He Said, She Said

So you know when you get your hands on a game so good that you can't put it down for a week, and it's all you think about, and you must get every achievement or else you might explode? Well, that's what happened with me and Portal 2 this past week. Which brings us to our topic today:

Dialogue

Some people judge video games based on their graphics, some on their replayability, but I tend to judge a game by its dialogue. It's the English major in me. I don't care if the graphics are breathtaking or if the game play is excellent, dialogue is the key element of the game for me. I think this is especially highlighted by what I've been playing recently.

Portal 2 has some of the best dialogue I've ever heard come out of a game. All of the characters come to life not only because of the excellent writing, but also due to the talent of the voice actors. GLaDOS's character development or Wheately's idiocy would not have been so compelling if the dialogue had been anything less than perfect. Most people complain that Portal is quoted too much, but I believe the attention that the game gets is entirely deserved. You cannot play through this game and not remember all of the insults that GLaDOS threw at you, or Wheatley proclaiming that brain damaged people are the heroes. I have never laughed so hard during a game without Player One around to bounce jokes off of. Nor, for that matter, have I ever become so quickly attached to the characters, and I attribute this to the outstanding quality of the dialogue.

Now, after I finished Portal 2, I decided to pick up Assassin's Creed, since I've heard a lot about the series from my brother. Unfortunately, while the plot is pretty interesting, I'm having difficulty getting through it due to the lackluster dialogue. While Desmond's segments show good writing, with interesting interactions between him and Lucy as you uncover the secrets of his past, Altair's portion of the game doesn't hold the same spark. His voice actor stands out like a sore thumb from the rest of the cast with his poor delivery of lines. Not only that, but the conversations that happened in the past are simply uninteresting. Unlike with Desmond, I don't really care what happens to Altair. In fact, despite how much I enjoy the game play (climbing things in video games has to be one of my favorite past times), I just can't get into the game. I would much rather play through my favorite segments of Portal 2 again than suffer through the boring cutscenes of Assassin's Creed (which is exactly what I have been doing.)

So essentially, what I'm trying to say is, a game will show the strength of its writing in the dialogue exchanged between the main characters. It doesn't matter how good the plot is, if your characters sound flat and uninteresting no one is going to care what happens to them. Similarly, poor voice acting will ruin an excellent script. It's finding the perfect combination of writing and voice acting that will lead you to the best story-oriented games, and those two things are key in any video game that I pursue (with several notable exceptions.)

Which, of course, begs your question "What about the silent protagonists, Rachel? What about games with little to no dialogue?" Well, dear reader, that sounds like a topic for Friday, doesn't it?

Gaming Tears

Manly Tears, Guys. They're Manly Tears.

You're playing an RPG. Now this isn't just any RPG, you've played it for over 80+ hours, you've fallen in love with the characters, and you're so invested in them, you think you might have a slight problem. You've leveled, you've seen some of your favorites die along the way, but now that you're facing the final boss, everything is going to be okay. All of your hard work is going to be validated. You beat the boss, you're celebrating, but then as you watch the final scene, you come to the sudden realization that your main character is dying and there's nothing you can do about it. Helplessly, you watch as they fall asleep... And then you burst into tears.

Okay guys, crying over games is a perfectly acceptable thing. I'm not going to lie, I've cried over several game endings (Persona 3 and Metal Gear Solid 3 are notable games that I've felt like bawling over (is is something to do with the 3? I'll have to try this theory out...)) and the key thing to understand is that it's not a crime to feel sad. Of course you're going to feel gloomy about beating one of your favorite games, of course you're going to feel depressed about leaving behind all of these wonderful characters, and God,  why did they feel it necessary to kill of the main character? I mean what the hell, right? It's just kicking you when you're down! Shedding tears is a perfectly acceptable way to react to this kind of situation.

"But Rachel," you say, "I don't want to cry in front of my friends!" Well, concerned gamer, your friends should accept you for who you are. If you're going to cry, they shouldn't make fun of you for it (unless it's over the end of My Little Pony or Barbie Space Princess or something like that (of course, then they'd probably laughing at your choice of game as well as your inappropriate amout of mucus over the ending where Princess Buttercup falls in love with the Hunky Prince, but that's beside the point.)) However, there are appropriate levels of crying in front of your friends. If you're going to be sobbing to the point where there's going to be snot flying everywhere and you're going to be inconsolable for four hours, then playing through the end of the game with your friends might be a bad idea. Then you might want to wait until the middle of the night when everyone in your house is asleep, and you can lock yourself in your basement and wail like a banshee all you want.

However, if you've been playing through a game with your friend, and the ending makes you tear up, but they're just laughing their asses off at your heroes' plight (the jerk!), then you should probably bite your cheek and try to keep it in. Or at least excuse yourself to the bathroom where you can sob in peace. Really, it all comes down to the atmosphere in the room, and the friend that you're playing the game with. If you feel comfortable with them seeing you so exposed, then go right ahead and show off those manly tears, be proud of your feelings! Let it all hang out (but not too much, because sometimes blubbering cannot be unseen. Especially when you have to wash all the snot out of your clothes. Just thinking about it makes me shudder.)

So the moral of the story is: be in touch with your emotions, know your friends, and always stay in your comfort zone when you want to cry at the end of a game. Knowing when and where it is appropriate to burst into tears can make so many awkward situations instantly disappear, and can truly make the difference between a positive and negative gaming experience.

So how do you guys react when you reach the end of a game? Be sure to let me know!

Three Months?! Are You Serious?!

Enduring the Wait 

and Surviving What Comes After

You finally get to the end of your game and watch the credits roll, and you can't believe that you've finally done it. To satisfy your craving for more, you go online and look up articles about the game. Everything is going fine until you find out that they're already planning the sequel... Except the earliest that it's coming out is two years down the line. How are you going to survive that long without these characters? Are you even going to like the series after all that time? How do you know it's going to be good anyway? Should you even bother keeping your hopes up? Well dear readers, today I'm here to commiserate with you as we examine how to handle the suspense.

During the Wait.

Believe me, I know how painful it is to wait for a resolution. While TV shows you can at least have the assurance that your wait will only be several months to a year, books and video games and even movies can take a much longer time. Several of my favorite book series are still ongoing, and I read the most recent book several years back when it first came out, and I'm still waiting for the newest one. Now, the problem with such long waits is that you change a lot as a person over those several years of hiatus, especially if it's a series you enjoy when you're young. As you grow older, you find that your views and tastes change. Your favorite character when you're thirteen won't necessarily be your favorite character when you come back to the same game five years later. Maybe a series that you loved when you were younger loses its magic, and when you play the next installment, you wonder why you waited so long for the game in the first place. These are both serious worries, but it's important not to lose hope because of your trepidation. You need to keep that hope that the sequel will live up to what you've always dreamed of, because if you lose that hope you're never going to be able to survive the wait.

However, that's not to say that you shouldn't expect something unreasonable from this sequel. I understand that you expect something that is better than the first game, something that completely blows the first out of the water and makes you wonder why you ever loved it, but that's not going to be the case every time you get a new game. As painful as it is, you need to realize that sometimes this new game is the final nail in the coffin and makes you put the series down for good. While on the other hand, the game could actually be that amazing game that you've always wanted. You really won't know until you pick up the game, so why worry about it in the beginning of the wait? Sit back, relax, try to follow our steps to get over an amazing game. Then, when news starts leaking out, when images are released, when you finally get the trailer, then determine how high you want to set the bar. I know that Player One is beside herself waiting for Skyrim, which is looking like an amazing game, and I'm a mess waiting for Uncharted 3 because it looks like everything I want and more, but I'm still worried about the appearance of my favorite character. Hope is always a good thing, but don't get blinded by it. I mean, as much as I would love a sequel to Beyond Good and Evil, I've tried not to get my hopes up on ever seeing it happen. Until you hear something definitive, you never know if you're actually going to get that sequel you want, even if you patiently wait forever (and ever and ever and ever until finally they release Duke Nukem. It's just like waiting for me to beat Nyx, but knowing that I still have many more tries to go.)

After the Wait.

So the sequel came out. What now? Well, you should go pick it up, of course! You're never going to know if you're going to like the game until you try it yourself. Player One and I are currently having this problem with Persona 4 (even though we have resolved to get it sometime soon to play through next year (we need to get on that, Victoria (maybe when I get money (hm.)))) You know that you loved the first game, and you don't want to tarnish that experience if the sequel turns out to be awful. But what happens if the sequel is better than the first? Don't you want to experience that if that's the case? You need to take that leap. I know it might be painful, I know it's terrifying, but trust me, you'll feel much better once you do. When I took the leap after Uncharted, I discovered that Uncharted 2 was the superior game, and I love it much more than the first one. At the same time, when I tried to play Tales of Symphonia 2, I swore off of the series altogether because it was that horrible (I'm only just getting back into it after playing through Tales of the Abyss with Player One.) These are the risks you need to take, but I personally think the pros far outweigh the cons. After all, what's the fun in life if you never take any risks?

So what do you guys think? Do you ever take that leap? Let me know!

Got Dramamine?

Sometimes you need to step away from your comfort zone in order to enjoy new types of games. When action/adventure platformers begin to get tedious; when you've played through so many RPGs that you think you're going to scream the next time you have to go level grinding; when over-the-shoulder shooters cease to be challenging... It might be time to try something new. Never tried a skateboard game? Always worried that first person shooters are going to make you ill? Well, it's time to put aside your well-loved games and try something new.

Trying Something New

And attempting not to get nauseous in the process.

Recently I got my Xbox (as you all well know, but I'm still going to be bringing it up for a while because I'm so excited about it) and getting that new system completely opened my eyes to a whole new realm of genres. While previously I owned a PlayStation 3, the only FPS game I had played was BioShock (which combines the three things I'm afraid of: the ocean, darkness, and an FPS. It was not a good combination (and don't even get me started on my trials when I tried to play through Dead Space (I seriously don't even understand how my brother dealt with me (I only got twenty minutes into it I was so terrified (But, I digress.)))) So, the Xbox was a wonderful way for me to step out of my comfort zone of puzzles, adventures, and level grinding, and finally take that ultimate leap into the genre.

Now I mostly picked up Left 4 Dead 2 because Player One highly recommended the game and, in my separation anxiety, I really wanted to play something with her. So I went to GameStop, browsed through the games, left the $5 RPG on the bargain bin behind, and picked up Left 4 Dead. I was kind of worried about this purchase (which I'm sure many of you will be when you take the leap and try something new), but I trusted Victoria, and, I mean, I love killing zombies, so what could possibly go wrong? (Well, besides motion sickness, but thankfully that doesn't seem to be an issue with this game (Call of Duty on the other hand...))

Well, I found out that I'm horrible at first person shooters. Like really, really terrible at them. I felt like I was just starting to play games all over again, and the first few hours of Left 4 Dead involved me dying more times than I could count, me not understanding how to move the characters around, me absolutely failing at aiming weapons, me falling off buildings because I couldn't control the characters well... The list goes on. But, this experience humbled me. Not that I thought I was an ~uber gamer~, but because in the genres that I'm good at, I got through the games with little to no effort on my part, and I became good at them within the first hour.

Now, after owning Left 4 Dead 2 for about two weeks, I'm still struggling through it. Player One is outstanding in playing it (in the one multiplayer game that we played through, I felt like more dead weight than Rochelle), and I'm slowly working toward becoming competent at it. Every time I improve I always feel an overwhelming sense of accomplishment, and this keeps me going back to the game again and again and again, working toward becoming sufficient enough at the FPS that I can finally get through some Call of Duty games and stand a chance at going against those Nazi zombies.

So what genres do you guys struggle with? Let me know!