Lagumbay.com Reflections on Love, Rage, and Fear

“I recommend biting off more than you can chew to anyone. I certainly do” — Alanis Morissette, “You Learn”

My horrendous kill-death ratio in the Killzone 3 multiplayer made me contemplate my approach to video game combat. With the pre-order bonus ticking down the 24-hours of having all skills unlocked, my objective had been to amass as many experience points as I could, which, in turn, granted me “unlock points” for use when the 24 hour skill smorgasbord ended. In gaming terms, I was XP-whoring, and I will probably be XP-whoring until I eventually unlock everything. Due to my lame skill level, that means putting my medic character in harm’s way for the potential chance of gaining more points than I could if I had been, say, a more cautious marksman.

From a broader perspective, I wondered if my reckless abandon was due to the knowledge that my character would respawn after death. In Killzone, there doesn’t seem to be a penalty for dying except for maybe having to walk through the map again. In the game, death is nothing to fear, knowing that reincarnation is only a few seconds away.

Come to think of it, the one main threat deterring a person from dying in a video game is having to start over. In the GTA series, getting “Busted” or “Wasted” cost you either money or weapons, but the ability to reload a saved game nullified that consequence. During the longer missions, however, the idea of having to start over made me not want to “die.” Having to once more drive through half the game map, fight through the same grunts for another chance of getting things right seemed like something to strive against. I always thought it best to succeed on the first try. In LittleBigPlanet, pressure always mounted when I was down to my last “life.” I was more cautious, often standing still in order to assess the situation, understand patterns, and plan my course of action. Reaching the next checkpoint came with a sigh of relief, knowing that one wrong step into a fiery pit would only be a minor inconvenience again. In the God of War series, as with most platformers and brawlers, dying led to having to start a section over, which meant possibly having to re-acquire power-ups and fighting through hordes of monsters again. These are minor, and sometimes fun, inconveniences.

There are games out there that have a “hardcore” mode which makes death more consequential. Demon’s Souls penalizes death by making reincarnation difficult. One can keep on playing as a ghost with diminished “health points” and an ethereal look in the game world. Dying in Demon’s Souls also meant losing all the XP and gold you had gained with a chance to recover some of it if you make it back to your corpse. The game provided no checkpoints and as such, made having to start over with less health a horribly frustrating proposition.

There is a “Hardcore Mode” in Fallout New Vegas in which hunger and fatigue factored in more heavily to the character’s health. Still, death was only a minor inconvenience since one can reload a previously saved game. Dying while playing Diablo II’s hardcore mode, however, meant that you character, along with his or her acquired skills and equipment, could not be accessed again. The only way to play again was to start a completely new character from the beginning.

The idea of respawning is part of the appeal of video games. Players are allowed to explore, make fatal errors, and try again. The way a game deals with “death” ultimately determines the approach a player takes. I never tried Diablo II’s hardcore mode because the thought of losing many hours of hard work to a stray thrown spear did not sound appealing at all. My horrendous kill-death ratio in Killzone 3 illustrates the other end of the spectrum, as death is only a minor inconvenience. If Alanis Morissette were singing about video games, she could have added “You die, you learn.”

“Act like you know, Rico. I know what Bo don’t know.” — Ini Kamoze, “Hotstepper”

So we’re back from…I forget. I remember playing Killzone 2′s single-player story. I even remember trying to go through it a second time without using crosshairs but for the love of Vekta, I can’t seem to remember what happened in between landing and Rico shooting Visari. I shot oodles of Helghast, I got to play with different guns, planted explosives, shot more orange-eyed soldiers, and then lots and lots and LOTS of hours playing the online multiplayer.

Now here we are in Killzone 3!

Started out dressed as a Hig…er, sorry, Native Helghan soldier not really sure what’s going on. Naturally, I immediately tried to blow my cover but not a lot of buttons were enabled. I tried to walk all erratic and funny to draw attention to myself but nope, they just wanted me to get on with the intro tutorial. On to weapons training. Though I didn’t try to shoot the instructor, I did shoot the “Friendly” Helghan target a few times but my instructor didn’t catch on either. Seems the Helghan military aren’t really quick in the noggin.

So Narville’s been captured and is about to be executed…and we, disguised as the executioners, are about to open fire on the opposition leadership. Then we get the flashback to where KZ2 left off. ISA evacuation, separated from Narville, kill Higs, reunite with Narville, Rico disobeys orders, the evacuation gets botched, flashback six months after that and we’re hiding from the Helghan Empire. Seem like the stealth part is about to go on.

Memorable moments so far: the sniper section. It took a while for me to figure out where the snipers were hiding, as the “left building” didn’t make sense until I figured out whose left they had meant. The Mech section took a few tries and was marred by a few moments of trying to find the second tank that we had to eliminate. I had to get used to which button did what between the mech, the sniper rifle and the combat system. At times, it was a difficult decision to figure out which heavy weapon to keep but in the end, the decisions seemed to work themselves out.

I then went to the online multiplayer part, since the pre-order bonus I got included having all the skills/weapons unlocked for 24 hours. I wanted to make the most of it by accumulating as many unlock points as I could. Unfortunately, my team lost the two Warzone matches I played. I still got a few unlock points out of it, so that was nice. My plan of action, I think, is to get the medic leveled up and then use that class to pile on the XP, almost the same way I had proceeded in the beta.

So far, the story isn’t all that memorable, but I expected that. The multiplayer seems very promising, since it reminded me of the many hours I had spent playing the previous version. To borrow some more from Ini Kamoze’s song, Killzone 3, “still love you like that!”

Dear Mr. Negativitron,

I find this whole thing kind of strange. I haven’t really met you as we haven’t finished Story Mode yet. I have seen your type of destruction, though and I must tell you that I’m usually on your side when it comes to gaming. My PS3 collection is composed mostly of fighters, first person shooters, the Grand Theft Auto series, a couple of Fallout games, Demon’s Souls, and the God of War trilogy. So you see, Mr. Negativitron, I tend to lean towards games with dark, often violent stories. If someone built a castle made of cupcakes, I’d want to destroy it too. If someone built a legion of cute little robots, I’d try to subvert them as well. Sack puppets? Incinerator.

Honestly, I think I “get” you. I don’t even really LIKE “The Alliance.” Larry Da Vinci is an old lovestruck inventor type too cheery for my liking. Victoria Von Bathosphere is an obsessive-compulsive baker. Clive Handforth is a depressive who doesn’t really even try anymore. Avalon Centrifuge is an annoying egomaniac. Eve Paragorica is much too bossy. Higginbotham is just way too out of it to make any sense. So yeah, I absolutely understand why you feel the need to destroy them along with play-create-share-ri-la or whatever it is I’m supposed to be trying to save. If I had my choice, I’d pack up, wake up into reality, and let Sackville get sacked.

Here’s the problem, though. My wife and I played through the first LittleBigPlanet and we loved it. I couldn’t really tell you what the story was about — I think it was about some guy who wanted to blow things up because he didn’t have any friends. It wasn’t the shallow storyline that made us love the game. It wasn’t even the great graphics that did it either. We loved it because we had FUN playing the game. It was about figuring out puzzles together, platforming, doing the co-op bits for extra stickers and costumes. It was about facing challenges, almost giving up, but eventually succeeding.

So here we are, in LittleBigPlanet 2 where the gameplay has changed for the better. Not only do we run, jump, and swing — we have new equipment to play with! There’s a grappling hook which when used in combination with the new bounce-pads are a lot of fun, a grabinator for throwing stuff (including other players!), a creatinator that shoots bombs, pastry or water, depending on the level. There are animals that we can ride which transforms a platformer into an overhead racing game, a side-scroller, and even a rail-based shooter. The wife and I play LBP2 and we have a LOT of fun.

Mr. Negativitron, I don’t necessarily think you’re such a horrible person and in any other circumstance, you and I may have even hung out together. However, it seems that you and I will have to meet at the end of this particular story, and we plan on finishing that level, whenever that time comes. Just remember that in the end, it wasn’t about you. It wasn’t even about the story. It was just a chain of wonderful experiences filled with awe, laughter, celebrated triumphs, and one controller thrown down in frustration. As they say about the real world, “it is about the journey, not the destination.” It’s a great journey, a great sequel, and Mr. Negativitron, you just happen to be part of it.

That said, I also understand that my character is not named Niko Bellic, Kratos, nor Bruce Wayne, and the LBP universe probably does not have a sad ending in it. I suspect you’re another misunderstood character that we will all befriend and have cake with. In any case, I’m sure we’d enjoy that, too.

My first entry into the Fallout universe was with Fallout 3, which I enjoyed immensely. I liked its cool VATS combat system, its graphic carnage, and the wonderful choose-your-own adventure storytelling. Even the lock picking and hacking mini-games were cool. I actually wrote javascript code to help me compare the “hacking” passwords since I never was good at “Mastermind.” I liked Fallout 3 so much that I actually re-bought the game for the GOTY expansion packs…but only got halfway through Mothership Zeta.

Fallout: New Vegas isn’t about “The Wanderer” whose personal quest for answers led him to bigger events and storylines that gained him prestige and a place in history. No, Fallout: New Vegas is about “The Courier” whose personal quest for answers leads him to bigger events and storylines that gain him prestige and a place in history.

The story starts with The Courier getting shot in the head while trying to deliver The Pinnacle Chip to Gutierrez. The Courier wakes up at Doc. Brown’s house suffering from slight amnesia, which makes for a good tie-in to the stat-building start of the RPG. Strangely enough, The Courier had very similar stats to The Wanderer’s GOAT scores, which meant that I played the same sneak/snipe hack/pick style in both games.

There was the addition of what I considered a slightly Hitman-esque gameplay aspect with faction clothing. While I was dressed in normal clothing, Powder Gangers shot me on sight. Dressed as a Powder Ganger, a Powder Ganger shot me only after he realized that I got point blank critical hits on two of…

Wait, where was I? Oh yeah, two of his friends. It made things feel a little more 47, which was nice. If they could integrate blades of chaos into the game, that would’ve been even cooler.

Along the way, I acquired quests, appeased townsfolk, ticked off Caesar’s Legion, gained a really handy Eyebot, and died a few times since I was apparently highly allergic to Cazad…

Cazador stings. There were quite a few OMG moments early like the lottery at Nipton and the associated crucifixions done by Caesar’s Legion. Very early in the game, I came to the realization that I didn’t like those guys much and started to shoot them at any opportunity. At Novac, I ran across someone who felt the same way about the Legion as I did. His name is Cr…

Hold on a sec…his name is Craig Boone and boy does he have a story to tell! Of course I had to hang out with him a while before he trusted me enough to open up with the back story, but damn his story was heartbreakingly good. There were other companions, a few of whom were more pleasant to walk around with than Boonie (Veronica had the best one-liners), but it had been decided that Fallout: New Vegas was going to be…

Fallout: New Vegas was going to be the feel-good bromance story of the season.

And you know what? It WAS a good story as I had expected from a Fallout sequel/expansion. The combat system was fun. There were a few stats decisions that I regretted later on, but overall, the game’s story carried it through, and the decisions I had to make later in the game became…

The decisions later in the game became harder and harder to make as it affected how the game ended, whose faction won, and whom I wanted to have control of New Vegas. But the storytelling, the wonderful storytelling! The near-constant decisions and intersecting quest lines made for a very immersive…

The near-constant decisions and intersecting quest lines made for a very immersive game…EXCEPT FOR THE GOD DAMN LOCKUPS that required hard-reboots on my PS3. Even though I had the “save early, save often” mentality, saving immediately after leaving a loading screen (when entering a new area) took some time as the system seemed to be doing things in the background which cause the LOAD/SAVE functions to be greyed out.

I’ve frozen just after exiting a building, I’ve frozen at the VATS targeting screen, I’ve frozen after a slow-mo critical strike kill, I’ve frozen after completing a conversation, and I’ve frozen AT THE GAME’S OWN AUTOSAVE FUNCTION which ended up being corrupted by the hard-reset which cost me about twenty minutes of having to do things over. At first it didn’t seem to freeze up at all. Then the freeze-ups seemed tolerable, excusable even. Later on in the game, the freeze-ups just kicked me right out of stride. I had so many freezes at the battle for Hoover Dam that I actually stopped playing for the night. That’s like turning off Star Wars in the middle of the Death Star trench run. In the end, though, we bought and played the game. I finished one storyline and am about to finish another. Reluctantly, I have to admit that while game makers shouldn’t be able to get away with releasing a game that locks up as much as this game does; I think Obsidian has done just that.

In movies, it is said that good special effects cannot cover for a horrible story. In the case of this game, we have a wonderful story told by someone trying to do an over-exaggerated William Shatner impression. Fallout: New Vegas is immersive and compelling. I just wish it wouldn’t pause inapprop…

MOTHERFSCKER!!!

Real conversation snippets from D&D Online…

“Damn it, my staff is broken!”
“uh huh huh…you broke your staff.”

“I’ll get to try out my new sword. You know, this is the only place you can say that and have it be socially acceptable.”

“Alright, undead! I can control undead! Wait, what? Where the hell do I find an eyelash in gum Arabic? Awww crap.”

“I think I found the guy we’re supposed to kill.”
“I’ll be right there.”
“Watch out, I’m already dead.”
“Oh…me too. Yeah, it’s a level four quest and we’re level three.”
“Ok, well that explains that.”

“Have you seen my dog? Did it follow us through the door?”
“No, I think he’s gone.”
“Damn it, Snoop. Meh, I’ll make a new one.”

“Did you just revive me? How the hell do you do that?”
“I have no idea.”

“Wolves up ahead.”
“Go get ‘em, Snoop! Uh huh huh, dog on dog action.”
“Bitch fight!”

“Nope, I didn’t find anything.”
“Secret door right in front of you.”
“Stupid elf and your search skills.”

“Ahh, spider on my keyboard…in real life. Hold on a sec.”

(on being poisoned by a spider)
“Hey you’ve got the Ultimate Warrior logo on top of your head!”

“How many potions do you have left?”
“I’ve got 10, but as a wizard with a drinking problem, that’ll go by fast.”