The lows are low, but the highs are home
Month
Lots of stuff going on ‘round here, but I’m feeling pretty tired and thought of something somewhat interesting to post. The origins of my tumblr’s name and url! Or my account name, or whatever you call the x in x.tumblr.com. And on a related note, the origin of the “Demi” name you’ll see people refer to every once in a while.
“The lows are low, but the highs are home” is a quote from the song Chasing Hamburg by Polar Bear Club, the title track from their 2009 album. Apparently the song is about one specific gig they played in Hamburg, the idea being that it was an awesome show and they’re “chasing” that kind of fantastic feeling. What I took from that specific line was sometimes life is shitty, but that’s not the point - you’re living for the high points, which more than make up for the lows. It’s not just optimism for the future, it’s having the resilience to deal with the crappy stuff on the way.
“lamattgrind” is an anagram of my first and last names, in the sense of “this is about the daily grind of my life.” University is a bit less monotonous than high school was at times, but it’s still pretty grind-y. Go to class, study before going to the next class, repeat once or twice before going home. Then prepare for tomorrow’s classes. It’s not so bad, but there’s a definite predictability to it. Which sounds pretty depressing, but it’s not actually that bad.
As for the Demi thing, that’s a bit of a longer story, but I’ll try to skip the boring parts. A few years ago, I stumbled upon a browser based game called MonBre. You needed to pick a first and last name for your player character, so I went with “Rakki Lesthys” - the names of two characters I’d used in a story a long time ago, and continued to use in party based RPGs. Eventually I decided to change to a more masculine name, and at work grabbed inspiration from a box of pastries. “Demi Lune” seemed like a great name at the time, despite being more feminine in retrospect and thus defeating the purpose of the change. As I became close friends with the creator of MonBre, a certain Vael Victus, he decided I qualified for adoption into the Victus family and the name changed to Demi Victus.
Did you want to know any of these things? Probably not, but now you do! I’d planned to do a similar post on the origins of all my various interests and hobbies, which would either be far more interesting or far more boring. If I get the itch to finish that, you’ll see it when it’s done.
Now that I’ve started tagging my posts, I’m getting followers from random corners of the ‘net who are probably only interested in one portion of what I post. Unfortunately, this isn’t a dedicated gaming blog or a blog about anime or any one specific thing. It’s my personal blog, so it’s only about those things insofar as they’re a part of who I am. I wouldn’t bother to follow someone if I wasn’t interested in most of their posts, but that’s just the way I do things.
As I’ve mentioned before, this isn’t some expertly curated internet persona. I’m not trying to present some ideal version of myself and get thousands of readers. I’m just sharing myself with anyone that’s interested, including my flaws (not that I have many… right?!). Looking back, there are some posts that I probably shouldn’t have made, and a number that I wouldn’t have bothered to make now. But that’s ok, because they’re wholly representative of who I was when I wrote them. I can read them and remember how I felt at the time or think about how much I’ve changed.
Just keep that in mind if you ever decide to brave my archives.
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On an unrelated note, I’m starting to feel a bit guilty about how I’ve been spending my time lately. Having failed spectacularly thus far to establish a new circle of friends in Ottawa, I’ve got nothing to do other than hang out by myself and do whatever I feel like doing. Watch a bit of anime, play three different games for an hour each, whatever. It hasn’t been particularly stressful, but it’s not like I’m having the time of my life.
I’m looking at forcing myself to do something productive, but I… don’t really want to. I guess I should mention that, for better or for worse, I do have a job. More on that later. It doesn’t start until July, though, so I’ve got some time to relax. Should I really spend that time working on something I don’t really want to do, like learning C? I guess that could help me get a job next summer. But I have a hard time caring right now. I don’t think I’d feel particularly fulfilled if I were working on that. Which is what I’m looking for, really - something I can be proud to have accomplished. Just not sure what that is at the moment.
You’re expecting a lengthy diatribe, right? For once, you’re (mostly) wrong!
I’ve used the terms “better” and “for the most part” several times in this review, and I think those two terms sum up inFAMOUS 2 well. It’s not perfect, and it’s not quite a great game, but it’s better than its predecessor and for the most part very good. It’s a game with plenty of enjoyable content, and it’s one you won’t regret buying. It is, quite simply, a good time.
That’s the ending paragraph of the review, and here’s the score: 87/100. I played the first inFamous, and here’s what I’ll say about it: it’s your average third person adventure title. After playing the demo of inFamous 2, I have this to say: it’s still your average third person adventure title. But now it’s a sequel. I doubt I’ll even rent it, because I’ve got other, fantastic games to play.
So why is this game, one that’s pretty much average, not quite great, but still pretty fun, getting 87/100? Why is every review it receives going to give it an 8 or 9, with the most blasphemous heathens stooping to a 7? Ask any self-respecting critic, in any other medium, what score they’d give to something fun, but not quite great. They’ll probably say 6 or 7. And they’re right. It’s game reviewers who are wrong.
I’ve been holding off on a link-based post for a while because I’ve had more interesting things to post, but now I really need to clear out my bookmarks, so here’s a giant pile of awesome stuff for you!
Anime:
Assorted Lifehacker stuff:
Gaming:
There’s a site I found a few years back called MetalStorm, and every year they take user suggestions in various categories for “best of” awards, which are then voted on by the users. In the first few months of the new year, results go up, and I find lots of great new music. It’s a great system!
In Mourning is one of the bands I found there after their first album, Shrouded Divine, came up as number 11 on the top 20 for 2008. I feel like their second album, Monolith, was on a genre-related best of list, as well, but can’t seem to find it. Anyway, I liked Monolith enough to very seriously consider buying it, which is something I never do. I mean, I own three CDs.
Listening to the first song from Monolith today, I decided it was high time these guys got their own post. So here it is! The song’s called For You To Know, and the lyrics are here, although if you listen to the song you’ll probably realize I didn’t catch most of it. So don’t read too much into it! Just enjoy the sweet, sweet sound of metal.
[Apparently I wrote this when I was 12, for some school project I think. If you’re interested, google Halifax Explosion. It’s pretty short, but enjoy it while it lasts!]
The wind,
The snow,
The bitter cold,
None can hide, the
Devastation, the sorrow.
The Lord shall visit
Halifax to take the
Innocent to
Heaven.
A daughter crying,
A Mothers tragic fate,
A Fathers heartfelt wish
for an end to this war
Three years fought.
Babes cry, adults weep,
Families are torn apart,
Shattered like the windows
In their homes.
There’s a very, very fine line between “really clever” and “too clever to be true” when it comes to critical analysis. Whether it’s a book, a game, or a film, a lot of so-called brilliant people cook up some ridiculous theses and wind up on the wrong side of that line. On the other hand, people unfamiliar with critical analysis tend to assume it’s all nonsense, but that’s no better - there are a lot of good things to be said about themes and metaphors even when they weren’t a part of the author’s intent.
Critical analysis of games is still in a weird position right now, because most people - and most gamers, too - don’t accept the idea that gameplay can be used to convey meaning. The other problem is that gaming lacks a lot of the specialized terms and knowledge that other mediums have developed, so analysis of games tend to be done through a literary or film-centric lens. So it’s a real treat to find analysis of the actual interactive part of a game, not just its narrative or themes.
Revisited: Final Fantasy IX’s Mechanics of Identity by Joseph Leray (of Destructoid and Electric Hydra fame) is one of those rare pieces that actually gets mainstream exposure. I’m sure there’s plenty of critical analysis going on somewhere, but it’s certainly not getting published on Destructoid and Kotaku and driving millions of hits. Which is a real shame. FF IX Revisited is a “really clever” piece, and it’s pretty well grounded in actual evidence and logical conclusions. So it’s sad to see the couple of comments saying “sorry, but you’re full of shit, it’s just a game man.”
What makes FF IX Revisited so great is that it has a limited focus and plenty of good evidence for its arguments. Identity formation and social roles are sensible themes that could even have been intentional - unlike most of what people say about Catcher in the Rye. In the comments, Joseph says at one point that the really fascinating part isn’t that FF IX does something new or exciting with its narrative or gameplay - just that “the two parts reflect off of each other so seamlessly.” That, right there, is the whole point - the ludic elements (gameplay) have an actual meaning, and a real connection to the narrative component.
Most games have no ludic meaning beyond simple power fantasy, and that’s because they’re designed to convey fun to the player, not meaning. Games are what they are because they’re interactive and systematic, and if we don’t use these unique properties for any good purpose, we’re wasting the incredible potential of the medium. Film didn’t become a respected medium in its own right on the basis of well-written dialogue (writing) or acting (plays) - it was the unique possibilities provided by the medium that proved film could be art.
In the United States, games are now legally considered art. The thing about critical analysis is that it requires you to look at something as more than just a simple piece of media, and that’s what we need in the gaming press right now. Film and book critics are expected mainly to do critical analysis, while gaming critics simply aren’t. Because the popular press spreads the idea that there’s a deeper meaning to everything, it’s a lot easier for people to accept a film or book as a work of art. The more we get pieces like FF IX Revisited on big name sites, the closer we’ll be to mainstream acceptance.
vael:
Now Demi, do you really think I could pull off such a ruse as a game design? You may remember in the beginning of my envisioning for game 3 that I said “stealing a soul in game 3 is different than in EBZ, because you would actually be doing it”. The fact you can even *actually* do anything is enough to be interested because it instantly adds that fact to the narrative. “I went there, and THEN I talked to the person.” Instead of clicking on the storylet that tells you you did. “Casing” a place to rob may not be too different from EBZ, but how could it be? How much do I develop just to, what, perhaps make casing a bit more interesting, when there’s pickpocketing, lockpicking, and arson available to the player?
As I said, RPGs are “raising bars” along to a storyline, and while some gameplay is just so damned interesting that you simply must continue playing, (see your latest addiction to final fantasy’s job system) I’m not creating those kinds of systems. I’m slowly leaning towards more and more story-driven gameplay, but that doesn’t mean I’m neglecting the fact that I am still making a game. EBZ is wonderful, but we both know it’s not much of a game, and that being true has even made its players (players?!) question what a game truly is.
While you say “actually doing it” as opposed to “the game telling you that you did it,” they’re pretty much the same - except in the case of “actually doing it,” you have to click a few extra links. In Echo Bazaar, you click “investigate the reporter” and then some text comes up to tell you that you followed the guy and overhead a suspicious conversation. It feels kind of hollow, because it’s pre-baked stuff you’ve simply unlocked by pressing the right button, but if you really care about the story then it’s usually ok. I think most people will agree that this isn’t a very good mechanic, but I also think that most people will find something to like in Echo Bazaar, so it succeed fairly often.
When you’re “actually doing something,” it seems like it would be more like this: you click “follow the reporter!” and then “hide around the corner!” and then “eavesdrop on the conversation”? You’d get more or less the same text, but broken up into three parts. It would make the game more interactive, in theory - there would have to be other options along the way, so you have better control of what happens. In this case, success or failure is on your choices as the player, not random chance. But I don’t think it would be inherently better than what Echo Bazaar does. As a player, it’s hardly more interesting and you just have to press extra buttons to get what you need. As the creator, it radically increases the amount of “content” you need to make for all the different options. So it’s a question of execution.
The distinction has merit, though, because the same thing comes up in a lot of dialogue based games - in Mass Effect, or LA Noire, you’re given small snippets or themes of dialogue to choose from. Then the writers put the rest of the words in your character’s mouth. So you’re talking to a suspect in LA Noire, and you pick “doubt” because you have a little feeling of doubt - and suddenly your character is outright accusing the suspect, potentially losing their trust or making them angry. And that sucks, because you, as the player, didn’t mean for your character to do that. The problem here is that your interactive role as the player isn’t perfect - you just give vague directions to the character and the writers fill in the rest.
I haven’t actually played LA Noire myself, but I’ve been reading about it and I’ve listened to a number of podcasts about it. From my understanding, a lot of the “gameplay” is pretty terrible - the driving sucks, the shooting sucks, the interrogation is a bit iffy, and so on. But solving mysteries is really fun and really interesting. Enough to make up for every other fault the game has. Essentially, the game is carried entirely by its atmosphere and story, so even though the mechanics suck it’s completely worth playing.
(As a side note, a lot of people who are really into gaming as a medium have argued against LA Noire being a “good” game, and rightfully so. Its strong points are borrowed from other mediums, and it’s probably the current pinnacle of “interactive movie” games. But that just means we don’t need to make more games like LA Noire. I think it’s a great opportunity to learn about what people enjoy, and what they’re willing to pay for. A game that isn’t about action can actually be successful - that’s a strong message for publishers. And if every game told a story as well as LA Noire…)
So the point of all that is this: if you’re telling a great story, and your players are engaged despite the simple mechanics for delivering it, things will probably work out. Grinding in Echo Bazaar is completely boring for the player because it’s a simple mechanic and nothing beyond that. But being involved in some grand mystery at the Shuttered Palace, or talking to suspects (in the Rubbery Murders content you buy with Fate) is super cool, and unlocking things like Stormy Eyed feels rewarding despite the mechanics. It all works because you’re engaged, and that should be the ultimate goal of every mechanic in a game.
(My points about LA Noire comes from a number of podcasts (Destructoid’s Podtoid, The Escapist Podcast, Japanator’s Japanator AM, The Electric Hydra) but I don’t have the exact episode numbers, and also this article on GameFront)