Which genre do you think has the best narrative?
RPG
These games are usually the ones with the deepest, most complex storylines. They are also prone to really annoying plot twists and lame characters. These types of games are usually best for people that play games mainly for storyline and rarely for gameplay. Examples of this genre are the Final Fantasy Series and Kingdom Hearts.
ACTION/ADVENTURE
If you like a simple storyline along with blowing up or slashing stuff, this is the genre for you. In these types of games, storylines and dialogue are used only in medium strength for background information. This genre, however, is becoming more in depth and may turn out to be as highly developed as RPGs in the future. Examples of these types of games are Call of Duty or Fable.
SANDBOX
Sandboxes are big worlds in which a player can do whatever s/he wants. Rockstar is a great example of sandbox game writing, with such titles as Bully and Grand Theft Auto. Writing is mainly for entertainment purposes, seeing as how most sandbox games are mission based. The writing in these games are to enrich a game world, not so much to make you see what happens next.
STRATEGY
Go here. Destroy these guys. Blow up this base. To me, this is about the extent of strategy writing. The story depends on the game. Turn based and tactical strategy games usually have the strongest of storylines, while games that lean onto the simulation side will have a fainter one. Examples of these games are Ceasar III, Phantom Brave, and Warcraft.
Which do you choose?
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
Writing Prompt: Synopsis
At the beginning of a Game Design Document, you have to describe what a game is and what makes it different from other games. It's an important part of pitching an idea to a publisher.
Here is your assignment:
Look at 2 or 3 games and write a synopsis of the game's storyline and gameplay. Tell us what makes it different from other games. After that, come up with your own game concept and tell us why it rocks.
Tips: Game Design Documents are usually not meant to be highly entertaining, they are used as a reference for all the staff working on a game. However, a synopsis should be interesting in order for a publishing company to be enticed by it. Be interesting, but highly professional. Don't write, "This game rox cause when you blow someone up his eyes bust out of his face and land in two different places!"
(Psst... Want to know more about Game Design Documents? Come back on April 2nd.)
Here is your assignment:
Look at 2 or 3 games and write a synopsis of the game's storyline and gameplay. Tell us what makes it different from other games. After that, come up with your own game concept and tell us why it rocks.
Tips: Game Design Documents are usually not meant to be highly entertaining, they are used as a reference for all the staff working on a game. However, a synopsis should be interesting in order for a publishing company to be enticed by it. Be interesting, but highly professional. Don't write, "This game rox cause when you blow someone up his eyes bust out of his face and land in two different places!"
Yeah, don't do that.
(Psst... Want to know more about Game Design Documents? Come back on April 2nd.)
Thursday, March 26, 2009
Kingdom Hearts
System: PS2
Developer: Square Enix
Publisher: Buena Vista Games
This game is rather famous to Final Fantasy and Disney fans alike. It's just too bad you don't get to play as any cool characters. Instead, you play as a sweet, after-school-special boy named Sora, and you are accompanied by the two biggest doofs in Disney history: Donald and Goofy.
So you get this big dorky key as your weapon. I can't stand to look at that stupid weapon until I get a cooler version of it, like Lionheart or even the Crabclaw. At least these blades look more like a weapon and not like a big foam finger.
So let's get to the ratings, shall we?
Story: 5/5
Characters: 4/5
There are major spoilers ahead, but if you haven't played it yet, you're a loser.
Story
Ok, so there's lots of doors. I get that.
You play as Sora, a kid chosen by the Keyblade. (Of course weapons can choose their masters based on the strength of their hearts. It's the same idea as being chosen by a heart attack.) After your worlds are torn apart, you land in Traverse Town and meet up with a whole bunch of Final Fantasy characters that are trying to put the worlds back together as well as finding out about Ansem's reports and the heartless.
You get to travel to plenty of worlds: Agrabah, Halloween Town, Tarzan's Jungle, Atlantica, Monstro, and Wonderland. It appears that the Heartless are after the princesses of heart... which aren't in half of these worlds, so I'm not really sure why I'm bothering. If the princesses of heart are in danger, why am I wasting my time in Winnie the Pooh's world? And why is Alice a princess of heart?
Strengths:
-- Even though the story has a cartoon atmosphere, the basis of the story is medium weight philosophical. It looks at the components of a human heart.
-- Interesting bad guy: Ansem is lost to the darkness, so when Riku gets lost himself, Ansem possesses his body to attack Sora.
Weaknesses
-- The fact that I'm off wasting time in worlds that have no princesses in them is irritating. I understand I'm trying to find Ansem's reports and destroy the Heartless, but if the bad guys are going after the princesses, shouldn't I be saving them?
--Not exactly what I'd call plot twists. It's rather obvious that Riku works against you most of the game and then Kairi is a princess of heart.
Characters
Sora
This character gets a lot of crap and after you play this game, you'll know why. He may be 14 years old in the game, but he acts more like 11 or 12. Although, I have to say, I am glad to be playing as an optimistic character, not like in Final Fantasy where every main character hopes for the worst and doesn't really care either way.
Improvements: Sora pops out with insights like trash magazines come out with creatures from the swamp. Can we find out why how he came to these conclusions? He just busts out saying “Kingdom Hearts is light!” and hey, what do you know, it is. Huh?
Donald and Goofy
All I have to say is this: Thank God for subtitles. Even though I loved Donald Duck and understood everything he said when I was kid, I don't understand a dang word he says now.
These characters are almost useless. They knock me off stuff, they don't contribute too much to the story, and they talk to Sora like he's 6 years old even though he could take both of them out in one shot.
Improvements: It would be nice if they actually helped Sora figure out stuff. They're kind of just there for the ride, which is almost pointless. Why don't either of them come up with some insight?
Riku
So Riku is your best buddy in the whole wide universe before he steps into a dark pit and then spends the rest of the game trying to be better than you. Kudos to Square for setting up the fact that Sora and Riku are competitive by nature, and that Riku trying to be better than Sora isn't really that unpredictable. Riku is a complex character, for the fact that even though he works for the dark, he's still keeping an eye on his friends from his childhood. He reminds me of an older brother figure, other than the fact that I'd totally love to make out with him.
Improvements: Why is Riku not afraid of the darkness? He just jumps into a black pit and tells Sora to join him. I know Riku doesn't think it's a jacuzzi. What is he thinking?
Ansem
You only hear rumors about this character until at the end where he just kind of pops out and goes “Ta-da!” He's your typical bad guy: long hair, defies gravity, wants power, yada yada yada. I do, however, like the insane researcher angle. He's consumed by his research to the point that he will kill his oppositions. Not the type of person I'd like to be up against at a science fair.
Improvements: Why is he stealing all these hearts? The guy is far from Don Juan and I doubt he works for the American Heart Association. I hear that he seeks great power and wisdom, but honestly, that's kind of weak.
Final Say
I'm trying to suppress the part of me that is screaming “Play this! It's the best game everz!” because it's the same part of me that loves the gameplay and characters. The writing critic side of me, however, says that even though the plot is deep and complex, some characters lack depth and the writing resembles Saturday morning cartoons. But if that's the kind of writing your interested in, I recommend taking a look at it.
Other notes: Aeris got stabbed. Why is she in Kingdom Hearts? And where's Rinoa?!
Writing Prompt: Complicated Relationships
I have found that no matter what soap opera or Warner Brothers drama show you watch, there is always complicated relationships between characters. Two people are in love with the same person. Someone is the son or daughter of someone evil. Two rivals are cousins.
It’s fantastic.
Not only do these relationships drive the plot even further almost effortlessly, but it also makes it far more intriguing for the viewers. Will Bobby kill his half brother, Angelo in order to take over the hitman business, or will he give it all up for the love of his life, Rita, who just happens to be the daughter of the police captain?
People get addicted to these things for this reason. I should know. I’m a huge fan of Korean and Chinese soap operas.
I’ll wait till you stop laughing.
So here is your prompt: Take 4 people. Make them all related to each other somehow. Make it complicated. Make it exciting. Make it ridiculous.
Here’s an example from the Taiwanese soap opera, A Prince that Turned Into a Frog:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yExtCHJHCqk&feature=channel_page
Shan Jun Hao: Hotel owner that is trying to tear down Tainyu’s home in order to build a hotel, but ends up getting amnesia and falls in love with her instead. He has a rivalry with Ziqian, who also works at the hotel and who is in love with Junhao’s fiancee, Yunxi.
Xu Zi Qian: Another hotel worker that in love with Junhao’s fiancee, but becomes Tianyu’s boyfriend after Junhao remembers his old life and returns to Yunxi. When he learns that Junhao’s parents were behind the death of his own parents, he gets revenge by taking the hotel business away from Junhao.
Ye Tian Yu: Lives and works in a small fishing village that Junhao is trying to tear down to make profits. After finding out that he’s the one that planned to tear down her home, she is torn between her love for him and her hometown. She finds comfort in Ziqian’s company, both who have the misfortune of the ones they love giving them the cold shoulder.
Fan Yun Xi: Fiancee of Junhao who feels greatly threatened by Tainyu. She is obsessed with marrying Junhao due to happy memories of her childhood with him, despite the fact that he is cold to her. She always goes to Ziqian when she is hurt and doesn’t realize that she has feelings for him.
Delicious, isn’t it?
It’s fantastic.
Not only do these relationships drive the plot even further almost effortlessly, but it also makes it far more intriguing for the viewers. Will Bobby kill his half brother, Angelo in order to take over the hitman business, or will he give it all up for the love of his life, Rita, who just happens to be the daughter of the police captain?
People get addicted to these things for this reason. I should know. I’m a huge fan of Korean and Chinese soap operas.
I’ll wait till you stop laughing.
So here is your prompt: Take 4 people. Make them all related to each other somehow. Make it complicated. Make it exciting. Make it ridiculous.
Here’s an example from the Taiwanese soap opera, A Prince that Turned Into a Frog:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yExtCHJHCqk&feature=channel_page
Shan Jun Hao: Hotel owner that is trying to tear down Tainyu’s home in order to build a hotel, but ends up getting amnesia and falls in love with her instead. He has a rivalry with Ziqian, who also works at the hotel and who is in love with Junhao’s fiancee, Yunxi.
Xu Zi Qian: Another hotel worker that in love with Junhao’s fiancee, but becomes Tianyu’s boyfriend after Junhao remembers his old life and returns to Yunxi. When he learns that Junhao’s parents were behind the death of his own parents, he gets revenge by taking the hotel business away from Junhao.
Ye Tian Yu: Lives and works in a small fishing village that Junhao is trying to tear down to make profits. After finding out that he’s the one that planned to tear down her home, she is torn between her love for him and her hometown. She finds comfort in Ziqian’s company, both who have the misfortune of the ones they love giving them the cold shoulder.
Fan Yun Xi: Fiancee of Junhao who feels greatly threatened by Tainyu. She is obsessed with marrying Junhao due to happy memories of her childhood with him, despite the fact that he is cold to her. She always goes to Ziqian when she is hurt and doesn’t realize that she has feelings for him.
Delicious, isn’t it?
Sunday, March 15, 2009
Poll: Annoying Game Beginnings
What Game Beginning Are You Most Sick Of?
#1: The hero's town burns down, killing his/her parents. The hero swears for revenge.
This is a popular one. In almost every RPG, something catches fire. It's usually a town and then lots of people die. So whether or not our hero knows who did it, s/he seeks revenge.
If you really want to kill off a character close to the hero, I'm pretty sure you can be a little more creative with it. Poison. Arrows. War. Toxic gas. Shove them off a cliff. A fire is just a way to escape the process of coming up with something original.
#2: Someone wakes the hero up, tells them he or she is lazy and to get to the daily chores...And something goes wrong.
There are a couple reasons why this sucks.
#1-- If we wanted to do chores, we would stick to reality, not a game.
#2-- It's usually an in-game tutorial that most people don't want to play
If you want to throw in an in-game tutorial, at least give the player an opportunity to blow the guy off. If you want chores to be done, make it one chore that has some critical meaning. Have the player go into a tiny opening in a cave because s/he is the only one that can fit. Don't have us go feed the sheep or ask around town for someone we don't care anything about.
#3: Someone needs the hero's help for something and you have to run around for an hour trying to figure out who the heck the person is and where s/he is at.
This one doesn't bother me too much until I realize I have no idea who I'm looking for or where and it takes me an hour to accidently find them. If the town is small, no real problem. If the place requires a map or a "You Are Here" marker, forget it.
#4:You're fighting someone and you don't know who they are and why they are trying to kill you.
This one is a little more exciting, in my opinion, but I would still like to know why I have to beat up all these people. If you're showing off your totally awesome battle system, then whatever. But if you just have no idea how to start a game and your battle system is incredibly weak, don't do it. Just make sure it actually GOES with the story... Don't have me get my butt kicked and then "Oh, you're pardoned. It's cool." What?
Note: I'm not against any of these openings if they're done right. It's all about angles.
What do you guys think?
#1: The hero's town burns down, killing his/her parents. The hero swears for revenge.
This is a popular one. In almost every RPG, something catches fire. It's usually a town and then lots of people die. So whether or not our hero knows who did it, s/he seeks revenge.
If you really want to kill off a character close to the hero, I'm pretty sure you can be a little more creative with it. Poison. Arrows. War. Toxic gas. Shove them off a cliff. A fire is just a way to escape the process of coming up with something original.
#2: Someone wakes the hero up, tells them he or she is lazy and to get to the daily chores...And something goes wrong.
There are a couple reasons why this sucks.
#1-- If we wanted to do chores, we would stick to reality, not a game.
#2-- It's usually an in-game tutorial that most people don't want to play
If you want to throw in an in-game tutorial, at least give the player an opportunity to blow the guy off. If you want chores to be done, make it one chore that has some critical meaning. Have the player go into a tiny opening in a cave because s/he is the only one that can fit. Don't have us go feed the sheep or ask around town for someone we don't care anything about.
#3: Someone needs the hero's help for something and you have to run around for an hour trying to figure out who the heck the person is and where s/he is at.
This one doesn't bother me too much until I realize I have no idea who I'm looking for or where and it takes me an hour to accidently find them. If the town is small, no real problem. If the place requires a map or a "You Are Here" marker, forget it.
#4:You're fighting someone and you don't know who they are and why they are trying to kill you.
This one is a little more exciting, in my opinion, but I would still like to know why I have to beat up all these people. If you're showing off your totally awesome battle system, then whatever. But if you just have no idea how to start a game and your battle system is incredibly weak, don't do it. Just make sure it actually GOES with the story... Don't have me get my butt kicked and then "Oh, you're pardoned. It's cool." What?
Note: I'm not against any of these openings if they're done right. It's all about angles.
What do you guys think?
Thursday, March 12, 2009
Crisis Core
Platform: PSP
Developer/Publisher: Square-Enix
I'm disappointed. I was all prepared to tear into Crisis Core's lack of substantial plot and dialogue; Ready to use my distaste with Final Fantasy 7 as a base for a lot of ranting and poking fun... And now I can't.
Thanks a lot.
If I wanted to review the game in general, I could tell you that the game is insanely easy, it has no replay value whatsoever, and the DMW is really irritating, but that's not what my blog is for. It's about game writing.
And the writing is actually good.
Well, at least plot-wise. There's still the mission writing and Aerith that I can have a rant-fest about, so it's all good.
Let's get to it, shall we?
Developer/Publisher: Square-Enix
I'm disappointed. I was all prepared to tear into Crisis Core's lack of substantial plot and dialogue; Ready to use my distaste with Final Fantasy 7 as a base for a lot of ranting and poking fun... And now I can't.
Thanks a lot.
If I wanted to review the game in general, I could tell you that the game is insanely easy, it has no replay value whatsoever, and the DMW is really irritating, but that's not what my blog is for. It's about game writing.
And the writing is actually good.
Well, at least plot-wise. There's still the mission writing and Aerith that I can have a rant-fest about, so it's all good.
Let's get to it, shall we?
Plot: 5/5
Characters: 4/5
Mission Writing: 2/5
If you've played Final Fantasy 7, I doubt there's really any spoilers here.
Plot
All right, so you play as Zack Fair, Cloud's old war buddy. You know, the guy Cloud spent half of FF7 thinking he WAS. So you get to watch as Zack flirts with Aerith, watches Shinra go to crap, and gets shot in the face at the end of the game.
FF7 seems to have a large amount of mad scientists. In this game, mad scientists are busy cloning people's genes and sticking them into random people to make some sort of ugly army.
For FF7 fans, you get to watch YET AGAIN Sephiroth find out that he's a human experiment, go nuts, burn down the town, and stab a couple people.
After you kill some random character named Genesis, your friends die, and Cloud is out of harm's way, you get rewarded by getting shot numerous times by the army and then dying.
Good times.
Strengths:
--> Follows the plot of FF7 with no hiccups
--> Easily mixes two genres together seamlessly: fantasy and sci-fi. People who enjoy one but not the other, will still appreciate the plot
--> Emotional dialogue and strong character connections
Weaknesses:
--> Individuals not familiar with sci-fi plot complexity (or Final Fantasy 7 for that matter) might get slightly confused at what's going on. There's a whole lot of clones floating about which makes things complicated.
--> I have the army and all of Shinra after me and I don't even know why...
--> You mean to tell me that the entire army riddled Zack with bullets, but he still had enough time to talk to Cloud in a dramatic scene before dying? Unlikely.
Characters
Zack
Square Enix is actually doing a good job in keeping to the story of FF7. The character in those blocky FF7 flashbacks is the same character portrayed in Crisis Core: fun, loyal, hard-core, and squat-happy. Zack is a strong character, chasing after all the people who have betrayed him in order to help them.
I like this character for a couple reasons. 1, he shows his loyalty to his friends in a non-after-school-special sort of way (*cough*Sora*cough*) and 2, he's a little naïve and has normal weaknesses. I like a bad-ass character as much as the next person, but I am so BORED with characters that have no weaknesses, flaws, and have a plan for everything. You know, the guy that comes out of an explosion with a cleanly pressed suit and perfectly cut hair.
The great thing about this game is you get to see why Zack meant so much to Cloud. Other than an annoying giggle-fest about the names of their hometowns, Zack and Cloud have a pretty honorable relationship. Zack carries Cloud through half of this game (Tifa carrying him for ¼ of the game and Cloud amazingly walking for himself—or leaning against a wall or laying flat on his face-- for another ¼.) and takes on numerous amounts of enemies in order to protect him.
Improvements: I know FF7 is against emotions of any kind, but Zack lost all his war buddies. Can he show a little anger or resentment? Some agony? 13 hours of this game and I get 2 scenes of him upset? Can I at least get some inner thoughts?
Cloud
I know this comment is on the borderline of blasphemy, but I have found a new respect for Cloud. Probably because I got to see him try to hold down his lunch after a helicopter ride. He's human now! I got to see his wimpy little butt get kicked over and over again, with Zack coming to his rescue.
My only question: He gets car sick, but if Sephiroth stabs him he can unrealistically use the blade as a see-saw to throw Sephiroth into machinery? Huh?
I have to say, I'm glad the story cleared up the whole clone mess. I was confused on if Sephiroth was a clone of the original Sephiroth, or Cloud was a clone of Sephiroth, or if Cloud was a clone of Steve Burton's character on General Hospital...
I mean, come on. There's even a girl with two kids that Burton's character is in love with, but can never seem to get together with. (If you didn't know, Steve Burton IS the English voice actor of Cloud.)
So as it turns out, Sephiroth is the “perfect monster” and once Cloud gets stabbed, some mad scientist injects him with Sephiroth's cells in order to create another monster like him. It's just too bad that Cloud is too weak towards the Mako and spends half the game as a zombie. Until his friend is shot, in which he magically snaps out of it for the dramatic end of the game. The dude can't walk for half the game and then all of a sudden he can pick up the Buster Sword and head towards Midgar. Yeah. That's how that works.
I have to say, watching Cloud go from motion-sick-dork to what he is in Advent Children is an interesting transition. I actually found him more interesting in Crisis Core, due to the fact that it shows his depth. When he complains about not being able to save anyone in Advent Children, you realize that by playing Crisis Core, he's sort of right. He gets in a couple good shots and that's about it. Which I like better. It's more realistic.
Improvements: Cloud is anti-emotion as well. His best friend dies, he does the usual “noooo!” that everyone in every game does, and then he thanks his dead friend? Confusion. Maybe he's not emotionless...just bipolar.
Aerith
Anyone who knows me, knows that I hate Aerith. But after playing Crisis Core and getting to know her character better, I have realized that I had good reason. She's irritating. Not to say that she's a badly developed character. In this game. In FF7, she still sucks.
The sweet and shy princess-like character is more annoying to me than the bad-ass emo characters Square Enix likes to recycle, and Aerith takes the cake when it comes to that genre.
Here's what bothers me about her: my friend dies and she talks about flowers, I make her a flower wagon that is perfectly suitable and she wants a do over, she writes Zack about the flowers... GET OVER THE STUPID FLOWERS.
Improvements: She lives in slums and she's watched constantly by Turks. Can't she have a bit of an attitude? Some spunk? Something OTHER than an obsession with flowers?!
Sephiroth
Sephiroth is actually one of my favorite villains because the dude is insane. In this game, he's perfectly honorable and loyal, until he finds out that he was a scientific experiment and then everything hits the fan and he goes berserk.
However, I do hate the whole “the universe is MINE!” crap, and it seriously needs to stop. He was betrayed by his father and a bunch of scientists, not the universe.
Improvements: The rule the world thing. I'm done with that.
Other Characters
Genesis: I love the whole poetic sort of character, mainly because they're so rare. Genesis has this crazed obsession with the Gift of the Goddess, like a seriously disturbed religious person. I'd like to know why he's so interested though.
Angeal: He's like the sweet uncle you adore. He pokes fun at you and tells you stories about life. And then he manipulates you into killing him and then after he dies, his clone protects you. Just like in real life.
Missions
All right the missions in this game were lame and I'm going to tell you why: They were all the same.
No, no. Seriously. I get a mysterious letter or someone wants to challenge me, I go to the middle of a field that has 2 boxes, and I find one lone monster by itself, kill it, and I'm done.
Square Enix seems to have put missions in this game to make it longer. (And maybe to show off Yuffie a little bit more.) That really seems to be it. They went to great lengths to describe what I'm doing, but they don't give me any info into why I should care or what happens after I'm done.
FINAL SAY
If you're a FF7 fan, you won't be learning more than you all ready know, but it's a good look into character development over time and relationship chemistry. If you're not a FF7 fan, I don't think you'll get much out of it. The characters won't have any real depth to you. I'd take a look into this game if you're either a sci-fi nut or a FF7 fan, but that's really about it.
Other notes: What is with Cloud's relationship commitment issues? How long do the fans have to wait before Cloud FINALLY gets together with Tifa? I mean, really.
Characters
Zack
Square Enix is actually doing a good job in keeping to the story of FF7. The character in those blocky FF7 flashbacks is the same character portrayed in Crisis Core: fun, loyal, hard-core, and squat-happy. Zack is a strong character, chasing after all the people who have betrayed him in order to help them.
I like this character for a couple reasons. 1, he shows his loyalty to his friends in a non-after-school-special sort of way (*cough*Sora*cough*) and 2, he's a little naïve and has normal weaknesses. I like a bad-ass character as much as the next person, but I am so BORED with characters that have no weaknesses, flaws, and have a plan for everything. You know, the guy that comes out of an explosion with a cleanly pressed suit and perfectly cut hair.
The great thing about this game is you get to see why Zack meant so much to Cloud. Other than an annoying giggle-fest about the names of their hometowns, Zack and Cloud have a pretty honorable relationship. Zack carries Cloud through half of this game (Tifa carrying him for ¼ of the game and Cloud amazingly walking for himself—or leaning against a wall or laying flat on his face-- for another ¼.) and takes on numerous amounts of enemies in order to protect him.
Improvements: I know FF7 is against emotions of any kind, but Zack lost all his war buddies. Can he show a little anger or resentment? Some agony? 13 hours of this game and I get 2 scenes of him upset? Can I at least get some inner thoughts?
Cloud
I know this comment is on the borderline of blasphemy, but I have found a new respect for Cloud. Probably because I got to see him try to hold down his lunch after a helicopter ride. He's human now! I got to see his wimpy little butt get kicked over and over again, with Zack coming to his rescue.
My only question: He gets car sick, but if Sephiroth stabs him he can unrealistically use the blade as a see-saw to throw Sephiroth into machinery? Huh?
I have to say, I'm glad the story cleared up the whole clone mess. I was confused on if Sephiroth was a clone of the original Sephiroth, or Cloud was a clone of Sephiroth, or if Cloud was a clone of Steve Burton's character on General Hospital...
I mean, come on. There's even a girl with two kids that Burton's character is in love with, but can never seem to get together with. (If you didn't know, Steve Burton IS the English voice actor of Cloud.)
So as it turns out, Sephiroth is the “perfect monster” and once Cloud gets stabbed, some mad scientist injects him with Sephiroth's cells in order to create another monster like him. It's just too bad that Cloud is too weak towards the Mako and spends half the game as a zombie. Until his friend is shot, in which he magically snaps out of it for the dramatic end of the game. The dude can't walk for half the game and then all of a sudden he can pick up the Buster Sword and head towards Midgar. Yeah. That's how that works.
I have to say, watching Cloud go from motion-sick-dork to what he is in Advent Children is an interesting transition. I actually found him more interesting in Crisis Core, due to the fact that it shows his depth. When he complains about not being able to save anyone in Advent Children, you realize that by playing Crisis Core, he's sort of right. He gets in a couple good shots and that's about it. Which I like better. It's more realistic.
Improvements: Cloud is anti-emotion as well. His best friend dies, he does the usual “noooo!” that everyone in every game does, and then he thanks his dead friend? Confusion. Maybe he's not emotionless...just bipolar.
Aerith
Anyone who knows me, knows that I hate Aerith. But after playing Crisis Core and getting to know her character better, I have realized that I had good reason. She's irritating. Not to say that she's a badly developed character. In this game. In FF7, she still sucks.
The sweet and shy princess-like character is more annoying to me than the bad-ass emo characters Square Enix likes to recycle, and Aerith takes the cake when it comes to that genre.
Here's what bothers me about her: my friend dies and she talks about flowers, I make her a flower wagon that is perfectly suitable and she wants a do over, she writes Zack about the flowers... GET OVER THE STUPID FLOWERS.
Improvements: She lives in slums and she's watched constantly by Turks. Can't she have a bit of an attitude? Some spunk? Something OTHER than an obsession with flowers?!
Sephiroth
Sephiroth is actually one of my favorite villains because the dude is insane. In this game, he's perfectly honorable and loyal, until he finds out that he was a scientific experiment and then everything hits the fan and he goes berserk.
However, I do hate the whole “the universe is MINE!” crap, and it seriously needs to stop. He was betrayed by his father and a bunch of scientists, not the universe.
Improvements: The rule the world thing. I'm done with that.
Other Characters
Genesis: I love the whole poetic sort of character, mainly because they're so rare. Genesis has this crazed obsession with the Gift of the Goddess, like a seriously disturbed religious person. I'd like to know why he's so interested though.
Angeal: He's like the sweet uncle you adore. He pokes fun at you and tells you stories about life. And then he manipulates you into killing him and then after he dies, his clone protects you. Just like in real life.
Missions
All right the missions in this game were lame and I'm going to tell you why: They were all the same.
No, no. Seriously. I get a mysterious letter or someone wants to challenge me, I go to the middle of a field that has 2 boxes, and I find one lone monster by itself, kill it, and I'm done.
Square Enix seems to have put missions in this game to make it longer. (And maybe to show off Yuffie a little bit more.) That really seems to be it. They went to great lengths to describe what I'm doing, but they don't give me any info into why I should care or what happens after I'm done.
FINAL SAY
If you're a FF7 fan, you won't be learning more than you all ready know, but it's a good look into character development over time and relationship chemistry. If you're not a FF7 fan, I don't think you'll get much out of it. The characters won't have any real depth to you. I'd take a look into this game if you're either a sci-fi nut or a FF7 fan, but that's really about it.
Other notes: What is with Cloud's relationship commitment issues? How long do the fans have to wait before Cloud FINALLY gets together with Tifa? I mean, really.
Friday, March 6, 2009
Hello and a Prompt
For the 3 people that follow my blog, you probably haven't really noticed that I haven't posted in forever. Sorry about that. I'm sure one out of the 3 of you missed me. The other two forgot this page existed.
I'm working on finishing up Crisis Core--the prequel to Final Fantasy 7-- as we speak. I know there are a ton of FF7 fans out there so it should be fun to ward the bunch of you off with a stick. But I'm never going to be able to review this game if I don't finish the 500 random missions I have to do, which I'm sure Square Enix just threw in so the game would be longer. But at least it goes with the plot fairly well. And I mean fairly. More on that later. (But beofre you all get defensive, know that I'm actually enjoying the game. And also know that getting defensive over a game is a waste of energy.)
So I thought I'd give you a nice easy prompt to warm up the old blog.
I forgot how I even start these things...
Your assignment for this week is to take two characters from games (or if you would like, you can use movies), stick them in a room with no windows or doors, and watch how they react with each other as well as towards the fact that there's no escape.
This could be really fun, if you try. Sephiroth and Mario. Nina Williams and Rocket, the slime from Dragon Quest. The Terminator and SpongeBob Squarepants.
The point of this exercise is to watch characters interact, without forcing chemestry between them. You simply observe and record. When you think about it, that's the basic block of writing. A writer is not meant to control circumstance. S/he is meant to record what is happening in his/her imagination.
This is an exercise I'd really love to get replies for, so leave me your prompt!
I'm working on finishing up Crisis Core--the prequel to Final Fantasy 7-- as we speak. I know there are a ton of FF7 fans out there so it should be fun to ward the bunch of you off with a stick. But I'm never going to be able to review this game if I don't finish the 500 random missions I have to do, which I'm sure Square Enix just threw in so the game would be longer. But at least it goes with the plot fairly well. And I mean fairly. More on that later. (But beofre you all get defensive, know that I'm actually enjoying the game. And also know that getting defensive over a game is a waste of energy.)
So I thought I'd give you a nice easy prompt to warm up the old blog.
I forgot how I even start these things...
Your assignment for this week is to take two characters from games (or if you would like, you can use movies), stick them in a room with no windows or doors, and watch how they react with each other as well as towards the fact that there's no escape.
This could be really fun, if you try. Sephiroth and Mario. Nina Williams and Rocket, the slime from Dragon Quest. The Terminator and SpongeBob Squarepants.
The point of this exercise is to watch characters interact, without forcing chemestry between them. You simply observe and record. When you think about it, that's the basic block of writing. A writer is not meant to control circumstance. S/he is meant to record what is happening in his/her imagination.
This is an exercise I'd really love to get replies for, so leave me your prompt!
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