Let games be as challenging as they need to be

In which Alois defends the value of easy games. Also Boku No Natsuyasumi.

I hate listening to/complaining about difficulty in games. It feels like such a non-issue. A triviality. The people that really get to me though are the ones that argue modern games aren’t any good because they’re easier to complete. What sort of metric is that? I welcome the idea that by making games easier, we’re letting more people experience the medium and even allowing people to finish titles, too.

Because name another medium where some people don’t even see the complete work? Yes, book and movies can be placed aside whenever someone wants to but they require no effort on the viewer to see/read the whole thing. They’re open to be discussed by anyone.

And games need that level of approachability. We don’t have enough people talking about games.

Colonialism under the guise of the dungeon crawl: Etrian Odyssey and the invasion

I talk about a lot of things that make Etrian Odyssey great in this piece but the best thing about the game, what makes it rise above and beyond even the oldest games in the genre, is how it uses the DS screen.

Because dungeon crawls can be awful to the perfectionist. You have to buy graph paper because you’re gonna be drawing a lot of maps, and normal white paper simply won’t cut it. Then you have to buy a bunch of pencils and various fine pens so you don’t smudge or ruin your map. Then you have to annotate it and make sure every event or treasure is marked correctly. It’s a blissful, addictive experience that’ll ruin even the most patient of people.

Etrian Oydssey dedicates the touch screen entirely to your map. It’s an empty grid at the beginning of your adventure but gradually transforms into a perfectly aligned map. It maintains the intoxicating lure of drawing your own map and gets rid of all the awful ink spills and blotches that can ruin everything. It’s wonderful.

Beating up God in Valkyrie Profile: Lenneth

My latest is up at Nightmare Mode :D

So, apparently this game isn’t as well-loved as I thought it was? That’s kind of understandable, actually.

Valkyrie Profile asks a lot of the player. There’s a strict time limit, a complex battle system, and tri-Ace have the gall to trick you into playing the game a very specific way when you actually have a lot of freedom. Valkyrie Profile is a little too clever for its own good. No wonder it didn’t stick with a lot of people.

You need to get in the right frame of mine to play it. Valkyrie Profile is melancholic. You’re not met with congratulations for mastering these systems. You spend the entire game recruiting dead people and watching their last moments on Earth.

And, similar to Majora’s Mask, the narrative is remarkably understated. You don’t recognise just how oppressive the game is until you’ve let it rest a little bit after your first play.

It’s not a happy game, there’s little room for humour. But there’s a sense of cohesiveness here rare in video games. A unified vision. It’s pretty short, too!

We need more short games.

(Thanks, as always, to TimeCowboy for the wonderful art)

The things that I write

So, I've been a little bit slack with updating this side of the internet. I have two blogs alongside my scheduled writing at Nightmare Mode and I invariably pay more attention to my Tumblr. Why do I do this? I'm not sure. I'd like to say it's because I have an established audience there but that "established audience" is honestly not the sort who would have the time/patience/effort to read the things I write.

I mean, it's Tumblr. It thrives on reblogs and funny images. I'm kind of out of my element there.

Art by Jake Lawrence. Always and forever.

Anyway, I've written two pieces recently that now rest at Nightmare Mode for the foreseeable future. The first was a little treatise on flying in video games and looked at what is my ideal form of flight. It's a little whimsical - as all my pieces often are - but I had a lot of fun with it.

The second piece is, well, I hesitate to call it controversial, but it's certainly the most confrontational piece I've written. I don't get angry or shout at anyone but I look a little deeper into what I want when I play games and respond to a piece by Richard Cobbett about guilt and choice. It's certainly a piece that has words and opinions in it!

And, finally, go pitch things to Nightmare Mode. They're lovely people and they want lovely writing. Write some lovely things, please.

Headshots Episode 1

There's a new video feature up at Nightmare Mode in which the writers get together and answer short questions about games and games culture.

This week's episode is focused on "Your Favourite Guilty Pleasure Game" and I was in it! I was in it for about 10 seconds or so, but I was in it! :p

It's a fun feature and I'm already excited to see where it goes from here.

I derped pretty hard in the video, too.

The Campfire: A nightmare in Hyrule

My new post at Nightmare Mode!

Yes, video games were always scary when I was a kid. The age of polygons introduced freakish characters with pointed ends where things should be round. The Nintendo 64 made things worse by applying a fuzzy sheen to everything so things were even harder to distinguish.

Sometimes I wonder why and how I'm still interested in the medium considering how much video games scared me as a child. They were out to get me.

Mega Man: An Outlaw in an Asimovian World

(New post up at Nightmare Mode!)

The original Mega Man is not a fun game.

It's got some really whacky, awkward level design sandwiched between all the really brilliant parts. It's a good game littered with minor design flaws that really hamper your enjoyment. Mega Man laid the foundation but it was Mega Man 2 that would go on to be everything the original game wasn't and demonstrate what a small group of people can do when they pour their heart and soul into development.

While I was playing Mega Man: Powered Up (the remake of Mega Man on the PSP), I was struck by how different it was to the original game. Yes, some levels were redesigned and you can now play as the Robot Masters in the remake, but it was the tonal differences that really stood out to me. Both Mega Man and the Robot Masters dribbled conversation at every moment. Mega Man was clearly the Hero and the Robot Masters were undoubtedly reprogrammed.

This was never seen in the original game.

Mega Man and the Robot Masters never said a word. With no verbal communication at all in the game, motives and intentions were remarkably difficult to discern. Nothing was clearly defined or explained. It was... unsettling.

And that's really where this piece comes from. The atmosphere of the original games on the NES were defined by technical limitations to an extent but it gave the series such an uncertain and unique tone.

Check out TimeCowboy's art on his Tumblr, friends! He did the title image for this article :)