Rambling/Rant about Bioshock 2

So I finally finished up Bioshock2 the other day. By finish, I mean I got all the achievement points available (1000/1000). And my overall feelings on the game are pretty mixed.

On the one hand, it was a pretty good game. On the other hand, aside from a few improvements, its the exact same game as the first game. You do the same things over a similar set of levels for a similar length of the time, with the only major difference is that you get a helper at the end.

The overall story is indeed shoe-horned into the setting. The new big-bad was written in as a second nutbar the cities' founder was dealing with at the same time as the guy from the first game, who got conveniently locked away and forgotten about during said first game. And just what is the new big-bad trying to do? Make the most altruistic person in the world, ever, by turning her own daughter into effing St. Alia of the Knife the Abomination (from Frank Herbert's original Dune series). How does that work, exactly? Admittedly, the game takes place before the series would have been written. But then, if it had, why would anyone there have read it? The original story is supposed to be an homage/satire of Ayn Rand (whose work I haven't read) and Objectivist methodology (something I haven't studied).

What really gets me though, is the multiplayer portion of the game. Thematically, it takes place during the civil war that preceded the first game, but in the end its just a standard multiplayer in a game that doesn't need it. Okay, don't get me wrong here, the multiplayer IS NOT bad, its actually pretty decent. That being said, there is no reason for it expect to mark off a feature on the back of the game case. Free-for-all Deathmatch, Team Deathmatch, Capture the Flag (with variants), Territories (which doesn't even tally end-of-match scores properly), they have different names, but those are the modes.

They stole the idea of multiple loadouts, unlocks, and perks from CoD. The only real new thing that changes how things happen are the hacking, researching, and plasmids. Hacking and plasmids are okay, they make things interesting, researching though, feels like a bit of a game-breaker at times. Hell, the plasmids can be too, when combined with the right weapons. And here's the big thing, most of them are useless. There are 7 or 8 weapons and plasmids, and once a player completes the challenges associated with each of them, they move on and then you will only ever see the FIRST 3 weapons AND plasmids that you unlock (okay, maybe a little bit of exaggeration on the weapons part). Oh, and if you're fast and/or lucky, you can become a Rosie-type Big Daddy. It can also be a gamebreaker, especially at lower ranks.

And that brings me to my final, and biggest problem. The grinding, and the multiplayer achievements that go with them. Multiplayer achievements are a problem. In games like CoD:MW, and BF:BC2, where, where multiplayer is the primary draw of the game, you can get away with them, because people will be playing those games online for a long time to come. For something like this... no. This game, like others with unneeded multiplayer, will have a community at launch, but 6 months later will only be populated by the latecomers and the hardest of the hardcore. Now, to the devs credit, none of the achievements are hard, but the ones gained for ranking up require grinding XP.

And grinding is this game's multiplayer. Its unbearable. 10 Points. Everything is worth 10 Points. Kill an enemy? 10 Points. Hack/Research? 10 Points? You only get more points by getting Killstreaks, becoming the Big Daddy, or killing the Big Daddy, none of which happen that often unless you're pointlessly too good for the game. Only completing the challenges truly helps getting the XP better. Couple that with needing 97,000 XP to get to Rank 40 (Rank 50 only exists if you're a sucker who wants to waste $5...), and the game's netcode being complete crap. I've had (and I'm not alone in this either) Host Disconnect's freeze my XBox. Why? Seriously, why is my XBox freezing on an internet disconnect?

I don't know. I just know the multiplayer ended up being mentally painful for me. Alot of it feels unfair if you don't know how to game it (or you just suck, like I sometimes do...). And I'm glad I'm done with it. More time to play other, more important, games.

My picks of the year?

Really meant to do this earlier, but I'd been kept indisposed. Sometimes you just can't get away from the friend that doesn't know how keep his mouth closed long enough for you to tell him to do so...

Anyways.

Here are my picks of the year. They might be in line with other people's, they might not. And not everything will be from this past year. Mostly, but not entirely. If anyone reading this likes my picks, great. If not, remember this is my opinion, not yours. And if you try to pull that "Well your opinion is wrong." shit, well then you can go fuck yourself. And one last note, this is based on what I've seen and played, and I haven't seen or played everything.

Favorite Games (no particular order)

Borderlands

Batman: Arkham Asylum

Deadspace

Deadspace: Extraction

Halo ODST

Super Mario Brothers Wii

Muramasa: Demon Blade

Favorite Movies (no particular order)

Star Trek

District 9

Inglorious Basterds

Avatar

Corarline

Monsters Vs. Aliens

Zombieland

Favorite Books (no particular order)

Infoquake - David Louis Edelman

The Quiet War - Paul McAuley

Consider Phlebas - Iain M. Banks

Grass for His Pillow - Lian Hearn

Other Favorite Stuff (no particular order)

Warehouse 13

Venture Brothers season 4

Doctor Horrible's Sing-a-long Blog

Deadpool

Radical Comics

Worst Games (not necessarily bad, just disappointing) (no particular order)

Cross Edge (went over this one before)

Overlord II (average)

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (single-player gameplay is okay, but the writing was the biggest sack of shit outside of Transformers 2)

Star Ocean (combat good, but the characters look like dolls, the VA work and writing are pretty crap)

Worst Movies (no particular order)

Transformers 2: Revenge of the Fallen (only good thing about it is the Robot Chicken skit "Michael Bay presents 'EXPLOSIONS!!!'")

Worst Books (not necessarily bad, just disappointing) (no particular order)

Crossover - Joel Shepard (couldn't get into it)

Godspeaker trilogy - Karen Miller (found almost all of the characters unlikable on some level or another, and depictions of fanatical religious devotion is a loaded subject these days too)

The Difference Engine - Bruce Sterling and William Gibson (what was the point of the story?)

Looking Forward to Next Year (no particular order)

Geosynchron (book) - David Louis Edelmann

Gardens of the Sun (book) - Paul McAuley

Mass Effect 2 (game)

Final Fantasy XVI (game)

Iron Man 2 (movie)

Shutter Island (movie)

Those lists are a whole bunch of crap, aren't they? Whatever. That's what I've got for now. :P

Games I would have/have not...

...paid full price for.

Some games are good, some bad, most average. If you're sure they're good, you buy them day one (or shortly thereafter). If they're bad, they hit the local gamestop/used-game retailer just as fast. If you're just not sure, then you wait until it drops in price, or a cheap used copy. Regardless of how you play it, you find most are or aren't worth full price.

Things I paid less than full price for, but would have paid full price:

1) Deadspace: Okay, I'm not big on horror media in general, though I've watched enough to know how it all works. Space horror works on me. Of the horror movies that I've seen, Alien and Event Horizon are the only ones that actually scared me beyond the standard-issue "spring-loaded cat" moments, and I like those movies. Most other horror movies, ehhh... not so much. And even though it uses the Doom-style monster closet spawns, it still has the atmosphere those two movies had. Scared the crap out of me first playthrough, while going through with powered up weapons wasn't so bad. Then I played on the hardest difficulty. Yeah... I ended up listening to a podcast most of the way through, the enemies were so much harder that listening to the music and SFX would've freaked me out more. Either way, if I'd been interested in the game when it came out, I definitely would've paid full price for it.

2) Civilization 4: Got it during a sale on Steam, heard about it because the guys on the Rebel FM podcast (www.eat-sleep-game.com) went on about it for several episodes. Great turn-based strategy game, look up some reviews.

3) Assassin's Creed 2: Just came out (at time of writing), so just look it up. Admittedly, it was a used copy for only $5 cheaper, but, you know.

Games I paid full price for and wish I hadn't:

1) Cross Edge: I bitched about this one a couple months ago. Douchebag friend borrowed it, liked it more than I did, but has also failed to finish it. Haven't gotten it back yet, though I would since I plan on trading it in as soon as I do...

2) Prototype: Fun for what it is, but average game.

3) Overlord 2: Would've/should've gotten it used, but didn't. Kinda quirky and different, but still, a meh game (to me anyways).

Games I bought for partial price and glad I didn't:

1) Eat Lead: The Return of Matt Hazard: Okay, this game is a definite rental. Gameplay is kinda average, BUT the plotline is worth playing through once simply because of how sharp the writing is, with its large number of homages to games and nerd culture, all the way to its incredibly genre-savvy hero, Matt Hazard.

2) Star Wars: The Force Unleashed: Just finished this today (of this writing). Not a bad game, graphics are good, so is the story (to my suprise). But there are enough bugs and wonky controls, among other things, that I glad I didn't pay full price.

3) Mirror's Edge: Liked the demo, played the first couple levels. Haven't gotten around to finishing it, and need to.

Full Price, worth every penny:

1) Batman: Arkham Asylum: Well duh!

2) Borderlands: "You know there ain't no rest for the wicked..."

3) Halo ODST: Screw Master Chief, ODST for life!

I'm probably missing some, but I didn't want this to be too long, especially with this long list of tags.

Modern Warfare 2 and the action movies it wishes it was,

I'll try to not spoil anything, but...

*SPOILER WARNING*.

Anyways... It seems to me that the entire single-player campaign's story built on a combination of action-movie "rule of cool" moments and WTF style narrative missteps. The action-movies sections are pretty obvious with the, but not limited to, the snowmobile part of the Cliffhanger level.

The story problems are real problem, though. The terrorist level is just the first of several. The part where the terrorist leader fingers the "western nation" is logical, but the following "Crimson Sunrise" stage happening less than (narratively speaking) two days later just doesn't make sense. An event of that magnitude is a logistical nightmare that would have to be months in the planning to pull off in that short of a timespan, on top of the various political implications, which go unnoticed even during the between stage cinemas. And the writers did nothing to capitalize on this. Instead, the first of those "Crimson Sunrise" stage feels like a surreal attempt to shock people with the setting of the level. The way the narrative is written it doesn't support the events in any logical way, and because of it the seriousness of the, up to that point, potential plot is hampered.

The act 2 stages play everything in a direction that I'd expect though, and are, in my opinion, the best part of the game, but then act 2 closes with the biggest flaw in the entire plot, the betrayal. The bad-guy character is still the bad-guy, but character you're working for decides to off the players for absolutely no reason. I understand his action-movie character motivations, but the betrayal makes no sense on any level. And then the final act completely forgets that the bad-guy is the target and instead sends you after the betrayer, leaving it all open to use the bad-guy in a future MW as the new recurring villain.

So my point is this, IW writers seem to have jumped the shark with their writing. Admittedly MW1 had its action-movie moments, but they made sense within the story, and the story itself was played straight and serious, with most of the events being on a logical progression. MW2's story just didn't make sense to me, with most of the events taking leaps of logic usually seen in popcorn action-movies, but not in a game that is trying to be thematically serious like this.

Thoughts on The Sky Crawlers

Hmmm... While I have kept up on Twitter, I haven't posted anything here in quite awhile, like a month or something. Well, that's because I haven't had anything that I considered significant enough that couldn't be posted on Twitter. I really should fix that.

Well, that brings me to the new reason here: The Sky Crawlers. This is an animated film (anime if you want to be a weaboo, I personally think this rises above the level of just being a simple anime) directed by Mamoru Oshii and animated at studio Production I.G. Released theatrically in Japan in 2008, recently released on DVD/Blu-Ray in the US about a month or two ago (as of this writing). I managed to finally snag a copy at Best Buy earlier this week because I was too fracking lazy to go to Amazon and order it (:P), and watched it before going to work today.

Now, admittedly, I didn't go into this movie without knowing anything about it. I had seen a review of it on Anime News Network after the original theatrical release (unsure if this was the Japanese release or a limited US run). After watching, I quickly read through another review on a site I don't remember (and don't feel like Googling to find again). Both reviewers could not have been more different in how they understood the film, and both are equally valid. But, seeing as I read the ANN review long before I ever saw the movie itself (and, in all truth, if not for the ANN review the only reason I would have given this a second pass was because I like the director), and the other review was only read after, I was able to see alot of what the ANN reviewer noted, but at the same time not sure if that's what I got out of the film.

I, personally, am of the opinion that some movies should be seen by yourself, some with others, and even some that should be seen by yourself AND THEN with others. Right now, as I've only just seen it, I can't confirm, but its definitely the first, not the second, and possibly the third. As I haven't seen The Wrestler, nor seen the press kit, I can't say I got the same thing out of the movie as JS from ANN, but I'm sure the one or two of my friends I could actually get to watch will get something other than what I got out of it entirely.

(forgive me, but I don't remember the name of one of the three character I'm going to mention, so I'm just not going to state their names)

So what is it? The (incredibly limited) info on Wikipedia states that its based off a novel of the same name in a series also of the same name. The basic setup is that, in an alternate, post WWII history, world-spanning corporations hire pilots and stage battles for a populace that lives in peace, but is accustomed to war. The pilots in these battles are beings called "Kildren", people engineered to be adolescent and immortal, only dieing when killed in battle.

The movie starts when the protagonist arrives at the small base where he's been stationed, and despite being new, he falls into a routine such as if he's always been there. He does day to day operations of being a pilot, being a "war hero" to tourists, smoking, drinking beer (most likely Heineken from the appearance of the bottles :P), and sex with a local adult prostitute (despite being in his early teens at best). And its just a day to day existence. No beginning, no end, no past, no future. The only out of ordinary thing is The Teacher, an enemy ace that is unbeatable (and, as it later turns out, the former superior or the protagonist's base commander, AND AN ADULT). As things go, some of his fellow pilots get killed, only to be replaced by new people that look and act almost exactly the same, but with new names and no memories. No one seems to question this, though.

Things come to a head when a failed joint operation in the second half of the film allows several pilots from another base to transfer in. His base commander discusses how they exist solely for a meaningless war, and that their existence as Kildren, people with no pasts or futures meant to fight a war without meaning, is equally meaningless. One of the transfers also understands more about the Kildren themselves, genetically created to be immortal and then fight in an endless, meaningless war so that real people can feel the effects of war without actually having to see it directly. It is an endless cycle, and no one seems to care, even though the only way out is for someone to do something, anything, to change the way it all works. But the protagonist decides that it might be worth it to challenge The Teacher alone the next time he appears (*spoiler warning*and he fails SPETACULARLY*spoiler warning*).

Now, that was just a basic rundown, there's more to the events of the film. Really, if there's anything that I noticed from the very beginning is how unreal the world felt. Now I don't mean unreal in the way that the world is unrealistic. Even animated things can (and rightly do) have worlds that are believable within the context of the story. No, this setting feels unreal in that it feels very "off". I understand that its supposed to be lightly populated Europe, and the buildings are shown to have a lived-in quality, but even when the characters go to a city for the big operation in the middle of the film, it doesn't feel real. Now I mean that in the sense that the places the characters go and see have almost no people in them. The settings exist to be lived in, yet there doesn't seem to be anyone there. This isn't a bad thing, though. I actually think that this was part of Oshii's vision.

The film is primarily contemplative. Alot of time is spent watching as the characters going about their daily lives, which really aren't lives at all once you realize that its all just playacting. The Protagonist is initially curious of the person he is replacing, and while it is eventually revealed, it generally takes a backseat to the daily life. Even when they're finally revealed, the answers of the existence of the Kildren, the reasons of the war, and especially The Teacher, are left largely ambiguous. The base commander is herself one of the Kildren, and has been driven almost of the point of depression/insanity because she has seen the cycle so many times before, while the mechanic, an adult, seems to see, but knows there's nothing she can do about it.

And its all so sad, being a viewer that knows more than the characters, but being unable to do anything about it. And yet, it speaks volumes to me, a guy who feels like he's squandered away much more of his life than he should've. Sure, I like videogames and (some) comics, but I play more than I should. It also sort of makes me think of the ending to the Wanted movie last year, Westley's whole "This is what I'm doing, what the fuck are you doing?" line. So I have been asking myself recently (before actually seeing The Sky Crawlers) what the fuck I've been doing. And if anyone out there (that might be reading this) is stuck in a crappy, dead-end job (or some similar day-to-day existence), then think about what the fuck you're doing too. Nothing can change unless you want it to. I want to change, what about you?

Just some stuff

Gah, need to make a resolution to post more often, especially if I want to get better at writing. That's one of the two big things they say people need to do to become better writers. The other is to read, and in doing so learn from what other writers do, both good and bad. But, I typically don't have much to write that's actually blog worthy, as opposed to Twitter worthy. And while I know if I want to write something that could stand of chance of being published professionally I have to type it up on on PC, I much prefer doing anything creative with a pen and paper (rollerball pen, preferably a Pilot, but Uniballs are okay too). Actually, on the rare occasion I draw, I typically do it with a pen, instead of a pencil. Unless I really want something to be perfect, that is (I actually have a picture I want to do as a new avatar in mind right now).

Anyways, that's all neither here nor there. Like I alluded to before, I don't have a topic today, but I need to get something down. So this is pretty much a current events of sorts.

Currently playing Overlord 2. I'm around halfway through, I'm guessing, and I'm a little torn. Yeah, the idea of being a badass freakin' overlord is fun, but, so far I haven't felt like one. Not that its a bad game, its just basically Pikmen being controlled by a badass normal, except you're not all that badass, you just look badass. Kratos could bash through a phalanx without help... Also, the game has uneven framerate, especially when you've got alot of minions on screen, which is often. Anyways, I'm sure I'll finish it, but I'm pretty sure I'll be trading it in shortly thereafter. So I'ma just wring all the achievement points out of it while I can. Don't expect a full review from me.

Got a couple movies and some music too. Watchmen and Coraline on Blu-Ray, two movies that everyone should see, though for different reasons. Watchmen for the commentary and being one of the best comic book adaptations I've seen (anyone who says this isn't a good adaptation is too much of a blind fanboy to understand the realities of making adaptations of any written work). Coraline, well I don't want to be a name dropper, but the story its based on was written by Neil Gaiman, and that alone is worth the price of admission. But on top of that, the movie itself is stopmotion done by the same people that did Nightmare Before Christmas and Corpse Bride. And the story is enchanting, if dark, modern fantasy. On that note, I still need to get The Graveyard Book, but I already have 4 things currently on my reading list:

1) Multireal: David Louis Edelman (just started)

2) The Difference Engine: William Gibson and Bruce Sterling (been searching for this one for awhile)

3) Brilliance of the Moon: Lian Hearn

4) The Edge of the World: Kevin J. Anderson (I honestly didn't know he had a new book)

On the note of The Edge of the World, I only found out about it because of a story (on i09.com) about Kevin J. Anderson liking progressive rock, and how he got a new prog-rock group Roswell Six to do an album (their debut album, it appears) based on it. Music is a bit weird, but pretty good once you get used to the style. Album is called Terra Incognita: Beyond the Horizon, by the way.

And lastly, while the account has remained open, I haven't played FFXI for months, but with the announcement of FFIV, I'm considering installing and playing it again. I stopped playing LotRO, but I think the messed up work schedule has been a major factor in that. It may not be WoW, but its a good WoW clone, and it looks freakin' amazing if you can run it at full spec.

But whatever.

Just an idea

I had an idea. Actually, this isn't a new idea, but rather one I had well over a year ago, I just never wrote it down. But then, considering its doubtful that I'll ever work in MMOs, let alone videogames in general, I don't think I really need to write this down. But I will anyways, because its late (locally), I'm bored, and my internet is acting up and kicked me off BF:Bad Company. So there.

So why did I mention MMOs, you ask (only in my mind, anyways... *shifty eyes*)? Well, the idea involves using things that already exist in them in a way that hasn't been really thought of yet.

Well, we already have instanced content. For the uninformed (and anyone reading this shouldn't be), instanced content is pretty much where the game servers create an additional "instance" of an existing area that is seperate from the rest of the game world and usable by only the players within it. The reason for this is so that more players can experience more content without having to compete against other players to do so. It is typically (but not always) used with storyline or chain-quest areas, and are almost always very large and involved (for various reasons).

Then, of course, we have PvP. IE, the videogame answer to people's need to kick the crap out of eachother, and it takes different forms depending on the type of game its used in. No real need to explain it beyond that.

So my new, supermegaultracrazy idea, is to take both of these elements and find a way to smush them together. But MMOs that have PvP already have instanced areas designed expressly for PvP. How does this differ from those? Well the difference is purpose. Instanced PvP areas are basically similar to control-point style maps in online FPS's, with the basic idea revolving around killing opponents in order to get to and takeover said control points. While the areas could easily be repurposed into standard PvE content, they are purpose built specifically for handling a specific kind of PvP battle, which is almost always the big-freaken'-melee (even if players are smart enough to avoid that).

Now, when someone says the word "instance" in MMO terms, they usually refer to the first definition (and use a different term for PvP instances), which takes the form of a semi-linear dungeon. This is where I think PvP can be added. Just about all MMOs that have any form of large-scale PvP involve dev-created opposing factions. As well, in those games the world and quest lines are designed to bring those players into conflict. So why can't the devs find ways to bring these two things together in more interesting ways?

That's the idea. Bring dungeon instances and PvP together. This is still hypothetical, but since both factions are opposed, create an instance that plays to that. Have players from the two factions have quests that require them to enter instance. When entering, faction A starts at one entrance, faction B at another. The players run along doing their quests on seperate paths, but the paths will intersect at several points, designed around forcing the players into conflict. But then, make a quest requiring the conflict, and if there are no players, spawn higher level enemies in the room instead, to fulfill the quest requirement.

So when players are killed, they should respawn within the instance. But then, this could potentially lead to players griefing players on the other side. Well, the only real solution to something like that isn't something that will be popular. Since a quest requires defeating enemies (bots or opposing players), then "shove" them out of the chokepoint as soon as the reqs are met. And then there's the problem of bringing along a high-level friend, or even a full group of them, well that's only really solvable by the infamous thing known as level-caps. To keep from inconveniencing said high-level players, have a simple equipment balancing system introduced alongside the level-capping.

Admittedly, this is just the basic idea. Hell, I spent more time building to it than stating the idea itself. Ohwell, take it for what you will.