really, really like the world of Lorwyn.

Oh, and I won 5 boosters, too :)

-Chiller, Timmy/Spike

Return of The Prodigal Blog

2008-01-12T18:07:00.000+02:00

I'll be brief (maybe). Edit note - it seems that I actually managed to be brief. What do you know.

A long time has passed, and the layer of digital dust gathered on this site was starting to get hazardous.
Besides, I felt like writing something.
Of course, being an egocentric bastard, I'll be writing about myself.
So here it goes.

I'm currently 25, and feeling kinda' old.
I dropped out of my previous school. That place is hell.
I also quit my job. It wasn't so bad, but I burned out eventually.
I'm currently studying Biology at the local University. I really like it. There's some heavy drawing involved. Didn't expect that, heh.
Nowadays, I mostly play Tabula Rasa. It's fun.
I've been watching some Takeshi Kitano movies lately. They are starting to grow on me.
Last anime I've watched was probably Full Metal Panic: The Second Raid.
Also, I read Sluggy Freelance whenever I have the time and/or mood.
I no longer need to bash games I don't like - Yahtzee is doing a much better job than I ever could.
I still play Magic: The Gathering from time to time.
I really need some new music. I know at least 75% of the lyrics of any random song on my playlist.
I'm eating cake. It's quite real.
I plan to update this blog more regularly. Maybe once a week. With whatever. Like today.
Also expect some game reviews. I'm writing this here and now, so you can yell at me when I fail to deliver :)

As for the fattened calf, it's safe for now - blogs don't fancy steak.

-still Chiller

The music that changes us

2006-05-28T23:20:00.000+03:00

(Note: this post was actually written more than one week ago. But it took me a few days to recover my Blogger password (surprise - none of the usual passwords or combinations worked), and by that time, I was not in the mood to post it. However, since tonight I was listening to the same song as when I wrote this, I've decided it's a good time to blog. Have fun reading. )

I was listening to the "Harry Potter" music tonight, when it struck me. It's not actually the "Harry Potter" music. It's "the Harry Potter music". The difference seems small, but it's quite notable, considering that the actual melody is Depeche Mode's "Precious".
Why the association ? Well, it's simpler than you might expect. I happened to be reading the Harry Potter books in the same time period when I was listening to "Precious" 24/7 (yeah, that's a bit weird, but that song deserves it. Besides, it's not the first time I've done that. More info in a sec). Well, you gotta hand it to Pavlov - he knew his stuff. Now, whenever I hear the song, my mind instantly jumps to the tale of Harry and Voldemort (if you didn't read it, you should. It was much better than I first expected, especially after "Harry Potter and The Goblet of Fire", which, incidentally, is the movie that made me start reading in the first place).
Other such songs: (there had to be a list in my post :p)

- Rammstein's "Ich Will" aka "the Evangelion song" - because of the best Eva AMV i've ever known. Face it, that melody was practically made for NGE (although unrelated, "Ich Will" is another song I've listened to 24/7 for about a week when I first discovered it)
- Metallica's "Hero Of The Day" aka "the Dragonball song" - because of another AMV (I'm talking classic Dragonball here, the first series)
- Linkin Park's "In The End" aka "the Dragonball Z song" - because, you guessed it, yet another AMV (one of the first I've ever seen. I do tend to watch them over and over again, btw)

There might be more, but this was not really meant to be an exhaustive post. I actually wrote it because I needed the exercise, because I thought the subject was cool, and to remind you that my blog still exists :p I'm definetly hoping to post something bigger and better sometime soon. Anyway, until next time -- Avada Kedavra !

-Chiller

Play it again ?

2006-03-18T22:48:00.000+02:00

Amazingly, I seem to be in a creative mood, which just might have something to do with the recent changes in weather. Anyway, expect me to write more than usual. Or maybe not... these things come and go. Prelude over, on to the actual post.

I was playing DOOM tonight for what is likely the 100th+ time. And if you are starting to wonder why, don't worry, you'll get your answer. Or at least, you'll be less confused. (Or, failing that, at least you'll have read something new.)

Amazingly rata de raspuns la mailul pe care l-ati primit probabil cu totii (daca cititi acest blog, nu ati primit mail, and (VERY IMPORTANT !) you are a gamer, please let me know) a fost rather low, dar replyurile primite combinate cu informatiile pe care le aveam deja au fost suficiente ca sa-mi fac o idee destul de buna despre raspunsul la spinoasa intrebare care da titlul acestui post (thanks to everyone that answered BTW). Cu aceasta ocazie trebuie sa va spun ca voi scrie mult mai mult decat ar trebui, if only to rise to the expectations. Ah si pentru cei care n-au inteles nimic din cele spuse pana acum, this is a post about game replayability.

Ce ne face sa jucam un joc pentru a doua oara ? (Assuming you don't have a "double run" policy like what I was doing with some recent games) (Or the third, fourth, ... ,n-th time) (Yeah, double and triple parentheses are cool) (Quadruple ones, too) (Okay, this is getting silly :D)
Well, if you've already played everything you wanted to play and are forced to return to old titles, the answer is probably "duh". But outside of such special circumstances (which, sadly, happen to me all the time), let's see what we can dig out.

Although most reviews comment on and sometimes give marks to a game's replay value, each person's opinion on the matter is different. This is truly the one area of gaming where there are no absolutes. But let's just see if there is some form of intrinsic replay value a game might have regardless of who's playing it.
Any game that has a singleplayer mode that can be finished (ie. "campaign" mode for TBS, as opposed to "single scenario" mode) is more or less linear (usually more). Yet within the boundaries of this linearity, there must still be room for the player to do at least some things in more than one way (otherwise you might as well watch a movie instead). This freedom of movement is implemented diferently in each game, typically according to genre. For most games, this is done through gameplay (Thief: the objectives changed with each difficulty level; Deus Ex: you'd usually take the path to best complement your choice of skills; Arcanum: the choice between magic and technology greatly affected the course of the game; Jedi Academy: the simple change in lightsaber style was enough to make you play it again). A few games use the story to that end (Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis: there were three paths you had to choose from). There may be yet other ways, but I'm at a loss as to what they might be.
Also, some games include optional content: secret levels, extra objectives or sub-quests. Since most of the time players rush to the finish the first time they play a game, they will sometimes play it again in order to find/achieve/finish the bonus stuff.
Besides all this, many games also offer extra content for the specific purpose of increasing that game's replayability: "single scenarios" for TBS, "skirmish mode" for RTS or bots for shooters. This typically works as long as it does something even slightly different from the usual "campaign" singleplayer. Not to mention the games that are simply MEANT to be played again and again (and again, and again), games such as NFS, Mortal Kombat, or Chicken Invaders.
So overall, it would seem that a game's replay value is given by: gameplay freedom plus story freedom over total play time plus bonus/replayable content, multiply everything by nostalgia factor (thanks to Eugen for reminding me that very important element). This should sum it up pretty nicely.

Now use the above to explain the following facts:

- I've played DOOM and DOOM 2 (probably) more than 100 times
- I've played Thief 1 and 2 five times or more, always on the hardest difficutly setting (it had the most objectives)
- I've played Loom, Monkey Island 1 through 4 and Grim Fandango more than 3 times each
- I've played Final Fantasy 7 and 8 more than 4 times each
- Should I go on ? 'Cause I could :D

Well ? While the correct answer is "Because you're freakin' nuts !!!", you might indeed be surprised to find out that the previous theory, beautiful as it may be, is almost totally pointless.
The one main, big, HUGE reason to why you'd play a game again is as simple as this:

BECAUSE YOU LIKED IT

That's what really matters, and will answer the question "should I play it again ?" for about 91.76% of the time (as a sidenote, did you know that 54.32% of all statistics are made up on the spot ?), with only the remaining small percentage being covered by objective factors.
And if you don't believe me, I can only quote the most famous bad guy of all times (erm, except Hitler): "Search your feelings... you know it to be true !"

You know, after reaching that conclusion I was rather afraid I wouldn't have that much to say on the matter after all. Hopefully this was long enough to satisfy you all. Whether you agree with me or not, feel free to comment. Feedback is always appreciated.

- Chiller

Final Fantasy Awards

2006-02-11T12:29:00.000+02:00

Pentru ca tocmai am terminat FF X (pentru prima oara), ce as putea face mai bine decat sa disec un pic aceasta serie longeviva si absolut fascinanta. Pe categorii. Cu cat mai multe, cu atat mai bine. And no, you don't get to vote (okay, you do if you've played all of them - after all, it's only safe to assume that you didn't :p)
Intervalul va cuprinde jocurile FF V - X (sorry FF IV fans... didn't play that one. Yet.) Orice alt FF va trebui sa astepte editia a II-a (FF X-2, most likely). Pentru necunoscatori, FF5 si 6 au aparut pe Super Nintendo, FF7-9 pe PlayStation (FF7 si 8 si pe PC) si FF10 pe PS2. (If you're puzzled about FF6, the english version bears the name FF III. Anyway, it's the one with TERRA, LOCKE and KEFKA. Oh, and Mag|Tek.)
Categoriile sunt cat mai diverse, si daca vi se pare ca o anumita categorie a fost introdusa special pentru o anumita situatie dintr-un anumit joc, probabil ca asa este ;). Anyway, on with the awards !

Best Main Character - Squall (FF8)
Squall gets the prize over, yes, Cloud (FF7) - after all, he's the more violent natural phenomenon. I really like him because he's extremely verbose, a real social person :p. Now, seriously, he's IMO the coolest main char in a FF, and also the only one I was ever able to identify with.
Famous Quotes: "Whatever." ; "..."

Best Secondary Character - Laguna (FF8)
Laguna is great beyond words, I liked him from the first moment I played him. Every sequence with Laguna was immensely enjoyable, and the only thing I was sorry about was that there wasn't more of him in the game. And his fight music was the best battle piece ever. I personally think he deserves his own game (or at least a movie :D)
Famous Quote: "Nothing cheaper than something free."
(Remember ?... "I think the faeries are here." ; "I brought the wrong map.")

Hottest Babe - Rikku (FF10)
The graphics don't really do justice to characters from older games, otherwise Tifa (FF7) would get the prize. At least she got to appear in a movie.

Most Original Character - Vivi (FF9)
Glowing eyes and you never see his face. Plus, I like the hat.

Least Human Character - Red XIII (FF7)
Hmm, maybe Cait Sith should've taken the prize ?...

Largest Party - Final Fantasy 6
With a grand total of (at least) 12 (twelve !) playable characters.

Smallest Party - Final Fantasy 5
Only 5 (five) characters, and only 4 at any one time (essentially, one character is replaced by another at some point. He even passes on his abilities 'n all)

Lowest Tech - Final Fantasy 5
Steam engines are experimental tech in this classic FF (although it sports a submarine as well as an airship). FF9 cut it pretty close too (but Terra got involved so...)

Highest Tech - Final Fantasy 8
Fast trains, speedboats, ICBMs, flying cities and a country with a fully-fledged space program - not much left to desire.

Best Setting - Final Fantasy 8
Not really a hard choice here, I really like high-tech in my FF's.

Most Original Setting - Final Fantasy 5
Two worlds that were separated long ago, but are reunited during the course of the game - FF5 is way on top of the competition.

Best Transportation - Final Fantasy 5
Now let's see... by foot, chocobo, boat, Hyuryuu (sort of a dragon), steamboat, submarine, blue (flying) chocobo, airship(that could also go on water and later on become a submarine as well !)

Coolest Transportation - Balamb Garden (FF8)
The best way to make sure a bunker is gonna resist those missiles is to make it avoid them. Actively. And thus, you get to fly around in the huge, clumsy and extraordinarily cool Garden.

Best Airship - Ragnarok (FF8)
Not only an Airship, but a Spaceship as well ! Complete with resident monsters ! (at least initially ;) Not to mention the cool guns.
(Remember ?... "Woohoo ! We're flying !" // "Selphie is quite extraordinary, isn't she ?"

Greatest Impact - Final Fantasy 6
I had already played FF7 and 8 before discovering SNES and FF6 - and when I did, I was amazed. It was pure FF, but unlike what I had played before. FF6 completed the mental image I had about FF games, and for that I am most grateful.

Best Music - Final Fantasy 8
Truth be told, Nobuo Uematsu did godly work with all of the FF's, but in FF8 even the battle music was enjoyable (after the hundreth battle I mean), plus it had the best "action" tracks of the series (I was really sorry whenever a battle interupted them and sometimes would just stand still for minutes on end listening to the music - at least before I got Encounters-None).

Best Graphics (relative) - Final Fantasy 6
Amazing quality for that resolution. The range of emotions that could be expressed by the characters was just as large as that of any later game. Besides, polygons are so boring...

Best Graphics (absolute) - Final Fantasy 10
Yawn.

Best Romance - Squall and Rinoa (FF8)
The whole "FF8 is a love story" thing was kinda' pushed in our faces IMO, but nevertheles the truth is that they simply crush the competition (sorry Tidus and Yuna...). Honorable mention to Zidane and, er, Dagger ("I want to be your canary").

Best Mini-game - Chocobo Treasure Hunt (FF9)
It was fun, quick, not to mention rewarding. Blitzball (FF10), although hyped, became rather boring after a point.
Hint: go for the Lagoon in the late game... much easier to pull off chains.

Best Mini-mini-mini-game - Bitchslappin' (FF7)
Go Tifa ! Boo Scarlet ! (Not to mention - a most notable sequence)

Best Magic System - Materia-based (FF7)
Yeah, I'm a sucker for pretty colors. GO GO Materia !!!

Best Skill System - Job-based (FF5)
Very original idea, and with good gameplay value.

Best Combat System - CTB (FF10)
The change in the combat system is really welcome. Not only is combat less chaotic in FF10, it is faster as well. Plus, the ability to freely switch between your characters is good for both gameplay and flavor.

Best Summon System - Aeons (FF10)
They have somewhat of a personality (more than the Eidolons from FF9), and also stats, abilities and overdrives to go with the new control system. Plus, there are a couple of them (Yojimbo and the Magus Sisters) that change the rules in a very interesting way...

Best Limit System - Overdrives (FF10)
Nothing we haven't seen before if we look at the moves, but the ability to set certain conditions for going into overdrive was novel.

Best Advancement System - Sphere Grid (FF10)
Finally, we have some control over our characters' advancement paths ! (FF5 was the other game in which you did)

Best/Worst Magic/Abilities/Advancement System - Junction System (FF8)
A rather controversial prize. Many people seem to hate the fact that there is actually a possibility that you can get worse by levelling up (not absolutely... relatively to the monsters), BUT the system does have a huge advantage: if you're adept at using the junction system, you can pretty much max everything you want by a very low level (~20, even), and since the Enc-None ability is easy to get, afterwards you can skip every random battle if you choose so (which IMO is something to be desired in any FF)

Best Villain - Sephiroth (FF7)
If I really have to explain to you the greatness of Sephiroth... actually, I shall not. Play the game. Or watch the movie. Or both. (Ok, the game option is a few times better. You should also watch a little animation film called "The Last Order". But only after you've played FF7. You've been warned.)

Lamest Villain - Kuja (FF9)
What does this guy actually WANT ? Also gets a prize for "most undecided villain".

Best Final Boss - Ultimecia (FF8)
Nice abilities, not extremely overpowered, and a few surprises (like killing your GF's instantly). Plus that in this battle, when your characters would die, they were replaced with those you had in reserve. Nice.

Worst Final Boss - Necron (FF9)
Erm... surely this is a mistake. Who is this guy ? And why does he connect in no way whatsoever to the story ? Oh well... it's not like FF9 is the best FF ever, anyway. (Also, he might be overpowered from what I'm reading over the net right now. I don't really remember the fight... only played FF9 once - and a quarter :p)

Best Turning Point - The Continent Split (FF6)
Did anyone actually EXPECT that ? I was thinking I'd finish the game when I faced Kefka...

Best Weapons - Gunblades (FF8)
Are they cool or what ? I so wanted one at the time... (well, I still do, I just don't think it's possible anymore ;)

Best Masochistic Potential - Final Fantasy 10
With a huge number of special bosses available at the Arena, plus the Dark Aeons, the Omega Weapon and possibly more that I don't remember right now, FF10 really had a lot to offer in the way of defeat for those so inclined. I'm talking about optional fights here in case you didn't get it already. Most of them could wipe out a regular party in one hit or three. My personal favourite was Catastrophe... cool name & looks.

Clearest Goal - Killing Sin (FF10)
(not necessarily a good prize)
Ok, so you get about ten minutes in the beginning of the game when you don't yet know about Sin, and you should be grateful for them. After that, it's all Sin this and Sin that, I'm a cool summoner and I'm going to beat Sin, no wait we are beating Sin using this nasty machina, no you don't, oops we don't, damn that Sin. But then you find out that she's gonna die if she beats Sin, so what, I wanna beat Sin, I'm a cool summoner goddamit, no wait there must be another way to beat Sin, hooray there is, let's beat Sin using the new way. And then you beat Sin. And that Yevon guy, whatever. Yawn. Sin Sin Sin...

Most Convoluted Goal - ??? (FF8)
(not necessarily a good prize, either :p)
Ok, so first there was Timber, and you thought you were going to get the President, but that sorceress got in the way. What sorceress ? What is a sorceress ? What, you didn't know ? They're like super important, here, let me explain... Ok, so we gotta get the sorceress now I suppose. Let's get her. But we failed, and now we're escaping from prison. Good for us, except for those missiles, let's stop those. Well, we failed but it's okay, 'cause the Garden can fly. So what now ? Dunno, let's see if the sorceress still hates our guts. Oh, she has her own flying Garden and she's attacking us, great, let's fight. We beat her but Rinoa got in trouble. Gotta get her to Esthar. What do you mean, what's Esthar ? It's like, this ancient hidden super important country, let me explain... Oh and the sorceress is on our side now, she's gonna help us. Nice. Ok, so we got to Esthar and they are so cool, they have space ships and everything, and they also have their own sorceress, but they keep her on orbit 'cause she is so evil, too bad we let her escape. So now we have to fight her as well, great, ok it's done. Hey, come to think a bit, this must be the doing of that other sorceress, the one from the future, what was her name, Ultimecia or something like that, and she's going to do Time Compression. What do you mean, what's Time Compression ? It's like, this really nasty super important thingy, let me explain... Ok, so let's go to the future and get that Ultimecia, we fight, we win, hooray. What did we do all this for, exactly ? Dunno, but it was one hell of a game.
(Actually, it all comes together if you play the game two or three times. Honestly. But the first time around, it really looks like this.)

Best Beginning - Final Fantasy 7
Solid, fast-paced beginning for FF7, and we also get introduced to Aeris (although we don't know it yet). And FF7 was getting low on prizes...

Best Ending - Final Fantasy 9
FF9 gets the prize for actually having an element of suspense in the ending... but I'm not going to spoil it (Oh, what the heck. Zidane survived :p). Anyway, it was a very nice and romantic ending ("I want to be your canary" strikes back).

Best Movie - no one
I've eventually decided against giving a prize for Best Movie. It would take too many hours of research to do it with any reasonable amount of objectivity.

Best Intro Movie - Final Fantasy 8
...but I DO have to give a prize for this movie, since I've watched it almost every time I've started the game. Great music, gunblade fight, game sequences, and romance. Sugoi.

Most Emotional Moment - The Death Of Aeris (FF7)
...I might have cried. Ok, not really, but I was pretty close to. Honestly >:).

Most Memorable Moment - Cloud Remembers What Really Happened (FF7)
You know the one... down in the Lifestream... who is Zack ?... I still get shivers when I think about that part.
(the other one that got close was Cloud Giving The Black Materia To Sephiroth, so either way FF7 was getting this prize)

Best FF Title - Final Fantasy 7
Ok, now that I've played FF10, there is no reason to hold back the truth: FF7 is the best FF ever made, and it's highly unlikely that any future title will ever come close.

Least Prizes (erm, not counting this one) - Final Fantasy 6
Four prizes (but a better game than other FF's, my third favourite so far).

Most Prizes - Final Fantasy 8
Twelve (!) prizes. But FF7 is still best.

Amazingly, I'm done. I'm not really in the mood to write anything lenghty at this point. Maybe this article will help you decide which FF game you should play next. Or not. Anyway, bye.

-Chiller

Happiness is a warm manatee

2005-12-17T03:12:00.000+02:00

...Adica iar scriu despre jocuri, in caz ca nu sunteti familiari cu conceptul de mai sus. Aberez ? Posibil, dar nici pe departe atat de mult ca Printul Persiei, in cea de-a treia aparitie pe monitoarele noastre (folosesc pluralul seniorial, da, si pentru monitor), caci despre asta este de fapt vorba - Prince of Persia: The Two Thrones.

What quickly becomes obvious as you start playing the game is PoP theorem no. ?: The Lack Of A Sword Is Bad For The Main Character. In more ways than one, apparently. It extends to the world around him, too. What am I talking about ? Well, as the prince himself puts it, "why is it that every time disaster strikes I find myself without a proper blade ?", moments before picking some random knife from a table and deciding that it's the best choice for a main weapon. He might have a point, too, as every other sword, mace or axe seems to shatter in one or two hits - funny how the ancient Babylonians produced such flimsy weaponry. Soon after, the knife will be replaced by the Dagger of Time and that pretty much seals it - no more weapon upgrades for you. Sniff. It's not like it was one of the most exciting thing in the previous games, anyway. Oh wait, it was. Damn.
Having a dagger as a primary weapon changes the game quite a bit. The first thing you'll be introduced to is the speed kill. Which is not really speedy, but cool nonetheless. It involves "stealthily" (the stealth part is entirely automatic as long as you're behind an enemy. Why did they even keep the slow walk key ? it has NO USE WHATSOEVER) aproaching a foe and then watching the prince perform some really cool moves while slicing and dicing the helpless opponent, as long as you hit your fire button at the appropriate times of course (when the dagger flashes blue). Speed kills are cool and sometimes useful, and when you'll get two opponents at the same time with a double speed-kill you'll feel really good. Speed kills also have a special use in some situations, but we'll get to that later.
Unfortunatelly, although they are a good addition to the game, speed kills take the focus away from what was probably the best part of the previous game, Warrior Within - regular combat. Although the fighting system is pretty much unchanged, you never really need more than a few basic maneuvers, as the opponents are few and easily dispatchable. An interesting thing to notice is that since your main weapon is weak, you won't inflict much damage unless you hold something in your left hand. Another (somewhat) notable change is the absence of the strangling maneuver which previously spelled victory in almost any one-on-one fight, although combat is typically so simple that it hardly ever matters.
An exception from this comes only when the Dark Prince is around. Yes, it's time to be introduced to the Dark Side of the Prince. He only appears when the prince is extremely angry and has evil thoughts;put another way, at scripted moments that more often than not seem totally random. He is cool, BUT he has a big problem. A drinking one. You see, his health drops continuously, which is nothing we haven't seen before. But this time, you can die because of it. I was so shocked when it first happened that my mouth dropped for a full minute ! Fortunatelly, collecting sands of time fully restores your health. Even so, some of the Dark Prince moments turn into desperate rushes to the body of water that will turn you back to normal, which is a real annoyance. It's a shame, because the Dark Prince is really fun to play with, and is strictly better than the regular version when it comes to acrobatics (he has some extra moves). Oh, and if you are still wondering about the combat, it's like this: combat with the Dark Prince means being assaulted by huge waves of monsters that will take all your skill and expertise to defeat. Or would, if the Dark One wasn't so completely overpowered. Basically, all you have to do is input you favourite move over and over and watch the prince cut through them with blazing speed - and with the sands restoring your health, there's not much of a chance to actually die in combat, unless you fall off a ledge by mistake.
Other elements that are missing, combat-wise, are wall-run slashes and ledge fights. While the former were too difficult to time right and I'm glad they are gone, the latter were fun and are sorely missed (okay, it was just "jump, then slash", but it was still fun).

Okay, that's enought about the fights, let's move on to the arcade part. There are quite a few new moves in The Two Thrones, and they get most of the attention. Some of them involve using the dagger by sticking it into the new dagger-friendly environment items. The prince can also slide up and down (ok, he doesn't really "slide" when going up) between two parallel walls if they are close enough (a remarcably high occurence in the city of Babylon). You can finally climb on top of the swinging poles (it was really bugging me how you couldn't do that before). And the most ridiculous move of them all, that defies all the laws of physics and then some more, the diagonal jump off a "shutter" (no, really. I know we're talking about a world where wall-running is perfectly normal. This is worse). All the past moves are present too, although some are under-represented (changing what side of a ladder you're on, for example, appears only once - in the beginning, with a tutorial message teaching you how to do it :) ). And the Dark Prince's moves add a nice twist to it, although they are only around for short periods of time.
Trap-wise, there's three new traps - a huge jagged cutting half-wheel that pops from the ground, some new spikey half-cylinder that rotates in and out of walls or floors, and arrow shooters mounted in the walls. Of the older traps, the horizontal slashers only appear once or twice, just like the ground spikes (there's a fair share of spikey poles, sliding wheels and crushers, though). The trapped corridors that lead to life upgrades are still there, but they are shorter and easier than before.
But the totally new, all-arcade addition to the game is probably the one thing this series really didn't ever need - the chariot "racing" (it's not actually racing, it's more like trying to survive while wondering how to get off that machine of death). I wonder if the producers realised how high the difficulty level of that part of the game actually is - and I've run the game twice now. Since there are no brakes, and the horses will merrily run straight into a wall if you give them the chance, it's really easy to crash, and rewinding time sometimes doesn't help at all as you lose the moment and there's a high chance to crash again immediately. I seriously wish there was a way to skip the whole thing, as I play games to have FUN, not get annoyed (as a sidenote, "annoying" is the worst thing I could ever call a game; it's like, below 0), and the chariot part sure didn't help. You'll find yourself breathing with relief when these moments finally end (fortunatelly there's only two of them).

Speaking of high difficulty, we get to what's (arguably) the best part of the game, the boss fights. Boss fights in T2T involve more than just slashing at your enemy, usually requiring a mixture of acrobatics, regular combat and speed kills (sometimes all three of them). The bosses are usually very tough and you might have a hard time figuring out how to defeat them, but once you're past that point they're not that difficult anymore. However, the final battle is quite hard even if you know what to do, although it didn't seem as hard as the Dahaka fight from WW. And unfortunatelly, sometimes you don't get enough hints - a few more would have been useful, especially on the "easy" setting (I had a really hard time with one of the lass boss fights because you get the hint AFTER doing what you're supposed to do (!). It took a lot of tries to figure it out, so if you ever get there, ATTACK THE ONE WITH THE SWORD !). Nevertheless, the boss battles are mini-puzzles in themselves, they make you think and are very much fun once you figure them out, so they are definetly my favourite part of the game.

The sand powers are still around, and somewhat unchanged. There's the rewind, the slow motion, some power that I never used and another power that I never used. Not much a difference from before (there were some unusable powers in WW as well), but the Ravages of Time power is gone, and that one really came in handy at times.

Kaileena dies, Farah's back (and they both look different). Good or bad ? Maybe we should take a vote ;)

Okay, so now that I'm done with the good/neutral stuff, let's get down to business - and watch out, I'm not going easy on this game. If you didn't get it already (or if I didn't complain to you in person yet :D), I didn't like T2T much - not after Warrior Within anyway. I must admit that I had my doubts after reading some preview stuff (specifically the parts where they said what they are going to change), so it didn't really come as a shock, but still... it doesn't feel good. So in spirit of my usual "list" posts, here it goes:

THINGS THAT CHILLER DOESN'T LIKE ABOUT POP: T2T
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(in no specific order; I intended to have them ordered, but can't really make up my mind about some of them)

1) The chariot races. 'Nuff said.
2) No more Dahaka - ok, this is more about me complaining than anything else. Of course there could be no Dahaka in T2T. But... really... it was the coolest opponent in recent memory... remember it ? The music... tentacles... black and white screen... the chase... Ahh, I miss my Dahaka. Sniff.
3) Speaking of which, the "bad guy" is totally horrible. Who in the world designed that thing ??? The original vizier from PoP: The Sands of Time was way better, and that one was totally lame as far as bosses go. (To be fair, the other bosses are somewhat better; at the very least, they have more personality than the random griffin that attacked you in WW)
4) One of the (many) things that hurt the feeling of the game is the simplistic death animations. Although the prince's killing moves remain the same, the opponents can no longer be decapitated, cut in half or sliced up the middle. They simply fall down and die. It totally sucks.
5) Speaking of which, there are also a numer of glitches related to animations, the most notable being that the "turning into the Dark Prince" animation seems severely out of context after some of the preceeding interludes (like when the prince looks down from a balcony, but then he is shown arriving from the hall he just came through and transforming)
6) The other main feeling-hoser is the change in music. Apparently some people (players, I mean) didn't like much the heavy metal used in WW (to be honest, why people would complain about heavy metal in video games is beyond me), so for the third part of the series the producers changed it to something... else. The results are incredibly bad. The fight music was... well... was there actually fight music in this game ? Really ? Hmm, must've been so uninteresting that I totally ignored it. Actually, I can only think of one track that I liked, which boosts the music score of this game (if I'd have to give one) to ZERO. The Stuart Chatwood tracks from SoT were MUCH better.
7) After the music, comes the graphics. WHAT HAPPENED TO THE GRAPHICS ? SoT was quite impressive when it first came out. WW was stunning, and still is. It really makes you wonder how they managed to use the same engine to make a game that looks worse than its prequel. Some of the effects, especially the fire, look EXTREMELY bad.
8) Okay. I swear this is the last time I'm getting disapointed over a game's length. Yup, our darkest fear came true: T2T is SHORT. It's about as long as SoT, actually. I suppose that can't really be helped, since the game is totally linear, unlike in WW, where you went through it, then back again, then once more, and when you thought it was over you had to do it again as the Sand Wraith (was the wraith cool or what ? Much better in appearance than the Dark Prince IMO). But, you know... I can't shake this old habit of hoping... what can I say ? Sigh.
9) If you want to be spared some pain, set the speech volume to zero so you can't hear the characters speaking. The voice acting is totally horrible; I can only hope that the French version is (5x) better. What's worse, I know that the quality of the dialogues left to be desired ever since the first PoP game, but the lines of the previous games look like masterpieces when compared to some(most ?) of those of T2T. The prince also got a wacky inner voice that is apparently the Dark Prince, although it's still there when the prince turns into his dark form; I never knew whether to laugh or cry whenever I heard it. The only good part is the dead Kaileena (well, she IS the Empress of Time 'n all...) acting as the narrator, although more often than not what she does is justify the changes in the prince's behaviour. Which brings us to...
10) Probably the most important, at least as far as I'm concerned: the prince is not cool anymore. Yeah I know that he evolved and changed and whatnot, but he is still a total badass when it comes to fighting, and the whole doubting-my-choices-in-life thing just doesn't seem appropriate. For me, the "true" Prince will always be the one in the Warrior Within intro movie, the one that drew his blades to face the Dahaka.

Phew, I'm done. By all means, don't be put off by my ranting - the game is definetly worth playing and has some great moments. While it could've been better, it's a good enough ending to the series. And apparently a lot of people seem to like it, although I do expect my audience to be a bit more discerning ;). Besides, we'll always have Warrior Within and its Dahaka. So have fun playing your favourite PoP games !

-Chiller, riding a pretty cold manatee

The Rise and Fall of the First Person Shooter, part one

2005-10-26T20:21:00.000+03:00

Okay. Dupa cum cunoscatorii cunosc, acest post a fost spart in doua following some hideous problems generated by some bad characters in the post, and triggered by people commenting. (COMENTEZI ???!)
Am postat partea intai cronologic dupa cealalta pentru a aparea in ordine corecta pe blog.
All old comments have been unfortunatelly deleted, but adding new ones should not cause any more problems.

(this was added way after completion)
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Really long post. Beware. (this was added upon completion)
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CREATIVE SPREE !!! WOOHOO !!! Si iata cum sar eu din pat la 00:30 la doar 15 minute dupa ce m-am culcat, ca sa scriu despre first person shootere.
A pornit de la Quake 4. Intamplator ma joc Q4 nowadays, desi probabil nu mai dureaza mult pana sa-l termin (are 2.58 Gb, deci e probabil cam de 2 ori mai scurt decat Unreal :D). Si tot intamplator m-am apucat sa ma gandesc la cat de interesant este acest joc (este acel gen de intamplator care apare cand esti pe punctul de a adormi, dar de cand am uitat cu desavarsire tot reviewul la NGE pe care aveam de gand sa-l scriu in dimineata urmatoare, m-am invatat minte sa nu mai pierd ocaziile de exprimare creativa). Anyway... Q4 right ?... Well, este bine realizat. Nimic de zis, si-au dat oamenii silinta, nu doar la partea grafica, dar si gameplayul este bun, are jocul o poveste bine inchegata... si rezultatul este un mare *yawn*. Dar ca sa intelegem de ce, we'll look a bit back.

Eu sunt un mare mare MARE fan (si declarat) al genului first person. Truth be told, nu se mai fac nici pe departe asa multe jocuri FP in zilele noastre, inclusiv genul action migrand catre acea oribila follow-up camera which I hate with a passion. To make things simple, I'll keep away from stealth games (besides, I'm getting more and more convinced that there is only ONE series that does justice to the genre - and if you don't know which that is... try stealing something and see what people shout at you :D) and from RPGs (to a degree at least... anyway I'll just mention Morrowind here because that game deserves it, and since I'm at it we can't forget about Ultima Underworld). That leaves us (mostly) with the bread and butter of FP games: the SHOOTER.

It all started with Doom(1993). You might argue that it was Wolfenstein(1992) that spawned it all, but for me it was Doom (Doom 2(1994), actually). Doom was great. Surprisingly (or maybe not), it still is, unless you mind the graphics - in which case, you're probably just stupid. What made Doom great was that there was no two-ways about it - you were there to kill stuff. You knew it, the designers knew it, and eventually the mosters found that out as well (usually the hard way). Oh, and you were also saving the world in the process. Or something. If you cared to read the text-screens that popped every ten levels or so, anyway.
Doom, even more than Wolfy, spawned an entire generation of games, Heretic(1994) and Dark Forces(1995) coming to mind right now, although I've only ever played them superficially - I was too busy playing Doom, since I had also discovered Doom 1 in the meantime. At some point I even made my own Doom level, and it was great (I'm quite sorry about losing it since then... remember the secret BFG room, Skander ? :D)

Well, good thing I remembered one of the classics of that age - Duke Nukem 3D(1996). While I didn't actually play that until WAY later, I remember it as a good game with a whole bunch of original ideas (the shrink gun, and the building demolition which everyone was so excited about). I also remember it was quite hard, although I suppose I finished it eventually. Duke also had a bit more story than Doom, mainly centered around the bad-ass main character, who appeared in some really cool cutscenes and occasionally put out brilliant quotes like "I'm here to kick ass and chew bubble gum... and I'm all out of gum". (Don't ask me why that is funny. It's probably because of nostalgia. Strange, but true. Ask others if you don't believe me.)

And thus we arrive to the other mega-classic: Quake(1996). Quake spawned the third generation of shooters, which thrives to this day - the fully 3D, polygonal kind. IIRC, I didn't like much the polygonal monsters when I first played the game, but it didn't take me long to get over it. Quake had a whole lot of new and great ideas: underwater action, interactive difficulty level selection via teleporters, thunderbolt gun, rocket&grenade jumping, the lava boss... Just like Doom, it kept the story to an absolute minimum via text-screens. Unlike Doom, it didn't have masses of monsters, but fewer and tougher ones; interestingly enough, this was widely regarded as a bad move (and I concur), although the action was typically very intense. Also, while it had its fair share of pentagrames and occult thingies, I can only quote my Quake playing partner from the days of old, Meecootzoo: "[dapdv] imi place Doom mai mult decat Quake... e mai satanist" (approx).

[paranteza]
Daca tot am ajuns la Quake, cred ca e momentul sa spun si ceva despre multiplayer. Am jucat ceva Doom multiplayer, mult, mult Quake, mult Quake 2, un pic de Q3, si TONE de Counterstrike. Dar, desi este o parte integrala si uneori foarte importanta a acestori jocuri (ba cateodata chiar tot jocul - vezi CS), multiplayerul nu este obiectul acestui post. Get over it.
[/paranteza]

Fireste ca succesul lui Quake a inspirat multi alti producatori. Unul din cele mai reusite jocuri, facut chiar cu engineul de Quake, a fost Hexen 2(1997). The good part of Hexen 2 was that it had 32 weapons. The bad part was that it didn't. Funny thing, actually. You see, you chose one of four classes to play: Necromancer, Paladin and... two others :D. Each class had four weapons. Each of the weapons had a (sometimes very) different effect when you picked up a certain powerup (its name is eluding me ATM). So if you played the game four times, each time with a different class, then you (might) get to see all 32 weapons (16 of them only briefly). You will obviously realize that in reality that almost never happened. Otherwise, Hexen 2 had some story about killing the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (which were cool) and then some uber-bad dude (if I remember right). It also put you through a variety of fantasy settings, had a lot of places to explore, some interesting puzzles and was overall FUN. Yes, they still made good games back in the day.
Speaking of which, there was also Dark Forces 2: Jedi Knight(1997). This is the first shooter which I can think of that had a strong story element which was central to the action and also a catchy part of the game; but then again, JK did come with the whole impressive Star Wars universe as background. This was also the first FP in which you got your own lightsaber (and the Jedi powers to go with it), and although it would be dwarfed by later productions, back then it was the coolest thing ever. That and the fact that you could choose to embrace the Dark Side (although you got a few less cutscenes to punish you for it. Sigh. Noone said that being evil is easy.)

About now we face the first real blunder of the shooter genre. Of course, even before there were some really bad games, but since most of them were clones and people hardly ever played them, they never got any attention. But this time things would be different. The game ? Quake 2(1997). Duh. Unlike the Doom series (to that point anyway), Q2 took a different approach to the concept of "sequel", and tried to change more things than it afforded to. The result was a totally uninteresting SF shooter. Fortunatelly for ID, an excellent multiplayer saved the game from disaster and kept it one of the most played shooters of those times.

But then, a long-awaited game is finally released, and it is very welcome indeed. I am of course refering to Unreal(1998). Many years in development had apparently payed off to provide us with one of the best shooters of all times. Unreal was also SF, but in a way that was miles and leagues on top of the competition. While it also continued the trend of fewer, tougher monsters, it had the interesting twist of making some of them very agile, so that they could annoy you to no end by dodging (the idea was obviously scooped up by following titles and eventually became a trend of its own). Fortunatelly, Unreal provided an excellent arsenal (which included some new and original weapons) that helped the player by favouring a slower and more careful style of fighting. The fact that the enemy projectiles' speed was just right to allow a fair amount of dodging on your part was the icing on the cake, since no other game except Doom has ever managed that, both before and after (incidentally, Doom is the shooter I've played most of, and Unreal second, singleplayer-wise).
Unreal is also the first shooter that made a point of impressing people by sheer eye-candy; in fact, I think it's a wonder that it also managed to keep the gameplay excellent while delighting us with scenery after beautiful scenery (in fact, Unreal still has the greatest sky ever made in a 3D game, and if I could make it look as good on my current video card as it did on my old Voodoo 2, I'd take a screenshot. Damn. I can't see my beautiful sky anymore. Sometimes it makes me cry.) I'd say it's also the first shooter I remember having really great music, but Doom beat it by quite a few years.
Unreal also had a story. It was totally unobtrusive, lurking in the background in the form of old logs and the ever-helpful Nali. You could ignore it if you wanted. Heck, you could even kill the Nali. But if you took the time to pay attention to it, you'd discover that it was quite well developed, with many lines of text detailing the local culture and the adventures of those that came (and invariably died) before you. In fact, because of this, the item inventory and all the castles and small villages (since half the levels were medieval and half were high-tech), Unreal had a certain RPG quality about it, at least for me.
Since I've already written so much about this game, I'd like to take a moment and use it as an example in proving the decline of the FPS genre (heck, and games in general), this time from a technical point of view. It is said that when the game was first finished, the lead programmer was not satisfied with the result, so he rewrote the whole code, in assembler. I don't know if this story is true; personally, I like to believe that it is. Anyway, the fact is that you could run Unreal on a P2/200, software, and you'd still have a good fps, and the game would look almost the same as when accelerated. Unreal is also a long game, and it takes quite a bit to get to the end even if you've finished it a few times before. And the total size of the directory is... 413 Mb. And sadly, Unreal looks just as good (or sometimes even better) than many later games which take away gigabytes of your harddisk, act sluggishly even on new video cards, and end before you get to warm up a bit. And since this is technical, I won't even comment on the relative quality of the gameplay and the other important stuff. I rest my case.

Right now is 3:12 AM and I'm going to sleep. I'll finish this in the morning.

The Rise and Fall of the First Person Shooter, part two

2005-10-25T23:00:00.000+03:00

Okay, it's morning now. Actually, it's 14:23, which is sort of late morning. So, where was I ?

Ok, uitandu-ma in urma mi se pare ca m-am intins cam mult cu unele jocuri, asa ca voi schimba un pic stilul de prezentare si ma voi concentra asupra seriilor, ceea ce e de fapt si scopul acestui post (desigur, mai raman si titlurile individuale care nu au inca sequeluri). De fapt, voi incepe cu doua sub-genuri:

Shooterul "realist": acesta este genul a carui actiune se petrece aproximativ in zilele noastre, cu arme uzuale: pistoale, automate, grenade etc, si inamici in general umani. Singura problema este ca fie acesti inamici beneficiaza de o rezistenta iesita din comun, fie gloantele au o viteza foarte mica, cert este ca de obicei nici macar o lovitura in cap nu este suficienta pentru a ucide pe cineva, chiar si in acele jocuri, mai noi, care fac distinctia intre cap si... well, restul corpului de obicei. This is formally known as the Law of Ballistic Impotence. Ce sa mai vorbim de conceptul de stopping power, care este o gluma, singurul efect notabil care mai apare din cand in cand fiind scaderea vitezei de miscare atunci cand esti lovit de o rafala o_O. To make matters worse, this kind of game usually takes a sadistic pleasure in annoying you to death by using the worst idea ever: SPAWNING. Look, I didn't mind monster teleporting all around me when I was playing Doom, but that was a FREAKIN SF/FANTASY GAME FOR CRYIN OUT LOUD ! And there was a nice green flash and specific sound to go with it ! But when soldiers start pouring out from a house you've just swept clean, you have to admit that things are very very wrong. The oldest title I can remember that belongs to this genre is probably Soldier of Fortune(2000), although I never played it. But I played the sequel(2002), and it had the worst spawning ever *shudder*. De altminteri, dupa acel joc am ramas cu sechele, acesta fiind si motivul pentru care nu am jucat prea multe titluri de genul asta, cu toate ca au fost destule. Dintre cele pe care le-am incercat, la aceasta categorie intra Return to Castle Wolfenstein(2001), Medal of Honor Allied Assault(2002), Counterstrike(2000 - multiplayer only - no spawning - duh), Project IGI(2000) and the fascinating Sniper: Path of Vengeance(2002), the game in which you were anything but a sniper. Call of Duty(2003) va intra tot aici, dar este totusi un joc bun, desi cam scurt (si nu am jucat addon-ul pentru ca am citit pe IGN ca au pus (mai mult) SPAWNING in el *shudder*). Cel mai bun titlu din aceasta categorie ramane probabil Far Cry(2004), despre care am scris suficient in alt post, mai ramanand sa mentionez ca NU are spawning.

Shooterul militar: same setting as above, dar nu respecta (prea mult) LBI. Apparently, in aceste conditii spatiile deschise sunt mai potrivite decat indoor environments, si solutia adoptata cel mai adesea este de a adopta un setting militar, hence the name. Delta Force(1998) este probabil jocul de la care a pornit totul, dar din pacate a iesit cam plictisitor si cu multe buguri (cu toate ca avea un multiplayer foarte bun), si am renuntat sa ma mai joc undeva dupa Delta Force 2(1999). Fortunatelly, the genre will be brought to its peak by a somewhat unknown title: Operation Flashpoint(2002). OFP was the first game that made me feel like I was holding an M16 and not a peashooter, although the enemies would push that point on you a bit too often for my liking. While in the beginning you're just a private and part of a squad, later on you'll get to drive tanks, fly choppers, infiltrate the enemy base at night, or command your own men into battle, all on the background of a well-written and interesting story. Other titles that fall under this category are the Battlefield series(2002;2005) (although the bullet damage is still pretty low) and Hidden and Dangerous(1999;2003) (same here; I never played the second part of the series, though).

Okay, so now that we're done with the bigger categories, let's take a look at some series:

Splinter Cell(2003;2004;2005): I'm putting this up front because it would probably fall under the first of the above categories if not for special considerations. Mind you, I've only played Pandora Tomorrow(the second game), so the following might not apply to the other two titles. SCPT was supposed to be a stealth game, and it would have failed miserably if not for the hell-spawned idea of the producers to artificially impose the stealth part onto the players. So what happens is that on the average, for the first half of each mission, you can't kill. Period. No matter how stealthy you are. (Amazingly, you are still allowed to render enemies unconscious, and noone cares one bit.) But then, after one objective or two, ta-daa ! you may actually give a use to the lump of metal you've been carrying around (commonly refered to as a "rifle"), and quite frankly, it's a relief. Although it makes you wonder if your commanders are on crack or something. To make things worse, SCPT was so short that I never got a chance to use any of the cool moves Sam Fisher can pull out more than once or twice. The story was also pretty silly, but that's just me not being too excited about Tom Clancy :D. To sum it up, SCPT was one of most disapointing games I've ever played and finished.

Aliens vs Predator(2000;2003): although inspired by a couple of movies, when this game came out it was surprisingly original. Each of the three playable races appealed to a different category of players (and I don't suppose you have to ask which was my personal favourite :D), and the engine was well-suited for a dark, gloomy atmosphere that made the game unlike any other up to that point. AvP also featured a lot of unlockable content which gave it quite a bit of replay value. About the sequel, sadly, I can only say that although I've played it, I don't remember squat. So it might be safe to assume that is wasn't too good.

Red Faction(2001;2003): what this shooter does best is prove that putting a bunch of good ideas together doesn't make a good game, not by a longshot. It was still moderately fun to play, but really, my biggest disapointment was that noone used that beautiful engine for a better game. The sequel, RF2... it's the same situation as with AvP2.

Jedi Knight(1997;2002;2003): I've already covered the first game of the series. Since then, LucasArts have dropped the Dark Forces label from the title, a good move IMO. Jedi Knight 2:Jedi Outcast appeared years after its predecessor, used the Q3 engine, and was a huge step forward (although it dropped the FMVs in favour of in-game cutscenes, like so many games were starting to do). JK2 continues the story of the ex-mercenary, now Jedi, Kyle Katarn, whose lightsaber color apparently changed between games and noone noticed. The fun part of the game was that the lightsaber and new powers were so good that they were all that you ever used really, which made you feel like a true Jedi. Add to that a number of classic SW settings like Yavin 4 and the Cloud City of Bespin and things couldn't get much better. About the bad side of things, the game did have a "stealth part" that was very artificially imposed on you (much like in SCPT later), but at least it was pretty short and not very hard. The last game of the series, JK3: Jedi Academy, was maybe a bit better, although not much. It added the posibility of using two lightsabers or a dual-bladed lightstaff on top of the usual one-saber style, and you got a number of new moves to go with your choice. But the story was somewhat weaker, and I think the game was shorter, too. And they locked the camera to third-person while using a lightsaber ! The truth is that it's best this way for melee combat, but at some times I really wanted to duel in first person... And since you stick to the saber 90% of the time, the game doesn't feel FP anymore.

Half-Life(1998;2004): of course, I couldn't forget about one of the most important shooters of all time. I still remember that when it first came out, we were actually waiting for three games: Half-Life itself, SIN and... one more. Of them, only HL managed to impose itself as a top shooter. Valve impressed by using the Quake 2 engine to create a game that looked and ran better than Q2 itself ! HL had an amazingly good gameplay, but IMO its strong point remains the story, which used the interesting idea of "contemporary SF". The fact that the setting was a top-secret US military research base loaded with high-tech gadgets played right into the overall feeling of the game. Half-Life also had a couple of add-ons, which I have played, but they are of course not nearly as good as the original. But the most important legacy of HL was that it spawned a whole generation of mods, the most notable being obviously Counterstrike.
Eventually, HL's long-awaited sequel also came out. About Half-Life 2, the truth is that I have mixed feelings. I cannot but acknowledge it is a really good game, but IMO it would have been better without the whole Half-Life baggage it came with. It really is a wholly different experience from its prequel, being set quite a few years in the future and all that, and for those (like me) who liked the original because of those things that made it unique, it will always be shadowed by its great predecessor.

Unreal(1998;2003): a game as good as Unreal was bound to have a sequel or three. Actually, first came an add-on named Return to Na Pali(1999), which continued and ended the original game's story. RNP was ok, but not really as good as Unreal. Next came Unreal Tournament(2000), an entirely multiplayer experience if you don't count the bots. Eventually, UT would evolve into a series of its own, being followed by UT 2003 and 2004. The actual sequel to the original, Unreal 2: The Awakening, actually came out just a couple of years back. Unfortunatelly, it's the Half-Life 2 story all over again (although chronologically incorrect :D), except that this game didn't impress me so much to try and finish it even once. Bummer.

Max Payne(2001;2003): not a FP game, but a shooter nonetheless. And a damn good one at that, which is why I'm writing about it right now... heck, who am I kidding; Max Payne was very good, but what I really want to do right now is complain that it wasn't first person. Why oh why... this is really my only problem with this very good game (and its equally good sequel The Fall of Max Payne).

Deus Ex(2000;2003): with Max Payne I've sidestepped out of the FP area; this time I'm getting out of the shooter zone, at least to a degree. Actually, there are two reasons why Deus Ex, although an RPG (and one of the best) warrants inclusion here. First is the fact that you can finish Deus Ex without killing anyone or anything... but I've never tested this, because the shooter action was too good to miss :p. The second is that the sequel, Invisible War, felt a lot more like a shooter than like an RPG. Surprize-surprize !... Inca o dezamagire, si daca o sa am un post despre RPG-uri (hint ! hint !) o sa scriu mai pe larg despre asta. Ah si la categoria chestii interesante, Deus Ex este singurul joc in afara de Jedi Knight in care ai lightsaber (sort of :D).

Ahh, only four titles to go. I'm getting tired.

Hitman(2000;2002;2004): ce mi-a placut la Hitman a fost in primul rand faptul ca desi camera default este 3rd person follow, modul first person nu a fost neglijat, si de altminteri este preferabil, cel putin din punctul meu de vedere. Cand m-am jucat intaia oara primul joc din serie, Hitman: Codename 47, ma asteptam la un stealth-game, dar nu a fost chiar asa, jocul fiind mai degraba un shooter cu elemente de stealth (exista inclusiv o serie de misiuni in care vanezi oameni prin jungla cu M16 in mana). Sequelul, Hitman 2: Silent Assassin, avea partea de stealth mai buna, oferindu-ti posibilitatea de a termina orice misiune cu minimum de victime. Din pacate, erai atat de usor deconspirat incat adesea un masacru general era preferabil. Aceste probleme vor fi insa rezolvate in a treia parte a seriei, Hitman: Contracts, in care in sfarsit optiunea stealth este atat accesibila, cat si foarte interesanta, jucatorul fiind de altminteri rasplatit cu cate o arma noua in fiecare misiune terminata fara a fi detectat. Bineinteles, posibilitatea de a lua arma in mana din prima secunda a misiunii exista, si chiar daca il jucati ca pe un shooter ramane un joc foarte interesant, cu gameplay excelent. Since this is one of the few series to actually become better with each new title, I'm looking forward to the next Hitman game, Blood Money.

Doom(1993;1994;2004): fireste, am scris deja despre primele doua, deci mai ramane doar Doom 3 (daca uitam de Ultimate Doom). Doom 3, desi un joc bun, sufera si el din cauza comparatiei cu predecesorii, cel putin in opinia mea. Desigur, arata mult mai bine, dar nu asta este de fapt important nu ?... Povestea este acum mult mai vizibila decat inainte, cu dialoguri, mesaje, jurnale, obiective(!!!) etc, si cred ca multi nu se asteptau la asta (eu cel putin nu). Gameplayul sufera din cauze vitezei mari a proiectilelor care nu iti mai permite sa faci strafe ca inainte, si din cauza atacurilor de apropiere care te naucesc complet, facand lupta de la distanta mult mai preferabila. De asemenea jocul este scurt, dar deja nu mai am pretentii in aceasta privinta. Dintre punctele bune ale jocului voi mentiona faptul ca este destul de infricosator (desi partial se datoreaza faptului ca armele nu lumineaza deloc cand tragi si jocul este foarte intunecat), precum si partea care se desfasoara in iad, foarte bine realizata.
A aparut intre timp si un add-on, Resurrection ef Evil(2005), care putea la fel de bine sa se numeasca Doom 4, fiind fata de Doom 3 ca Doom 2 fata de Doom (phew, a lot of doom around). Daca din asta ati inteles ca e mai bun decat originalul, well... asta era intentia. There's a double barelled shotgun in it, anyway.

Painkiller(2004): aparut cam in acelasi timp cu jocul anterior, Painkiller este in general privit ca ceea ce Doom 3 ar fi trebuit sa fie (desi mi se pare ca seamana mai mult cu Quake, mai ales cand am ajus la partea cu zombii care arunca halci de carne in tine). Actiune, actiune si ceva actiune in plus este cuvantul de ordine in acest shooter foarte dinamic care nu te lasa sa treci mai departe inainte de a fi lichidat tot ce misca in zona curenta. Armele sunt excelent realizate (stake gun anyone ?), settingurile se schimba in continuu si la sfarsitul fiecarui capitol exista un boss, de obicei GIGANTIC. Povestea este mentinuta la strictul necesar sub forma unor FMV-uri intre capitole. Exista si unlockabile (powerupuri si cateva nivele), singura problema fiind ca unele din cerinte sunt extraordinar de ridicate, fiind in mod evident facute pentru old-time gameri care pot executa cele mai absurde acrobatii aeriene fara eforturi prea mari (saritura "dupa colt" e doar inceputul... noroc cu unele powerupuri care iti permit sa o iei "pe scurtatura" :D). De asemenea, Painkiller are de departe cel mai superb nivel final facut vreodata intr-un shooter. Trust me, it's worth playing to the end just to see it.
Painkiller are si el un add-on, Battle out of Hell(2004), in care amazingly... you don't battle out of hell. (IIRC, you actually try to get back IN - strange, but true). Addon-ul consta dintr-un nou capitol cu 10 misiuni, dintre care una este unlockabila (sau erau doua ?...), doua noi arme (adica patru, fiindca in Painkiller toate armele au si foc secundar complet diferit de cel principal), and overall a lot of new fun (dar din pacate mi s-a miscat mult mai prost decat originalul, desi arata cam la fel; I can only guess a higher poly count).

And finally...
Oh, wait.

Pentru ca in ultimul moment mi-am adus aminte de inca doua shootere pe care le-am jucat la viata mea, o sa scriu cateva cuvinte si despre ele (cu toate ca probabil mai sunt altele despre care am uitat complet). Primul este HALO: Combat Evolved(2003). Man was that game boring. Singurul lucru interesant era settingul, un mic ringworld care pluteste undeva in spatiu. Apparently a avut si un sequel, pe care nu m-am obosit sa il incerc. Daca vreti mai multe informatii despre acest joc, ask Vomex, he liked it.
Celalalt este The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay(2004). In acest joc, amazingly, incerci din rasputeri sa scapi din Butcher Bay. Si incerci. Si incerci. De vreo 5 ori. I was actually so relieved when I finally managed to escape that I danced a little happy dance. Altminteri, jocul e destul de bun, are parti de adventure care sunt interesante, precum si parti unde stealth is the only option, fiinca nu ai arme. And besides, Riddick is very cool. Okay, I'm done here.

So, we end with...

The Quake series(1996;1997;1999;2005). Of course, this probably comes as no surprise considering the way I started. Actually, there are only two games left. Since Quake 3 is multiplayer only (+bots), it's pretty much out of the picture. That leaves us with the newest title, Quake 4. The story in Q4 apparently picks of where Q2 ended, although I was never aware that Q2 actually had a story. Anyway, apparently there's these bad guys called the Stragg or something, and for some reason humans are at war with them. You're a marine (of course) and you go around killing them while attempting to complete whatever objectives are at hand.
Q4 has some nice ideas. First, you choose a rank at the beginning of the game, which sets the difficulty level and which you also carry around with you the whole game (so far I've only played as a Corporal, but I plan to investigate the effect of your rank on the course of the game). Then, there's these nifty vehicles you can pilot, like a hover tank or a mech. You also get some weapon upgrades every once in a while, such as extra firepower for your nailgun or a scope. And the coolest thing so far... at some point in the game, you're captured and partially turned into a Stragg... it's a really bloody and brutal process :D Afterwards, you can move faster, you have more life and armor, and you can read the Stragg language. Pretty nice.
Still, the game doesn't really shine in any way. The gameplay is ok overall, but so far the only exciting moments were when I played the hover tank. As a foot soldier, you'll try to kill the enemies as quickly as possible and move on; the smartest trick you can try in combat is probably hiding around a corner to avoid damage. The enemies are as unexciting as everything else except the giant spider robots which you can only really damage when inside a battle machine. And the story, while not exactly bad, it's simply not something you'd really care about; mainly, you get your orders, and you try to carry them out. Sometimes you'll get some background information on why you are doing that, but it's all straightforward - you are trying to win the war. That's that.
So, the game is not bad. It's simply not something I'm looking forward to playing when I get home. It's that kind of game which I keep around in case I get bored, and if I'm ever going to hit a hard spot in Q4 I'm probably going to either use cheats, or if necessary, uninstall it, with no regrets ("hard" typically means "horribly annoying" in my book). And hey, I haven't finished it yet, so there might still be some goodness lurking about.

So I guess that sums it up. If you like first person shooters, and if you're still lucky enough to not have played some of the titles I recommended here, maybe you should try them out. Otherwise, if you find a good shooter that I haven't written of, let me know, I'll want to play it (just remember that story and gameplay are what matters to me). I plan to play F.E.A.R. next since it was just released, and as I'm hopelessly optimistic, I have quite high expectations for it (in anything but game length that is, since that is a long-lost cause).

Phew, am terminat. Observati ora la care am postat. Yes, it took me a whole day to write this post. THIS is what evilness is all about. Or something.

MUHAHAHAHAHAHAHA !!!,
Chiller

My creation... is complete

2005-10-11T04:05:00.001+03:00

Nu am mare lucru sa va zic, decat ca m-am alaturat in sfarsit genialei echipe de la Anime Reviews (cu mult mai geniala acum, bineinteles) cu primul meu review, RahXephon.
So go ahead and read it, because it's cool !
We'll crack the champagne later.

The History of Anime, dupa Chiller.

2005-10-09T01:41:00.000+03:00

WARNING: this post is mainly about me. But that's okay, because I'm so cool.

Primul meu contact cu forma de entertainment/addiction cunoscuta sub numele de "anime" a avut loc pe la inceputul anilor '90, in scoala primara. Vinovata era o mica si fascinanta serie numita "Pasarea de foc spatiala" (nu cunosc titlul original). Dupa cum bine a spus Gabi, habar n-aveam noi la ce ne uitam pe vremea aia... oricum nu imi amintesc mare lucru, mainly inceputul si sfarsitul. Btw, de curand am realizat ca factorul decisiv in a decide daca imi place sau nu un anime este finalul... si "Pasarea de foc" avea final marfa :D

Fast-forward pana intr-un moment nedeterminat, desi tot cam in aceeasi perioada: Saber Rider. Surprinzator cat de mult imi pot aminti din acest serial, cu precadere faptul ca pana la urma nu am aflat cum se termina... deci nu va pot spune exact cat de bun este. Of course, it must be great, because of nostalgia.

Somewhere in the same timeframe I vaguely remember watching a few episodes of Voltron (desi mi-am amintit cum se cheama doar de curand, citind un articol de MtG care facea referire la "efectul Voltron" - construirea unei chestii puternice din bucati mici). Nu va pot spune mare lucru despre el deoarece am vazut foarte putin din acest anime clasic.

And then came cable...

The first notable thing about cable TV was Cartoon Network, and with it the opportunity to learn English quickly and efficiently just by watching your favourite cartoon channel (ahh... the good old days... there was no such thing as "Curaj, catelul las". Sigh.) The second was a little gem called Italia Uno (I don't think it survived to this day), which constantly bombarded us with quality anime (pe atunci eram inca in faza in care nu stiam cu ce ne drogam). Bineinteles ca nu ne putem gandi la acea perioada fara sa ne sara in minte in primul rand Testoasele Ninja. Leonardo, Donatello, Rafaello si Michelangelo, impreuna cu maestrul lor, sobolanul (don't really remember his name), provided me with hours upon hours of pizza-eating and butt-kicking fun, while opposing the robotic forces of the dreaded ninja master Shredder. Acesta este al doilea anime al carui final nu l-am vazut si imi pare rau.

Desigur, Testoasele Ninja au fost difuzate practic pe orice canal existent, dar dintre multele animeuri pe care le-am vazut doar pe Italia Uno imi vin in minte in primul rand Lupin (inca astept sa il iau de la Gabi), si apoi Nadia.

Pe numele complet Nadia: The Secret Of Blue Water (am aflat titlul de curand... in italiana era tradus complet altfel), acest anime a fost realizat de aceeasi producatori care vor scoate mai tarziu genialul Neon Genesis Evangelion. Culmea este ca de fiecare data cand a fost difuzat la TV, nu l-am considerat suficient de interesant pentru a ma uita in mod consistent (desi acum mi-ar placea sa fac rost de el). In schimb, ceea ce mi s-a parut absolut mind-blowing este finalul. Practic, la fiecare rerun al serialului, am facut cumva sa vad de fiecare data ultimele episoade (with a current count of at least three times). Nu stiu daca l-a vazut cineva din cei care vor citi acest post; in orice caz, desi poate nu este cel mai bun final facut vreodata, va ocupa intotdeauna un loc aparte in inima mea.

Undeva tot in aceasta perioada (poate chiar mai inainte) a fost si... do you remember ?... Sandy Belle ! Nu imi amintesc mai nimic din acest serial (cu exceptia unei scene neimportante de prin ultimele episoade), desi stiu cu siguranta ca m-am uitat de la inceput pana la sfarsit. Probabil nu a avut final marfa si de-aia :D

Cumva aici intervine o oarecare pauza, anume primii ani de gimnaziu, pe care nu ii pot asocia cu exactitate cu un anumit anime, desi este posibil (ba chiar probabil) ca in perioada aia sa ma fi uitat la oricare din cele prezentate pana acum.
(Update: after reviewing the old and dusty logs, it has become apparent that this was actually the time when I was abducted by aliens, and after escaping I completed my training in the evil arts at the Temple of Bad Monks somewhere in the Himalayas. This should clear things up.)

Ajungem astfel la un foarte important si clasic serial. Nu ati ghicit inca ? Este vorba desigur de Sailor Moon. I can see eyebrows starting to raise. Thus, I shall answer the unspoken question: yes, Sailor Moon is for girls. Funny how that didn't seem to stop me from watching each and every episode with a religiosity that would make the Pope cower in shame. Din punctul meu de vedere, Sailor Moon avea un mare avantaj: lots and lots of endings :D. No, I am not kidding. You see, the show was actually split into seasons, and each season had its own bad guys (with their own agendas, may I add), introduced new powers, new characters and had, of course, a nice dramatic ending. While the regular episodes were typically very very veeeeeery repetitive, the endings were almost always really good. In the later seasons, there was also an element of sexual ambiguity about some characters, which I found utterly fascinating, but that's just me. Funny thing is that I actually missed the very last five or so episodes (you may breathe now, mr. Pope). But eventually, I did get a pretty good idea of how the show ended. All in all, Sailor Moon is the anime I have the most fond memories of.

Nu pot incadra exact Sailor Moon intr-o perioada, adica nu stiu sigur daca eram deja la liceu cand s-a terminat. In orice caz, in liceu am facut cunostinta cu cealalata megaserie, Dragonball. Dragonball is probably the most popular anime series of all time, so you should be familiar with it. There is nothing I can really say except that it's great, and you should watch it, for its educational value at least. Dragonball a fost continuat cu Dragonball Z si apoi cu Dragonball GT. Din DBZ am vazut mai putin de 40%, desi cunosc povestea aproape pe dinafara thanks to my DBZ research, iar DBGT nu l-am vazut inca pe tot. Overall, as spune ca prima serie este favorita mea, iar GT este cea mai putin originala dintre ele (desi este scuzabil... I mean, there were only so many ways the series could go after a point).

Cam in acest moment am facut cunostinta cu termenul de "anime" in mod oficial ("manga" fusese definit ceva mai inainte). Nu i-am dat prea multa importanta :D

...Iarasi pauza. Stiu ca m-am uitat MULT la Dragonball in liceu, dar la nimic altceva ?... Apoi a venit prima experienta (traumatizanta) cu Politehnica, then one year (2002) when I didn't really do anything much. Then the Army. Funny how while I was in the army they actually started showing Dragonball Z on TVR so I had to use my whole arsenal of trickery to be able to watch it every day at one of the TVs around. Then my masochism took control of my brain, and here I was in the Politehnica again, this time to stay (to this day, at least).

Ultimii ani sunt mult mai bine ancorati in memorie, but that is to be expected. In acesti ani am vazut un numar mare de animeuri, de obicei bune sau foarte bune (because I'm so picky... :p). The first standout is probably Ninja Scroll (the movie... I still haven't finished watching the TV series yet). With solid graphics, story and... erm... coolness :D, the adventures of Kibagami Jubei are a good place to start your anime experience.

Nu mai stiu exact unde am vazut Spirited Away (someone refresh my memory please), dar a fost inainte de Princess Mononoke. I didn't really mind the weirdness of Princess M., but I found it overall boring; besides, I didn't like the ending much. Spirited Away, however, was pretty much okay, and I suppose I wouldn't mind watching it again some day, although it will probably be many years from now. (Note that there are people out there -they know who they are :p- who think these two anime are great or even the best stuff ever made, so don't be put off by my lack of excitement - they are just not for everyone).

At some point, am remarcat cu stupoare ca eu am si niste colegi la noua mea facultate. Ce chestie... Soon I started tapping into the anime resources of the Gabi and the Danutsu, and results would show up right away.

Prima chestie gasita: Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust. OMG !!! Sunt un mare fan al oricarei chestii cu vampiri, atata vreme cat e cool (a se citi: swords & L337 skillz) si nu boring-introspective (a se citi: Anne Rice :p). Movies (perhaps I might make you watch "John Carpenter's VAMPIRES" ?...), books, anime, games... Anyway, Vampire Hunter D pretty much had it all, although you have to give due credit to the amazing team of "ordinary" humans (the spirit dude being my favourite by far). The ending was nice too :))

Daca tot e vorba de vampiri, desigur ca trebuie sa mentionez si Hellsing. Acesta de fapt a ajuns la mine pe filiera Ahriman. Hellsing had it all and more (if you've seen it to the end you know what I mean). Anyway, suficient spus ca IMO the review doesn't really do it justice. Hellsing este de asemenea unul din animeurile cu muzica foarte buna, imi amintesc cel putin trei melodii care mi-au placut.

Next came Chrno Crusade (thanks to Danutz for this one). This time it's all about demons. Complete with wings, sword-arms and most importantly, horns. The fascinating story of the hero Chrno and his nemesis Aion is easily one of the best ever written. The music was also awesome. More on this anime later.

Another anime I've seen courtesy of Danutsu-san is Shadow Skill. This is a more classic, martial arts anime in a fantasy setting. It's okay overall, but nothing to write home about. Oh, there is that one little thing about the coolest battle scene in recent memory (episode 21), and it's pretty much worth watching, even on its own.

"Like an angel without a sense of mercy", along came Evangelion and blew me away. If you're in a dire need to say "wow" every two minutes or so, I strongly recommend you watch Neon Genesis Evangelion. Okay, I might be exagerating, but there was probably no anime that had a greater impact on me, even if it was because my expectations were initially not that high... I was not considering myself a mecha person. But it turned out that Evangelion had much more important (and deep) parts than simple mecha action. Speaking of which, there was also...

RahXephon. De parca un super mecha-anime nu era suficient pentru un an. Pe Wikipedia(!) scrie: "Many fans compare RahXephon to Neon Genesis Evangelion (NGE), usually favorably". Mie personal mi-e greu sa aleg intre cele doua. In orice caz, voi scrie despre ambele in detaliu, pe...

Anime Reviews. That's right, I got clearance to start posting my reviews on that great blog ! You may expect the RahXephon review to pop up in the next few days, with NGE soon following; my next project will probably be Chrno Crusade. So now you know why I've written so little about these three anime, which btw, in case you didn't realise it yet, I consider to be absolutely fabulous. So go on and see them ! You'll probably enjoy the reviews more afterwards (that's how it works for me anyway).

So, here we are - at the end. Sper ca v-a facut placere aceasta mica plimbare prin memoria unui old-time (not to mention EVIL :D) anime-watcher. So until next time, may you watch many, many great anime !

-Chiller

Acts Of Random Evil

2005-10-03T15:52:00.000+03:00

Si mergeam eu astazi cu RATB-ul...
Da, cu RATB-ul in sine ca entitate, nu cu tramvaiul, autobuzul sau troleul.
You're actually believing that, right ?...
.....................................
So anyway, eram in autobuz aka Sardina Transport Bucale Inc.
And then I started to notice things.
...besides the UFOs.
Like:

1) Pe fereastra scria mare "IESIRE DE SIGURANTA"

Now I don't know about you, but exiting through a bus window doesn't seem that safe to me.

2) Uneori, era scris si in sens invers, ca sa se poata citi din afara.

"Trapped in the monotony of everyday life ? No problem ! You can escape right now by using our original Safety Exit (TM) ! Just a quick jump and roll through this window will take you to a new and marvelous place where you can meet lots of new people (usually about 50 too many), get your bones crushed quicker than in an anaconda's grip, and have your pockets picked - for free ! Try it out NOW !!! (gas mask/lack of smell required)"

3) Exista pe geam si un semn rosu cu un ciocan care sparge ceva

No, there was no "In case of emergency" or anything (you know, the way they write on those 'H' windows - I suppose they are little hospitals of sorts). In fact, to the uninitiated eye, that sign seemed to simply say: "USE HAMMER HERE". I'm thinking about actually carrying a hammer around, just in case I feel like having fun.

4) Uitandu-ma pe fereastra, am vazut oameni lucrand (!!!) la reabilitarea drumului

Ok, this is the moment to panic. Start screaming and run around in circles. Now, for non-Romanians, let me explain: while it might look like a good thing, this kind of sight is rarer than literate speeches from George Dubya Bush. So it's only safe to assume that something spooky is going on. My best bet so far is that the government is planning to sell the country and run away with the money. I dare you all to prove me wrong.

Oh, and if you were wondering about the acts of random evil, they didn't actually take place after all. But my craving for them has not been satisfied yet. So, let's hope that tomorrow will be a better day for evil than today.

>:)

Toamna gaming

2005-09-30T18:15:00.000+03:00

Iata ca a venit si toamna. Toamna pentru mine inseamna in general doua lucruri: gaming si game-making. Cum inca nu m-am decis ce joc ma apuc sa fac toamna asta (bineinteles va fi SUPER ULTRA MEGA COOL... assuming I finish 10% of it, make that 5%), am mers pe optiunea gaming pentru moment (hey, mai am doua luni sa ma apuc de joc, so don't panic).
Pentru inceput, optiunile erau basically: A) a rerun of the Final Fantasy or Thief games; and 2) find some new, exciting and most important GOOD games to play. Option 2) was chosen basically because I knew that if I try to run any FF I'll probably get bored with it at 1/2 of Disk 1 (with the possible exception of FF VIII which is at Skander's and apparently enjoying it), and I believe I've just played Thief:DS again at the beginning of the summer.
(Note to self: whatever comes after a "basically" must be long and preferably hard to understand; the above is a good example).

So there I was stuck with option 2). So I valiantly proceeded to do some game huntin'. I'm huntin' games... be vewwy vewwy quiet !
Primul lucru pe care il observa un old-time gamer in ziua de azi este ca jocuri bune nu s-au mai facut de 10 ani :D. Dar daca nu te dai batut descoperi totusi cateva remarcabile realizari. O sa incerc sa le pun in ordine cronologica (sau crono-ilogica, whatever the case).

MAFIA: although I believe I've played this game before fall technically began, it deserves a mention just for being so good. I'm currently waiting for a long enough period of time to pass before I play it again... I don't want to abuse the goodness ;)

GTA San Andreas: I've actually started playing this because of how much I liked Mafia (for the record, Mafia is still about 183% better). It was actually rather enjoyable (good humor 'n all). And then came pilot school... shortly, my options became:

1) try to do pilot school myself until I get to the point where I smash my keyboard into the monitor, afterwards proceeding to slaughter my family and whatever other "innocents" happen to be around;
2) uninstall the game to avoid point 1);
3) have Danutz do pilot school for me.

The game is still on my hard disk awaiting solution 3).

Far Cry (rerun): When I first played Far Cry, I swore to play it again when my video card would be up to it. About one year later and a video card upgrade, ready I was. With no "helicopter of doom" (*) bug, it was much more enjoyable and just as nice as I remembered it (likely the best gameplay ever). It also seemed a bit easier this time due to a better FPS, but not much (and the "look, I can kill you in two hits !" monkeys were as annoying as ever with their long jumps). And for the record, so far it's the only game I've seen that does the G36 justice.
(*) The "helicopter of doom" bug that happened on my old video card basically meant that whenever you'd be looking in the direction of a helicopter, little imps in your video processor would instantly drop the fps to about 0.04. Yes, this even happened when there was hard cover between you and the helicopter, creating interesting ground-looking moments when you could only hear the chopper, but you'd have no idea in which direction lied the abomination. Sometimes it happened with boats too *shudder*.

Counterstrike: amazingly enough, at some point I started playing Counterstrike again. At this moment I do not, but the link still lurks on my desktop, waiting to deprive me of sleep forever. MUHAHAHAHAHA !!! >:)

Firearms: I bet you have no idea what this is. It's actually a HL mod which I liked a lot back in the CS playing days but which, like so many other shooters except the ubiquitous CS, was never played around here. But nostalgia kicks back, and with the help of some bots, I've actually had some two days of fun with this until deciding that it's not that great anyway (and I suppose that is because the G36 sucks bigtime in Firearms). Seriously... I should be allowed to design all the shooters ever... they'd be so much better :D
(Note to self: what does "ubiquitous" mean anyway, and did I spell it right ? Oh well...)

Small Games: Including Air Strike 2 Gulf Thunder and other Reflexive games and the amazingly cool Lemmingball Z which no computer should go without... http://daimao.be/lbz

Fable - The Lost Chapters: this is the game that proves that good RPGs can still be made. It is also the game that annoyed me to tears (no, really, the part where I had to bit into a pillow to stop swearing so I wouldn't wake up my neigbours at 3AM is a good clue... amazingly I lost no teeth). Basically, the major drawback of this game was that for every thing I liked, there were at least two other that would make my life a living hell (hello to the #$%^&@ "combat multiplier" door). But it has its good (great) parts too, especially the fact that you can be magnificently EVIL... which I was. MUHAHAHAHAHAHA !!! All in all, I'm even willing to play it again someday, although what will happen to my computer, myself, the city and the world remains largely unknown.

Battlefield 2: this game is just too good. Too bad noone else plays it (see the "CS theorem" above). Well, almost noone; I actually found a server (yes, I was shocked too). There was even a player on it ! (although he eventually left). So I spent an entire evening and the following morning trying to install the patch that would make my game work on that server. To make a loooong story short, I failed. Apparently there is a problem with the patch; it has happened to other people as well . Sigh. Well, it was too much trouble only to play on an empty server anyway. Still, it's amazing how much fun one can have with a handful of bots and some small maps.

Cold Fear: I just finished this game today. It's nothing to write home about, but maybe I could blog a bit about it. I had long wanted to play this game simply because of the setting: a stormy night on a ship out on the Bering Sea (well, the second half of the game actually takes place on an oilrig which is less cool, but the ship is just great). Cold Fear is a horror-survival game, but while it has its moments, it's really not all that scary, especially after you start to get an idea about what's going on (it's "monster/SF" horror, and it really doesn't excite me all that much: "so, you've got tentacles, big deal. *shoots*. Yawn..." Now, "paranormal/ghost" horror, on the other hand, now that's a thought...). Anyway, if the zombies don't do it for you, you can always just climb up to the crow's nest and look at the huge, black waves. That was always scary enough for me. I might have enjoyed this game more if it was first person (which I was hoping for), but they decided to use yet again that crappy "check out my haircut" follow-up camera. Although it makes for some nice effects (rain and blood splashing on the "inside" of the screen), it still has many of the problems associated with this kind of camera, and that in a game that really has no excuse for not at least including a first person option as well. Damn.

(Note to self: are there proper names for the two horror genres mentioned above ?)
(Note to self: why do my "notes to self" take the form of questions ? Am I supposed to answer them myself ?)
(Note to self: too many notes for one blog)

I-Ninja: actually, I had just failed to install this game before starting to blog (yes, failed. Yes, my Windows sucks. What, yours too ? What a concidence...). It looks like fun. I'll keep you posted. Maybe.

Until next time, have fun with your evil ways.
-Chiller

Bored...

2005-09-29T00:47:00.000+03:00

I'm sooooooo horribly bored. In fact, I'm so bored that I'm not actually gonna post anything. Yawn.

Muvie watching and not much else

2005-09-16T22:10:00.000+03:00

(Yes I know how to spell "muvie". Or something.)

[skip intro yes/no ? y]

Am vazut astazi filmul "The merchant of Venice". Apparently este dupa Shakespeare or sth si au pastrat (macar in parte) textul shakespearian. Ceea ce a dus la un fenomen foarte interesant: la un moment dat au inceput sa ma incurce subtitrarile pt ca nu surprindeau exact esenta originalului, asa ca nu m-am mai uitat la ele. That lasted for about 1 minute, cat mi-a luat sa ma prind ca nu mai intelegeam ce ziceau. Oh well. Times are tough anyways.
Altminteri filmul este dragutzel, desi nu e chiar genul meu. Adica nu are prea multe sabii (scoase din teaca) si singurul sange de care am avut parte este de capra. On the other hand, there was a nice bonus: acest film contine dovada irefutabila a faptului ca femeile sunt EVIL. If there was anyone still doubting that.
So all in all, nu e un film la care sa ma uit a doua oara; heck, nu e genul de film la care sa ma duc in the first place. Why did I do it you ask ? Well... girlfriends are evil :D

[random text intended to smoothe the translation to the next part]

Then again, avem celalalt film pe care l-am vazut de curand - Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children. Asta are sabii din abundenta, and they are huge, which is a good bonus. Nimic rau de spus despre poveste, it carries on the FF 7 legacy really nice but IMO the movie has one major flaw: the music. Outside of combat it's okay, but the combat music is either too weak or non-combatty enough that... I'm sorry to say that it totally ruined it for me; I've been unable to enjoy many of the fight scenes because of it (and they do make up for about 80% of the movie, and are otherwise great). Singura melodie marfa e cea din batalia finala, probabil ca sa compenseze faptul ca muzica din ultima lupta din JOCUL FF7 was absolutely awful. Anyway, if you can enjoy this movie to its fullest despite that, then you're lucky.
(Random fact: a mai observat cineva ca au schimbat diverse chestii de cand au facut trailerele ? De exemplu sabia lui Cloud din lupta cu Kadaj. Ahh... digital movies are so cool.)

[skip ending yes/no ? y]

Hf 'n all.

It... lives ?

2005-09-16T00:46:00.000+03:00

Yes amazingly enough I created a blog.
Cu aceasta ocazie am descoperit ca sunt incapabil sa bloghez.
Oh well. S-ar putea sa mai scriu cate ceva interesant din cand in cand.
Or not.
Anyway, my blog is dark and menacing.
MUHAHAHAHAHAHA !!! >:)