Turn the Valve, Release the Humor

A few days ago, I gave in and purchased Portal 2. I was quite hesitant, as I wasn't sure if the $60 price tag was worth the value. The original Portal still remains one of my favorite games of all time, probably somewhere within the top ten. While the game never changes, I still find a ton of replay value. Unfortunately, the hype for the sequel died down as the release date grew closer. As more magazines and reviewers played the game, the less attention the game garnered. The one problem of the original was the short length the game had. The first playthrough took about 3 to 4 hours, with future playthroughs taking an hour long, if that. So while the reviewers would say that the single-player game for Portal 2 is twice as long as the original, an 8 hour game for $60 turned many onlookers away. One of the reasons Portal gained so much attention was that for $20 (for the Orange Box), one also received Half-Life 2, Half-Life 2: Episode 1 and Half-Life 2: Episode 2. Well worth the $20.

Now, this post isn't about the length of Portal 2, or if I enjoyed it or not. I'll be up front and succinct. I played through the game at a snails pace to try to find all of the hidden areas and any subliminal messages, and finished at around 15-18 hours. If I were to rush and just try to beat the game as fast as possible, I probably could have beaten it in about 6-8 hours the first time around. So honestly, they weren't kidding with saying it's about twice the length of the original. Unfortunately, while I wish the first game was longer, I felt as though Portal 2 actually dragged on too much! I'm not saying I wanted the game to end, but the variety of the game was rather...random. The game didn't flow as well as the original, and I felt as though the developers ran out of time. All of the ideas implemented in the game worked very well, but it could have been presented much more smoothly. But hey, this opinion could very well change my second time through. So that basically answers the second question of whether I enjoyed it or not. Definitely yes, though probably not as much as the original. Was it worth $60? I'll be able to answer that after I play co-op mode, which I'm quite excited to try out - but only with a friend.

No, this post is about Valve. While the gameplay mechanics didn't always flow together seamlessly, the writing in Portal 2 was fantastic. Part of the reason why the game took so long is because I would stand around just listening to the voices of the few characters to see what they would have to say. Portal 2 introduced me to my new favorite character in a video game - Wheatley.

I'll get back to him later though. I want to point out that I honestly could not decide whether I wanted to focus this post on the humor of Valve, or the voice acting in Portal 2, so I'm going to do one better and combine them. Trust me when I say that they go hand in hand. After chuckling to myself numerous times throughout Portal 2, I started to think back to past Valve games that I played. It occurred to me that this has been a trend for their staff, to put in light humor in even the darkest of games they develop.

While they have developed a variety of games, I have only played a few. My first foray into the games of Valve was Half-Life, which I actually played only 6 years ago. While there wasn't much humor in the game, there were a few instances where a scientist would tell you to do a certain thing, and would scold you for doing the opposite, or pushing a button without being told. Obviously this would leave a smile on a few faces of gamers, chuckling inside about the situations Gordan Freeman would put scientists in.

In Half-Life 2, the improved graphics and voice acting lead to advancements in body movements and situational humor. Gordan Freeman could pick up any light object, and toss it at unsuspecting NPCs. Most would cry out "Ow!" or "Stop that!" and since this was introduced within the first few seconds of the game, provoked players to continue fiddling with the NPCs throughout the rest of the game. Only seconds later a combine (policeman) knocks over a pop can and tells Freeman to pick it up. Throwing it at the guard leads to a beating, quite a humorous reaction. As the player moves throughout the game world, they can often sneak up to combine guards speaking to one another about random and trivial life situations. Listening to these conversations reveals the humorous side of the Valve staff. Not to mention a scientist rambling on about unsuccessfully sending a cat through a teleportation device. What's better is that the player can fiddle with and eventually break a smaller teleportation device, angering the scientist. Brings back memories of the original Half-Life.

Episodes 1 and 2 of the Half-Life series continue this same trend of humor, angering scientists, listening to NPCs, etc. In one situation, the player falls into a pitch black room, and quickly hears a zombie behind them. As they turn and put their flashlight on the target, they realize it is just the NPC traveling alongside Freeman, trying to scare the player in the dark. Well played Valve.

I suppose I should mention Team Fortress 2, since I do own it, and have at least played it for a few minutes. All I can say is that it's like a Wile E. Coyote cartoon on steroids with better graphics. If a player had the option to use a giant hammer and could smash an enemy flat, it honestly wouldn't look out of place to me. For such a serious and fast paced game, they tried to make it as humorous as possible.

And then we get to the Left 4 Dead series. These games feel like they were built on humor, and they probably were. Take the most cliche horror flicks with tons of zombies, and throw in the humor of four strangers just trying to stay alive. Subtitles are almost a requirement to fully realize the humor of each individual character. What's more is that in Left 4 Dead 2, references can be found to other horror games, such as the original Left 4 Dead, Dead Rising, and others.

But enough about the past games. I feel like I was dragging on back there, but I'm trying to point out that Valve has been putting humor in most of their games, whether it be blatently obvious or subliminal messages. It wasn't until Portal 2 that I really started to think about this stuff. I realized that Valve develops incredible games, yes, but tends to add humor to each and every one of them, to keep the player interested. Are you going to find subliminal humor in Halo or Call of Duty? Probably not. Valve creates some of the few FPS games out there that feature this kind of gameplay including this humor.

The humor extends beyond the actual gameplay as well. I'll get into it in a bit, but let's just say I came across a character in Portal 2 with a very recognizable voice. Today before finishing the game, I did some research and found that it is indeed the person who I thought it was, and right then I knew this post had to be written. I only came across this a few hours ago, but Valve likes to (either on purpose or randomly) add humor through the voice casting of game characters as well.

Let me start off by saying that Portal 2 has 4 character voices. Each of these voices meant something to me when I found out what else they have done in the past, and I must say, Valve picked some interesting choices for their character voices.

Let's start with Chell. Chell is the main character in Portal 2, and as far as I still know, has no voice. I have never heard her speak a word. Even after falling off a ledge, not a thing. So it was a little surprising to see that not only does she have a voice actress (Alesia Glidewell), but she also did the voice for Krystal in Star Fox Adventures and Zero Suit Samus in Super Smash Bros. Brawl. Sure people do various voice work for video games, but doing a couple Nintendo games and then a Valve game seemed surprising to me. But let me continue.

GLaDOS was the main character and probably only voice (besides the turrets) in the original Portal. The same voice actress (Ellen McLain) reprises her role as the insane machine, but did you know she also did some other voice work for Valve? Not only did she sing the song at the end of Portal, but also had a voice in the Half-Life 2 series and Team Fortress 2. Not very surprising. But how about the fact that she voices the witch in Left 4 Dead 2?! Talk about a bizarre role. I had assumed they found some random voice actress to speak (or rather cry) the few lines for the witches in L4D2. The fact that they used the same people seemed rather humorous to me. But it gets even better.

My new favorite character in any video game is Wheatley, who's quite interesting in Portal 2. I cannot say much about him, because I don't want to give away any spoilers. Giving a description of Wheatley could even spoil some of the plot and/or story of Portal 2, so I'll just say that he's not very bright. But with that comes the funniest and most random character I've every met in a game. He probably has twice the amount of lines of GLaDOS in Portal 2, which means the writers spent quite a deal of time on what he says. What may come as a shock is that he is voiced by Stephen Merchant, writer and producer of The Office, both the American and European versions of the show, and the Ricky Gervais Show. How Valve found him I have no idea (having no ties to the video game industry), but obviously they found someone who understands the exact same type of humor they were looking for for Portal 2. The most interesting thing is that while he plays the voice of Wheatley, he didn't write any of the lines for the character, even though he's a great comedic writer himself. And here we have the best for last.

J. K. Simmons. I don't think I've ever seen him in a movie and disliked his character. It's almost always the same sarcastic man he plays, who has an attitude and wants to get work done. Once I heard the voice of Cave Johnson, I was like "No way..." But it is true, somehow Valve acquired J. K. Simmons to play a role in Portal 2, even having no past experience voice acting for video games. Every time he came on the announcement speakers, I would stop moving and just listen and read the subtitles. While not as funny as Wheatley, he fits the character perfectly, especially for the era he's placed in. Sure I could have blown through the game, but I've never come across a game like this, where I enjoy listening to every single little line in the game, even when it involves standing around waiting for the characters to say something different.

Oh, and while this isn't a direct spoiler in any way shape or form, I'm glad that I tried reading the smallest pictures on the walls in the game, as I found out that the Aperture Laboratories are located in the mines of Northern Michigan. I just thought that was kinda neat.

Hell, Amnesia and Cubes

What do those three things have in common? Well as far as I know, nothing. But nonetheless, I have been playing three games since I last posted on here, and those were the first things that popped into my head when thinking about each game. As a forewarning, this could be a lengthy post.

The first game up, being the least recent, is Darksiders. I held off from posting about this game, because my views on it kept changing, and really didn't know what to make of it. When the game started out, for the first few hours I felt like it was my favorite game for the 360. But as time passed by, that feeling was waning, even though I was still enjoying the game. It's just way too similar to other games that have done the same thing, only better.

The two games that Darksiders takes almost all of its elements from is God of War and The Legend of Zelda, mainly Ocarina of Time. All the reviewers and critics said that the game is a mash of these two games together but, being reviewers, I didn't always agree with them. Near the beginning of the game, I felt as though the game was 90% GoW and 10% OoT. An hour or two later, I changed that feeling to 80% GoW and 20% OoT. A few hours later, 65% GoW, 35% OoT. Near the end of the game, I felt as though it was a 50/50 blend of the two games together, with random scenes making one game stand out more than the other.

I suppose I should explain what Darksiders takes from these games. The combat is ripped straight out of GoW. The chain-combo fighting made me feel as though I was playing as Kratos, right down to certain button presses to finish off enemies. Luckily this is just one button, and no QTE's exist in the game. And then you can upgrade each weapon, just like in GoW. Or how about the story based around the concept of revenge, playing with the theme of gods, mortals and other entities? Just like GoW.

The Zelda themes don't come into play as quickly as the GoW ones, but these smack you in the face just as hard. There are dungeons in Darksiders (only 5, not 9 like in almost every Zelda game, counting the boss's), and in each one the player can collect a compass, dungeon map, and one special item to help them through said dungeon. Wow, that sounds familiar. But THQ wouldn't go as far as to steal the exact same items, right? Like a boomerang item, a hookshot, a lens of truth, or a slingshot, and just disguise it as a different item? The worst part is that none of the items play a very big role in the game, which was a big letdown. The final item, not listed here, is not found in any Zelda game, and even though it's a ripoff from another game, is still a cool mechanic which could have been a lot more fun, and could have made for some crushingly difficult puzzles.

You can start to see how as the game progressed, the more I felt as though they were taking more and more from OoT. Not that this is a bad thing, however. I mean, both God of War and Ocarina of Time were fantastic games. And later in the game you meet up with Ruin, the main character's horse. Basically it's Epona from Hell. That sounds cool whenever I say it. Ruin controls slightly better than any Epona version, and the mounted combat is much better than Twilight Princess, in my opinion.

To finish my discussion about Darksiders, I believe that the developers at THQ should be slapped in the face for a scene near the end of the game. It's one thing to borrow elements from Ocarina of Time, but seriously?! The items were one thing, but a whole scene from Ocarina of Time that was totally unnecessary to the game and story? There comes a point where you need to just come up with some of your own ideas, because that was just pathetic.

On to my next game, Phantasy Star 0. A friend of mine a couple of weeks ago found a way to play Phantasy Star Online well, online, and so we both sort of got in the mood to play the game. Unfortunately, we never got the online components figured out (til now), and so we didn't play PSO. However, he picked up Phantasy Star 0 for the DS and told me it's just like PSO (O = Online, 0 = zero), and since it has wi-fi multiplayer, I should definitely pick it up. After finding it on sale at a Toys 'R Us, I gave in and said what the hell, it's probably pretty good.

And after putting about 11 hours into it, I agree, it is pretty good, and it's basically PSO for the DS. The graphics are pretty much the same, and the player levels up slowly (well, more quickly in this version so far) and continues to play the game for better and cooler weapons. And this time around the story is pretty good. In PSO, you arrive at a new planet soon after the research team did, although they're all missing, and you go find who or what killed them. In PS0, the story is more about long lost ruins, ancient technology, and a blank period in time in which war occurred between the three races, and most people disappeared. Okay, so it sounds extremely similar to Mass Effect, and while it's not nearly as good as Mass Effect's story, nor as fleshed out, it's still pretty interesting. I play as a Newman, which is basically a person who looks just like a human, but isn't, and while low on health and defense, has strong magical abilities. My character awoke at the beginning of the game with amnesia, and has no idea who he is or why he's on Earth. I can't say more about the story, because Sega had some fun and changed the story depending on which race you play as, or at least it seems as though so far.

If there are any faults with the game I'd say that so far it's pretty easy, which is much different from PSO, which started out extremely hard, especially for magic users. Maybe it's just me, but the camera seems a lot closer to the character than in PSO, and I feel like I can't see what's going on around me. Three teammates constantly surrounding me does not help the issue either. Another complaint I have is with the AI. Ugh I cannot stand my teammates! First of all, get out of my way, that's my kill, go kill one of the other 5 enemies in the room that are attacking us from behind. I know you can change the tactics of the AI, but it doesn't really seem to help, they're still idiots. And for the sidequests, I wish I could always choose to go alone, because they usually stick me with Sarisa, a fellow Newman who does no damage at all, and usually dies during the boss battles. I mean 11 damage a hit Sarisa?! I do around 50 damage a hit...with a blunt rod...with the weakest attack. You're doing 11 damage a hit at the highest, with magic, whereas I do around 75 damage a hit with magic. So let's say there's an enemy with 150 health. It takes me two hits to kill it. Put five of them in a room, I'll kill the first four while she focuses on one, and then I'll go over to her and kill off that one...which still takes two hits for me, since she didn't even do 75 worth of damage during my four kills. Pit her and I up against a boss and she dies? Honestly there's no point in reviving her. I really wish there was a good/evil portion to the game, because I'd be such a dick to her after each mission, when she starts touting how it was great teamwork that killed off the boss. No Sarisa, you laid dead in the corner after just the first 10 seconds of battle, while I killed the boss myself. Please Sega, let me turn friendly fire on. I can't wait to play the game online with a competent teammate, who understands the mechanics of the game and battles.

Finally the cubes. This is referring to Minecraft. Oh yes, I finally gave in to the temptation and tried the game out. After months of seeing articles and videos of the game online, and also seeing that it's not a passing fad, it was about time to give it a go. I suppose the reason I never did is because supposedly for being such an "ugly" game as far as textures go, it takes quite a bit of horsepower to run the game. There was no way I'd be able to run the game on this laptop, and my computer's HD is still shot. But yesterday I noticed an article taking about how you can play the game in a browser, which led me to believe that that version must be much less demanding. This is the game that made me want to write a new blog, and honestly if I ever bought the retail beta of the game, I'd probably use this blog solely to write about my exploits. And that's what I plan to do here.

My first foray into the world of Minecraft was just as fun as I thought it'd be. I was thrown onto a large island, and after seeing a handful of videos online, I knew that the first goal was to build a house or lock myself up in a cave. Once night falls, the enemies and creepers come out. No, not the creepers that look into your windows, the creepers that are green and blow the hell out of your walls. The first thing I noticed was that I didn't have any tools, nor did I have an inventory screen. That was disappointing, because I wanted to feel the real game, where you must forge your own weapons and tools, mine, chop and collect your materials, and learn to survive. That's okay I decided, I was given an unlimited amount of blocks of all different sorts, so I'd be good to build a small house.

So after about 20 minutes I had completed my small house, 3 x 3 blocks inside with a nice roof, and glass blocks for my door since I can't construct a door in this version. After a few more minutes I noticed it wasn't getting dark out, and I knew from those videos how long until it got dark. So I ventured out, wondering if maybe this version didn't have any enemies, and was just for dicking around. Obviously the question was what's next? I chopped down a tree and its branches for fun, and liked how you can chop out the trunk, but the leaf blocks remain suspended in the air. I looked around, noticed that I had built my house on top of one of the hills (on purpose by the way, to avoid the monsters) and thought, wouldn't it be cool to have a secret passage from the beach all the way up into my house?

And so taking another 20 or so minutes, I did just that. It was quite difficult honestly, trying to figure out where and when to dig up to get into my house, and I missed my target a few times. Along the way I found giant caverns that I would mine into, which really made me smile, knowing that the caverns really expand upon the game. Anyways, once I created the passage into my house, and made sure that the entrance was pretty well hidden (even though I'm the only one playing this single-player world), I became...anxious. I wouldn't say bored, because that was not even close to settling in yet. But I wasn't sure what to do yet. So I looked down at the ground, and even started jumping around. That's when a thought came to my mind. My character can jump about the height of one block, so is it possible to create a block underneath me when I jump? It worked, and this opened up many possibilities. First, how high can I get in the world? Up and up I went, til I finally reached the roof of the world, which was pretty high, even if not as high as the newer versions. The next project was obvious, to build another house, bigger, and suspended in the sky.

This project took me about two hours honestly, and if I knew some of the tricks that I know now, I could have halved or maybe quartered the time it took me. Either way, it was a neat brick house, 6 x 6 blocks inside, with a glass roof for light, and a glass floor to see what is way below me. But the house was enclosed, so I decided to make a 2 x 2 block door, facing the water for a nice view. Unfortunately, my house was suspended in the sky besides the one last column I used to get up here the last time, and I needed a grand entrance. I finally decided that the coolest thing I could do would be to build a staircase from the entrance of my first house all the way up to the entrance of the new one.

This turned out to be quite a pain, as the bricks I used were unique, being only half the size of every other brick, and were much more difficult to build with. Using some ingenuity, I turned what looked like a path I needed to hop up to get to the new house, into a well-designed staircase, which did not need any jumping to get up. So I ran out to the beach, took the secret path through the mountain, up into my old house, out the front door, up the winding staircase and into my new house. I was already having quite a bit of fun when I peered down through my glass floor and thought, wow, wouldn't it be cool to have a drop from the floor of this house all the way down into the ground, to the lowest level possible?!

And so I got to work, digging a 2 x 2 block hole directly below the 2 x 2 hole in the glass floor, all the way down to the "core" of the world. Oh, I should probably mention that if you dig deep enough, you come across lava. At this point I was having fun, but what's the point of wasting a couple hours on something that I can't come back to? So I opened the menu, and clicked save. Unfortunately a sign came up saying that you can only save in the retail version. However, behind it lie the save button, and I figured I'd try anyways. It brought me to my C: drive, so it worked and I saved the game. Now I didn't know if I could load the game again, being in a browser, but I was still having fun so who cares. Back to the hole, it went pretty deep. When I got to the bottom, I put glass blocks directly on top of the lava, so when you drop you look like you're going to fall straight into the lava, but stop just before it. You can't die or get hurt in this version, but it still looked cool.

But then the question arose, how do I get out without just building blocks beneath me? That's kind of tacky and boring, so I started to mine my way through the ground, to make a path that would eventually lead to the surface. After a few minutes of mining, an idea came to me. What if I were to encase the whole path through the ground with glass cubes all the way to the surface exit, and then went out to the ocean and mined my way into the caverns around my glass path, flooding it, so I could walk through the dry path with water around me. I should mention I learned I could do this a little earlier, when I was digging through the ground and mined into the ocean, completely flooding the caverns I was in with water.

I spent a good deal of time having fun twisting and turning the path and surrounding it with glass cubes, and it looked pretty neat. I even went back to the surface and encased the entire drop from my house to the ground in glass cubes. That way, when I drop to the ground, I can't move in midair to miss the hole. I went back to the path and continued to mine and put glass up. Eventually I got tired and just wanted to get out, and couldn't for the life of me hit the surface. I was much deeper that I had thought. Up I went, right towards the surface when GLUB GLUB GLUB... I hit the ocean. Oh I was so frustrated, because I had formed the direct opposite of what I wanted. I flooded my glass tube with water, and the outside was dry. I went back down to look around, and noticed I missed putting up just one glass block on my path, so all the water was outside the tube as well. Fail. I went back up to check where I came out in the water, which was just a clear ocean view, and turned around to find an island directly behind me. I counted the blocks behind and around me, and realized that if I just started heading upwards 4 blocks earlier, I would have came out on the tiny island, and not the ocean. Epic Fail.

But all was not lost. I figured that if my cavern was filled with water, what if I plugged up the exit to the ocean, went back down, and mined deeper in parts to find more caverns, therefore flooding the water from my caverns and path to those caverns. I saw this done in videos, so I figured it had to be possible. After many attempts, it wasn't working, and resolved to having failed. Luckily, I learned what I did wrong, and how to prevent this from happening again. I really wanted to continue playing, but it was really late and I needed sleep before work. So I turned off the game, and to no surprise, I had one last idea. I got back into the game, and right from the start it created a completely new world, which is what it's supposed to do. But I went into the menu screen, to load, and tried to load my game. I mean it was worth a shot. After a few seconds, I was back in my flooded tube. Awesome. This meant I could spend quite a bit of time on the free game on giant creations, if I so choose.

I know what you're thinking, "Oh geez, here comes the Lord of the Rings creations." Sorry, but that's already been done with Isengard. "Well here comes Zelda creations." You mean something like the world of A Link to the Past? Well maybe I'll focus on other fantasies, and actual objects rather than places. How about a Star Destroyer...or the ship from Serenity...or the whole Earth! Oh c'mon, is there anything I like that hasn't been created in Minecraft yet?! Anyways, I think I may have thought of one thing, so at least I'll have something to focus on if I play the game. Now if only I had the minecart like in the newer version, and I could build a roller coaster.

Game Dev Story

You know, it's been quite a long time since a game as cheap as Game Dev Story, costing me only $4 (I would have gotten it for $1, had I bought it a few days earlier, darn), had hooked me as much as it has. When I'm not playing it, I really don't have any urges to turn on my iPod Touch and play it. But when I finally do start playing it, I just can't put it down. It's not like there aren't any downtime parts of the game where it would be easy to turn it off. Those come every time a game is done being made and has shipped, where my workers literally start saying "I'm bored." But, there are reasons why I don't start one game right after I finish another, money being a big portion of that. Before I started raking in the big bucks (well, in my view I would still consider myself to be a small company without much capital, can't even afford to make games for the biggest systems), I'd be down to barely enough cash to afford my workers. One year I was squirming in my seat, nervous that I wouldn't have enough money to pay all my employees. I was watching the game progress percentage go up as the days and weeks went by, payday slowly getting closer and closer. Luckily my timing paid off perfectly, with the game releasing the week before I had to pay everyone, meaning I had no trouble coming up with the money. But anyways, that's not the point. The point of this post was how funny the names in the game can be. Every time the game says that a company is releasing a new system, I get a little excited, knowing that it will be a ripoff of a real-life counterpart. So far the game has done a tremendous job keeping up with the systems, in the order they were released, and even including some obscure ones. In that case they even mention something along the lines of, "This console seems a bit strange and might not sell well, so we should see how it does before applying for a license."

For the first few games released, I didn't worry about the names of my games, and just let Game Dev Story take care of the work, naming them Game #1 and so on. Well after the first game awards, I saw how funny some of the names could be, all very similar to the real companies' names and games. So from then on, I decided to do the same with my games. Unfortunately, the game only keeps the past 32 products in the history, and since I'm in year 14, I have definitely made more than 32 games (probably around 35-40). So without further ado, I thought it would be fun to make another list of games, this time of the ones I have made in Game Dev Story, starting with the oldest (that is still recorded). I shall include the game name, system type, genre and type of game, how many copies sold and any awards it received, but will keep the system name out. Learning the names of the systems as the game progresses is part of the fun of the game, and makes the player want to keep playing to see what else is out there. As an important note, I do not have all the possible genre and types unlocked, and am sure there are many out there I'm missing.

Sly Ninja - console - Action & Ninja - 103,978 units
Bio is Life - console - Life & Animal - 176,301 units
Dungeon - portable - Shooter & Dungeon - 188,540 units
AlphaPirates - console - Educational & Pirate - 87,515 units
Knight's Night - portable - Sim RPG & Historical - 362,578 units
High Seas - console - Action RPG & Pirate - 188,478 units - Best Design
Living Animals - portable - Simulation & Animal - 227,417 units
Let's Golf! - portable - Simulation & Golf - 99,408 units
A Pirate Story - portable - Audio Novel & Pirate - 202,605 units - Worst Game of the Year
Cartoon Clash - portable - Racing & Cartoon - 195,756 units
Wanna Date? - portable - Simulation & Dating - 244,265 units
ARR! Pirates - portable - Life & Pirate - 282,805 units
Calm Breeze - portable - Action RPG & Ninja - 542,687 units
Animal N' Cars - portable - Racing & Animal - 433,668 units
Dungeon Xplorr - console - RPG & Dungeon - 500,134 units
Running?! - console - Simulation & Marathon - 318,164 units
Oblivian - console - Action RPG & Dungeon - 544,056 units
Hell..o Robots - console - Shooter & Robot - 370,698 units
Xs Eight - console - RPG & Historical - 431,517 units
Robot Bomb - console - Action RPG & Robot - 881,808 units
Cameo - console - Action RPG & Animal - 418,148 units
Choo Choo! - portable - Simulation & Train - 769,515 units
Cumbrero! - portable - Simulation & Dating - 553,276 units
Look, Robots! - console - RPG & Robots - 809,960 units - Best Design
Spirit Trains - console - Simulation & Train - 1,826,994 units
Spirit Racks - console - Simulation & Dating - 1,179,864 units
Wall of Duty - console - Shooter & Historical - 923,771 units
Chromo Time - console - RPG & Time Travel - 2,107,826 units - Best Design
Tome Portal - console - Action RPG & Time Travel - 2,807,295 units - Best Design
Sim Bird - console - Simulation & Airplane - 1,449,284 units - Best Music
X Signs? - console - Simulation & Train - 440,801 units
Sprinter Cell - console - Action RPG & Spy - 1,483,088 units

So as you can see, my numbers went way up over the course of time. It's funny too, because there are some excellent genre and type match-ups in this list, but there are also some horrible ones as well, and the game will point them out when you find them. Unfortunately, it's all trial and error, and it's not always fair. For example, some games that we know of and have sold extremely well have exact genre and type match-ups in this game, but don't show up as good pairs. So what is a good match-up in real life cannot be dependent on one game or franchise, but rather on what commonly makes a great match-up. Also, don't just take away information on this list as proof as to what is a great match. Just because I have high sales for a game doesn't just mean the genre and type are a great match. For most of the games on the second half of the list, I put much thought and effort into creating the game, including who of my employees did what parts of the game, and which employees did extra parts on their own. There are also different strategies to use throughout game development as well, which drastically affect sales and scores from critics (which I did not include in here, but do have that information as well, and also what ranking it received after one week of sales).

Take for example two games on my list, Spirit Trains and X Signs?. They came out on the same system, had the exact same genre and game type, and were only released 26 months apart. Spirit Trains sold much better than X Signs? did, even though Spirit Trains had 4 more reviewer points (out of 40). To make matters even more interesting, let's throw Choo Choo! into the equation. It was released 13 months before Spirit Trains (39 before X Signs?) for a portable system, and received 3 less points than X Signs? did from the reviewers, and yet it basically doubled X Signs? sales. So what I'm showing is just because one game sells really well, doesn't mean that it's a great combination. The game may seem straightforward, but there is quite a bit of thought and strategy that play into developing the games. It really is a game dev story. Now I want to really be like a giant company, and release a hall of fame game. And then I want to do the other things which aren't even possible with my staff and history of games yet...

2010 Game Recap

So just a few minutes ago, I came across an interesting article on Kotaku, about one editor's past year of games played, and which he had beaten. I found it to be pretty interesting, even for having barely any body of text, in which most non-gamers would find it very boring. So I decided that since I haven't really kept track of what games I've played and completed during last year, this would be the perfect time to form a recap of the same sort for myself.

He did a great job of setting down some information before continuing, and I want to follow the same sort of "rules." Basically, all games listed were playing during 2010, and all the bold games are the games that I have finished. They were all played for at least an hour, which means I'm not counting all the games I bought, tested out, but didn't play for more than a few minutes. Now obviously, some games do not have a set "end," but nonetheless they deserve to be on the list. Also, just because I beat a game does not mean I 100% completed it. I will, however, put an asterisk next to a game that I have either deemed 100% complete (that can be beaten without 100% completing it) or have collected all the achievements in, being Xbox 360 game. A note: many games on this list have been played/beaten in years prior. Hence, this is not a list of just new games played and beaten, but rather a comprehensive list of what I've played all throughout last year. To be fair, I will also put a ^ symbol next to games that I have beaten some year before 2010. Finally, there is no particular order to which I've put the systems in, and all games will be listed alphabetically.

SNES: Played 3 - Beaten 1
Chrono Trigger^
F-Zero
Illusion of Gaia

Nintendo DS: Played 7 - Beaten 1
100 Classic Books (maybe reading counts as beating it?)
Contact
Disgaea DS
The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks
Picross 3D
Picross DS^ (I erased all save data and started again)
Etrian Odyssey III (got to the very last boss)

GameBoy/GameBoy Color/GameBoy Advance: Played 8 - Beaten 3
Banjo-Kazooie: Grunty's Revenge
Golden Sun^
Golden Sun: The Lost Age^
The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Ages^
The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Seasons^
MegaMan Battle Network
Metroid II: Return of Samus
Metroid Zero Mission^

Nintendo 64: Played 1 - Beaten 1
The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time^ (in 14 hours)

PlayStation 2: Played 7 - Beaten 1
Final Fantasy XII
Frequency
Futurama
Kingdom Hearts^
Kingdom Hearts Re:Chain of Memories
Persona 3 FES

GameCube: Played 4 - Beaten 1
Dave Mirra Freestyle BMX 2
The Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker^
Metroid Prime^ (surprisingly not 100% complete this time)
Metroid Prime 2: Echoes^

ipod Touch: Played 3 - Beaten 0
Crosslogic Unlimited (over 1700 puzzles!)
Game Dev Story
Peggle^

Wii: Played 8 - Beaten 2
Animal Crossing: City Folk
Lara Croft: Tomb Raider Anniversary
Metroid: Other M
Metroid Prime (on the Trilogy)
New Super Mario Bros. Wii
Resident Evil 4
Super Mario Galaxy 2
Wii Sports Resort

Xbox 360: Played 27 - Beaten 11
Assassin's Creed*
Assassin's Creed II
Bioshock^
Bioshock 2
Borderlands
Breath of Death VII
Castlevania: Harmony of Despair
Castlevania: Symphony of the Night
Darksiders
Doritos Crash Course
Fable II* (not including DLC)
Fallout 3 (including all DLC)
Guitar Hero 3
Guitar Hero: World Tour
Harm's Way
Just Cause 2
Left 4 Dead 2
Lego Batman
Lego Indiana Jones: The Original Adventures*
MegaMan Anniversary Collection
NCAA Football '08
Perfect Dark
Psychonauts
Pure
Shadow Complex*
Super Meat Boy
Turtles in Time: Re-Shelled

Total: Played 68 - Beaten 21

So there you have it. I have played a total of 68 games this year, each for at least an hour. I'm probably close to the end of two or three of these games, and well into a handful of others. You can see that many of the titles on this list I have beaten before, which is a good thing, seeing that I can still go back an enjoy older games. Hell, three of the games on this list have probably been beaten a total of 15 times combined, and I'm sure I'll beat each one at least twice more before I quit playing games. And that's not even counting the three times in a row I beat Shadow Complex. Still, a ratio of beating less than a third of the games I've played last year? That's not very good, and if I'm going to spend time playing games, maybe I should consider playing each one to its end before starting another. Speaking of which, I should return to playing Darksiders. The next post will most likely be about said game, and my thoughts about how reviewers were right and wrong.

The Game Race

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.

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.

Great games with flaws

So lately I've been playing two games with most of the free time that I have, and a few other games on the side as well. I'll cover the other games I've been less time into first, before delving deep into my thoughts regarding the two important games for this blog. I'll warn you now, this is probably going to be another one of my lengthy blogs, seeing as how I haven't posted on here in quite some time. I mean, do you know how much time a person can put into multiple video games over the course of over a month? It will become clear in the next few paragraphs. And just to be clear, that's not to say I've been lazy. I work 3 to 5 days a week (not nearly as much as I'd like, but it's a job), and with the rest of the time I've had I've been either spending time with my family or studying for the GRE. I finally took the GRE today, and am going to spend the next day or so relaxing with some games, and then it's back to grind, actually applying to the grad schools. And if I find that my GRE scores aren't high enough, it's back to studying to take it again.

Anyways, I don't know where to begin, so I'm going to just throw a game out there that I've been playing, being New Super Mario Bros. Wii. I'm halfway through world 7 so far, and while I haven't played it in about two weeks or so, I was managing about one world a day. I found it to be quite a bit of fun, and makes me happy that Nintendo finally made another sidescrolling console Mario game. Super Mario Bros. and Super Mario Bros. 3 are some of my all time favorite games, and so it was a nice throwback to the good old days of platforming. And the difficulty and pacing is well laid out. I had heard in reviews that the game is pretty easy up until the last world, but I disagree. Nintendo did a great job making sure each world is varied with difficulty, and not every level has to be played (though obviously I'm playing as many as I can). Even better, they added multiple exits to levels. I'll probably never find all the exits and collect all the large golden coins, but it's a nice feature to throw in there for gamers who want replayability. And I'm not going to go into multiplayer, that makes the game really interesting.

I could be flying through that game much more quickly, but honestly, the game would get boring to me. That's unfortunate, since I've never grown bored with a sidescrolling Mario game before. But the good news is that whenever I got bored with NSMBW, I would pop in Super Mario Galaxy 2, and continue to get my Mario fix. Yeah, yeah, I was going to save SMG2 for a later date, when I finally finished other games. But I thought to myself, what's the pointing in saving a great game when I have plenty of other games I can play down the line, and many other great games will be released (and acquired in some way)? There are good things and bad things to the game. The good news is that the game is mostly designed for Super Mario Galaxy veterans. The game doesn't hold one's hand for very long, and to me it feels as though they developers assume that the player has played the first one. To me that's nice, since the difficulty level starts at about a level 2 to 3 out of 10, instead of a basic level 1 for the beginning of the first game. The problem with doing this, is that most of the new abilities are thrown at the player right away. Within just a few worlds, almost all new abilities have been seen. It just feels like a lot to take in, even though I know they're doing it just to get the "tutorials" out of the way. That way the player already knows how to use all of the abilities, and they can throw the abilities into earlier and earlier levels. It's a give and take situation. I'm only about 15 stars into the game, and will be playing much more of it after a finish the games I'm playing now.

I also purchased (used of course) Animal Crossing: City Folk for the Wii, since a friend wanted to play online together, and I fell in love with the original console version. This one seems like it's taking most of the best aspects of the previous two versions and combining them. It's a fun game to waste time on, but unfortunately doesn't have much to pull the player back into, besides collecting cool Nintendo items for the house. I've only paid off the first two mortgages, and have another 50,000 bells left to pay for this one. Then Nook will once again add onto my house without my permission, and assume that I will pay him for it. Bastard.

Okay, enough with the side games, people want to know what I've been sinking my teeth into. So I'll start with the game that I've actually already finished. Once I acquired my SNES, a friend highly recommended a game called Illusion of Gaia. He said that it's like a Zelda game, but made by Enix. Since it was cheap I picked it up, and immediately fell in love with it. That was before the game annoyed me. Yes, a great game with obvious flaws.

The combat in the game is awesome. It's basically the same as any top down viewed Zelda game (LttP, LA, etc.), but you are rewarded for killing all of the enemies in the "room." I say "room" because the game actually means area. When inside a dungeon, this means clearing out all enemies on the floor, even if they're on a ledge above the character. This is a unique feature because in Zelda, you just gain health by finding heart pieces or by killing a boss. Your sword gains power by upgrading it, as does your shield. But in Illusion of Gaia, one does not upgrade their sword and does not have a shield (not in the literal sense, I won't go into the shielding of the game - it's critical in some areas, but can be ignored for the sake of this conversation), and actually receives jack squat for defeating a boss, save for the usual "special required item (! /sarcasm)." The game forces one to defeat enemies to level up. The level up acquired from beating all the enemies in a room is either extra strenth, extra defense, or extra health. Yes, that means extra health to the health bar, right then in there. And from what I've seen, it's totally random what is received (though maybe not, I doubt you can randomly get all the health upgrades or strength upgrades at the beginning of the game, but it feels like it's random). But for all those people out there who just can't standing fighting in a Zelda type game, then when you get to the end of the game, you're out of luck if you have low health. I'm happy to find a game that forces the player to fight through each and every room, and rewards the player for going out of their way to find each and every enemy in an area. I don't know if I killed every enemy in the game, but I know I at least had a full health bar when I fought the last boss, so I must have gotten almost all of them.

"Man, he really enjoys this game, so what can the flaws be?" I'm sure you're thinking that, and it's unfortunate that the flaws are in this game, because this game could have been excellent, standing right next to LttP. But Enix made this game, and not Nintendo. I'm not sure how the Dragon Warrior games are, but the story in this game just sucks. I mean, it's actually overly convoluted at some points, when the overall plot is so basic! Boy's dad goes missing a year ago. Comet thing is hurdling towards Earth. Boy must find out what happened to father, and stop the comet. PERIOD. That's the extent of the plot. You could say the same about LttP: Boy wakes up. Princess needs help. Bad man wants to take over. Bad man takes over. Boy must stop him. Period. The difference is that the storytelling in LttP is phenominal, as are most of the Zelda games out there (even the crappy ones!). IoG just drags on, and on, and on....and on....and on...and then drags on further, just like this sentence is running on. Most games try to avoid sequences like this, as they are very hard to play out as fun. But that's not to say they're impossible! Chrono Trigger did these types of scenes extremely well (*cough*Square!*cough*Enixbuyout?*cough* sorry, something I had to get out...of my throat). But IoG has a few of these scenes, and the text is just painful. Not only are the conversations dull and pointless (and point out the obvious), but they take away from the story.

And yet, I can think of more good things the game does! Like I said, the game is great but just has flaws. This time, I speak of unexpected moments. There was a moment about three quarters through the game, where something occured, and it brought a smile to my face. What I saw actually made me happy to see in the game. Most games cannot evoke a sense of happiness or any emotion out of me (besides happiness in having fun, but that's different). Not ten seconds later, something else happened that made my jaw drop. It was the shock effect that the scene had on me. Enix did something that I don't think I've ever seen in a game, and while it was quite unexpected, it was neat. So bravo Enix (now part of Square, now SquareEnix, Squeenix, whatever), that scene was great. The end of the game was unexpected and hilarious as well. Seriously Enix?! Wow.

I'm done talking about Illusion of Gaia. Maybe one day I'll remember something from the game (like the fantasic music, btw) and throw it in a post on here. But I want to talk about Assassin's Creed. Oh how I love AC right now! AC is a game that stands by itself, but is not a game that is revolutionary. I feel like I've played a game just like it, and yet the two could not be more different.

I speak of Crackdown. The two games are so similar they could be brothers. Except, these brothers are totally different. In both games, the player scales walls and buildings, jumping from rooftop to rooftop, and basically avoiding the ground as much as possible. The player is a natural killer, and has multiple ways of killing enemies. There are many enemies across the map, though there is one main enemy that must be killed. This main enemy, however, can be killed in any way the player sees fit. One can confront the enemy from any angle they so choose, and can even choose the order in which they so choose to kill these special enemies. Scattered across the map are items to acquire, hidden on rooftops, alcoves on the ground, and hard to find places. Like I said, these games could be brothers. But in each of these examples, the games are totally different.

In Crackdown, the player is a beefed up cop, who can take bullets, jump hundreds of feet, and basically not feel pain. He's got speed, power and agility up the wazoo. Btw, did you know that wazoo is actually a real word on here? I'll have to look up the exact meaning of it later, now I'm curious. But back to the topic. Altiar, the character in AC, is less about strength and more about cunning. He jumps across rooftops with realism and moves realistically through the environments. While walking through crowds, he bumps into every person who touches him, but on command can push and wade his way through crowds, making sure not to startle or upset anyone. Instead of just the basic walk or run, Altiar can also sprint and walk slowly, blending in with the crowd. This makes things semi-realistic as well. When running guards notice Altair, though don't care much. When sprinting, they are suspicious and put their hand on their sword, just in case something occurs. Though when blending in, Altair looks just like another monk, and guards will not recognize him...that is, unless he's just killed a dozen guards nearby and have many more guards pursuing him. Then he must move faster than them for them to fall behind and lose his trail, or for him to get out of their view, and hide somewhere when they can't see where he's gone. Okay, so this is very unrealistic, seeing five guards all walking around a haystack, and can actually hear them saying "Where did he go?!" Yeah, they're idiots.

But the controls work out so well most of the time. I say most of the time, because it can be very frustrating running towards a ladder, and Altiar misses it, tries running up a wall with not holds, and comes back down right into the guards hands. Not that fighting them is a pain. I've taken on a dozen of them at one time with my sword no problem, but running is much more fun. Plus, I have things to do! I don't want to waste all my time fighting, knowing that I'm just gonna have to run again after I kill all of them. The worst I saw is when I got behind a ladder, and Altiar actually started climbing it from the wrong side! As funny as it was (and props to the developers for letting the player actually do something that is possible in real life), it was very annoying.

But I digress, those are minor occurrences. Most of the time things play out smoothly. There is nothing like jumping rooftop to rooftop, sneaking up behind an unsuspecting guard, and assassinating him. No guards alerted, and I go on my way. Assassinations can also be done in broad daylight in largely populated areas, with guards right in the thick of things. Seeing a dead body in front of them, however, will alert the guards, and will immediately start looking around for the culprit. Once again, nothing like completing a side mission of assassinating a certain guard, slowly walking away from the scene down a side alley, and actually hearing another guard behind me yell "Who did this?!" This game makes you feel like the ultimate badass assassin...and it's the first game in the series! The reviews have only gotten better for each one, so I'm excited to see what the second one does better than the first. And wallclimbing is not as dumbed down as many people believe. Yes, you don't choose exactly where you want to grab, but the game does an amazing job of going in the direction that the player points. And the game is so realistic to show Altiar grabbing each and every spot on the walls and windows that need to be grabbed to look realistic, and does the same with the footholds.

I really wish I could explain more about how cool AC really is, and how it makes me feel like a badass (in the game obviously). I personally believe that most people who like Crackdown would like AC as well. But who knows. Now off to do more side jobs to learn about my next victim and how to kill them, and then it's time to do some assassinating.

The Adventures of Super Meat Boy

So about a month ago, I saw an ad on my Xbox 360 for 800 free Microsoft Points. Obviously I clicked on it to see what the catch was, and it wasn't as bad as I thought. To get those 800 points, one just had to spend 2400 ($30, being $1.25 for every 100 points). Seeing as how I already had 400 points on my account, I figured why not, there were plenty of things I've been meaning to purchase on Xbox Live, but was waiting for the right time. What could be a better time than basically buying two games, and getting a third free?

My problem now is that I still have 1200 points left to spend, and only have three days left to choose. I already spent 400 right off the bat on the downloadable content map for Castlevania: Harmony of Despair, and today I gave in and purchased Super Meat Boy (I'll be getting to that soon) on sale for 800 (normally 1200). I'd usually save the other 1200 points, but I can't if I want the extra 800. So what do I buy with the remaining points? I've got a few ideas, but I want to make sure I spend the points wisely, and make sure I don't overlook anything. The first idea is to purchase Psychonauts for the full 1200, which has become a cult classic and is said to be extremely overlooked. Another idea is to buy The Secret of Monkey Island: Special Edition, also for 1200. I've been wanting to play that game for a long long time, but it is very hard to come by for the computer these days. So that's another option. And the only other idea I have is to get the downloadable content for Mirror's Edge, which contains nine more courses set across four different maps. It's another thing I've been meaning to purchase, just never had the money. Though even if I got that, it's only 800 points, so I'd still have 400 left over to have to buy something else. Maybe downloadable content for Fable II or Borderlands? Do I even have the memory space for the d/l content? We'll see, and I'm sure I'll put on here soon what the final decision turned out to be.

But back to the game I did purchase. Super Meat Boy actually started as a free flash game made by two guys, put up on Newgrounds. There's a good chance that the free version of the game still exists on that site, so I'd highly recommend people to give it a shot. But be forewarned, this game is not for amateurs. It may start easy, but that's just to lure you in.

Anyways, the game's main character is a cube of meat (Meat Boy), and his girlfriend is another cube composed of bandages (Bandage Girl). Unfortunately, another character hates Meat Boy, so he beat him up and stole his girlfriend. His name is Dr. Fetus. He's a fetus in a jar wearing a tuxedo, and he's a real dick. Yes, this game is that awesome. So basically the game is comprised of many short levels that Meat Boy must traverse to rescue Bandage Girl, who is waiting at the end of the level. However, whenever he reaches her, Dr. Fetus appears out of nowhere, gives one of them a smack or punch, and whisks her away. It's true that Dr. Fetus likes to smack around Bandage Girl. Like I said, he's a dick. Don't worry, he knows everyone hates him, which is why he's always giving people the finger.

But I'm getting off topic. As I said, these levels are very short, ranging anywhere from five to thirty seconds to complete. That's not to say that it takes that long to actually complete the level, no way. That's just how long it can take to beat the level once the player finally understands how to beat it, and can actually pull it off. Many times a 12 second level can take me ten minutes to beat, if not longer. It's because these levels are just brutal. Not including the first few introductory levels, they range from hard to insanely and unfairly difficult. It's like taking a MegaMan game, except traversing the worst levels without any weapons. Unlike the MegaMan games (which I actually just started playing), my frustration doesn't stop me from playing. Maybe it's the fact that one has unlimited lives, and even if one dies, the levels are really short. It could also be the fact that after the level is finally beaten, the player is given a replay of not only the winning run through of the level, but every single failed attempt to race through the level. So it's not uncommon to see 50 Meat Boys all running across the place, slowly dying by different means. It's a extremely rewarding sight and feeling. The levels are basically big rooms, platforms, and walls all over the place, and Meat Boy can run, jump, wallslide and wall jump. Wall sliding and jumping are the key elements to the game. If you've ever played N+, it's very similar to that...except with chainsaws, lava, salt pits, fireballs, and more chainsaws...and a fetus in a jar wearing a tuxedo.

So far I'm 43% done with the game, according to my statistics. I've heard there are around 340 levels to the game, and I've beaten about 100 of them. It's too bad that there are actually only around 150 levels, and then another 150 are just the same levels, but made harder in a mode called "Dark World." Basically each level has a quote time to beat, and if the player can beat that time, they get an A+ for the rating (there is no other rating, so it's just a way of saying that the player has beating the time), and unlock the Dark World version of the same level. I played some of the Dark World levels in the demo, and man, those aren't even funny. No room for error in those ones, and there isn't even that much room for error in the normal levels! That only adds up to 300 levels however, so I'd imagine that the other 40 or so are secret warp levels. To get to these levels, one must find a WORM HOOOLE!!!! on different levels. The announcer is strange, and he says certain words very loudly and with much gusto. These levels are super cool though, and are based around classic games. I've already played levels that are modeled after and look strikingly similar to Super Mario Bros., Super Mario Land, Tetris, some Atari game, and some evil undead type of game, maybe Splatterhouse?

Finally, the player must try to collect bandages throughout almost every level, and in doing so, unlocks secret characters. The developers (all two of them) had fun with getting secret characters, and I'm impressed already. I've so far unlucked just one character, and that's the Bit.Trip block thing from the WiiWare Bit.Trip games. But I also know that the main character from Braid is in the game, among other cool cameos. So that's neat, especially seeing as how every character controls differently. The Bit.Trip character even had his own WORM HOOOLE!!!! levels. I definitely encourage players to at least try the demo on the 360 or the free flash game on Newgrounds.

Still Adventuring

So almost a month has gone by, and I'm still playing Etrian Odyssey III. I'd say that was a well purchased game. My adventures will soon be coming to a close however, since I've finally made it to the final boss. Or at least, I've made it to the first portion of the final boss?

Not to give away any spoilers (like there are any people in the maybe three who read this that this will spoil anything), but I unlocked the Yggdroid class soon after my last post, and so obviously, decided to use it. Unfortunately to use a different character, I had to make a few sacrifices. The first and probably the worst, is that I had to remove a character from my already pretty well set-up party to make room for a new one. Who was the one with the least value? My Hoplite/Gladiator was a brick wall for defending my team, and was doing great damage with a spear. He wasn't done yet. My Buccaneer/Ninja was extremely fast, did good damage with a rapier, and could hit 2-4 times on most turns. No way was I about to get rid of her. My Monk was my healer. Enough said. My Wildling was starting to produce viable animals, with a lion which had a ton of health, did good damage, could paralyze enemies on occasion, and would take hits in place of other characters. That on top of good damage as well. I wasn't about to let go of a character I put plenty of effort and thinking into. That left my Arbalist/Zodiac. Sure it did more damage than others on occasion, but it had very low TP which left him with little abilities. Someone had to go. It just happened that he was the odd one out.

Little did I know that the Yggdroid is, well, difficult to use. It has two "main" ability paths it can take. The first involves summoning elemental robots into empty party spaces, and countering elemental attacks. They can also team up with the Yggdroid for attacks. The problem is that to cause stronger attacks, more robots must be "summoned" into empty spaces, and who wants to take out even more party members? That's also combined with very low TP, so the attack could only performed about one time. I strongly decided against that route, to save party members. But to save those party members, I had to sacrifice my Yggdroid's health. Not a normal way of attacking in an RPG, but it was something I was willing to try out.

This turned out to be a huge pain, literally. By the time I had the abilities maxed out to do as much damage as possible, I had to completely bind my Yggdroid, and basically reduce its health to 1. It's ok, that wasn't very difficulty, seeing as how it damages itself 127 HP each turn (thankfully only down to 1 HP, it would never damage itself to death, with curse, plague, poison and confusion not included) and I could self-inflict the three binds with one ability in one turn. But I only did around 280 damage, which sounds great, but being left at 1 HP left the Yggdroid extremely vulnerable.

A few days ago I finally made the decision to rest the character, losing 5 levels, and then putting the ability points into the former ability path. With only one robot being produced, the damage was minimal at best. I haven't made the switch yet, but I think it's about time to drop Samus (yes, that's my Yggdroid's name, and it even looks a little like Samus) and reinstate Nate. Eh, it was worth a shot...just maybe not worth my time.

Maybe with Nate back on my team and leveled up to around the same levels as the rest of my party, I can take on the final boss. I tried fighting him earlier today and reduced his health to 1/3 of what he started with, but unfortunately with all bosses in EO3, new abilities are used by the bosses when they get to low enough health. No surprise that my party was quickly demolished. Doesn't help that I have a character *cough*Samus*cough* laying dead in the corner during the battle. Dead weight indeed.

But yes, I think I've enjoyed this game, and should probably thank the person who made me buy it. I mean I've mapped out what, 95% of the ocean? Found every town in the ocean? Beat every quest but one in the normal game? Yeah, it's kinda fun.

Enough about EO3, I've come into possession, or at least I will come into possession of a SNES soon, thanks to a few back and forth transactions. This has me very excited since I've wanted a SNES since I was a kid. Not only that, but I've found a couple stores that still sell SNES games! Back home it was becoming hard to find older generation games, especially of cartridge format. But here where I live now, there are a few cool stores who sell all types of games. I've already spent a few bucks on two games, even though I don't have the SNES yet. I got F-Zero and StarFox. Yeah, I have to go for the classics first.

Finally, yes, I am still playing a few other games. Spirit Tracks has been put on hold for now. Yes, I'll come back and beat it some day, seeing as how it's Zelda. But I also got Borderlands for cheap at the same store that had the SNES games that I bought. It's basically a FPS game with leveling up...and x500 the amount of weapons...and it's not set during WWII or a modern war. It's an RPG gamer's FPS. To me it's a ton of fun, because it's basically taking a ton of guns out into a huge landscape, and killing everything in sight. No major plot to be found (yet), no linear path through levels or a story, and no online deathmatches. For example, right now in the game I'm a basic soldier who's proficient with automatic weapons and shotguns. I'm a big fan of going back and forth between a SMG and a high powered pistol with long range sighting. Best of all, I like to melee as much as possible to conserve ammo. There's nothing like sneaking up to the top of a ridge, spotting a few non-human enemies about ten yards below, and jumping down quickly meleeing them before they knew I was about them. When they finally realize what's going on, they're all getting a mouthfull of lead. I imagine playing online with a friend would be sort of like crackdown, except instead of a do-anything roaming action game, it would be a do-anything roaming FPS game. Hopefully I'll get to try it sometime.

Ah, I forgot to mention that I have 2080 Microsoft Points sitting in my account on my Xbox 360, and I need to figure out something to spend them on. Microsoft has a deal where if you spend 2400 by the end of October, you get 800 free soon after. I figured there would easily be things I was going to buy anyways, so why not buy them now and just play them later? So now I've got about five days to figure out where to spend these points, so any tips would be welcomed. And I still can't believe Microsoft basically gave away Fable II for free last week. Awesome.

Voyages at sea

Capuchin 9, day 100 at sea

Life at sea has not gotten any easier for me and my comrades. I feel as though every time we set out to sea, we are putting our lives on the line. And yet, none of us can say no to this life. Our guild, the RedWings, has become well known across many towns on the ocean. No one has mapped as much water as we have. I thank Marle for her expertise on sailing - I no longer regret letting a pirate join my team.

Today sailing went well, fishing was a success. We caught a handful of Flying Fish, and a few Lantern Squid had floated into our nets as well. Hopefully this will net us enough money to buy more Xian Yu fish. Our rations have been running low, and the biscuits and sheep cheese have gone bad. I won't say this up front, but I have suspicions that Rahil has been sneaking food when the rest of us aren't looking. Speaking little English, it can be hard to get across to the Wildlings, but I knew having someone with the power to connect with nature would be helpful in the caves.

Capuchin 10, day 101 at sea

An unfortunate day for the RedWings. As we were sailing the southern seas, Nate spotted something gleaming in the water. Unsure of whether to investigate, the five of us stared into the water as we slowly passed by. Staring at whatever that may have been was our undoing, as we were sailing straight towards a whirlpool! I was struck with fear, but luckily Nate and Marle were no strangers to whirlpools, and with much strength and wits, navigated the ship right past the danger. Hopefully one day Nate will tell more about his voyages on his old ship.

Continued sailing took us north once again, ever closer to uncharted territories. There was a reason why most ships avoided this region. Seaweed clusters and reefs were bad enough, but there are many tales of ghost ships. Stories tell of a ship which appears out of thin air, and wrecks all ships that dare to pass. I personally believed that these are all folk tales, and that captains won't admit to their clumsy sailing around the reefs.

But lo and behold, as we were dragging our net for fish, Rahil started hollering and pointing to the north. We had no idea what he was trying to say, but instantly understood his gibbered English as the fabled ghost ship sailed into view. Not wanting to end up like the other sailors, I quickly jumped to the wheel and steered us away. But outrunning a ship of that size was futile. It quickly overtook us, and something rocked the boat. The Epoch had suffered severe damages, and we knew it was best to call it quits for now, and head back to the marina. As we looked back towards the passing Ghost Ship, it slowly disappeared back to nothingness. Had we been rammed by the ship, or was it my fault and had hit the reef below us? We had little time to think, with a pirate ship full of laughing pirates heading straight towards us. We knew to get away before they overtook us. One day...one day I'll be able to fight those damned pirates!

Capuchin 15, day 106 at sea

Our ship is done with repairs, and my crew is ready to set out to sea. While repairing the ship, I decided to spend a little of our spare money to buy a stronger hull. The workmen told me that this hull could withstand the pounding of the reefs. The northern waters would no longer be slow and delicate sailing. I also found a cannon at port yesterday, and really wanted to bring it along, to blast those pirates out of the water. Unfortunately, I had to choose between food or the cannon, and my crew would not let me leave the food behind. *sigh* I suppose they're right, food can be important. And lately Lucca's "spectacular" fishing abilities have not kept us full during our recent voyages.

We set out north, towards where we had found the Ghost Ship. All the men at the taverns laughed at our story, but I want to prove them wrong. And this time, the reefs would not be a potential downfall, with my stronger hull. As we sailed towards the same spot, a different view came across us: pirates. I was about to turn away from the hooting and hollering pirates, when Marle stopped me. She explained that during the past few days at port, she had learned the ways of the Ninjas, and could slyly outmaneuver the other ship. I had no idea what she was talking about, but as with all my crew members, I had learned to trust her instincts. We sailed this way and that, getting the pirates to follow our every movement. While they did indeed follow our movements, they had followed them too closely. In one last mad dash, we zipped by the laughing pirates. The wind took our sails, and the pirates had little chance of catching us with their tattered sails. I couldn't believe my eyes, but we came across uncharted waters!

Rations were running low at this point, but none of us were ready to turn back just yet. We sailed and sailed, what seemed like hours, without any sign of land or fish. I began to question the value of new waters when I spotted a gleaming light in the sky. I had only seen this once in my voyages, and I knew it to be true: a new portal! Feeling the day had come to a semi-successful close, we pulled into the new-found third portal, and whisked back to port.

Capuchin 19, day 110 at sea

Things have been looking up for my crew. With each new discovery of land in the northern seas, the men at the tavern come to respect us more and more. Many have been asking questions, curious to what we've found. The older sailors have always told their stories of trading with the northern cities, but the younger men have always just laughed. But now that another ship has crossed into northern territories, they have started listening intently. Were there really more cities to the north to trade with?

The seas are much more expansive in the north, so I've had quite a bit of time to hone my weapon skills. Having been raised my entire life by a family of Hoplites, all I've come to know is defending. My team continually praises me for my courage to stand on the front line, defending them from as many attacks as possible. But holding a shield has become boring, so I've been using this time to learn some sword skills. Nate has been teaching me these skills, revealing to me that earlier in his life he was a Gladiator with a different guild. Every time I bring up the topic of why he switched from being a front row Gladiator to a back row Arbalist, he becomes angry and stomps off. I've noticed that during these times of anger, he likes to hide in corners of the ship practicing the arts of Zodiac magic, especially conjuring up ice. I'm worried the water is getting to him.

Capuchin 20, day 111 at sea

Success! The stories were true, and we have found humanity in the northern seas. More ships have started to chart the waters in this area, especially traders, using one ship as bait for the pirates as another ship slips by. None of the ships will go where we go however. Even my crew has begged me to turn back, fearing for their lives as we dare the waters around us. Lucca balls up near the railing crying each time, and even Marle will have nothing to do with the sailing. I'm not sure what's causing the disruptions in the waters, but each way we turn there are rapids, whirlpools and reefs. One slight miscalculation and the ship is pulled into the rapids, all leading to one whirlpool or another.

As I said before, trust is important with my guild, and my comrades gave in and let me sail the waters, giving me one chance to get through. We don't have the money to repair the ship again, though Lucca found some rare Silver Saury and Stonefish in her nets. That money gave us enough to buy some Salted Meat, enough food to last longer voyages. My crew was thankful as we passed the last of the whirlpools, and was amazed as we came across a windmill near some patches of seaweed. Being the first sign of humanity, we approached the men cautiously, but they seemed happy to see us. We laughed and rejoiced at the two sides of the seas coming together, and took part in a feast around the windmill. But the night ended too soon, especially with Nate getting sick on the rum. We left before the men caught wind of the mess. We headed back to port, but kept in mind what the men had told us. There were more cities to find out in the water.

Capuchin 21, day 112 at sea

We set out once again with a full stock of Salted Meat, meaning well to pass the windmill and find the cities. We passes the windmill as the men waved at us, and set out into the expansive waters. We sailed and sailed, the whole day and night, but found nothing but more water and seaweed. We got our hopes up many times at the few spottings of land, but nothing was found there. Were the men lying to us? But then why would they give us a feast? There must be more places to find out here.

Capuchin 22, day 113 at sea

Today we decided to spend some time fishing, needing to make some more money. My crew is complaining that their armor is beginning to rust from the water and salt in the air. A good thing I handle the money too, or else it'd be spent on weapons for the fighters, and necklaces and chokers for Lucca. Some Monk she is!

As we rounded a corner near an island, we came across a small straight. Having no luck with the fish, we decided to take to chance and explore this path. We carefully navigated some reefs and many rapids - most likely leading to more whirlpools - and eventually came across more land. One piece of land stood out from the rest, with a large orange rock jutting out from its center. Immediately upon seeing in, Rahil jumped up and started hooting and hollering, pointed ferociously at it. We armed our weapons as we sailed towards it, ready for a fight. We hadn't fought in quite some time, so it was about time. But then we noticed that Rahil had a smile on his face, and as we approached the island, the men looked just like him! Finding nothing to fear once again, we put away our weapons and pulled up to the island, and disembarked to greet the people.

What we came across was actually a large clan of Wildlings, just like Rahil. We couldn't understand most of them, but luckily a few of them spoke enough English to explain to us the joy of the occasion. It turns out that not only do they know Rahil, but he's a Prince! A Prince! The rest of the party stared with bewilderment as the tribes started giving Rahil plenty of food, and praising him for becoming a strong warrior. We spent the rest of the day and night on the island, and watched closely as an elder lady taught Rahil the ways of Princedom, including healing abilties. Supposedly there is more to being a Prince than just ordering people around!

Capuchin 25, day 116 at sea

The past few days we have took to sailing the same small straight once again, knowing full well there were not only more fish but more land to explore as well. We had all but given up hope on Lucca's fishing abilities until we stumbled upon a small house on a beach yesterday. The home was empty, and all the food had gone bad, but as we boarded back on the boat Marle tripped over something on the beach, hitting her head on a shell. As Lucca kneeled down to heal the gash on Marle's forehead, she noticed that what Marle tripped over was actually a large fishing net. We spent quite a while digging it up, but it was well worth it, turning out to be a fishing net much larger than the one we had. Fortune smiled upon us that day.

Today we sailed past the island of Wildlings, smiling to them as we passed. A few hours later, the most bizzare thing happened. The clouds became dark as if they came out of nowhere, we prepared for a storm, but none came. Instead, a man cloaked in white rose up out of the water, slowly approaching the ship. Rahil started to hoot and quickly became scared, trying to convince us to move the ship away. But the rest of us couldn't take our eyes away from what appeared to be an old man, standing out on the sea. We stared for what seeming like hours, as the man moved around the boat, but never directly approaching us. What we didn't notice is that while we were staring at the man, a storm had grew around us. By the time we guided the ship to safety, the man had disappeared, along with the storm.

Unsure of what to make with what just happened, we continued sailing. Eventually we saw a giant tower at the edge of the horizon. Knowing that our money depended on us finding more towns, we pushed towards it. We're not sure how long it took, but we eventually reached the tower, with dark clouds circling the upper levels. We creeped towards it after we landed, and even entered it to see if anyone was living there. All we found was dust, spiderwebs, and many stairs leading up. Being extremely tired from the days events, we decided to leave and come back another time.

Our day was not yet over, and we still had a little bit of food left in the storage. We continued sailing, this time turning south again, hopefully finding a route to the southern seas. Any new trade routes would earn us quite a bit of en, and we needed it badly right now. For hours all we found were more rapids and whirlpools, and even another pirate ship. Luckily the pirates did not see us, and we made for a different direction just in time.

What we found was even better than a new trade route. We had found yet another portal! Who would have thought that us, the RedWings, would be the first to find all these portals across the ocean? We could see it gleaming on the horizon, and we all hugged each other, happy as can be that our day was looking up. However, Nate pointed out that our rations were running dangerously low, and that there was a good chance that we wouldn't have enough food to make it to the portal. After spending time calculating the distance, rations, and weather, I deemed Nate to be correct. It was sad having found another portal, but not being able to reach it. We turned back towards port, hoping that one day the Epoch could reach that portal. Fortune was not with us that day.

Capuchin 26, day 117 at sea

Lucca, Marle and Rahil all continue to urge me to sail towards the portal, but Nate and I continue to point out that we cannot make it. They don't understand our math and how we just don't have enough rations or a good enough sail. The owner of the marina is pleased with our findings, and promises and new and larger sail, but it's just a promise. Even if it is true, I've seen in the past how it can take months to gain new equipment for my boat. Best to continue on, finding more discoveries during the time I wait.

Today we took the path towards the giant red tower that we had found yesterday, but instead of heading south, we pointed west. We found many more pieces of land, but of course all were bare. A familiar sight approached and passed us, with rapids gliding beside our ship. But unlike other rapids we've seen, these one seemed to stretch on and on for what seemed like eternity. And the most unusual part was that they were only about as wide as the ship, with calm waters on the other side. I don't dare try to pass, knowing full well that we'd get stuck sailing down the rapids, most likely into a whirlpool. But we followed the rapids, hoping to find either a break or the end. After many hours, we did find the end: a whirlpool. Strangely enough, the rapids continued into the whirlpool coming from the other direction, just as thin as before. It was almost as if the rapids were purposefully surrounding something, guarding it. I instinctively took out my telescope and peered past the rapids into the distance, and found something beyond my wildest dreams. I couldn't believe my eyes, so I passes the telescope around, and everyone agreed on what they saw without telling anyone else. We had all seen an island floating in the sky. Was this a mirage? And why was it being guarded? Our rations were running low, so we decided to turn back. I will come back some day, and I will find out if the island is real.