Blitzcol -
March 9, 2001 - Chris Jones
Disclaimer: The opinions expressed
within this column are those of the participants and the
moderator, and do not necessarily reflect those of the
GIA. There is coarse language and potentially offensive
material afoot.
IfItypethisveryfastmaybeyouwon'tbeabletotellthatIdon'thaveanythingtosay.
Don't say we didn't warn you.
Tonight we're gonna try something different - rather than my usual
tediously, grindingly thought out responses, I'm gonna be answering right
off the top of my head, as fast as possible.
Yes, this is because I have somewhere else to go, but I say it's the
spirit of experimentation and innovation that should be important here.
Onward.
| Just an example of my
technique |
| I think it's too easy to discount the current game developers based on
the fact that what they're making now isn't exactly great literature.
Sure, they have a long way to go, but remember, most of the big
impressive RPGs today are coming from the companies that brought us
faceless heroes and save-princess-from-wizard plots in the 80's.
-AJ
|
When I first read this letter I thought it read "save-princess-from-wizard
plants", which actually makes sense if you think of those Eggplant Wizards
in Kid Icarus.
See? Isn't this fun? (Please say yes.)
| Public webcasting
station |
| Hey Chris - if the Amazon thing isn't bringing in money anymore, maybe the
GIA should consider only having it on the page once in a while, say the
beginning of every month. When it's there all the time, people start to
ignore it, or they think "Hey, I just gave them some money a while ago."
If you put the link up at fixed intervals and left it off (or put it
somewhere less prominent) the rest of the time, people might notice it more
when it's displayed prominently. It could serve as a reminder "hey, pay
up!"... sort of like a public broadcasting pledge drive.
David |
Might work. I do know that they just showed a "Best of Cosmos" thing on
my local PBS station's beg-a-thon, which was cool. I like that show.
Didn't have any money to send in, tho.
| The horsepower isn't
there yet |
| I really should have sent this in yesterday, but oh well. There were some
interesting letters on the subject of Steve Tran's letter yesterday, but it
seemed to be that most of them were just speculation, with little or no
solid information to back them up. And I figured I could help fill that gap,
since I have talked (online, that is) with some game developers and
programmers, namely some of the folks at Ensemble Studios. For those who
don't know, Ensemble Studios is the developer of the superb Age of Kings RTS
series. Now, granted, they are an American company that develops for PCs, so
90% of The GIA's readership probably hasn't heard of them, but their
opinions on this matter are just as valid as that of any Japanese console
RPG developer.
Anyway, a while back, at a Q&A session on a message board with one of ES's
programmers (Sandy Peterson, I believe), one of the questions asked was, "Do
you think games have hit a creative plateau, or are there still innovations
left to be made?" Well, that isn't word for word, but it was along those
lines. His response was that, while the designers and even the programmers
had many ideas that they could pursue, most of them were too ambitious to be
achieved within the limitations of the current gaming systems.
I'm certain that holds true for most console developers as well, because, if
you look at the past progression of systems, each system has brought new
innovations to gaming. Just the advent of 3D graphics allowed for the
creation of entirely new genres, and for improvements and innovations within
pre-existing genres. And while it's doubtful that the new generations of
systems are going to bring the chances for innovation that the leap to 3D
graphics brought, certainly the current batch of game designers haven't used
up all their ideas.
George Young, who is proud to benefit from Chris' misfortune. |
This letter is well put, there's nothing for me to argue with here. So
I'll go off on a tangent - when I was writing the title, I started
thinking about the word "horsepower". Look at how antiquated it is, and
yet it's still used as both a measurement (tho only in marketing stuff for
cars) and as a part of general speech. Man, what a freakin' albatross around
our collective verbal necks. I guess we could start using "CCs" or
"newton-meters", but they just don't have the same zing.
| The PSX is simple. I
like simple. |
| Ian said "The PSX has nothing to do with videogaming's sudden penetration
into the 18-to-35 market. What's causing that is simple: time. Today's
18-year-olds are the same people who had an NES under the tree when they
were 8."
How wrong - this may be true of the 18 year olds, but not the 34 year olds.
I played some Atari 2600, and plenty of arcade games, but never have played
a NES (nor a SNES).
The reason I got a PSX is simple - my wife bought one for me after she got
tired of me buying games for the computer that either (1) never worked at
all or (2) worked, but somehow screwed up all the other programs because
they changed settings needed by "important" (i.e. work, financial) programs.
After I experenced the joy of "installing" a PSX game (insert, press the
power button) I never bought another computer game. As a great side
benefit, we haven't needed to upgrade the computer in years - it still has
plenty of power to handle everything EXCEPT the latest games.
So you could say Bill Gates drove us to the PSX, not fond Nintendo memories.
Makes me wonder about the X-Box - lousy like windows, or completely cool -
easy computer gameplay without the blue screen of death?
The District Attorney |
But on the other hand, maybe the constant battles with the operating
system and config files build character - you know, keeps you mentally
agile, helps you hone your computer skills. Maybe the ease of use of the
modern console is responsible for the death of the American work ethic...
thoughts like that keep me up at night, you know?
| "Action-y" means "go
action" in Spanish, right? |
| Hey Chris!
I went to ps2.ign.com the other day and I saw something amazing. The game
I'm talking about is called Baldur's Gate : Dark Alliance. Download the
trailer and see for yourself.
Now I know it seems a bit action-y and the RPG elements probably resemble
PC RPGs more, but the developers are saying it will incorporate a story
worthy of the franchise, so: are you guys going to cover it? Please man, let
everyone look at the trailer: it rocks. Here's hoping the story will be as
strong as Planescape Torment's or at least Baldur's Gate 2's...
Sir Farren, not getting a PS2 just for FFX anymore... |
I think we'll cover it.
What? What else do you want me to say?
| Final Fantasy Pray |
| Chrismeister,
Since we've been talking lately about where the industry is going, and
about innovation and the like, I've been thinking on some things I'd
like to see happen. One thing I would kinda like to see is a game that
doesn't portray religion in a terrible light.
The two major games that I think of when I think of this are FFT and
Xenogears. Both of them didn't have good things to say--the Glabados
Church was a Machiavellian power-monger, using God for its own wicked
ends, and the entire religious system in Xenogears was based on the
worship of a being that was essentially an advanced bio-weapon. There
are lesser examples, such as BoF2, but on the whole, religion is
portrayed in a very false, cult-like manner in videogames.
You could argue the reasons for this however you'd like (I've heard
several), but me being me, I'd just like to say "Humbug" to all of that.
I'd be happy if I could see one well-made game (even, perhaps, one
similar to FFT) that portrayed religion as an enriching and rewarding
experience. I'm not asking for /preaching/, or even a Judeo-Christian
model (like FFT has), but it certainly would be new to see some sort of
religion in a good light.
I know that basically, this isn't going to happen, and it's all a
terrible pipe dream which I will never see realized. Most of the people
who play games probably aren't deeply religious, and the majority of our
RPGs come out of Japan, which has essentially a Shintoist outlook. So a
game like FFT can be safely condemned by someone who disagrees with its
commentary on religion, because that person's probably not going to play
it much himself anyway; whereas most of the target market won't be too
offended because they're Japanese.
Is there any hope for this hopeless yearning? Will I ever see a
substantial church of true faith in a high-quality RPG?
-Matt Blackie |
I think you hit the nail on the head when you said we're unlikely
to see such a thing coming out of Japan, just because they don't, for the most part,
perceive religion in the same way many Americans do. (I hope that's a
general enough statement.) And I think it's another reason to hope that
somehow, someday the US will start making decent RPGs. It's not that I
need to see an RPG that's strongly pro-religion myself, but faith is
an important motivator for a lot of people, and that's rarely shown
clearly in the form of game characters. More realistic characters mean more realistic stories, and that's a good thing in general.
| Infodump |
| Would you have any idea if Hoshigami will have classes like there were in FF
Tactics?
-- Jordan |
Here.
Go nuts.
| A good ending thought. |
| You know, in my country we have a saying. It goes a little something
like this.
"Sometimes God takes away Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver 2 for Dreamcast
and gives you Hoshigami: Ruining Blue Earth instead."
I think it's pretty appropriate for this situation.
~Ian P. |
See, we were just talking about the importance of religion and then
this comes along. Truly serendipitous.
Closing Comments:
Wow, that's the quickest I've ever written a full-length column. True,
it kinda sucked, but you take your victories where you can get them.
Ok, Drew's in tomorrow, and somebody (don't know who yet, they'll figure
it out) will be here Monday. And I'll be here again next Monday. Nifty.
Your topic for Drew is this: Shovelware. That is to say, games that
aren't great, but can help a system or a developer gain the market position to widely
release other, better games. The PSX had it, the Dreamcast didn't, and
we're starting to see some of it with the PS2. (See: The Bouncer.) Good
thing or bad thing? Tell Drew. Later, folks.
-Chris Jones, back in roughly
216 hours
|
