Multiple games in one: Can there ever be too much choice?

I’ve been planning an RPG out a bit, and I’ve sort of decided (nothing set in stone) to have a good range of classes. And by good range, I mean a fuckload.
However after some careful thought and some advice from a friend, I realised that I could, in fact, offload these “classes” into some kind of superclass. So while you may have a superclass that gives a bonus to melee, you can pick from any of these classes to add different bonuses to yourself.

That’s all well and good, but what exactly should these superclasses be? That’s the thing. I’ve also been thinking about this, and I’ve sort of come to the conclusion that there’s no need to have a proper class structure that limits your gameplay. Just have a whole bunch of options. Say at level 1 you can pick one class to implement, at level 20 you can pick another etc.

What exactly does this accomplish?

(a Users are never locked into something completely, so there is no need to ragequit and start over again because a class isn’t something you like.

(b Game mechanics start off easy, and only slowly change to accommodate players who wish to get more out of the game. Even if a class is hard to play, in a certain number of levels it will be possible to gain a new class, or swap out that class for a different one.

Class	Weapons	Skill Bonus	Magic Bonus
Chef	Knives MD, Pies ND	Cooking	None
Maid	Dusters ND	None	Serves X
Programmer	Computers MD	Hacking	None
Cleaner	Bleach MD	Cleaning	Auto-organises
Ninja	Shuriken MD	Stealth-2	None
Thief	Garotte HD	Stealth-1	Steals X
Tamer	Whip LD	Taming	None
Woodcutter	Axes HD	Logging	None
Miner	Pickaxes HD	Mining	None
Inventor	None	None	Creates X
Bin(wo)man	Rubbish MD	None	Destroys X
Con(wo)man	None	None	Becomes X
Police	Batons MD, Pistols HD	None	None
Fire(wo)man	Axes HD	Firefighting	Negates Fire, Creates Water
Artist	Paint LD, paintbrushes LD	None	Designs X
Traveller	Suitcases LD, Credit cards ND	None	Navigates X
Scubadiver	None	Swimming	Bonus to water
Military	Rifles HD	None	None
Astronaut	None	None	Bonus to space
Clockmaker	None	None	Bonus to time
Pyromaniac	Lighter LD	None	Bonus to fire

Yume Nikki: An Analysis

What makes Yume Nikki such an amazing experience to me? Well, to make this problem easier for me to state, I’ll say in general what Yume Nikki has that other games don’t.

• Simplistic experience – Yume Nikki has very little user-customisation, and is very linear in story, unlike most games nowadays. However, it combines this simplistic approach with relentless exploration that makes it linear in a way but also, in another way, non-linear. Every single playthrough is unique because of the sheer number of possible routes to the finish, BUT, every playthrough is also non-unique in that you must acquire all powers to progress to the ending. I think in some ways this may aid the surreal horror aspect; you are not distracted by game mechanics, the learning curve is very very shallow, and there is little to do but explore and take in the awesome atmosphere.
• Surreal music
• Horrifying surreal artwork
• User-decided experience – The user decides exactly what to do, unlike in most games, where the only control the user may have is in the side-quests they perform. The user decides exactly how much they want to explore, and exactly how much they want to get out from the game.
• Games within a game – The worlds are segregated in art style, allowing the user to feel that they are having different experiences while keeping the theme the same.

So what’s so good about Yume Nikki? There is a sense besides the things I have already mentioned that everything has been put together very very well. Though it’s only a sense really. I have no idea how I’d go about implementing something like that in my game.

What makes a Surreal Horror game?

My favourite game of all time, I’d have to say, and I have said, is Yume Nikki. It is the pinnacle of surreal horror in my opinion, though that isn’t exactly hard, given that the genre in video games is very underdeveloped. The atmosphere? I guess it feels like a persistent nightmare that you just can’t get out of, if I had to say something like that in words. And for some reason I find that incredibly addictive.

Now as I’ve said in my last post, I don’t want to make a perfect game anymore. That’d be awesome, but some part of me thinks that since human tastes vary wildly, not only is a perfect game impossible, but it’s also possibly not a game I’d actually enjoy playing compared to the games I have played and enjoyed so far. So besides my utter lust for RPGs, I also have developed over the years a love of surreal, dream-like horror. I’ve read a lot of Lovecraft, I’ve played Yume Nikki and LSD: Dream Emulator, and I’ve also read a lot of messed up manga, the best of which being Milk Closet, if you’re into surreal horror that is. Therefore, I believe that if I’m going to be creating games in my future, I should definitely create a surreal horror game.

So where’s the evidence that I’m actually doing something to prepare myself for such a feat? Well, I’ve currently gotten back into drawing monsters and such. I suck at drawing everything but monsters. And I don’t mean Monsters Inc. monsters, I mean drooling, eyes everywhere, tentacles-with-teeth monsters. I’m also going to get back into writing, specifically horror. This is a genre I’m not too experienced in, but it’ll be necessary for the game I am planning. I’ll possibly be posting stuff like this in time, so stay alert my few readers.

So I believe that you may now be asking: Shouldn’t I be breaking down the things that make these surreal horror experiences so good? I’ll try, but there are major problems in doing such a thing, due to the experience being something that is most likely personal to me – there are few objectively good things about surreal horror. Some people do not feel scared by surreal horror, and some people do not even like horror at all.

I’ll do that in the next post, as this has already gotten too long.

Thoughts on perfect video games and perfect RPGs

I used to plan things like, I’m gonna create the perfect video game, or more specifically, the perfect RPG. Nowadays I think a more selfish approach would do me more good. You see, perfection is to SOME extent objective, or at least, objective to humans because of our brain chemistry being generally alike. But because of certain variations of this brain chemistry (due to environment/genetics) we basically like different things. For example, I probably find RPGs the most enjoyable genre – and find randomly generated dungeons and items absolutely mouth-watering. This is not the same for a lot of people. I can’t say that my tastes are better than theirs just because what I would call mindless shooters are their cup of tea. But this brings me to my point (I know it’s been a long time since I’ve gotten to it). I don’t want a game that appeals to the majority. I want a game that I can be proud of, and hence a game that I would find enjoyable to play. But what makes a good game, universally and personally to me?

My first hypothesis really is that one thing is required for a good game, two things for a great game:

1. (Constant) Addictiveness – A good game requires addictiveness. A great game in my opinion is one that is very very hard to get bored of.

2. Theme – A great game requires addictiveness and an emotionally or intellectually involving story. At least by the standards I’m defining here. I usually rate video games the same as I do other forms of media, simply because I hold them to the same standards as other media (i.e. in requiring a theme that either emotionally involves the reader or teaches them a lesson).

But there are two qualms I have about these two things:

1. Addictiveness must not be addictiveness for addictiveness sake. It must be an ENJOYABLE experience. You can’t be grinding for hours just because of being addicted, you should be grinding (if at all) because you want to, not because you need to.

2. I would very much like a game that I could never get bored of, as I have said in point 1. Hence, I feel that may require a randomised storyline being in place (or at least a very large plot). But how does this work with theme? Can you really have a semi-random story with the theme still being left intact? To be honest I don’t think I can really answer this without trying it myself. But that, of course, will require a really large amount of work.

Hopefully I will someday create a video game I like, but it is a long way off. My current programming skills let me create simple-ish text-based RPGs, but I’m nowhere near skilled enough at the moment to create something even 2-dimensional.

So until then, I will be using these two criteria to mark games as I see fit. For example, just to show you that it works for me, Yume Nikki, my favourite game ever, meets both criteria. It’s theme is subtle but nightmarish, and it’s definitely present. As for addictiveness, I have played the game 5 times over and plan on playing it again eventually. Disgaea: Afternoon of Darkness, the remake of the first Disgaea game, another of my favourites, was so addictive I spent an entire summer on it. As for theme, it had subtle themes of sin, redemption and guilt throughout it, as well as that of healing over time.

Sorry for the lack of posts. I don’t generally post critiques of video games simply because I don’t generally know about the games I’m commenting on to accurately gauge how good they are, and I’ve only really been playing a lot of video games recently.

Legend of the Galactic Heroes episode 32, Holyland manga review

Episode 32

I’ve heard the argument before that war is good because most technological advances occur during it etc. and it prevents stagnation and corruption. Yang’s rebuttal is just absolutely brilliant – that he’d accept that if people didn’t lose their families or lives because of war. What is brought up here is whether the costs and essential immorality of war are worth it for the potential benefits – and I’d argue that stealing a wallet is also wrong but has potential benefits. What I mean by this is that a wrong action is not justified by any potential benefits, ever, unless more wrong is stopped by committing that wrong. Though I am a negative utilitarian, mind you.

Review

Artwork: 9/10 – Very suited to the scenes, very picturesque and detailed. It can be disturbing at times too in terms of the sheer detail put into (murderous and pained) facial expressions and what not, and generally adds very much to the feel of the manga without distracting the reader too much from it. I do have issues however with the lack of anything besides the monotonous streets – even when it’s daytime things that aren’t action or faces look a little boring.

Characterisation: 9/10 - Perfect character growth in this series. Every character of note makes progress bar a few villains and a few sidekicks. Towards the end you feel as if the characters are almost different people from their previous selves, though the growth is so gradual and flawless that you don’t immediately think this. The only thing I note that isn’t too good here is that the character exposition for some characters is rather lacking. While there are fleshed out traumatic backgrounds for Izawa and Kamishiro, the “ordinary” characters have no such backgrounds and their base personalities are barely revealed at all, even if they grow as characters later on.

Theme: 8/10 - Themes are generally to do with violence and fighting: can fighting ever be fun? Adding to that, can it help people develop their self-esteem? When will the cycle of hatred ever end? Also, not in line with fighting, themes of how does one come to love oneself, and how does one heal from trauma in one’s past come up regularly. The themes in general were handled very well – though I can’t help but feel that they could have been handled better. There were no eureka moments in this manga. It didn’t add anything to my already existing knowledge. Although its themes were somewhat unique (fighting being portrayed as having disadvantages AND advantages), and it did give answers to the questions it raised, I didn’t feel at the end that I was at all enlightened by this manga, as other manga have made me feel before. I don’t doubt that this manga could have great worth to some people, but I doubt it has worth to EVERYONE, because the lessons it teaches are somewhat generic at the end of the day.

What I tend to accidentally do when I rate something is criticise it overly, making people think something I’ve given an 8 for example was sub-par. Let me tell you something: I don’t arbitrarily pick those ratings. They are not too high. This manga had a great theme overall, my comments on it are nitpicking to explain to my readers why exactly I haven’t rated it as a 10.

Pacing: 8/10 - Paced quite well, but there are parts where this manga feels a little segmented – the pacing is slow, then suddenly becomes very fast. You CAN change the pacing in any form of media, I agree, but you can’t do it at disjointed speeds like this – people need to be eased into a change of pace, and this is something the manga does not do particularly well.

Story: 10/10 - Absolutely brilliant. A thrill-ride, if ever there was one. Through the dark corners of the human psyche we crawl until we slowly, step by step, edge our way towards the light. In less pretentious terms however, there are two main reasons why this story is so good: one the fighting is unreal – realistic yet flashy, scary yet clear-cut. I don’t think I’ve seen better realistic fighting ever in a manga, though granted the fighting manga I normally read are more unrealistic in kind. Two, the story is a whirlwind of emotions, and is crazily addictive. I can’t say much more than that, really. It’s genuinely a heartwarming tale, even if it’s darker than every Disney movie ever made I expect.

Big Question #1 Would I recommend it? - For the story alone you must read this manga. If you like fighting manga, or dark manga, or character growth etc., then that’s an irrelevant bonus, because without those features it would still be an awesome read.

Big Question #2 Is it a classic? - Now while the theme is unique, I did have some trouble with it as mentioned above. However the story more than makes up for the slightly generic theme, and pushes this manga into the realms of the classics.

Eternal Sabbath chapters 46-82, Eternal Sabbath review

Eternal Sabbath thoughts

Oh no please don’t do this again Eternal Sabbath. Please don’t start rushing things again. You almost had every main character covered in terms of character exposition, you were just missing Sakaki. But now it looks like you’re going to be rushing ahead of all that and getting straight to the action. Which is a really bad idea unless you have some pretty damn good action to show for it, which you don’t (hey I don’t blame you for that, but you shouldn’t rush forward because of it!).

Hmmm what do I think of this sudden development (SPOILER) that Izaku is rapidly aging and is about to die? I don’t think the mangaka really could have solved it any other way, but THE THEME WAS COMPLETELY BRUSHED ASIDE. WHETHER KILLING IS RIGHT OR WRONG WAS SUPPOSED TO BE DISCUSSED AND NOW IT DOESN’T MATTER ANYMORE. That being said though, there is more than enough thematic discussion in this manga to score it at least an 8, so I don’t mind too much, I just don’t particularly like it as an ending. Well actually, no. I do sort of like an ending like that, but the fact that an important theme has been brushed aside is something that’s a bit annoying to me.

Actually this isn’t half bad. He’s not accepting his death and he’s just killing everything in sight. As far as I can see this brings up another couple of themes: why are some people born just to die early, and what is the purpose of one’s existence if one cannot interact with others? The only problem I have mainly with the mangaka’s treatment of this is that Izaku is not portrayed as pitifully as he should be. There’s still an underlying “he’s a threat to the human race, exterminate him” kind of sentiment going about. Also, it seems that his acts of destruction are essentially an attempt to make the world mirror his inner self, which is very profound in a way. Points for that, definitely.

Oh and by the way I liked how Mine couldn’t kill Izaku. That’s quite realistic, given that people are wired specifically NOT to kill, and it takes a hell of a lot to get someone to kill another person, usually. Uh oh I’ve got the feeling that Izaku possessed Akiba’s body. Just a feeling that it couldn’t have been over that quickly.

Eh the whole “Mine once killed a man” revelation was not hinted at at all as far as I can see. I don’t really like this. I suppose it COULD reveal why she’s so analytical in life, and so bad with men, but at the same time, she should at least have had some sort of partial flashback during the plot. Points off for this, I really don’t like this idea.

Awww that is so sweet how Akiba’s “grandmother” knew he wasn’t her grandson the entire time. Ha that’s also pretty nice, how the ES gene managed to live on through the pregnancy of Mine. I was wondering if that would happen, given that the sex scene happened so quickly – surely he didn’t have a condom on him, right?

So what exactly did I think of the action this time being put ahead of character development. It wasn’t great, but I really did enjoy it. The action was actually quite spectacular in a way, even if it did ruin things a bit. Sakaki needed some characterisation! But whatever, it’s over now already.

Oh and just to clear up something I said in my last commentary, Izaku pretty much turned out to be a cold-blooded killer and not some justice freak the moment he killed Yuri (as she was no longer any use to him). One could argue that he was doing it because she may have “desired it”, but he felt not even a tiny bit of remorse for it, so we can only assume he did it because she was now worthless to him.

Review

Artwork: 9/10 (+1 from last review) The trippy scenes decided this for me: the artwork is very good. It really helps everything come together, and really captures you. However, it was not breathtaking enough for me to award it a 10, sadly.

Characterisation: 7/10 (+3) Horrible characterisation at the start, okay characterisation at the end, brilliant characterisation in the middle. It sort of feels like I’m reading three different manga reading this. Well regardless, the great characterisation in the middle (especially with regards to Akiba and Mine) raises the score significantly from what I first gave it.

Theme: 9/10 (+2) Does not particularly teach the reader a lesson, but explores a very wide range of themes, and explores some of theme in depth. Themes explored include that of whether killing is ever a right action, the cycle of evil, the nature of love and the worth of human lives.

Pacing: 5/10 (-1) Not good overall. Very good in the middle, but the fact that characterisation gets sacrificed for plot in the beginning and end mean that the pacing overall suffers, and one feels that this is almost disjointed in a way.

Story: 7/10 (+1) It has gone from a cheesy sci-fi to a good sci-fi, though admittedly not a great one. The main focus here is a psychological one, so I never expected the story to be awesome, but that being said, it DID get pretty damn good towards the end.

Big Question #1 Would I recommend it? I enjoyed it, but I wouldn’t recommend it unless you can tolerate the annoying pacing to get to the deepness of the themes expressed. It’s sort of like a nugget of gold covered in a layer of poop. Can you really be bothered cleaning it? That’s really what you have to ask yourself if you consider reading this manga.

Big Question #2 Is it a classic? It can’t be a classic. It could have been one definitely, with a bit of a better story, MUCH BETTER pacing, and characterisation that wasn’t sacrificed at the mangaka’s whims.

Legend of the Galactic Heroes episodes 31, Eternal Sabbath chapters 20-45

Episode 31

The problem with this show is that it’s so good I don’t have any faults or things to pick out every episode. And I can’t review every episode because they’re all the same quality really. So instead I shall rant about how I can’t say anything in these places.

Eternal Sabbath thoughts

This manga is getting better by the chapter. It doesn’t yet make up for how bad it has been, but still, the drama of Kimiko’s death (oops spoilers) is nice. It makes it less of a “let’s kill this kid lol” fetch quest into sort of a more psychological manga. But it’s still really lacking in terms of theme, ALTHOUGH, that being said, I just saw a discussion here about the nature of the sacredness of life. The characterisation is getting better on Izaku and Yuri, but not, funnily enough, on any of the main protagonists. What I think this mangaka really did wrong was rushing things; things could have been so much better if the plot wasn’t put before characterisation. The theme shows too much promise to be squandered, so I’m hoping things will be fixed in time.

Wait wait wait wait what’s this I’m seeing? A tiny bit of character development? Mine is a determined person when under pressure? Akiba is questioning his habits of interacting with humans? Sakaki is full of regret for his actions? It’s really still not enough for the amount of plot that has already gone on, but I appreciate it nonetheless. Actually this is getting quite good right now I have to say. The characterisation mark (4) is at least a 6 by now. And you know what? It’s steadily rising too.

Hmmm I don’t like throwaway characters too much, but it is sort of good in an “anyone can die” sort of way. But as I’ve said before, this is getting good fast. Also there’s another thing I can add to the list of themes dealt with here: whether killing is ever right, and whether people who do evil have lives worth less than others.

Where do we see this? Well first see these two themes when Izaku is being more fleshed out, and it’s seen that he is not a cold-hearted killer – just a person with extreme, EXTREME views who has the weapons to carry out those views. Killing being ever right is discussed first when we see the laboratory incident and it is questioned if Akiba should kill the hypnotised man to save himself and Sakaki (answer from mangaka: Yes). After this Izaku’s killings are portrayed in a rather unsympathetic light, with little showing of the crimes his victims had committed – UNTIL however this current arc, where Izaku (a kills several murderers who were undiscovered or not sentenced to death or not tried in court cases. The mangaka does not focus TOO much on the crimes committed, though they do give the other viewpoint a fair trial – though it seems as far as I can see that their message is in opposition to Izaku’s, although the sacredness of life does seem to be something that hasn’t been clearly clarified in the manga, with characters expressing doubts that there is such a thing.

As for the second theme, that of some lives being worth more than others, Izaku outright says this at one point, and believes it to be true because his life was deemed a sacrifice from the beginning. The mangaka seems here to be trying to push the idea that they are worth the same value, due to the fact that people are raised in different environments. It’s said by Mine that most people who kill are not truly evil, and it’s also said by the police officer that criminals are so looked down upon by society that they commit crimes again and again as it becomes their way of life. Personally I sort of feel that the value of lives is a loaded question: value must be in relation to something, it can’t be a single attribute. There’s value to society, value to oneself, value to other people etc. But I understand what the mangaka means too, from a legal perspective, lives MUST be taken to have the same value or else we end up in a horrible place.