Animate Nightstand - March 8, 2002 - Erin Mehlos
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.
Sun-dried tomatoes, fresh from your Ronco electric food dehydrator.
Don't say we didn't warn you.
I'm sure most of you know there's big game afoot. Rest assured, we'll get to it.
For the time being, let's go.
| Pilfering my last scraps of integrity |
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E:
Actually its "itadaki!!" for stealing stuff (like Rei on BOF3 etc.) which means "to take" or "I'm taking!!" sort of. Makes more sense in Japanese I suppose... Just an FYI (so
you don't sound like a collumnist @ RPGamer...) but I suppose you get a gold star for effort.
-himajinga, who also exclaims "itadaki!!" when filching stuff
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I appreciate the clarification. Obviously it wasn't really "Ee tataki" (the Japanese language isn't exactly known for its pervasive use of double Es), but seeing as how I could find nowhere to confirm or deny Rei's triumphant crow of thievery, I went the fonetik route rather than clutter up my anecdote explaining "whatever phrase it is that Rei says when he steals stuff."
Shows what I know.
| Not open-ended, dammit -- "finitely challenged!" |
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Hey Erin,
I don't understand where all the hating on PC RPGs came from. Yesterday, a
couple of people complained about PC RPGs as "open-ended" in dismissing
Project Ego. Well, it's time to clear up a misconception.
The only (commercial) PC RPG (not MMORPG) that is "open ended" is
Daggerfall. The proper term is "non-linear" for the rest of them. By
contrast, console RPGs are "linear".
They both have a main plot, character development, side stories, a
beginning, an ending, etc. The only difference is how you get there. In a
console RPG (don't forget, we're generalizing now), you do everything in a
specific order. It's not just that you'll get killed if you do things in the
wrong order, it's that you don't even have a choice. In a PC RPG, you have
to get everything done, but you can do them in whatever order you want.
Well, more or less.
In other words, if FFX was a PC RPG, you could visit the temples and get the
Aeons in any order you wanted, but you would still have to get them all
before you traveled to Zanarkand.
I guess what I'm trying to say is that the difference between PC RPGs and
console RPGs isn't as great as everyone seems to think it is. Yes, there are
differences in the types of stories and characters, and each platform has
its own history and franchises (especially the heavy D&D influence on PCs),
but the overall gameplay is much closer than you would expect (8MB of video
RAM!?!).
Orin the Lawyer - 22 days until Opening Day
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Yes. 8MB. You trying to start some shit, Wibbly-Boy?
You might have known I wouldn't have much to add to a letter defending the grandeur of PC RPGs. That, combined with the fact that you stole fizzy lifting drinks ... results in you getting nothing.
| People don't want freedom |
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Erin,
sorry for the belated subject matter, i just have to say that i am kinda disappointed with the general vibe everyone gave Project Ego -- sure, the Xbox isn't the
system of choice for me at the moment, but i have to admit that games like Ego, Tekki, Morrowind, and that mouse game that seems to be torn right out of the
pages of Speigelmann's Maus are making the system appealing. i know that everyone is hung up on narrative based RPGs but the idea of a free roaming RPG in
the vein of GTA3 freedom to do whatever i want & in this case actually have a choice: should i be the good guy and pass through the town being nice to everyone
or should i be the bad guy assaulting and ravaging the town, setting it on fire, and effectively destroying it? i love a Japanese plotted story as much as the next
person (which is why i am going to buy the first episode of the Xenosaga anime, i mean video game, series - it's all about plot) -- but Project Ego actually gives us
a choice & we influence the world through our actions instead of simply following a linear storyline. Project Ego isn't going to have random encounter, you can see
what is coming up, decide to engage it or simply move away -- hopefully the AI will be good enough for the creatures that they will act in semi-realistic manner -
how cool would it be to be moving through a forest trying to avoid a creature while it is actively pursuing you. i mean i can understand the entire Xbox is going to
suck vibe - but i have to say that it is a fairly good console (look ma, a hard drive and broadband hookup out the box, no HD or network adapter thing to buy
later) & the games are genuinely fun. they don't have Square, but in a way that almost works for Xbox because it is like Dreamcast, have their own types of
games. Also Project Ego seems to be more of a Western type of game that has a lot of player interaction with the world & the free roaming feel that made
GTA3 such a joy to play -- Japanese RPGs seem to emphasize storyline & the director's vision over player choice and control. i myself think that both ways of
RPG thinking is great, i love free roaming kinda gaming as well as i like hyper linear storybased RPGs (just give me an overworld map, please!), hell i love Samba
De Amigo & think that my life would be complete if Edios snatched up Roomania for release on their Fresh label (Sega did a port onto PS2, come on) -- i think
there is room for all types of games. it just bothers me that everyone seems to be giving Project Ego a lukewarm welcome because it seems to be one of the
games that seems to be giving players the type of freedom that they want in a RPG - and i doubt that Ego will be about religions deceiving the masses by some
long forgotten evil god which is a RPG plotline that is about to be run into the ground. it looks beautiful, it looks innovative. come on, let's have an open mind,
people.
William Defoe
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Surely you realize that Project Ego, simply by virtue of being "more of a Western type of game," is guaranteed an assload of criticism from the console-only set, who are predisposed to knee-jerk declarations of American games, particularly PC RPGs and PC-like RPGs, being the stuff of mulletheads.
I'm not going to disassociate myself from the mob entirely -- there was a time when I was wary of Oddworld because it didn't hail from the Rising Sun -- but I will most certainly second your motion.
| 9 credit-hours in 1337 |
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I don't mean to sound like Andy Rooney. But. . . I am so tired of numbers
replacing letters in words. Most of the time, these numbers don't even look
like the letters they're replacing. e.g. Se7en, Thir13en Ghosts, Murd3r 8y
Numb8rs (a new Sandra Bullock movie), that old Kit-Kat commercial: "one,
two. one, two, three, 4our." And now, according to gamespot, a new game is
coming out called Shadow Man: 2econd Coming. Th3t make5 a lo7 of 3ense.
steve-o.
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Script-kiddies of the world would beg to differ, I'm sure -- and, of course, all those scholarly types that have dignified 1337 writing papers about its cultural significance and identity as a language unto itself.
At this point I've grown so accustomed to its many flavours I hardly notice such wanton alphanumeric bastardizations of the English language anymore.
| But will it gel...? Like a sweet and fragrant scented candle? |
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"And better still, it requires hardly any interaction from me."
Is that why "Unlit Room" and "Progress Quest" are such big hits over at the GIA?
Anyway, I have a real question: With Sony's impending online announcement, do you suppose this will actually be the first successful attempt at online console gaming?
I mean it's been attempted before (three times by SEGA (SEGA Channel for Genesis, Netlink on Saturn, and the online games for the Dreamcast, which probably did the
best of the three, mainly because of PSO) as well as others like the X-Band, remember that?)
Though it seems that Sony has some strong backing from the likes of Square with FFXI, and Sony's own Twisted Metal and Gran Turismo series, I can't help but be
concerned about the status of Sony's online after 6 months to a year from now, what do you think?
DarkTetsuya
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What do I think?
I think Sony's the first console manufacturer to really have its shit together going into the online arena. They've [reportedly] rallied an unprecedented amount of third party software support and, moreover, the first volley of online titles is going to be affordable....
| GIVE IT UP FOR MEEEEE! |
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Erin,
Instead of one of those usually verbose letters, I just wanted to do a
little end-zone dance at the fact that the first generation of online
PS2 games will contain no fees. Actually, I think I'll do the thing from
that Steve Ballmer "Monkey Boy" video clip that has been floating the
'net around since last summer (yes, Kaz Hirai took his hit at Microsoft
during that conference call, and now I'm taking mine).
Oh, and I did end up finding the tits, thank you very much. I just hope
they age as well as the hero.
-- Steve S. Freitas, who wants you to, "GIVE IT UP FOR MEEEEEEE!" (Which
is a Steve Ballmer reference, for those who haven't seen it, thinking
I'm trying to act remotely cool--alas, I know the boundaries of my own
nerdisms, and... oh god, there I go, questioning my brevity again.)
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The lack of exorbitant fees to play these early games ought to really help Sony pave the way for concrete online success, but how permanent it'll ultimately prove to be I have no idea. Microsoft's gearing up with their own plans, and what end effect that could have on the PS2 is anybody's guess at this point.
| Killer terriers |
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Here's to hoping that you don't get more than five letters today. Otherwise this doesn't have a snowball's chance of getting in.
I was thinking about recent Double Agent topics this evening while I was dining (alone) at the Outback Steakhouse, the photo of a rotund wombat eyeing me the
whole time. I had this idea for what might be the coolest animal of all time to feature in a sim: the Tasmanian Devil.
No, no, now bear with me here. Tasmanian Devils are awesome. Those mean little bastards fight non-stop. When they mate, the frisky lovers will duke it out for
several days beforehand. A young Tasmanian Devil is ready to leave its mother's care when it can take her in fight. They're sweet hunters--I'm pretty sure they
even have an extra pair of teeth, a unique trait among mammals. These things are KILLING MACHINES. And they're cute to boot, which means it could sell
big-time in Japan. "Debiru-taro no Daibouken."
Sim Ant was great because you could amass a horde of your ant brethren (or rather sisteren?) and go raid the evil red colony. The constant conflict is what set it
apart from what otherwise would have been an extremely boring game after about 10 minutes. In Sim Tasmanian Devil you'd be hunting lizards and small
marsupials, beating the crap out of other Devils that try to raid your food stash, and then making sweet love to them. What could possibly not be fun about that?
El Cactuar
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In case you hadn't heard, hell froze over today, so said snowball's chances were considerably better.
I hate to break this to you, but these killing machines of yours (which on average are around the size of a beagle) pretty much stick to carrion unless they happen to run across a slug or a wounded chicken, and they have but one, boring set of teeth. Nevertheless, I suppose you could squeeze some gameplay value out of shredding other devils competing for the dead cow you found.
Goliath and the rest of the cast of Star Trek:TNG.
I can neither confirm nor deny a cameo on the part of one or more Gargoyels characters, actually, but considering Disney's reached as far as its Touchstone subsidiary for Kingdom Hearts fodder, I don't think it's outside the realm of possibility.
| You heard him |
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Erin -
I said this to a friend before:
pah...unknown working designs title, unknown my ass. Lunar Legend.
if its anyhing else, i swear this now, ill wear all of my clothes inside out
for a day (a day i dont have work, obviously)
That looks shitty cuz I took it form an AIM convo, but quite frankly, I'll
stand by it. And send in a picture to DA if I'm wrong.
Peace,
Ray Stryker...hasn't been in to DA in a while, and misses the abuse...
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Considering the masochistic desire you just expressed, I plan on holding you to this promise and subjecting you to the jeering flames of your letter-writing peers.
| SimPimp |
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Ms. Mehlos,
I'm so shocked that in all the discussion about sims I'm amazed that no one
brought up what would be the ultimate sim.
SimPimp
Think about it, you'd have to fight to attain and keep the most favorable
street corners, recruit and train all the best hos and make sure you keep
them from going to the competition, make sure their wardrobe and looks are
better than the competition, make sure they perform to customer's
expectations, and of course there'd be a special "pimp slap" command, which
you could dole out with reckless abandonment, all while eluding "the man".
Sure, there's been a few low-budget pimp games, but imagine a pimpin' sim
with a budget like a Maxis game...Oh, yeah baby, I'm pullin' out my purple
feathered hat now.
Mr. Cruz-pioneer in ePimpin.
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Dude, if you get it together, I have no doubt Rockstar would be more than happy to get it to the shelves of Christian bookstores everywhere.
| Misallocation of resources |
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Agent -
Well, this is what's on my mind. I have a 4500 word cell-bio group
paper due tomorrow (tho I might get an extension). I still have to
finish my part, which has been written almost entirely today (another
250 words or so to go) and then meet with my partners to combine them
(and hope that they wrote about something vaguely related to
beta-amyloid, cuz that's what I wrote about). But guess what I've been
doing for the past two and a half hours? If you said "replaying SaGa
Frontier 2," you're right. I like games. Congratulate me.
-Toma Levine, Miles Standish proud or something
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Congratulations. Your GPA is probably right around par with mine.
| ... and Satan skated serenely to the office |
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http://www.planetgamecube.com/news.cfm?action=item&id=2747
It'll certainly be interesting to see what this engenders. Personally,
I'd like to something down with the link that Nintendo has built between
the GameCube and the GBA - can you imagine having a FF where you can
play on the GC, but certain aspects (perhaps dungeons?) of the game can
be played on the GBA, then transferred to the GC?
Then again, there's the weirdness of the 'affliate' wording? Does this
mean GC will only see FFXI? Does it mean it will only see ports? Or does
it mean that there will be some weird third-party games that run the
risk of being like the 'forgotten' Zelda CD games?
Thom
http://www.planetgamecube.com/news.cfm?action=item&id=2747
*puts ear to the ground*
Whats that I hear, sounds like iceskates in hell.
-Calypso, who now VERY glad he got a GameCube for X-mas.
Water Nymph Erin,
We all know what Drew/Cozy's topic is going to be, don't we? We all know that
he's going to have to deal with letters from FF-to-FFVI purists and
FFVII-to-FFX purists about how Square is going into polygamy--about how
Square and Nintendo are getting back together. Let's not screw around...
let's just get it over with, so we never have to talk about it again.
-Lee
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I'm not even going to dignify this flood with a response....
Closing Comments:
Rather, I'll let our friend CozCos deal with it.
- Erin Mehlos
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