Some Thoughts...

I must admit I've not found the inspiration to continue blogging for so long and this post should not be an indication that there will be regular updates. There is little to talk about, which makes a couple of months of activity crammed into a single post a fairly lengthy article.

I have been trying different games and I think we can go directly to that. I was intrigued by this title called 'Culpa Innata'. It is a PC point and click adventure game with a dash of non-linear gameplay sprinkled on it. You're this female cop in this fictional futuristic world and seems off on a personal journey of sorts. I am always up for a good story so I thought I'd pick this up and figure how it fares. As in my previous blog posts, I very much do not like the standard formula for adventure games with developers seemingly hoping to add challenge by squeezing academic mental puzzles into the game. Culpa Innata is no exception. It has some challenges you would normally find beside the 'Tower of Hanoi' and I find that quite frankly rubbish. It does not seem like a very realistic rendition and I hope developers do try a little harder to make for a more believable setting and more believable and playable challenges without turning the game into a mental course quiz. While we are on the subject of puzzles, some of them are so abstract you may need to give up and attempt a trial-and-error style of play, which is so reminiscent of ancient adventure game design. We are already more than a decade older than King's Quest and Legend of Kyrandia. I think us adventure gamers deserve more than being introduced to these kinds of puzzles.

Moving on to other aspects of the title, I wish to touch on its production values. Firstly, the visuals of the game are eye-gougingly terrible. The character models are barely passable and the backdrops are extremely plain. I tend to think that if you cannot produce good production values for the visuals, you ought to try something else. Get creative and try a different presentation, perhaps using a full-blown animation video like what the old Broken Sword games did or perhaps use a graphic novel type cutscene. I would say games several years back like No One Lives Forever 2 can boast of better visuals. Culpa Innata's use of in-game cinematics also do not help its cause to tell its heroine's travails. Character animations are extremely stiff, and the cutscenes lack the punch to deliver the emotional stress of the protagonist. Add to that the very bland soundtrack that coupled with the bland visuals is bound to put you to sleep and you have a title that has some potential but never fully lives up to it, which is a shame.

Culpa Innata is not without its intriguing implementation. Its design for non-linear events make for a fairly good way of making sure players do not experience the same events over. The actions you make have very real consequence over what happens in the course of your game session. Its dialog system, allowing your character to call up her friend for a chat and touching on multiple of the game's plot points is a very good idea as it allows the player explore several insights over the game's progression.

Ultimately, inspite of this, Culpa Innata in the end is just not a title that lives up to expectations. It hobbles around its limitations while making a poor attempt at showing it does have some luster deep within its core. If you choose to make this journey, be warned that you may have to dig deep to find that satisfaction. While perhaps adventure gamers would be very much delighted with Culpa Innata and ignore my complaints, it ultimately shows that the title plays to a narrow niche and that majority of gamers will see its cracks from the word go and probably toss it in the bin, as I have.

After that supreme disappointment, I journeyed to install Neverwinter Nights. Yes, it is an extremely dated title and I was dying to get a game to play on Linux. This game fit the bill pretty nicely, and inspite of age, the game really shows it is an incredible journey. Very good story-telling and the game's production values age pretty well. Of all the three expansions, I have to say that Shadows of Undrentide is the worst, the plot is something I do not particularly care for and the NPC henchmen do not resonate with me. Hordes of the Underdark is the best of the campaigns but it is incredibly unforgiving, giving out very tough challenges and very tough puzzles for players. The kind of roleplay it provides has been lost in this day and age of gaming. Only Bioware seems to understand what it really is. For that I am extremely thankful for Bioware's existence. Unfortunately, it seems like NWN is the final Linux entry in Bioware's portfolio of great titles. Atari is not a Linux-friendly publisher and I do not think EA is.

Speaking of Linux friendliness, over at Phoronix, I found a funny story where a poster mailed EA asking where he could find the Medal of Honor Allied Assault Linux port (it exists here). EA's personnel had a very interesting quote:

Greetings,

Thank you for contacting Electronic Arts.

The minimum required specifications for Medal of Honor: Allied Assault and Spearhead are as follows:

* Windows XP, ME, 98, 95 and 2000 (Windows 2000 Server and NT are not supported)
* 450 MHz processor
* 128 MB RAM
o 256 MB for Windows XP and Windows 2000
* CD/DVD-Rom Speed: 8x
* At least 1.2 GB of hard drive space
* Sound: DirectX 8.0 compatible sound card
* Keyboard
* MS compatible Mouse
* A video card with at least 16 MB of video RAM with DirectX 8.0 compatible driver and one of the supported chipsets.

Supported video cards:

* Nvidia Riva TNT or Higher
* ATI Rage 128 or Higher
* PowerVR Kyro

If you need any further assistance regarding your question, please let us know by updating this incident.

Link to actual post is here.

Perhaps this is a clear indication that the new owners of Bioware will not even consider Linux a platform even though they did announce they were doing Mac ports of their Windows titles. Even with that, it is certainly a funny scenario.

While we are on the subject of Linux games, what about Unreal Tournament 3 for Linux taking an extremely long time to get released. Ryan Gordon had released teasers on it but there has not been much visible progress other than that. Hopefully they sort out those proprietary software libraries keeping it from release. Linux gamers need decent Linux games.

Over on the Wii side of gaming I got to play Ferrari Challenge and it has been quite a good product. It has a very serious and solid racing engine coupled with some pretty visuals to boot. It is nothing close to high-definition, but why buy the Wii if you are hoping for that? As a sim racing gamer, I have been hoping for something like this on the Wii for a very, very long time and no, Need for Speed does not do it. The AI is incredibly terrible in this game. Your opponents seem to run on rails and never really react to your car's presence. That is a shame, but I have seen few games do it right.

Perhaps what is most baffling with Ferrari Challenge is that they have a pretty moronic controller setup on Wii. I remember Bruno Senna remarking how he prefers a controller or steering wheel over the Wii remote, but I'd say he ought to try playing other racers on Wii and see how the controls stack up there. Eutechnyx's control setup has been the worst I have ever seen on a Wii title and the motion sensing code is not up to EA's efforts. Wii games need to have some leeway on controls because different gamers move differently. Ferrari Challenge does not offer that customizability on the controls and that is just common sense. I cannot believe they play-tested the controls and passed it as playable. Control issues aside, the racing is very good as is the sensation of speed. Any sim racing Wii owner should have this title, as these kinds of title on the Wii are far and few inbetween.

Last game is an interesting journey of sorts. I played Star Wars: The Force Unleashed on DS, Wii and a tad bit on Xbox 360. First of all, it goes without saying that the Xbox 360 version boasts the most incredible visuals among the three. There are a lot of background interaction and lots of special effects that go into this title which makes for a very good visual show. However, I found the gameplay to be severely lacking. In terms of gameplay I found my home on the Wii version especially when you and your opponent's lightsabers lock and having to twist the remote to win the joust. After a while of playing with the Wii version, you get engrossed and simply the visuals do not matter anymore. I can forget Xbox 360's wow visuals in place for what I believe is the definitive way of playing a 'Lightsaber game' or sorts. Both the Wii and the Xbox 360 versions suffer from similar things though, and that is perhaps that the game levels are simply too long and tedious. That right balance of gameplay and length is what I found on the DS game. The gameplay is solid with the touch panels being slid to produce different moves is pretty good and I am at awe with nSpace's efforts as of late, pushing the DS to its absolute limit while capturing the essence of what its brethren's games are (Look at their Call of Duty 4 on DS and this one). Force Unleashed on the DS has that right balance of difficulty and the gameplay to keep me going back to it. Also interestingly, because the voice acting and 3d model acting is just not good on both the Wii and Xbox 360 game, I like the way the DS version handles the story telling, which is through plain text. That leaves so much to the imagination and I get a kick out of seeing the scene much cooler than what the console games do.

My verdict for Force Unleashed is fairly straight forward, despite its hardware limitations, the DS is the best of the versions. It has some very impressive visuals for a DS title and it handles everything very solidly while never really frustrating the player. The Wii version takes second place for the very engrossing gameplay that I prefer over Xbox 360's visuals. The Xbox 360 version is a solid title, but I do not agree with using the conventional controller on this game. It needs that much more now.

I have been busy with Neveredit, which is an open source NWN editor for Linux and Mac (and Windows). My main objective has been on this are:

1. Dusting off my OpenGL coding which has taken a very big degradation, the last time I have coded on it has been at least five years ago. Coupled that with forgetting some of the math concepts and I have had a much harder time dealing with it.
2. Second is to learn Python which is an interesting and easy to learn language. I am not a master by any stretch of the imagination, but I can work my way in the code.
3. To have an editor available for us Linux folks (Peter would perhaps lean on Macs instead. :)). It has been fairly frustrating to see that the only way I can get to use the toolset is through Wine. I try to avoid Wine when possible so I hope this project gives us some options.
   

The code is pretty complex and I have not had a good handle on it yet, but I have managed to iron out some graphics issues and some map issues. It has been a very interesting journey thus far and I have many, many thanks to extend to Peter Gorniak for his help and support.

As part of that work, I have delved deeper into NWN Toolset, writing a short module though it is surprisingly still a large undertaking. The story is mostly done on a general note and I have just been quite busy going through the module's most critical scenes first to get something functional. It's very interesting in that it is a very good exercise in game development, in terms of designing the level and how you would go about telling the story. The NWN scripting language is very much reminiscent of C and that is a very good thing for sure. Sometimes, it feels like a strange cross between C and other scripting languages such as TCL or Python.

Well, that is all I have to say as of the moment. Pretty lengthy blog post and I am not sure when the next update will come. When I feel like it, that is what I can say.

Epic Games Seems To Be Suppressing Linux Inquiries

Acting on rumors (which appear to have basis in reality) of deleted discussion threads, Michael Larabel of Phoronix posted an inquiry into possibly getting a small update on the state of the Linux version. The forum admin linked to their FAQ which indicates that the Linux version was coming and then closed the thread.---My thoughts: Epic has been very amibiguous on the state of the Linux port of Unreal Tournament 3. Whether or not there is a port still is up in the air, but the manner in which Epic decides to deal with this has been truly stupifying. Everyone deserves an answer, and this type of information snafu is not helping Epic in the eyes of Linux gamers. Don't beat around the bush, Epic. If there's a port, say there is one and at least treat these Linux gamers as mature adults who can understand and can be rational. Epic choosing to stop every Linux thread shows very disturbing signs and this just angers the Linux folks even more.Step up, Epic Games. Tell us the truth.

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Random Thoughts

Lately, I've been playing 'Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic'. It's a nice little roleplaying game from Bioware with a good story and lot of good rpg play into it. Nice games don't come often, and I don't usually give games high ratings, but KotOR is indeed a classic that needs to have a place in the list of games people must play. It's certainly dated on a technical aspect, but it doesn't loose it's allure. I certainly don't miss newer games when these old gems can really still bring you some good enjoyment.

These past months have been somewhat a time warp for me, checking out older games. I thought to check out Elder Scrolls: Oblivion, which is one of the newer RPGs and by Bethesda. Judging from videos and screens, I'll probably never pick up a new RPG by them. Oblivion is a highly touted product, and with good reason too. So much work has been put into it, but it's all so strange that everytime I see it, my interest level drops to zero. I've put in countless of hours on Morrowind, it's predecessor and while Morrowind was a good product, it wasn't a great one. You have to acknowledge the flaws alongside its strengths, but overall, after playing Morrowind to the ground, the lasting memory of it isn't the roleplay that you do (or lack of), but the tedious nature of the game.

I'm sure Oblivion attempts to solve many of those issues but for a game that's built from the ground up, it sure looks a lot like Morrowind in motion. Morrowind's graphics are eye-gougingly bad by today's standards and for all the accolaides that oblivion receives from the visual department, it looks like crap. Everytime I see it makes me cringe, from the facial acting to the character models and the lighting effects. That's me talking from a visual aspect which isn't much to speak of when I play games. I play even older games with far less fancier visuals.

Oblivion's gameplay from videos look a whole lot like Morrowind did, and the Elder Scrolls series is the kind of game after I play once, I don't really look forward to going back. It's the same with Oblivion. It moves so much like Morrowind, the battles seem so much like it, and it really looks like another tedious game. I know Oblivion has a little bit of some thing like those teleport to location things, which by the way is a bad idea. I think that when a Dungeon Master warps his players to the 'exciting' parts just because his players are getting bored, something is definitely wrong with the game. Come on, Bethesda, you're more creative than that.

Or are you? Perhaps the Elder Scrolls series will benefit from a fresh different approach. Perhaps Bethesda ought to give another studio a shot at building this epic and gigantic RPG. I want to like The Elder Scrolls series. Don't let Morrowind be the last TES game I play.

Moving on, I suppose...

As depressing as TES is, the Linux gaming is just as depressing. The opensource games out there don't really peak my interest, and the games available are and few in between. Some people hinge their hopes on emulation which is a valid solution and has been for the past few years. This, though, only alleviates the problem to a certain degree. Emulation, for one thing, is always going to play catch up, and it isn't likely to run every game conceivable. The allure, I think loses its sheen when you have to work to get the games running and sometimes, there's just too much work to be done and too much waiting. The only solution I think is that Linux gaming leans on porting. For the same amount of effort you push into emulation, it's far more productive in the long term that portability tools be developed, hence giving development studios and big game companies a good reason to port for far less the cost.

I do think that unlike the previous topic, the Linux gaming scene is slowly changing. More games are coming and LGP surely has some aces under its sleeves. I hope this is the start of big and better things to come for the Linux community.

All in good time, I suppose. All in good time.

Rest in Peace Gary Gygax

Gary Gygax passed away at the age of 69 in March 4, 2008. While this post is 4 days after the fact, it's never too late to pause and remember all the great contributions this man has made for the game industry and RPG in its essence.

While Gary is gone, his works will live on and his achievements forever remembered.

Rest in peace Gary Gygax.

Professor Layton and the Curious Village

"Every puzzle has an answer."

That puzzle for me had been this quirky Japanese game series, Professor Layton. Years ago, I've seen this title and it never seemed to arouse my curiosity, at least, not enough to actually go out and find it. Here was yet another DS title, albeit with a charming simplistic animation direction, that attempts to cram mini games down DS owners throats. With this conclusion, however, the game was somehow lodged at the back of my mind, whispering softly every now and then.

When the game finally came out in America, that seemingly small voice had grown more vocal. The charming characters had somehow found their way to my good side. But deep down, I knew Layton was nothing more than a dressed up puzzle game. It was the only thing I knew it was really about.

Even with that mindset however, somehow, it was a title I had never totally forgotten, and it seemed like something I would be willing to try now. This, I think, is the first real credit to Level 5's game. No matter what you see in the Layton games meat, the art design is always welcome no matter who you are. And at times, it may be so good that it beckons you to play it.

Professor Layton and the Curious Village unfolds as a sort of crime mystery filled with puzzles from the puzzle-addicted folks of St. Mystere. You accompany Professor Layton and his young apprentice, Luke in their quest to solve the mystery of the Golden Apple. Sounds like Sherlock Holmes? Indeed it is. Layton was indeed designed after the fabled inspector from London according to Level 5.

The puzzles you encounter range from the obvious, to the deft, to the devious. No matter who you are, there will be something that will make you scratch your head. This smoothly combines mind bending puzzles with a story that, by its own right, is a cleverly presented one. Layton also side-steps from the common pit fall of most adventure games. The puzzles aren't ones that you'd end up trying to turn lipstick to bullets (This is a reference to one game I absolutely abhor). Instead, the puzzles stand on their own and have little to no connection to the running plot. They are simply devilishly mind twisters meant to stir your thoughts.

This is the real meat of Professor Layton and the Curious Village. It's as I thought it would be. But there is a certain charm to it that keeps you going. Professor Layton's real power comes from the puzzles and a total charm of story.

But here, in its strength, lies the game's weakness. The puzzles you solve, don't have a life span that goes beyond it. For the hundreds of puzzles packed in the little cartridge, once it's done, there's no more going back to it. And frankly, the puzzles are often so absorbing, you might end up talking to people hoping they'd toss you another one. Often they do, but this gradually leads you away from the plot and into a puzzle hunt. At times, the dialogs will be totally unimportant and simply serve as a tack on to provide you with puzzles. I don't mind, but it doesn't make it all the more natural.

With this problem though, the game does gracefully guide you back to the plot. The expertly created animated cut scenes deliver the kind of feel that gets you right back into the game. It's also so well done, you'd want to go back and see it again. The voice acting is also equally superb. This is one area, that I believe the English version surpasses the Japanese version. The voice actor for Layton delivers the kind of intelligence you'd expect from a man of his stature. Luke shows the typical curious apprentice. In fact, a lot of Layton's characters are really typical but again, these are things that you tend to not mind a lot.

To say Professor Layton is a triumph of innovative game design would be a lie. But to think that Professor Layton series does not deserve merit would be a disservice as well. The truth is, Professor Layton and the Curious Village is as good as they say and is far more accessible than most of the conventional fair games out there. It's the one game I don't mind tagging along, even if the game concepts seem quite too simple for a single package. I wonder the longevity of the series, but till I hold the sequel in my hands, cheers to Layton and Luke!

PC Gaming... WHAT THE HELL?!

I started first and foremost as a PC gamer. This goes way back in the 80s. I've always been one even though I owned console games after. There are games that are just tailor made for PCs. I remember the classic King Quests and Quest for Glory, the games that brought back good memories. In recent years, some of the console games trickled on PC and I really have no qualms that they are around. It just means the games that aren't released on my console could still be played on PC and I spent quite a bit of cash to get myself a very good PC back in 2005. All was well back then, butterflies fluttering, birds chirping under the shade of trees, and me blasting virtual enemies away on my PC.

Looking at Assassin's Creed on PC coming out soon though, reality started to settle in. You can check the info here and here (courtesy of Kotaku). What the hell do they think? Do I grow a money tree in my backyard? Am I supposed to keep spending money on my PC parts just to play their new fangled games? I suppose if I really earned a lot of money and throw a couple of thousand dollars away for games and hardware this would be perfectly fine. But the expenditures are starting to outweigh the benefits. The specs are ridiculous and I suppose a few years and those prices will drop. But what will be the standard specs by then?

I'm sorry you moronic PC developers. I don't have infinite money. There's enough games out now that will keep me busy without having to pick up your games with stupid requirements. I'm out.

Thoughts on Rally Games

I have a tremendous love for rally games and I've played quite a few of them, but it wasn't always like that. I remember 3D-Hot Rally back in the old days, where Mario and Luigi drove a 4x4 monster truck on this never ending road that went to different surfaces. Back then, I barely knew what rally was, and I didn't have fond memories of that title. It was reminiscent of Sega's Outrun except that the car had damage and Mario and Luigi would need to make repairs at the expense of time, which you chased against. I could never finish that game, nor do I even want to try. It was practically impossible for me to play these games. Everything seemed so random. I passed on this and never looked back to playing it... and that gimmicky 3D goggles suck!

My next foray into rallying came in Lombard Rally on PC, in the good old CGA days. I still had no idea what rally was and played this game wishing it was much easier. The co-driver held a map, and you as the player had the responsibility to drive and look at that tiny map to figure out where to go. It was not easy, and chasing clocks were never my thing. I pretty much gave up on any racing game at that point. It just never seemed fun at all and I always lost.

Incidentally, after many years of playing different game genres, I found a motorsport I could connect with, Formula One. This is going to be brief, but I have to stress this. I played Video System's F1 World Grand Prix on N64 and it was nothing close to easy at that time. But instead of folding, I put in some good time and played some good laps. It was my reinduction to racing games.

From my beloved N64, I played Top Gear Rally, which was intriguing in terms of decal options, was not the kind of rally game I wanted. It felt like a standard racer and nothing more. I also played the atrocious V-Rally '99. And to think Eden Studios was supposed to be one of the best ones at it. The cars felt strange, and floaty. While this game was difficult, I was less interested to put in the time to it. In fact, I didn't want to.

Some time later, I found WRC on tv and managed to get more informed over what rallying was all about. It was a shame I missed the tighter years of WRC, but I could accept Loeb's battle against Petter and co. At this time, my brother played and eventually completed Sega Rally 2 on Dreamcast. While I was opened to playing it and put in some laps, it just never really felt like rallying to me. It was understandably an arcade game, but it just never clicked, and playing a racing game on a split screen is never the way to go. I love to hear my engine. I love to see what my car did. And with Sega Rally being a game that seemed so much like other arcade racers, I just hung up my gloves on it.

Incidentally, it was at this time where I'd eventually find rally games that I loved. First up was V-Rally 3 on PC. It was unforgiving, but it felt 'right', at least at the time. The car choices were limited, and I was a little less interested in going the full mile, but I was content in running the stages and setting good times and doing it over and over again. That is more than I can say for any of the previous rally efforts.

When my new PC could no longer play V-Rally 3 due to potential issues with hyper-threading, my brother was indeed looking for another title. Colin McRae Rally 2005 or Richard Burns Rally. Unfortunately, he picked Colin's.

This isn't to say Colin's game is terrible, because it's far from it. I put in good stage times. I used the class B cars, class A cars and drove at my favourite stages. But the game just never gave me the satisfaction V-Rally did. It felt OK, but not mind-blowing. It was at that point that I needed to know what Richard Burns had to offer.

Unlike Colin's title, where most reviewers praised to high heavens, Richard's title had more mixed ones. Preposterous physics and a constant comparison drawn over Colin's effort were what I felt was the overall tone. But I played Colin's title, and I wasn't interested in what some bloke said made Colin's title better than Richard's. I had to find out for myself.

My first run at Rally School in Richard Burns Rally lasted approximately less than ten seconds. I didn't know, I wasn't looking at the clock. The first ford section threw my Impreza to the trees and the car never recovered. But somehow, for a title that seemed inhumanly difficult, it put a smile from ear to ear. It felt like gold. It felt really good. It felt like rallying. Those ten seconds I had with it was worth more than the days I put on Colin McRae Rally 2005.

I loved it. And I put a video to show my sample run, albeit not too good, was good enough for me.

Strangely though, it wasn't the last rally game I have fond memories of. I put in some time on portable space in the form of Colin McRae Rally 2 on GBA. It's an old title, needless to say, but it felt remarkably similar to its brethren, albeit in a smaller screen and on the go. It's good and it ultimately defined what my choices were on the portable space and the PC platforms.

As I think about all this, and wonder what Petter Solberg Rally will be, I tend to hope it would be as good or even better than Richard Burn's effort. And I also hope it runs on my computer. Here's to hoping for a great simulation and a very satisfying game. After all, it's all in the feeling.