The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time is one of my favorite games of all time. So I was excited to play through it again a few days ago, seeing as how I haven't played it in over three years. The last time I had played it was with two friends, in the same room with games, systems and tvs for each of us, racing through it in just one day. Unfortunately, only one of us finished (or got very close), and we had to call it a day. A few days ago I got a chance for redemption, as I wasn't just playing the game alone. It was another race through the game, this time with five players instead of three. Four others did not show up, but whatever, the five of us still had a good time. Only one person finished in 8.5 hours, two of us got close after 12 hours, and the other two had to drop out due to glitches with the game and/or system. A good post about the day can be found here. As angry as we were getting throughout the day, we all had a great time, and hope to repeat this challenge again next year or sooner. Next time I'll make sure to look up where I should go outside of the dungeons/temples, instead of having to ask the other players every hour or so.
But this post isn't just about that day. I want to discuss the possibilities for other games to race through. It's so much fun to sit down with a group of friends, start a game at the exact same moment, and encourage friendly banter as the group progresses through the game. As time passes, people pass each other in the game, take different routes, do things out of order, and can be just as interesting watching each other play as playing the game myself. Ocarina of Time was an awesome choice not only for the fact that it's definitely possible to run through it in under 12 hours, but also because it's a straightforward game with things required to do on the side. One must obtain certain items and complete certain requirements to continue through the game, but not necessarily in a linear order. So one person may be ahead of another, but the person just behind completed a "requirement" that the other person had not yet (which actually happened during our day). I suppose it also helped that it's a classic game that everyone had played through at least once, and is just an all around loved game by many.
So here we go, opening up discussion for games to be played through in a day. I encourage people to respond on here their thoughts on my choices and any additions they can think of, and also on facebook for those that know me. I have a few rules or requirements that these games must have, but most of them are obvious. Any games that break the rules will be discussed, such as how the rules can be bent or changed. The rules are as follows: the game must be able to be completed within one playthrough. Exceptions for multi-day playthroughs are extremely difficult to accommodate, with players having conflicting schedules. The games must have been played through already by players, or the players must be okay with playing a game they haven't played through before. I bring this up because I'll soon discuss one such game for myself. We, as in the players playing the game, must be able to acquire enough copies of the game and have enough systems to play the games on, all at once. Those are basically all the rules for choosing games to play. The rules for the game day itself are more complicated and do not need to be discussed on here.
The first possibility for a playthrough is obvious, being a Super Mario All-Stars...all-stars. I vow that we play through Super Mario Bros., Super Mario Bros. 2, Super Mario Bros. 3, and possibly also Super Mario World. I have barely played Super Mario World, and have never played Super Mario Bros. 2, but would still be willing to play through those games for the sake of a game run day. I would also need to be playing with more than two certain people, as they can blow through all four games much faster than I can probably get through just one. But realistically, these four games could definitely all be played through in just one day, though I'm not sure how long SMW takes to complete. Warps would have to be considered, since using warps would considerably shorten the day. This would take away some of the fun however. It would also take away some of the interesting parts, like being able to choose ones path through SMB3 and SMW. People would be completing different levels at their difficulty level to progress through the games differently. I'm not sure if versions change the games the much, between originals and SM All-Stars version. Another consideration would be playing through just one of these games, but every level must be completed. The only problem would be keeping track of who had beaten what levels, and who might be cheating.
Along the same lines, Super Mario 64 would be another good choice for a run-through. Obtaining all 120 stars would be out of the question, but just finishing the game with the minimum 70 could be a lot of fun. Each played would be running through different level collecting different stars. Some people have an easier time with some stars, but find others harder, and other people are the opposite. It could be a fun day with quite a bit of frustration. Spend too much time obtaining one star and fall behind. Glitches obviously would not be allowed, and those are easy to spot when one person is using them.
Sticking with Nintendo, but switching to a different franchise, some of us have discussed Super Metroid as a possible option. This is a great choice for the fact that it's a real speed challenge. It's mostly a straightforward affair (unless one wants extra missiles, bombs or health) to see who can complete the game the fastest. I can personally finish the game in under three hours, and would be a no break challenge. Go to the bathroom and you'll lose precious time. Glitches would have to be heavily considered and discussed, because the game can be broken with them. I'd say that all bosses must be defeated, but would multiple bomb jumps be allowed? I know some parts can be skipped with this trick, not including a whole boss, and some people would use this heavily.
My personal favorite choice for a game run is my favorite game of all time: Metroid Prime. I have played through the game numerous times, and can probably beat it in around 6-8 hours. I believe I would emerge victorious in this challenge, but would love to try it for the fact that it's a challenge. The game seems long, but when not collecting every scan and item, people don't realize that it's actually pretty short. And I'll be honest, to this day I still get lost while playing and forget where to go next. To me that's a good game, to continually stay fresh and fun. I also think enough people have played through it to make it a possibility. MP Echoes and Corruption would probably not be possible, as they both take longer than a day to complete. Echoes may be possible to do in a day, but it's just not that fun, and many of us get very confused as to where to go next, making the game much longer than it should be for a challenge.
Oh boy, I suppose I should finally turn back to look at the big series. No, not Mario. Those games seem to be random and ever changing. I'm speaking of Zelda, which retains the same basic gameplay, mechanics, plot and set-pieces across almost all games. They all have close to 8 dungeons, and many even have the same themes for dungeons. I believe that there is more than just one Zelda game that can be played through in one day, but the problem arises with enough copies, or playing on a handheld. For example, Link's Awakening would be a great choice, but who wants to sit in a room playing a game with everyone else, but can't see other people playing? Kinda boring, and we don't have enough Super GameBoys/GameBoy Players and games. A Link to the Past may be possible in one day, but personally I don't think I can do it in under 12 hours like some other friends. I vow for Majora's Mask, and would have a lot of fun with it, but one person has played it too often, and others don't think they could do it in one day. Fair enough, this has to be a possibility between at least two to three of us. I love Wind Waker and Twilight Princess, but obviously both are way too long do complete in one day. Four Swords Adventures is another great choice and can be completed in just a few hours, but not enough copies are available.
Moving on, I have a few other games to discuss. This may be a long post, but I'm serious, and want to have another game challenge within the next year if possible. On Saturday we discussed Eternal Darkness. It's a game I know I can beat within a day, and if I can, everyone else can. I don't know if we have enough copies (2 maybe?), but the fact that the game has three possible paths to go down, could make it a very fun game to race through. Choosing one path makes one thing easier to deal with, but something else harder. So each player with play on their strengths and weaknesses. Also, will any players go for the purple magic? It's the only optional item in the game, but it makes for a much easier ending.
And what about other types of games? Basically I've only discussed adventure types of games. I move to include First Person Shooter games as well. Yes, yes, I know our friends don't like very many FPS games, but that doesn't mean there aren't a few gems that we enjoy. The first is Goldeneye, an obvious classic. Very easy to complete in one day, it could be fun since I'm sure most of us haven't played it in years. And like most FPS, it's very linear so players won't get stuck for long. That was my problem with OoT.
Speaking of Goldeneye, how about Perfect Dark? It can also be completed in one day. And if people really wanted to, we could break up into teams and play the game co-op, and see which team can beat the game first. That would make for a really interesting competition.
My final game that I can think of today (which was all on the top of my head, didn't really do much thinking or any research) is Portal. I love Portal so much, and is an extremely short game. My record for beating it is about 47 minutes, and I hope to one day get it under 45 minutes. Too bad we only have like two copies of game, however.
So those are my thoughts one the game day challenge, for what other games are possibilities. I didn't even discuss multiplayer possibilities, such as teamwork, not including Perfect Dark. Maybe some games that some people have played and others have not could be played with teams, going back and forth. I'm not sure how the game would be split up, but it could make for a different and fun experience. But those are my thoughts just for now, and need to think about what game I feel like playing next. Not sure how many more RPGs I can play right now.
Monday, December 20, 2010
Sunday, December 5, 2010
Replaying a series
Ok, deciding that tonight I was going to post a new blog on here couldn't have come at a better time. The in-game events that are taking place right now are perfect to talk about, and have given me much to think about. All of my game time lately has been focused on Golden Sun. Oh yes, the original Golden Sun for the GBA, not the new one. I picked that up last week, but have yet to open it.
The original Golden Sun came out around 7 years ago, or so I've heard, since I haven't taken the time to look it up. The second game in the series, Golden Sun: The Lost Age came out shortly after, probably within the next year. I absolutely loved the games, and played through both of them rather quickly. The fact that the second game is a straight continuation of the first game helped me play through it even more quickly. For most people the end of the first game would be a huge turn-off, because it's a cliffhanger. Just when you think you're about halfway through the game, due to in-game events, the game just ends. It was a high note, so that was nice, but no one saw the ending coming like that, and it brought about quite a bit of confusion. It's not very often that a game developer will release a game (unsure of how well it will do, by the way) with a straight cliffhanger ending, having not even announced a sequel yet. So when this ending came about, people were confused because there was no second game to continue the story! Many fans, including me, waited very anxiously for the sequel, and ate right through it when it came out.
What was strange about the sequel, is that it starred a whole new cast of characters, even though the developers had said that the cast would be returning for the second game. Fans had to play through around half the game before even running into the cast of the first game, and it was a bizarre feeling. Here you are, spending 20-30 hours learning about the cast of four characters from the first game, their pasts, and about their personalities, and then right when things are getting intense - the ending of the first game - the player gets shoved into a different room, with all new faces. To make matters even more confusing, the player THEN spends 10-15 hours with all these new characters, starts feeling comfortable with this "scene" of characters, but ends up running into the original cast of characters. I can't remember how things play out, but I'm pretty sure you can control all 8 of the characters, so at least the developers didn't totally pull out the rug from underneath the players.
Which leads to why I'm replaying these two games. I heard that the third game has quite a big of fanservice to the fans who played very close attention to the details in the first two games. People like me, who couldn't get enough of the games. Seriously, it was people like me who were dying for another Golden Sun game. For years rumors floated around that they were making another GS game for the GBA, and then rumors that it was being made for the GameCube. That one was a particularly strong rumor, and I believe they even started work on a game for the system, but didn't get very far into development. Well anyways, after 7 years the developers announced a new game in the series, which continues 20 years after the events of the first game. The characters are all supposedly the kids of the characters from the first game. I'm not extremely excited about that, since I enjoyed the characters from the second game more than that, but at least they're continuing the story even deeper with related characters. I also have no idea what the story is of the new game, which is pretty exciting.
Okay, enough chit-chat about how I LOVE the first two Golden Sun games. They're not even that revolutionary. Combat is standard turn-based RPG fare, out-of-combat is standard as well, talking with townspeople, learning the story, and traveling to the next town or dungeon, leveling up along the way. Yes, the psynergy (magic) is a little new, since you can use powers to move objects and the likes outside of battle. It makes for some fantastic puzzles, which get especially difficult in the second game. Oh, and I should mention that since the second game is basically a direct continuation of the first game, the developers don't hold the players hand for very long before throwing them back into what they know and have been craving for. The second game is basically the second half of the first game. Except, 40-60 hour RPGs don't fit onto one GBA cart, so obviously they made it into two. Returning to the subject at hand, you can also collect Djinn creatures around the world to upgrade the characters' magic powers to use in battle, and can summon even more powerful magic when "set" to the character. Stronger moves, but at the cost of lowering the characters' stats considerably.
So here's where things get really interesting. The developers did not announce a sequel to the first game until some time after the first game was out, and many people were finished before then. People were ALSO confused about this, because at the end of the game you can save a special file, but it cannot be played, like "continued" at the start screen. People didn't know what this did, but had a feeling a sequel would use this somehow? But game-to-game transfer of information was rare even back then, so people weren't sure what this would do. Come to find out, it basically transferred ALL the character data from the first game to the sequel. So when the player took control of the characters in the second game, everything, all stats, all items, all weapons, and all Djinn came with them. A HUGE advantage to playing through the first game, and people were EXTREMELY surprised. People saw maybe a couple things transferring, but everything?! So how do you think people felt when they transferred this information, and then had to play as totally new characters, all at level 1, for 10-15 hours? Oh yeah, very confused. You'd think this would just make players even more eager to get further and further to get these characters. But this just returns to the subject of A)the characters in the second game are more interesting and B) after playing as characters and learning about their plot for 10-15 hours, the player basically forgets the original characters were even in the game. Very bizarre turning of events in the second game, but the developers did a fantastic job entwining the two together, both story and gameplay-wise.
And now we return to me playing the original again. Sorry this post is so long, but c'mon, by now you should be used to this. Once I start typing about a game (especially one I love), I'll go until my mind is done, or until I'm about to fall asleep. But anyways, I'm about 22 hours into the first game, and almost done. I'm in the middle of a sidequest that I've been putting off until I was near the end of the game, just so I could level up first, and then blow through it later. And since I'm at the end of the game, I'm also doing quite a bit of collecting of rare items. I believe I have the rarest weapons and armor in the game, but most are cursed, so I'm looking for a way to remove these curses before I fight the final boss. Or else I'll be paralyzed randomly throughout the battle, at the expense of much strong weaponry. Along with finding rare items, I'm looking for the last remaining Djinn that I have not yet found, and these can be a bitch. I can clearly recall using a guide to find the rest the first time I played through the game, and I'm definitely going to again. Most can be literally seen in a town or dungeon, and just need to walk up to it and fight it (or it just joins without a fight), but the outside ones suck. It's like trying to find a rare pokemon, except you have no idea where it is in the world, and it's in one tiny patch of grass (speaking in Pokemon terms). But since they all transfer over to the second game (and cannot be found in that game, unlike weapons which just get strong in the sequel), they are very important.
The event I spoke of at the very beginning is a sidequest I just finished earlier tonight. It's a sidequest boss, the hardest boss in the game, and I've been working on him since last night. I was ECSTATIC when I beat him tonight, and was literally smiling and moving around my apartment just so happy. He took me three tries to beat this time, whereas the first time I played through the game he probably took me eight to ten tries. He's Deadbeard, a dead pirate, deep below nine floors of increasingly difficult puzzles. I'll admit, he's one of the hardest bosses I've ever fought, and it feels great beating him. The first time I beat him it took me about an hour, and this time about 45 minutes, because I've become a little better at strategy over the past 7 years.
So now all I have left to do is complete this quest, find the 5 remaining Djinn, and then I think I'll be ready for the final lighthouse (dungeon) and battle. I might be playing The Lost Age by tomorrow, or at least I hope so.
The original Golden Sun came out around 7 years ago, or so I've heard, since I haven't taken the time to look it up. The second game in the series, Golden Sun: The Lost Age came out shortly after, probably within the next year. I absolutely loved the games, and played through both of them rather quickly. The fact that the second game is a straight continuation of the first game helped me play through it even more quickly. For most people the end of the first game would be a huge turn-off, because it's a cliffhanger. Just when you think you're about halfway through the game, due to in-game events, the game just ends. It was a high note, so that was nice, but no one saw the ending coming like that, and it brought about quite a bit of confusion. It's not very often that a game developer will release a game (unsure of how well it will do, by the way) with a straight cliffhanger ending, having not even announced a sequel yet. So when this ending came about, people were confused because there was no second game to continue the story! Many fans, including me, waited very anxiously for the sequel, and ate right through it when it came out.
What was strange about the sequel, is that it starred a whole new cast of characters, even though the developers had said that the cast would be returning for the second game. Fans had to play through around half the game before even running into the cast of the first game, and it was a bizarre feeling. Here you are, spending 20-30 hours learning about the cast of four characters from the first game, their pasts, and about their personalities, and then right when things are getting intense - the ending of the first game - the player gets shoved into a different room, with all new faces. To make matters even more confusing, the player THEN spends 10-15 hours with all these new characters, starts feeling comfortable with this "scene" of characters, but ends up running into the original cast of characters. I can't remember how things play out, but I'm pretty sure you can control all 8 of the characters, so at least the developers didn't totally pull out the rug from underneath the players.
Which leads to why I'm replaying these two games. I heard that the third game has quite a big of fanservice to the fans who played very close attention to the details in the first two games. People like me, who couldn't get enough of the games. Seriously, it was people like me who were dying for another Golden Sun game. For years rumors floated around that they were making another GS game for the GBA, and then rumors that it was being made for the GameCube. That one was a particularly strong rumor, and I believe they even started work on a game for the system, but didn't get very far into development. Well anyways, after 7 years the developers announced a new game in the series, which continues 20 years after the events of the first game. The characters are all supposedly the kids of the characters from the first game. I'm not extremely excited about that, since I enjoyed the characters from the second game more than that, but at least they're continuing the story even deeper with related characters. I also have no idea what the story is of the new game, which is pretty exciting.
Okay, enough chit-chat about how I LOVE the first two Golden Sun games. They're not even that revolutionary. Combat is standard turn-based RPG fare, out-of-combat is standard as well, talking with townspeople, learning the story, and traveling to the next town or dungeon, leveling up along the way. Yes, the psynergy (magic) is a little new, since you can use powers to move objects and the likes outside of battle. It makes for some fantastic puzzles, which get especially difficult in the second game. Oh, and I should mention that since the second game is basically a direct continuation of the first game, the developers don't hold the players hand for very long before throwing them back into what they know and have been craving for. The second game is basically the second half of the first game. Except, 40-60 hour RPGs don't fit onto one GBA cart, so obviously they made it into two. Returning to the subject at hand, you can also collect Djinn creatures around the world to upgrade the characters' magic powers to use in battle, and can summon even more powerful magic when "set" to the character. Stronger moves, but at the cost of lowering the characters' stats considerably.
So here's where things get really interesting. The developers did not announce a sequel to the first game until some time after the first game was out, and many people were finished before then. People were ALSO confused about this, because at the end of the game you can save a special file, but it cannot be played, like "continued" at the start screen. People didn't know what this did, but had a feeling a sequel would use this somehow? But game-to-game transfer of information was rare even back then, so people weren't sure what this would do. Come to find out, it basically transferred ALL the character data from the first game to the sequel. So when the player took control of the characters in the second game, everything, all stats, all items, all weapons, and all Djinn came with them. A HUGE advantage to playing through the first game, and people were EXTREMELY surprised. People saw maybe a couple things transferring, but everything?! So how do you think people felt when they transferred this information, and then had to play as totally new characters, all at level 1, for 10-15 hours? Oh yeah, very confused. You'd think this would just make players even more eager to get further and further to get these characters. But this just returns to the subject of A)the characters in the second game are more interesting and B) after playing as characters and learning about their plot for 10-15 hours, the player basically forgets the original characters were even in the game. Very bizarre turning of events in the second game, but the developers did a fantastic job entwining the two together, both story and gameplay-wise.
And now we return to me playing the original again. Sorry this post is so long, but c'mon, by now you should be used to this. Once I start typing about a game (especially one I love), I'll go until my mind is done, or until I'm about to fall asleep. But anyways, I'm about 22 hours into the first game, and almost done. I'm in the middle of a sidequest that I've been putting off until I was near the end of the game, just so I could level up first, and then blow through it later. And since I'm at the end of the game, I'm also doing quite a bit of collecting of rare items. I believe I have the rarest weapons and armor in the game, but most are cursed, so I'm looking for a way to remove these curses before I fight the final boss. Or else I'll be paralyzed randomly throughout the battle, at the expense of much strong weaponry. Along with finding rare items, I'm looking for the last remaining Djinn that I have not yet found, and these can be a bitch. I can clearly recall using a guide to find the rest the first time I played through the game, and I'm definitely going to again. Most can be literally seen in a town or dungeon, and just need to walk up to it and fight it (or it just joins without a fight), but the outside ones suck. It's like trying to find a rare pokemon, except you have no idea where it is in the world, and it's in one tiny patch of grass (speaking in Pokemon terms). But since they all transfer over to the second game (and cannot be found in that game, unlike weapons which just get strong in the sequel), they are very important.
The event I spoke of at the very beginning is a sidequest I just finished earlier tonight. It's a sidequest boss, the hardest boss in the game, and I've been working on him since last night. I was ECSTATIC when I beat him tonight, and was literally smiling and moving around my apartment just so happy. He took me three tries to beat this time, whereas the first time I played through the game he probably took me eight to ten tries. He's Deadbeard, a dead pirate, deep below nine floors of increasingly difficult puzzles. I'll admit, he's one of the hardest bosses I've ever fought, and it feels great beating him. The first time I beat him it took me about an hour, and this time about 45 minutes, because I've become a little better at strategy over the past 7 years.
So now all I have left to do is complete this quest, find the 5 remaining Djinn, and then I think I'll be ready for the final lighthouse (dungeon) and battle. I might be playing The Lost Age by tomorrow, or at least I hope so.
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