Well, in an effort to cheer myself up, and considering that I already slept for about six hours today and so shant be getting much sleep, I've decided to talk about games.
Now, you may not know this, but I love games. A ton. And I happen to consider myself to be pretty darn knowledgeable about them! And I've talked about various games with various people this week, some good (see Dominion and Batman: Arkham City), some bad (see Monopoly and WoW), and some just plain weird. And one I'm building.
So first I think I'm going to talk a little about the game I'm building, and then I'm going to talk about my favorite game of all time! It'll be fun! You'll see.
Now, you may not know this, but I love games. A ton. And I happen to consider myself to be pretty darn knowledgeable about them! And I've talked about various games with various people this week, some good (see Dominion and Batman: Arkham City), some bad (see Monopoly and WoW), and some just plain weird. And one I'm building.
So first I think I'm going to talk a little about the game I'm building, and then I'm going to talk about my favorite game of all time! It'll be fun! You'll see.
So, the game that I'm working on is a kind of remake of the Pokemon Red/Blue/Yellow games in board game format. I've drawn out the map of Kanto and reduced the fifty odd routes into 15. I've also selected fifty of the original 150 pokemon to be featured in the game. I've limited the types to fire, water, grass, flying, normal, electric, psychic, and ground. So I've cut out things like ice, steel, and dark. Each pokemon only has two moves instead of the normal four, and you can't teach them new moves, so that will encourage experimenting with different pokemon, rather than always going after the same ones.
I'm also thinking of adding a sort of special ability to each pokemon that will affect the goings on outside of battle. For example, the water pokemon will have surf, which allows for movement over water, or double speed movement if you have a raft. I haven't figured out what all of the abilities will be or do yet though, so stay tuned!
Movement is going to be pretty simple, you can move one space along a route, or two if you manage to get your hands on a bike. Every time you stop on a space you draw the top encounter card from the route deck (which will be color and symbol coordinated) and either fight a trainer, a wild pokemon, find an item, or have some random event occur.
Battles are going to be quick and exciting (hopefully). Each move has the amount of damage it does, any other effects it may have, and a set of numbers, one of which needs to be rolled in order to hit. I'm still not sure what I'm going to do about turn order though... I don't want it to be too complicated, but I don't want it to be so simple that it'll drastically unbalance certain pokemon. Anyways, the pokemon type resistances and weaknesses are still going to apply. Also, the first move of each pokemon I'm trying to have as a mainly damaging move, with the second being a more utility style move, such as healing or delivering status effects.
Well, that's a pretty decent overview of the game I think! I still need to finish deciding on the power and hp of all the pokemon, and to build the different route decks. But once that's done, I'll finally have another completed board game for my repertoire! Although it'll need lots of testing for balance...
I'm also thinking of adding a sort of special ability to each pokemon that will affect the goings on outside of battle. For example, the water pokemon will have surf, which allows for movement over water, or double speed movement if you have a raft. I haven't figured out what all of the abilities will be or do yet though, so stay tuned!
Movement is going to be pretty simple, you can move one space along a route, or two if you manage to get your hands on a bike. Every time you stop on a space you draw the top encounter card from the route deck (which will be color and symbol coordinated) and either fight a trainer, a wild pokemon, find an item, or have some random event occur.
Battles are going to be quick and exciting (hopefully). Each move has the amount of damage it does, any other effects it may have, and a set of numbers, one of which needs to be rolled in order to hit. I'm still not sure what I'm going to do about turn order though... I don't want it to be too complicated, but I don't want it to be so simple that it'll drastically unbalance certain pokemon. Anyways, the pokemon type resistances and weaknesses are still going to apply. Also, the first move of each pokemon I'm trying to have as a mainly damaging move, with the second being a more utility style move, such as healing or delivering status effects.
Well, that's a pretty decent overview of the game I think! I still need to finish deciding on the power and hp of all the pokemon, and to build the different route decks. But once that's done, I'll finally have another completed board game for my repertoire! Although it'll need lots of testing for balance...
For the second portion of this I kind of want to do a mock review. Mostly because I know how insanely biased I am about the awesomeness of this game, and so the almost perfect score I give it is more subjective than actually representative of the game. But I'm going to justify them, so maybe you'll join me in my way of thinking! Also, I'm listening to the soundtrack of the game right now. Be jealous.
Dark Souls. A spiritual successor of Demon's Souls made by From Software (yes I realize that is a ridiculous and potentially confusing name). The catch phrase of the game is "prepare to die" and it is not kidding! Known as the incredibly unhelpful genre of action RPG, this game is unlike any other you'll play. The unforgiving difficulty of the series is probably it's most defining characteristic, along with amazing design. But we'll get into that in more detail... right now!
Design - For me, the most noteworthy thing about this game is the detailed and lovingly crafted world. I'll get into the story in a bit, so for now let's talk about the things you'll be coming across in the game. First up is enemies. You'll be fighting everything from undead humans and dogs in the beginning of the game to dragons, drakes, hydras, stone knights, giant boars, ghosts, lizard men, mimics (if you don't know what these are, then you're in for a great surprise!), crystal golems, and giant cats by the end of the game! The enemies are incredibly varied and each provides it's own unique challenge.
The level design is also fantastic, with locals such as a half submerged city, the insides of an ancient tree, a murky swamp deep underground, an vast lava filled plain, a gloomy graveyard of giants, a bright and beautiful city at sunset, and an old and crumbling castle filled with traps. Each of the levels is masterfully designed, with denizens that just seem to fit perfectly into their surroundings and tons of places to explore and conquer. At first you may be confused about where you need to go, but there are subtle clues that can alert you to the correct path and any traps that may be hiding around the corner.
The thing that I am most impressed by is, even with the huge variety of locations, it all feels like one cohesive world. Every place has it's own definite story and reason for being, and with some very clever design, you can get from one place to another in a number of different ways, which (for me anyways) makes even something as simple as traveling around the map a joy to do. There are also many places that you can see from other places. You can look down from the Tomb of the Giants to see the base of the sea. You can spot the spires of Anor Londo from all the way back in Undead Burg. It's just wonderful! Also, the map is open world, meaning that while there is an intended route, you are under no obligation to go that way. You can head towards some of the very last bosses right from the start, and can even skip some bosses altogether. You just have to be willing to die a few times till you figure out what you're doing!
And finally the boss designs. The bosses of a game are one of the defining designs. A game that's fun, but has forgettable boss battles may be good, but not great. But a game that's just okay, but with awesome and really fun boss battles can really ride on that! First in Dark Souls is, again, the variety. You'll fight a great wolf with a giant sword trying to protect the grave of his master, a pair of almost knights but for one's insatiable appetite for the bones of his enemies, a scaleless dragon driven mad by the allure of immortality, a giant of flame crying tears of lava for his departed sister, a dragon deep underground warped and deformed by his hunger. Each boss has an interesting story to them, which we'll get into later, and is unique in it's battlefield, weaknesses, and tactics. You'll fight in an endless hallway, a vast underground chamber while dodging magic bolts, and on the very top of a castle being pelted by firebombs.
So, with the beautifully crafted and varied enemies, locations, traps, bosses, and shortcuts, I give design a definite 5/5.
The level design is also fantastic, with locals such as a half submerged city, the insides of an ancient tree, a murky swamp deep underground, an vast lava filled plain, a gloomy graveyard of giants, a bright and beautiful city at sunset, and an old and crumbling castle filled with traps. Each of the levels is masterfully designed, with denizens that just seem to fit perfectly into their surroundings and tons of places to explore and conquer. At first you may be confused about where you need to go, but there are subtle clues that can alert you to the correct path and any traps that may be hiding around the corner.
The thing that I am most impressed by is, even with the huge variety of locations, it all feels like one cohesive world. Every place has it's own definite story and reason for being, and with some very clever design, you can get from one place to another in a number of different ways, which (for me anyways) makes even something as simple as traveling around the map a joy to do. There are also many places that you can see from other places. You can look down from the Tomb of the Giants to see the base of the sea. You can spot the spires of Anor Londo from all the way back in Undead Burg. It's just wonderful! Also, the map is open world, meaning that while there is an intended route, you are under no obligation to go that way. You can head towards some of the very last bosses right from the start, and can even skip some bosses altogether. You just have to be willing to die a few times till you figure out what you're doing!
And finally the boss designs. The bosses of a game are one of the defining designs. A game that's fun, but has forgettable boss battles may be good, but not great. But a game that's just okay, but with awesome and really fun boss battles can really ride on that! First in Dark Souls is, again, the variety. You'll fight a great wolf with a giant sword trying to protect the grave of his master, a pair of almost knights but for one's insatiable appetite for the bones of his enemies, a scaleless dragon driven mad by the allure of immortality, a giant of flame crying tears of lava for his departed sister, a dragon deep underground warped and deformed by his hunger. Each boss has an interesting story to them, which we'll get into later, and is unique in it's battlefield, weaknesses, and tactics. You'll fight in an endless hallway, a vast underground chamber while dodging magic bolts, and on the very top of a castle being pelted by firebombs.
So, with the beautifully crafted and varied enemies, locations, traps, bosses, and shortcuts, I give design a definite 5/5.
Story - Now, I don't usually care too much about the story in a video game. I'm usually one to say that if I wanted a story I'd watch a movie or read a book, but Dark Souls presents it's story in a way that is utterly unique to a video game. Most video games go one of two routes, either having all the exposition and lore written in books and in dialogue trees (I'm looking at you Skyrim!), or having the story revealed to you through cutscenes (I'm looking at you MGS4!). So, effectively, choosing between reading a book or watching a movie. (or from my previous examples, about fifty books and eight movies) However, Dark Souls does something that I've never seen before and takes a completely different approach. The only cutscenes are at the very beginning of the game (about two minutes) and a ten second intro scene before each of the bosses. And there isn't a single sign or book to be found throughout the game world (aside from a little text popup that tells you when you've entered a new area). All of the story of the game is found by exploring and wondering. There's only about a dozen NPCs in the game, and each of them has their own specific purpose, such as selling you magic spells or armor, and each of them has just one little option in their interaction menu: Talk. Select this and you get a tiny glimpse into the vast world of events happening around you. You don't get a wall of text or an hour of speech, you just get a few sentences about the character and what he might think of the place he's in, or the other people you've found. The rest of the story is found from item descriptions and placement, as well as paying attention to the things happening around you. Each item has a short description of what it is and what it does, and two or three sentences about the lore of the game. So you might learn from a particular hat that there was a college of magic that was drawn into a war. You may learn from a ragged set of boots that a powerful pyromancer's curse is what caused the decay in the undercity of Blighttown. Or you might even discover from a sword that an an ancient group of knights were brought to make a terrible decision to stop the spreading of a great evil. The most heartbreaking thing I discovered was finding a boss just standing and watching, without lifting a finger against me, that is until I picked up an old dress lying around. It turns out that the boss, burning from the pyromancy that had gone wrong and keeping the lava flowing with his molten tears, had been watching over the grave of his long dead sister as his last homage to her before he lost his mind. Yeah. Ouch.
The way that Dark Souls presents itself makes it easy to miss the incredible story, which is a shame, but it allows for you to explore as deeply as you want, and gain an experience unlike any I've ever had. From Soft had the fantastic idea of letting you discover the story by actually playing the game, and they delivered brilliantly.
For the deep, rich, and inventively presented story, I give the story in Dark Souls a 5/5.
The way that Dark Souls presents itself makes it easy to miss the incredible story, which is a shame, but it allows for you to explore as deeply as you want, and gain an experience unlike any I've ever had. From Soft had the fantastic idea of letting you discover the story by actually playing the game, and they delivered brilliantly.
For the deep, rich, and inventively presented story, I give the story in Dark Souls a 5/5.
Gameplay - Now we come to the big one. A game may be as beautiful and varied as you like, but if it isn't fun and interesting, it sucks. This also holds a dear place in my heart as I love studying game mechanics. The choices and design of the mechanics are more interesting to me than any backdrop!
Where to start... Well, in the game you will find literally hundreds of weapons, armors, and items to help you on your quest. Again Dark Souls allows for you to go as deep as you like even when it comes to armor and weapon sets. You can just pick the armor with the best defense and weapon with the highest attack power and head on your merry way! However, if you feel so inclined, you may want to dive into the specifics. Each enemy you'll encounter has weaknesses and resistances to things like fire, slash, or piercing attacks, and each of your armors has stats to defend against those as well. There is also poise values, which determine how hard a hit you can take without being stunned, and weight, to determine if you roll like a ninja or like a sack of hammers. Armors can also give you special stat bonuses such as increasing your stamina regeneration or boosting the power of your magic attacks. Each weapon has it's own special move set, and while some are recycled among other weapons of the same type, no two weapons handle in exactly the same way. So along with the amount and type of damage that each weapon can do, you can also take into account how fast it swings, if you can swing it in a hallway, if you can attack while hiding behind a shield, and if it goes well with your slick new boots. Each weapon also has a stat requirement and most have a stat adjustment, so you need to have the right amount in specific stats, and you can get bonuses if your stat is higher than needed. And lastly, you can have a shield (or a weapon, but it doesn't really help) in your off hand that again can give you bonuses and resistances. You are also able to parry an incoming attack with a shield, which allows for a devastating counterattack! Warning! Not all enemies and/or attacks can be countered! Shields also have different handling abilities, such as longer windows for you be able to parry, or being able to shield bash to knock an enemy off balance. Let me reiterate again, you don't have to get into this if you don't want to!
Another key part of the gameplay is the leveling system. This is another cool thing about Dark Souls, in that it is possible to compete the entire game without leveling a single time. Levels, as in a typical RPG, increase your damage, health, amount you can carry, the power of your spells, number of spells you can have at a time, and other such things. While the rewards for leveling up aren't particularly inspired, the experience (XP) system is a little more interesting. You receive "souls" for every enemy you defeat, and these souls are used both as currency and as XP. So you can use them either to get better equipment, or to improve your base stats. Another interesting way that From has used difficulty in the game is by making it that any time you die, you drop all of the souls that you were currently carrying and you have only one attempt to retrieve them before they are lost to you forever. A little frustrating at times, but it makes the thrill of defeating a boss and getting a ton of souls even more tension filled on the way back to the bonfire.
What's a bonfire? Why let me tell you! Bonfires function as the game's checkpoints. As you progress through the game you will light various bonfires and if, or when, you die, you respawn at the last bonfire you rested at. Your healing items, called Estus Flasks, are refilled when you rest at a bonfire, but there is one thing to keep in mind. Every time you rest at a bonfire, every enemy (with a very few exceptions) will respawn and again challenge your path. This creates an interesting situation. Less skilled players will find that they have to rest at bonfires often to replenish their healing supplies, but having to find new, more efficient ways of getting through areas because of the constant threat, whereas a more experienced player can clear out an area, and so long as they're not too afraid of dying and losing all their souls, can defeat almost every enemy in the game and run around with impunity!
So, for intricate yet accessible item systems, the exciting and tension filled experience system, and the different ways of engaging players of different skill levels, I give the gameplay a 5/5.
Where to start... Well, in the game you will find literally hundreds of weapons, armors, and items to help you on your quest. Again Dark Souls allows for you to go as deep as you like even when it comes to armor and weapon sets. You can just pick the armor with the best defense and weapon with the highest attack power and head on your merry way! However, if you feel so inclined, you may want to dive into the specifics. Each enemy you'll encounter has weaknesses and resistances to things like fire, slash, or piercing attacks, and each of your armors has stats to defend against those as well. There is also poise values, which determine how hard a hit you can take without being stunned, and weight, to determine if you roll like a ninja or like a sack of hammers. Armors can also give you special stat bonuses such as increasing your stamina regeneration or boosting the power of your magic attacks. Each weapon has it's own special move set, and while some are recycled among other weapons of the same type, no two weapons handle in exactly the same way. So along with the amount and type of damage that each weapon can do, you can also take into account how fast it swings, if you can swing it in a hallway, if you can attack while hiding behind a shield, and if it goes well with your slick new boots. Each weapon also has a stat requirement and most have a stat adjustment, so you need to have the right amount in specific stats, and you can get bonuses if your stat is higher than needed. And lastly, you can have a shield (or a weapon, but it doesn't really help) in your off hand that again can give you bonuses and resistances. You are also able to parry an incoming attack with a shield, which allows for a devastating counterattack! Warning! Not all enemies and/or attacks can be countered! Shields also have different handling abilities, such as longer windows for you be able to parry, or being able to shield bash to knock an enemy off balance. Let me reiterate again, you don't have to get into this if you don't want to!
Another key part of the gameplay is the leveling system. This is another cool thing about Dark Souls, in that it is possible to compete the entire game without leveling a single time. Levels, as in a typical RPG, increase your damage, health, amount you can carry, the power of your spells, number of spells you can have at a time, and other such things. While the rewards for leveling up aren't particularly inspired, the experience (XP) system is a little more interesting. You receive "souls" for every enemy you defeat, and these souls are used both as currency and as XP. So you can use them either to get better equipment, or to improve your base stats. Another interesting way that From has used difficulty in the game is by making it that any time you die, you drop all of the souls that you were currently carrying and you have only one attempt to retrieve them before they are lost to you forever. A little frustrating at times, but it makes the thrill of defeating a boss and getting a ton of souls even more tension filled on the way back to the bonfire.
What's a bonfire? Why let me tell you! Bonfires function as the game's checkpoints. As you progress through the game you will light various bonfires and if, or when, you die, you respawn at the last bonfire you rested at. Your healing items, called Estus Flasks, are refilled when you rest at a bonfire, but there is one thing to keep in mind. Every time you rest at a bonfire, every enemy (with a very few exceptions) will respawn and again challenge your path. This creates an interesting situation. Less skilled players will find that they have to rest at bonfires often to replenish their healing supplies, but having to find new, more efficient ways of getting through areas because of the constant threat, whereas a more experienced player can clear out an area, and so long as they're not too afraid of dying and losing all their souls, can defeat almost every enemy in the game and run around with impunity!
So, for intricate yet accessible item systems, the exciting and tension filled experience system, and the different ways of engaging players of different skill levels, I give the gameplay a 5/5.
Obviously this is a very biased review as it is by far my favorite game, I really think it is amazingly done. I realize that it is definitely not for everyone, as it requires patience and a willingness to explore to really get the most out of the game. But I think that everyone should give it a try at least once, or at least look up the fantastic lore videos on youtube. There's ones by EpicNameBro and VaatiVidya if you need a good place to start. So, good night and good grief everyone!
