By Arclayn on December 5th, 2009 under RPG, X360, PC,
In all my years of gaming, and they are many (over two decades!), I have never seen a game as controversial, but at the same time possessing as much distilled awesome as
Mass Effect
Being an American, I do not know how well this game was received in Europe. But in America, I do know that
Mass Effect was the centerpiece of a gargantuan hoax that was shamefully propogated by a major news outlet. After that, the PC release became embroiled in a very real controversy involving Digital Rights Management that was exceptionally harsh and unfair to paying customers. It's all very sad, doubly so as this game is amazing!
First and foremost,
Mass Effect is an action RPG, but it is unlike any RPG normally seen in the console mainstream. Indeed,
Bioware,
Mass Effect's creators, got their start making games (and software game engines!) for the PC. Bioware's first foray into console game development is with
MDK2 for the Sega Dreamcast and Playstation 2, but it won't be until the publication of
Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic on the original Xbox that Bioware shall truly break ground in console video games.
Anyone who has played
Knights of the Old Republic or
Jade Empire should already be familiar at how very different Bioware's presentation style really is. Those who have been following Bioware since its early days making PC games (like myself) have seen this style evolve brilliantly over 10+ years, having started with
Baldur's Gate back in 1998!
As an RPG, the first question expected would be, "Is the story any good?" Absolutely, the story is excellent.
Mass Effect is a space opera with all the requisites: space, spaceships, extra-terrestial worlds, lots of aliens (and not all of them hostile!), warfare, and even some intergalactic politics. As with any RPG,
Mass Effect is driven by its story. Aside from being really well written,
Mass Effect also tries to explain its pseudo-scientific elements in enough detail to be "believable", but not too much to confuse players. This game is deep and detailed, although what truly sets this game apart is how the story is presented.
For starters, you have the option to custom-create the protagonist, who is a space marine simply named "Commander Shepard". Shepard is completely customizable... gender, military specialty, background, and you can even customize his/her face! Facial customization is quite complex as just about every facial feature can be altered. As no two protagonists need to be anything alike, this gives the player a stronger sense of being in the game. Among those who choose to customize their protagonist, each player's "Commander Shepard" is their very own. The others who wish to jump right in can instead select a "pre-generated" John Shepard or Jane Shepard.
Unlike most video game protagonists, Commander Shepard is not a slave to video game fate. He/she must make many choices before his/her mission is over, and these are not the simple black-and-white "yes or no" questions. Ohhh no no! Shepard has to make
real choices with
real consequences! This is the kind of game that puts "
Role-
Playing" back into "RPG".
The concept may sound intimidating to the Square-Enix initiated, but it is this dymanic of being able to choose that sets
Mass Effect (and most other Bioware RPGs) apart from the crowd! Understand that there are really no right or wrong answers. For starters, Shepard's responses allow him/her to grow as a character. Will Shepard become a cool-headed professional, or will Shepard become the kind of tough and hardened marine that even scares the grim reaper? To choose the path of
paragon or
renegade is entirely up the the player, and they are not mutually exclusive attitudes! There is no real good and evil here, so every marine is likely to achieve at least a dash of one trait, even while favoring the other.
Aside from character growth, some of Commander Shepard's choices will have consequences that affect the story. Keep in mind, again, there are no right or wrong choices, but some of Shepard's choices can have far reaching ramifications. So far reaching, they extend beyond one game and into two! Keep your old save games, so sayeth Casey Hudson (project director)! The choices made in the first game can be ported to affect the story of
Mass Effect 2! Obviously, you don't have to have an old savegame to play
Mass Effect 2, but I expect that having them could possibly alter the game compared to "generating" a new Commander Shepard. Talk about potential replay value!
Mass Effect is available on Xbox360 and the PC. The PC version has a questionable license agreement involving an oppressive digital rights management policy, but it also has gameplay improvements over its older Xbox360 brother. Even still, the Xbox360 version doesn't come with any special strings attached, and as such is the version I recommend most.
Last I read,
Mass Effect 2 is slated for an early 2010 release on Xbox360 and PC under the Electronic Arts brand. I have no idea how that release date relates to gamers in Europe, though. Hopefully, it'll be a simultaneous international release.
Arclayn MoonSword
By Tania on November 26th, 2009 under RPG, X360, PS3, The Tales series is a notorious victim of patchy videogame export. I’m not sure why yet, as I’ve only played 2 of them so far, but my guess would be that 1) it’s not Final Fantasy, and therefore, export tends to just forget about it, 2) it’s a bit too anime-y for the general public. I can’t argue with that last one: both Tales of Symphonia and Tales of Vesperia suffer from a few annoying anime clichés and are full of large-eyed androgynous characters. But Final Fantasy, the big favourite of the RPG world, isn’t totally exempt from those either, and yet, it’s the Tales series that usually gets the blame. Which is a shame, because it also has undeniable qualities.
Symphonia was a big hit, both in the US and Europe, and I was hoping for a similar experience when I bought Tales of Vesperia. “Similar” is right, as Symphonia veterans will definitely get a ladleful of déjà-vu: Estelle, the heroine, is almost a carbon copy of Colette (even down to the French names), Karol is extremely reminiscent of Genis, Judith is a calmer version of Sheena, and Raven, a kinder Zelos. Many of the sidequests return (Fell Arms, waitressing, quiz, hot springs), you still get titles and costumes for your characters, and some plot points are blatantly reused. But while this may not bode very well for the developers’ inventiveness, and while Symphonia still comes out on top by comparison—if only because it came first, and because it featured Kratos—, Vesperia is, nevertheless, lots of fun.
The most positive aspects of the game are the battle system and (some of) the characterization. The former is the usual Tales fare: a party of 4, of which you control one, the others being all up for grabs in multiplayer mode; otherwise, the AI takes care of them, and does a pretty good job of it too (except for Estelle…). 
You can give the AI suggestions with various Strategy settings, telling it to prioritize attack, healing, etc. Battles take place on a circular 3D field, where you can move freely. Each character has their own weapon type, as well as *oodles* of special attacks, which are activated by controller shortcuts (A + a direction on the left stick for the controlled character’s moves, for example), and which they learn either by levelling up, from storyline events, or by using previously learned attacks a certain number of times. Each attack is associated with a colour: use that colour enough times, and you’ll be given a chance to perform a Fatal Strike, which will instantly kill any non-boss enemy, and give you bonuses at the end of the fight. Each fight is graded according to your performance, and the accumulated points can then be used at the end of the game to purchase stuff for subsequent replays. Characters also learn various skills from their equipment (think FFIX). All in all, everything related to battle is a real pleasure: fluid, customizable, fast-paced and fun.
As for the characters, Yuri is a genuine breath of fresh air among video game heroes. His appearance already gives you a hint as to what to expect: he’s dressed entirely in black. And he doesn’t take crap from anyone. Cynical, confident and level-headed, with no trace of insecurity, he abhors cheesiness of any sort and enjoys his smartass comments, which he gets abundant occasions to dispense. He also has his own idea of right and wrong, and you might be a tad shocked when you see this in action; I know I was. The developers have undoubtedly made a bold choice with him, and I really wouldn’t have it any other way. Oh, and his voice actor is a very good fit.
The other big highlight is Raven. I thoroughly enjoy my comic relief, when it’s well-handled, and he definitely delivers in spades. He’s no Jansen (of Lost Odyssey fame; the closest available comparison and the best comic relief I’ve ever seen in a video game), but dammit, does he try. Among his most noteworthy achievements is his take on the classic “our weapons are…” end-of-battle quote, which Symphonia players will most likely remember. Trust me, it’s hilarious; if you’re not planning to play the game, at least take a look here. And if the humour wasn’t enough, Raven also gets the best backstory of the lot, hands down. His only downside would be the learning curve required to effectively use him in battle, if you’re ever inclined to control him yourself, as his fighting style is decidedly odd. 
This is a trait he shares with Judith, who, while nowhere near his level of awesomeness, or Yuri’s, is my third favourite among the cast, and is part of the rare breed of sensible, intelligent, easygoing female video game characters.
Now on to the less positive points. First of all, a peeve which is related to the Xbox 360 as a whole: the achievements. I understand that you’re in no way required to unlock them all, but for completionists like me, it can be very frustrating. And the achievements for Vesperia require at least 2 playthroughs. I like the game, but there’s still something annoying in the fact that you’re basically forced to replay it.
Secondly, the storyline is rather uninspiring, stock RPG fare: blah-blah...sacrificial female character...blah-blah...ancient menace that tries to destroy the world...blah-blah...humans are doing bad things to the planet. In its early stages, it also suffers from the characters’ indecisiveness: they keep trying to go their own ways, only to reunite, often instants later. They then decide on a goal, and proceed to do scores of completely unrelated things before they remember what they were supposed to be doing in the first place. Fortunately, this improves by the end of the game.
Thirdly, we have the rest of the cast. I frequently found myself wanting to smash Rita’s and Estelle’s heads together. Rita is a scolding hag, even though she’s only 15: she’s unbearably arrogant, her voice is annoying, and she gets angry on a regular basis, which is expressed by a healthy dose of yelling and smacking Karol around. I don’t like children in video games, but that kinda made me feel sorry for the poor kid as the story wore on. As for Estelle, it’s the same deal as with Colette: ENOUGH with the sickeningly naïve goody-two-shoes with whiny voices who constantly need rescuing, protecting and reassuring, I beg you!! Other than that, well, Repede’s a dog. A cool dog who fights with a katana, but still a dog.
And last, but not least, the TERRIBLE marketing strategy displayed by Namco-Bandai (or Bamco). The game originally came out for Xbox 360…only to get a port to PS3, which apparently includes not only 2 more playable characters, but also significant additions to both the storyline and the sidequests. Heck, from what I’ve seen, it’s almost a completely new game. And not only was this announced very shortly after the game was released, but the PS3 port is apparently due to make its way out of Japan as well. I’m not particularly interested in the new characters, but a more fleshed out storyline could’ve been nice. Bad move there, Bamco, bad move.
All in all, though, I’m pretty happy with Vesperia. Despite what may be wrong with it (and that includes bland music), it’s entertaining enough to warrant seeing it through to the end, and has replay value. If you’re looking for a good RPG for your Xbox 360, and have either already played Lost Odyssey, or aren’t a fan of turn-based combat, look no further.
By Brian on November 21th, 2009 under NDS, RPG, 
So this is what the blue hedgehog is reduced to? A copycat?
It's become public knowledge by now that Nintendo has indeed won the console war that began in the early 1990s. For those of you that weren't even theoretical yet, or maybe just starting out in life, it was an epic war. A war that spanned many years, games, and spawned many memorable commercials. It was an all-out war between Nintendo and Sega—Mario and Sonic fighting for supremacy in a world that was seeing Nintendo lose its iron hold on the video gaming industry and creating rifts amongst gamers who now had split allegiances. The war spanned for most of the '90s, until finally, with the downfall of Sega's Dreamcast, combined with the sudden new popularity that upstarts Sony and Microsoft amassed, the first console war ended—game, set, and match, Nintendo. All the proof you need is found on video game shelves in stores everywhere—Sonic is now seen in Nintendo games; hell, he and Mario have now in been in several games together.
To the victor goes the spoils, they say, and with Nintendo now Sonic's master, this once-proud icon of hip, cool, awesome, and super speed, has been reduced to lapdog; the last few years have not been kind to the hedgehog. Games starring the blue ball of speed have been critical and commercial failures, despite Sega's best efforts to maintain Sonic's former glory. Sega seemed to have forgotten what made Sonic great—a simple story that involved nothing more than 2D side-scrolling action, collecting rings, Chaos Emeralds, and fighting the annoying Dr. Robotnik and another of his evil robotic incarnations—a game without many bells, whistles, frills, extras, and plot. You knew what had to be done and went through level by level. There were no stories to remember, no plot points to follow. The additions of Tails and Knuckles proved useful and fun, especially if you were playing multi-player. Alas, these days have long since passed.
With Sonic reduced to nothing more than a laughingstock now, Sega has been trying to find ways to get them back toward making Sonic relevant again, and so they've begun to see what Nintendo's done with Mario. Mario has been in all sorts of situations and stories, many of them meeting with success—one such situation was that of an RPG. Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars for the Super Nintendo was a critical success. Mario, for the first time, could be played alongside a cast of characters in an RPG setting, complete with all the mechanics one could expect. How awesome! Being able to customize and level up Mario to the point where you could blow Bowser to oblivion! But wait! In a surprise twist, Bowser JOINS Mario on his quest!
For Mario's first foray into RPG-land, Nintendo turned to none other than Square (now Square Enix) to make the game. Giving the task of making an RPG to the company that's amassed billions of dollars making Final Fantasy games was an excellent decision, and they did not disappoint. Sega, now in 2009, saw that, and decided that it was Sonic's time to star in his first RPG. So Sega turned to another company with great success in RPGs. The company was Bioware, famous for games like Mass Effect, Jade Empire, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, and the Baldur's Gate series. It was to BioWare that Sega charged with the task of making a Sonic RPG—and please, make it good.
Do they? Find out next week when I post Part 2.
By Tania on November 10th, 2009 under Action/Adventure, GC, I know this site has seen more than its fair share of Metal Gear-related stuff not so long ago, but finally getting my hands on The Twin Snakes, after all the hype, was quite a momentous experience. If I was somewhat apprehensive about Assassin’s Creed in the combat department, the feeling was at least doubled concerning the Metal Gear series. In hindsight of the first game, I can say that most of my fears were confirmed, but they were also, to a great extent, compensated.
I picked Twin Snakes on Joshie’s special recommendation, as he said that the controls would be more user-friendly than in the original…Well, if that was user-friendly, then I don’t even want to imagine what the PSX version was like. Seriously, it took me about 5 resets to get through the first area of the game, simply because of the clunkiness of the controls. First of all, the radar is tiny, and in situations where there’s a walkway guarded by a surveillance camera above you, for example, it’s practically IMPOSSIBLE to see the camera’s field of vision from below. Things like that really make sneaking around a chore. As does the preternatural hearing prowess of the soldiers, when coupled with metallic floors and the *wonderful* precision of the Gamecube joystick. Secondly, who the hell came up with the button combinations? I swear, you have to take notes in order to be able to hold someone up. It doesn’t help that, being a completionist, I simply *had* to go dog tag hunting. Another one on the dodgy manoeuver list was the “jump-out shot”: don’t think I’ve ever managed to do one. And lastly, a massive “screw you” goes out to Vulcan Raven (for both the fights involving him) and to Liquid’s fisticuff techniques (“Ima hitchu!...NOT!”).
But the compensation for the sketchiness of the controls and battle mechanics comes in the form of the storyline and characters. I’ve yet to discover whether this is a trait shared by all MGS games, but I can definitely say that the single defining characteristic of The Twin Snakes is its ability to be deadly serious and completely ridiculous at the same time. People may tell you that the game is epic. I’ll tell you that this is exactly why it’s epic.
Examples abound. Take Snake himself, for example. Yes, he’s a badass who can take out an entire military facility and a nuke-laden tank all on his own (multiple times). But then, he comes up with the following gems:
Campbell: “We have to destroy Metal Gear.”
Snake: “Metal Gear?”
Anderson: “There’s a PAL code.”
Snake: “PAL code?”
Otacon: “You can call me Otacon.”
Snake: “Otacon?”
And so on. I swear that Naomi’s little pre-mission nano-cocktail—which, among other things, was supposed to improve Snake’s mental abilities—had reverse effects. However, on a different note, I was surprised at his readiness to hit on just about anything with a pair of boobs. I always figured he’d be more of the “outta my way, woman” kind, not the “hey babe, how you doin’?” one, and certainly not the “zomg, getcha hands offa my ladeh!” one. I didn’t expect him to become such a sucker for Meryl. And I certainly didn’t expect the astounding display of terminal cheesiness that was the ‘proper’ ending of the game (“the caribou are beautiful in the spring, Meryl”). Heck, it almost felt out-of-character to me, even after having had the whole game to get used to him.
Two other beautiful examples can be found in the fights against Revolver Ocelot and Psycho Mantis. The first one, a cowboy-styled maniac gun virtuoso who has just tortured a poor guy within an inch of his life and rigged him with explosives, introduces himself by going: “Revolver…*twirls his gun*…*twirls it some more*…*flips it over his shoulder*…*twirls it for about 3 more minutes* …Ocelot”. The other, a creepy, emaciated, mind-reading, telekinetic freak who completely shatters the disturbing aura that’s been building up around him by going “you seem to like The Legend of Zelda”, breaking the 4th wall and smattering the entire fight with references to the game’s developers, such as the infamous Hideo Blackout.
Some more examples include Meryl’s 180° turn from “I wanna be a soldier! And I’m not interested in men!” to “War is bad! Snake, let’s go get it on instead!” within about 30 minutes, or the over-the-top theatricality of the second confrontation with Sniper Wolf. And to continue the list, we have multiple allegiance-reversals throughout the game, voice acting that is legendarily bad at times (I’m looking at you, Liquid…not that Snake himself is much less guilty of it), poor Otacon, Johnny Sasaki, the ghost pictures, and the whole *cue Jack Black in Tribute* “it was destinyyyy!” feel of the final boss fight. To end with a flourish, some questions that will never have an answer: why is Sniper Wolf the only one with an accent, when the other 3 members of Foxhound you meet are all Russian? Also, why does she look like a natural blonde when she’s supposedly a Kurd? And what the hell is “shalashaska”? Cuz it certainly ain’t in any Russian I know.
Regardless of what may appear as outright bashing, I’d say that playing Twin Snakes was something of an equivalent to watching a good ol’ Bond film, complete with Russian/Brit villains and a good ol’ nuclear plot: so much to make fun of, but so thoroughly entertaining at the same time. I’ll certainly be continuing with the series, and all my failings at action games be damned.
By Arclayn on October 30th, 2009 under General, Technology, Cross posted to Arclayn's Live Journal.
I have a college degree in computer science. I sought the degree because of my interest in video games. All video games are run on computers and the games themselves are built by engineers as well as artists.
I really don't know how interested LTTP readers are in actual technology, but I do know that most video game periodicals, both in print and online, are full of misinformation about technology. Many publishers enjoy kicking up speculation to get their audiences excited. That helps get readership numbers up. However, no matter how "authentic" an article within such periodicals seems "true" one must remember that most of these periodicals are written by English majors, not computer experts. Often times, the information is half-correct which only makes matters even more confusing.
It doesn't help that some video game manufacturers love to play what I call the "tech spec" game. It's a marketing strategy where PR reps will talk meaningless statistics to the press in an (usually successful) attempt to excite the crowd to buy a game system. Every game system manufacturer does this to some extent. Sometimes, a marketing team will invent a cool sounding, but ultimately meaningless technology "buzz phrase" to promote their product (*cough* "Blast Processing!" *cough*).
If there is something that anyone has read about video game technology, and would like expert clarification on, let me know. I can write an article here on LTTP or make a post on my Livejournal. As I do not see direct feedback messages (that's Joshie's domain), I guess the best way for anyone to leave me a request is to leave a comment on my latest LTTP article, or leave a comment on my Livejournal.
I'm not going to make some ridiculous claim of being "truly unbiased". The irony is that kind of talk is all matter of opinion, anyway. What I will do is try to give as fair an assessment as I can. Despite my best intentions, I expect that these topics will eventually hit some fanboy/fangirl's nerve. I am not doing this to "get at" anybody. I'm simply tired of the rumor-mill driving gamers' senses for years upon years. For that, I remind everyone that ultimately it's the games that are truly important! It is why we are gamers! But for the record, I do play games on nearly every major platform, except for those that are financially out of my reach... No thanks to this global recession and my shrinking income! Also, I am a rare breed of gamer who willingly (and enjoyingly!) crosses cultural boundries to play games on both consoles and PCs! (GASP!)
In summary, I do have a professional computer technology background, so what I will do is try to have my information straight, instead of regurgitating popular opinion.
Arclayn MoonSword
P.S. Just a little fun trivia... Can anyone name from what video game devices that the two pictures are from? I admit the 2nd pic is really vague and certainly the more difficult of the two.
