Those who know me are aware that my iPod contains practically only soundtracks. It is basically the only thing I listen to. To a large extent, my recent interest in The Beatles is because of the Rock Band game of the same name. Although my music library is mostly filled with film soundtracks, videogames are the reason I like what I like today. One game in particular, can be held responsible for most of my tastes. We must go back to 1992, in a dark basement, on an old TV that did not have a remote...
A long time ago
In a galaxy far, far away...
Believe it or not, Super Star Wars was my first exposure to the Star Wars universe. It bloomed a strong passion that endures to this day. And most importantly, this game introduced me to John Williams. Where the game X-Wing defined what I would ultimately prefer about Star Wars, the Super NES title is the reason why my music collection is what it is and why I love
Star Wars unconditionally.
I mentioned John Williams because his was the first music I really got into on my own. It wasn't because my parents owned the CD or because a friend recommended it; it was what I wanted to listen to. From then on, music would define what I liked and didn't like, be they films, videogames, etc.
An ordinary movie with an excellent theme may become a surprise hit. A good
TV show with a bland theme song may not hold my interest. A strong soundtrack in a game makes a huge different on my enjoyment of said game.
So it is with chagrin that I find today's game music less memorable than back in the day. Granted, part of the emotional impact that music had to have is now carried through with the music, we hear tunes less frequently due to how games are now made, but this same observation could be extended to films too. Maybe it is because directors do not want a theme so strong that it detracts from the visual experience, or maybe moody and atmospheric tracks sell... No matter the answer, I am always looking for those few notes that make me smile, no matter what.
Here are some of my favourite game themes.
Uncharted: When I first booted the game, and watched that coin turn, I was amazed at what was playing. It conveyed so many things: Grandeur, adventure... Was this going to be the Indiana Jones game we never got? Nathan's Theme is a very classic kind of theme that embodies, in my humble opinion, the series very weel.
Mega Man 2: A Classic. Every single track in that game "sings" awesome. I could mention the classic Mecha Dragon stage... Oh wait, I just did. Flash Man and Wood Man are also some of my favourites.
Shatter: Not themes per say as they are not associated to anything specific, but that soundtrack is worth every penny. It helps that the game is fantastic too.
The Metroid Prime Trilogy: Look at some of my older blogs and at pressstarttwoplay.blogspot.com. On the other hand, Metroid: Other M was tremendously disappointing music wise.
Final Fantasy VI/III: The Returner's Theme. Locke's, Terra's, Cyan's, Setzer's (just thinking about the moment in the dark world where we ask why are we going to his wife's tomb... To get another airship of course... Gives me goosebumps :) ) Need I say more?
What are some of your favourite themes/tracks and why?
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
Thursday, September 23, 2010
Sunday, April 4, 2010
A Death in the Family
Imagine a game where you character forgets. I am not talking about a character suffering from amnesia at the beginning of the game, I am thinking about a character who would lose his (or her) memories as you progress further into the game. A controllable character afflicted by Alzheimer's disease. Although it would most likely not make for the most interesting or fun game to play, I strongly believe it would be something very interesting to explore.
If I have any readers, you might have an inkling as to where this is going. My mammy, my mother's mother, my daughter's great-grandmother passed away yesterday. She had been suffering from Alzheimer's disease for the past few years so in the end, it might just be for the best, but in all honestly, I find my thoughts extremely jumbled and mixed up at the moment. Truth be told, my main cause of concern is my mother, extremely sad of course. So here is a slice of life, which deals with death, as it must.
On the bright side, I am becoming a godfather today, and will thus have the power to make offers one cannot refuse ;).
A somewhat gloomy entry for Easter; alas, one does not choose everything's timing.
God of War 3 finished and very good, albeit old school in design with some visually interesting thing (the Intro Credits amongst other things is sublime).
Uncharted 2 - finally finished. Wow! Last year's game of the year without a doubt.
More on games next entry.
Happy Easter! Joyeuses Pâques!
If I have any readers, you might have an inkling as to where this is going. My mammy, my mother's mother, my daughter's great-grandmother passed away yesterday. She had been suffering from Alzheimer's disease for the past few years so in the end, it might just be for the best, but in all honestly, I find my thoughts extremely jumbled and mixed up at the moment. Truth be told, my main cause of concern is my mother, extremely sad of course. So here is a slice of life, which deals with death, as it must.
On the bright side, I am becoming a godfather today, and will thus have the power to make offers one cannot refuse ;).
A somewhat gloomy entry for Easter; alas, one does not choose everything's timing.
God of War 3 finished and very good, albeit old school in design with some visually interesting thing (the Intro Credits amongst other things is sublime).
Uncharted 2 - finally finished. Wow! Last year's game of the year without a doubt.
More on games next entry.
Happy Easter! Joyeuses Pâques!
Sunday, March 21, 2010
Heavy Rain - The Illusion
Pre-Scriptum: This entry might seem less cohesive than usual. I am simply dying to go play God of War III. I'll make it up to you next time.
"What choice do I have?", reflected Ethan Mars as he grabbed the vial of poison in his hands. The last few hours flashed before his eyes while he ingested the liquid. And like it, his acts disgusted him. No matter what, in an hour, it would be over.
Game director David Cage (in)famously said that Heavy Rain was not a game that should be replayed. I must admit that he was right. Your first (and ideally your only) play through of Heavy Rain is a fantastic gaming experience, filled with particularly tense moments. But as soon as you replay some of those chapters, you realize that amidst all those choices, not all of them have lead to a different result. That is without counting those scenes which must be played no matter what.
I will mention two specific scenes where the illusion of choice is seriously shattered. Now, I do understand the technological aspects of these things, but once again, my problem is one of writing.
The first scene features my favorite character, Madison Paige. It is in fact her first scene. At some point in the scene, while being chased by "men", you have a choice of heading left or right. When we first played through it (my girlfriend and I), we wondered what would have happened if we had selected the other direction. Of course, when I replayed the game, I chose the other path. To my dismay, I was pushed in the other direction by the man. I let the scene end on its own, by failing at every action, rather disappointed that my choices did not necessarily have different ends.
Most shocking is Scott's first scene. I voluntarily acted like a total a-hole towards Lauren. Did try to ask many questions, barely talked with her, did not even turn back to help. I was wondering if Lauren would still show up without any justifications. Once again, my hopes were in vain and Lauren did show up with the envelope.
These are but two of the scenes where choice proves to be an illusion for their resolution is inescapable and very far from malleable (and with more than 10 endings, no end is truly inescapable in Heavy Rain).
For a game sold on its many paths, choices and ends, it fails dramatically (pun intended). I truly wonder what were the branching paths at same point in the development. Which choices were taken out of the game? How close is Heavy Rain to Cage's vision? What compromises were made?
At the end of the day, however, I believe this will be the end, for now, of my little mental exercise (a light one at that) on Heavy Rain. I will reiterate that you should most absolutely play this game if you enjoy videogames and especially adventure games (à la point and click). It may not be perfect, but it dares to be different and offers a rather unique experience. The illusion does work stupendously on your first play-through.
So where do we go from there? Do we pursue this form of interactive drama? I personally hope so. I believe it is a good match for episodic content. As you can see, it raises a few interesting questions, it's just a question of seeing where all this rain leads us to.
Once again, my apologies if certain paragraphs seem disjointed but Olympus awaits and gods shall fall.
Next time on A Dad and his Blog: Uncharted 2, toddlers and getting old.
"What choice do I have?", reflected Ethan Mars as he grabbed the vial of poison in his hands. The last few hours flashed before his eyes while he ingested the liquid. And like it, his acts disgusted him. No matter what, in an hour, it would be over.
Game director David Cage (in)famously said that Heavy Rain was not a game that should be replayed. I must admit that he was right. Your first (and ideally your only) play through of Heavy Rain is a fantastic gaming experience, filled with particularly tense moments. But as soon as you replay some of those chapters, you realize that amidst all those choices, not all of them have lead to a different result. That is without counting those scenes which must be played no matter what.
I will mention two specific scenes where the illusion of choice is seriously shattered. Now, I do understand the technological aspects of these things, but once again, my problem is one of writing.
The first scene features my favorite character, Madison Paige. It is in fact her first scene. At some point in the scene, while being chased by "men", you have a choice of heading left or right. When we first played through it (my girlfriend and I), we wondered what would have happened if we had selected the other direction. Of course, when I replayed the game, I chose the other path. To my dismay, I was pushed in the other direction by the man. I let the scene end on its own, by failing at every action, rather disappointed that my choices did not necessarily have different ends.
Most shocking is Scott's first scene. I voluntarily acted like a total a-hole towards Lauren. Did try to ask many questions, barely talked with her, did not even turn back to help. I was wondering if Lauren would still show up without any justifications. Once again, my hopes were in vain and Lauren did show up with the envelope.
These are but two of the scenes where choice proves to be an illusion for their resolution is inescapable and very far from malleable (and with more than 10 endings, no end is truly inescapable in Heavy Rain).
For a game sold on its many paths, choices and ends, it fails dramatically (pun intended). I truly wonder what were the branching paths at same point in the development. Which choices were taken out of the game? How close is Heavy Rain to Cage's vision? What compromises were made?
At the end of the day, however, I believe this will be the end, for now, of my little mental exercise (a light one at that) on Heavy Rain. I will reiterate that you should most absolutely play this game if you enjoy videogames and especially adventure games (à la point and click). It may not be perfect, but it dares to be different and offers a rather unique experience. The illusion does work stupendously on your first play-through.
So where do we go from there? Do we pursue this form of interactive drama? I personally hope so. I believe it is a good match for episodic content. As you can see, it raises a few interesting questions, it's just a question of seeing where all this rain leads us to.
Once again, my apologies if certain paragraphs seem disjointed but Olympus awaits and gods shall fall.
Next time on A Dad and his Blog: Uncharted 2, toddlers and getting old.
Sunday, March 14, 2010
Heavy Rain - Part 1 - What not to say to someone who lost his boys...
As he looked through the gate, he saw his son. After all these trials, all these atrocious acts, all these horrors would finally end and his life would get back to normal. That's when he heard footsteps on wet metal.
This is one of the numerous ways in which Heavy Rain can end. Now, being a Trophy Addict, I did everything I had to do to get the Platinum Trophy (speaking of which, this guide was extremely helpful to get all the endings). Seeing all of the endings in less than three hour threw more than a few flaws of the game in stark relief. Although it would be fair to argue that this is not the way the game was meant to be played, watching all of these endings definitely made me detest Madison.
From the ending Tears in the Rain: Ethan is looking over his son's grave, Madison walks up to him. She talks about moving away and forgetting. Ethan tells her: "I can I forget that my two sons died because of me. I loved than more than anything in the world but I could not protect them." To which Madison replies: "I want you to give me a child. A little boy with your eyes." The scene ends with Ethan shooting himself.
As a father, I found Madison almost insulting. She is not trying to help Ethan through this, she just wants him to move on and forget. However, once you have a child, there is no going back. Once again, Madison proves how lost she is. I dare not call her stupid or dumb as there are some indications that she might just be crazy or insane. Which brings me to something else that bothered me with the game.
Madison seems somewhat out of place. A female character tacked in just to have a female character (which you must undress not once but twice throughout the game). Unlike the other characters, her motivations are never fully explored, she is never given anything significant to do (that only her can find) and, she appears to control differently (must be because of her butt). I have yet to play the Taxidermist chapter, so there might be some of that in there, but at the end of the day, within the main game itself, she definitely feels like she is out of place more often than not.
That being said, my first playthrough the game was a memorable experience filled with exciting and intense scenes that were fun to play through, even though they were QTE. If you like point-and-click style adventure games, you owe it to yourself to experience Heavy Rain. I believe that being a parent does add to the experience, though I would be interested to discuss the point with people who played the game but don't have kids.
For the record, in our playthrough (I played the game with my spouse) Ethan and Jayden saved the day, while Madison jumped through a window to save herself from the fire. In retrospect, I'm glad we got the ending with Ethan and Shaun alone in the appartment, Madison "Let's forget" Paige similar ending is grating to say the least. And believe me, you should have seen my girlfriend when she saw Madison throwing herself at Ethan... Heck, even Bayonetta has more self-respect.
Next time on A Dad and his Blog: Is Heavy Rain a one trick pony?
This is one of the numerous ways in which Heavy Rain can end. Now, being a Trophy Addict, I did everything I had to do to get the Platinum Trophy (speaking of which, this guide was extremely helpful to get all the endings). Seeing all of the endings in less than three hour threw more than a few flaws of the game in stark relief. Although it would be fair to argue that this is not the way the game was meant to be played, watching all of these endings definitely made me detest Madison.
From the ending Tears in the Rain: Ethan is looking over his son's grave, Madison walks up to him. She talks about moving away and forgetting. Ethan tells her: "I can I forget that my two sons died because of me. I loved than more than anything in the world but I could not protect them." To which Madison replies: "I want you to give me a child. A little boy with your eyes." The scene ends with Ethan shooting himself.
As a father, I found Madison almost insulting. She is not trying to help Ethan through this, she just wants him to move on and forget. However, once you have a child, there is no going back. Once again, Madison proves how lost she is. I dare not call her stupid or dumb as there are some indications that she might just be crazy or insane. Which brings me to something else that bothered me with the game.
Madison seems somewhat out of place. A female character tacked in just to have a female character (which you must undress not once but twice throughout the game). Unlike the other characters, her motivations are never fully explored, she is never given anything significant to do (that only her can find) and, she appears to control differently (must be because of her butt). I have yet to play the Taxidermist chapter, so there might be some of that in there, but at the end of the day, within the main game itself, she definitely feels like she is out of place more often than not.
That being said, my first playthrough the game was a memorable experience filled with exciting and intense scenes that were fun to play through, even though they were QTE. If you like point-and-click style adventure games, you owe it to yourself to experience Heavy Rain. I believe that being a parent does add to the experience, though I would be interested to discuss the point with people who played the game but don't have kids.
For the record, in our playthrough (I played the game with my spouse) Ethan and Jayden saved the day, while Madison jumped through a window to save herself from the fire. In retrospect, I'm glad we got the ending with Ethan and Shaun alone in the appartment, Madison "Let's forget" Paige similar ending is grating to say the least. And believe me, you should have seen my girlfriend when she saw Madison throwing herself at Ethan... Heck, even Bayonetta has more self-respect.
Next time on A Dad and his Blog: Is Heavy Rain a one trick pony?
Tuesday, March 9, 2010
Lost Nightmares and the Yellow Light of Doom
The Spencer Mansion. An historical construction associated with many memories. As I watched the master of unlocking execute her craft, I couldn't help but smile. There is where it all began, it's good to be home. (Little aside: Some would argue, and I count myself amongst them, that the original was inspired by Lovecraft, featured a man called Carnby, but we'll leave that alone in the dark for now (with a very bad pun at that too)).
Now, I'd already completed this new chapter the past night, but there were a few more trophies to be obtained. The first screen appeared, only to disappear seconds later. The Yellow Light had struck and the machine had swallowed my birthday gift from last year.
So here we are, one PS3 Slim later, an opened one, and a few bucks short. Not a great way to start a weekend I must admit. Admittedly, I wanted a bigger hard drive, a third controller just in case and a quieter system, but not necessarily at the expense of backwards compatibility. Here's to hoping that Sony will indeed patch the systems to be backwards compatible someday, after all, it's still possible to create memory cards.
The most annoying thing: Having to replay games to unlock the hardest difficulty level. Other than that, losing saves isn't that bad (although...it does mean I will have to replay LBP completely...not so bad).
I could talk about numerous things right now (a big fight, why did I not write in so long, and what's up with the Scribblenauts hood), but here are some thoughts on Heavy Rain instead.
Seriously, I wish they'd use that engine and game idea (with a tighter plot and maybe less characters) and do a Blade Runner game with it. Imagine, a grim and gritty noir story where you play as a Blade Runner and the replicant he/she is trying to catch. Now, I would increase object interaction a tad as well as reduce the number of possible outcomes (for the simple reason that sometimes, characters' motivations were pretty thin in Heavy Rain). I also think an episodic delivery is ideal for these types of games. Just some random thoughts.
More tomorrow or tonight.
Recent Platinum Trophies: God of War I & II, Bayonetta. Working on Heavy Rain.
Now, I'd already completed this new chapter the past night, but there were a few more trophies to be obtained. The first screen appeared, only to disappear seconds later. The Yellow Light had struck and the machine had swallowed my birthday gift from last year.
So here we are, one PS3 Slim later, an opened one, and a few bucks short. Not a great way to start a weekend I must admit. Admittedly, I wanted a bigger hard drive, a third controller just in case and a quieter system, but not necessarily at the expense of backwards compatibility. Here's to hoping that Sony will indeed patch the systems to be backwards compatible someday, after all, it's still possible to create memory cards.
The most annoying thing: Having to replay games to unlock the hardest difficulty level. Other than that, losing saves isn't that bad (although...it does mean I will have to replay LBP completely...not so bad).
I could talk about numerous things right now (a big fight, why did I not write in so long, and what's up with the Scribblenauts hood), but here are some thoughts on Heavy Rain instead.
Seriously, I wish they'd use that engine and game idea (with a tighter plot and maybe less characters) and do a Blade Runner game with it. Imagine, a grim and gritty noir story where you play as a Blade Runner and the replicant he/she is trying to catch. Now, I would increase object interaction a tad as well as reduce the number of possible outcomes (for the simple reason that sometimes, characters' motivations were pretty thin in Heavy Rain). I also think an episodic delivery is ideal for these types of games. Just some random thoughts.
More tomorrow or tonight.
Recent Platinum Trophies: God of War I & II, Bayonetta. Working on Heavy Rain.
Sunday, January 17, 2010
Into Uncharted Territories
Amidst the leaves, he saw a faint glimmer. He knelt in the shadow of the Imperial palms, waved the leaves away and reached for what he thought he had seen. Upon reaching it, the glimmer slithered away. The man jumped to his feet, his right hand reaching for his holster while taking a few steps back. Remembering that he was unarmed, he simply decided to be more conscious, after all, not everything that glimmer is gold.
Once again, a short paragraph, an attempt at writing. You may notice that the blog still looks like, well, a ready made blog. Truth be told, I now find myself unemployed. After taking a week off of, well, everything, I will begin hunting for a job and I do hope to be successful relatively rapidly. But on to less dramatic events.
I'm typing this as I watch the Golden Globes for the first time in my life. I do not really care, but Paul 'That guy from Rock Band' McCartney did have a good line. Ricky Gervais is, as always, extremely funny.
I know that a big part of this blog was supposed to be about games, which I always try to include in a subtle way, but life does catch up to you. Back to the Globes and probably the Darkside Chronicles after this.
Games in progress: Too many to list, but at the top of this list: Bayonetta. Speaking of Bayonetta, my girlfriend has glasses just like her. Kinky! ;)
Next post: Achievements and Trophies - A new form of philately?
Once again, a short paragraph, an attempt at writing. You may notice that the blog still looks like, well, a ready made blog. Truth be told, I now find myself unemployed. After taking a week off of, well, everything, I will begin hunting for a job and I do hope to be successful relatively rapidly. But on to less dramatic events.
I'm typing this as I watch the Golden Globes for the first time in my life. I do not really care, but Paul 'That guy from Rock Band' McCartney did have a good line. Ricky Gervais is, as always, extremely funny.
I know that a big part of this blog was supposed to be about games, which I always try to include in a subtle way, but life does catch up to you. Back to the Globes and probably the Darkside Chronicles after this.
Games in progress: Too many to list, but at the top of this list: Bayonetta. Speaking of Bayonetta, my girlfriend has glasses just like her. Kinky! ;)
Next post: Achievements and Trophies - A new form of philately?
Wednesday, January 6, 2010
Tick tack - Why am I a lazy schmo?
How am I supposed to begin such an entry? With my traditional Ahoy-hoy? Or go media res, smack dab in the middle of story...
Move!, yelled the angry man as he tried to swerve his cart out of the way of the giant mammoth taking most of the Southern Alley of Dalaran. Right as Harold was about to hit the mammoth, he found himself driving past a much smaller gnome. Where had the humongous creature gone?
Yeah, I like World of Warcraft. As a matter of fact, I love it. However, if I am honest, it has sort of ruined my life in a way. You see, if it wasn't for this game, my Master's Degree would most likely have paved the way to either another Master's or a PhD. With that being said, it is also one of the main reason why I would consider myself lazy. I knew I'd be blogging (apparently this is a verb, thank you English language and your fantastical ability to turn most nouns into verbs) about this fact; and I also thought about deleting the whole blog, because honestly, who has the time?
This thought process led me to wonder the following: Am I lazy as a result of playing World of Warcraft or am I lazy in order to be able to play World of Warcraft? (World of Warcraft could be replaced by any videogame in the preceding sentence). As you may have surmised from the title of this blog and what you've just read, I love videogames. I play them whenever I have some free time. I'll go in more depths on that subject next time though.
Rambling mode off. Have a great day!
P.S.: The answer to the title's question is: I am lazy because it is easy. That's why I'm trying to turn my life around; it's time to do something hard for a change.
Move!, yelled the angry man as he tried to swerve his cart out of the way of the giant mammoth taking most of the Southern Alley of Dalaran. Right as Harold was about to hit the mammoth, he found himself driving past a much smaller gnome. Where had the humongous creature gone?
Yeah, I like World of Warcraft. As a matter of fact, I love it. However, if I am honest, it has sort of ruined my life in a way. You see, if it wasn't for this game, my Master's Degree would most likely have paved the way to either another Master's or a PhD. With that being said, it is also one of the main reason why I would consider myself lazy. I knew I'd be blogging (apparently this is a verb, thank you English language and your fantastical ability to turn most nouns into verbs) about this fact; and I also thought about deleting the whole blog, because honestly, who has the time?
This thought process led me to wonder the following: Am I lazy as a result of playing World of Warcraft or am I lazy in order to be able to play World of Warcraft? (World of Warcraft could be replaced by any videogame in the preceding sentence). As you may have surmised from the title of this blog and what you've just read, I love videogames. I play them whenever I have some free time. I'll go in more depths on that subject next time though.
Rambling mode off. Have a great day!
P.S.: The answer to the title's question is: I am lazy because it is easy. That's why I'm trying to turn my life around; it's time to do something hard for a change.
Monday, January 4, 2010
2010 - So what's next?
There once was a boy and his blob. As is probably the case with many people, a few years from turning thirty, his life was not exactly where he wanted it to be. Now, mind you, he had a wonderful little girl whom he absolutely adored, but parts of his life had been neglected. The Dad, no longer a boy, decided to start a Blog (although the blob parts remain, whever he can get his hands on jellybeans).
Ahoy-hoy, my name is Jeff and I will be sharing part of my life on this here blogamagig. I am not on Facebook, I rarely read blogs, I do not Tweet and although, dear _____ (seeing as I most likely have 0 reader), I have never truly entertained the idea of writing a blog, here I am. Why? To get me writing again, plain and simple. I've been away from school for far too long and I need to get my writing muscles back in shape, especially since I aim to finish my Master's degree in the very near future.
So here it is, a new year, a new resolution and new objectives (a calendar full to be exact...well, it's not full as we speak, but by the end of the year, it will be). Hope this will not be all in vain, I'll also try to improve the look of the place. Next time, what makes me tick.
First transmission over.
Ahoy-hoy, my name is Jeff and I will be sharing part of my life on this here blogamagig. I am not on Facebook, I rarely read blogs, I do not Tweet and although, dear _____ (seeing as I most likely have 0 reader), I have never truly entertained the idea of writing a blog, here I am. Why? To get me writing again, plain and simple. I've been away from school for far too long and I need to get my writing muscles back in shape, especially since I aim to finish my Master's degree in the very near future.
So here it is, a new year, a new resolution and new objectives (a calendar full to be exact...well, it's not full as we speak, but by the end of the year, it will be). Hope this will not be all in vain, I'll also try to improve the look of the place. Next time, what makes me tick.
First transmission over.
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