Computer Explosions & Update

So...it sounded like gunfire and smelled like burning happiness when my beloved computer exploded. It was definitely a worst case scenario, I had to take a moment to let it sink in that I no longer had a nice computer. I woefully tossed and turned for a few moments before finally coming to the conclusion that this was, in fact, not the end of the world.

It was however a pretty significant change of pace for me, someone who is online for a majority of their free time generally doesn't have a whole lot of backup plans when your source of fun/work/communication just up and explodes. But all was not lost, I dusted off my now quite old backup PC that hadn't seen the light of day since I got my new rig and cleaned up the myriad of viruses and old programs.

So all was not lost but it's certainly a different level of gaming and whatnot as I'm using a machine that is approaching its 10th birthday...but anyway.

The computer explosion has meant no more Aion for me as I simply can't run it on the level I'm used to and PvP is an absolute nightmare (I'm a ping/fps brat when it comes to Aion, don't judge!). So, I've had to seek other entertainment while my computer is being fixed up. I found this in Warframe, a new free-to-play third person shooter. It's fairly less demanding than a full fledged MMO but it has a lot to offer gamers on a budget or those who don't have amazing computer setups.

I'm honestly not sure if I'll be able to get my pre-4.0 Aion project off the ground since I can't even access most of the content that was supposed to end up in there (Back up your projects, don't suffer like me!) since it...well it exploded.

I'll be back in the swing of things sometime next week when my computer gets fixed! Hopefully before 4.0 launches!

There might be a brief Warframe post in the next few days...I'm hesitant to post anything concrete about it since they're still developing and changing the game on a large scale while it's in beta. We shall see!


Thanks for reading!

-Fest

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Aion announcement!

Aion recently announced that 4.0, the largest content expansion we have seen, will be landing in June. That leaves just a few short months before our world gets flipped upside down (In a good way, hopefully!). I'm working on a project right now, it's a tad different than my typical guides but still quite important in my opinion.

I'd like to put together a "Best of 3.0" presentation and I don't have a clue what it'll look like yet. All I do know is that I want to include things that were iconic and defining about the 3.0 era as I see 4.0 as a reinvention of Aion more than a content expansion due to the new classes and numerous core changes to the game's formula. Much will remain the same but so much will change so I find it important to at least try and capture some of the more wonderful moments of the game up until now. It'll likely be a multi-part project with perhaps a video and maybe a pseudo-scrapbook.

If this kind of thing piques your interest and you'd either like to contribute screenshots/video/ideas then by all means use the "Contact Us" function at the top of the page or leave a comment below!

-Fest

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Bioshock Infinite Vox Codes

Just a quick little post detailing the Vox Codes as I find them!

#1 I foolishly forgot to screenshot the first one but you find the code in a cannon at the part of Soldier's Field right before entering Slate's section (Hall of Heroes) of the map. The code itself is in the building directly across from the cannon written on the bathroom wall.

#2 The next code is related to the code book you'll find in the prison while searching for Chen Lin, the gunsmith. The code book is located in the room with the furnace, just before the hallway with the jail cells, it is sitting on a pile of signs for Chen Lin's store. Once you have the book you'll need to head back outside of the prison/Good Time Club and walk past the door to "Shantytown", follow the wall all the way to the end and take a left. There will be a fairly large door that requires a lockpick to open. The code is on the wall inside. (As shown in the screenshots!).

The Door

The Code

#3 Next we have the code book found in the basement of Hudson's. It doesn't take you to the usual kind of code but make sure to grab the book on your way to Comstock House or as you're making your way to the bank of the prophet, where the code ultimately leads you.

Hudson's Store (Code Book Location)

Located in the basement

Leads to this typewriter in the bank basement

Once you get to the point in the story that leads you to the basement just take a left at the large vault door instead of following the footsteps to the right and you'll find the typewriter. (Thanks to Joe Ricciardi for the tip in the comments! Made sure I didn't miss it myself!)

I'll update this post as I find more. If you would like to contribute locations/screenshots feel free to either contact me directly or leave a comment!

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Shadow Hearts Revisited: Character Development

One of the things that the Shadow Hearts series executes well is its parallels between the characters, specifically Yuri and Alice. These parallels serve as a staging point for character development. You, as the player, are given this stark contrast between the rough around the edges Yuri and the more prim, proper and innocent Alice. Using characters with fundamentally different personalities allows Shadow Hearts to develop in a more dynamic way and provides a deeper perspective on how each character evolves along with the story.

Alice and Yuri are a strange pair to be sure; at the beginning of Shadow Hearts they hardly know what to think of each other. This feeling of ambiguity lasts for a bit and you're able to watch as the characters slowly grow closer together, forging a bond is kept alive through the series.

--SPOILER ALERT--

This dynamic relationship between Yuri and Alice is explored more in the second game after Alice's canonical death at the end of the first game. It's one of the only series that I can think of that actually has the "bad" ending classified as the "real" ending. This theme is carried over to the end of Shadow Hearts: Covenant as Yuri succumbs to a curse at the end in a fairly similar manner to Alice's demise at the end of the first game.

Due to Alice's prior passing she is not physically present within Covenant but she still plays a large role when dealing with Yuri's now cursed soul. The "good" ending of the game depicts Alice pulling Yuri's entrapped soul out of the mistletoe's curse before his wish to return to the day he and Alice met was granted, releasing him from the curse.

The obvious parallel between Darkness (Yuri) and Light (Alice) can be seen throughout the story as well as an emphasis redemption through action. Few games can bring such a strange, diverse, and yet still lovable characters through such tragic circumstances. This series is not one that embraces a happy tone, often favoring a more somber mood and very few periods of rest or happiness. The emphasis is on the sacrifice that the characters make throughout the game, often for each other.

This theme is carried through to the second game where we are introduced to an extremely powerful, yet determinedly more aloof Yuri that is holed up in a church, protecting a small town from invading soldiers. The loss of Alice can be felt throughout the game and Yuri is in a near constant state of grief when you look at the circumstances he lives with. The previously flirtatious Yuri adopts a much more reserved state of being, he becomes more serious and uses the remainder of his life to save whatever he can before finally returning to Alice.

The Yuri we see in Covenant and the Yuri from the original Shadow Hearts are so vastly different that it breaks my heart. Few games have shown me character development on this level, and the depiction of Yuri's suffering is often hidden, he doesn't always wear his emotions on his sleeve. This aspect of his character made him feel very...real, as he acted the way most people would after losing the one they loved, he was withdrawn.

Actual depictions of suffering are typically quite limited within video games and very few characters actually develop enough to evoke emotional reactions from the people playing them. I tip my hat to the individuals responsible for developing not only Yuri and Alice but the entire Shadow Hearts cast. To this day it remains one of the more potent RPG's that I've had the pleasure of playing through. I'll just keep pretending the third installment of the series didn't exist.

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Game Theory: Teaching Players

When designing a game there is a huge degree of freedom when it comes to teaching your players how to play your game. Many games often fall victim to the typical default tutorial menus, a theme so common in mainstream gaming that often refuses a player the right to figure things out for themselves.

That isn't to say all tutorials are evil and should henceforth be banished from the gaming world but they need to be informative, not definitive. When a game explains itself to a player it loses that bit of mystery, and the room for player involvement dwindles. A tutorial that works is a tutorial that shows a player their tools but gives them the ability to learn how to use them and, as a player, learning in your own way just feels good.

Continuing off this idea we can look at an example of a game that embraces this type of hands-off approach to at least some degree, Wildstar. Now, if you don't happen to know what Wildstar is...well you should. It's an upcoming Sci-Fi/Fantasy MMORPG by Carbine Studios and published by NCsoft; it features a bunch of wicked cool stuff but what I'd like to talk about here is the game's telegraphed combat and how that changes how players will learn how to play the game.

This telegraph concept is a bit of a twist on traditional MMO combat as it takes a previously unseen element (Attack hitboxes) and displays them for the players, showing both their own attacks as well as the attacks of opponents/allies. So what does this do? It basically allows the use of Wildstar's free-form targeting in addition to acting as a learning tool for players. Since this discussion focuses on the latter we'll stick to that, for now.

So how does showing skill hit boxes help players learn? In essence it's exactly what players need to see in order to learn how to handle the various scenarios they'll be encountering while playing the game. It's a system that caters to players learning with a degree of freedom in order to figure out what works for themselves. It grants a sense of autonomy that isn't always present in today's game market, especially when it comes to MMO's.

Personally, I enjoy the idea of being able to approach situations with a level of diversity as it changes player experience in a way that grants a bit of empowerment when you figure out how to overcome a particularly tricky encounter. Giving your players a sense of accomplishment is something that is both hard to accomplish from an MMO design perspective and differs depending on player type, a tricky formula, but I digress.

Let's get back to the telegraphed combat and look at what that means for accessibility within group settings whilst fighting bosses. Let me paint a picture that I'm all too familiar with in an MMO setting: I'm heading into an instance in a pick-up group (PUG), we've all got a fair idea of what to expect but some members of the group haven't run this encounter before. Enter the boss. Despite your long winded pre-fight explanation of what to expect, half of your group ends up dead because they didn't know what they were doing. So, you get upset, swear off pugs for the rest of your days and retreat into a tiny anti-social bubble, we've all been there.

Now, the above situation isn't uncommon simply because everyone starts as a novice when they run something for the first time. If people honestly didn't know what to do how could you blame them? It's not like they could see what the boss was about to do or anything.

Boom. Telegraphed combat. This is why I love this idea so much. Not only does it preserve the difficulty of boss encounters (Knowing what's coming isn't a surefire way to avoid failure, but it sure helps!) but it also allows people to pick up the fight strategies quickly even if they have no prior experience. I hear the word "accessibility" all the time when people talk about their MMO's but it typically ends up meaning that the content is cushioned so as to avoid alienating the casual player. I don't feel like Wildstar is doing that at all from what they've shown thus far with the telegraphed combat. All it seems to do is open up the door for people to learn the encounters which is a fantastic way to make the game more accessible while also maintaining a sense of difficulty and strategy.

It's tough to cast a definitive statement about Wildstar right now as it has yet to even enter beta but from what they've shown so far I can't help but look forward to it. If you'd like to hear the actual developers talk about their combat (and other things) you can watch a nice big video here!

I'll be revisiting Wildstar in the near future with some of their other game features under the microscope. If you enjoyed this article feel free to drop a comment or strike up a discussion!

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Shadow Hearts Revisited: Overview

In the vast annals of gaming history there have been a few titles that have proven themselves as standouts--prolific titles that define genre standards. Everyone has a different list of games that helped shape their own personal definition of what makes an amazing game. For me, one of those defining games was Shadow Hearts.

This past week I began replaying the series after an extremely long time, it has been a reminder that nostalgia, while both wonderful and wistful, needs to be taken with a chip on your shoulder. Things that seemed revolutionary and ground breaking twelve years ago may not be terribly impressive when compared to more current incarnations of those same concepts.

Despite it's age (Shadow Hearts came out back in 2001!) the title has held its integrity and preserved its strengths even when compared to current RPG's. Shadow Hearts is one of those games that allows its players to fall in love with the characters, the development of personality over time is astounding and throughout Yuri's journey it's becomes easier to love him.

So many previous RPG titles have taken a similar approach to designing their protagonists as this kind of brash, arrogant character archetype but few allow them to deviate from that. Yuri is a character that started as something I was familiar with but turned into something I hadn't seen in a hero before playing Shadow Hearts all those years ago.

Part of Shadow Heart's gripping nature sits in the end of the game. Too many games seek to tie things up nice n' pretty without regard to story relevance and this has become especially true in recent times. In a way, the endings of the first and second Shadow Hearts games leave a lot to be desired. They are not happy endings and, without spoiling things, the entire picture that Shadow Hearts and Shadow Hearts: Covenant paints is a tragedy.

Tragic stories aren't an easy thing to work with as it's hard to allow players into a world where they see characters develop and evolve and in tandem with that growth comes suffering. In a lot of ways, the antagonist wins in both the first and second games and, for me, that's hard to accept. I want things to be different, better. I want Yuri and Alice to end up happy, to find what they are both looking for and, in a way, they do find it, but it's still almost unbearably sad.

Analyzing what makes Yuri appealing to me personally was fairly easy; First and foremost, we speak the same way. I was able to identify with Yuri immediately just by the nature of his speech. It's rough, abbreviated and funny. It allows the player immediate access to a bit of Yuri's personality as the game begins and, without an audible word, the game begins communicating to me what kind of person Yuri is.

I could keep going but...in an effort to keep individual posts short I'll break this analysis up into segments. I'll try to keep them consistent and if you're a Shadow Hearts fan be sure to drop a comment and kick up a discussion if you'd like.

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Update!

Whew! It's been a while since I've posted here...pretty much since before I went on Christmas break and took a breather from a lot of different things. But fear not, things will be revving back up in short order as 2013 kicks off with more guides, goodies and hopefully a complete overhaul of this blog.

I've got several ideas for future content which includes many more guides and goodies for Aion (I may even make a second blog specifically for Aion stuff), and I'd like to begin posting some discussions on game theory related topics, evaluations of previous installments of series that have impacted me in some way or another.

I'm currently replaying my way through the Shadow Hearts franchise, an IP that stole my heart many years ago, built up my love for it with an incredibly solid sequel and then...much to my dismay, broke my heart with a third, horrifying finale that conjured the deepest fanboy-esque hatred my little heart could muster. But more on that later!

Anyway, things coming up in the near future!
- Aion 3.0 Chronicles: Satra Treasure Horde - Undervalued and Yet...
- Shadow Hearts Revisited: A look at sequel integrity and game feel.
- DmC: Not sure if awesome or horrifying
- Assessing mediocrity and gamer apathy - Do we settle for less?
- PAX East 2013 coverage

Hope to see you all soon!

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