Monday, June 25, 2007

Bossa Nova Monday: Dark Link

. . .Me and My Shadow.

In honor of the Blogging Zelda project, which has allowed me to vicariously experience beating Zelda II: The Adventure of Link (something I have never accomplished, and likely never shall), and as a grim harbinger of next week's Bossa Nova offering, this week the spotlight is on Link. More accurately, on the sinister shadow that spotlight casts.

Dark Link and his cousin, Shadow Link, are a staple of the Zelda series. Dark Link is typically a carbon copy of the hero in every way save for his sinister, blacked-out appearance, whereas Shadow Link is often a weaker version of Link that appears in groups. The first Dark Link in the series is the final boss of Zelda II: The Adventure of Link. Another famous variant is the Dark Link sub boss who appears in the Water Temple in the Ocarina of Time. Dark Link is often armed with all of the same techniques as the regular Link, and sometimes with more or stronger techniques. Shadow Link appears in Oracle of Ages and Four Swords Adventures. Dark/Shadow Link also makes a cameo appearance in the latest offering, Twilight Princess, during a cutscene in which the history of the Twili people is explained to Link.

Mode of Attack:Turns your own attacks back on you.
Signature Move:Same as yours.
Weaknesses:Unexpected or untargeted attacks.
Distinguishing Features:Looks just like Link---but darker.
Difficulty:Varies from game to game.
Similar Characters:Shadow the Hedgehog (Sonic series), Dark Samus (Metroid), Next Week's Boss (???)



. . .

Tuesday, June 19, 2007

A Natural Right

I was in the middle of writing something else for the blog when I read the news about Manhunt 2. This would have been easy for me to overlook because, to be honest, Manhunt is not a franchise that is on my radar. It's too distastefully violent for me. That's a perfectly fine reason for me not to buy it; but is it a good enough reason for it to be illegal to buy it anywhere in a whole country? Illegal for an adult to purchase for play in their own home?

Apparently.

In the United States, the ESRB is giving Manhunt 2 a rating of AO (Adults Only), which will effectively quash retail sales (since major "big box" retailers such as WalMart and Target won't carry any game with an AO rating). However, the AO rating in the USA isn't the same as banning. For one thing, the video game industry (both on the development side and the retail side) is self-regulatory. There's no legal authority overseeing the ESRB; there's no law stating that games have to be rated (although many retailers will not stock unrated games); most importantly, there's no federal law regulating the games that can or cannot be sold to minors. Just as moviemakers can decide to publish an unrated movie, so can game companies publish unrated games. Target won't stock an AO game, but they could. Gamestop won't sell an AO game to minors, but they could. Like movie ratings, game ratings are voluntarily enforced. In most U.S. locales, it's not a crime to sell a movie ticket to an R-rated movie to a person under the age of seventeen. Neither is it a crime to sell an M-rated game to a person under the age of seventeen. In most parts of the United States (maybe not in New York), it is the right of parents to discern what materials are appropriate for their children to be exposed to. And American adults are free to make those decisions for themselves.

While it's unfortunate for Take Two and Rockstar that Manhunt 2 is going to receive an AO rating, I can understand where the ESRB is coming from and agree with their rating. While I'm not familiar with the franchise, the AO rating is appropriate for games that feature "prolonged scenes of intense violence," which are what Manhunt 2 is ostensibly all about. However, the United Kingdom's BFCC, in refusing to rate Manhunt 2, has caused the game to be banned from sale anywhere in Great Britain. According to a press release on BBFC's website, Manhunt 2's "availability, even if statutorily confined to adults, would be unacceptable to the public." I'm not sure I can get my mind around how Great Britain can get away with so blatantly infantalizing its adult citizens. This is the kind of paternalistically driven censorship that Americans are trying to exterminate in the third world. It is unconscionable in the first.

If Take Two is not successful in appealing the BFCC's ruling, then Manhunt 2 will become the first game to be banned from sale in the United Kingdom (Carmageddon was banned in 1997, but that ban was later overturned). I hope that T2 will appeal this ruling in the United Kingdom and that they will be successful. In the mean time, let us go and tend our garden.

Monday, June 18, 2007

Parrying Makes Perfect

Ninja High School SeniorI beat Third Strike mere moments ago with Alex, having already recently beaten it with Akuma, Yun, and Ibuki. That leaves conquering Arcade Mode with fifteen more characters to unlock all the pages of System Direction. I have to say there are few things in the game more aesthetically satisfying than finishing off a particularly tough match with Ibuki's EX Kubi Ori. I'm still not proficient in the practice of parries, but once I'm playing on my new Hori Fighting Stick 3 perchance I will spend some time on intensive training. Wish I knew where there was a 3s machine was somewhere.

Sunday, June 17, 2007

Bossa Nova Monday: FryGuy

Me soul on fire!The Importance of Being Furnace

Along with Tryclyde, Mouser, Clawgrip, and Birdo, FryGuy is one of the five recurring bosses in the world of Subcon. Super Mario Bros. 2 was a drastically different game from its predecessor (for obvious reasons), and one of the most notable changes was the variety of the bosses faced by the player. As opposed to repeated King Koopas and the occasional Hammer Bro., SMB2 featured a colorful cast of villains. Mouser may have been cooler, and Birdo more ground-breaking, but FryGuy allows me to use the extremely witty subtitle I concocted.

One should take into account that FryGuy existed at a time before ember particle effects and heat haze distortion. Yet he still managed to convey the essence of spreading flames through his tendency to split into mini-FryGuys before being completely extinguished. All in all, a very memorable boss from my developmental gaming days.

Mode of Attack:Spitting Fireballs; Burning
Signature Move:Asexual Reproduction aka Spreading Like Wild Fire
Weaknesses:Mushroom Blocks; presumably water
Distinguishing Features:Incendiary heat; incandescent light
Difficulty:4/10
Similar Characters:Heat Man (MM2), Fyrus (LotZ:TP), The Fury (MGS3)

Feelin' Hot! Hot! Hot!

Thursday, June 14, 2007

The End of the World

Yesterday, June 13, was "Blog Like It's the End of the World Day." Everyone was supposed to write a blog entry as though the world were under attack by zombies. I would have participated, had I known in advance, but these things have a way of sneaking up on me (see also Talk Like a Pirate Day).

I don't know about you, but I treat every day like we're only one zombie attack away from obliteration because, let's face it, we may well be only one zombie attack away from obliteration. There's just no way to know.

Brains, plz0r.In any case, I'm sorry I missed international zombie uprising blog day because gaming has a long, rich history of zombie inclusion and representation. A colleague and I, shirking work for a few minutes, were discussing the brilliance of a collaborative, War of the Worlds-esque "widespread zombie attacks" scenario in the blogosphere when it came to light that I have never played Resident Evil in any of its various iterations.

My colleague, a non-gamer at that, was visibly shocked and said incredulously: "But even I've played Resident Evil." My gamer cred is suffering with her, I can tell. I must stress that it would be impossible to overemphasize her shock and incredulity.

It is a damn shame, and I'm properly embarassed about it. Resident Evil (Biohazard in Japan) is a gaming industry mainstay and in the top 20 best-selling game franchises of all time. Japan has even issued a commemorative stamp in honor of its ten-year anniversary. The thing is, playing as Jill Valentine all those years ago I walked into the hallway where the zombie dobermans come crashing in through the window and that was it for me. Too scary. I mean zombies are scary enough, but you can get away from them because they're shambling. Not so the MA-39 Cerberus; they're fast, and snarling and slavering and scary. My Jill Valentine took shelter in a nearby closet, and she's been in there ever since.

Resident Evil was really a pioneer of the survival horror genre, which has become an increasingly popular subset of games. Capcom's 2006 blockbuster Dead Rising for the XBox 360 is a testament to this phenomenon. Naturally, I haven't played Dead Rising as I don't own a 360; as Killa has mentioned before, Dead Rising is one of the few titles on the Microsoft platform that really inspires jealousy in us.

Even outside of the survival horror genre, zombies make memorable appearances throughout the industry. Take In ur adventure game, makin it creepy.ReDeads from the Legend of Zelda series, for example. These creepy f***ers have no business being in a Legend of Zelda game. That ear-splitting, paralyzing shriek when Link makes eye contact with them; their slow, shambling progression toward Link as he stands frozen in place, quaking, waiting for the paralysis to wear; you desperately jam every controller button---or swing your wiimote around like a cowboy, if you're playing Twilight Princess---but they just keep coming. It's been noted that the frightening ReDeads are out of place in the Legend of Zelda series, an unexpectedly terrifying apparition in a series that is often suitable for children.
Better the zombie you know. . . .
Not all zombies are horrible, though. Perhaps the least loathable game zombie is Sir Auron from Final Fantasy X. On the surface FFX appears to be, much like every other FF game, a convoluted, action-packed adventure full of political overtones and set in a rich, detailed fantasy milieux, all overlying a poignant love story. Another analysis of FFX is that it's a crazy, zombie-infested doomsday tale; a zombie sleeper hit, even. Think about it---who among them is not an unsent (that is, a person who has died but whose spirit has not been sent to the farplane)? Every turn in FFX leads you to the revelation that someone is a zombie. Even the main boss, Yu Yevon, is cruising around the world in a giant zombie fish thing. Likewise, Seymour Guado---and his creepy mother, the aeon Anima (or Fish Mummy, Killa and I like to call her)---, the Maesters of Yevon, Beldemine, Yunalesca, one by one turn out to be unsent. Finally, Yuna's trusty bodyguard, Auron, too, turns out to be undead.

If I had had time to concoct a blog entry for yesterday's event, it would have read something like this:

Work is cancelled because there's a zombie uprising. Going to try to finish Odin Sphere with the unexpected free time. If I'm not too tired later, maybe looting and rioting.

If there was a mass zombie uprising, I'm afraid I'd be woefully unprepared, having never played through the training manual.

Monday, June 11, 2007

Bossa Nova Monday: The Queen

She doesn't belong with a horned-head fool like you.Level Two, Start!

It's fresh in my mind, so now it's fresh in yours! Ico is a surreal experience, much like its spiritual successor. And not unlike Shadow of the Colossus, Ueda's earlier venture is about as far away from a hack'n'slash as you can get. While Shadow may have had sixteen zomg bosses and no weak enemies, Ico has a set number of encounters with the castle's minions, and only one boss fight.

That fight is, appropriately enough, with the Queen of the castle, Yorda's mother. Every time you run in to her, she spouts off words of discouragement, and when you finally confront her face-to-face you get to show her what a horned boy can do. This fight really isn't that hard. (Actually nothing in Ico is.) Once you understand the consequences of being caught out in the open by one of her attacks, you merely need to ingrain the cycle of approach, attack, retreat, retrieve, and repeat. Now you just need to make sense of the game's ending.

Weapon:Her legion of Smokemen
Signature Move:Petrification
Weakness:Her frail, aging body; the Idol Sword
Distinguishing Features:Constantly surrounded by a shroud of swirling smoke
Difficulty:2/10
Quote:"That is Yorda's fate... she will be the receptacle for my soul, so to speak. When she awakes, her memories of you will have vanished."
Similar Characters:Queen Brahne (FFVIII), Vega (SFA), Smoke (MK)

Yorda cannot leave this castle, ever... Not even if... you take my life...

Friday, June 8, 2007

Looking Sharp

Wowzorz! Anybody see the latest sprites from Capcom's blog detailing the development of Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix? Cannot fucking wait till this drops for the PSN... Instant Hell Murder never looked so good.

Messatsu!

Wednesday, June 6, 2007

Odds and Ends (Catarina Edition)

Allergy season is in full swing and I could not be any more miserable than I am. I have gone through several boxes of Kleenex in the last month alone. The Claritin, it does nothing! Fortunately, I have at least one thing to look forward to in the coming weeks. After being alerted by Joystiq's post on the subject, I got tickets for myself and my husband to see Video Games Live at the Kennedy Center. Unfortunately, Killa won't be able to join us due to a work obligation.

Why can't we all just get along?Because there wasn't enough fussin' and a-feudin' in the world already, Square Enix definitively confirmed Final Fantasy XIII as a PS3 exclusive (via IGN). Read through the comments at your own risk, if you feel you are prepared to witness the depth and breadth of fan's inhumanity to fan. I'm less interested in the news itself than in the reaction from soldiers on both sides of the console war.

In other news, Zelda II: The Adventure of Link was the one-hundredth game offered on the Wii Virtual Console, debuting this week. I never beat Zelda II when I was playing it twenty years ago, because it was too difficult. However, in the age of the Internet (the GameFAQs age), anything is possible. Also new this week is one of my all-time favorite NES games, Milon's Secret Castle. If, like me, you have forgotten how to get the spring shoes, you should check out the awesome Milon's Secret Website.

Finally---I saved this for the end since it has embedded video, although it's probably the most interesting tidbit in this post---Bethesda Softworks has released a teaser trailer for Fallout 3. I'm looking forward to this game more, perhaps, than is appropriate considering I never played Fallout 1 or Fallout 2. And not simply because Liam Neeson is going to be providing some of the voice work. Enjoy!



Friday, June 1, 2007

Get Lucky: Part Snake Eyes

The Odds Stat
As much as I disdain straying in the slightest from the world of videogames, Marvel Comics has always been very good to us gamers, so I think this one trespass can be forgiven. Marvel introduced Longshot in 1985 in a six part limited series. He was a four-fingered alien with hollow bones and the reality altering powers that resulted in him having unnaturally good luck. (And as we've seen from the Scarlet Witch, the ability to defy probability is quite the volatile gift.)

Cover Art of Marvel Comics' Longshot #3

He even appeared as a selectable character in the obscure 1990 DOS RPG X-Men II: The Fall of the Mutants. He also lent his name to a piece of equipment in X-Men Legends II, a nifty item called The Luck of the Longshot. He is oft overshadowed in the videogame arena by his nemesis Spiral due to her appearance in Capcom fighters, most notably in the lead off slot of Duc Do's highly successful MvC2 team of Spiral/Cable/Sentinel.

But enough periphery. An intriguing ability, to have perpetually good luck. Though the Slots of which I spoke in Part I may be mastered through the exercise of hand-eye coordination there is still an element of chance within the spinning reels. Quantifying someone's luck, though, seems like a ridiculous task. That is to say, unless you are a game developer.

Box Art of FalloutTake the cult classic post-apocalyptic RPG Fallout. Luck is one of the primary stats present in the game's robust character creation mode. The shelling out one's bonus points towards Luck provides a higher critical chance, improvement of some skills, and has some effect on the story.
It can be particularly effective to allocate enough points to bring Luck to 9 or 10, and then pick the Jinxed trait, which would normally cause you and everyone around you to have more critical failures, i.e. misfires and whiffs. With a prodigious luck sum, however, you will be invulnerable to this effect, and only your opponents (and allies) will be subject to this misfortune. There is also the Alien Blaster weapon, that can only be acquired through a rare random encounter in the desert that is stumbled upon exclusively by the highly lucky vault-dwellers.

Take another classic, the PS1 smash Castlevania: Symphony of the Night. Alucard's Luck will determine the frequency of dropped items from fallen foes, the chances of a critical hit, and also the likelihood of the Talisman item's effect kicking in and absorbing damage in your stead. MagusB has written an intriguing Luck Mode FAQ, which covers a Luck Mode run through. It is a sort of New Game+ challenge starting with ridiculously weak statistics and 99 Luck, which apparently completely changes the feel of the game. It is suggested that one is wise to abandon the use of magic and subweapons. Also, the aforementioned Talismans that are next to useless on a regular playthrough due to the rarity of their activation are the saving grace of the highly luckly vampire hunters.

And Square Enix, wow. Not only do they have a passionate love affair with slots (e.g. VI's Setzer or VIII's Selphie), they too embrace the luck statistic, off and on. In the luck-oriented X-2 of which I have already made mention, it is used as a roll, if you will, against status ailments sticking. In the toughest neighborhood in Spira, the notorious Via Infinito dungeon, the villainous Chac fiend will make short work of your descent by petrifying YuRiPa in the Glare of an eye. It is highly recommended that one uses the Ray of Hope Garment Grid's Luck-boosting effect in conjunction with the Lady Luck jobsphere's naturally good fortune to avoid the stony fate of many a reckless Gullwing. Preparation, you see, that's what I call making your own luck.

All in all, chance is a bit of a paradox in videogames. Timeseeding functions replace real randomness, and good fortune translates into finding nice loot. I suppose it's better than how luck works in real life, though. What with bad luck and all.

Odds and Ends

Hey, speaking of MvC2, I've been playing it a lot lately. I finally broke my old High Score in Arcade Mode. I cracked two billion (2000000000) points. That's a lot of points!! I couldn't have done it without this charming mechanical fellow to my right. In so many matches, my partners never tag in, they merely assist. Ms. White to makeup for Sent's notorious weakness to attacks from above, and Mr. Raging Demon for the Tatsumaki Expanision Assist plus Flight Mode raves (= Crazy Repetitious).Unit is in ur bl0g, ki11in all ur mutantz!!1
I suppose I should mention that I hit an arcade yesterday for some kicks. Totally got pwned... I need more stick practice. T.T

I'm in ur castle, baskin all ur lighting effexx

Beat Ico a few days back. Definitely a game everybody should play... once. Although, personally, I think Shadow of the Colossus is the better game. And in no small measure either. Shadow towers over Ico like Malus the Grand Gigas towers over a simple Smokeman.

I picked up Mario Party 8 as a favor to Poptart and, in my personal opinion, it has a lovely box. Yeah, I have been forbidden to open it until her return from the Banks, but as soon as she returns and we get a chance to Party, I'll let ya'll know the haps. As Catarina and I have already kibitzed, the reviews are pretty spread out across the rating spectrum. It comes down to the old Penny Arcade syllogism, "All you do is bark. You never meow." It seems a number of critics don't even like the idea of Mario Party, and grade it down based largely on its genre. It is akin to reviewing a puzzle game, and complaining that it doesn't have enough blowing up of stuff. (Every Extend Extra aside.)

Oh yeah, I'm also so close to buying a PS3 I can taste it. (In fact, I tasted Catarina's when she was out of the room.) I'm pretty set on grabbing F.E.A.R as my first title, even though I'm not much of an FPS fan. It is also odd that I've been piqued by Ubisoft's Haze, which is speculatively slated to be Halo 3's release rival. Planet Earth on Blu Ray is also near the top of my list, as well as fl0w and Super Rub-a-Dub. The retail dates for Assassin's Creed and Heavenly Sword are still up in the air, so, you know, those are more vague desires than planned purchases.

As Poptart pointed out, I don't have an HDTV at the homestead, but I get the feeling that owning the new Sony space heater might be the catalyst for convincing Legoman to go halfsies on a new set.

According to Google Analytics, our Bossa Nova segment was a mild success. So, due to whelming demand, and the fact that I have a killer subtitle cooked up for one boss, we will be executing a second round of Bossa Nova articles, hopefully beginning this Monday. Will your favorite boss be featured? Stay tuned! (Or not, whatever...)

Catch you on the flipside.

Fin