A Promise Unforgotten- A Franchise Matures

We cap off a month of Disgaea by looking at the fourth, but not the last game in the series, Disgaea 4: A Promise Unforgotten.

Image taken from gamefaqs.com, by user leonia19.

Absence of Justice- A Franchise Leaps Forward, Stumbles a Bit

The year was 2008, and though the Playstation 2 was still selling, the fact of the matter was that the Playstation 3 was on the market, and it was hungry for new games. For the first time in over a decade, Nintendo was taking a commanding lead in the Console Wars with their Wii, and Microsoft's Xbox 360 was selling strong, but was losing ground thanks to the many hardware problems that had been plaguing the console, most notably the Red Ring of Death. Still, this was a new age for console gaming, where new features that were previously the exclusive realm of PC gaming were suddenly becoming the norm for all games: downloadable content, online play, online socialization, and the ability to upload information to the internet. NIS released their latest game with all these features in mind, and that game was Disgaea 3: Absence of Justice.

Image taken from gamefaqs.com

Cursed Memories- A Franchise Grows

The year was 2006. Though the next generation of gaming was just around the corner, the PS2 was still dominating the gaming scene. The JRPG, though far from dead, was no longer the critical darling it once was, with games like GTA: San Andreas, Halo 2, and God of War proving that the JRPG was not the only genre that could tell cinematic stories. Still, Nippon Ichi Software, riding high on the success of their game Disgaea, were releasing several Strategy games that combined in depth combat with a story told humorously. Games like Makai Kingdom and Phantom Brave were giving the company a good reputation among gamers, showing that Disgaea 1 was no flash in the pan. Still, a sequel was inevitable, and three years after the original, Disgaea 2: Cursed Memories was released.

Image taken from Gamefaqs.com

The Hour of Darkness- A Franchise is Born (Part 1)

The year was 2003. The Playstation 2 was the biggest seller in the world, Nintendo was going through it's toughest time yet, and the XBox was catching up to the PS2 with a plethora of games, including a little game called Halo. The PS2, however, was still reigning supreme, and as far as RPG's were concerned, it was home to some of the best games in the genre, including the latest Final Fantasies. On that year, a little gaming company called Nippon Ichi Software, or NIS, was releasing a new game that used 2D sprites. This game company was, until that year, known in Japan as the makers of a cutesy series of SRPG's called Marl Kingdom. Outside of Japan, they were nobodies. That all changed with the release of a little game called Disgaea: The Hour of Darkness, hereby referred to as Disgaea 1.

Image taken from the game's Wikipedia page.

Spoilers Abound!!!

Announcement- December will be a Month of Disgaea

Just like last year, this December, every Saturday or Sunday I'll be uploading a blog entry analyzing the Disgaea series. For those of you who don't know, Disgaea is a Strategy Role Playing Game series, somewhat under the radar in comparison to, say, the Final Fantasy or Dragon Quest series of games.

Why am I doing this? Well, mostly, because I am a Disgaea fanboy. I admit it, and I am not ashamed of it. I am a Disgaea fanboy, through and through. In fact, I could go a step further and say I'm a NIS fanboy. So yeah, I am going to be analyzing a series of video games most people have never even heard of. Such is my sad but fulfilling life. Anyway, here's the schedule:

December 6-7: Disgaea 1
December 13-14: Disgaea 2
December 20-21: Disgaea 3
December 27-28: Disgaea 4

For the record, I'll be using the original PS2-PS3 releases of the games as my basis for analysis, for the simple reason that they are the ones I've played. I am aware there have been re-releases, but since I've not played them, I cannot comment on them.

I hope you'll be joining me on this analysis!

"Will Wheaton: Anonymous trolls are destroying online gaming."- A rebuttal.

On November 11 of 2014, actor Will Wheaton, whom you might know as the voice of Aqualad from the 2002-2006 Teen Titans cartoon and as a recurring self parody on the Big Bang Theory, has recently written an article on the Washington Post, titled "Anonymous Trolls are destroying online gaming. Here's how to stop them." As I am a firm believer in freedom of speech, the respectful exchange of ideas, and the individual freedom to believe what we wish, I offer my own rebuttal to his work. His original words will be left uncensored (save for one video that I shall not link, I'll explain why below) and will be written in bold, while my words will be written beneath his, unboldened. As the purpose of this entry is to educate and criticize, it is protected by Copyright law. His original work can be found here: http://www.washingtonpost.com/posteverything/wp/2014/11/11/anonymous-trolls-are-destroying-online-games-heres-how-to-stop-them/?tid=sm_fb

Gamergate Stream I Did With a Facebook Group I'm In.

Suikoden 2.5

I'm a huge fan of Suikoden. I'm a proud member of the Suikoden Revival Movement, have signed up for both Suikoden Day 2013 and 2014 (didn't participate because of time constraints, however), and have played Suikoden 1, 2, 3, 4, and Tactics. I've yet to play 5 because I have no money, but it's on my bucket list. Anyway, there is a certain, fan made Suikoden game that I've been keeping my eye on for a while now, and I think every Suikoden fan owes it to themselves to do the same. The game is called Suikoden 2.5.

On Lies and Propaganda

I just came out of reading a Dr Nerdlove blog, titled "What we talk about when we talk about Gamergate", yet another piece from the Anti Gamergate propaganda machine set out to convince anyone willing to lend an ear that Gamergate is not about ethics, it's not about consumer dissatisfaction, and it's not about the feeling of betrayal that millions of gamers feel when they are told by the people that they had given their support  that their identity is irrelevant, that they don't matter as consumers, that they are misogynists, and well, you know the rest. The Anti Gamergate side keeps repeating the same lies over and over again and again: that this is about Zoe Quinn, Anita Sarkeesian, and an attempt by the "gatekeepers of gaming culture to evict women from their club house", quoted from Dr Nerdlove. His blog entry is propaganda. But what is propaganda?

On Anita Sarkeesian and the October 24, 2014 Seattle School Shooting

So yesterday there was a school shooting in Seattle. A very sad occurrence, to be sure. When these things happen, the best thing for those who lived very far away is to send our sympathies to the victims of the shooting and their families. In times like these, what we need to do is to demonstrate our humanity and compassion, to make ourselves available to the people whose lives have been destroyed by the actions of a madman.

...

Anti Gamergate Cartoon- An Analysis

The following is an analysis to an anti Gamergate cartoon that was propagated by a Facebook group that I had given my support until today. The name of the group will not be given because I have no intention of giving them so much as a single word of promotion.

Edit February 11, 2016: This comic was written and drawn by Kris Straub. 

100th Post- Just a few quick words

I'll be honest with you people: When I started this blog, I never expected it to reach 100 posts. And when I was making it a habit to write in my blog, I expected to reach 100 posts by February, but then I went back to college, and well, life happened. But here I am, 100 posts! One hundred entries, ladies and gentlemen, one hundred.

I'd like to say a few quick things. First off, I am deeply saddened by the way gamers are being treated by the people whose careers we made. Are there gamers out there who quite frankly need to see a psychiatrist ASAP and should be dragged away from any computer in the vicinity? Yeah, there are. Are ALL gamers like that? Hell no. Gamers are diverse: some of us are men, others are women, some are Left Wing, others Right Wing. Some of us read Jezebel, others read Return of Kings. Some of us play MMORPG's, some prefer FPS, some of us can't stomach FarmVille, and some of us never picked up Flappy Bird.

Just for Fun- A Few Pokemon Ideas

Man, with GamerGate, #NotYourShield, Quinnspiracy, and all this controversy surrounding gamers, it feels like we're living in a crossroads of destiny, where what we do today will decide the fate of our subculture. So today, here's something just for fun: a small list of animals that NEED to have Pokemon designed off of them.

On Ethics and Free Speech

I'd like to say a few quick words in regards to the biggest concern regarding GamerGate: ethics and free speech.

Ethics is the philosophy of right and wrong. It is the study of ideas that define what behaviors and actions can be seen as righteous or condemn able. There are several schools of moral philosophy, including Ayn Rand's Objectivism, Immanuel Kant's Intentionalism, and John Stuart Mill's Utilitarianism, to name but a select few. To learn more, here's Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethics

Free Speech is a bit trickier to define, but let's give it a shot. Ideally, Free Speech means that we can say whatever we want without consequence. This, however, is impossible, because every action must have a reaction. I know that sounds vague, so allow me to present an example. Say someone were to yell "FIRE!!!" in a crowded theater, thus causing a panic. Is that person excising free speech? In a way, yes, but what their action caused a panic, so the person must be punished. How about we give an example closer to our interests? Say someone uses their Twitter to harass, say, Anita Sarkeesian. Is she (let's make her a female to be fair. Not everyone who hates Sarkeesian, after all, is male) using her right to Free Speech? Well, technically, yes. But she's also committing an unethical act. Harassment means the continued and unwanted actions towards one party by another. This is illegal, and continuous harassment can get you in trouble.

A Tale of Two Feminists

To you, my readers, I present a tale of fiction. The characters, though based on real people, are entirely fictional.

There once were two very different feminists, hereby referred to as Alice and Betty. Both girls believed in Girl Power, both girls wanted careers that were traditionally thought of as "boy's only" jobs. And both girls wanted to be involved with video games.

However, that was where the two were very different. Alice loved video games, you see, for she grew up with them. She played many, many games on her Playstation 1, her Nintendo DS, and her Playstation 2. She saved up for a Playstation 3 and bought the system herself, with her own money! Alice loved gaming above all things, and wanted to make her own game, work for a big gaming company. When she was younger, Alice read all about Rieko Kodama, and said "I wanna be like her."

Open Letters to Zoe Quinn, Phil Fish, Adam Sessler, Devin Faraci, Samantha Allen, and Kotaku

Dear Adam Sessler:

  Your words are those of a comfortable man, a man who has never in his life had to confront the horrors of war save from the safe distance provided by a couch and a television set, or in this new day and age, a chair and a computer. Let me show you some pictures, Mr Sessler:
(CAUTION TO READERS: THE FOLLOWING IMAGES MAY BE UPSETTING FOR YOUNGER AUDIENCES)

Gamergate

It's hard to believe that the biggest controversy to hit the gaming community since Jack Thompson's anti gaming crusade started when a jilted ex boyfriend made a blog post revealing that his ex-lover, Zoe Quinn, cheated on him with several prolific members of the gaming press. It's even harder to believe that the gaming press has reacted to this controversy with censorship and attacks on their consumer base, calling gamers "irrelevant". 

Or rather, maybe what should have surprised us was that it took this long for this controversy to start, because the warning signs were all there from the get go. Consider how long gaming "journalism" has been assuming a holier-than-thou attitude towards gamers, especially in regards towards gender politics. Consider as proof Ian Miles Cheong's article "Be Respectful and Considerate", an article about the Mighty Number 9 Kickstater and the controversy surrounding Dina Abou Karam, which does little more than paint the entire controversy as being about anti feminism when it was really about anti cronyism. A link that that article here. Zoe Quinn didn't "start" this, she was just the spark that lit the fire. The fire itself was a long time coming.

Maybe this controversy should have started earlier, but right now, that doesn't matter. What DOES matter is that the movement has started, and it seems to be gaining ground. Although we gamers are disadvantaged in terms of voice power (after all, we're not the ones with big traffic websites) we do have powers that gaming "journalists" just don't match.

We have the power of consuming. We are the ones that made this industry, with our hard earned money (or in the case of our younger gamers that do not rely on an independent source of income, our parent's or guardian's hard earned money). WE are the ones that made GTA5 the entertainment juggernaut it is today. WE are the ones that made World of Warcraft, League of Legends, Halo, etc into household names. And the publishers? They know it. They know we are the ones who made their careers, that the consumer is the job creator of the market, that without us they have no jobs. When the time comes, will publishers side with the gamers that made their careers, or with the "journalists" that insult their own consumer base?

Right now as of this writing, Gamergate continues, and I predict a victory for the gaming community. But what I think should come out of this is the following:

Shit like this needs to end. We want gaming journalism to be impartial to all audiences, to be dedicated to truth based on evidence. We want a gaming journalism that reports based on facts, not on what would earn the website revenue based on how many people read their articles. We want gaming news to be titled based on what the subject is, not on what would lure more people to click the article.

We want "journalists" to face consequences for their actions. When a "journalist" compares us gamers to ISIS (the Islamic State, currently one of the most infamous terrorist groups in the world) we want that person to be disciplined, hopefully even fired. We want gaming journalists to owe up to their sources, we want them to cite, we want them to tell the truth.

We want journalists to be impartial when they report the news. We're tired of journalists that defend Anita Sarkeesian and use her word as gospel; we want journalists to question her. We want journalists to ask her what she did with the 150K dollars we donated to her for a 12 part video series that was promised to be delivered by December 2012, of which she has, as of this writing, released only 5 videos, and which has been accused of NOT reflecting a dime of the money she had been given. We want answers to these accusations: that she stole Let's Play footage, that she stole artwork, that her some of her harassment has been staged. We want journalists willing to confront the wrath of any special interests groups in order to find the truth.

What else can I say? There have been hundreds of words spoken about Gamergate, and all of these voices have said whatever needed to be said better than I could. I guess I leave you what I can only call required reading and viewing:

http://themalesofgames.blogspot.com/2014/09/gamergate-and-notyourshield.html

http://themalesofgames.blogspot.com/2014/08/the-zoe-quinn-story.html
http://www.spj.org/ethicscode.asp

Suikoden Day- Why It's Needed

Suikoden Day, a time of celebration for fans of the video game series Suikoden, where fan works are presented and shared, contests are held, and overall a feeling of brotherhood is felt throughout the fandom. This day, held this year on August 15, 2014, is a day for camaraderie, a day for fans to remind each other that they are not alone, that they belong to an international brotherhood united in a common bond: their love for a grossly underrated series. But, do we really NEED  a Suikoden Day?

Is Super Mario World really that good?

It's often called one of the best Mario games ever, and considering Mario is THE best selling franchise in the world, that's saying a lot. This is one of the games that helped codify just what the Super Nintendo was capable of: bright colors, fast gameplay, less glitching, clear sound, and more detailed graphics than the NES or the Genesis. But today we need to ask ourselves a tough question: is Super Mario World really THAT good?

Had It Succeeded: Virtual Boy

I'd like to present to you a hypothetical timeline. As you know, in the year 1995, Gunpei Yokoi, father of the Nintendo Gameboy and the man who practically invented handheld gaming (for all intents and purposes), created one last project for Nintendo, meant to be his farewell gift, his swan song before he left the company to pursue new interests: The Virtual Boy, the world's first 3D handheld gaming device. This timeline assumes that Nintendo, instead of rushing the Virtual Boy into the market, decided to test the device, perfecting it until it was ready for release.

From http://www.gameex.info/forums/topic/12241-logos-artwork-random-stuff/page-4

One Year Anniversary

It's been a year since I've taken to blogging about video games, and I must say it's been one of the best decisions I've made in my life.

I've been gaming since I was five years old, since the year 1991. My first video game ever was Super Mario World for the SNES. Man, I played that game every weekend, as mom would not allow me to play on the weekdays, otherwise my grades would suffer. Anyway, I beat the game with not too much trouble, but I'd often lay it on the side to play games my parents would rent for me from Blockbuster. Back then, you could rent a game for like 2 dollars for one weekend, and it was awesome.

Anyway, I think I want to talk about why this blog is important to me. Truth is, this blog isn't giving me any money. It's not from lack of trying, because I tried to monetize this blog when I first started, see if I could get a little coin in my pocket. But as time went on, and Google made it clear that AdSense was a no go for me, I started thinking about WHY I started this blog. And the truth is, writing gives me purpose. I've been unemployed a good while now, since I graduated college in 2008. I've been looking for work, and no one would hire me. I'd go to interviews but I'd be turned down for whatever reason, like my shoes. I went back in college to finish some classes I needed for my teaching license, but now I have to wait for the Department of Education (which has a well earned repute for being incompetent) to give me my license. For a long time, I felt like I had no purpose, you know?

I started writing this blog because a friend of mine told me to. She gave me the idea that I should do my own blog, that I could do a little writing to distract myself. So, I said to myself "why not?". I went to Blogger, started a new blog, and wrote my first ever entry, which I titled Pokemon: A Coming of Age Story. It was an idea that I had been thinking about for a while, and had nowhere to put it into words. But now that I have a blog, I do!

I love writing on this blog, because not only does it make me feel like I have a purpose, it makes me feel alive, like I'm doing SOMETHING with myself. I love writing this blog, even if hardly anyone reads it, even if I'm not a good blogger at all, because when I write on it I feel like I'm someone worthwhile. I feel happy doing this, and I hope to continue doing this for a good, long while.

Travianer Dorfleben- An opinion

It's been a week since Travians officially and finally closed its operations. The game just fizzled out of existence, like it was never there, kept alive only by a few videos, a few pictures, and some fond (and not so fond) memories held by former players. Travian Games has closed its game, offering players to instead try out their new game, Miramagia, which some of us wouldn't even touch considering we were still miffed with the company regarding how they treated Travians. But, surprisingly, a new game rather similar to Travians, but graphically superior, is on the horizon: Travianer Dorfleben.

Travianer Dorfleben is a fan made game based on Travians. So far, little information has been released regarding the game, save for the fact that, graphically, it resembles Travians while at the same time surpasses it by being far more detailed. So far, the game isn't even on the Beta stage yet; it's still being developed.

Not much else is known about the project, aside from the fact that it IS approved of by Travian Games, it will NOT be commercialized, and it will be run by the fans of Travians. What this means is that the game is for fans, BY fans.

I for one think this is a GOOD thing, because the game is, beyond a shadow of a doubt, a labor of love. This is a group of people working out of their own pocket to somewhat revive, and improve, a game that they had emotionally invested in. This is a game that will never make them a dime, and not to sound cynical, but it might never break the one thousand players total mark. The Facebook page where the game is being announced has 500 members total, myself included. And this is a non commercial work, so I don't see any money being poured into advertising. The game will have to depend on good word of mouth just to get any recognition.

So, why? Why bother making the game? As I said before, it's a labor or love. It's a game made by fans, because they want their favorite game to, one way or another, keep on living. Because they saw the wasted potential that Travian Games did not.

One thing that I'll forever criticize Travian Games of doing is that they did not listen to their player base. When the players asked for more missions, Travian Games gave them a night and day cycle (which, according to my sources, was already produced by a third party programmer.) When the players kept asking for new missions, Travian Games gave them new furniture sets to buy, which were already designed by many fans of the game. And when the game started dying, Travian Games played the fiddle as Rome burned. All the players wanted was content of value, something to keep them playing, and TG failed them. Miserably.

But now, Travianer Dorfleben is being run by those very same fans. And best of all, since it won't be a commercial game, it truly will be Free to Play! No more need to spend real money on the game, the game will be free!

I'm of the opinion that, when the game launches, even if the game won't be popular, it will at least be good. Who knows? It might be even better than the original! All the evidence seems to point towards that notion!

Edutainment (Done Wrong)- Captain Novolin

Edutainment: entertainment that educates, or a work that both entertains AND teaches at the same time. Edutainment is a staple of development, and in fact might be one of the most effective teaching tool available. Works of edutainment require a LOT of skill and dedication, as well as expertise in not just the art of entertainment, but the science of teaching as well. Edutainment, then, becomes a hybrid of science and art, a work whose value is measured not just in its artistic merit, but on its educational effectiveness as well. Films, television, music, even video games can be venues for edutainment, and today we look at a game that absolutely failed at its job to both educate AND entertain: Captain Novolin.

A good compliment I can give the game is that the box art reflects the game's spirit.

Nina's Death- Harvest Moon A Wonderful Life

Harvest Moon is that series of games where you can just sit back, relax, and play to your heart's content without needing any violence, sexuality, double entendres, or any vulgarity. It is safe, clean family fun. But once in a while, this series does something that hits the player hard. Today's blog entry seeks to analyze one of the sadder moments in the franchise: the death of Nina in Harvest Moon: A Wonderful Life.

Yes, this game IS as cute as the box suggests.

Games I'm planning

Due to reasons of health, and that tomorrow is my birthday, there will not be a new blog entry today, save for some news...

First off, recall that RPG I mentioned earlier this month? Well, I've recently downloaded RPG Maker 2003, so now I officially have something that can help me make the game! I am currently experimenting on how to make games on this software, and have so far managed to do the following:

1-Make a map
2-Make a dungeon
3-Make a town
4-Make a boss battle
5-Make a cutscene

All that in under 24 hours. However, I have much, much, MUCH to learn, including the following:

1-Make custom sprites
2-Make an introductory movie
3-Make a shop
4-Add in custom music

Among millions of other things. I am a quick learner, but I am also a man who wants to do a good job. So, don't expect the game to come out any time soon...

That said, don't despair just yet. I AM learning, and doing so with much eagerness. This is quite fun for me, and it's something I've wanted to do a while now! I've even got a couple of games I'm interested in making, but so far these are just "pies in the sky" dreams, for now. Here's a quick run down on a few RPG's I'm interested in making:

1- An RPG starring a group of five heroes, heavily based on the Super Sentai and Power Rangers franchises. This one will be making a lot of use of Character Transformation, as can be guessed.

2- A horror game in the style of Uri's games like Mermaid Swamp or The Crooked Man, about a man who goes to the mountains of San Sebastian, Puerto Rico, and find a ghost woman with worms coming out of her mouth. I intend to release it in Spanish and English if it's ever made. The man does his research on the ghost, and finds that his town has a forgotten history. Themes I want to touch are History, Revenge, the Paranormal, traditions, among others.

I apologize for not having a blog entry today, but again, I am feeling under the weather. Hopefully I'll have something by Tuesday.

Online Toxicity- How to be an Asshole on League of Legends

The following is satire. It is meant to shed a light on the unacceptable behavior that many online game players partake in, particularly in League of Legends. DO NOT do anything this list tells you to do. Do the OPPOSITE of what this list tells you to do. This list does NOT reflect how I really feel, it reflects the exact opposite. Again, this is SATIRE.

You know what I'm sick and tired of seeing online? I'm sick and tired of seeing people be courteous to each other even after they completely screwed up my winning streak. I am tired as hell of the guy who lost us the game asking for forgiveness in lobby. I am sick of having to share credit with my support or my jungler for MY kills, even if the jungler applied the crowd control needed for me to get the kill and the support gave me heals and buffs whenever the enemy got lucky and managed to gang up on me. I am sick and tired of having to deal with junglers who don't gank for me whenever I ORDER them to. Do you feel like I do? Then here's a few quick tips on how to get the right attitude on League of Legends!

Lakeview Cabin- A Quick Analysis

Lakeview Cabin is a free to play Flash Game hosted on Newgrounds as well as Gamejolt. In it, you play a red haired man who's in a woodland cabin on an island in the middle of a lake, most likely enjoying a well earned vacation. A little beer, a little fresh air, some peace and quite, and a nearby topless beach frequented by nubile women, what more can a man ask for? Well, how about not being attacked by a vengeful zombie?

Goodbye, Travians

I meant to leave this blog entry for the 25th of July, but I feel like this is as good a time as any. On the day of July 25, 2014, Travians will close its operations.

Travians was a browser game, free to play (but with some premium content for people willing to pay for it), and somewhat addicting...at first. The meat of the game has always been chatting and sharing with other players, playing mini games with them, having battles, and so forth. Players were encouraged to make friends in game, to trade with them, and have fun. It was a community driven game.

I started playing Travians on the summer of 2009, five years ago. It was my first MMO experience, and it was my gateway to Internet culture. Way back then, the game was PACKED. It was not unusual to see over a thousand players at the same time, all online. The game was a whole year old by that time, so that may explain why it was so popular at the time. I met plenty of people in the game, two of which I still communicate with to this day.

Travians was more than just a chat room with a game attached; there's also a mission based game in there. Your character (one per account) lives up to 111 days (and no, not in game days, I mean Real Life days), and once day 111 comes and goes, your character dies, bringing forth a new generation for your character. Think of it like "levels", and your character goes up a "level" every 111 days. These "levels" are called Generation, abbreviated in game as gen. My character lived to gen 10, and if I had played consistently in 2012, I'd be gen 13.

The game gives you missions from gens 1 to 3. That means you are given a year to finish the game's missions. What happens if you pass a generation without finishing the missions? Well...no penalty! The game just pretends that you passed the mission! Not like it mattered, because the only thing the missions were good for was advancing the story; there were no other rewards, at all. Although this was a huge flaw in the game, the missions were entertaining...at first. More on this later.

Between missions, you were encouraged to chat with friends. There were no less than 12 different chat rooms on the main hud, with many more individual chat rooms per player AND player's house AND guild house! And there were also several chat rooms for the clubs as well! The game really heavily emphasized friendships and inter player communication!

I met a lot of friends there, and no one I wish I had never met. The game was there for me when I needed someone to talk to. The game was there to entertain me on many lonely days and nights. I once stayed up to 5 AM playing the game! I have some great memories from this game...

But the game died out a long time ago. When once there were almost a thousand players online, there were suddenly 250 people online. And then 150 people online at a time. And then...80 people. Of 1650 accounts, only 80 would be online at a time. What happened? Why did the player base shrink so badly?

One of the game's biggest flaws was the fact that, after gen 3 there was NOTHING to do. Every day you came online, it'd be the same thing: you collected resources, you sold resources, you would chat with friends if they were online, you would attend community actions. Lather, rinse, repeat. Every day. Many, many players would delete their accounts due to the absolute boredom brought upon them by this horrid routine. I have had many friends abandon the game because of this.

There were no new missions added to the game until about late 2012, but by then it was too little, too late. A good chunk of the player base was gone, and those that stayed had no interest in the new missions anyway. By then, the game was more of a chore for most players, with many simply ignoring the rest of the game and simply focusing on community actions. That's what happened to me.

And then one day, I stopped caring.

The game held many memories for me, both good and bad. But for a long time, it was nothing but the bad memories that came to me every time I logged on. It was the memories of friends who never bothered to say goodbye, of drama, of sleepless nights where I needed a friend most and no one was online. And other memories too, that I'd rather not write about here, sorry.

So I stopped logging in. There were days where I'd think about deleting my account, but I never got around to it. I would log in again, play a while, and then I'd log out. And it was like that for a long time.

And then one day, I got the message. On June 15, I logged in, and read that in one month, the game was closing, for good. I guess the message hit me harder than expected. I have spent a few days just thinking about everything, you know? About how life changes, and how sometimes these changes are good, and sometimes these changes are not so good on the surface.

A few days before, on June 11, I had to put my dog down. I had that dog for 15 years, which makes that most of my life. I knew it was coming, for a long time I knew. And then, boom. It happened. It had to happen. The dog was no longer walking, confined to his little bed, wetting himself, whining every minute or so. It was way more painful than expected, and I expected a lot of emotional pain.

Life has a funny way of sneaking up on you like that, you know? You never know when what you thought would always be there, will go away. I had that dog for 15 years. I've played Travians for five years. And next month, both will be little more than a memory.

But I'm not angry, or sad, or even nostalgic. Yes, I'll miss them both, but my memories are still in my heart. let me share some about Travians.

Christmas 2009, I got up extra early to play with my present, Disgaea 3. While I gave my little brother a turn at the PS3, I logged onto Travians and just spent the whole morning chatting, having fun. I will always remember that Christmas.

August 2010, a friend of mine had died. She and I would chat in the game every day, just talking, sharing stories, joking around. She was 15 at the time. Kate was her name. To this day I remember the absolute shock I felt hearing the news.

I am thankful for my time with Travians. I met good people, had some good times, some not so good times, and some fun moments that will live on in my heart. I welcome change, even if it doesn't seem like the change is good.

There is nothing left to do, but to say goodbye. It is often said that the most painful words in the English language are "good bye", and make no mistake, these words have destroyed countless hearts. But to me, maybe these words can act as a release, as a way to close a chapter of our lives in order to start a new one. So, good bye.

Good bye, Travians.

Primal Rage- Did it deserve to become a franchise?

Way back in 1994, there were two very big fighting games that were leading the Silver Age of the Video Game Arcade: Street Fighter 2 and Mortal Kombat. During this time, fighting games were being released left and right by companies looking to get a slice of that pie. Some games were good, like Virtua Fighter, while others were, well, pure garbage, like Tattooed Assassins. During this year, Atari released a game that did absolutely nothing new of importance, save show how much damage combos did, and allow mini games to occur during a match. And this game was called Primal Rage. Plans were made for a sequel, but it never came to be. Today I ask the question: did the game deserve better than a single title? Did Primal Rage deserve to become a franchise?

Left to Right: Talon, Sauron, Chaos, Armadon, Diablo, Blizzard, Vertigo

The Case for a New Darkstalkers Game

Darkstalkers is one of those franchises that has its fans, but isn't the household name it deserves to be. It's a series of fighting games starring a collection of B-Movie horror icons such as a Frankenstein's Monster, a Vampire, a Succubus, a Creature from the Black Lagoon, a Yeti, a Werewolf, an Alien, among others. The first game was released in 1994 in what was the first years of the Golden Age of the 2D Fighter, when companies like Capcom, Midway, and SNK were releasing genre defining titles like Art of Fighting, Street Fighter 2, and Mortal Kombat. Sadly, this franchise, unlike Street Fighter, has been mostly ignored by Capcom since 1997, the last time a NEW game was released for the franchise. Since then, the only use Capcom has made of the franchise was to use some of its characters in their many, many spinoffs, or re-releasing the older games on consoles. Today, however, I'd like to enumerate a few quick reasons why Capcom should make a Darkstalkers 4. I'll start off with the less important reasons and lead up to the most important one.

"Tom Clancy's Bonestorm"- A rebuttal

So on Thursday, I wrote a blog entry decrying the undue harassment that Samantha Allen had received following her critique of Giant Bomb's decision to hire another white guy. Today, however, I put aside that in order to critique a writing of hers, named "Tom Clancy's Bonestorm 2014, and why video game titles need to grow up". Why do I do this? Because I believe in debate, I believe in civil discourse, and also, because I believe she deserves to see that whatever criticism she gets is well warranted. This blog entry will contain her original writing uncensored, copy pasted directly from a link that will be provided at the end of this paragraph, with a break between paragraphs to offer my rebuttal. Anything she originally wrote will be in bold, and my rebuttal will be written beneath that. The following is done for educational and critical purposes, and thus is protected under copyright law. Her original work can be found here: http://www.polygon.com/2014/6/27/5841360/the-problem-with-game-names

On Samantha Allen and Online Harassment.

So today I was in Tumblr, just minding my own business, when I come across a blog with this screen capture:

Stay classy

Samantha Allen is an online writer who specializes in feminist topics and media, kind of like Anita Sarkeesian, except without a Kickstarter that gained 150K bucks for a 12 part video series that has only released four videos thus far. I took to her website, read a few of her articles, and to be honest, I was not impressed. Her writing style is to the point, but a good look at how she titles her articles makes it clear that she's not here to open up our minds to new ideas so much as she aims to shove her ideas into our heads. That, however, is merely my opinion and impression, and because I believe in letting other people make up their own minds, I offer this link which contains links to several of her writings:   http://samanthaleighallen.wordpress.com/games-writing/

So on June 30th, Samantha Allen wrote a tweet expressing disappointment in Giant Bomb hiring yet another white guy as a writer. Giant Bomb is an online gaming site that hosts game reviews, editorials, and such. Let's take a good look at that picture above: a feminist is expressing disappointment in a video game website hiring someone she does not approve of due to the color of his skin, and we have someone else asking her an honest question: what if the white guy was the most qualified?

Just for fun- An RPG With a Gay Lead!

A few months ago, I was watching the then latest episode of Game Theory, and it said that LGBT representation in gaming is, well...crap. It seems that for every game with a positive representation of LGBT people, there are 10 games with negative representation, and for every 1 game with any LGBT representation (good or bad), there's 55 games without it. For example, Poison from Final Fight has to be the most well known transsexual in video games (though FAR from being the only one) and not only is she a villain, she's just one of many, many mooks for you to beat up. Another example is "Shemale Bop" in Grand Theft Auto V, which, like most media, makes transsexuals and transvestites into little more than a joke. Anyway, my point is, we need better representation of LGBT's in gaming, and today, I am here to propose we make a game that does just that.


Here's my idea. We make an RPG, because this genre is the one that allows for the best storytelling, and that just happens to be my specialty. Anyway, here's the short synopsis: You have two characters, the hero and his boyfriend. The boyfriend happens to be a martial arts expert and is teaching the hero all about some skills. The boyfriend gets called by the mayor of their city to go to the local cave and deal with a monster, so he takes the hero along to test his skills. This is the tutorial dungeon, and the boss is a monster with about 300 health.

Damsel in Distress (Done Right)- Lunar Silver Star Story

Last entry, I talked about how the Damsel in Distress can be used wrong in gaming by showing how Joe and Mack used the trope as their back story. I argued that they used the trope wrong because they turned their female characters into precisely what feminists claim is wrong with the trope: objects to move the story along, trophies to be collected. This is wrong because the Damsel in Distress is part of a Heroic Narrative, of the hero risking life and limb for someone else. But as I said before, the trope is a tool for story telling, and just as it can be used wrong, it can also be used right. Today, we look at a game that made great use of the Damsel in Distress trope: Lunar.

The third of five different versions, and in the eyes of many, the best.

Damsel in Distress (Done Wrong)- Joe and Mack

If you've been paying attention to Feminist Frequency, or if you've at least been visiting websites that have any focus at all on video games, you'd know that Anita S. has released a trilogy of videos which can be summed up in two sentences: Damsels in Distress are common in games. And that's bad. Now, am I here to argue against Anita? Nope, I fully acknowledge that the Damsel in Distress is an all too common trope used in video games. Am I here to agree with her and turn this blog into yet another echo chamber for her thesis? Not at all. Although today's blog entry COULD be seen as me agreeing with her, it is just the first of a duo that aims to show that the Damsel in Distress trope is exactly that: a tool for story telling, that can be done wrong, and be done right. Today I explore a video game that shows just how badly this trope can be used: Joe and Mack.

Dinosaurs were HUGE back in the early 90's.

Between the Lines- The Al Bhed of Final Fantasy X and X-2

I was going to dedicate this post to analyzing the Al Bhed language of Final Fantasy 10 and 10-2, but then I started looking at the Al Bhed themselves, and I found myself fascinated by this fictional tribe of peoples. What is it they represent in the grand scheme of Final Fantasy 10? What parallels exist between this tribe and anything in Real Life?

Ajanouha uh dra vmuun!

Hello? Hell...o?- A Ghost Story...?

In the freeware game Hello? Hell...o? you play as Kazuki, an average man, with an average life. He works from nine to five, and how he pays the price! All he wants is to be left alone in his average home. So why does he always feel like he's in the Twilight Zone? And I always feel like somebody's watching me! And I have no privacy! Oh whoa oh!

Alright, jokes aside, let's talk about this game. Hello? Hell...o? is a short, Freeware horror game made in RPG Maker. And when I say short, I mean "takes you an hour at most" short. In it, as I said before, you play as Kazuki, a man who, one night, goes to a room and  sees several strange happenings around him. The room he is in is haunted you see, by the spirit of a woman named Akari. As the player plays through the game, some details emerge that help explain the haunting somewhat: basically, Akari used to be Kazuki's girlfriend before she died in a car accident.

Akari's ghost, who would probably fit in the Blue Man Group.

Special Education and Katawa Shoujo

How long has it been since I've written a blog entry? Two or three weeks, I think. How long has it been since I've written about Katawa Shoujo? Two months. So, it seems I am far overdue for not just a blog entry, but one about Katawa Shoujo as well. Today's blog is all about how Katawa Shoujo incorporates Special Education into its narrative and atmosphere.

A quick question: what is Special Education? Growing up, Special Education had a, shall we say, bad reputation. When I was a kid, we had kids who were, shall we say, slower to learn than the rest of us. These kids were placed in Title 1, a Special Ed project that few of us outside of it understood, save for the fact that they got to go on lots of field trips. We didn't know much, but most of us hated the kids that were in Title 1 because we felt they worked less hard than us and were rewarded more often. Special Education just wasn't something we were taught on. However, now that I'm in college again, I can say, with absolute certainty, what Special Education is: it's education that's given when the average offering is insufficient.

Who receives Special Education? Extraordinary students. These are the students that have extraordinary conditions that render regular education insufficient to their needs. Notice, however, that this does not necessarily mean that the student is, well, mentally challenged. An extraordinary student can be someone who is in a wheelchair, for example, an autistic, a super genius, anything.

Katawa Shoujo takes place in a special, seemingly private school named Yamaku. This school has several facilities designed for its students. There's a track field, a football field, a pool (though it's never seen in game), a well equipped nurse's office for emergencies, books in audio and braille for the blind, and all of this is staffed by the finest professionals available. But, for what?

The students of Yamaku High are, for the most part, students with special needs. Take, for example, our hero, Hisao Nakai, who suffers from arrhythmia. Hisao needs to maintain a steady regiment of diet, exercise, and medication, lest he keels over and dies. Hisao needs: a medic to have emergency medicine on hand, medical facilities that can handle a child having a heart attack, experienced medical attention, healthy food, professional staff that knows how to act in case of emergencies, quick access to a hospital in case the proverbial shit hits the fan, a calm environment, and access to dozens of different medicines that are constantly well stacked. And that's just for Hisao.

Yamaku High is built specifically to attend to the needs of the disabled. But please don't think of Yamaku as some sort of special school to send away "the crippled". Yamaku isn't a "crippled kids school", it's a school, a school that specializes in giving the care and attention that extraordinary students need and deserve. 

My apologies for using that word, "cripple". No offence is meant.

Yamaku is a school, first and foremost. The students that are sent here, they are sent there to learn. They learn English, Science, Math, Japanese (the game is set in Japan, after all), Art, Music, Literature. They have a Student Council, athletes, after school clubs. These are students who, with a little extra help, can achieve their dreams, fulfill their passions. They socialize here, they make friends, they fall in love, they LIVE. Yamaku isn't a hospital that doubles as a school, it's a school that can handle what regular schools are ill equipped to do. It's a school that makes Special Education its Modus Operandi.

The thing about Special Education is that we're never really taught what it really is, nor do we think much about the sacrifices that an extraordinary student requires just to have the same opportunities we do. It's really hard, you know, being able bodied and all, to think about what life is like for someone who can't see, or can't hear, or can't walk. I can't imagine a life where I'm unable to talk because of something I was born with, or unable to control my arms, or needing to carefully calculate just how much energy and effort I need to put into my every day activities. And these things that are so hard for me to imagine? They are the day to day reality of many, many people out there, who live their whole lives like this.

The disabled, however, aren't helpless victims that require to be laid in bed 24/7, or institutionalized indefinitely, they are people. People who have dreams, people who fight everyday not just to stay alive, but to get ahead in life. They are people, like you and I, who feel like we do, get angry like we do, get happy like we do, and love like we do. They are no different than us.

Wait, no, that's not how it should be worded. It's not that "they are like us", it's more like, we are like them. We are exactly like them, just that some of us have more advantages. Still, we all have our damage.

One of the primary reasons Four Leaf Studios made Katawa Shoujo was to spread that message: that everyone has damage. The disabled are no less than us, no more than us. They are not helpless, but they are not superhuman either. They are people, and this is a subject a few people out there simply fail to grasp.

Many disabled people live tough lives, and all they ask is a little help here, a little extra room there, and a little understanding. Special Education provides exactly that to the ones who need it most: the kids. You don't see this sort of thing often in media, save for some "inspirational" schlock that does little more than soothe the egos of those that otherwise wouldn't lift a finger to help the disabled. Katawa Shoujo, however, doesn't do this, rather, it presents the disabled as people, and Special Education as exactly what it is: extra help designed to help the student form their own future. In my opinion, Katawa Shoujo is one of, if not THE, finest presentation of Special Education ever shown in any media.

A quick announcement

Due to the fact that I am starting college once more, updates will be more infrequent. My apologies.

Just for Fun- A Visual Novel Based on "Twilight"?

Alright, so today I had a hard day, and I didn't have time to think up anything serious to discuss today, so I figured I'd do something more for fun to help me relax. Now, I know that nine tenths of you have already hit the back button (or closed this window) so, for the one or two of you that have managed to actually stay here, I'd like to share with you a crazy idea. Now, I know "Twilight" doesn't have the best reputation in the gaming community. Or in the literary community. Or in the film community. Or on the Internet in general. Or just in general. But hear me out, I have a crazy idea! Here it is: Make "Twilight" an Otome Visual Novel!

Not like this is the worst book ever written.

Why Grand Theft Auto 5 deserved to be Game of the Year 2013

I was inspired to write this entry about two weeks ago, when a friend of mine (who shall remain anonymous) commented on Facebook: "I don't understand why a violent game like Grand Theft Auto 5 would win Game of the Year, beating good, healthy, family fun like New Super Mario Bros Wii U." And that got me thinking: Why did GTA 5 deserve Game of the Year? How about we answer that question?

All we hear is radio ga ga, radio goo goo, radio ga ga!

Mighty Number 9- a few thoughts

In the year 2013, Keiji Inafune, director of the highly celebrated Mega Man series of games, had come out on Kickstarter announcing that he would create a new property, a spiritual successor to the Mega Man franchise. The name was Mighty Number 9, and all Mr Inafune asked for was 900 thousand dollars to help get it made. Fans of Mega Man flocked to Kickstarter and gave him his 900 grand, and then to show how much faith they had in him, they gave him another 3 million, 100 thousand dollars. Expectations were very high, but there was a slight bump in the road.

A controversy arose when a girl named Dina Abou Karam made a piece of Fan Art of the main character of Mighty Number 9, Beck, as a female. So far, no big deal, this is common in Fan Art, and it even has a name: Rule 63. (There is always a female version of a male character, and vice versa). Then, Dina made a comment, asking the makers to make Beck a female robot because, well, why not? Seriously, that was her argument, "why not?" More on that later.

Dina Abou Karam's rendition of Beck, from Mighty Number 9. Many people have called it awful, but I think it's an alright drawing. Nothing special, but alright.

So far, no big deal, just a random girl on the net posting fan art of a project she's supporting and asking, rather nicely it must be added, for some changes in aesthetics. But then, something happened. Dina got hired for the project as a community manager for Mighty Number 9. Her job? Manage the community. That means that she goes to the message board, looks at what the people are writing, and takes that to her higher ups. If there's spam, she has to delete it. If there's harassment, she has to deal with it promptly. She's basically a mod. 

And this is where the proverbial shit hit the fan. Up until that moment, Dina was the girl who kept posting fanart of Rule 63 Beck on the message boards, going on and on about "caring about women's representation in gaming". How did people respond? Well:

OMGWTFOTL- A parody of a genre?

Odious Manly Genuflection With Terrible Fury: One True Lamentation is a visual novel. Actually, maybe it's better to call it a parody of the visual novel genre. Or, is it a deconstruction of the genre? Is it anything at all, aside from a weird game? Can it even be called a game? Let's answer a few of these questions.

OMGWTFOTL is a visual novel, for the loosest use of the definition. First of all, the game is really, really short, as it can be beaten in 10 minutes. In comparison, don't take it personally babe, it just ain't your story takes 2 hours. Katawa Shoujo takes 10 hours to finish all the routes. And professionally made visual novels, such as Clannad can take twice as long, or even thrice as long as Katawa Shoujo! So basically, OMGWTFOTL can best be called a visual short story, though such a genre does not technically exist outside the Freeware scene. This makes it, technically, a game, albeit a short one.

The main purpose of a visual novel is to tell a story. Does OMGWTFOTL tell a story? Well, yes, surprisingly enough. There's an unnamed protagonist, and he's confronting his nemesis, Osaka Bancho, the man who raped the protagonist's sister and scooped out his best friend's eyes. The protagonist is, at first, overpowered by Osaka, but by the player's choice, can either overpower him with quick thinking and dirty fighting, ask Karl Goch to help him, or suddenly fall in love with Osaka Bancho, when the two commit lover's suicide. Or he can genuflect, which is a surefire way to end the game and get the 'bad ending'.

The 'best ending' is obtained by defeating Osaka Bancho via fighting dirty. Halfway through the game, the story of Osaka Bancho ends by way of the protagonist eating his face, then reminiscing about some guy called Kanagawa Bancho and his misadventures. Inmediately, Kanagawa takes over the game, and offers the player a choice between two new stories: one about a romance with a childhood friend, or one about tentacle rape. The childhood friend choice leads to the best ending.

The game proceeds to tell a second story. There's two kids, a boy and a girl. The boy and the girl are putting up some decorations for an upcoming school carnival, when she falls off a ladder. The boy rescues her, and she immediately confesses her love to him. Then they make out. The end. Or he can go crazy, knock her out, and assault a military base wielding nothing but a katana, while nude. Choice is yours.

So, the story is there, wacky as it is. So, the story is a comedy. Sometimes it's black comedy, sometimes it's not. But the game, is it a parody?

Well, first, we need to ask ourselves, were it a parody, what is it parodying? Well, we could make a case that it parodies short, poorly made Freeware visual novels, but let's ask ourselves a question: what would the point of such an action be? Also, if one were to look at the writing, one would see that, aside from the story of the two childhood friends, there is nothing here that is normally included in visual novels. So, is this game a parody of short freeware visual 'novels'?

The game is a comedy, with some parody elements here or there, but mostly it's an audacious comedy. It's a comedic romp about revenge, honor, love, and passion. It's a farce about the unrestrained passions that lead men to do the weird things we do, like beat up a guy to a bloody pulp or assault an army base while in the nude. Or, we can just say it's a Weird Japanese Thing and call it a day. That works just as well.