ZOE: Not just a Sluggy character -
April 12, 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.
This soup tastes like water.
Don't say we didn't warn you.
We're entering the doldrums, looks like - not a lot of major news is going to come out between the TGS and E3, and not many major games either. Now's really the time when I'm starting to thing about going back and looking at some of the titles that passed by - Ogre Battle 64, Paper Mario, Skies of Arcadia, maybe even some older stuff, like Front Mission 3. Anybody else in the same position?
Oh, and fair warning about ZOE spoilers.
Onward.
| Deadly ballet |
| First, I'll start with my take on ZOE.
The main selling point of the game, to me, was the
combat system. Its so... fluid. The lock-on system
is excellent (and the lack thereof makes the 2-player
almost unplayable and utterly worthless), and the
controls are easily grasped and intuitive. Everything
flows together. The battles aren't turn-based or
all-out attack; its more like a complicated dance.
Sort of like described by many martial arts books or
fantasy involving swordmasters (the Wheel of Time, for
example). Everything fits and moves together so well,
its amazing.
However, virtually everything else was frustrating.
The story was underdeveloped and had a terrible
ending. Wha thte hell is up with Anubis? They
introduce a nemesis at the END of the game and you
never fight him... and why does Leo accept Jehuty
going to Mars to die? What the hell, that goes
against the rest of the game's theme entirely.
As for MGS2, let me say I won't be buying it. Not for
$50, of $30, or anything more than a quarter. I was
completely unimpressed with everything except the
graphics. The gameplay seemed jerky and hard to
follow, the antiquated still camera angles irritated
me, and I never really grasped the fighting system. I
guess I'm spoiled by Oni's truly (once you're used to
it) control scheme. One stick for movement, one for
camera (complete camera freedom), punches and kicks
prssed in easy combinations to do moves. I never
could manage to actually KILL the enemies, just knock
them out. One of my friends who's played all of MGS
got a few, but he didn't even know the difference
between throw and snap-neck.
-Saragar, probably the only or one of very few who
follows THEGIA that won't buy MGS2 the instant it is
on shelves.
|
Dancing's a great way to describe ZOE's battles - they're supremely graceful, lightning fast and yet still comprehensible. It still would have been nice if the enemy AI had been a little smarter, so enemy squadrons would gang up on you more often, or just protect each other's backs. (I know it's possible from that one battle where all three Mummy droids had halberds, they just never carried it through.) Or if they'd had more interesting missions, or more enemies, or greater freedom of movement... heck, I'm not sure the whole thing couldn't have been done on the PSX, if you downgraded the graphics like crazy. Still, a good start to what looks to be an interesting series.
As for MGS2... well, to each his own. The demo managed to be better than I thought it would be, which I didn't think was possible for any game with that much hype. Kojima's done it yet again.
| It's a bad thing when you want your main character to die |
| Hey Chris,
Zone of the Enders has great graphics, good sound, and excellent control.
So why isn't the game good? The story, plain and simple.
Ususally the story of the game will give you motivation to continue with
the game, but these characters are so horrible that it took me a week and a
half to get through it. And considering it took under 6 hours to finish
the game is saying something. I honestly can't remember a main character
as annoying as Leo. Spending the entire game crying about how he wants
nothing to be destroyed or killed is ironic because the most fun had in
this game is spent destoying other robots and the surrounding environment.
This is also another example of a game shoving themes and morals down your
throat with no sugar coating. Of course it fails miserably with it's
hypocritical storyline.
One sad thing about ZOE, is that the production values are so high. If
they had just delayed the game six months or so to re-write the story and
bring it up to par with rest of the game. Even a cliched storyline would
be better, like the real pilot of Jehuty returns to his Mech, and gets
revenge against Viola! Sometimes that's all you need. If a sequel is
made, there will be potential there, but a major overhaul in execution is
needed.
But I think it's also telling that I played the MGS2 demo a good four times
as much as ZOE. The level of interaction and detail is simply amazing. I
find new things to do everytime I play it. The coolest thing that I've
seen is a soldier shoot at me after being discovered in the locker, but I
was ducking, and he shot straight, and the bullets ricocheted and killed
him!
Perhaps ZOE isn't as good as it could be because Kojima spending all his
time making MGS2.
Greg Spenser
|
I don't like Leo that much, but I can't bring myself to despise him from a character standpoint either. Two things are probably worth noting when it comes to Leo; first off, we're only seeing a small part of his character arc. Lots of game heroes are inexperienced and not confident in themselves when they start out. Heck, it's one of the major themes of nearly any game you can name. The difference here is that we're used to seeing the main character overcome their initial doubts and accept that their fight is for a good cause, as long as it's for the people they care about, or the planet, or whatever. We don't get to see that in ZOE - all we see is the first part of the arc, where Leo doesn't like his situation but fights any way, mostly because he has no choice in the matter. Had we gotten to see the inevitable change into a kickass warrior and the final battle where Leo destroys all his enemies, I think he would have been a lot more palatable as a protagonist.
Second, Leo's surprisingly well developed when you think about it. Considering that the whole game takes place over only a few hours or days, we get a very strong sense of what Leo wants, and what kind of person he is. True, a lot of people don't care for his obstinate refusal to accept violence (it definitely gets a little grating, especially when the game makes it clear that violence is what's called for) but it's refreshing to see a character stick to his moral principles that way. Besides, I'm not sure Kojima wasn't setting him up as some sort of counterpoint to the game's violence - for a developer who makes mayhem so enjoyable, Kojima's a real spoiler when it comes to anti-violence themes.
| Tormenting those who aren't in step with my gaming habits |
| These days I would write to your column more often, if not for the fact you
always discuss game 'x' which I don't have ... granted I should get out more
often ... what about DDR?
I do actually have that game (as well as some experience with the Japanese
originals, and its progeny (Paraparaparadise (swing to the left, swing to the
right, pow-pow-pow-pow-pow!), beatmania IIDX (example of a typical IIDX
session for me = "POOR, POOR POOR POOR POOR Stage Failed...") but I
digress...) I know DDR's probably been out for too long to be a topic game,
but can you give it a thought??
- JR, who thinks that game'll be the death of him
|
I haven't talked much about DDR because A) I suck at rhythm games, and B) there's not that much to talk about, from the same story gameplay perspectives as RPGs or action games. Still, if you want to write in a DDR letter, go for it.... just try to say a little more about the actual game than you did here.
| More Leo bashing |
| Mr. Jones,
I finally got around to finishing Z.O.E. last night. (Yes, it's short, but
I've been really busy and don't have much time to play right now.) I thought
the fighting was fun, despite some of the frustration of trying to move
certain battles away from heavily populated areas in the SOS missions, but
the plot left me with some questions that sorely needed answering.
Why is Leo such a weenie? Why didn't Celvice smack some sense into him? Was
I the only one who was thankful that Viola shot Celvice and gave Leo a chance
to grow a pair (even though he missed the opportunity)? Was it wrong for me
to smile when Thunderheart (I think that was his name) finally started
chewing Leo out for his obnoxious, self-righteous whining? And what's with
Leo screaming over Viola's Sniper Wolf-styled death (15 minutes of yammering,
half a second of actual dying)?
I know I'm siding with popular opinion here when I say that Leo was an
utterly repulsive character. I can only hope that Kojima makes him grow up a
bit by the next installment.
-Some Random Jerk
|
Ah, yes - the SOS battles. Although my official game time was on the order of 5 hours in hard mode, I actually played somewhere between 10 and 15 trying to prevent all the deaths from happening... and I still couldn't do it. I never fought over populated areas, most of the time I never even used anything but close-range attacks, and yet I'd still have a civilian get blown up by random firing from one of the squads I wasn't fighting. I'll give it another shot now that I've finished the game, but I thought these side missions were much tougher than most of the bosses, and that's just not cool.
| Remedying your Burke deficiency |
| I've found the following quote from Edmund Burke's A Philosophical Enquiry Into the Sublime and Beautiful to be particularly poignant, given the sort of arguments that are generally given by those that will still continue to argue that FF2 (or some other "old school" rpg) is the pinnacle of game development. It does seem to be so true.
"In the morning of our days, when the senses are unworn and tender, when the whole man is awake in every part, and the gloss of novelty fresh upon all the objects that surround us, how lively at that time are our sensations, but how false and inaccurate the judgments we form of things? I despair of ever receiving the same degree of pleasure from the most excellent performances of genius which I felt at that age, from pieces which my present judgment regards as trifling and contemptible." (A Philosophical Enquiry, pg. 24).
And regarding those young people who have as yet little critical judgment:
"...for as every thing new, extraordinary, grand, or passionate is well calculated to affect such a person, and that the faults to do not affect him, his pleasure is more pure and unmixed..."
In other words, don't ever expect to have the kind of experience you did when you were young. At that point, things like FF2 were completely new to us, were judged entirely on their merits but not their flaws (except for their really glaring flaws, which is why no one thinks that, say, Hogan's Alley is the greatest game ever made), and more importantly, we're not likely to ever see something that we'll consider that new and that uncritically again. But when we consider that old game, our nostalgia so connects with the old feelings, that we have a hard time really passing any kind of judgment against it.
And you shouldn't confuse that with a true assessment of a game's quality. It may be true that games today are worse than games of yesterday; but if so, it is because somehow stories, gameplay, or some other feature has become worse, not because of the greater graphical- and general-processing power that is now available. 10 years from now, I'm sure that there will be quite a few people who played FFVII as their first RPG when they were still too young to perceive what defects it had, but only it's virtues, which were wholly new to them. And they are going to feel it was the greatest RPG of all time.
P.S. However, I shall smack them upside the head and inform them that FF2 is the greatest ever, since despite knowing it cannot be as good as I feel it is, it's still my favorite game.
|
I've argued as much in the past, but from a devil's advocate standpoint, it should be pointed out that not all old school fans are on a massive nostalgia trip. Some really, truly, honestly do prefer exp-building, fighting lots of random battles, and a lack of linear cutscenes... largely, I think, because of a lack of satisfaction as to how good the linear stories in games like FF 8 actually are, and I can't blame them entirely for that. Still, they're entitled to their opinion, we're entitled to ours, and if Edmund Burke agrees with us, so much the better.
| Quit yer whinin' |
| I'm seeing a lot of petitions in the news lately. (Admittedly, I'm seeing
them on the mostly worthless FGN Online, but I am seeing them.) Here's one
asking for more
mature GameCube games, here's one demanding that Square to develop
on GameCube, and here's an inexplicable one asking Nintendo to
broadcast E3 2001. (In what way is up-to-the-minute coverage from every
gaming news feed in existence, including the GIA, stopping those guys from
"seeing the great things that come out of this trade show?")
Beyond the issue of whether or not these are valid news stories, I have to
wonder if game fans realize what they're doing to themselves here. Though
he wasn't talking about video games, I have to agree with Warren Ellis when
points out that, "What you say on the net doesn't matter. What you used to
say in letters pages doesn't matter. No-one's listening to you. Because
whenever anyone asks you what you think, you ask them to bring the fucking
Micronauts back."
If people really want to stump for more mature Nintendo games, maybe they
can use the method of expression known as "voting with your wallet."
Conker's BFD, the game everybody holds up as the exemplar of the new and
with-it Nintendo, has sold abominably. If I was running Nintendo right now,
I'd be running from mature content as fast as I can. Because I'd be
listening to the one survey and peer group test that matters for any company
with half a brain: cold, hard sales.
--
"I'm on the side that's got butter on it, I am."--Jack Frost
Nich Maragos |
Seeing as how this is a letters column dedicated almost entirely to letting people bitch about games and what should be done about them, you're putting me in a difficult position... but at the same time, you're completely right. Gaming's a business, first and formost, and even beyond that the developers are highly competent, professional people, with their own ideas about gaming and what should be done. The last thing they're going to do is listen to a bunch of whiny college kids.
Still, not just this column, but this site, and nearly all of the online gaming community, is just about that - whining. I know full well that petetions don't do anything, and I pretty much never sign them, but at the same time I can't deny that I was righteously pissed off when Square said it wouldn't bring Xenogears over. It felt great to put my name on the Unofficial Squaresoft Homepage's Xenogears petion, and it was most excellent when Square changed their minds a few days later, even if chances were pretty much null that the petition had anything to do with it. The petitions you linked to above are pretty dumb, and don't much help gaming fandom's image, but if we can't occasionally look like fools obsessing about something we love, what's the point?
| This is petty, but I am going somewhere with it |
| Chris-shire Capitalist,
I don't like Daylight savings, so nobody else should participate. Questions:
1. I have $5. Should I buy a used copy of Mario Is Missing or a Snickers bar?
2. I can't think for myself. What anime should I be watching, and what games should I be playing?
3. Can I have a random and seldom used punctuation mark?
4. Can you start a pyramid scheme that involves guest hosting the column?
Ryn
|
Just for the record, I think Chris Martin's doing an excellent job on the weekend shift. But my point here isn't to mock RPGamer (although this letter does that pretty well), but more to wonder why I don't get more stuff like this about me. Yeah, it's an egotism thing, but how do I know that this col makes a difference on way or another unless I get crap from you guys about it?
So here's the deal: I'm asking for mock letters, mock responses, skits, satires, anything, about the dull, boring, plodding way I run this column. Heck, if I get enough of them I may set up something similar to last year's Arch Nemesis contest. Or just ignore this request entirely, but I need something to spice things up until E3.
Closing Comments:
Feels like Friday already for some reason, but we've still got one more day to go before Drew returns. So send in whatever you want, including stuff in the vein of the above letter, and I'll be back the day before the day after tomorrow. Later.
UPDATE: slight change of plans - the man with the plan,
Zak McClendon will be in tomorrow, so send him lots and lots and lots of email, and hold of on Monday with the insult letters to me. (Although I've gotten some damn good stuff so far.) See you next week.
-Chris Jones, literally begging to be mocked
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