The Games of Summer: 2016-2017

I've done one of these posts over the last few holiday seasons, so I figured I might as well make it an annual tradition. Usually summer finds me playing a lot of games, but not doing much in the way of writing and blogging. This year was no different. These are the games that have been keeping me occupied, and holding up the blog.

Final Fantasy 1 and 2: Smartphones are great for portable gaming, but I find that most modern phone games don't really do it for me. So rather than limit myself to what's available on the Android store, I downloaded a NES emulator and have been running through the first two games in the Final Fantasy series.  The first game is a cracker. It draws heavily from Ultima and Wizardry, and provides a really complete RPG experience for 1987. I can't think of any areas that it's weak in, to be honest, and it avoids a lot of the over-linearity that plagues later JRPGs. Final Fantasy 2 (I'm playing a fan translation of the Japanese game, which was never officially released in English in its original form) has much more of a story focus, and although the combat and magic are similar the character advancement is completely different (FF1 had classes and levels, whereas FF2 has skills that level up through use). It's refreshingly open world - my first foray into the wilderness ended when I wandered into an area full of monsters that I had no business fighting yet. It's not as immediately enjoyable as FF1, and I'm starting to lose my grip on the story a bit, but there's a lot of potential.

The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword: I'm a bit of a Zelda nut, but I'd taken a fairly long hiatus from the series after Wind Waker (which I loved). I spent much of the early part of last year completing Twilight Princess (which is good but too long) and now I'm trying to wrap up Skyward Sword before the new game comes out. I like it, but it's lacking a lot of the exploratory fun of the older games in the series. There's also a lot of backtracking, and it can get tedious playing through the same areas over again. The motion controls for sword-fighting are really well done, though. There's a lot of clever stuff in this game, but it doesn't really give me what I'm looking for in a Zelda.

The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time: Recently I got bitten by the retro collector bug, as well as the authenticity bug, so I acquired an old CRT television. Now I have my old consoles ready to hook up to it, and I'm planning to play through all of my childhood games before building up my collection. I decided to start with Ocarina, mostly because I couldn't find the cord to my Super Nintendo which meant that I wasn't able to play A Link to the Past. (Yes, A Link to the Past is better than Ocarina of Time. Why is this even a debate?) Ocarina basically ruled my life for a good chunk of the late 90s, and I remember it very well. I thought I'd discovered everything in it, but this time around I'm still finding new stuff. It's a little ropier than I remembered, but then again it is nearly 20 years old. It holds up remarkably well.

I've also been watching quite a bit of FIFA '17, as my son plays it a lot, as well as playing Moria of course.  This might seem like a lot of games to have on the go simultaneously, but it's not so bad.  I have a phone game for when I'm out of the house, a game connected to the main home TV, a game to play on my CRT when the main TV is being used, and a game to play on my laptop for the blog.  I'm just covering all of my bases.

As for Moria, I have a character who just became Guild Master of the Circle of Wizards, the second time I've achieved that mark. I might be jinxing myself here, but I'm making good progress. I've also started on Oubliette, another PLATO RPG, so expect a post on that fairly soon.

The Games of Summer

I haven't posted here in a while, so you'd think that upon my return I'd have plenty to say about Orthanc, the game I was playing when I last posted.  I'm still playing Orthanc, and I should have a post up about it next week, but most of my gaming over the summer (yep, I'm a southern hemispherian) was done in other areas.  So this week I'm going to do some capsule reviews of the games I played when I should have been playing Orthanc.

Castlevania: I've played this game a lot over the years, but I decided late last year that I was going to knuckle down and finish it without the aid of save states.  It didn't take too long; it's a short game, and not particularly difficult once the trick to beating the bosses is discovered (i.e. spam them with holy water).  I've always been impressed with this as a top-notch platformer, but what struck me this time around is just how well-designed it is.  The platforms and the background elements mesh together perfectly, in a way that most other platformers neglect; you won't find a single floating platform that doesn't have a logical reason to be where it is.  Little touches like that transform a very good game into a great one.

Castlevania II - Simon's Quest: I enjoyed Castlevania II, but this is a game with problems.  Konami tried to expand the series by adding more adventure game elements, and the result was mixed.  The game has a great atmosphere, and the game-play is still pretty good, but the game itself is just far too obtuse.  The solutions to the various puzzles aren't intuitive at all, and that's not helped by the fact that most of the villagers' hints are outright lies.  Technically, the clues to completing this game are all there if you're willing to go around searching for secrets on every patch of ground.  In practice, you'll probably only stumble across the solutions by dumb luck.  I had to consult a walkthrough, I'm sorry to say.  There are plenty of things to like about this game, but overall the frustrating elements outweigh the fun ones.

WWE Supercard: This game consumed my life for about a month.  It's not that it's a good game; it's basically just a glorified version of top trumps.  It is addictive, however.  A match doesn't take long, and whether you win or lose you still get rewarded with more cards at the end.  More than once I found myself playing "just one more game", grinding for new cards for hours and hours, unable to bring myself to put the thing down.  I've broken away from it for the moment, but there's still a part of me that wants to play it right now.

Crossy Road: Speaking of phone games, this is a little indy game that plays somewhat like Frogger.  You have to guide your character across busy roads, log-jammed rivers and train tracks, all the while avoiding various obstacles and keeping on the move.  It's a lot of fun, and it has the same "short game/frequent reward" qualities as WWE Supercard.  Much of the fun stems from the number of characters that can be unlocked, ranging from normal animals, to vampires, robots, basketball players, internet memes and even weirder stuff.  Each character plays pretty much the same, but they all come with changes to the way the game looks and sounds. For example, when you use Frankenstein's Monster, the game turns black & white, and the screen crackles with film grain.  Crossy Road has a genuinely charming sense of humour that still has me coming back for more, trying to unlock the next character so that I can see what it does.

The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess: I'm a massive fan of the Legend of Zelda series, having enjoyed all of the games from the original on NES up to Wind Waker.  It's one of my favourite game franchises of all time, which is why Twilight Princess is so frustrating.  This game bores me to tears.  It looks like a Zelda game, it sounds like one, it even plays like one; but even with all of these elements it feels as though the heart of the game is missing.  The game feels really linear, and I don't enjoy playing as a wolf, which is kind of the selling point.  I hate the cut-scenes, and the scripted encounters.  I've put in about 20 hours so far, and I really struggle to motivate myself to find time for it.  People tell me that Skyward Sword is even worse, so I'm not even looking forward to finishing this so I can move on to the next one.  Mainly I just wish the game would leave me alone to explore, and stop throwing so much damn plot at me.

My Top Ten Games

I don't have an update on Orthanc this week.  In addition to NaNoWriMo, I've developed an unhealthy obsession with the Legend of Zelda series.  Playing Orthanc has taken a back seat to all of that, and I haven't made a lot of progress since my last post.  I've mapped out the remainder of level two, and lost a few characters along the way, but it hardly merits a full post.

So instead of that, I'm going to break out the hoariest of chestnuts that a gaming blogger can break out: a list of my top ten games.  It might not be the most original thing, but I actually think it's beneficial to what I'm doing here.  If I'm going to give my opinions about a bunch of RPGs and adventure games and expect anyone to listen, it probably helps to lay out my all-time favourites so you can get a grip on my tastes.

So here goes, in no particular order.

The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past

I could very easily have chosen Ocarina of Time, but I had to give the edge to the SNES classic.  I just finished playing through it again for the umpteenth time, and even though I know it back-to-front it still reeled me in.  This is the Zelda franchise at its best, with the perfect balance between non-linear exploration and plot progression.  It's not as obscure as the earlier games, and it doesn't railroad like the later games can.  It just has one great big world to dive into, with more areas opening up as you progress and gain new items.  It's a masterpiece, as close to flawless as a game can get.

Ultima V: Warriors of Destiny

There had to be an Ultima on this list, and I went with this one over Ultima IV.  It was a close call, but I'm trying not to let one series dominate the list.  As much as I loved Ultima IV, I don't think a game has ever sucked me in as hard as Warriors of Destiny.  I was physically shaking with anger at certain parts of this game, and I don't think I've ever wanted to kill a video game antagonist as much as Lord Blackthorn.  It's another game with a large, open world to explore, and that always wins points with me.  One of the best RPGs ever made.

Super Metroid

I fell in love with this game as soon as I loaded it into my SNES and that menacing, eerie music crept in.  Super Metroid just oozes atmosphere, and once again it has a large world to explore that opens up as you gain new items and abilities.  I spent countless hours combing this game for secrets, bombing walls and floors, and scanning everywhere.  I had to find everything, and eventually I did.  Man, just writing about this game makes me want to go back to it.  It's been a long time.

Pool of Radiance

There was inevitably going to be a Gold Box game on here, and despite its flaws I went with the original.  You might be noticing a pattern here, but it's the non-linearity of it that swayed me.  At first there are only a few areas to explore, but eventually the whole of the city of Phlan is open to you, and there's nothing stopping you from trying your luck in Valhingen Graveyard, or any other place too deadly for your party.  This is the best implementation of D&D yet done as a PC game, especially when it comes to the combat engine: they got it right the first time, and it's never been bettered.

Bard's Tale 3: The Thief of Fate

It could have been Bard's Tale I, but it took me while to warm up to that game's steep difficulty.  It was the third installment in the series that first grabbed my attention, as possibly the very first RPG I was utterly obsessed with.  Most of my high school years were spent playing this game, with coke and chips on one side and pen and graph paper on the other.  I still have those maps, and to this day I never quite feel right when I'm not mapping an RPG myself.  I never got all that far as a kid, but I roamed around those dungeons killing monsters for hours, making maps and amassing XP.  I eventually finished it, some 20 years later, and it was a hell of a satisfying experience.

Wonder Boy 3: The Dragon's Trap

The best reason to own a Sega Master System.  Wonder Boy 3 was a break from its platforming predecessors, presenting (let's say it again) an open world ripe for exploration.  You start the game being cursed into the form of a dragon, and must cycle through a number of forms during your quest before becoming a boy again.  It's a cracking good game that doesn't get enough love.

Mario Kart

The SNES original.  It's my favourite racing game of all time, and my favourite multi-player game of all time.  It still holds up, and Nintendo have yet to outdo it.

Quest for Glory

I had to include a Sierra game, and I agonised over the choice.  It could have been a King's Quest, or a Space Quest, but...  I went with Quest for Glory.  Or, to be more accurate, Hero's Quest, as I'm writing about the EGA original and not the VGA remake.  It's just a perfect adventure game.  The humour works, the puzzles are pitched at the right difficulty, and the skill system is integrated really well, providing a number of solutions to every problem.

Ultima Underworld: The Stygian Abyss

I'm kind of breaking my own rule here by including another Ultima, but this game is just too good.  If I'm being honest, the sequel is better, but there's something about the first one I just like more.  It gets points for innovation, being one of the earliest 1st-person 3D games (it beat Wolfenstein 3D by a few weeks, I believe, and with a much more advanced engine).  I love the dungeon setting, and the ability to interact with the environment.  I especially love the beginning, where you are thrown into the Abyss with nothing, forced to scrounge for weapons and food before being killed, or starving to death. So good.

The Last Ninja

I was an 80s kid, and the 80s there was one thing cooler than anything else: ninjas.  The Last Ninja was the best ninja-based computer game out there.  The soundtrack was killer.  Fighting past samurai, jumping from stone to stone over raging rivers, running from giant spiders in the prison, running past the samurai so that they commit seppuku...  The Last Ninja was rad!