Braid is perhaps the most thoughtful game I’ve ever played. It easily has the most nuanced story. It is artful in what it does and what it doesn’t do. It’s also a maddening puzzler that drives your emotions. If this game has a spiritual cousin, it is Portal, another game about madness and puzzles and the meshing of interesting takes on traditional mechanics.
It is, in my opinion, also a reasonably adult treatise on villainy, and with its allusions to castles and the Super Mario Brothers series… that it’s really about Bowser. Why would a monster want a princess? Why would he build huge castles, engage in villainy, all for a princess?
This is one theme of many very good themes in the game, but it bears mentioning as I have seen nothing about it on Google. The allusions of the oft-posted Donkey Kong level shows an origin, a passing by on the way to something else. It feels almost chronological. When you see the green flag raised at the end I was reminded of when a green flag was lowered. Repeatedly, at the end of every level. By a plumber. I don’t think this is an accident.
They also reference the creation of the atomic bomb, throwing in a line that is actually a line of history. That quote was the summation of sane individuals who built the ultimate tool of self-annihilation. And I do think this is about redemption and deconstructing one’s fantasies to see the real reason a human can fail. These are heady, heady themes. Most books about redemption don’t touch the dirt. There’s scrappy, seldom blunt references to a person’s past in ways other than flashbacks. They don’t share the level of self pity and vice that can leave a man alone. By confronting as bluntly and yet artfully, they have successfully shown that games like Final Fantasy 5,7,8, and Legend of Zelda, and others have been unambitious as storytellers. I’ve thought this often; Braid’s the treatise. The new crop of American storytellers, creating games like GTA4, Portal, and Braid show that this medium has been irrevocably one-upped, and it will be to the detriment of studios looking to check-mark their way into a story. That’s bad news for companies like Nintendo and Square Enix, which do check-mark their stories. The proposition of Final Fantasy 13’s main protagonist being described proudly as “Cloud… but a girl!!” does little to allay my concerns, for one simple reason.
I’ve already played that game.
Braid offers something new, and we are the better for it.
Wednesday, August 13, 2008
Sunday, August 3, 2008
Regarding Zelda
I recently read a book by Randy Pausch, the Carnegie Mellon professor who, when told he would soon die of pancreatic cancer, had made the decision to host a lecture, entitled the Last Lecture (also the name of his book) that goes away from his specialty of virtual worlds and into the infinitely more complex one of reality.
There is a line from the book, and anyone as downtrodden as I get will appreciate the quote that I think is rather good. It actually reminded me of the Legend of Zelda series:
Experience is what you get when you don’t get what you want.
Of course, there’s the implied romance part of it. But nowhere in the annals of game lore is there anyone so chronically cockblocked as Link. Only in the truest non-sequel does he get with the princess. The fat bastard Italian gets more lovin’. Link, whether he is explicitly interested or not, it’s a remarkable silent chivalry. How many games typify chivalry without the payoff?
In chivalry, the payoff simply isn’t the point.
Now this past summer I sat down with Grand Theft Auto 4, a magnificent game. It’s not for everyone, but the one thing that game got was scale. It got physics, and beauty. And when Nintendo finally drags itself into the HD era, I think what I saw was a true potential era for Mario. The gaming canvas was made larger by that game. No longer can you use the excuse of space, no longer can we argue that largesse sacrifices detail. To be blunt, GTA4 broke a lot of rules about how a big game is supposed to act.
SCALE
In that one game, they proved that Final Fantasy needn’t now be afraid of actual airships, of scalable land, rather than their current games modus operandi of linked-pre-renders representing less than 10% of the world the game inhabits. I always believed that was a poor choice for the series. Indeed, the game that has effectively de-throned Final Fantasy as RPG of the masses is World of Warcraft. And that game never lost its sense of scale. There isn’t an inch of impossibility in that game, just scale, awe, and immersion.
Zelda games have always had an impressive and expanding idea of scale, but really the kingdom of Hyrule has always been a bit on the small side. A fully HD Zelda, with far off venues that you can see and later touch, would return the game to the sort of epic scale not seen in its fullest since A Link To The Past.
And we know it can be done. Imagine a forest of that much detail. Link’s quest would feel all the more epic.
PHYSICS.
GTA4 has what I call “Thick rubber band physics”. Apply a small amount of force, and there’s nothing. Apply steady force, and you get one hell of a twang. Link should be hit so hard he gets knocked down despite his shield. Bomb blasts should devastate. Don’t cut away from the Dodongo cave opening; make me run like hell from it. By applying a bit more bounce in the world, the enemies become a bit more fun. It would be a bit more cartoonish in a way, but this has never been a studio to remand such ideas. The thick resistance on the low end of the two series is very similar; jumps are small, and speed carries a lot of nonfatal velocity. But the more violent entry understands that payoff, and infuses the situation with a bit more fun. There isn’t a need for cut scenes to show big events, you’re witnessing them. What could be more adventurous in an adventure game?
SPEED
First Person Shooters and others have taught us that enemies can shoot as fast as you can, and you can still win. It is time, I think, for the majority of Link’s enemies to be able to shoot as fast as he can. There will be an element of danger that has been missing from the series. Link got faster, his enemies have stayed the same speed. By increasing their speed, the game becomes slightly deadlier. But not, as has been proven, fatal. There would be a faster pace to this game.
THE CASUAL QUESTION
Of course, the logic-minded will argue, they could never try this. And indeed I have my doubts, too, that they will. Nintendo has shown that they are committed to the casual audience, and these suggestions (which are unabashedly gamer-centric) do not do that.
Until you look at the numbers. Let me explain. Grand Theft Auto 4 was bought by more than core gamers, it was bought by many. World of Warcraft isn’t merely played by hardcore addicts; there are people on there who rarely have the time to play the game. The numbers that these games support are staggering. In 2 years, World of Warcraft can generate over 2 billion dollars in revenue. In a single week, GTA 4 made more money than any of the summer blockbusters. Think about that. GTA 4 made more money than Indiana Jones, than Iron Man, than the goddamn Batman.
There is an audience with huge dividends, and it exists at the weird merging point between the casual gamer and the hardcore. Indeed, that has been where Nintendo has typically found a great deal of success. Look at any of their successful console or portable console portfolios. With their industry leading successes, it wasn’t just the hardcore. And even with the Wii, it certainly isn’t just the casual market. That’s the balance, and aping some of the physics and ideas of Call of Duty, World of Warcraft, GTA4, and others would push this series into a new renaissance. It would discourage the continued use of the 3 then Master Sword then 5/6/7 other level model encouraged since A Link To the Past. It would mean more, and these small adjustments may inspire. And being inspired, being motivated, is what this series, at least in its early form, has always been about.
Even if you don’t get the princess.
There is a line from the book, and anyone as downtrodden as I get will appreciate the quote that I think is rather good. It actually reminded me of the Legend of Zelda series:
Experience is what you get when you don’t get what you want.
Of course, there’s the implied romance part of it. But nowhere in the annals of game lore is there anyone so chronically cockblocked as Link. Only in the truest non-sequel does he get with the princess. The fat bastard Italian gets more lovin’. Link, whether he is explicitly interested or not, it’s a remarkable silent chivalry. How many games typify chivalry without the payoff?
In chivalry, the payoff simply isn’t the point.
Now this past summer I sat down with Grand Theft Auto 4, a magnificent game. It’s not for everyone, but the one thing that game got was scale. It got physics, and beauty. And when Nintendo finally drags itself into the HD era, I think what I saw was a true potential era for Mario. The gaming canvas was made larger by that game. No longer can you use the excuse of space, no longer can we argue that largesse sacrifices detail. To be blunt, GTA4 broke a lot of rules about how a big game is supposed to act.
SCALE
In that one game, they proved that Final Fantasy needn’t now be afraid of actual airships, of scalable land, rather than their current games modus operandi of linked-pre-renders representing less than 10% of the world the game inhabits. I always believed that was a poor choice for the series. Indeed, the game that has effectively de-throned Final Fantasy as RPG of the masses is World of Warcraft. And that game never lost its sense of scale. There isn’t an inch of impossibility in that game, just scale, awe, and immersion.
Zelda games have always had an impressive and expanding idea of scale, but really the kingdom of Hyrule has always been a bit on the small side. A fully HD Zelda, with far off venues that you can see and later touch, would return the game to the sort of epic scale not seen in its fullest since A Link To The Past.
And we know it can be done. Imagine a forest of that much detail. Link’s quest would feel all the more epic.
PHYSICS.
GTA4 has what I call “Thick rubber band physics”. Apply a small amount of force, and there’s nothing. Apply steady force, and you get one hell of a twang. Link should be hit so hard he gets knocked down despite his shield. Bomb blasts should devastate. Don’t cut away from the Dodongo cave opening; make me run like hell from it. By applying a bit more bounce in the world, the enemies become a bit more fun. It would be a bit more cartoonish in a way, but this has never been a studio to remand such ideas. The thick resistance on the low end of the two series is very similar; jumps are small, and speed carries a lot of nonfatal velocity. But the more violent entry understands that payoff, and infuses the situation with a bit more fun. There isn’t a need for cut scenes to show big events, you’re witnessing them. What could be more adventurous in an adventure game?
SPEED
First Person Shooters and others have taught us that enemies can shoot as fast as you can, and you can still win. It is time, I think, for the majority of Link’s enemies to be able to shoot as fast as he can. There will be an element of danger that has been missing from the series. Link got faster, his enemies have stayed the same speed. By increasing their speed, the game becomes slightly deadlier. But not, as has been proven, fatal. There would be a faster pace to this game.
THE CASUAL QUESTION
Of course, the logic-minded will argue, they could never try this. And indeed I have my doubts, too, that they will. Nintendo has shown that they are committed to the casual audience, and these suggestions (which are unabashedly gamer-centric) do not do that.
Until you look at the numbers. Let me explain. Grand Theft Auto 4 was bought by more than core gamers, it was bought by many. World of Warcraft isn’t merely played by hardcore addicts; there are people on there who rarely have the time to play the game. The numbers that these games support are staggering. In 2 years, World of Warcraft can generate over 2 billion dollars in revenue. In a single week, GTA 4 made more money than any of the summer blockbusters. Think about that. GTA 4 made more money than Indiana Jones, than Iron Man, than the goddamn Batman.
There is an audience with huge dividends, and it exists at the weird merging point between the casual gamer and the hardcore. Indeed, that has been where Nintendo has typically found a great deal of success. Look at any of their successful console or portable console portfolios. With their industry leading successes, it wasn’t just the hardcore. And even with the Wii, it certainly isn’t just the casual market. That’s the balance, and aping some of the physics and ideas of Call of Duty, World of Warcraft, GTA4, and others would push this series into a new renaissance. It would discourage the continued use of the 3 then Master Sword then 5/6/7 other level model encouraged since A Link To the Past. It would mean more, and these small adjustments may inspire. And being inspired, being motivated, is what this series, at least in its early form, has always been about.
Even if you don’t get the princess.
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