Takeshi's Challenge, Spec Ops and what Video Games give.

For those who don't know the first game in the title, its an old NES game created by Taito with the help of comedian-turned actor Takeshi Kitano, who actually actively took part in the game's development. Something like this was rare back in the day as even though there were games that bear the names of Japanese celebrities, most didn't take part in the game's development beyond lending the name. And such a decision was....Well, let's just say that here's a fun fact: He apparently HATED video games. And whist discussing ideas for the game, he was drunk.

The game's plot is about a salaryman who seeks treasure on an island. Possible events in the game include fighting(Or running away from) the yakuza, divorcing /your/ wife and dying from punching the guard on the password screen. There were also some tasks needed to be completed unconventionally such as leaving the controller untouched for an hour.

The game itself was very difficult to complete due to the very specific and unorthodox feats demanded. And in the end what was the reward given?

A black end game screen. It would also have the word 'Congratulations' written on it. 

Some might not see the big deal if one looks online at the kinds of things needed to be done to complete it and the effort, it would probably make one go mad with rage.

And just to add salt to the wound, if the player chooses to leave the screen alone for 5 minutes(Either out of choice or sheer bewilderment), another message appears and says:

It's a fan translation, but it's not fair from the actual message.

You work so hard and tank through all that just to get....An ending like this.

But then what if that's the point? What if that's what Kitano was trying to convey on his thoughts of video games? That they were nothing but time wasters in which the reward was nothing tangible or meaningful. Thinking about it, would he be wrong to say that?

Playing a game, you do the various tasks it requires you with the mechanics given. Sure, you'll gain skill in playing the game and be better at it, but what else? At most it would give you a virtual reward such as a congratulatory message for saving the 'world' or some such. Nothing much you can really carry or apply into the real world. 

Then again, the game itself is pretty dated, so could the rather bitter message by Kitano be as well?

For the most part, it still stands. But then there are some games of recent memory that seem to use the same method as Kitano did(I.E using the game to send a message) in order to make it something more.

Spec Ops: The Line was a third-person shooter where by the player takes control of a Captain by the name of Martin Walker. As much as it may seem like a run-of-the-mill military shooter, it later unveils itself as a journey into the unsightly side of military life as we follow Walker's decent into madness.

Sadly, I only have second-hand experience with the game. But from what I could infer, it managed to criticize modern military shooter games and how the glorification of what soldiers actually face is actually that isn't really right.

Such games provide a perspective and let us think. The game attempts to makes us contemplate on a subject matter. In my perception, such a game like this is a useful tool for a parent in the military who wants to educate their teenage or young adult sons on the actual risks and how it might not be as 'heroic' as it seems at times. How many games have managed that?

Another example would be Telltale's episodic The Walking Dead series. Taking place in a zombie apocalypse, the game puts the player in the shoes of whoever is the protagonist of the season as they meet up with and gather survivors. 

As much as the characters and settings are fictional, the moral dilemmas within makes a person invested and tests their moral compass. Discussions of decisions made in the game could possibly show a person's way of thinking and their rationalization for making that choice.  

As rare as it might be, I would love to see more games provide something for people to think and bring into the 'outside' world. As a medium of interactivity, video games are powerful since they pass decision making to the player and show them the results of their choice.

Game Review:Metal Slug Defense

For those who don't know, I'm currently enlisted in the army due to conscription. What better time to talk about a game with a military theme, eh?

Metal Slug is a series of primarily run and gun games that were pretty popular in arcades. The games focused on the exploits of the Peregrine Falcon Squad and their battle against forces that desire world domination, such as a rebel army and aliens(Specifically referred to as Martians or Mars People). The series has spin-off games as well and we're going to look at one of them since I've been spending some time on it.

Metal Slug Defense is a tower(?) defense game on smartphones that recycles the sprites of existing games. The main 'story' involves General Morden, the recurring antagonist of the series, planning a coup d'état (again), with the assistance of Martians and causing incidents about the world. The military sends its forces around the world to stop them.

Example of a stage being played

The game's levels are split into areas, with stages that can be played in any order. Though most tower defense games have the objective being to survive wave after wave of enemies, the objective of the stages in MSD's main game is to destroy the enemy's base. This is done by creating units of your own with AP points that's built up automatically. The maximum amount and rate of build up can be increased by spending some AP. The units created can execute special attacks or functions when the bar below them is filled and they are tapped.

Before battles, items can be used to provide support or boosts, such as a satellite that assists in attacking or increasing the rewards after the stage. There are also Prisoners of War that are hidden and appear randomly in the stages. Rescuing all the prisoners in an area provides a reward, granting a degree of replayability.

After each stage, players earn MSP, which can be used to upgrade the units or upgrade the 'base'(Player aspects), examples being  AP generation rate, Unit Production Rate and MSP gain.

Besides the main game, there is also a 'Mission' mode, whereby there will be presets provided and an objective given such as surviving or destroying the enemy base in a certain amount of time.

Medals are the premium currency of the game, which can be earned by clearing a 'World', finishing certain missions or purchased via real world currency. They are used to purchase items ,new units and to increase the upgrade limit for units.

At first glance one might suspect this to be a simple cash in on the Metal Slug brand, but the game provides more depth as it goes on. Units have their specialties in battle, some better at being in the front lines soaking damage while others back up with powerful fire support. This degree of depth is better displayed in the 'Mission' mode. As Missions go on, they will demand the player to utilize fully the abilities of the provided unit(s).

The user interface is responsive enough and the game provides a fast forward function for those who want the stage to go faster if they feel they can complete it or they already know how to and just want to speed up the process.

DAAAWWW(Death SFX of Marco, one of the characters. We're talking about the game's flaws now.)

The balancing of the game needs work as some units cost of purchase don't seem to match up that well with their in-game efficiency. For example: A unit that costs around 150 or so medals can out perform and be more efficient than one that costs 280 considering the 'cooldown time' and AP cost of the units.

Another issue of balance is the stages themselves. After selecting a stage, they would state the stage's difficulty, but it is very subjective.There would be some points where it feels that a player must have a certain criteria met in order to progress.

Because some character sprites are small and the stage map moves when you sweep, it can be very easy to accidentally move the map and disorient yourself, wasting vital seconds.

The game feels like it deserves a 6.5/10. If you were to remove the Metal Slug IP and replace it with something else, I would still say the game is worth a good amount of one's time. One's money, on the other hand, is a question that is subjective, since it does feel like the purchase of one or two units from the Medals earned freely can carry a player for a very long time.

Game Opinion(?):Phantasy Star Online 2

Due to life being a bit....Uncooperative, my blog posts will be slowed down even more and I won't have as much time to go through games as well.

That's why we're having a Game Opinion section for the list of games that I feel I've played enough of but haven't quite reached end-game yet(So these 'reviews' need to be taken with more pinches of salt than usual).

That being said, let's begin.

Phanstasy Star Online 2 is a Massively Multi-player Online Action Role-Playing Game played in a third-person camera view by SEGA. The players are known as ARKs, best described as inter-planetary explorers who explore the reaches of space and investigate incidents caused by D-arkers, beings of dark energy that corrupt.

Character creation lets the player choose from 4 races: Humans, Newmans(Bio-engineered humanoid elves ), Casts(Mechanical beings) and Dewmans(Humans with recessive Darker genes). The character creation is also rather extensive in the sense that besides the presets of faces and hair, customization includes armour colours and proportions of the face and body. There are a total of five starting classes to pick from:Hunter, Ranger, Force, Braver and Bouncer, though previously level-locked classes(Fighter,Gunner and Techer) are also available for use at the start now so it should be eight.

Combat in the game is simple and reactive. Basic 3-part attacks are executed with the assigned button(depending on what control the player is using i.e mouse and keyboard or game controller). Special attacks called Photon Arts or Technics are integrated differently depending on the weapon. Striking weapons(colour-coded orange) have their Arts attached in a 3-block interval alongside the attack command, meaning that they can be chained into while Ranged weapons(blue) are individual attacks. Technic weapons are basically the 'spells' that are also cast individually(Except when using Jet Boots). Arts and Technics are learned via Discs, which are items and spend no resources to be learned. Weapons also have secondary functions that are assigned to the Shift key, usually involving dodging or accessing more Photon arts. There are also Weapon Gears, of which are usually gauges that add an additional feature such as improved performance.

Classes in the game can be freely accessed and changed, removing the need to create a new character if the player wants to try a new class. Another feature is the Subclass, which allows the player to pick a secondary class which arguments the stats of their main class and allows access to their class skills.
Assuming a player also possesses a rare weapon that can be used by all classes, they can also access the Photon Arts of the subclass.


In the game, there are various missions on different planets that can be taken. During a mission, Emergency Orders can appear randomly , which are events and tasks that occur in that instance. Completing all of it for a certain planet unlocks the 'Free Exploration' for it. Beating the boss located in the final area of it would unlock a new planet. As a player gets deeper into the game, challenge modes such as Extreme Quest and Time Attack Quests(The former which I have no experience in and the latter being incomplete).

The game's Premium currency Arks Cash(AC) is used for improving a player's experience more than improving the player's character. It's mostly used for aesthetics and expansion of item storage, removing the danger of power-creeping in the game.

The game's battle system provides a good sense of depth and accomplishment, since it's very customizable. The game modes give content that manages to maintain interest as harder versions of the missions get unlocked as a player's Class level gets higher.
Because AC is used to merely enhance a player's experience, it doesn't feel like the game forces players to pay in order to catch up to paying players.

But the game does have a slight issue involving the weapons as the secondary function of some weapons are useless unless the Weapon Gear is learned. The harder version of the missions basically increase enemy health and damage as well as the density of enemies. On the difficulty of Very Hard and Super Hard, the values make the missions quite punishing.

Overall, PSO2 is a very well-made game and it's business model of using it's premium content to bolster game experience makes it feel more inviting than most.

Games Journalism, Gamergate and thoughts

So there's been a huge storm over in games journalism due a certain Zoe Quinn and her dishonest dealings with major individuals in the industry to gain undeserved press and prestige.

(For those not in the know)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C5-51PfwI3M

But she's not the point.She should not be entirely.

What's happening now is. What gaming news sites are doing now is. How gamers are responding are and the analysis of how bad the current state of the industry is.

After the incident came to light, there was outrage at Zoe Quinn, up to the point she has been sent death threats. It also caused an explosion in the sense that the sites the individuals who were involved with her write for are now distrusted by the general gaming community,which  is only made worse by the fact that these sites have apparently been trying to quell discussions, removing posts relating to the incident and such. In the wake of this, a movement called GamerGate has arisen.

https://github.com/GamerGateOP/GamerGateOP/blob/master/FAQ.md

More and more evidence pile up and game journalism seems less and less reliable. It saddening to see.

Her incident was a symptom to the major disease that has taken over. A disease of corruption and silencing. And it's drawing more attention. Soon maybe the internet will be watching as this unfolds. And how gamers and games journalism will be seen lies on how this is going to end.

What do I feel about this?
There are good and bad sides to this. The good side being that such a thing is being uncovered and addressed for the sake of integrity and truth in games journalism. The bad side is how this is probably going to be terribly scarring.

After having been repeatedly silenced over the discussion of Zoe Quinn and some sites writing articles that seem to be retaliations against gamers, a form of drastic action has been called:
The boycotting of these sites. Gamers now actively avoid games journalism websites in order to starve them of revenue.

This action is most definitely going to be harmful to both parties. I feel gamers do at least need some place where they can get information on games that are coming out or news relating to the games industry. With this, they shut it out. The sites would obviously suffer losses as this drags on, and depending on how long this goes for, I fear a horrible collapse. Could this really happen? And would a new wave of journalism arise from the ashes of this disaster? I don't know.

I look at this and I feel a myriad of negative feelings:Anger, sadness, pity, fear. Upon first hearing this, I got honestly upset and disgusted. Watching on as it unfolded, it was disheartening to see the this war between gamers and the journalists. New comers to gaming and games journalism would be frightened by these and I worry that certain individuals who honestly treat games journalism with respect may be causalities. Being someone who dreams to work in the field, it's scary to see something like this and the industry being faced with something so seemingly grim and uncertain.

Yet part of me feels a bit of hope. A Hope that this might shape games journalism for the better.

One can only hope that this may end decently, but one thing is certain: There will be a massive change.

MMOs becoming easier/casual: It's like smithing.

After writing the review for Elsword, I look back at when I first began and the current state it is in.

Back when Elsword had 6 characters instead of the 9 it has today, and also a reduced amount in the job options they had(2 instead 3 paths). Leveling up and achieving those job advancements were also a pretty big deal and a significant milestone. But as of what it is now, achieving the advancement don't feel as monumental, though at this point quite a bit of content have been added and updated.

Thinking about this, I recalled another MMO I used to play: MapleStory. Those early days when earning the currency of the game (Mesos) was relatively difficult and equipment dropped very rarely from mobs. The days where getting to the 3rd job advancement was a mark of greatness as leveling up became ever harder. The legendary locations beyond Victora Island such as the floating island of faries Orbis and frosted grounds of El Nath, where veterans tread and could only reach with a rather big hole in their funds. Hitting the big 100th level was something well-worthy of grand respect as it probably took months.

But now?

Now one can stock pile quite a bit of Mesos and equipment drop from mobs, their value reduced by the fact that items created with the forging system have additional effects and better stats. Leveling up is pretty much a breeze, with quests giving buckets of experience points along with the mobs feeling much easier to deal with as to before. Getting to the 4th job advancement(Of which is at level 120) don't take as long. Orbis, El Nath and various other areas that used to be a big deal can now be accessed FREELY. All this knowledge what the game was as of late had me feel a bit of ire, considering all that effort I used to put in to leveling, grinding. I was disgusted.

After watching a certain episode which talked about gaming, however, I would realize there was somewhat a need for what feels like a reduction in difficulty.

For starters, I had been an avid fan of Maple for awhile, so when there was new content, it was within a reasonable reach for me. The same can be said for Elsword. But what about those who were new to the game, the fresh players? They'd need to go through the same grind I did before getting to the same content. As time passed on, there came new areas, the new job advancement, new characters etc etc. SO much content. Maybe starting to get TOO much. With all that grind to get to the new content that maybe their veteran friend are enjoying, how many new players would have the patience to remain interested?

So what to do? Best compress it then. Make it easier to level up. Reduce the amount of experience points needed. Make earning money easier. Make travelling easier. Make it faster to go through the old content and catch up to the newer ones. I mean, one of them managed to last more than 10 years.

I can't disagree that it makes sense and benefits players in general since the game becomes less of a grind, but as said before, the unfortunate sacrifice is the feeling of accomplishment the old content used to provide. That moment when you go: "FINALLY. I HAVE ACHIEVED THE GREATNESS" rather than "Ugh. Finally got to this point". Then again, back when those games were new, they had to worry about the inverse: Gamers going through their content TOO fast, which meant making leveling up on the higher tiers more difficult and better equipment hard to find etc. And at least most games provide harder 'end-game' content for those who want the sense of achievement that comes from a herculean task.

Maybe it's a natural progression for MMOs as they age. For the devs to take the existing content and reshaping it as a blacksmith would old tools, melting, adding more and making something 'new'.

Game Review: Elsword(Taiwan Servers)

Alright, another MMO to talk about. And this one I have a better relationship with. Here's a heads up though: I'm doing the Taiwan Servers of this MMO. The reason for this is due to not publisher in South East Asia providing a server, North American Servers being region locked and the Korean Servers being about as penetrable as a wall made out of diamond.

Anyway, Elsword is a 2.5 dimensional side-scrolling action MMORPG developed by Korean game company KoG Studios. It's 2.5 dimensional in the sense that models and environments are 3 dimensional but the game is played along a 2 dimensional axis. The game itself would probably bear a lot of resemblance to KoG's other 2.5 D side-scrolling game Grandchase(So there's going to be some comparisons here and there).

Set in the fictional world of Elrios, the game follows the story of Elsword and his comrades who travel the lands in order to bring peace to areas where turmoil is occurring, though some of the members the group have other personal reasons for fighting.

Starting the game, a player can pick from one of 9 characters in the cast. From there, a player can also see the available job paths that character can take(As of the build the Taiwan servers have). The specialty and stat distribution/growth of each character and their jobs are also shown so a player can make as informed a choice when creating the character as possible.

Example of a job path. There are also short clips played to show the playstyle.

Combat in the game revolves around a character's combos done with the Z and X buttons as well as their skills, which are assigned to the A,S,D and C keys. For every 5 levels, a new tier of 2 skills will be unlocked but only one can be learned. Certain skills need to be unlocked via a Skill quest too. Equipment and Skill Notes also affect combat, as equipments can be argumented with elemental properties and Magic Stones that may affect damage and attack speed, not to mention some have set bonuses. Skill Notes modify certain skills, changing properties and/or damage values.

Example of a combo list and skill tree

Demo of gameplay

There are Dungeons and Field for players to fight mobs. Dungeons are preset areas that have players fight through to a boss monster. Fields are areas between towns that spawn 'lesser' versions of mobs that appear in Dungeons, though to make up for it, they do occasionally spawn their own 'field' bosses, of which tend to be much more a challenge than that of dungeon bosses. As for end-game content, there's Henrir's Space Time(A boss rush) and the Secret Dungeons for those who want a challenge and consider the normal ones as walks in the park. Well, the Secret Dungeons counterpart would be a walk in a park when typhoon hits.

In terms of monetization, the in-game store sells avatar skins that are worn over existing equipment and like equipment, provide slight set bonuses. But of course, it does have its own 'lottery' system in the form of Ice Burners and Ancient Fossil Discriminators. Ice Burners consume Ice Sculptures created from the town alchemist and provides a chance to obtain rare avatar skins that are better than the ones simply brought, while the AFD could give the player a Mount, though some can also be brought in store.. Mounts are more than just aesthetics as they have their own attacks that are used when the they're rode on. Besides these, the store also sells other things like skill resets, class change items, item expansions and extra skill slots(Meaning that 8 skills can be assigned instead of the default 4).

Elsword's combat is pretty fast-paced since combos can be chained mind way into another(For example a ground attack that sends an enemy into the air to be chained into an aerial attack/combo). Proper combos are rewarded, as hitting opponents that are downed reduced the damage done. The array of characters also serve a pretty wide spectrum and provide replayability, considering that if one counts every character's job paths, there would be 27(Or 23 as of the TW servers) possible paths for a player to take.

Searching for a party to do a dungeon is convenient, as one press of a button automatically queues the player and shows  how many are also searching in the same dungeon. When a party is formed, the game would ask if the player is ready, so they don't just get dropped in unaware. There's also a penalty implemented to those who think to join a dungeon and then Alt+Tab and feed off their team mates, of which is that if a player doesn't catch up to their team mates in a 20 second timer as they wait to get to the next area, their health would rapidly decrease till death and then they'd need to use a revival stone. 

The Cash Shop items feel rather fair, since they aren't necessary beyond letting a player look unique in the sea of other characters that might be wearing the same equipment as they are. The items that aren't for fashion however don't feel like they break the game more than they convenience a player with add-on that they would consider helpful or access to content faster. Even the Ice Burner sets can be brought via in-game currency so long as someone is selling it in the game's free market(Though such items have seals on them that need to be removed before use and disable trading when the seals are gone).

THIS SWORD NEEDS MORE TEMPERING.

As much as the game's combat flows like liquid silk, the skill tree is a bit of an issue, since you can't test a skill before investing skill points to it, so if a player messes up in allocating their points, they'd need to wait till their next job advancement(Assuming the screw-ups occurred before the final one), where they'd get a potion that resets their points, though the potion will expire if not used quickly. If the player only realizes their mistake VERY late in-game, they'll either need to fork out some money for a skill reset or wait for character rebalancing, in which the skill points of the character is reset since, well, rebalancing.

Elesis players be looking at this and be like:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qn977W9HjWM

The final job advancement quest tends to feel like it breaks the flow of the story(?) somewhat since it makes a player plow through dungeons that they shouldn't be if in the context of the story. Also, the requirement drop rates can feel horrifically volatile between characters.

The level design...Well, let's say they need more variety beyond 'area where you kill X mobs then go to the next to kill more'. Boss fights mostly consist of hammering away at them till they fall over, though some bosses require the players to take note of certain surrounding elements, for example: There's a boss that spawns two 'clones' of herself if the mirrors on the end of the level manage to turn to the center, meaning teamwork is vital so there won't be three times the trouble to deal with. Sadly, these kind of bosses don't appear often enough. The 'tutorial' portion of the game also feels a bit too long, considering it drags from level 1-15.

I would give Elsword a 7/10 . For what is has, Elsword's combat and general user-friendliness are its strongest points but a general lack of variety in level design and break in flow mid-game rips points off it.

Missed potential of Transistor

As I said before in my Transistor review, Transistor seems to have missed a chunk of interesting content due to not using the Function's functions well (you see what I did there).

Having studied games design, it irritates me more and more as I think about it and I feel the compulsion to express what I feel could have been put in to improve the game. Or at least give it more variety besides the fighting. That's not to say the combat is bad, it's just there could have been more.

(WARNING: POSSIBLE SPOILERS)

What had caused me to notice this missing potential for exploration was the fact that in an early section of the game, the Turn system needed to be used in order for Red to hit two switches simultaneously and that you can use the Functions outside of the fights. And yet after that portion, there was no need to use Turn outside of battle. There was were also no 'secret' areas that needed the Functions in order to get to them. If you're not going to be having the Functions serve any purpose outside of the dogfights, why are you allowed to use them out of battle then?

Toying about with the Functions, I observe the qualities of some of the less directly combat-oriented abilities, primarily Jaunt, Mask and Get.

Firstly, Jaunt.

Jaunt is best described as teleportation, sending Red a certain distance and bypassing gaps and walls. You have teleportation move in a game that lets you use it in a city that begs exploration but has no part that needs it to access any hidden areas blocked off by a wall or maybe a large gap. Something isn't right here.

THERE'S SOMETHING WRONG IF I'M USING IT PRIMARILY FOR THIS.

Next, Mask.

Mask turns Red invisible AND invulnerable for a certain period of time or until she initiates an attack. It makes me wonder if it could be used to go through a treacherous pathway that damages Red as she stands on it(Or an instant kill) or access a 'security' area whereby if an enemy spots you, the door to the area is locked off.

And finally Get.

Observe closely. Snapshot would be pulled along the dotted line towards Red.

Get drags opponents towards Red. This could have been used to perhaps access 'bridges' that need to be pulled by it.

Besides the Functions, let's not forget about the Turn system.
Executing functions and moving in super speed can make for interesting puzzles or situations(I.E pushing a switch on a door that closes almost immediately)

Considering the story stating that the Transistor played part in 'shaping' the city by the Camerata, it wouldn't be too far-fetched for Red to use to and gain access to areas that couldn't normally be reached by those without the Transistor.

It would have also been cool if let's say that after unlocking all of the flavor text of a Function, the text hints that the remnants of the soul which it draws from can still be found in a certain area, warranting exploration, with the rewards maybe being a better efficiency(reduced usage of space when in queue during Turn) of the Function or an increase in damage dealt for the more combat oriented Functions, since they're now 'complete', they should work better.