Thursday, November 20, 2008

Hello, old friend.


I'm going to post this before going back to Valkyria Chronicles for the rest of the night.

GWJ podcast and they jokingly mention a fictional miracle drink that will allow you play games while you sleep. Yes, with this drink, you can function normally and take care of responsibilities while also managing to play all the games you want to!

I could have used this while playing VC last night around 11:3o. I was driving my squad through the treacherously flat desert under heavy sniper fire. Curse my job. One more turn.

Hold on, why's Norman playing a JRPG? Doesn't he hate those things?

I've said how much separating story from gameplay is a misuse of the medium. But damnit, I'm having fun with this game. I guess it's my love of military tactical gameplay. I mean I really liked Company of Heroes. VC's also coming at the perfect time. Between flexing my level creativity in LittleBigPlanet and improving my skills in Rock Band 2, I've been itching for the one thing lacking in both those experiences. A solid single player experience.

VC is a good game and there are those who agree. But I don't totally buy into Tycho's infatuation with the game. It's fun, but it's not art. Again, I'm saving that for another post.

VC is war like only the Japanese could do it. We start the game and there are trucks getting blown up, civilians getting shot in the back and a town militia running to their aide. A literally shocking juxtaposition to the whimsical art style and dialogue that proceeded the violence. Then the protagonists involved in the fighting go home and have tea. Later in the story, they find a baby pig.

And inspite of all this I can't stop playing the game. I guess I should stop being such an art snob and just enjoy what's fun. Not let a few bad apples kill my expectations for a genre. Oh JRPG, how long has it been?

2 comments:

Unknown said...

I agree with the juxtaposition you mentioned. The art is so pretty yet they are at war which is not pretty. Also the characters don't seem bothered or disturbed by all the killing. I guess it is their style.
For example, in Eternal Sonata, the art is beautiful and colorful with cute characters but at the beginning of the game you have 2 characters with terminal diseases, one of them a 14 year old girl. What a contrast.

Paul said...

Hiroshi Yamauchi once said...

"[People who play RPGs are] depressed gamers who like to sit alone in their dark rooms and play slow games"