Hey guys, something a little bit in the vein of Vectra's blog here, here to just talk about some general opinions.
So the "
" preview came out the other day, and I don't know about anyone else, but I'm glad to see it. Cyberpunk is probably the best aesthetic genre there is, in my opinion, and the game looks like a lot of fun, albeit pretty generic.This blog post isn't about Technomancer, really though. It's about one particular moment in the video:
For those unable to understand or see the link, what's happening is the character customization of a strictly male character, with no options to have even a female main character.
You can probably find my own feelings about that in the comments section of the video, but I'm not here to pretend to pose a question just to frame how I'm going to soapbox. What I'm curious about is how YOU people feel about this sort of topic. How do you feel about character customization? Do you think that it's an important part of connecting with who you play as? Do you prefer to play as a character of the same gender / sex / race? How far should developers go to accommodate all genders / races? Is Technomancer perfectly fine with it's ? Should the developers have scraped up a way for a female option? Should they avoid the issue entirely by just making the main character of Zach a fixed character?
Answer whatever comes to mind.
In a bit of reading I was doing this morning, I came across a pretty interesting passage. It was pretty irrelevant to the overall story (OR IS IT), but I figured it was clever enough to share with you guys.
Keep in mind, I'm transcribing from a book, so the content may not be 100% accurate. The formatting has been modified for this blog.
" There are seven incarnations (and six correlates) necessary to becoming an Artist:
1. Explorer (Courage)
2. Surveyor (Vision)
3. Miner (Strength)
4. Refiner (Patience)
5. Designer (Intelligence)
6. Maker (Experience)
7. Artist.
First you must leave the safety of your home and go into the dangers of the world, whether to an actual territory or some unexamined aspect of the psyche. This is what is meant by 'Explorer'.
Next you must have the vision to recognize your destination once you arrive there. Note that a destination may also be the journey. This is what is meant by 'Surveyor'.
Third, you must be strong enough to dig up the facts, follow veins of history, unearth telling details .This is what is meant by 'Miner'.
Fourth, you must have the patience to winnow and process your material into something rare. This may take months or even years. And this is what is meant by 'Refiner'.
Fifth, you must user your intellect to conceive of your material as something meaning more than its origins. This is what is meant by 'Designer'.
Six, you must fashion a work independent of everything that has gone before it including yourself. This is accomplished through experience and is what is meant bu 'Maker'.
At this stage, the work is acceptable. You will be fortunate to have progressed so far. Is is unlikely, however, that you will go any further. Most do not. But let us assume you are exceptional. Let us assume you are rare. What then does it mean to reach the final incarnation? Only this: at every stage, from 1 thru 6, you will risk more, see more, gather more, process more, fashion more, consider more, love more, suffer more, imagine more and in the end know why less means more and leave what doesn't and keep what implies and create what matters. This is what is meant by 'Artist'. "
Of course, the same page continues with:
"'It is interesting to note that despite the appeal of this description and the wide-spread popularity of The Architecture of Art, especially during the 70s and early 80s, out of all of LaRue's followers not one has produced anything of consequence let alone merit. In his article "Where have all the children gone?" [which may or may not exist,] in American Heritage, v.17, January 1994, p.43, [which also may or may not exist,] Evan Sharp snapped: "LaRue fanatics would do well to trade in their seven stages for twelve steps.'"
Make of all that what you will.
If you do not understand what this blog is about, then I will please ask of you to leave and make nothing of it, and return to the rest of your day. This is simply the best medium for me to reach all those who need to hear it. It is not my place to explain the situation, only to try and make right the wrongs I have committed to those who do have an understanding.
So please, if you are already confused, turn away. This is not for you.
... I say this, even if we both know, that won't really change the fact you'll probably keep on reading.
Even if I act like it, I will be the first to admit that I am not perfect. Maybe more accurately, I'm half as clever, dignified, and stalwart as I think I am. I also recognize the kind of harm I can inflict in-turn by actually being jaded and unnecessarily bitter. It was not my intention to harm; if anything, it was a petty, melodramatic, and cowardly act to not be harmed. I am willing to admit when I am wrong, and while I am still not absolutely and objectively convinced I am wrong - I am just as willing to admit when I have wronged, and in there, I am truly, humbly sorry, and deeply apologize. I am sorry for what I have said, and how I have acted. It was foolish, poorly justified, and simply in poor judgement - but it was never meant to hurt or worsen the situation.
I am sorry.
It is against my ethics to censor discussion, though I would kindly request no one leave a comment, unless they feel it vitally important to do so.
Hey folks, been tossing around a few idea in my head as of late, and figured I might as well share them somewhere. As here is probably the place I'd reach the largest audience still (isn't that sad), I figured I'd make a blog about it. There's quite a number of clever people here as well, so it might make a good discussion.
So as some of you might have picked up before, I play a fair amount of Dark Souls. If you're familiar with the game, you probably know of it's legendary difficulty, and if you're not, I could summarize it by saying it's a slow paced hack and slash or character action game - and the best 3D Castlevania there is. Those that are more intimate with the series, or have played it themselves, will probably know of "Ornstein and Smough", probably one of the most famous boss battles in the game due to it's difficulty, and grand nature.
A pretty standard first time victory over the boss.
Now, while my PvP K/D ratio must be something like .25, I don't suck at Dark Souls. I have 300+ hours in the game, and a bit under 100 in the second; so for this playthrough was trying out this boss without a shield, healing, or outside assistance. I died. A lot. Probably around 20 times, and I'll admit, I was getting pretty salty. On one occasion near the end, however I was just about fed up, and slammed my fist onto my keyboard, and chipped the M key (sorry, little guy).
Now, I think we're all familiar with the shit
and gamers gets stuck with and I think we're also aware of all the studies there've been trying to link violent video games and aggression. I'd also like to believe that most of us here are familiar with how these claims seem to unanimously be proven invalid. As Youtuber "Sargon of Akkad"
, despite the game's industry growing nearly 4 times in the last few years (the numbers of "gamers" included) and the population of the US increasing by over 60 million, the number of violent crimes has dropped by a third since 1994.And yet my M key begs to differ.
I might be competitive and stubborn, but I'm also pretty reserved and easy going. But faced with the evidence on my keyboard, and the fact that it was damaged because of a video game, how could anyone argue that video games do not cause violent behavior? Well, it all got me thinking, and I think that in the end, I'd simply just have to attribute the whole thing to the power of the medium of video games. Could it be that video games are only thought to cause violence because they are just so engaging that they can cause emotions such as anger? Truth be told, I simply can't think of a moment when a film or book's subject matter ever got me angry - let alone enraged enough to slam my fist down. Tangentially, I can't think of a movie or book, or anything that ever gave me as great of a feeling of joy or as deep of levels of sadness or fear as in video games. I'm sure I'm maybe an exception to a rule, and I will fully admit that there can be scary, happy, and sad stories, but I can't help but wonder if video games cause these things simply due to their immersive nature when playing them. I wonder if, yes, video games can cause 'violent behavior', but perhaps only because virtually nothing else can be as powerful as them, and little other media has the ability to make us feel these things.
I don't claim to know anything, and would be interested in hearing others opinions. Does violence in media causes violence on the street, like horror and comedy media causes horror and comedy in the street?
[This review was originally sent to the creator of Ixias, Sinathor on Febuary the 20th. Parts of it have been minorly edited, for proper readability. It has not been posted to the reviews section of this web site due to the rule regarding a required download link for the game. The release is currently private, and the game can only be obtained via Sinathor himself.]
--------------------
IXIAS - STELLAR COMPLEX
Alpha Private Release, Full Analysis
--------------------
The following is my sum total views of the incomplete Alpha release for Ixias - Stellar Complex, by Sinathor, Sinathor Productions, following 4 playtest reports over the course of approximately 1 month and 3 days. During this time, I casually played through the game as for mock Q/A and was also asked to give my impressions as a player. As part of this, I have intended to create a final summary of my thoughts, here. At least, final, for the time being.
With your (Sinathor) permission I'd also like to post this. If not, by the rules, to the Topic, then via a blog, on the rpgmakervxace.net forums.
I'll be basing this analysis off several key areas including firstly some noteworthy Impressions, Gameplay and Design, Story, Art Design, Sound Design, and then some Conclusions.
Ixias - Stellar Complex Credits
IMPRESSIONS
--------------------
I'm a little hesitant to say for certain - but I feel confident enough to say that Ixias: Stellar Complex even in it's current form is both the best game I have played in 2015, and the best RPG Maker Game I have ever played. Perhaps you could say that it is the best I have ever played, because I very rarely play RPG Maker games at all, and that's quite true. However, I rarely ever play RPG Maker games because I am extremely discerning of the games I play. If I am not certain I will not rate it 75% or higher, I will not play it. Simple as that. Ixias was certainly one of those 75%+ games, if not an 80%, or a 90% - it's just that good. And to think, it's not even done yet.
In giving a general impression, it's hard to decide where to begin. I suppose it'd be best to start off what particularly sticks out about the game. If I were to pick one thing I think it would be something like theme. RPGs are a pretty stagnant genre, fantasy, like all RTP has been, in particular has been quite dead for a long time. Ixias is such an incredible revitalization for the software. Dystopian cyberpunk? Does that genre still exist? Hell yeah! Even though many parts of it are very standard (a majority of the art assets are Steam-bought, the combat is vanilla for the engine), there's an overriding atmosphere that comes from the combination of story, gameplay, art, and sound that makes the standard parts of the game contribute to a far greater whole. It's truly an astounding job, stellar, you could say, the kinds of which would be way too easy to get obsessive over.
GAMEPLAY AND DESIGN
--------------------
Stellar Complex is something of a strange hybrid of a JRPG and a WRPG - something I think that could be attributed to the combination of it's inspirations. The player takes control of an initally small, but eventually middling party of 4, with a central protagonist. Outside of a few choices with questionable impact on the game as a whole, there is very little input the player has on the proceedings of the game, and its narrative. Despite this however, the player has the ability to travel between several large hubs, and explore numerous interiors in a very alive, if destitute semi-open world. Outside of the proceedings for the main quest, there are numerous side quests the player can perform for loot, experience for leveling up, and world-building story.
Despite the largeness of the hubs, frequency of NPCs, and shops, the overworlds feel fairly standard for the game it portrays. Other than searching for quests, and a few collectables, there isn't all too much to do while walking around. For the game as a whole, this doesn't present a problem, and in fact, works well for pacing, but a large amount of time is still spent wandering around. This occurs especially a lot when exploring all the hubs for the first time.
Of interesting note, is also the complete lack of a world map. For some, this might cause some difficulty in navigation, but for me personally, added to the sense of exploration. While at the beginning of the game I found myself staring at the maps on the walls endlessly, by the time I finished the 12 hours of gameplay, I knew I could navigate from one point of a hub to another without stopping once. It is a rewarding feeling to become familiar with the world, and to find all the fastest little route between the numerous point A's and B's.
Puzzles are few and far in-between, but of additional gameplay note is the hacking minigame. While a bit of a non-sequitur at times, it also helps diversify the gameplay. I know at least a few hacks that will have some people pulling their hair out.
As for combat...
Ixias has a fairly vanilla combat system for RPG Maker. Front view, turn based combat, often with RTP battlers. This could be a colossal blow to the game if it wasn't handled so well. While Ixias might not flaunt all too much in the way of originality, there's a few extremely interesting things that the game does to make something you would consider stale. Every boss is an absolute adventure, and some kind of (what I would consider) innovative exploration of the default RTP mechanics. The constant balance of HP / MP / and TP gets extremely intense, surprisingly quickly. Having to buy a majority of the skills in the game also creates a bit of a WRPG character customization feeling to it, that I haven't really seen in other games.
I'm somebody who enjoys challenge. I have beaten the first Dark Souls, five times. I have beaten Metro 2033 on the hardest difficult, nine times. I have played through a majority of Left 4 Dead 1 on Expert with only bots. I found parts of Ixias to be a challenge, just the perfect difficulty. There was no challenge that I was expected to face that was too hard, but no part in which I was fully confident of my ability. Balanced to perfection, sans a few possible exploits!
STORY
--------------------
Oh Christ man... if you want a story... If you want something that'll give the first Deus Ex a run for it's money, then check this game out. An engaging and even cerebral plot that goes the extra mile to a deliver the most complex and snaking plots I've ever played, let alone heard of for RPG Maker. For some, it might be a bit too much, but for those that can take a minute to follow along, it's a truly an enriching experience.
Ixias suffers from a story that is simultaneously its best part, but also its toughest to praise, in it's current state. As an alpha, the demo ends far before any loose ends are tied up, in fact, it ends just as we get into the main plot. As such the game gave me such an incredible kick in the balls to see the dev message at the end, I'm still kinda reeling from it. There are problems though. The main cast is all made up of 3 dimensional, and real feeling people, that might be equivalent to a small time Tales Of game - but at the moment, there simply isn't enough screen time devoted to the people, and not the plot, to build much an emotional connection with them. If there was, then I don't know, I might be a wreck right now. While the antagonists of the plot are all hidden nebulously in mystery, and cannot be spoken of at this time, the thugs and villains that do get screen time are all quite flat. Ixias is pretty quick and eager to get into some pretty dark themes of crime, murder, rape, prostitution, cannibalism, drug use, and manslaughter, and holds no punches. Some moments are really, incredibly, well executed and hit you where it hurts; other feel like stories out of a 90s comic book that are a bit '2edgy4u'. Sinathor has stated to me before, that he really didn't want to hold anything back for Ixias. It definitely shows, and I'd believe it if he told me this was a game he was cooking up for years, and poured his heart and soul into.
ART DESIGN
--------------------
If there is a crutch that Ixias has, its the art. RTP and vanilla looking assets seem pretty abound, and Ixias doesn't make many excuses for it. It is what it is: serviceable. While none of it really detracts from the overall experience, the game benefits little from it, enough to convey ideas and give impressions. Perhaps the extremely notable exception to this is the mapping. Some areas, are simply fricken' astounding. Every single area has a totally complete vibe, and it all works together to create a very consistent atmosphere. The game is without a doubt, what it was set out to be. Ixias does feature what I can decipher as being custom assets and graphics, notably facegraphics and its promotional poster however, and does benefit from these considerably at times, but, I wish they were more the rule than the exception. Any more can't really be expect of though. That all said, it makes me wonder what this game would be like if it had a small team of even 1 or 2 dedicated artists.
SOUND DESIGN
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Pfft-, no "
" or "
"? 0/10.
In all serious, Ixias would be great, but not AMAZING if it weren't for, what I take to be its 100% custom music by Sinathor himself. Holy Christ this soundtrack is great, in a lot of ways as good as, if not better than the original Deus Ex's. If not, then it's at the least, very comparable to it. Its good, its really, really, good. It always perfectly sets up the atmosphere and tone, and has a good diversity to it that helps the game even further stand out from the crowd. The only problems with the music is that there simply isn't enough. Several areas, dungeons in particular, all share the same music. Does any of that matter though when you're listening to "Floating", "Longing for Something You've Never Had", or "Let the City Burn"? No. No it doesn't.
My brother's life is music, so growing up, I heard enough of it. Now, I don't really listen to music, and I infrequently seek out the OST for a game to put on my computer. For Ixias though I HAD TO.
Other than the music, the audio is a little hit and miss. Other than some rain, I don't recall any ME's, and the sound effects were all like the art. Pretty much just RTP. As JC would say, "
". With a week's attention to sound in this game, it'd really help elevate it even more.
CONCLUSION
--------------------
Scores are for fcking casuls, but this game isn't!
I don't know how I can recommend this game more, I honestly don't. The art may have been pretty middle of the road, but the music, story, and gameplay more than make up for it. It is the best RPG Maker game I have ever played. Period. It was an privileged to Q/A test and an absolute blast to play, I don't regret a second of it. Here's hoping for the full release, and the sequel.
On a personal note to Sinathor, it is been an absolute honor to work with you and I sincerely wish to continue working with you. Even though it's only been a month, I am proud to call you a friend, and even mentor. Do not hesitate in the slightest to come to me with future builds for Q/A, art, concerns, or anything! You have the utmost upper echelon of my respect, and I would be ecstatic to continue working with you.
Best of luck,
Chaosian
