May 11 2012

30 Days of Video Games: Day 11, Game System of Choice

I’ve always played primarily console games from the time I was young.  I had the NES, then the Sega Genesis.  In college I had a roommate with a Nintendo 64.  When I graduated college and then started working and had the money, I bought myself a new console.  I went with the GameCube, so I could play Metroid Prime, since I was on a Metroid kick.  I also got a GameBoy Advance SP so I could play Metroid Fusion; and then I got a GameBoy Player so I could link the two!  My brother left me his PS2 when he moved to California and I played a lot on that, but my history was largely Nintendo-based.

But two years ago I found the need to get a current-generation console.  I did some research.  The Wii was fun, but I didn’t care for the game selection.  There weren’t a lot of third-party-developed games.  The PS3 seemed like a good choice, but I didn’t see anything certain about backwards compatibility.  I had quite a few PS2 games, and would have liked to be able to play them on a new system, especially since I’d be trading in the old one.  But a lot of my friends had the xbox 360.  I researched its capabilities and its games.  There were some first party games I liked, and a lot of third party developed games that looked good as well.  Most of my friends had it, so we could play together and communicate.  I settled on purchasing the xbox 360.

When I got it, I also purchased a gold xbox Live! membership.  With that membership I had access to streaming Netflix and streaming radio, among other things.  I saw it as more of an investment than expenditure, because of all I could do with it.  I’ve had my 360 for two years now and still love what it can do.  Lately I haven’t had much time to game, but its capabilities as a DVD player and a Netflix streamer have been awesome.  The game selection is one that I’m happy with, and there have been very few games coming out that I’ve seen and wanted but weren’t available on the 360.

As the 360’s capabilities increase, with the Kinect and so forth, I’m sure I’ll need to upgrade eventually.  But for now, the xbox 360 is my game system of choice.

May 10 2012

30 Days of Video Games: Day 10, Best Gameplay

Characters, music, setting, story… all elements of good games.  But those are also elements of a good movie, and, barring the music, characteristics of a good book.  What makes a game different?  Gameplay.  You involve yourself with a game in a way that you don’t, or in many cases can’t, with a book or movie.  Much of what happens is based in your decisions and your reflexes.

Of course, gameplay varies from game to game: sometimes it’s based on genre, be it RPG or shooter or platformer.  It can vary if a game was released on multiple systems, or vary between console and PC.  I know the experience of playing Dragon Age is very different on PC compared to xBox for a variety of reasons, for example.  So with all these variables, is it possible to choose one game with the best gameplay?

Yes.  It is.  And I propose that game is Tetris.

Tetris is a classic.  The beauty lies in its deceptive simplicity.  Stack blocks, clear lines, avoid getting to the top of the column.  Oh, while the drop speed increases as your levels do.  It’s mesmerizing.  It’s addictive.  And it’s also played the same way regardless of what system you play it on.  The objective never varies, the story never changes, the properties of each block remain the same whether you’re playing against friends on Facebook, or on the classic NES.  It can be played on PC, console, iPhone, you name it.

Another beauty of Tetris is that the game can be adapted.  Tetris DS, for the Nintendo DS, did a great job with that:through various modes, you play with the Tetris blocks and either clear more lines or solve more puzzles of different types.  All set to the background of classic NES games.  In other versions you start with junk blocks you have to maneuver around and clear out; others, you have to get a certain number of lines in a certain amount of time.  But no matter what, it’s recognizable as Tetris.

So don’t be fooled: beneath its simplistic exterior, Tetris is a game offering great gameplay.

May 9 2012

30 Days of Video Games: Day 9, Saddest Game Scene

I’ve seen many sad scenes in video games: from the baby Metroid sacrificing itself in Super Metroid, to Kat taking a needler in the head in Halo Reach. But there is one scene that hands-down takes this title. And not only does it take it, it twists the knife to make it hurt more, and then it pours lemon juice on the wound. I’ll cut for spoilers just in case, but the game’s been out since September so I’m not sure how much of a spoiler it’ll be. But better to be safe than get all sorts of irate comments, right? Continue reading →

May 8 2012

30 Days of Video Games: Day 8, Best Soundtrack

I don’t feel like the creator of this meme really understood what he/she was asking when they put this prompt in it. Or maybe they did, and it’s just me getting overwhelmed. Because you see, music is a huge part of my life. It always has been. I started playing flute at the age of 10 and played through elementary, middle, and high school. I took music theory classes in high school. I currently take voice lessons and am a member of the local auditioned choir. My iTunes library has well over 4,000 songs on it. Music adds ambiance, it adds power, and it creates atmosphere. Some moments in movies would not be nearly as powerful for me had it not been for the music. Music captures me and carries me away. It makes me feel in a way words cannot.

So needless to say I love the musical aspect of video games. Having grown up training in music, I feel I’m able to appreciate it more than if I had not had that background. From the recognizable themes of the 8-bit era to the sweeping orchestrations of Skyrim, it adds so much to the game I’m playing and the world in which I am playing. My game scores playlist has 526 pieces on it: over 10% of my library (and 2.87 GB). And Bard has way more game music than that! But how do I go about figuring which is the best?

I love the electronic sound of the Mass Effect scores; I love the epic grittiness of Gears of War. The heavily orchestrated Dragon Age Origins score is a nice contrast to the slightly Mediterranean flavor of Dragon Age 2. Skyrim’s sweeping orchestral sounds evoke mood beautifully. And I love how the composers of Metroid’s music take the recognizable and classic themes of the old games and weave them into the themes of the new ones.

But I’m going to have to go with Halo on this one.

From the very beginning Halo’s music captured me. The solemn vocals combined with the driving drum and bass lines make for a strong introduction to a series of soundtracks that is as varied as the many worlds Master Chief visits, and the many creatures he comes into contact with. The score evokes mood and nicely blends electronic musical sounds with acoustic and/or vocals. The themes are solid and clear, and it’s evident that you’re in the world of Halo when you hear them.

However, that’s just the first game. The composers incorporate the main theme into new music for Halo 2 and 3, both of which have new and different settings and thus require new and different music. Very rarely do I find the music of the first three Halo games to be repetitive.

But wait, there’s more! Halo 3:ODST, which comes between games two and three, is done by the same composer, and yet has a very different sort of sound. It’s a different protagonist in a different world, and the music evokes that beautifully. Rather than the super-soldier Master Chief, the protagonist is the human Rookie, an Orbital Drop Shock Trooper (ODST) separated from his crew in the city of New Mombasa on Earth. He must fight the covenant, but he has to do it in a different way because he lacks Master Chief’s armor and arsenal. The music conveys these differences by omitting the usual chant-style vocals and opting for a smooth, jazzy feel by incorporating saxophones as the predominant instrument. There’s still great percussion, and a couple lovely flute solos, but overall the feeling is far different from the ‘normal’ Halo score.

Finally, Halo: Reach calls for a different type of score as well. With no Master Chief, and on the doomed planet Reach, there’s a need for new music that conveys all Reach and the new group of Spartans has to offer. Syncopated rhythms give a sort of swing feel to the music, making battle more of a dance than an all-out bloodbath. The music is at times driving and relentless, at times sad. Vocals are either eerie or dramatic. It provides a lovely intensity that serves as a great background for the game.

Overall, what I love about the Halo scores/soundtracks is that they create mood and they’re made to enhance the game, but are awesome on their own. I love putting “Tip of the Spear” on my iPod and feeling epic; but I also love the haunting melancholy of “Ashes”, or the sheer beauty of “Unforgotten”. Most of all I’m sincerely hoping that Martin O’Donnell and Michael Salvatori are going to be the ones behind the score for Halo 4. Halo, for me, has more than a gaming legacy. It has a musical legacy.

Tomorrow: Day 9, Saddest Game Scene. Oh this one’s a doozy.

May 7 2012

30 Days of Video Games: Day 7, Favorite Couple

Character relationships are an integral part of many games these days. In rare cases the protagonist goes it alone; often he or she meets many people along the way who can help them in their quest. It’s dangerous to go alone, after all.

But when I think about relationships, a huge part of me leaps outside the box. I feel like a romantic relationship is too cliche and sappy, but hey, it’s a relationship and can be very important to the game. When I did this meme a year and a half ago, I chose Cortana and Master Chief. No they’re not romantic, but they’re a fantastic couple who work so well together that they really are greater than the sum of their parts.

But since I’ve gone the platonic route, and since in the last 18 months or so I’ve played Dragon Age, I think I’ll be sappy and romantic and choose The Warden and Alistair.

I preface this by saying that Bard is well aware of my feelings on this, but he’s not threatened by a game character, because he’s awesome and lovable like that 🙂

Oh Alistair: pixelated manflesh at its finest. Alistair could possibly be a perfect man. He’s dutiful, he’s built, he gives you a rose if he likes you, and he’s saved himself for the perfect woman. He’s funny, a little insecure, and endearingly awkward.

My favorite origin in Dragon Age: Origins is the human noble. I played through once, romanced Alistair, and loved it so much I tried it again. Only this time I created a character with a stronger backstory for the world I was in, rather than just put myself in the game. I created Fianna Cousland: pain in the arse youngest daughter of one of Ferelden’s finest and oldest families. She’s a dual-wielding rogue, but I gave her a lot of unconventional personality quirks and behaviors for someone raised as high nobility.

Now, I know Cousland/Alistair, or “Coulistair” fics are a a dime a dozen on fanfiction.net. It’s a great pairing, really, especially once Alistair reveals certain things about himself and his past, and potential future. It seems everyone writes them, and while I like to do some things differently, I really loved Fianna and Alistair’s story.

I think because it’s about more than just falling in love with one another. It’s about two people forced into the worst situation by the worst circumstances, and they have to learn to work together. Through that, they help each other find themselves. Alistair’s sense of duty to the Grey Wardens helps Fianna realize that she has a duty not just as a Warden, but as Fereldan nobility, and she should probably suck it up and do that duty. But her confidence and her refusal to care what anyone thinks inspires him to accept his role in all of this. Where he’s insecure she’s confident; where she’s irresponsible, he’s duty-bound. They complement one another well in those ways.

Plus, my Warden recognizes Alistair’s abilities and talents. So often I see fics where Alistair is what my friend deagh and I have termed, a “Warden!Bitch”. Basically, Alistair fawns all over the Warden (of any origin, but mostly in the Coulistair fics) and lets himself be led on and falls madly in love while she does all the work. In the relationship I cultivated between Fianna and Alistair, she respects him for what he knows and what he’s able to do as a fighter and as a Warden–and later on as a potential king. He understands her position as a noble and how it can advance their goals, but knows she’s not a pawn. And he picks a rose for her, dammit! That counts for something!

Now, many other DA players and fans, including some who read and comment on this blog, will have different views of Alistair and the romance with the Warden. Bearonthecouch has written some very lovely pieces featuring Alistair along with a human mage Warden (that made me cry they were so beautiful), for example. And there are other great Coulistair fics out there. The beauty of Dragon Age is in all the options for character creation and interaction and eventual outcomes. But for me? I think I have to go with Alistair and Fianna as my favorite couple for the above-stated reasons… and also because I’ve put in about a year at this point of fanfic that builds and develops their relationship. But I really do have a life. No, really, I do!

Tomorrow: Day 8, Favorite Soundtrack. I quit right now. Okay, not really. But I want to. So… much… to choose… from…

May 6 2012

30 Days of Video Games: Day 6, Most Annoying Character

Every game has one: the annoying character who makes you want to throw a controller at it to make it shut up. Tingle in Zelda, for instance; or Navi, when she buzzes nonsense at you. It gets annoying in Halo 3 when Cortana is going crazy and interrupts your game with her moments. Wynne, lecturing and sermonizing in Dragon Age. Justice, coming in all self-righteous and screwing things up for Anders and for Hawke in Dragon Age 2. Isaac Clarke in Dead Space annoyed the heck out of me, because he felt really passive to me; all I did was bring him back and forth based on what other people in my comlink told me to do. I only got through half that game, because it just got boring playing after awhile (though I did like seeing how many awesome ways I could die). But I think he annoyed me so much because he reminded me of the most annoying character I’ve yet experienced.

I present to you: Adam, from Metroid Fusion.

One of the more salient features of Metroid gameplay has always been the exploration. Samus strikes out after a bounty, loses her suit items, and through the course of the game, must regain them and finish her mission. There’s a lot of exploration involved, and the ability to explore freely, discovering secrets and the like, is awesome. As a result, Metroid has also lent itself well to sequence-breaking challenges. It was one of the major elements of the early games, and even Prime on the Game Cube was broken by tenacious individuals eager for a challenge.

But when Metroid Fusion came out for the GameBoy Advance in 2002, Nintendo clearly wanted to go in another direction. Much of the formula remained the same: Samus was alone on a giant derelict space lab, searching for suit upgrades and ways to complete her mission. But they introduced the element of Adam. Adam was an AI unit in her ship’s computer, who disseminated throughout the lab’s computers, and communicated with Samus during and in between missions. It added more to her mysterious back story, which was fine, but Adam also told Samus where to go and when, and what upgrades to look for. And there was no way to bypass it.

Yes, it provided a new challenge: can we sequence break Adam, who is part of the game designed to force gamers into the sequence? Can we speed run a game that has all these interruptions? People did manage to speed run it, but not with the same sorts of speeds achieved in other Metroid games (at least early on: some research has shown me that someone managed a :48 run of Fusion, in 2008. In the early heyday of Fusion, that I’m recalling, no one had done that yet). Red Scarlet managed her :55 110% Super Metroid run because she could sequence break. You could play Super Metroid in just about any order you wanted. Not so with Fusion, and it was because of the addition of Adam.

The other annoying thing about Adam is that what he added to Samus’s back story added a huge amount of inconsistency to her character and her story. Until then, we knew Samus had been a bounty hunter; we knew she’d been raised by the bird-like Chozo. But suddenly she’d also served in the military? Under the name Samus Aran? Most of the effect of original Metroid was in the fact that no one knew exactly who Samus Aran was, down to gender. Adding in Adam, as Samus’s former CO in the military, added a whole new dimension to her past, but also made the story inconsistent. And inconsistencies in stories are one surefire way to jolt people out of the moment.

Not only does he make the game far too linear, but he changes Samus’s character. I like the kick-ass-and-take-names Samus; I don’t mind her being introspective, I mean, she does it in Sky Town at the end of Prime 3, and it’s really well done. She’s thoughtful and sensitive, but still strong. But Adam makes her less introspective and more…well, she questions herself. She doesn’t have any of the usual self-confidence.

Adam doesn’t let Samus do her own thing, so she questions whether or not she’s doing the right thing. Initially I thought this was my own over-analysis of the characters in the game, but after Other M came out and I saw videos and read articles about Adam’s role in the game (play-wise similar to Fusion), I realized maybe I wasn’t too far off the mark. He turns her from a confident, ass-kicking bounty hunter who’s the best at what she does, into an uncertain, scared, childlike version of herself. And as someone who grew up thinking Samus was awesome because of what she represented to me, Adam just plain annoys me.

So therefore I think Adam Malkovich is one of the most annoying video game characters out there, for what he did to my favorite character, and what he did to the gameplay style of Metroid overall.

Tomorrow: Day 7, Favorite Game Couple. Love is in the air? Or is it just platonic?

May 5 2012

30 Days of Video Games: Day 5, a character you identify with

Characters are probably my favorite part of video games, as I said in the entry on May 2nd. A story is only as good as the characters who make it happen, in most cases at least, and again, just in my personal opinion. But I don’t know if I’ve ever read a book or played a game or seen a movie and thought, “Whoa, that’s so… me!” I see a lot of my personality quirks and foibles in some characters, but no one in particular that I think I definitely identify with.

I considered saying Samus Aran, for the sheer reason that she was kicking arse in a man’s world in the early days of NES gaming, much like I thought I was (hey, I was twelve, cut me some slack). But with the direction her personality and character have taken recently, I don’t feel like I can identify with her much. And besides, many females these days are gamers, and gamers of all varieties.

I could say my main Dragon Age character, Fianna Cousland, but again, she only has some of me in her. Her decisions are decisions I would make, since I’m controlling her through the game and trying to get the outcome I want in the game. In that sense I think it’s very easy to identify with the character, because her choices are my choices. Even Commander Shepard is a lot of me in that sense, so despite the sci-fi setting of Mass Effect, I still have a lot of myself invested into the game.

But for a character who’s been pre-written to behave in a certain way and make certain choices, it’s hard to think about identifying with them. Maybe in this case I identify with Anya Stroud, from Gears of War. In the first two games she’s calm, cool, and collected under pressure, and she has a job to do and gets it done. However, it’s clear that she wants to do more than sit behind a desk or at a com-link. She wants to be on the front lines kicking butt and taking names with the rest of the Gears. She doesn’t feel like she has something to prove, though. From what I’ve seen in the games and read in the novels, people are pretty sure Anya can and will hold her own on the field; but she’s so good at what she does off the field, they keep her there.

She accepts her role with dignity and does her job extremely well… but when the opportunity comes to rise to the occasion, she definitely does just that.

In that sense I think I identify with Anya. I have my job that I do, and do to the best of my ability. But at the same time, if opportunities to seize the moment arise, I’m all for it. I like to push myself and challenge myself and rise to the occasion, and not just in my teaching, but also when it comes to the other things I do: whether it be writing or singing. In my voice lessons I’m constantly pushing myself to learn technically difficult songs, and when my teacher gives me something difficult, her confidence in me inspires me to work that much harder. Much the same way the confidence of the other Gears inspires Anya to work hard. She works for them, so they work for her.

It’s not who I would expect to identify with, which is a nice surprise.

Tomorrow: Day 6, most annoying character. Good thing it says “most”. There are so many of them!

May 5 2012

30 Days of Video Games: Day 4, Guilty Pleasure Game

To be honest I’m not sure where to start with this. I’ve never been a fan of the whole “guilty pleasure” thing. My best friend says I have an extra guilt muscle, which is something I’m trying to overcome. Also, guilty pleasure insinuates that one should be ashamed for finding pleasure in something, and we all know how I feel about shame. If I like something, I’m going to like it and be damned proud of it. Now, that’s not to say that all ‘guilty pleasures’ are okay, or even legal. I’m thinking, the things that aren’t illegal or harmful to oneself or to others, and therefore, shouldn’t be considered “guilty” pleasures.

So I’m sort of at a loss as to what to say is a guilty pleasure game for me. Every game I play, I play for a reason, be it story, character, gameplay dynamics, or because I need to blow off steam. There’s something satisfying about feeling fed up with something and channeling that rage through a pixelated sub-machine gun at an equally pixelated target. And maybe because that allows me to experience some sort of vicarious violence, that could then be construed as a guilty pleasure.

I think in that case a lot of hack ‘n slash games might fit the bill. Maybe Gauntlet Dark Legacy; I love the music and the castle that serves as a home to the portals to the other worlds, but when all’s said and done, it’s a fancy hack ‘n slash. There’s very little strategy to getting through the levels save for shoot the crap out of everything you come across. Maybe saving up on magic, getting food, and using skills it requires some forethought, but in terms of fighting, just mash the attack button and you’re good. And besides, it’s got a level with creepy clowns and music that involves people laughing maniacally in the background. What’s not to love?

As a result, I’m free to enjoy the scenery and the music–aka, take pleasure in those things. Perhaps the ease of combat allows me to take pleasure in it. Perhaps I’m just overthinking this. Either way, I’m not ashamed to say I like the game, and certainly feel no guilt over playing it. But since that’s what the prompt asks me to ponder…. there you have it!

Tomorrow: Day 5, Game character you feel you are most like (or wish you were)…

May 3 2012

30 Days of Video Games: Day 3, Underrated Game

I’ve gone to PAX East for the last two years, and am always amazed at what companies put into their advertising. Last year, the main entry boasted a huge display from BioShock Infinite. This year the exhibition floor touted larger-than-life sized sculptures for Borderlands 2, and companies doling out swag in the hopes of peaking gamers’ interests. Through all that, it’s easy to find the games that become overrated: games whose advertising schemes outweigh the real appeal. But what about those games whose developers don’t spend a lot in advertising, don’t get announced or flaunted at things like E3 and the PAX conventions, and mostly slide quietly by, generally unnoticed in the chaos?

I’ve mentioned before that I grew up in the NES generation. There were gaming magazines, like Nintendo Power, but not the same kind of hubbub that exists today. Games were advertised on TV, sometimes stores had posters up, but generally the advertising was low-key. The big franchises certainly got their share of exposure, but the smaller games, not so much. It was during this time that I, as a 12-year-old gamer girl, saw a single commercial for the game Battle of Olympus. At the time I was obsessed with Greco-Roman mythology (still am), and that one ad, showcasing the potential to play through mythological settings with mythological creatures, excited me. Luckily my brother’s birthday was coming up, so I asked my parents if we could get that for me. I mean him. Right.

Battle of Olympus is a side-scroller in the same style of Zelda II, Link’s Adventure. It was released in North America in 1990 for the NES by Broderbund. It played nearly the exact same as Zelda II, down to the animations. It didn’t get much publicity, and didn’t get a lot of hype, and even now when I bring it up, most people don’t know anything about it. Imagine my glee when I mentioned it to Bard and he not only knew of it, but also has a copy!

The game had several settings from ancient Greek myths, and dealt with such mythological creatures as Gaea (mother earth), the Hydra, the Centaur, and the Minotaur. One section had you, as Orpheus, traversing the labyrinth of Crete in a quest to find your beloved, kidnapped by Hades. You could call on Poseidon’s dolphins, or play the lyre at the shrine of Apollo and call Pegasus. The worlds were bright and colorful, the game play fun, the mythological references awesome (if a bit skewed, as I now know from my experience teaching it), and most of all, it had the best music.

If I search Youtube for Battle of Olympus now, I can come up with many videos of the music and the gameplay. It brings back many memories, all of them fond. It reminds me of a time before God of War, before xbox, before all this financially-based advertising craze. While that’s all necessary now, remembering Battle of Olympus reminds me of what it was like to be excited for a game’s release for the very first time ever.

I never saw another ad for Battle of Olympus, and it seems to have been lost to the annals of gaming lore and legend. There are some who know of it, and understand how great it really is. But the vast majority haven’t ever heard of it. It’s for that reason that I think Battle of Olympus rates as a truly underrated game.

Tomorrow: Day 4, Your Guilty Pleasure Game

May 2 2012

30 Days of Video Games: Day 2, Favorite Character

I’m a gamer, but as I’ve said before, sometimes I wonder if I really am because my gaming collection is scant by many standards. But the games I do have usually involve good story, and by extension, good characters. I’m drawn to character-driven books and stories (in what I choose to read, and what I myself write), and have found that I have the same taste in games. I actually could not finish Dead Space because I had no connection to the character. I couldn’t get into his motivations, or care about him. So I find that when I’m into a character and enjoy them and their story I enjoy the game more.

So how do I decide what my favorite character is, if most of the games I’ve played are character-driven?

When I was younger my favorite character was Samus Aran. I grew up gaming on the NES, and the early games of its heyday focused on male protagonists. The Princess was relegated to other castles; Zelda waited for Link to save her from Ganon. Mario and Link had the adventures; Orpheus went to save Helene from Hades in the underrated Battle of Olympus. These were the games I enjoyed, but I felt something missing in my experience.

Imagine my surprise when I read a Nintendo Power issue that exposed the JUSTIN BAILEY code, where you could start Metroid as… a woman?! Of course I put that code into the game, and played the galaxy’s biggest badass bounty hunter as a green-haired woman in a purple unitard. And for the first time I connected to the game in a new way, because I was playing as protagonist I could understand. Metroid had atmosphere; it had rudimentary story, that sort of made sense (more sense than a plumber saving mushroom people anyway). And it had a character I related to; because of that I could get into the game, and experience the loneliness of Zebes and the fear of the space pirates and the Metroids themselves.

Samus Aran worked alone; she never spoke, and you only saw her face if you finished the game quickly enough and with enough items to get the ending where you saw her in her true form. Early on it was probably fanservice, to show her in her swimsuit-like under armor, but as the games advanced the more she became a character unto herself. Sure, many other female protagonists came up after, but for me at least, Samus was the first.

I liked Samus because she was smart and confident enough to go into those lonely scenarios, kick ass, take names, and go collect her payment at the end of the day. She was capable and didn’t wait to be rescued, instead doing the rescuing herself. She brought down pirates; she blew up planets. And she did it with finesse and without apologizing for any of it.

She’s since changed as a character; I don’t care for the direction Nintendo’s taken her. It started with Fusion when we saw a more introspective sort of character. I didn’t mind that, but I did mind the way they started to make her dependent upon the Adam AI. She’s been a different sort of character since Metroid Prime 3, when she was pitted against and put with other bounty hunter characters. And then Nintendo went and made Other M, where they expanded upon the Adam character and it changed everything about Samus’s character. I haven’t played Other M because I don’t have a Wii, but what I’ve seen of videos and trailers and listened to of cutscenes, I’m not a fan. Maybe someday I’ll try it, and maybe it’ll change my opinion.

In the last few years I’ve started playing other types of games, and among them RPGs that allow for character creation. My favorite game so far is Dragon Age: Origins. I’ve played all the origins, but like the human noble most. My personal character, Fianna, is among my favorites, though I feel like it’s a little bit cheesy to say that my favorite game character is one I’ve made. However, DA also has that character of King Cailan, whom I’ve come to really love.

The irony is Cailan’s not playable, and he dies within the first 90 minutes of game time. Maybe it’s because I created my own personal headcanon/backstory for him. Maybe it’s because I thought he was cheated by his writers. Maybe it’s because he comes across as foolish, then dies violently, and I wanted there to be more to him. He’s not even that vital a character to the game. And yet I love him and think he’s fascinating. Again, maybe it’s because I created what I thought he could be through fanfiction. I don’t know; I do know that there’s something about him that makes him a favorite.

So when all’s said and done, I really love characters and how relating to and loving a character can make the game more enjoyable. But from past to present, the characters I find as favorites are characters who seem to have more to them than the game lets on.

Tomorrow: A game that is underrated…