Destiny

It's fair to say that the most anticipated game this fall is undoubtedly Bungie's first game since parting from Microsoft, Destiny. It's a bold and ambitious type of game that is trying to mix aspects of different gaming genres to create what could possibly be the ultimate gaming experience for casual, intermediate, and hardcore gamers alike. Destiny is part First-Person Shooter, part Role Playing Game, and part Massive Multiplayer Online, without distinctly being one or the other. With the Destiny Beta being down for maintenance until Wednesday, I have decided to write about my impressions so far.

Premise: Primarily a sci-fi themed story, Destiny takes place in our very galaxy many, many years in the future. Humanity was once gifted by the presence of an other-worldly orb known only as The Traveler which brought upon a Golden Age. During this Golden Age humanity flourished and expanded, building incredible cities, exploring and cultivating other planets. The Traveler, however, had an enemy. This evil force is known as The Darkness, and it followed The Traveler across the cosmos and brought human kind to the brink of extinction. All was not lost, however, as The Traveler sacrificed itself to drive back The Darkness and save Earth. The human race was left to rebuild what they could of their civilization while The Traveler remained suspended motionless and silent above them.
Many years later, The Darkness has returned. Now ancient warriors known as Guardians are being awoken by The Traveler to defend against the oncoming evil. Players will be in control of one of these Guardians and will be fighting against The Darkness and rebuild humanity's once great civilization.

To be perfectly honest, I'm not always a huge fan of sci-fi. Games like Mass Effect or shows like Star Trek never really appealed to me. I use the previous two examples because they are, what I would consider, TRUE sci-fi. However, I am a big fan of Star Wars and Borderlands and though they can both be considered sci-fi, I feel that they're a little more fantasy based, and have a bit more romanticism to their stories. Destiny feels more like the latter two examples. Humanity on the brink of collapse, the resurgence of an ancient evil, and guardians outnumbered. What's not to love? I'm also a huge fan of the post-apocalyptic games like Fallout and Wasteland. These games offer a great sense of isolation and seclusion. As you are playing through a world that is rebuilding itself from the brink of collapse, there is definitely that same feeling of being isolated and alone. However, that is not always the case as friends and other players can join you on your missions and in the multiplayer modes the game has to offer.

Gameplay: As I mentioned earlier, Destiny is a sort of amalgamation of different game genres. At its core, though, it plays like a FPS. Bungie is certainly no stranger to this genre, having evolved FPS games with Halo: Combat Evolved in 2001. From what I experienced in the Beta, everything moves fluidly and feels very organic. Button layout works very well, weapons in the game feel like they pack a nice punch when pulling the virtual trigger, and I never had to look at button layout in the menu to figure out any particular action. In short, if you have ever played a FPS game in the past Destiny will not leave you confused and struggling as far as the controls are concerned.
Playing through the story mode of the game, players are guided by their Ghost; a small, hovering robot AI that holds a wealth of information about Earth, The Darkness, and most everything found in the game environments. The main story missions for the Beta all take place in Old Russia on the planet Earth, but it looks like the Moon and other areas will open up for the full game in September. While Old Russia is only one part of Earth, the game environment felt very open and gave plenty of room for exploration. Enemies known as the Fallen appear throughout the game are the main antagonists players will be combating. Enemy levels don't seem to scale with the player level, which can either been seen as a good or bad thing. Since the area is fairly open it is entirely likely that players will encounter enemies far above their level if they decide to venture off the beaten path.
As players defeat enemies, experience is given and occasionally weapon and armor drops can be collected. Experience adds up and player level increases and as the level increases class bonuses are acquired and eventually sub-class bonuses. As of writing this, the level cap in the Beta was set at level 8. It seems kind of low, but players can continue gaining experience to increase sub-class abilities and eventually weapon and armor bonuses.

Multiplayer: Though Destiny certainly has MMO elements, it feels more like a single player game. Exploring Old Russia I only briefly encountered other players and after completing random daily missions, we would venture off on our own separate paths. A recent addition to the Beta though, was The Crucible, which is a competitive Player-vs-Player mode. Though the maps were fun, I did experience some frustrating moments in the PVP arenas. First of all, matchmaking isn't that intuitive. When I started in The Crucible, I was only level 5 competing against players at level 8. After being thoroughly destroyed, I tried exiting and re-entering in hopes of having a more balanced math, but every single time I was the only level 5 player in the match.
Additionally, certain maps will have vehicles which can be huge advantage. These vehicles, however, can often be piloted into buildings and other areas that would normally be a good defensive spot. It seemed to take away a lot of strategy to the game. It was basically whoever got to the vehicles first won the match. However, despite these minor gripes, the PvP aspect did play well and it was nice to have a change of pace to the world exploration of the story mode.

All in all, the Destiny Beta, from what I have experienced so far, is incredibly solid. I'm looking forward to playing more this week and can't wait for the full game to be released this September.

I Miss Nintendo Power

 In the midst of a fever dream the other day, I started thinking of playing Super Mario World on the Super Nintendo back in the early 90s. The thought occurred to me that the very essence of each Mario game was born of a fever dream, or perhaps a psilocybin mushroom trip, but when I awoke, I could only think of how badly I wanted to play Super Mario again. Since I am in the process of moving and most of my gaming systems are safely packed away, I was unable to satisfy my desire.

Being ill and stuck in bed, I began to reminisce. Games like Super Mario World had so much to offer that the current generation of games seem to be lacking. For instance, hidden levels or bonus stages. Does anyone remember the secret Star levels in Super Mario World? It was this whole other, awesome part of the game. It wasn't necessary for one to complete these stages to be able to complete the game, but it was a great hidden extra. Also, I remember it taking a fair amount of work to be able to unlock all of those bonus stages. There were some pretty specific things one had to do in some very specific levels of the game to be able to access each stage. As I was thinking about it, I started thinking "How the hell did I ever figure stuff like that out?" And then it hit me. Nintendo Power.

 Growing up in a world in which the Internet was not yet commonplace, kids like myself had few options for salvation when stumped in a game. Nintendo Power magazine was that salvation. I had a pretty consistent subscription to Nintendo Power for years, and it was great. Not only did it provide the latest news on all of the latest games that were coming out for the Super Nintendo and Game Boy (and later Nintendo 64 and Game Boy Advance), but it also offered strategy guide quality game walkthroughs and full color maps. It's something that I really miss.

Not only did it give step-by-step instruction on some of the latest games and how to find all of the hidden areas and items, but it also featured contests and prizes. There was always a monthly giveaway from the magazine in which some really, really sweet stuff could be won (I remember one prize was a full, genuine set of samurai armor), but there were also contests based on skills and scores in games. It was this whole community for gamers that brought people together in a very tangible way.

Gaming magazines barely even exist these days. With all of the latest gaming news being instantly available on the Internet, and all of the latest games having full strategy guides available for purchase in store, what use is there for a magazine about games? It makes me kind of sad. I feel like the whole gaming community is becoming more and more isolated even though video games are more prevalent in society than they ever have been before. I miss that feeling of community. I miss Nintendo Power.

Changing the Format

The other day I got to thinking about the past and the memory of the blog arose. I decided to check it out and was shocked to see that more than two years had passed by since my last post. Two years! It doesn't seem like it was that long ago that I was writing about the new Plants & Animals record, but as it turns out, time seems to move quickly as you get older.

So, here I am, two years older, yet not much wiser. Instead of doing something, anything, I have neglected to do anything really constructive with my time. Can posting in a blog really be considered constructive? Maybe, but probably not. I have decided that I'm not going to continue with the YouTube channel, but I am going to start updating this blog again. In any case, for me this blog feels like it's something, and something is a lot better than nothing. Now, don't misunderstand; I have been a contributing member to society these past two years. My contribution may not have amounted to much, but I am working. I'm not just some leech, attached to actual hard working citizens and sucking them dry. Where is this coming from? I guess I feel the need to justify myself, as this blog - and the whole YouTube video blog - started out to be about video games and other forms of entertainment. Though video games have changed, I feel that there is still a certain stigma attached to gaming culture as a whole. I should know, I often regard a lot of Gamers as lazy, unwashed layabouts. First, I need to digress to the term gaming culture. When did video games become a culture?

Sometime in the year 1990 my older siblings bought a Nintendo Entertainment System. It wasn't exactly the newest, coolest thing in video games at the time, but it was certainly the most popular. I suppose it was also the most affordable, as my two older siblings were able to afford one. I'm pretty sure that Super Mario Bros. and Duck Hunt were still the included games at the time, and these two games were my introduction to a whole new world of entertaining distractions. My younger brother and I would play these games for hours. As we got older, we acquired more and more games, usually from older cousins and other family members. Each new game became more in depth and absorbing. A turning point was with the game Dragon Quest, or Dragon Warrior as it was titled in North America. I would play the game for hours on end. It also opened the door to Dungeons & Dragons for me, but that's a story for a different day.

Video games offered a unique escape for my brother and I. The Nintendo was setup in the basement- away from my parents, my older siblings, the outside, and natural light. It was a time when we could be fully immersed in an interactive story, and it was awesome. Not only that, but the games would spark inside of us a new form of creativity. When we were done playing Super Mario Bros., we would be drawing and designing our own unique levels on reams of paper. At some point, we starting creating a new universe of unique life forms that battled giant space monsters, inspired by the game Metroid. Video games were our raison d'être when we were kids. My brother and I only had a Nintendo, but our best friend, Frank, had a Super Nintendo, and fortunately, we spent a lot of time hanging out and playing games.

As cool as video games were for us and Frank, we were certainly not cool. Not by any means. This wasn't true for just us. Most people thought that Gamers like us were nerds or geeks or square. For most kids my age, video games were just another toy. It was something to keep them distracted for an hour or so, and that was it. Not for us. When we played a game, we made sure that we found every secret, every item, and every collectible. Of course, we usually had our issues of Nintendo Power handy to help us through each stage or level. Even remembering and writing all of this can make me see that, yes, we were nerds! But, we didn't care. Games were awesome and we loved every moment of it.

These days, though, everybody plays video games. Gaming has transcended from being something that only nerds or geeks do, to an acceptable past-time and even a viable profession. It is now a culture. But, it baffles me. The people I see and talk to these days who call themselves "Gamers" are not what I would consider to be a true Gamer. Maybe you think I'm being elitist, and maybe I am, but I really don't like most Gamers these days.

Gaming has changed so much over the years, but it doesn't feel like people play games because they actually like the game. I talk to people every day who are playing games like Grand Theft Auto, or The Last of Us and all they can say is that the game is awesome. When I ask questions like, "What makes it so awesome?" or "What do you like most about it?" all they can ever respond with is, "Y'know ... it's just awesome."
Maybe this lack of defined response is more a testament to our failing education system, but I often get the feeling that folks are playing these "awesome" games because they are being told that they're awesome.
Maybe it's just me, but I still like to play games because they're fun, engaging, and I just love every part of it. It's in the characters. Perhaps it starts with a hero who witnesses all of his friends and family murdered before his very eyes and places it upon himself to seek justice.
It's in the story. It doesn't always have to be original. Maybe an evil villain is hellbent on world domination, but if you don't stop him, no one will.
It's in the game play. Sometimes it can be predictable, but that never seems to matter as long it's fun. You just know for a fact that the Princess is going to be in another castle, but you'll be damned if you don't knock that bridge out anyway!

Gamers these days are too concerned with their gamer score. I get asked on a weekly basis "What are some games with easy achievements?" Are you kidding me?! If that's why you're playing games, there is something terribly wrong with you.