The Cost of 'Fun'

Triple AAA, Steam, Indie, Free-to-play. These are probably just a few of the labels that are pasted onto video games. Another thing pasted onto them(Since you know, they are products), is price tags.

But then I've been thinking:
How do you measure the 'value' of fun a game has and put a price tag on it? (I.E Monetization in gaming).
So I made a list of how games have been earning bucks.

When in arcades, their source of income come from pennies. Coins. The game cabinets required a small amount per play.Arcade tokens soon came in, being a kind of 'exchanged currency' for you to use in that land of fun, though now arcade credits are stored in smart cards(Thank heavens. Those tokens were nightmarish to keep and heavy...).  An arcade game's earnings are mostly dependent on the user(s), how good they are at the game and how much their willing to fork out to keep playing, though there were some machines that were rigged to only /possibly/ give a win after a certain amount of plays, doll catchers or prize machines to be specific. Though not as popular as before, arcades still have an appeal, seeing that the cost per play was cheap and that certain games are pretty much exclusive to them due to the software and hardware, such as guitar controllers. Though the games are cheap to play, it's the travel fares to arcades that probably take a bulk of expenditure(For those unfortunate to be far from one anyway).

As for game consoles, their income of course came from the games sold (Originally anyway). Back when gaming was first starting, there probably wasn't much on games design or quality control in the industry, so early games could be made by almost anyone who knows programming. Such a bloat of terrible games of course caused consumers to start doubting publishers, with one of the last straws being E.T for the Atari.
This decline in trust for video games lead to its major collapse.

Infamous for being a major part of the 

industry crash in 1983

After it was revived, the industry seemed slowly picked up on the concept of proper quality checks(for the most part, anyway). It would seem that these console games had to measure their costs by the amount used not just in production, but advertising as well. Naturally starting with TV ads and print media, games now focus more on online advertising and gaming sites, with print media still being used while TV ads are practically non-existent since they are more expensive. Sadly, as certain publishers pool a lot of money into ad campaigns, they end up having a loss in revenue(Tomb Raider sold 3.4 MILLION COPIES).

As technology became more advanced, online transactions came in. Games could be purchased online after a user has had a try of the free demo provided. Such games tend to be much cheaper to purchase due to the absence of a physical disc to pile on the production costs. These kind of games also provided users a basic preview of what they were going to get, unlike console games where by the only few ways to tell if a game was good was to either hear it from others, or buying the game and hoping it would be good, which was in essence going in blind sometimes. The quality of the games might be mediocre, however, since the sites can basically be just there for advertisements.

Downloadable content for games(DLC) were like a branch off of online transactions. They provided more content for an existing game after purchase, thus placing more replayability onto a game. Besides additional game content, however, DLC also let developers patch up issues that a game might have which are spotted after the game has been shipped. Although this can be a good thing for a game to have good optional content to stack onto what it, some games take it as an excuse to release a relatively buggy or glitchy game, their reason being "We'll fix it in a patch at a later date". Some games even cut off content from a game that are supposed to be there(I.E Special modes or costumes that used to be rewards for finishing the game). The cost of certain content are also unjust, considering that they could only consist aesthetics that do not affect the gameplay. Certain DLCs could have been free had certain developers the choice, but publishers can possibly force them to 'sell' their DLC instead of distributing it for free(See also: Epic Games and Microsoft)

Massive Multiplayer Online games soon introduced a new form of monetization: The free-to-play model. In essence, the game itself was free, requiring a user to just register, download and play. How these kind of games earn money is by having players purchase items with virtual currency traded from real life money. The functionality of these items can vary from being merely aesthetic to making one's character more powerful (In which can possibly cause a game to become what is known as a "Pay-to-Win" game if they focus on the latter. That's bad).

With the age of smartphone games, microtransactions came in. Considering that these kind of games are to be played at one's spare time, be it during travel or awaiting something, their transactions tend to dabble more on providing the user more 'playtime', as they tend to limit the amount one can play in a sitting. Besides that, they can also provide a user an advantage in the game, such a premium items or units that help them progress, or expand on a certain aspect or resource. Some smartphone games, however, exploit this by basically making the wait times between play tortuously long or make the process of going through certain portions of the game very tedious without purchasing the premium item.

At the end of all of this, each method of monetization has it's advantages and disadvantages, the only question being how well they're executed and the interaction between buyer and publisher. A good way would be to ensure a buyer is WILLING. Because when they don't feel like their wasting money, they'll feel like spending more(Or at least consider spending more). A publisher should also keep realistic goals and be careful not to overspend on ads, trusting that their game would be good enough to spread by word of mouth as well.

Game Review:CosmicBreak

Being a guy, liking robots is an almost natural thing. Mechs have been a good part of my hobby and interests for a long time(once even having me consider being an engineer). As such, almost anything with that pasted on would most likely catch and keep my attention. There is one that has it's ups and (horribly plunging) downs. That would be the MMO CosmicBreak.

CosmicBreak is a Free to Play 3D Third-Person Shooter developed and published by CyberStep, with its selling points being that it's a mecha game with intense battles in the style of anime. It's the technical sequel to Cyberstep's C21, another Third-Person mecha game.

The US server of the game had a sadly terrible 'chronicle' while it lasted.....

The game is set in an a alternate universe to C21, being labelled as the Cosmic Ark. In this universe, ancient, titanic robot gods known as Arks awaken from a long slumber to find their galaxy having been taken over by an opposing force known as The Chaos. Due to having been inactive for aeons, the energies of the three remaining great Arks(Each representing Wisdom, Courage and Strength) are drained, which there only being enough to full revive one of the Arks.  Unions consisting of those who follow each of the Arks have been formed and now compete for their Ark's revival in order to defeat the Chaos.

Besides the main story, however, certain characters also have back stories, such as the one of the poster characters of the game Crimrose, and her companion Ivis.

 When a player starts, they will get the choice of what initial robot they would begin the game with. After the basic tutorial, the player would be given the choice to join one of the three Unions and fight for them.

There are 3 Game modes: Arena, Mission and Quest.

The main gameplay involves the player setting up a Commando of three units to use. In battle, the player would use one of the units until it is destroyed

Example of a Commando

As seen on the interface, there's a 'Total Cost', the result of the Cost of every machine. In Arena or Mission mode, when a machine is defeated, their cost is deducted from a BP counter. The match or mission ends in a loss when the BP reaches zero. Quest mode differs in that uses a time limit as the main goal of it is to beat a super-powered mob within it. As such, time gets deducted for each death until time is over.

The selling point of the game is the customization of their robots, both in weapons and performance. Besides changing parts and weapons, players can also affect the statistics by 'Tuning up' parts. Tuned parts provide extra boosts in stats, such as movement on the ground and the robots health, though how much they will affect differs between the type of bots. Speaking of which, robots in the game are split to 4-classes:Land, Artillery, Air and Support. The first three form a Scissors, Paper, Stone dynamic(Land is strong against Artillery, Artillery is strong against Air etc) while the Support types are balanced, though they tend not to have as extensive direct battle capabilities. Further depth is added with sizes:Small, Medium and Large. The size affects what a robot can equip and how well the stats will affect them.

Example of an M-sized AIR unit. They don't like explosive surprises.

This makes Arenas battles more team based, as each player would need to look out for each other to make up for their weaknesses.

The game excels in the realm of customization, as players can build up robots that fit into their own playstyles in a team. Feedback in game is also done very well, with proper prompts when a player is targeted. There is a decent cycle of maps in the game that would make a player change what they should use, ensuring that each match varies to a degree.

Each map has an advantage and disadvantage. Choose what you use wisely.

The game sustains itself with RT and their Garapon System, of which players pay real world money to buy robots or roll what is basically a lottery, where they could get new , premium robots and weapons. 1x rolls cost USD $4 while a 5x roll costs $16

AND HERE IS WHERE IT GOES DOWNHILL.

That this game employs one of the most horrid business models for Free-To-Play MMOs: Pay to Win. Even worse though, is the fact that it's stacked with LUCK.

Every roll will have an animation telling what you MIGHT get. 

Those who see this only see despair.

Charging RT to get options would not be too much an issue were it not for the fact most of the good parts and robots are to be found in the Garapon, with the shop items being subpar(Although with recent overhauls, new stocks in the shops are at least much better than it's initial 2 years).

Those who get better machines tend to almost definitely dominate their opposition. Sometimes even if their opposition IS A TYPE THEY'RE NOT SUPPOSED TO BE ABLE TO FIGHT SO WELL AGAINST.

One of the most overpowered machines in game EVEN AFTER NERFS.

Also, Mission and Quest modes are rarely updated. Quests are still relevant in game as they provide Tune Up Materials, but Missions are basically mostly forgotten at this point once a player gets over the tutorial teaching them about the modes. At least until the devs add a new mission with limited drops or something

No one plays this. 

The reason being that the missions are too hard and the resulting rewards being insubstantial.

Because this game is PvP focused and as said with the Garapon incident, balancing is pretty hard to execute, with it being totally possible for a team to lose utterly and devastatingly bad with no chance to fight back.

Overall, the game deserves a 5.5/10. As a PvP Third Person Shooter, it had the potential to be great, as customizing in the game works well. Sadly, the monetization model chops off a good chunk of the score, as you're paying to have the CHANCE for better options, meaning you need to be lucky(Or have a lot of expandable income) for more customization or better machines. Also, the near complete negligence of a game mode feels like a sin.

Game Review: Brave Frontier

I remember a time when I found one of the old Final Fantasy games(More specifically the 4th game) and played though it. It was a pretty solid experience. Sadly, I lost it. But recently, I've discovered something in the App store that relives that feeling of that game. And has been eating up a lot of my time.

Brave Frontier is a game developed by Japanese studio Alim and game company Gumi. As a debut title for Alim, it was released around last year(End of the year for the International/English version), and has been on the end of praise from many, being said as most popular in Japan, Korea and Singapore.

The game's story occurs in the land of Great Gaia, where mad gods reign and oppress. The player will play as a summoner, someone who can summon the spirits of heroes and beasts into battle. Unlike the many other NPC summoners in the game, the player is actually chosen by land's great god Lucius and assisted by another goddess Tanalith(Probably spelled her name wrong but close enough), who will guide the player though to fight the Four Gods who have betrayed him.

Gameplay revolves around creating a squad of 5 units(1 unit whose leader skill affects the entire team and 4 other units) and setting up items before a quest. During battle, players will tap at a character to attack. After attacking, the character's button is dimmed out. The player's turn ends when all characters in the player's roster has attacked. Then it's the enemy's turn.

Example of a battle

Units have special abilities that they can use called Brave Bursts. When the blue bar under their Health is filled, they can execute their abilities. The game has something else that makes battles more involving, which is the 'Spark' function. When two or more unit's land an attack simultaneously, a 'Spark' occurs, dealing extra damage or activating an effect from the leader unit. This makes a player really take note of how units attack, as some of them take time before they execute an attack.

It's so sparkly.

Arena mode lets players challenge other summoners squads, though they will have no control over the battle.

Outside of battle consists of the Town, where Items and Spheres(Basically the 'Equipment' of the game, which grants buffs to the unit equipping it) can be made and materials used to make the items are also harvested here. Currency is split into two: Zel and Karma. Zel is used for Unit related tasks(Leveling up, Evolving) while Karma is used for Sphere creation and upgrading facilities in the Town.

The game really makes one feel like they're playing an old Final Fantasy game, only more intense. The Spark and varying attack timings make battles feel more satisfying when a player manages to 'Spark' properly. Having Item limits in quests also puts a degree of tactics into the fray, meaning that players cannot abuse the items for cheap wins through it. Making the Town preset with the player only needing upgrade and harvest cuts down most of the fat that other RPG games on smartphones do suffer from. Victories feel much more rewarding as quests ramp up in difficulty, with enemies being able to inflict status aliments and attack multiple times in a turn.

Units, Items and Spheres each have their own story that can be read in the menus(Assuming you possess it at some point in time) that fleshes out the world of Great Gaia, providing something else to do outside of battle. 

The developers and localization team are rather responsive on their fanpage, responding promptly to issues as soon as they can.

YET

There are still some problems. For starters, the quests can ramp up in difficulty FRIGHTENINGLY fast. Grinding may become something one needs to get used to if they don't manage to summon strong units with their free Rare summons. Leveling up units can become another type of grind as well. It would be good if the game had allowed units to Equip more than one Sphere as they can really help out players.

It's a murder from the first area.

Arena boils down to who had the rarest units and highest level. The lack of control over the battle does cause frustration when victory could be possible but is lost due to a unit not executing their Brave Burst in battle.

Server issues and game crashes can occur quite a bit, resulting in the loss of progress.

For a debut title, Alim has hit a home run. Overall, the game deserves a 8/10. It does feel like it could be intimidating to newcomers or casual players, but the depth it provides for those willing to pick it up makes up for it.

Game Review: Crysis 2

Before anyone asks, it's the console version. And sadly, I never did get around to playing the first one due to my computer being unable to handle it (Reason elaborated below). Though I will recount some history of what I know of it. Because related topic.

Crysis(And every game under this series) is a game developed by German video game company Crytek. The company is known best for this series and Farcry, both of which use the CryEngine, a self-designed gaming engine with the intent of displaying and executing the most modern graphics and gameplay(Making the processor of most computers cry in the process and why I can't play).

The nightmare of processors when under highest graphical settings

The first game(Crysis) is set in 2020, telling the story of a soldier by the callsign Nomad within the U.S Delta Force as he and his Nanosuit enhanced team are dispatched after a distress signal.The first game ends with the discovery of the alien beings and their relation to the suits, as well as their awakening.

The second game, Crysis 2(Of which is the subject of this post) takes place three years after the events of the game. Instead of Nomad, the protagonist of the first game, the main star of the game is a US Marine called Alcatraz, . Unlike the first game, he and his team aren't supersoldiers with nanosuits. That is, of course, until the submarine they were in gets attacked and sunk by said aliens(Later referred to as Ceph).

Alcatraz is mortally wounded and close to death, but he is saved at the last moment by one of the members of the team from the last game. When he wakes up, he finds himself inside the same Nanosuit, with his rescuer dead by suicide. It turns out he was infected with a virus/bio-weapon that had plagued the human population after the Cephs emerged and attacked. Seeing he had no enough time and Alcatraz dying in front of him, he made the choice to bet on the marine and hope he would continue in his place. And so begins Crysis 2.

As a first person-shooter, it stands pretty strong by itself. And you don't really need the exact context of the first game to be invested in the story. Because you are playing as someone who doesn't either.

The base gameplay is the standard first-person shooter affair,such as needing to go from Point A to Point B, with enemies trying to paint the streets with your blood or mowing down a giant enemy. What makes Crysis 2 different from other games is HOW you do that.

The unique feature of the game is the Nanosuit. It provides options to the player, with abilities such as Cloaking and Armour. This means that unlike most shooters where you tend to need to kill everything to get to your objective or go through one specific method to beat a big bad, Crysis 2 gives you options. You could sneak past your enemies or tank through. There are also upgrades to the suit that assist in the functionality.


Basically who you can be.

 The game's levels are designed so that there's no specific way to get to your objective, complimenting the Nanosuit's abilites.

A thing to note that makes the game good is the camera. The perspective NEVER leaves the first person view, be it for cutscenes or gameplay. This means that you're not controlling Alcatraz, you ARE Alcatraz. Every bit of development leading up to this point that he learns, you're learning as well. Every situation he is in within cutscenes, you're watching the situation from his eyes as well.

And as said before, even in gameplay. An example would be upgrading is done with an interface that looks directly implemented onto his body.

Buttons on the fingers. The bleeping sounds are quite lovely to listen too.


HOWEVER

The freedom to choose what path also means that the moment you choose a path that's easy, chances are, you'll go that way most often. Another issue is on the Nanosuit itself. An issue that breaks the game. And that is the Invisibility. Because suit energy is rechargeable, it's easy to just zip past squads of enemies, going into cover and hiding until the energy is recovered and repeat till you reach the end for most missions. What makes it worse is that there are only two kinds of enemies that can actively spot you, both being bossfight situations, so the normal goons can't see you unless you choose to get too close to them. It would be more intense and challenging to fight more enemies that can still threaten you while you're cloaked.

Another issue is the fact that there's a distinct lack in variety for enemies. It's either humans or aliens. The humans tend to be only different in terms of weapons while the aliens, though having variants, don't seem threatening enough outside of the major fights.

Overall, I would give Crysis 2 a 7.5/10 because the game is great for what it is and the kind of immersion it can give, but invisibility breaking the game, lack of varied threats and overly easy paths drag it down.

Game Review:Long Live The Queen

Today we be looking at a particular little game.
It's a visual novel where you play as a princess.
Sounds boring or not something of your interest?
How's about we add on the premise being your mother (The Queen) is dead and you have to last 40 weeks before you're queen? Why 'last 40 weeks'? Cause everything can and could possibly kill you. Even yourself.

This is Long Live The Queen!

Long Live the Queen is a Visual Novel game created by indie developer Hanako Games. As stated in the opening, you're a princess whose mother passed away, unfortunately. As much as one could assume the princess to take the throne immediately after, you're not a legal adult yet until your next birthday, which is 40 weeks away.The main objective is to live till you can get crowned while dealing with the issues that happen between this time.

The gameplay works according to turns or 'weeks'. Every week, you are to pick two subjects(Each split into different categories) to learn that will boost various statistics. The learning progression of the subjects can be improved(Or hindered) depending on what activity you choose to do in the week which affects your different moods. These stats are important as certain weeks would have an event occurring. When they happen, the game would either automatically check a required stat for the event or check the requirement for your decision (The options you can choose will also be affected by your stats) . If you have a high enough stat for the check, you will successfully clear the event. If not, you'd fail and it would negatively affect you.

Or kill you.

This is not an appropriate way for a princess to go. *Cough* VERY INAPPROPRIATE*Cough*


There are multiple stats that the game checks for in the events, so failing in one stat for that event does not matter as long as you can pass at least ONE of the stats.Saving can be done at anytime, so there is quite a leeway if you make the wrong call.

Take notice that this IS a visual novel after all, but the game only reveals certain bits of hidden plot when your pass certain events. And as is tradition of these kind of games, there are various events and endings depending on your choices in game.

The game is intended for multiple playthroughs(And possibly failures for first-timers), as is the nature of it's genre. Every decision will affect your progress, most importantly the core decisions:Your statistics and the activity of choice you made to affect your moods. It really makes you think about your decision to increase or decrease certain moods as they will be pivotal in how much the stat increases by. This causes it to feel so much more personal, as the results of the events and checks are all the product of what you had chosen before hand.


Of course, the learning of the subjects aren't just numbers, as there are milestones. After reaching a certain milestone for the stat, there would be flavor text to read which would reveal more about the game's world. Also, after reaching 25% for the subjects under a category, a new outfit will be unlocked that boosts all the stats under the category.(I.E Tuxedo would increase all stats in the Economics category when you're wearing it). This means you can afford to change focus onto other stats.

Example of an outfit(Crap, I don't think I have this one yet... ;_; )


For what it is, it's pretty decent, as every event hints at certain plot points that may come up of you made the choices leading to them (Video related: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RSf9aEETnvE) .Even if you don't manage to reach it the first time, at least you know there's something to work for in your next playthrough.
The way the checks are designed to reflect their results by color works well, with a bright pink indicating
success and blue indicating failure. Results of events in game feel so much more personal, as they are the product of what you had chosen learn(Or do) before hand. There's a good amount of content for the game to last anyone quite awhile.

BUT

The game has WAY too many stats to train(14 Categories, 3 subjects each. TOTAL 42 SUBJECTS), which can feel overwhelming and the game gives little to no warning about what event is headed your way(Though strictly speaking, that might be to replicate life and how it can pop up with situations that call for what you know). Still, such situations makes you feel like you've been cheated and just thrown into a fray unfairly if you pumped up the wrong statistic at the point.

Another issue is that one of the Categories is LOCKED and requires you to pass one of two subjects. The problem with this category is that it's subjects are vital END GAME. But you have no idea it would be.

It can be VERY frustrating for some first time players, even with the 'save at anytime' feature the game has.

Something to note that is rather odd in the game it has an infinite number of save slots for you to use, each laid out in a 4x2 format. Though on second thought, 40 weeks with so many possibilities and rolls may somewhat warrant this

Overall, it's price tag at $10 makes it a good value for money and is the kind of thing you'd take out to fiddle about with over the afternoon, cheering in your heart when pink and flustered when the blues hit you.

I really hate seeing blue things now.

Review: Left 4 Dead 2

First up is a little game that I've seen a good load of my friends play but I never did until Christmas(Free copy!). I regret having not tried it sooner now(And is feeling a tad bit of guilt for getting it free.)

Left 4 Dead 2 is a first-person 4-play co-op shooter made by Valve. I'm pretty sure most people online would know what it is, though in case there are those who don't, it's not really hard to describe. Survivors, zombies and reaching the objective without dying covers it nicely.

The game focuses intensely on the co-op thing.
Every player has 5-slots:2 weapons(One main, one side arm or melee weapon), a slot for health items, tossing items(Grenades, molotivs etc)and one 'booster' item that grants a health temporary boost or one that grants health AND speed boost.
What this does is that it makes it so players need to work together as they can't carry many things,

As much as some can assume that having an experience in shooter games would overcome the need for teamwork, the game is smartly designed that trying to play hero would only end with dying. Horribly. Cause the zombies can swarm a player VERY fast as they can come from anywhere, not to mention 'Special' zombies that are, of course, more dangerous.Every player will be vital, as levels would need them to stand ground or do certain tasks that require teamwork.

 The progression for the maps are fair, for the most part and in a way, the game could effectively do horror, instilling helplessness when players get overwhelmed by the threats around them.

BUT

Some may notice my statement "For the most part". That is because there are some maps that ramp up the challenge much too quickly(Small maps being guilty of committing this).

Another issue is that because the game is dependent on the 4-players, lag can be a issue that hinders the game terribly if even ONE player's computer is lagging.

Overall, it's a great game to play with friends(In fact, it is best played with friends) and if you were like me who had the fortune to get this free, appreciate it.

It begins

And here we go.

Welcome, individual of the net who happened on this one blog in the sea of blogs!
The name's Toinh Way Jie for people who came here by chance.
For those who know me, ignore the introduction.

So what we do here?
Talk games. Review games. Cause opinions and want to be heard.

Read my stuff and enjoy your stay. It shall be worthwhile.