[3/16/2013]
You know, I love my dad.
The organization feels empty without him. Sure, sometimes he shows up, talks to everyone, gives me a hug, but it isn't the same as having him here every time you need him. And, though it is not always that he notices it, sometimes I really need him... like right now, more than ever.
My mom died. No one here knows, no one here is supposed to, not even the commander or my brother; dad trusted me and only me with this. But yeah... she died during childbirth. I have a brother now, except he is actually just another me. Pretty weird, huh? I probably already told you, but my story is pretty convoluted: my homeland sorta functions outside our time, and sometimes it changes based on the importance of... um, well, we can just say I was born when things were weird over there, so I was sent to the past, to Earth. Mom and dad kept an eye on me, and ensured I would meet their past versions; with this, these past versions would become part of the main timeline and the fucked up future I came from would cease to exist. Or something like that, anyway.
Me being born again was always a possibility, and it finally happened — but paradox space wasn't ready to let everything be all sunshine and rainbows. My mom died, and maybe my dad will die too, and now I have a brother that is a different me, and... and I am scared. Once everyone finds out my dad might die, I bet they will think not about him but about his role in this planet. I can almost hear them saying neither me nor big bro are enough to protect it as dad has.
So what will become of me?
Just as I was thinking that, the wind blew your scarf over my face, and I thought... I still have you, and you still have me. I know you don't like this name, but please let me use it just this once: Alicia, I love my dad a lot, but I love you a lot too. You are the best thing that happened to me in this place. Right now, I want to stay by your side forever, but I can't see the future; maybe things will change. But still, I wanted you to know. I want to let you know all this in person too, through my words, through my actions, but I don't feel ready yet. Maybe I would just cry in front of you like a big baby, or just stutter and end up saying nothing.
My dad used to write letters for no reason... maybe that can come in handy now.Labels: daily drabble, stories
Por Allec Ribeiro às [10:46 PM]
[3/15/2013]
(Not a daily drabble, but a continuation to the Bravado story; comes in three parts.)
Read more »Labels: portuguese, rpg, stories
Por Allec Ribeiro às [10:56 PM]
(More character sheets, adding to the ones in the last post. I am setting up a tabletop RPG group, so these are examples for the players.)
Read more »Labels: friends, portuguese, rpg, sheets
Por Allec Ribeiro às [10:30 PM]
(Second daily drabble! Quite satisfied in that this one came a bit more quickly to me; that is, I didn't struggle so much to write it, which is why I am doing this in the first place: to stop requiring inspiration to write.)
Read more »Labels: daily drabble, portuguese, rpg, stories
Por Allec Ribeiro às [4:29 AM]
[3/14/2013]
(Not a story this time, just setting things up with a few friends!)
Read more »Labels: friends, portuguese, rpg, sheets
Por Allec Ribeiro às [4:06 AM]
(One more short story in Portuguese, sorry about that; you might be seeing a few in the next coming days, as I have decided to write something everyday, but eventually there will be things in English as well, so please bear with me!)
Read more »Labels: daily drabble, portuguese, rpg, stories
Por Allec Ribeiro às [3:17 AM]
[9/11/2012]
[08/06/10] I have this friend who is an atheist.
[09/07/10] In which I review Metroid: Other M.
[09/07/10] Guardian Heroes is awesome.
[09/08/10] The things I do for love!
[09/09/10] I play a lot of games...
[09/12/10] My thoughts on Kingdom Hearts.
[09/12/10] Philistine!
[10/14/10] Prologues in gaming.
[10/14/10] Prologues, how do they work?
[10/27/10] Why I hated Tales of the Abyss.
[10/30/10] Criticism.
[10/31/10] No More Loser.
[09/07/12] Hitoshura is seriously hot!
[09/11/12] Bravado.Labels: archive, blogspot
Por Allec Ribeiro às [9:27 PM]
(Sorry, this post is going to be in Portuguese. It is a short story based on something that happened long, long ago, during a small tabletop RPG session. You may not understand a thing or two, but I hope any Brazilian readers enjoy!)
Read more »Labels: portuguese, rpg, stories
Por Allec Ribeiro às [5:11 PM]
[9/07/2012]
So, I am playing Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne. Not for the first time, either! You see, about a year ago, I was challenged to play the game and the True Demon ending, which is damn hard — actually, the whole game is damn hard, and that is what makes it so fun. Despite not liking dungeon crawlers or high encounter rates very much, I had a blast in my journey as Hitoshura.
My reasons for playing this time were definitely less noble... you see, Hitoshura is hot as hell! I really love his design and the whole concept behind his powers. I spent some time in a clinic to treat my depression and it was really boring there, so I started writing a tabletop RPG adventure about ninjas and samurais, and somehow it was decided that Hitoshura was going to be a villain.
Shenanigans aside, I really felt like playing Nocturne after finishing P3FES, but the clinic (and the fact that I was tired of dungeon crawling at that point) put an end to my plans. Now that I am back and refreshed due to nearly a month away from technology, I figured I could safely start playing again, and so far, it has been a pretty good experience. So, let me tell about this game...
• The focus is on gameplay, not on plot. But it has a pretty good plot!
• Somehow, the game makes you feel weak when you are weak, and powerful when you are powerful. No enemy is unbeatable, but you have to prepare well.
• Almost everywhere is a dungeon, so expect lots of random encounters.
• I dunno why, but this never gets boring.
So yeah, pretty cool! Hitoshura, the protagonist, is highly customizable when it comes to skills and attributes; you can build him pretty much any way you want, and recruit or fuse demons to offset your weaknesses, kinda like in Persona, except you actually use the demons in battle.
More to come later!Labels: games
Por Allec Ribeiro às [1:21 PM]
[10/31/2010]
(This is an old post, from the old version of this blog. I did not update it in any way.)
Yesterday, a kind /v/irgin posted the entire written material that comes with the special edition of No More Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle, something I was looking forward to for a while now. Such edition comes with a so-called erotica comic (really just a prequel manga with a Bizarre Jelly 5 bonus), which my dear friend Mesarthim translated by my request. Download it here.
Both the /v/irgin and Mesarthim should be thanked until your mouth is no more.Labels: games
Por Allec Ribeiro às [6:46 PM]
[10/30/2010]
(This is an old post, from the old version of this blog. I did not update it in any way.)
Some games are more likely to be criticized than others. Some games are more likely to be defended than others. It works this way for pretty much everything, but is especially prominent here in the internet, because pretty much all we do is discuss.
As some of you probably know, I used to visit 4chan quite often. The /v/ideogames board, despite all the trolling and ocasional non-vidya related discussion, was probably the best place in the internet to discuss games — or at least, it seemed to be at the time. GameFAQs is full of demented people trying to imitate 4chan; that is, pretending they are anonymous but they really are not and thus it all sounds way worse. NeoGAF is nice, but whoever controls the board is a spawn of Hitler and I don't deal well with rules and fear of banishment. I could go on, but that would bore you, so instead have this nice picture of two pandas:
You might have noticed: I used to visit 4chan quite often. Not so much nowadays, because I have found the Backloggery. At first I only used it for recording purposes, but now I think am part of the community; they are quite nice.
But it was because of a comment last week that I started this blog post: someone criticized Ocarina of Time. I know, I know, shocking.
Actually, I wasn't even a little bit offended by the criticism (although it didn't make much sense to me and the person refused to acknowledge how much the game influenced what came afterwards), but it made me think. This same person mentioned later, as a joke, that you simply could not criticize some games without a fuss being raised, and I agree. I do know why, though: criticism to beloved games won't just be swallowed — you need to tell exactly why you are doing it to allow room for discussion instead of trolling. Which this person obviously didn't do.
It might seem a bit obvious, but be honest here, did you ever politely point out the flaws of an overrated game, instead of insulting it because it is overrated?
I've covered flamewars, you know.Labels: games
Por Allec Ribeiro às [8:29 AM]
[10/27/2010]
(This is an old post, from the old version of this blog. I did not update it in any way.)
It is no secret that I am a fan of the Tales series of JRPGs, made by Bandai Namco.
Well, actually I consider myself a mere passerby in regards to any game that isn't Tales of Symphonia or Tales of Eternia, back then known as Tales of Destiny 2 for some copyright reason I only pretend to understand. I have tried to enjoy the other games in the series, but failed miserably. Tales of Phantasia had a very slow and sometimes clunky battle system, if compared to later games which I have played before it; both real Tales of Destiny games were never translated, etc.
One particular instance made me wary of trying, however: Tales of the Abyss.
You see, everyone said it had great character development and the same battle system the games are known for, but refined, so I played with all of this in mind.
Turns out it has a very slow start and said refinement was just being able to run around your enemy, which honestly I've never felt the need to do in Symphonia. It also had a very obnoxious character: Luke, a spoiled young man that happens to be the protagonist and made it very hard for me not to split the game in half.
I somehow managed, though, but not without some raised eyebrows.
Beware of spoilers ahead.
See, because of Luke, a big city is destroyed and lots of people die. All of the other characters blame him and thus character development begins, even though all of them know he is but a seven-years old Replica — a child — constantly spoiled and prevented from knowing the outside world and manipulated to do those bad things by the only person he cared about, his instructor Vandesdelca.
At first I thought he deserved all of that, the stupid, annoying pest with retarded hair.
But!
Luke is shunned even when he is trying to make up for his mistakes, as if they think he will go and destroy many other places along the way. What? And to make things even better, another character, Anise, a murderous, cunning 13-year-old later betrays the group (or rather, was betraying from the start), which leads to the death of Fon Master Ion. She is instantly forgiven.
This is never adressed in the game.
Good character development my ass.Labels: games
Por Allec Ribeiro às [10:40 PM]
[10/14/2010]
(This is an old post, from the old version of this blog. I did not update it in any way.)
As a follow up to my previous post, I will now ponder on how a prologue can work.
Since prologues are such a mainstream trope, obviously there are many successful examples; Poring Pelters and Harry Potter have nice ones that I remember right now. Before I explain what they depict, let me tell you that I believe prologues work better when it is less about tragedy (the focus of my previous post) and more about character introduction. We were introduced to Ezio, yes, but the game didn't mean to make us pay attention to his womanizing traits whatsoever; instead, it was about his life being crushed and the roots of his quest for revenge. Poring Pelters instead opts to introduce the main characters in a lighthearted manner, then push some buttons and proceed with the plot; a long prologue alright, but one both fun and crucial to the comic.
Harry Potter does it a bit differently, showing us a day in the life of Vernon Dursley and how he takes notice of strange events that begin to unfold, suspecting it might have something to do with the dreadful Potters.
At the end of the chapter, the situation is ambiguously explained and baby Harry Potter is put on the doorstep of the Dursleys.
In both examples, the tragedy already happened. Poring Pelters hints strongly at Kethios' less-than-stellar childhood, touches upon the prejudice he suffers due to his family name and does a great job setting up future subplots and building an universe; Harry Potter lived through a terrible curse and became a legend, but was placed under the care of a muggle family, and although the abuse he endured would define his personality, it is Voldemort, and not Vernon, the villain of his story.
Poring Pelters also begins in medias res (albeit not one full of action), which is always a plus in my book. Should you want to read it, click here!Labels: media
Por Allec Ribeiro às [8:26 PM]
(This is an old post, from the old version of this blog. I did not update it in any way.)
So, I recently bought ASSASSIN'S CREED II and it arrived yesterday (actually I had to go pick it up, but this post is not about my ridiculous mail service shenanigans).
I have mixed feelings about the game so far, for plenty of reasons. Most of them are technical ones, but one in particular got me thinking — you see, the game has a prologue in which you play as Ezio, the main character, before he becomes the titular assassin; the transition is actually seamless, but all that is wrong with his life occurs during this prologue.
I came to the conclusion that prologues are useless, and now I will explain why.
First off, during this prologue, Ezio has 1/128th of his abilities. You can't perform any of the stylish kills that got the game famous or even fight properly. While his mysterious (and awesome, I'll give you that) le parkour remains intact from start to ending, it is incredibly boring to go around the city running errands without being able to properly defend yourself.
This is my first qualm with prologues in gaming — you only get to see the most basic features of the game and have nothing to get excited for except for, in most cases, thirst for revenge.
I'm a big fan of in medias res, which is when you are dropped in the middle of the action and only later learn of the circumstances that got you there. The first game did this (not counting Desmond, of course) magnificently: you controlled the Altaïr as a full-fledged assassin, right in the middle of his most important mission, with most of his weapons at your disposal. While the average player might not be familiarized enough with the game to make proper use of those skills, it is a fine taste of things to come; almost immediately after the mission, Altaïr is demoted from his position and the game proceeds to teach you from the start — and you have something to expect. No such luxury anymore, unfortunately.
My second qualm is with the emotional baggage, and this usually applies to other media as well instead of just games. You've just started with the thing, and yet the game dumps tragedy and drama fully expecting you to care — but you don't. Do you care about every stranger you meet on the streets? If you do, well, go hug a hobo.
It can be done right, of course, but I would say that you first need to have a taste of the life that character leads, to learn what is normal to him under a period of time, and ONLY THEN see it crushed under a peasant's foot. While we do learn that Ezio likes sex and has a nice family, the experience if very short and, even if his whole motivation derives from it, irrelevant.
Ultimately, his tragedy is not ours. Thus the purpose of a prologue — making us care — is ruined.
Another game springs to mind when I think about irrelevant prologues: Heavy Rain.
Fahrenheit, the previous game from developer Quantic Dream, started in medias res; ironically, David Cage felt the players would not care about Lucas' struggle if it was shown like that, so he put a ridiculous prologue in Heavy Rain where the main character shows us his sexy body while taking a bath, then does some everyday things and then plays with his kids.
Fun, perhaps, but I certainly didn't care when one of those kids met an unfortunate end. Or maybe it was 'cos he looked like a spawn from uncanny valley, idk.Labels: games
Por Allec Ribeiro às [7:43 AM]
[9/12/2010]
Reaper, Reaper, that's what people call me!
Why? 'Cause they all die! When I sing, I end their lives!
You act as though payback makes you a noble man, is that a fact?
Well you're a goddamn philistine!
Requiem eternal, bullets fly through the sternum...
Lullaby to hell, babe, Reaper's got your name!
Margaret is Greek, you geek, it means 'a pearl'.
I'm a pure girl, boys cannot crack this oyster shell.
So go on whip around that sword like you're the best, it's such a bore!
Another hero? Oh, please!
Requiem eternal...
Reaper has come, sinner...
Thigh-high socks are my absolute territory, go on and drool; the otaku cannot resist.
You think the fire in your eyes makes you a tiger in disguise?
Dream on, you goddamn pussy!
Labels: games
Por Allec Ribeiro às [8:35 PM]
(This is an old post, from the old version of this blog. I did not update it in any way.)
So, I've been playing Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep. I've had prejudice against this series for a long, long time, despite having played Chain of Memories in the GBA, but Birth by Sleep did something right from the start: it has acceptable character designs. Likeable, even.
I mean, look at this:
Now look at this:
I don't know about you, but I definitely see some improvement.
That said, I still think Kingdom Hearts has a very silly plotline that takes itself too seriously. Too much darkness, hearts and friendship shenanigans, I guess.
As a matter of fact, I actually held back from playing this for a little bit just because of how silly the first scene was. Something like this:
Ven: Where do the stars come from, where do the light comes from?
Aqua: Huh...
Terra: The stars are other worlds but you are just a kid.
Ven: No I'm not!
Terra: Yes you are.
Ven: Am not!
Terra: Yes you are you totally are.
Aqua: Oh, you two are two silly brothers!
All: Hahahaha!
Cue orphan plot trinket.
Honestly, I think this thing about friendship and love works better in japanese.
But the game itself is surprisingly good, and this one brings the focus to Disney, something past games didn't seem to do very much. The gameplay is very deep, there a lot of fun minigames (I simply can't stop playing Command Board), a solid online... yep, a good game right there.
One thing I noticed, though, is that the story progression is exactly like in Dissidia: Final Fantasy; that is, dungeon > cutscene > dungeon > boss battle > cutscene > another world. I guess I'd better get used to it in Squeenix games, huh?
I'm playing this at my own pace, so don't expect many updates on my progress.
Currently, I'm looking for trinkets to put in Cinderella's dress. Fun!Labels: games
Por Allec Ribeiro às [11:52 AM]
[9/09/2010]
(This is an old post, from the old version of this blog. I did not update it in any way.)
I play a lot of games, but I rarely ever finish them. Well, I'm trying to change that.
Games can cost a lot here, so I pirate. I usually enjoy mediocre games, too, which is probably because I'm not paying for them.
That said, I don't always finish those games.
I like short games. I don't like games where you have to collect tons of shit, barring a few rare exceptions (Batman: Arkham Asylum springs to mind), nor games where you have a lot of pointless challenges. Sometimes, I just get tired of the games I'm playing, and by the time I'm not tired anymore, I've forgotten about them already. I might keep trying if the game is really good — and I will keep trying if I bought it. I mean, where I live a game can cost about $200!
Anyway, all of this means my backlog is enourmous, and thus I was really happy when I found out the Backloggery. You basically keep track of the games you are playing through a Twitter-like interface, putting status updates and defining if you have beaten or completed the games.
My backlog is still a bit big, but at least I can check it when I'm bored. There are also a lot of nice people in there, and once a week they host a stream at justin.tv. Right now, registration is closed, but soon something akin to a invite system wil be made.
Current games:
(PSP) Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep: Must stop playing that board game.
(Saturn) Guardian Heroes: Now playing with Serena.
(PS) Final Fantasy Tactics: Making an LP is certainly harder than I thought.
(PC) Discworld Noir: The dialogue in this game is fantastic.
(PC) Discworld: Act I finished, starting Act II. Fabulous game.Labels: games
Por Allec Ribeiro às [7:52 PM]
[9/08/2010]
(This is an old post, from the old version of this blog. I did not update it in any way.)
Nobody has such a bad luck installing new things as I do.
Eons ago (last year or so), I had something cool recommended to me (actually mentioned to my friend Angevon and then recommended to me by her) by Rogutaan: a Final Fantasy Tactics map viewer!
I love FFT, so naturally I wanted to take a closer look at the maps — there are a bunch of little details, and the textures are great, plus there maps you only get to see once or twice in-game. I even wanted to do a webcomic with it, but didn't because I suck.
Eventually, the map viewer disappeared completely from my mind and then a bunch of things happened and now I have a new PC and the point is I felt the urge to use the program again for even more sinister purposes which you will discover soon.
But, see, the map viewer didn't like to be tossed aside.
Everything went wrong. First and foremost, my disc went blank, and I couldn't extract the .gns files. Since you need them to actually use the program, it didn't matter if it worked or not. I tried downloading from different sources and even burning a new disc; nothing but a waste of resources. What I really needed to extract the files was CDmag, and at first, that didn't work either.
After some work, I finally got the files I needed. I double-clicked the map2gl.exe, full of hope, but of course it wouldn't work, and to make a point it closed itself before I could even check just what had gone wrong in the command prompt.
Duuuuuuuuuuuude.
I did my research and found out there was another map program for FFT called Ganesha that was made by the same guy that made the map viewer I wanted to use. Worth a shot, right? Since this rig apparently doesn't have hardwire-accelerated openGL, I had to edit a source file for it to work, only to find out I should've payed more attention to the description: Ganesha is a map editor, not a viewer, and thus it runs on gray-scale for speed issues.
Amazingly, I didn't give up. I had sought help from the folks at the ffhacktics forums a while back. I actually used to lurk there; although I think the people themselves are very nice, I don't agree with the general view that the PSP translation is the better one. Sorry, but I'm not interested in faux-Shakespearean dialogue, and to be honest, I also don't really care for balance.
So, I can't contribute nor fit in.
Anyway, some tried to help me but none were able to. Then again, how could they?
I really felt I was being trolled at this point:
I did manage to make it work, though — turns out my openGL driver was out of date and I needed a new version of the ATI Catalyst. Ganesha actually pointed this out (that bit about not having hardwire-accelerated drivers), but I guess I just didn't pay attention to it.
I mean, a Python error message, how can I trust that?
It was worth it, though.
Labels: shenanigans
Por Allec Ribeiro às [8:09 PM]
[9/07/2010]
(This is an old post, from the old version of this blog. I did not update it in any way.)
See, the real reason I bought this rig is because my old one didn't have SSE2 support. I still have no idea of what SSE2 actually is, but the best Sega Saturn emulator out there, SSF, requires it, and using Yabause was just painful. I wanted to play Saturn Bomberman badly, but I still had to wait for the right oportunity to buy a new gaming rig. That said, I found out the Sega Saturn has other very good games, some of which I didn't even know of, and Guardian Heroes is one of those games.
Guardian Heroes is a side-scrolling beat 'em up not unlike, say, Final Fight, but it does something different with the genre. For instance, area depth: each area has three planes, much like that Power Rangers game for the SNES, only better, since the enemies change planes frequently both to accompany you and to evade your attacks, and all of them work under the same mechanics as the player. It also has some RPG elements, namely stat-leveling, but you gain experience by hits as opposed to kills, so if you make larger combos (or hit dead bodies before they disappear), you can level up faster.
Each stat point is useful and the attributes suited to each character are generally obvious, but you can still make any build you want. For instance, despite being a mage, my favorite character, Randy, is very fast and can deal many hits easily, so I usually choose a melee build for him. I find this to be very good, because games with stat-leveling tend to screw you over if you put a single point in the wrong place.
In case you feel like grinding (it is not required), there are hidden arenas through the stages where you can face high-level enemies, proving to be quite the challenge.
I mentioned Randy was a mage, right? Well, all characters can use magic, with varying degrees of effectiveness. Personally, I didn't like the magic system that much. I'll explain it before complaining: with the press of a button, a small thinking cloud appears depicting the spells you can use; you can then selection the spell you want with the d-pad and then press any other button to use it, but you can't move or defend while doing that. This is very cumbersome, and while it is possible to activate the spells via button combination, it tends to be hard to remember them and feels more like a fighting game. Apparently, you can assign you favorite spell to a shortcut, but good luck finding out how. I guess confusing mechanics which aren't explaining anywhere besides the instruction booklet are a staple of older games, after all.
What do you mean, men don't read manuals? You've clearly never installed an IKEA table. And then he put his thingy in my you-know-what and we did it for the... no, wait.
Moving on!
So, the storyline is surprisingly decent. Basically, your group was looking for a rare sword and apparently has found it, but before you can do anything a mysterious lady breaks into your room to warn you that the royal knights are coming. They burn the place down, forcing you to make a run for it to a local graveyard, but when Han tried to actually use the sword, it zaps him and awakens a golden zombie knight from his grave, who proceeds to obliterate the enemies with the small side effect of rising more zombies.
But aren't those zombies royal knights, and isn't this a civilian cemetery?
The way you choose your path reminds me of those arcade Dungeons and Dragons games, and since the game has so many branches, each playthrough ends up being different, as long as you want it to be. The golden knight is also under your command, and can't die, so it adds a whole new level of gameplay. You can order him to attack, to protect you, to stand by his sword, to do nothing or to unleash a powerful attack which may or may not work against bosses.
'Gotta say, though, this game can get quite broken sometimes; a few wrong choices and you end up facing the hardest bosses of the game while very underleveled, which can obviously lead to frustrating situations. Did I mention your own spells can hit you just as easily as they hit the enemies? But somehow, the bosses don't seem to stay frozen for quite the same time.
Lastly, I'd like to point out the vs. mode is actually great. All of the enemies you face (and I do mean all of them, even the city folk) are unlockable, and some very fun matches can be born from that, either between you and your friends (the game supports up to six players) or the cpu.
Guardian Heroes is an old game, of course, and standards have changed. That said, I think anyone would be able to enjoy it nowadays — and I plan to play it with my kid once I get one!Labels: games
Por Allec Ribeiro às [8:14 PM]
(This is an old post, from the old version of this blog. I did not update it in any way.)
If you are reading this, then you probably know Metroid: Other M was leaked about a week before release. Well, you do now.
I was extremely hyped for the game — see, I like cutscenes and I like action. I also used to think Samus needed some character development. As the game neared release, however, second thoughts crossed my mind. Samus didn't sound that good, the gameplay didn't seem that polished, the music didn't sound that memorable. So, despite the hype, I decided to pirate the game first to check if I would like it or not, since I will almost always buy a good game.
I went to hell and back to get a dual layered DVD, since they are more expensive and not sold everywhere. And you know what? It wasn't worth it.
Beware a bunch of spoilers.
Other M starts with an amazing cutscene: the ending to Super Metroid. Definitely a great way to appease to nostalgia, and the cutscene itself was pretty good, but one thing bothered me from the get-go: Samus' monologue. I don't think it ruined the scene or anything, it was just a nudge in the back of my head, a feeling I did not understand. Anyway, after a somewhat fun tutorial with a really creepy guy teaching you to use your own powers in a falsely excited tone, Samus explains how she destroyed planet Zebes, monologuing about the finality of the situation and her love for the Metroid baby.
Remember this: the baby. Samus will not let you forget, anyway, because she utters it every five minutes of the game — the baby this, the baby that, ad infinitum. I'd prefer that she called it Metroid hatchling, as she did in Fusion, but I guess it would be a bit too technical for this game.
Actually, let me expand on that: I always thought of Samus as a really smart person. As far as I know, she designed her own ship. And she underwent Chozo training, and they were not all brawl and no brains. So, I never really imagined her going all casual like she does in this game.
Moving on. Actually, this is exactly what happens: Samus moves on with her life. An unspecified amount of time — sufficient for, say, a space biotech shuttle to be constructed and full research developed inside — passed, until one day, baboom!
No, wait, not baboom. I guess it would be more ungheeeeh or something. Samus intercepts an SOS codenamed baby's cry, and felt like the baby was crying to her (seriously), so there she goes to the rescue. Have I mentioned the woman doing her voice is horrible? Because she is.
Inside the BOTTLE SHIP (it is actually referred in all caps), Samus finds a Federation ship, whose logo you have to scan to proceed. Did I say scan? Oh, sorry, I meant look for it in first person and then be done with it. Because, y'know, scanning was much more interesting. Then she runs a bit and jumps and points her gun at a bunch of space soldiers, one of which recognizes her.
Turns out he is Anthony Higgs, a cool black dude that calls her princess (something which she explains to great extent) and was part of her old squad. Her old commander, Adam Malkovich, is there too, and he calls her an outsider, which PIERCES HER HEART.
Now, all of this must be pretty boring to you, right? I simply summed up the game so far, instead of reviewing it. But, see, story-wise, most of what is wrong with this game is right here. Samus' monologues (and dialogues) are always in a monotone, and she does it a lot. For instance, in this same scene she talks extensively about how she used to give Adam the thumbs down because she was so young, young and naive, in these exact words, and that he was her father figure that understood her better than anyone, and that she was so rebellious. The script is poorly-written — and because the focus is the story, it just can't be ignored. Some of these things could be shown instead of spoken, which is something Nintendo tends to do pretty well. Subtlety, people!
There is something else, too: most of what Samus says and thinks have absolutely no impact on the plot. You could say they do impact characterization, but not even that. Someone said that making a version of this game without Samus' voice wouldn't change much, and in fact would make the game better. I'm inclined to agree.
After a boss battle against a giant purple thing made of bugs, in which the soldiers used their freeze guns while Samus used missiles (a nice demonstration of teamwork), Adam accepts Samus' help under one condition: she must follow all of his orders.
This is where the egregious authorization system is shown for the first time (well, actually Samus decides not to use bombs or missiles before, but now you officially begin to operate under his command). Samus actually has all of her powerups from Super Metroid, but since most of her weapons could destroy the ship if used without caution, Adam denies authorization to use them.
Makes sense.
Except, at one point Adam sends you into a lava area without the Varia suit. You get damaged through three rooms, and he only authorizes it when the boss comes along. There are some other examples, but this is the most absurd one. I could ignore it, but something like this throws the suspension of disbelief and the entire reason for this authorization system out of the window.
Now that I'm done ranting (this is a personal blog, after all), a little sub-section for you guys:
GAMEPLAY AND ATMOSPHERE
You shoot by pressing the 1 button, jump by pressing the 2 button and move using the d-pad, all with the Wiimote held sideways, which isn't that great. When an attack is about to hit you, you can press the d-pad in any direction to sensemove — fancy word for dodging — and then counterattack by quickly pressing 1, which makes your beam charge instantly. By pointing the Wiimote at the screen, you go to first-person mode and can shoot missiles (actually the only way you can shoot missiles) and use the grapple beam, which is quite cumbersome. You can also jump on top of an enemy for some fancy shooting, but not after getting the stupidly powerful screw attack. Finally, by approaching a fallen enemy, you can use a finisher on him.
So, as you see, you basically go from room to room beating the shit out of aliens. It gets old after a while, making you turn your attention to the story, which as I said is not very good.
I'm not a longtime Metroid fan. Actually, I don't even know if I am a Metroid fan. Once, a friend told me I was actually a Samus fan, and I couldn't disagree with him. This means, however, that I was more open than most to the changes brought by this game, and thus actually enjoyed the gameplay, despite how shallow it may seem.
Two things I didn't enjoy, though: pixel hunting, when the game forces you to look for some meaningless pixel to proceed, and over-the-shoulder exploration, when the game forces you to look for some meaningless pixel in a slow over-the-shoulder perspective which has very clunky controls. It doesn't help that this is basically all the exploration you get, apart from looking for missiles, heart parts and tanks and accel charges (which make you charge faster) — and if you think this sounds good, you should know that most of this is post-game or within the room you currently are, pinpointed on the map. I know, I know.
Now, about the atmosphere... the amount of music tracks this game has is one hundred; the amount of music tracks this game uses is zero. You barely hear any music while you traverse a bunch of holopad rooms killing a bunch of aliens and listening to monologues.
Memorable music? Apart from the recycled ones (which are few), forget it.
So, I didn't find the atmosphere very good, and despite being varied, the scenery never really made me look at it to comment about how beautiful it was, something the Prime series did.
One last thing about the design that bothered me quite a bit: suits. Adam and his peers may or may not look like gay power rangers to you, but that didn't bother me. Did you notice that Samus, while in her zero suit, wears high heels? You might not know this, but it was pointed out how the heels shouldn't be too high in the original zero suit. Either as a Metroid fan or a Samus fan, these little things bother me, yes. Another thing: the suits. Since she was supposed to already have all of her powerups from Super Metroid, the suits themselves were discarded and became functions. Varia function, Gravity function. And apparently, the Gravity suit was too silly for such a serious game, so it was discarded and traded for some purple aura, because that isn't silly at all.
Way to go, Sakamoto. You managed to discard a classic element in the series, because you deemed it too silly for your game, while including something even sillier. I mean, it makes no sense — and it displeases the fanbase, something a niche title (compared to other Nintendo games) like Metroid should not do. Actually, I wanted to talk about that, too: Other M was supposed to appeal more to Japan, since it never had many japanese fans. However, in order to do so, they disregarded a bunch of things that pretty much defined Metroid to the western fanbase, and they still say it is a game that all fans will like to play.
It might be a good game, but it is not for everyone, and most definitely not for every fan.
I've talked a bit (okay, a lot) about the story before, but now I want to move to character development. Samus gets it. I happen to think the concept is very nice, too — Samus hides behind her suit, almost never taking it off, thus giving us the image of a stoic and badass bounty hunter, but in reality she is human, and an extremely fucked up one at that. The problem is, as I also said before, the game likes to tell instead of showing. Sometimes it tells while it shows, but almost always it simply tells, and as a result Samus' actions in cutscenes sometimes contradict what we came to expect of her. The prime example is — spoilers ahead — the battle against Ridley. I won't tell the circumstances of his rebirth, but Samus gets paralyzed with fear upon his sight (despite it being very obvious that it was him before, but I digress). Some have argued that this is because he just came back from the dead, but the game, which always plays captain obvious, never points to this, instead turning Samus into a child (literally, her render turns into a child), crying and needing to be rescued. I don't think anyone expected that, since she defeated him two times prior, five if you count the Prime series, but Sakamoto certainly does not.
(Ridley received the most epic asskicking ever after the aforementioned bsod, so I guess it might be justified, but you can't really say someone was expecting that; my point remains.)
So yeah, the character presented doesn't correspond to anyone's expectations, which is a bummer. Of course, I don't want Samus to be a bald space marine with no feelings, but I did expect the feelings she does have to be well-executed. Sakamoto himself isn't sure about what Samus is, because he described her as badass to Retro Studios only to take it back recently, saying Retro had their own vision of Samus. One particular quote enraged me:
"If many people have different ideas about what kind of person Samus is then there will be some problems about making the future franchise games. So with Other M I really wanted to determine and express what kind of human Samus Aran is so that we can really tell what kind of natural step she should be taking in the future."
But I think what he really wanted to say was:
"The Metroid fanbase has this idea of Samus, and it completely contradicts my idea of Samus. I can't let that go on any longer."
Someone else said that first, actually, and I agree with whoever he is. I don't think anyone ever imagined Samus the way she is depicted here, and of course not all reactions are positive.
Maybe they would be, but the dub and the script certainly do not help the cause. Remember when I said I felt a nudge at the back of my head when watching the intro cutscene?
Also, I don't like how this game completely disregards the Chozo, which were Samus' foster parents. Zero Mission made a point: she loved them and it was clear that their time together was good. She learned a lot. Even the gallery in Metroid Fusion supports that, and also that canon manga which apparently isn't canon anymore, since Other M contradicts it quite a bit.
Anyway, that doodle you find in Zero Mission was a complete tear jerker to me, because it was then that I realized she was taking back her own planet. And yet Other M pretends they don't exist and that there is only Adam. Not funny at all.
The one last subject I have is exploration. I mentioned it back in the gameplay section of this review, but since so many people consider it to be an important part of the series (it did give birth to the Metroidvania genre, after all), I figured it deserves a little bit more of attention.
I don't particularly feel I explored the BOTTLE SHIP. The game points out your destination and how to get there most of the time, so it is very linear. Fusion was linear, but it had a secret room here and there; Other M even points you out the location of the items once you defeat all enemies in the room, which is generally very easy. Some doors tend to close after you cross then, forcing you to proceed, and since this is very noticeable, the feeling I am exploring gets downgraded to something a little more elusive.
Sometimes, you can't even go back to get powerups you've missed.
People have pointed out that the after-game — again, spoilers ahead — feels completely different. Samus goes back to the BOTTLE SHIP to look for something that was left back, something irreplaceable. This time you get full access to the place and your powerups (power bomb included) and I guess it does feel a bit more like a Metroid game.
Then again, it might be nothing special. You get a few bonus enemies and areas (and one boss), and... well, this I won't spoil. Find out for yourself!
So, after all of this, you must think I hate the game, right? Absolutely not. I am merely recognizing the flaws it has, but I had a lot of fun. Many parts are cringe-worthy, of course, especially if you care about story and character development, which unfortunately the game assumes you do. The gameplay can get very repetitive, and it strays far from the Metroid formula, so if you care about that you probably won't like it. If I had to rate the game, I'd give it a 7/10.
That said, I won't buy it anymore.Labels: games
Por Allec Ribeiro às [2:03 AM]
[8/06/2010]
I have this friend who is an atheist.
Now, I have nothing against them. In fact, I think it's perfectly logical, moreso than actively having faith in God. This friend, however, has the odd habit of reassuring himself and the world around him that atheism is the correct choice, constantly making snide remarks about how not believing in God somehow makes him superior to most.
This irritates me.
Religious belief is not as simple as worshipping a divine figure. We are born into a world where God is a powerful symbol in many senses, and thus our upbringing will reflect that. Being told about a supreme figure since birth, oftentimes one could be brought to a divine path without even knowing another one, which is why some are so dedicated and irrational.
Such is not my case. My family, particularly my mother, is deeply religious. When I was born, mom made a point to return to her hometown and bless me in a church there, and ever since I was a kid we go to the church. Because of certain circumstances, she cannot go the church as much as she would like to nowadays, but her faith remains strong — and, sometimes, the only thing capable of making her stand. Mine, however, waned as our life declined. I started seeing contradictions in the holy book, I couldn't stand the hipocrisy of the church, but I remained faithful to Him, and I still do.
You see, it can't be as simple as believing there is a divine figure that watches above us. That would be shallow and meaningless. No, belief in God comes in a much wider spectrum that concerns most primordial questions — where do we come from, where do we go, what is our purpose and so on. I don't blame God, I blame humanity; similarly, I don't thank God, but myself, except when I am so desperate that praying for Him is the only thing I can think of. I know what some of you would say, that if I succeed after praying for Him it would still be my success, not His.
But, I did pray for His help, and so I feel obligated to at least say "thank you" regardless of whose success it is. The way I see it, praying could either have eased my consciousness or it could have made Him smile upon me. Either way, nothing would have been achieved if He didn't exist, either as a symbol or divine being. Which one, I will never know.
Of course, one could argue that I could simply stand on my own two legs instead of relying on some unknown figure, but if I chose to, in this world that stands before my eyes as a religious one, why would others need to criticize this decision?
The last two paragraphs could perhaps define me as agnostic, but I don't see myself as such. While I concede that He might not exist, that He might've been born precisely from this weakness that made me pray for His help, I do believe Him, because I chose to, because I need to. I've heard people saying that not believing in God makes them free to do whatever they please, but I don't see myself imprisoned; on the contrary, I've seen them reach the same depths that I did, but when I am at my worst, I do have God to keep me company and bring me up. To those that don't need so, congratulations.
Well, all flowers and butterflies, but I still haven't made my point, have I? I've just ranted and explained my own views to those interested, one of whom you might me since you are still reading. I have conceded that religion can be harmful, that a religious upbringing may affect who you are in a negative manner and can even be abusive. I have said that I can't stand the hypocrisy of both the church and the bible and that some believers are irrational, and that those who don't believe in God might stand on their own two legs more easily. Why is it, then, that this friend of mine makes me so angry?
Because atheism stands for reason.
I am well aware that there is more than one definition of atheism, but I disregard them in the same way many atheists I've seen disregard the positive aspects of religion, always aiming to "win" discussions instead of defending oneself with truthfulness, lecturing others about atheism in the same way they were lectured about religious belief. People might have reasons to believe, y'know? To me, they scream that they hate God instead of not believing Him, which isn't reasonable at all. In fact, it makes them closer to obsessive preachers. Now, this must mean I hate half of the world, right? Not at all.
People have every right to say what they think, as do I when I make a point against them. But this guy is a close friend, and the way he criticizes and trolls religion is disrespectful to me. It feels like he called my mother a whore, and while the world may think my mother is a whore, I don't want him screaming he had sex with her in my ear. Furthermore, he keeps trolling and instigating discussions in a place where they simply aren't possible, without ever stating his reasons.
It might not be logical, it might be weak. Hell, you might even lose the few bits of respect you still have for me — but please, try to be rational when you're about to criticize my choice. That you are a close friend doing that, knowing fully what I think and not even trying to explain your actions, hurts me.Labels: life
Por Allec Ribeiro às [8:34 PM]
