Author Archives: Nyanman
Public Service Announcement
Hello everyone. Today, instead of any one of the several reviews I was planning on doing (Deus Machina Demonbane, Aselia the Eternal, Alice: Madness Returns, or any one of the number of really good or really bad animes I have seen recently) I instead decided to give something to all the people who play games.
I do not care if you play western games, JRPGs, or Japanese games that play like western games, or western games that play like Japanese games. This news is of importance to all of you.
Some of you may vaguely recall the decision a while ago by the U.S. Supreme Court where video games were ruled an art form. This means that the National Endowment for the Arts can sponsor specific games, as well as games are subject to the same ideas as art-they don’t have to conform to moral standards as much.
Now, such a decision was helped by the outspoken gaming community who wanted to defend their medium, and wanted their medium to be accepted. They wanted to see games straddled with less regulation so that they could grow as an artistic medium.
Now, if you live in the U.S. the first thing I suggest you do is register to vote. Then, you should go to the Video Game Voter’s website and join them to show your support for games as a medium.
The thing is, though, gamers are a pretty giving community. Despite what you will run into on any multiplayer game in a public server, a lot of gamers put forward a positive image through various organizations, such as Child’s Play.
For those not in the know, Child’s Play is a charity that seeks to help out hospitalized children through donations from the gaming industry and gamers.
Other events, such as Desert Bus For Hope, run game events that seek donations from people watching or helping to raise money for Child’s Play. Yes, by the time you read this, Desert Bus has ended. They raised nearly $400,000 for Child’s Play.
And how much did Child’s Play bring in in 2011? They raised a little over $3.5 million U.S.D. That is over $3.5 million from the industry and gamers who care.
But it isn’t all just donations from companies and events like Desert Bus for Hope. Consider the upcoming game, Rule of Cool. They are in the beta phase currently, and in the beta phase alone, they raised $13,000 for Child’s Play. For those not familiar with the game, it is an indie (independent) game developer who is making a game where all proceeds from the game go to Child’s Play.
Yes, the game costs money. Actually, it is free at the moment. They used a pay-what-you-like system, where you pay what you want or can to get the game. It is now free for a short while, but they will soon be doing another donation drive for the core book. For some money that goes to charity, is it not worth buying the game? Even if you do not play it much, you at least made a charitable donation and got something for it.
But it isn’t all charities. Perhaps some of you are fans of the absolutely great classic games Grim Fandango and and of the Monkey Island games. Old fashioned adventure games with lots of character and a good storyline. They were amazing games at the time, and still are amazing games. The people behind those games wanted to make a new adventure game. Nobody would take on the project, as companies figured it would simply be money lost. So, they went to kickstarter to raise $400,000 to develop a new game.
As I write this, there is 25 days left, and the money sits at $1,907,083. Almost 2 million dollars raised to fund the type of games people want to play. If you liked Grim Fandango or any of the Monkey Island games, you can support Double Fine Adventures here.
I will admit to not being the biggest fan of pure adventure games. But, I am a fan of games a s a medium, which is why I will be donating to Double Fine, and why I will be picking up Rule of Cool.
That was all I had to say. In the end, if you like games in general, please show your support for them. Register with Video Game Voters, or donate money to Child’s Play. Support Desert Bus next time it comes around, or buy Rule of Cool or donate towards the Double Fine game or others that appear.
By supporting games, we in turn get better games. And in the end, isn’t that win-win for everyone involved?
Yes. Yes it is.
Video Game Review: Vindictus
Vindictus is a realistic action-adventure MMORPG made by Korean games developer Nexon. Nexon also made Mabinogi, and bought the developers of Atlantica Online.
Vindictus is set in a fantasy town, and is the precursor to Mabinogi. However, while Mabinogi is somewhat light and happy in tone, Vindictus throws most of that away for a happy exterior covering a shell of weird horror and creepy revelations.
As this is an MMO, I’ll start off with the character classes. Each has some text description in the selection screen, which saved the developers from having to characterize several characters through gameplay and interaction with friendly non-player characters. It’s acceptable in this situation, as characterization through gameplay and NPC interactions is essentially an insurmountable task. However, interaction with the NPCs does reveal a lot about them as a character and the world you are playing in. It also turns most of the NPCs into interesting characters in their own right.
Classes: Each class is gender locked, as is typical of overseas MMO games. Each class also has a name instead of a class label. There are currently four player characters released, with a fifth planned.
Visual Novel Review: Katawa Shoujo
Katawa Shoujo, a free Visual Novel game made by an independent group of people. Indie games are usually fun and innovative when compared to mainstream AAA titles, so this game promises to be interesting.
Where did it come from: Well, the game is based off a sketch of several girls with disabilities that was posted to…THAT website. No, I am not going to link it, but I think you know which one I mean.
Background: You play as Hisao, who is confessed to by a girl, then he has a heart attack (he happens to have Long QT Syndrome) and ends up going to a school just for kids with physical disabilities. There, he meets several girls, and can end up with a relationship with any of them. There are good endings which the game makes you really work for, and there are bad endings where you either die, or screw up the girl beyond belief.
Plot: I believe I gave it away above. Individual plotlines depend on the storyline you are playing through. I wouldn’t know, because I put this game down after getting partway through several paths.
Feel free to call it unprofessional. The game, I mean. That is why I put it down-it became unprofessional and flaws became evident. In addition, they were the sort of flaws where I simply objected to them, so I ended the game. I will not play it again. I did enjoy the story, and it was reasonably done. The story was emotional and gripping, but other issues greatly took away from the enjoyment of it.
Let’s start with the first, the title. While it essentially means ‘Imperfect Girl’ and is the intended title, katawa is a Japanese word that is considered offensive enough that it cannot be said on TV or radio. Actually, given what ‘katawa’ really means, a better name for the game in english would be somehting along the lines of ‘Gimp Girls.’
Why is that a problem? Well, first off, it insults an entire group of people. Secondly, it insults the group of people THAT THE GAME ITSELF IS TRYING TO SHOW RESPECT TO. You lose your message of ‘these people are people too’ when the very first thing someone notices in your game is highly offensive.
Critical Comaprison Corner
Hello all, welcome again to another comparison. Perhaps you remember one of my absolute first writings here, in which I compared Sekirei manga, Sekirei anime, Queen’s Blade manga, and Queen’s Blade anime, and came to conclusion that some were better than others, and that the Queen’s Blade manga had the most story and least fanservice, despite what the anime would lead you to believe.
Well, today, I have a new one. This time, I will be comparing a Chinese game I did not play with two western games. Why did I not play a game I am going to be talking about? Well, I played both games it shamelessly ripped off, and American IP addresses are blocked from playing the game. Frankly, if I need to learn IP address routing so it seems like I am in another country to play a game, it isn’t worth it. It’s okay to have you work towards a goal in a game, as succeeding at it brings a feeling of accomplishment. But having to do work in real life to get to play it, not get some reward? Not worth it.
For those that cannot read Chinese, the game they made is called Final Combat. The games I will be comparing are Team Fortress 2 and Battlefield Heroes.
First, a little bit about each game.
Final Combat is a class based multiplayer online first person shooter. Classes include the Fatman, a fishmarket guy with a minigun and a kukri. There is also a sniper, who has a gun labelled ‘Sniper Rifle’ and carries a stun gun (not a Taser, they are a brand.)It is quite fitting, seeing as she is going for the sexy librarian/sexy secretary look. There is also ‘The Rocket’ who, quite fittingly, uses a rocket launcher. Finally, there is a clown who wields a flamethrower.
Battlefield Heroes is a class based online multiplayer third person shooter. It has a simple cartoony environment and three main classes. A gunner, who uses a large machine gun or rocket launcher. There is also a soldier, who uses lighter automatic weapons and moves faster than the gunner. Finally, there is the commando, who uses knives and sniper rifles, and is the fastest class.
Team Fortress 2 is a class based online multiplayer first person shooter. There are nine classes: The Scout, Soldier, Pyro, Demoman, Heavy, Enginner, Medic, Sniper, and Spy. It has a cartoony aesthetic to the characters and environments. It has several main gameplay types: territory control or capture the flag. You also have a choice of playing those in either a desert environment, an industrial environment, or for a change of pace, a desert industrial environment. Classes here are pretty easy to guess what each does. The demoman blows stuff up, the pyro lights stuff on fire, the heavy is a big guy with a big gun, the scout is light and fast, the medic heals people, the sniper snipes people, and the medic heals people. Each class has a basic weapon loadout that every first time player gets, but playtime, monetization, and achievements will give you all sorts of new gear. Needless to say, the continued release of new gear and the chance to get it keeps people in the game.
Anime Review: Nichijou (Everyday Life, My Ordinary Life)
So it turns out that Nichijou is not only an anime (available for free on Crunchyroll) but a manga as well. I have not READ the manga, so I will not be reviewing it. However, if I were to place a guess, it would be a 4koma and would have short one-off ‘skits’ (for lack of a better word) like the anime has.
The absolute first thing I have to say about it is that the PV is VERY misleading. Secondly, the description and title are a bit misleading. Judging by what we see, one would be forgiven for assuming it is another slice of life anime with some craaaaaazzzy situations that we have NEVER seen before (and by never I mean every other slice of life anime did so.) And third, I cannot get the image to post.
But, if anything, you should watch the first episode. I gave it a chance, and it ended up getting awarded for being much better than expected (and I would have given it anime of the year 2011 had I though to have an anime and a manga award. Hindsight is 20/20.)
