dev_chieftain | Entries tagged with video games

Meme rules! I got this from Bubbles.

*Below is a list of twenty BFFs that I think are super awesome.

*Your mission, should you choose to accept it: try to use the clues to guess their identities.

*Commenting is screened, so guess to your heart's content. On Monday I'll edit in the answers and tally up the points. And over the weekend I'll...draw horrible, horrible doodles to go with them. As prizes! Grotesque prizes.

1 One is a warrior with a heart of gold, the other is a wizard of shapes untold! Together, they do awesome things!: Finn and Jake (Adventure Time) - Dixxy, Danny, Dustin
2 One is a genius with machines, the other has a knack for getting into trouble! Together, they travel through time!: Lucca and Crono (Chrono Trigger) - Dixxy, Danny
3 One is a genius with machines, the other is a genius with medicine! Together they re-enact historical battles!: O'Brien and Bashir (Star Trek: Deep Space 9) - Danny, Dustin
4 One is a sworn warrior, the other is a secret princess! Together, they maintain the balance!: Impa and Zelda, (Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword)
5 One is a world-renowned hero; I forget the other one's name. Together they fight evil!: Kim Possible and Ron Stoppable (Kim Possible)
6 One is a smooth talker who likes to tell stories, the other has the weight of the world on her shoulders! Together, they struggle powerlessly against fate! Varric and Marian Hawke (Dragon Age 2)
7 One is a lawman, sent from the 'city'; the other is a businesswoman at the top of her game. Together, they protect their shared home! Bob and Dot (ReBoot)
8 One is a grouchy old man who likes peanuts, the other is a sullen newbie in two unanticipated jobs. Together, they protect the cycle of life! Rube and George (Dead Like Me)
9 One is blind, the other is a strategist. Together, they save the world from being roasted alive! Toph and Sokka (Avatar: the Last Airbender)
10 One works in computer sales, the other is a crying man. Together, they struggle to get home! Wade and Rembrandt (Sliders) - Danny, Dixxy
11 One is a plant, the other is a warrior! Together, they fight for freedom!: Zhaan and D'argo (Farscape)
12 One put his heart into a computer, the other is wanted throughout space. Together, they fight for freedom!: Tochiro and Harlock (Captain Harlock) - Danny
13 One is distressingly naive, the other is hung up on a terrible guy! They fight each other!: Utena and Wakaba (Revolutionary Girl Utena)
14 One is a warrior princess, the other is a wannabe. Together, they fight for justice!: Xena and Gabrielle (Xena: Warrior Princess) - Danny, Dustin, Uftaki
15 One is a sadist, the other is a Mother. Together, they protect the world's best hope!: Cara and Kahlan (Legend of the Seeker) -I've been told this isn't fair because nobody else would call them BFFs. So everyone counts as getting this one! Or...something.
16 One is a prophesized warrior, the other is a cursed princess. Together, they fight to save the world!: Link and Midna (Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess) - Danny, Dustin
17 One is an ex-con, the other is a computer genius. Together, they fight crime!: Terry and Max (Batman Beyond)
18 One is a studious nerd, the other is a prankster. Together, they seduce women!: Haruhi and Hikaru (Ouran High School Host Club)
19 One is a superhero, the other is a cop. Together, they do awesome stuff!: Freakazoid and Cosgrove (Freakazoid!) - Dixxy, Danny, and Dustin. Almost everyone also guessed Batman and Commissioner Gordon though, so I consider that an honorary correct answer, haha!
20 One is a terrorist, one is a tyrant. Together, they battle eternally.: Aeon Flux and Trevor Goodchild (Aeon Flux) - Danny, Dustin

I think most of these will be pretty self-evident, but I don't know for sure. They're only from TV shows (including anime and cartoons) and video games, though. For sanity's sake.

Correctly guessed at least once: 1, 2, 3, 10, 12, 14, 16, 19, 20
Partially correct guesses: 10
Incorrect but hilarious or AWESOME guesses: 2, 8, 11, 16, 17, 19

Pictures to come after work, hopefully!

Disposition amused
Crossposts: http://dev-chieftain.livejournal.com/928688.html

I've been thinking about Dragon Age 2.

Specifically, I've been thinking about the ending. I've seen lots of different reactions to the ending; my own was not necessarily the one I saw most commonly, though with time and distance I found myself agreeing with the majority, more or less, because in some ways, they were very right.

The problem with the game is that Act 3 feels like Bioware threw it together in much less time than the rest of the game. Act 3's conflict is soulless and uninteresting, because none of the choices are really meaningful. Who gives a shit if you side with the mages or the templars? Everyone is going to go nuts in the end anyway, because there's only one ending. And this pretty squarely returns to what everyone has told me about other Bioware games that I have not played: Bioware, you are pretty bad at endings. According to people around the Bioware forums, their endings are historically pretty half-cocked, lackluster, and all around kind of bad.

'Why did they drop the ball so hard in Act 3?' is the question I heard most in regards to Dragon Age 2. A common accompanying statement was 'Why wasn't the plot with the Qunari the main plot? Everything selling the game implied that it was.'

I think maybe, possibly, there was a very belated realization that it might seem a bit racist to have the primary antagonists of the game be a race of 'monsters' who follow a religious doctrine that is not the pseudo-Christian status quo of Dragon Age thus far. Assuming this is a bit much; Bioware seems to have conveniently 'forgotten' to include the option for same-sex romances in SW:TOR, has never handled gender roles in a way I find fully acceptable, and seems totally unwilling to market their games in a way that accepts the idea of a badass female protagonist as being equally acceptable as 'the canon protagonist' as the male one. (I was, as some may recall, pretty incensed by the promotional materials for DA2, which acted like only Male Hawke was real, and didn't even depict Female Hawke on the cover of the goddamn box. The funniest thing about this, of course, is that I like Marian Hawke way better than Garrett Hawke for 'default appearance'. I loved both VA's and enjoyed playing as both genders, but Bioware acts like it has to be ashamed of offering a female lead whose value isn't determined by her appearance, but her strength, character and gumption (you know, like male characters get to be)).

Whenever Bioware makes efforts to fix their problems-- racism, gender bias towards male characters, efforts to provide same-sex relations-- there's a lot of turbulence along the way. Wildly vocal white-privilege young male members of their forums throw bitchfits, from time to time, about how they're not "paying enough attention" to their "real audience". People they are trying to please by fixing their problems are extremely difficult to satisfy, and unfortunately, as with anything, there are different voices within those communities too-- fans who have different opinions from each other on the proper way to handle the equalization of genders, the removal of racism, or what not. I understand that it's tough, so I wouldn't be surprised if they at some point in production said 'oh shit! This conflict isn't really what we should end this on. Let's rearrange things so that the Qunari conflict comes first, and then the mages/templars thing comes to a head.'

The thing is, it's not that the mages/templars thing coming to a head is bad, necessarily, but since they're trying to write with a direct sequel in mind (not a good idea, I think), they didn't even consider the possibility of doing multiple, equally acceptable canon endings.

I honestly think that multiple, equally acceptable canon endings would have been the best way to handle the end of Dragon Age 2 for three simple reasons:

-A larger number of people will enjoy the ending if they can make a wider variety of choices, reflecting their desires as players more completely

-The fastest way to get better at something you suck at is to practice it as much and intensely as you can. Can you imagine if Bioware had prepared fifteen potential endings to the game? I think I'd have also felt a lot more forgiving of a mediocre ending if I knew that it wasn't the only one.

-Presenting the game as essentially a futile struggle against a horrible event that could never be averted is neither artsy, nor fun for the player.

I could see that trouble was brewing for me LONG before the "decision" ever came to bear, and discovering that I was powerless to stop it made it difficult to finish the game because it sapped my excitement for it. Bioware claims to be providing the option of choices in their games-- that they offer the opportunity to play a game that is unique from other players' experiences because the differences in what you did or said actually, significantly alter your playing experience. The most significant difference I had from other players in my first playthrough was that I hadn't had Isabela around enough to keep her, so I didn't get any third-act quests for her at all because she never came back. That was a pretty significant change, and I respected it-- until I played through a second time, kept her, and discovered how little she contributes to the third act just in case you happen to lose her. Rather than have a very different experience as the Hawke who had Isabela around and thus lived a cheerier life for it, I got to see how little Isabela mattered, whether she was there or not, and I was kind of disappointed by that. I want Isabela to matter-- I want her cheery and boisterous personality to be such a big part of life that things feel noticeably different without her. But BECAUSE Bioware is ultimately catering to people I would pretty much identify as douchebags-- who do horrible things in their playthroughs like sell Fenris back into slavery, kill Merrill, and give Isabela over into the custody of the Arishok after romancing her-- and making sure that their bad choices don't penalize them too much, the game suffers for it.

I feel like these choices SHOULD matter. Your life should be a lot harder, and grittier and darker, if you treat your friends like crap, or throw them casually away. Otherwise, what's the point of playing the game and choosing your character's personality?

In conclusion, Bioware, work on your endings. Do this by making multiple endings for your games that give value to our choices! Please and thank you!

Disposition thoughtful
Crossposts: http://dev-chieftain.livejournal.com/905850.html

I've been thinking about intended audiences, and entitled audiences. Lately, it's because of things like Skyward Sword, or Disney movies. Then, I wanted to think about things I have clearly not been the intended audience for, like Deerskin and Toy Story 3 (and especially, especially Christopher Nolan's I Hate Batman And You're all Peons movies, but aside from trying to be funny instead of bitter, I can't even step back from that one enough to analyze why I'm not the intended audience, unfortunately.)

I don't get the entitlement, basically. I understand frustration when you don't get what you wanted. I don't know what I wanted from Toy Story 3, except to be proven wrong-- see, I saw the previews and said 'nah, I'm not interested', but when I later admitted that, people who had enjoyed the movie told me to give it a shot, which was very good natured of them. The long and short of it is, I still didn't like the film, and the only thing I'd kind of hoped was that I would actually like it and be able to talk with my friends who liked it about it.

With Deerskin, I know I was disappointed because I did not expect the book to go there. I thought, 'you know, that's the only place this could go that I would absolutely not be okay with', and it went there, and it rolled around in it. I violently disliked it because it went to a subject matter that was already definitely not my thing, and then it proceeded to handle it in a way that I found totally lacking. But you know what, I definitely was not the right person to be reading it, either. What I thought I was getting when I went in was...well, I expected another The Hero and the Crown, I guess. But I don't really feel like I have a right to have been so vocally bitchy about it, because quite frankly, aside from being irked by the stance 'you can't have an opinion if you don't read the whole thing', I was just out of my gourd. A book that was clearly not written for people who feel the way I do, and I'm acting entitled by being upset about it, I think, because quite frankly, there are a LOT of books out there that I could have read instead that probably ARE for me.

On the flipside, I'm a fan of Disney and I'm a fan of Zelda. Disney is really rough to be a fan of. People hate Disney for all sorts of reasons; because they don't approve of the Princess franchise; because they hate children; because they hate things that they see as 'geared' to children; because they 'never liked cartoons', which basically amounts to seeing the movies as only being accessible to children. I've also heard 'because they're terrible' or 'because they're racist' or 'because they're sexist'.

And I gotta say: How're they more racist or sexist or terrible than like, every other movie that's just like them? And who cares if you, a bitter twenty-something who hates children, smokes, and runs cthulu-themed D&D games, don't like Disney films? I think it's safe to say that you are probably not the intended audience, so rather than lie to you with a half-assed attempt at pacifying you, aren't they better off sticking to their intended audience and letting you go watch the horror, thriller, and sci-fi films that are actually going to be interesting to you?

It's not rocket science. We develop preferences for things, we try new things, sometimes we like them, sometimes we don't. If you don't like something, you stop trying it, and that's completely reasonable. The only source of conflict is, maybe your friends like something you don't, so you can't cut it completely out of your life, maybe. I have that problem sometimes, especially if it's something that everybody is into, so yes-- I understand what I think of as the typical nerd kneejerk reaction of 'oh my god, shut UP about that, everyone is talking about it and I'm sick of it' just as much as I understand the friend kneejerk reaction of 'oh, come on! please give it a chance? I want us to be able to enjoy this together!'

For the most part, while you will see things like the disturbing MLP:FiM fandom that seems to think it is the true demographic for the show, people tend to agree that if they don't like it, it's not for them and that's fine, they have other stuff they like that they can go do. And that's fine! I'm absolutely in alignment with this opinion.

For some reason, people who don't like Legend of Zelda games are incapable of understanding this point.

I have complaints about Skyward Sword, and I'm a huge Zelda fan. I have some serious complaints, like why the hell did you force me to use the motion-plus controller when I have to recalibrate it every five minutes? and what the crap was that asinine bullshit battle at the end? talk about anti-climactic. And most especially: Why didn't you name him Ganon? There was no reason to call him Demise. It was obvious who he was. Why bother pretending otherwise?

I have a lot of smaller problems with the game too. I did not care for Girahim and his yaoi-fanbait. There was a lot of yaoi-fanbait in the game, but I was okay with everything except Generic Anime Villain with Silver Hair #367. In the end, I liked Girahim enough not to be totally disappointed, but overall everything fell very flat. The "Adam and Eve" parallel? No explanation what-so-ever. It felt incredibly pretentious since there was no adequate indication that Zelda or Link had any desire to stay there until the very end, while Groose actually fell in love with the planet, yet left it inexplicably behind.

I was pissed off by the fact that the entire planet apparently consisted of corridors, off the edges of which were bottomless pits I could fall into. What the fuck was that? Was it too hard to think of puzzles that allowed there to be fields to run around on while I was solving them? Even "raised columns of disturbed earth with an annoying, but not fatal fall" would have been less arbitrary. I heavily disliked that element of the game. I disliked the lack of musical cohesion in the game, especially after the incredible experience of Twilight Princess. I felt like the side characters deserved more time and the side-quests deserved to be more important. And you know, I could have stood to have a new-game plus mode where I got to play as Zelda with Impa as my trusty companion. And it never stopped being annoying to have Fi along as my idiot button, telling me the obvious when I was fully aware of it-- because Fi's only character development occurs in the last second of her existence, when she tells me that apparently, she grew fond of me. Talk about depressing!

So, to be clear: I have problems with the game. I can find problems with the games that came before it. But they're problems that are RELEVANT to the actual game, problems that could be fixed with work and examination of the product. The problems I see people bandying about in conversations around the water cooler, or forums and blogs online? "Why isn't there voice actinnnnng?" "Omg, I still had to find keys to go unlock the doors! So boring and lame!" "God, why is this game still the same kind of game it's always been? Why can't it be more like Halo or an MMO?"

Guys, the answer to all your complaints is really simple. Go play something else. If you want voice acting, or dungeons without puzzles, or graphics that focus on your shiny ass and let you customize your characters, there are plenty of games for that. But this is Zelda. It's a certain type of game, and it's good at being that type of game. If you want a different type of game, you should probably stop playing Zelda! And you should especially stop bitching like you're entitled to better, because frankly, if you dislike such integral things about the product, then you are clearly not the intended audience. They owe you nothing, because it is not for you.

That isn't too much to ask, is it? I really don't think so.