Well, it has happened quicker than I imagined it would but I think I've made the right decision. My blog is now hosted on Destructoid. Unfortunately that immediately reverses the decision I made yesterday to allow for anonymous commenting. Sorry about that - but I decided it would be a better thing over all to sacrifice a bit of customisation in order to give the blog greater exposure to a greater number of interested people. I recommend signing up to Destructoid anyway. It has a fiercely independent outlook, where opinions are encouraged and fanboyism is laughed out quite quickly.
The relaunched blog can be found here:
http://www.destructoid.com/blogs/SurplusGamer/
Tuesday, 12 August 2008
(First, a point of order. I like Blogspot for posting blogs, as it makes a lot of things very easy. However, there's not really much of a mechanism for gamers like me who might be interested to stumble upon it randomly. With that in mind I'm seriously considering moving the Surplus Gamer to a more gamer-oriented community and I'm considering a few different options for that. So far Destructoid is winning, as it seems to have a very active blogging community and a mechanism for 'promoting' particularly good blog posts to the main page. Obviously if I move then I will post the details up here and I'd consider keeping this page active by linking to my new blog, in case anyone finds it easier checking this page for updates than wherever I end up going.)
Right then, Homestar Ruiner. It's the first episode of Strong Bad's Cool Game for Attractive People, an adventure very much in the same vein as the Sam and Max series, also by Telltale, with classic point and click style puzzles which seem to be a very good fit for the style of the Homestar Runner cartoons. It came out yesterday on PC and Wiiware (Europe gets it at the end of the week). If I'm sounding pleased but not overwhelmed, then that's good because that's how it was supposed to sound.
You see, for all that I found the game charming, funny and enjoyable, I have a problem in that I just came from playing Braid (no, not in that way, you dirty minded person). It's always strange finishing a game that you found truly special, a defining moment in your gaming history and then moving on to something that's merely very good. Braid, however, added another wrinkle to this, in that it reinforced something I've been feeling increasingly - that adventure puzzles are (on the whole) just no damned good.
Braid reminded me what a good puzzle is. Even most of the basic puzzles present you with a situation that first appears impassable but with a brief application of logic and use of the tools available to you, the solution becomes clear. Once you figure out the answer to the puzzle, it's usually an obvious 'Eureka!' moment that you've found the right answer and often during the process of working out, it happens in layers ('Okay, so if I do this I can get to this ledge, but now I need to work out how to get that thing over here at the same time'). I get it that Homestar Ruiner isn't trying (and doesn't need) to have fiendishly challenging puzzles. But it is supposed to at least have good puzzles and it seems to me that Braid not only has those more challenging puzzles but also much higher quality puzzles - something that is much harder to define.
What you usually get in adventure games are one of two or three things. You might get something that is so obvious that it isn't even a puzzle (for example, someone tells you who has something you need, you go to that person and get it). Many puzzles, then again, are ones that that fail to satisfy you with that 'Eureka!' moment I mentioned earlier, that you've cleverly figured out the trail of logic that leads you safely down the wobbly path to a solution - it's more of a tentative 'well, this might work, I'll try it... oh, neat, it worked.' To me, that's not the mark of a good puzzle. To its credit, Homestar Ruiner doesn't have difficult enough puzzles to commit that other sin of wanting you to do something that most gamers wouldn't think to do in a million years with no clear line of logic leading to it.
It's understandable that for pacing purposes you might not want every bit of gameplay in an adventure game to feature puzzles as subtle as the ones you get in Braid. Sometimes it's enough just to bring the thing to the guy so he'll give you the other thing to bring to the other guy. Also, I will acknowledge that I have played some very clever and satisfying adventure game puzzles. My complaint is that these are too much in the minority. For a genre whose bread is the story and butter is the puzzles, we've seen all kinds of variety of breads but far too much of the same old butter we've been putting up with for years. Even though the actual mechanics of how a puzzle plays out is very different between Braid and your average adventure game, seeing the former in action gives me a glimpse of some hidden potential in adventure games. I'm not sure what form that potential should take - which may seem like a cop-out - but I just know it is there, waiting to be discovered. There's a Crocodile Dundee scene playing in my head with Braid walking up and saying 'Call that puzzle? This is a puzzle.'
In the meantime, if you like adventure games and enjoy Homestar Runner, you've every reason to spend the next five months enjoying Strong Bad's Cool Game for Attractive People.
Right then, Homestar Ruiner. It's the first episode of Strong Bad's Cool Game for Attractive People, an adventure very much in the same vein as the Sam and Max series, also by Telltale, with classic point and click style puzzles which seem to be a very good fit for the style of the Homestar Runner cartoons. It came out yesterday on PC and Wiiware (Europe gets it at the end of the week). If I'm sounding pleased but not overwhelmed, then that's good because that's how it was supposed to sound.
You see, for all that I found the game charming, funny and enjoyable, I have a problem in that I just came from playing Braid (no, not in that way, you dirty minded person). It's always strange finishing a game that you found truly special, a defining moment in your gaming history and then moving on to something that's merely very good. Braid, however, added another wrinkle to this, in that it reinforced something I've been feeling increasingly - that adventure puzzles are (on the whole) just no damned good.
Braid reminded me what a good puzzle is. Even most of the basic puzzles present you with a situation that first appears impassable but with a brief application of logic and use of the tools available to you, the solution becomes clear. Once you figure out the answer to the puzzle, it's usually an obvious 'Eureka!' moment that you've found the right answer and often during the process of working out, it happens in layers ('Okay, so if I do this I can get to this ledge, but now I need to work out how to get that thing over here at the same time'). I get it that Homestar Ruiner isn't trying (and doesn't need) to have fiendishly challenging puzzles. But it is supposed to at least have good puzzles and it seems to me that Braid not only has those more challenging puzzles but also much higher quality puzzles - something that is much harder to define.
What you usually get in adventure games are one of two or three things. You might get something that is so obvious that it isn't even a puzzle (for example, someone tells you who has something you need, you go to that person and get it). Many puzzles, then again, are ones that that fail to satisfy you with that 'Eureka!' moment I mentioned earlier, that you've cleverly figured out the trail of logic that leads you safely down the wobbly path to a solution - it's more of a tentative 'well, this might work, I'll try it... oh, neat, it worked.' To me, that's not the mark of a good puzzle. To its credit, Homestar Ruiner doesn't have difficult enough puzzles to commit that other sin of wanting you to do something that most gamers wouldn't think to do in a million years with no clear line of logic leading to it.
It's understandable that for pacing purposes you might not want every bit of gameplay in an adventure game to feature puzzles as subtle as the ones you get in Braid. Sometimes it's enough just to bring the thing to the guy so he'll give you the other thing to bring to the other guy. Also, I will acknowledge that I have played some very clever and satisfying adventure game puzzles. My complaint is that these are too much in the minority. For a genre whose bread is the story and butter is the puzzles, we've seen all kinds of variety of breads but far too much of the same old butter we've been putting up with for years. Even though the actual mechanics of how a puzzle plays out is very different between Braid and your average adventure game, seeing the former in action gives me a glimpse of some hidden potential in adventure games. I'm not sure what form that potential should take - which may seem like a cop-out - but I just know it is there, waiting to be discovered. There's a Crocodile Dundee scene playing in my head with Braid walking up and saying 'Call that puzzle? This is a puzzle.'
In the meantime, if you like adventure games and enjoy Homestar Runner, you've every reason to spend the next five months enjoying Strong Bad's Cool Game for Attractive People.
Monday, 11 August 2008
SBCG4AP today, etc.
Strong Bad's Cool Game For Attractive People is out today for PC and Wiiware, at least the first episode, Homestar Ruiner. It's out a little later for Wiiware if you live outside the US, so I'm getting it for PC and will be playing it on my chugging laptop - It runs Sam and Max okayishly, and I'm hoping the simpler art style of H*R will improve performance and let me bump it up to High Quality (Strong Bad with jaggies just seems wrong).
There's not much point in me talking about the game now, before I've got it, but it reminded the adventure fan in me that I forgot to post about a little opinion piece I wrote about my introduction to Monkey Island and what it did for me as a gamer. It was posted on MixnMojo's excellent Secret History feature and can be found here (just search the page for 'Peter Silk' then scroll up to the beginning of my entry.)
If the blog post I made a while back about the fall and fall of Lucasarts in my estimation focused on the end of the affair, this little piece was about the start.
There's not much point in me talking about the game now, before I've got it, but it reminded the adventure fan in me that I forgot to post about a little opinion piece I wrote about my introduction to Monkey Island and what it did for me as a gamer. It was posted on MixnMojo's excellent Secret History feature and can be found here (just search the page for 'Peter Silk' then scroll up to the beginning of my entry.)
If the blog post I made a while back about the fall and fall of Lucasarts in my estimation focused on the end of the affair, this little piece was about the start.
Thursday, 7 August 2008
Braid (XBLA)
Braid is a lovely cake layered with gameplay metaphors, to be metaphorical myself.
At first, this can be offputting. There's lots of raspberry sauce and icing and strawberry metaphors which are the first thing you notice, and they seem ... well, a little obvious. 'Sure, I see what it did there,' you say to yourself, 'But anyone can drop strawberry and raspberry sauce metaphors on top of a cake, so what's so great?'
At that point, charming though the taste is, it's hard not to accuse Braid of showy pretentiousness with no real flavour. However once you get through that layer you get to much more subtle, clever layering of metaphors, the kind of delicious ones that it takes a true chef to concoct - the type you can't just fake. Then, the final bite delivers a taste so finely crafted and so sweet that you can't help but applaud the whole effort, strawberries and all.
I guess what I'm trying to say is: Buy Braid, and eat... er, play it to completion.
At first, this can be offputting. There's lots of raspberry sauce and icing and strawberry metaphors which are the first thing you notice, and they seem ... well, a little obvious. 'Sure, I see what it did there,' you say to yourself, 'But anyone can drop strawberry and raspberry sauce metaphors on top of a cake, so what's so great?'
At that point, charming though the taste is, it's hard not to accuse Braid of showy pretentiousness with no real flavour. However once you get through that layer you get to much more subtle, clever layering of metaphors, the kind of delicious ones that it takes a true chef to concoct - the type you can't just fake. Then, the final bite delivers a taste so finely crafted and so sweet that you can't help but applaud the whole effort, strawberries and all.
I guess what I'm trying to say is: Buy Braid, and eat... er, play it to completion.
Wednesday, 6 August 2008
Penny Arcade Adventures Episode 1 - Game finished, Nits picked
I finished Penny Arcade Adventures Episode 1 last night, as I thought I should at least clear one of my backlog games out before moving onto Braid. Over all I enjoyed it, although wasn't blown away with it and had a few minor issues with it.
First of all, although it sports JRPG style combat, there aren't really very many different ways to play. The item set is very specific and fairly limited, there's no wearable armour, only defense buffs and you keep the same weapon (albeit with 2 upgrades available). I don't think the game needs Diablo levels of item droppery but it would be nice to be able to have more options to customise the characters.
Secondly, the block mechanic in the game is really difficult to get the hang of and rather unforgiving, particularly considering that by the final boss, getting this right is more or less crucial to success or failure. I think it could stay about as timing-sensitive as it is now, if they added in a bar to let you know when the moment to pull the block trigger is. The enemy's health bar flashing for a split second just isn't enough. Perhaps something like the speed-reload mechanic in Gears of War would work, where a line moves across a little bar, and you have to hit the button when the line passes through a sweet spot. That would have been perfect for this game's blocking mechanism.
Finally - and more nitpickingly - the controls are really fiddly when trying to look at or select a particular item. I can be standing right in front of someone flailing about like a man posessed as the little icon flicks quickly on and off to talk to them, because I keep on turning too far to the left or right to activate it. I can't see how any playtester could have not been annoyed by this, so it should have been improved - no excuse.
There may be one or two other things, but those are the main ones that struck me. Apart from those issues, I found it fun, mostly funny and much more game than I am used to in other episodic titles like, say, Sam and Max. I'm not convinced that there's enough game in there to justify the 1,600 rather than 1,200 point price tag - I really don't see myself playing this again anytime soon. Then again, I can't honestly say I feel ripped off by the price either - it seems a decent enough reflection of the care that went into the game.
First of all, although it sports JRPG style combat, there aren't really very many different ways to play. The item set is very specific and fairly limited, there's no wearable armour, only defense buffs and you keep the same weapon (albeit with 2 upgrades available). I don't think the game needs Diablo levels of item droppery but it would be nice to be able to have more options to customise the characters.
Secondly, the block mechanic in the game is really difficult to get the hang of and rather unforgiving, particularly considering that by the final boss, getting this right is more or less crucial to success or failure. I think it could stay about as timing-sensitive as it is now, if they added in a bar to let you know when the moment to pull the block trigger is. The enemy's health bar flashing for a split second just isn't enough. Perhaps something like the speed-reload mechanic in Gears of War would work, where a line moves across a little bar, and you have to hit the button when the line passes through a sweet spot. That would have been perfect for this game's blocking mechanism.
Finally - and more nitpickingly - the controls are really fiddly when trying to look at or select a particular item. I can be standing right in front of someone flailing about like a man posessed as the little icon flicks quickly on and off to talk to them, because I keep on turning too far to the left or right to activate it. I can't see how any playtester could have not been annoyed by this, so it should have been improved - no excuse.
There may be one or two other things, but those are the main ones that struck me. Apart from those issues, I found it fun, mostly funny and much more game than I am used to in other episodic titles like, say, Sam and Max. I'm not convinced that there's enough game in there to justify the 1,600 rather than 1,200 point price tag - I really don't see myself playing this again anytime soon. Then again, I can't honestly say I feel ripped off by the price either - it seems a decent enough reflection of the care that went into the game.
Tuesday, 5 August 2008
What price fun?
I thought for a while about why I like certain types of games one week and the next I might have a different sort of craving I need to satisfy. The thing is, I couldn't really formalise it in anyway except for 'sometimes I likes one thing, sometimes I likes another.' That doesn't make a very good blog post so instead I'll talk about pricing for downloadable games, specifically in XBLA, because that's what I know most about.
I'm starting to think using a points system is a mistake, because it seems to make people forget how good value a lot of these games actually are. 4,000 Xbox Live points is the equivalent to about £34, which in turn is approximately the retail price of a new game. For 4,000 points you can buy five 800 point games. Or you could buy two 1,200 point games and two 800s. Or the most expensive XBLA game for 1,600 points (Penny Arcade Adventures Episode 1 - and very lengthy for an episodic title, at that) and still have enough left over to buy a 1,200, 800 and 400.
Some of the games that could be placed into the above bundles include ones that are full priced on handheld systems (such as Puzzle Quest, Lumines, Exit and arguably Worms), were once full priced and have aged really well or been updated, (such as Castlevania: Symphony of the Night, Rez HD and Sensible World of Soccer) and many of the completely new titles are ones can be enjoyed as much as any full price game you care to mention (such as Geometry Wars 2, Penny Arcade Adventures and it looks like Braid, coming out tomorrow, could well be another to add to that list)
I hope that at least puts the pricing somewhat into perspective. What people are most worried about, though, is price inflation. XBLA released with a lot of cheap and small Arcade titles, low on features and only occasionally high on fun (such as with the original Geometry Wars). People understandably took 400 points to be the entry price for XBLA games but actually it has become obvious now that 800 points is more the standard - with 400 being reserved for the quick and dirty arcade ports or games with too few features to justify a higher tag.
After 1,200 point games and now 1,600 point ones started emerging, people are concerned that it's some sort of upward trend. I'm not sure it is, for a couple of reasons. Firstly, there are other variables involved. For example, the raising of the cap on filesize for XBLA games has enabled games of greater size and complexity to come out and so it seems only fair that these would carry a higher price tag and that more games for 1,200 or even above would start (and indeed have started) to emerge. Secondly, the decisions about pricing have been fairly consistent through this change. Older arcade games are still 400, while games with higher production values, length, etc. are often nudged up to 1,200. There have been a few exceptions to this where something has been priced surprisingly high but it mostly holds true.
The bottom line, though, is that even if we started to see more of a trend toward a 1,200/1,600 pricing scheme and away from 800/1,200, we'd still be getting a good deal - just not the truly great one we're getting at the moment. I think it's time we started recognising that and celebrating the many great games that are available and continue to be developed as I write. Roll on Braid (this Wednesday, 1,200 points).
I'm starting to think using a points system is a mistake, because it seems to make people forget how good value a lot of these games actually are. 4,000 Xbox Live points is the equivalent to about £34, which in turn is approximately the retail price of a new game. For 4,000 points you can buy five 800 point games. Or you could buy two 1,200 point games and two 800s. Or the most expensive XBLA game for 1,600 points (Penny Arcade Adventures Episode 1 - and very lengthy for an episodic title, at that) and still have enough left over to buy a 1,200, 800 and 400.
Some of the games that could be placed into the above bundles include ones that are full priced on handheld systems (such as Puzzle Quest, Lumines, Exit and arguably Worms), were once full priced and have aged really well or been updated, (such as Castlevania: Symphony of the Night, Rez HD and Sensible World of Soccer) and many of the completely new titles are ones can be enjoyed as much as any full price game you care to mention (such as Geometry Wars 2, Penny Arcade Adventures and it looks like Braid, coming out tomorrow, could well be another to add to that list)
I hope that at least puts the pricing somewhat into perspective. What people are most worried about, though, is price inflation. XBLA released with a lot of cheap and small Arcade titles, low on features and only occasionally high on fun (such as with the original Geometry Wars). People understandably took 400 points to be the entry price for XBLA games but actually it has become obvious now that 800 points is more the standard - with 400 being reserved for the quick and dirty arcade ports or games with too few features to justify a higher tag.
After 1,200 point games and now 1,600 point ones started emerging, people are concerned that it's some sort of upward trend. I'm not sure it is, for a couple of reasons. Firstly, there are other variables involved. For example, the raising of the cap on filesize for XBLA games has enabled games of greater size and complexity to come out and so it seems only fair that these would carry a higher price tag and that more games for 1,200 or even above would start (and indeed have started) to emerge. Secondly, the decisions about pricing have been fairly consistent through this change. Older arcade games are still 400, while games with higher production values, length, etc. are often nudged up to 1,200. There have been a few exceptions to this where something has been priced surprisingly high but it mostly holds true.
The bottom line, though, is that even if we started to see more of a trend toward a 1,200/1,600 pricing scheme and away from 800/1,200, we'd still be getting a good deal - just not the truly great one we're getting at the moment. I think it's time we started recognising that and celebrating the many great games that are available and continue to be developed as I write. Roll on Braid (this Wednesday, 1,200 points).
Monday, 4 August 2008
Miscellany
1) Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved 2 is good. Incredibly good. The kind of good that makes you happy that the developers really 'get' what was great about the original and build on it in genuinely exciting ways, rather than just updating the graphics and adding just enough new stuff to get away with calling it a sequel. Everything is designed to perfection and the only thing I can think of to improve on it would be to have a mode where the player can design their own challenges by tweaking about the game rules - the six game modes are all great and distinct but they also made me think: 'ooh, it would be great if I could combine this thing from King mode with this other thing from Waves mode,' for example. Or maybe add in a few different ways to score the game. Anyway, if you can buy it, buy it.
2) There's actually lots of good stuff coming out soon on the so-called 'casual' platforms. XBLA has Braid and a bunch of other stuff, and I've heard a lot of good things about the PSN content coming out (is it bad that PS3 is becoming slightly tempting just for PSN and, I suppose, Little Big Planet? Oh well, they'll still need to bring the price down another £100, at least). WiiWare has Strong Bad's Cool Game For Attractive People, which is enough in itself.
3) Speaking of which, I've been noticing more than ever how my game playing tendencies ebb and flow. Right now I'm very into pick-up-and-play experiences, the kind that I could get addicted to for hours but can also have a good game in just a few minutes, like Geometry Wars. Fast, fun action. I suppose that applies to Rock Band, too, which I would be playing a lot more of except that it drove me mad for about 2 weeks with soundproofing issues. So instead I've been breaking out a lot of XBLA games and I'm finding it very hard to continue with something more drawn out, like Zelda. Meanwhile, Penny Arcade Adventures Episode 1 strikes a good balance - it's fairly involved and detailed but the individual story bits are cut into bitesize chunks, so I've finally started playing that. It can only be a matter of time though, before I'm looking for a world to be sucked into once again. I think I'll try to quantify my various gaming appetites for my next post.
2) There's actually lots of good stuff coming out soon on the so-called 'casual' platforms. XBLA has Braid and a bunch of other stuff, and I've heard a lot of good things about the PSN content coming out (is it bad that PS3 is becoming slightly tempting just for PSN and, I suppose, Little Big Planet? Oh well, they'll still need to bring the price down another £100, at least). WiiWare has Strong Bad's Cool Game For Attractive People, which is enough in itself.
3) Speaking of which, I've been noticing more than ever how my game playing tendencies ebb and flow. Right now I'm very into pick-up-and-play experiences, the kind that I could get addicted to for hours but can also have a good game in just a few minutes, like Geometry Wars. Fast, fun action. I suppose that applies to Rock Band, too, which I would be playing a lot more of except that it drove me mad for about 2 weeks with soundproofing issues. So instead I've been breaking out a lot of XBLA games and I'm finding it very hard to continue with something more drawn out, like Zelda. Meanwhile, Penny Arcade Adventures Episode 1 strikes a good balance - it's fairly involved and detailed but the individual story bits are cut into bitesize chunks, so I've finally started playing that. It can only be a matter of time though, before I'm looking for a world to be sucked into once again. I think I'll try to quantify my various gaming appetites for my next post.
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