Life is hard. Currently I stand in a position where I'm not entirely sure what the next move for me is. I don't have a computer, my car is practically dead and not worth fixing, I hate my job, and there's still snow on the ground even though it's late March.
Though, this is the thing that I'm always talking about. Video games, if anything, have prepared me for totally FUBAR situations. Zelda has taught me courage. Mass Effect has taught me that there is a great big universe out there worth exploring, and one that is worth saving. Mario has taught me that my goal might not be attained on the first try, so I should keep on looking no matter how hard the levels get. But in life, I don't have continues, and I may not get a second chance. That is why life scares me.
Video games are safe. If I fail, I can easily press start to continue. I can go anywhere, and do anything, but I'm afraid to fail. Though is it really failure if I learn something from it? When we continue in a video game, we come back with the exact same scenario, yet we have new knowledge of what to do in order to succeed. But, like I said, I don't have any continues in life. However, I don't think that I'll be getting into any life threatening situations anytime soon. If I don't succeed, then perhaps I should be looking in another castle.
I believe it's high time for me to take an adventure. There's a great big world out there, and it's just outside my front door. I may not have all of the resources, but if I've got the gall, and the persistence, then I can go out there and give it a shot. In Zelda, you always start off with only three hearts. That's not much compared to what you end up getting. The acquisition of hearts, and the visual representation of all of those hearts shows, quantifiably, how much players have grown.Zelda is still one of the greatest game franchises of all time, because of how it instils fear. Not the paralyzingly fear that most horror games go for, but the kind of fear that makes you take a deep breath before going down the stairs into the unknown darkness. This is life. This is how we grow. That is how Shigeru Miyamoto designed Zelda. Miyamoto created Zedla based on his childhood adventures of going into the woods behind his house. Miyamoto grew from his experiences of facing his fears. After all, there is a great big world out there.
I'm no space Marine, and I can only hope to be as cool as Commander Shepard, but I can still be an explorer. Mass Effect is one of my favorite games of all time because of that important element of exploration. It's in human nature to want to explore. If there was space faring technology available to the masses, I think that I would stop,everything that I'm doing, and spend all of the money in my savings to go out there and see the galaxy. There is so much that this planet has to offer. To stay indoors and only dream about doing things. I do love my video games, because I'm never in my life going to be able to slay a dragon, talk to an alien, or save a princess. Those are the things that I really want to do, but video games give me that opportunity. I've always adhered to the principle of people being more important than video games. It's true. Video games may be vast, expansive, and expanding experiences, but they will never be as intriguing, involving, and fascinating as the people around you. Mass Effect also shows the value of others in your life. Not just as romance options, but also partners in combat. Players have to decide which team members to take with them, which team members best compliment their load out so that they can be the most effective when taking on missions. You may not be tracking down the most notorious information broker in the known galaxy, but you have to pick your friends, and discern who you spend your time with, and who you choose to have by your side when things go bad. My pastor always talks about who we have in our car. Meaning, on the road of life, are we going to have a car full of people that we trust, or a party bus full of many, but fair weather friends? This is how Mass Effect is relevant. I don't have a Turian sniper for a friends, though I wish I did, but I've got some friends whom I know will be there through thick and thin. These are the kinds of people that you need by your side in life. Because that's just how life works. Times will be good, and times will be bad.
I'm not discrediting video games and their worth. Video games are worth something, and valuable to today's society. Games are relevant, because of their impact through their interactivity. I know Shepard's struggles, I feel Links trepidations, I'm with Mario and his challenges and pressing g him onward to saving the princess. Video games are relevant. They may not be the most matured art from out there, but I feel like they are well on their way to becoming the most advanced form of art out there. Above all, if there is anything that every video game will teach us, it's that if at first you don't succeed, press start to continue and try again.
Friday, March 28, 2014
Thursday, March 20, 2014
Titanfall Review
I knew I was going to get this game as soon as I saw the demo for it at E3 last year. I was so excited to see that the folks from Infinity Ward being able to produce a game that they wanted. That game being one filled with giant robots, jetpacks, amazing graphics, an immersive aesthetic, and gameplay that looked like so much fun. The game is finally out, and I have been playing it nonstop.
Titanfall is more than just giant robots and jetpacks with a bit of shooting thrown in. Titanfall actually has a story to it. Now, it's not the best of stories, nor does it hold any impact over how the match plays out. Win or lose, the story goes on. That story being, there is a big mean corporation, and a group of people that are upset about their meanness. War is declared, and the battles play out in the most epic of fashions.
A few days prior to the release of Titanfall was the official release of a game called Hawken. I too was looking forward to playing Hawken, as it also involved giant robots. Hawken took what is commonly known about giant robots, slow, lumbering hulks of badassery, and made them quick, nimble machines that were quite spry and packed a wallop. However, after playing only a few rounds of Hawken, it didn't quite feel right. Hawken relies on players having played other multiplayer shooters before, in order to create the contrast from being on the ground to being in a giant robot. Titanfall creates this contrast within the game itself.
A layout of a match of Titanfall starts out with players on the ground, jumping and wallrunning with their jetpacks, killing minions and other pilots. Killing minions and pilots contributes not only to the score that will go towards reducing the build time of a Titan that the player can call in. Players are guaranteed to call a Titan at any point in the match. Everyone gets a Titan, and it is wonderful. While Titans are given, rather than earned, it does give those who might not be so good at being on the ground a chance to do well with a Titan. Titans belong to the pilots that call them in. No hi-jacking here. When a Titan enters the battlefield, there is a distinct paradigm shift in the momentum of the game.
Titans are a force to be reckoned with. So long as you are on the ground, and without a Titan, they are a serious threat to your well-being. When you're in a Titan however, you feel the power that they carry with them. Titans may be slow and lumbering compared to the nimble pilots that run throughout the map, but they are mere ants to the mighty Titans. Needless to say, Titans pack a wallop, and can even crush a pilot when it steps over one. However, Titans can't access every area of the map like the pilots, so those who have a Titan have to keep a lookout if preservation is on their mind. Firefights with Titans can get pretty intense. To make the experience even more immersive, kplayers have a computer lady voice that constantly feeds them informational updates about threat levels and how many other enemy Titans are engaging on them. Aside from being a great help when in combat, it's also a nice touch to the sci-fi aesthetic that Titanfall nails. If you're not too fond of piloting the big Titans, you can always have them follow you while you run around with your awesome jetpack.
Not having a Titan isn't all that bad when you've always got your jetpack. Pilot combat changes the game of first-person competitive multiplayer games entirely. There are certain habits that players fall into because of the restriction of movement as a result of not having a jetpack. In Titanfall, pretty much all areas are accessable. Adding in the jetpack with free running capabilities makes traversal to all areas possible, but a lot of fun. I find myself running around the map more than I am actually fighting with the other team. Jetpacks give players the all important double-jump, which can be chained from wall run to wall run. It's so much fun to create lines to try and chain together runs, which build up momentum, and allow access to those higher areas. It feels a lot like the game Skate, with the flow that the jetpack allows. However, there are people and giant robots shooting at you while your running along walls like a freerunning Spiderman.
The guns in Titanfall are your standard fare of weapons with assault rifles, shotguns, snipers, and sub-machine guns. One weapon that sticks out, is the Smart Pistol. Because Pilots are so squirmy and can be anywhere at anytime, the Smart Pistol makes it easier to score a few hits on them. The Smart Pistol has bullets that lock on and curve towards the enemy. This isn't as cheap of a weapon as it may sound. The targeting line for the weapon is so simplistic that it's rather easy for the target to escape. Another balancing feature is that the Smart Pistol's lock on range is lousy, so players have to get in relatively close, but paint the target long enough to get a red indicator. Naturally there is an upgrade to the targeting of the pistol, but it still isn't going to be the one weapon that everyone chooses to go with.
At the end of the match, the losing team has to try and survive as they wait for their dropship to come in and give them a life out of the hot zone. Once the ship arrives, the losing team has to make their way to it, all the while surviving an assault from every member of the opposing team, as they too are notified to where the dropship will be arriving at. The experience of making it out of the game to the dropship is a victory in itself. It may be a situation where everyone wins, but in their own right that is justified respectively.
As this is a game by the people from Infinity Ward, the people who pretty much wrote the book on modern Multiplayer FPS games, there's tons of challenges and unlockables. Every single action that a player does is rewarded with something. Be it Titan build time, points for the game, walking, holding a gun for a certain amount of time, killing minions, and the list goes on. The issue with all of these "challenges" and reward based gameplay is that it thrusts players to the higher levels. I hit about level 30 rather quickly, and did not feel as though I earned the title. Challenges reward players with a good chunk of experience points to help them level up. This rapid influx of experience points doesn't feel all that deserved, and not really earned in any sort of way. However, the unlocks are spaced out far enough between levels that players don't get everything all at once.
All in all, Titanfall is a game that is just plain fun. Giant robots, jetpacks, fun game mechanics, a cheesy storyline, and a lot of reasons to keep you coming back. Titanfall is a game that should be owned, or at the very least played, it's worth the experience. Besides, the concept alone should make you want to play. It may be super fantastical, or Call of Duty with giant robots, but is that such a bad thing?
A+
Titanfall is more than just giant robots and jetpacks with a bit of shooting thrown in. Titanfall actually has a story to it. Now, it's not the best of stories, nor does it hold any impact over how the match plays out. Win or lose, the story goes on. That story being, there is a big mean corporation, and a group of people that are upset about their meanness. War is declared, and the battles play out in the most epic of fashions.
A few days prior to the release of Titanfall was the official release of a game called Hawken. I too was looking forward to playing Hawken, as it also involved giant robots. Hawken took what is commonly known about giant robots, slow, lumbering hulks of badassery, and made them quick, nimble machines that were quite spry and packed a wallop. However, after playing only a few rounds of Hawken, it didn't quite feel right. Hawken relies on players having played other multiplayer shooters before, in order to create the contrast from being on the ground to being in a giant robot. Titanfall creates this contrast within the game itself.
A layout of a match of Titanfall starts out with players on the ground, jumping and wallrunning with their jetpacks, killing minions and other pilots. Killing minions and pilots contributes not only to the score that will go towards reducing the build time of a Titan that the player can call in. Players are guaranteed to call a Titan at any point in the match. Everyone gets a Titan, and it is wonderful. While Titans are given, rather than earned, it does give those who might not be so good at being on the ground a chance to do well with a Titan. Titans belong to the pilots that call them in. No hi-jacking here. When a Titan enters the battlefield, there is a distinct paradigm shift in the momentum of the game.
Titans are a force to be reckoned with. So long as you are on the ground, and without a Titan, they are a serious threat to your well-being. When you're in a Titan however, you feel the power that they carry with them. Titans may be slow and lumbering compared to the nimble pilots that run throughout the map, but they are mere ants to the mighty Titans. Needless to say, Titans pack a wallop, and can even crush a pilot when it steps over one. However, Titans can't access every area of the map like the pilots, so those who have a Titan have to keep a lookout if preservation is on their mind. Firefights with Titans can get pretty intense. To make the experience even more immersive, kplayers have a computer lady voice that constantly feeds them informational updates about threat levels and how many other enemy Titans are engaging on them. Aside from being a great help when in combat, it's also a nice touch to the sci-fi aesthetic that Titanfall nails. If you're not too fond of piloting the big Titans, you can always have them follow you while you run around with your awesome jetpack.
Not having a Titan isn't all that bad when you've always got your jetpack. Pilot combat changes the game of first-person competitive multiplayer games entirely. There are certain habits that players fall into because of the restriction of movement as a result of not having a jetpack. In Titanfall, pretty much all areas are accessable. Adding in the jetpack with free running capabilities makes traversal to all areas possible, but a lot of fun. I find myself running around the map more than I am actually fighting with the other team. Jetpacks give players the all important double-jump, which can be chained from wall run to wall run. It's so much fun to create lines to try and chain together runs, which build up momentum, and allow access to those higher areas. It feels a lot like the game Skate, with the flow that the jetpack allows. However, there are people and giant robots shooting at you while your running along walls like a freerunning Spiderman.
The guns in Titanfall are your standard fare of weapons with assault rifles, shotguns, snipers, and sub-machine guns. One weapon that sticks out, is the Smart Pistol. Because Pilots are so squirmy and can be anywhere at anytime, the Smart Pistol makes it easier to score a few hits on them. The Smart Pistol has bullets that lock on and curve towards the enemy. This isn't as cheap of a weapon as it may sound. The targeting line for the weapon is so simplistic that it's rather easy for the target to escape. Another balancing feature is that the Smart Pistol's lock on range is lousy, so players have to get in relatively close, but paint the target long enough to get a red indicator. Naturally there is an upgrade to the targeting of the pistol, but it still isn't going to be the one weapon that everyone chooses to go with.
At the end of the match, the losing team has to try and survive as they wait for their dropship to come in and give them a life out of the hot zone. Once the ship arrives, the losing team has to make their way to it, all the while surviving an assault from every member of the opposing team, as they too are notified to where the dropship will be arriving at. The experience of making it out of the game to the dropship is a victory in itself. It may be a situation where everyone wins, but in their own right that is justified respectively.
As this is a game by the people from Infinity Ward, the people who pretty much wrote the book on modern Multiplayer FPS games, there's tons of challenges and unlockables. Every single action that a player does is rewarded with something. Be it Titan build time, points for the game, walking, holding a gun for a certain amount of time, killing minions, and the list goes on. The issue with all of these "challenges" and reward based gameplay is that it thrusts players to the higher levels. I hit about level 30 rather quickly, and did not feel as though I earned the title. Challenges reward players with a good chunk of experience points to help them level up. This rapid influx of experience points doesn't feel all that deserved, and not really earned in any sort of way. However, the unlocks are spaced out far enough between levels that players don't get everything all at once.
All in all, Titanfall is a game that is just plain fun. Giant robots, jetpacks, fun game mechanics, a cheesy storyline, and a lot of reasons to keep you coming back. Titanfall is a game that should be owned, or at the very least played, it's worth the experience. Besides, the concept alone should make you want to play. It may be super fantastical, or Call of Duty with giant robots, but is that such a bad thing?
A+
Friday, March 14, 2014
From Whimsical and Fun to Giant Robots and Jetpacks: An Update
I love video games. I really do. It doesn't take much for one to sweep me off my feet, and have me day dreaming about them. When I'm away from them, I feel passionless, and depressed. Though, when I sit myself down and play a new game, I become enamored with it.
Recently I sat down to play Broken Age, the record setting game by Tim Schaefer of Double Fine studios who funded the whole thing with Kickstarter. I immediately fell in love with the aesthetic, story and the gameplay. The game play isn't all that intensive, it's really more problem solving than anything, but I love the thrill of figuring stuff out. I found myself strongly relating to the character of Shay. I was captivated by the visual style of the game, and the music whisked me away. I awoke the next morning needing to go to work, but longing to stay in and play the day away with Broken Age. That is a feeling that I haven't felt for a long time.
I love video games. I love the things that they can do. I love the stories that they can tell, and how by taking control of the characters, their actions have so much more meaning than if I were to just sit back and watch or read about them. I love the music that they play, and the memories of the moments that I first heard them when I played the game. Games aim to create a cinematic experience, but they become something more than that. Uncharted 2 may be the closest thing to a Hollywood experience that video games have seen, but it's much more exciting to play it, than to watch it.
Recently, I picked up the game Titanfall, the game by the people who found Infinity Ward (creators of the original Call of Duty), and left after a huge dispute between them and Activision ( their longtime publisher). After leaving Infinity Ward, they formed their own company called Respawn Entertainment. Titanfall is their premier game, and boy is it a good one. I was so excited to see a game with giant robots, and jetpacks, and explosions. I was a kid again. Why don't games do this more often? Why do games always strive for realism, when we can have unicorns with rocket boosters that are powered by their innate magical abilities? Titanfall is the culmination of pretty much everything that I could ask for in a video game. Tight gameplay that is functional and fun, maps that are fun to explore as well as traverse with my jetpack, a sci-fi setting, the ability to make a multiplayer match meaningful. Yeah, the game has a story to it, and Titanfall is strictly multiplayer. Titanfall presents the story off to the side while the match is going on, making it feel like you're an integral part to the mission at hand. Titanfall forces players to go through the story first before letting them loose in standard multiplayer matches. Which isn't such a bad thing, as it allows players to see things from both angles of the story, as well as get a good feel for the maps. Titanfall is so much fun, and I want everyone to play it because it ditches the whole realism shtick that so many games try to achieve and it creates something original and wonderful at the same time.
Games are wonderful because they can create these wonderful worlds of imagination, that are totally impossible with practical means, and they allow us as players to explore and experience them like no other medium can. Support games, and gamers alike, and explore, experiment and play like no one else. Games are art, and they are a beautiful thing.
Recently I sat down to play Broken Age, the record setting game by Tim Schaefer of Double Fine studios who funded the whole thing with Kickstarter. I immediately fell in love with the aesthetic, story and the gameplay. The game play isn't all that intensive, it's really more problem solving than anything, but I love the thrill of figuring stuff out. I found myself strongly relating to the character of Shay. I was captivated by the visual style of the game, and the music whisked me away. I awoke the next morning needing to go to work, but longing to stay in and play the day away with Broken Age. That is a feeling that I haven't felt for a long time.
I love video games. I love the things that they can do. I love the stories that they can tell, and how by taking control of the characters, their actions have so much more meaning than if I were to just sit back and watch or read about them. I love the music that they play, and the memories of the moments that I first heard them when I played the game. Games aim to create a cinematic experience, but they become something more than that. Uncharted 2 may be the closest thing to a Hollywood experience that video games have seen, but it's much more exciting to play it, than to watch it.
Recently, I picked up the game Titanfall, the game by the people who found Infinity Ward (creators of the original Call of Duty), and left after a huge dispute between them and Activision ( their longtime publisher). After leaving Infinity Ward, they formed their own company called Respawn Entertainment. Titanfall is their premier game, and boy is it a good one. I was so excited to see a game with giant robots, and jetpacks, and explosions. I was a kid again. Why don't games do this more often? Why do games always strive for realism, when we can have unicorns with rocket boosters that are powered by their innate magical abilities? Titanfall is the culmination of pretty much everything that I could ask for in a video game. Tight gameplay that is functional and fun, maps that are fun to explore as well as traverse with my jetpack, a sci-fi setting, the ability to make a multiplayer match meaningful. Yeah, the game has a story to it, and Titanfall is strictly multiplayer. Titanfall presents the story off to the side while the match is going on, making it feel like you're an integral part to the mission at hand. Titanfall forces players to go through the story first before letting them loose in standard multiplayer matches. Which isn't such a bad thing, as it allows players to see things from both angles of the story, as well as get a good feel for the maps. Titanfall is so much fun, and I want everyone to play it because it ditches the whole realism shtick that so many games try to achieve and it creates something original and wonderful at the same time.
Games are wonderful because they can create these wonderful worlds of imagination, that are totally impossible with practical means, and they allow us as players to explore and experience them like no other medium can. Support games, and gamers alike, and explore, experiment and play like no one else. Games are art, and they are a beautiful thing.
Friday, March 7, 2014
Here in My Car
This is my car.
His name is Owen, and he's been with me for quite a while. This car has gotten me many places, and taken me on many adventures. Mostly, he takes care of my regular commute to work, and getting me from point A to point B. Owen's been a good car. A couple of weeks ago, I nearly lost him. Or so I had thought. He wouldn't start.The engine would turn and turn, but nothing would catch on. I thought that I had lost him. I was going to be running late for work, but I was upset for a much more different reason than earning my keep at work. I was about to lose a friend. Owen may be one to have given me troubles in the past, but I still love my little car. I'd hate to see him go. Thankfully, because of a very good friend, and a very good coworker, I was able to get too and from work that day. At the end of the day, I ended up calling AAA roadside assistance, and they were able to get him going again, and told me what I needed in order to keep my car running. My little car still lives, and still runs. It turns out that the engine was flooded. However, I nearly lost a companion. I don't think that I've felt this way for a virtual item.
Lately I've been playing GTA V, and I realized that I couldn't care less about my car. In GTA V, each of the main characters get their own personal cars that they can drive around town. Though, as nice of a touch as that is, it's still just a mode of transport. When you lose your car, it really isn't that big of a deal. Players respawn, and take their pick of whatever thing with wheels and an engine is the most convenient. There is a bit of mourning yes, but you quickly move on, and take some poor saps car for your own. There's no attachment to the characters car. It's just there to take you from point A to point B. It doesn't have any special abilities, there's nothing special about it, it's just transport. In the multiplayer mode of the game, cars are merely assets. A scale of your characters progression through the game. There's no heart put into them. There is time, and virtual, sometimes real, money put into them, but only to tweak or improve.
The whole car modification craze started in the early 2000s with the movie The Fast and The Furious. This trend immediately found its way toward gaming with Need for Speed: Underground. Players could modify their cars to look and drive the way that they wanted them to. While I did feel an attachment to my Mazda Miata, which took me through a majority of the game. However, when I discovered that there was a superior car, I traded it in immediately, with minor remorse. I did love that little Miata, and watching its evolution from a crummy street sedan to the beast that it had become. It was sad to see it go. However, once I got behind the wheel of my new Nissan Skyline, the Miata seemed like a distant memory.
This is kind of the standard fare for video games. Diablo, Borderlands, Forza Motorsport,and Skyrim all have the same format of work to get stronger, to get better items, to work faster, to get better items. It's a vicious cycle that doesn't stop until you reach the top. Which, when reached, is a bit of a bore. There's nothing left to accomplish. It's all been done. I felt no attachment to the cars, or equipment that I picked up throughout the game. Some items lasted me for a good while, but all fade away when I find a better replacement.
In other media, such as movies, television, and books, characters have attachments to their stuff. Characters in fantasy films, or shows, always seem to have their signature weapon. Jon Snow of the Game of Thrones show has his Longclaw. That sword holds a certain significance to him, as he keeps it well taken care of and it becomes part of his identity. Aragorn of The Lord of the Rings has Anduril, The Sword that was Broken. The weapon has history, and it serves as evidence of who that character is. Aragorn's sword pretty much proves that he is the rightful king, just by wielding it. Even in the movie Men In Black, K risks his life just to get back his favorite gun. There are a few guns that I like in certain video games, but I can do without them.
Some games capture that sense of ownership with signature weapons and items. I know I keep going to The Legend of Zelda, but it's a classic game. It's kind of like going back to Star Wars when discussing movies. Though, Link and the Master Sword share a bond, that is tied together by destiny. Link is supposed to have the Master Sword. It is his sword, before he even knew it. There are others besides The Legend of Zelda, such as F-Zero, or Soulcalibur. In F-Zero, Captain Falcon is nothing without his Blue Falcon car. Those two go hand and hand together. It would seem wrong to put Captain with any other vehicle in the F-Zero Universe. With Soulcalibur, each character wields a unique weapon. Ivy has her chain sword, Kilik has his bo-staff, Maxi has his nun-chucks and Nightmare has the Soul Edge. However, all of these are more iconic than personal items. The weapons and fighting styles seem to be more tools, and mechanics than something that the character had to struggle to learn. Even when reading through the characters bios in the extras section of the game, the mention of the weapons re sort of throwaway material. There doesn't seem to be any kind of ties with the characters and their respective weapons, other than they have trained with them for many years. That's all well and good. A good fighter should know how to use their weapons, and such a feat would take many years of training to accomplish the things that they do with their weapons.
However, we don't see those struggles. We don't know how long it took them to get to know their weapons. Me and my car have been through a lot. I've taken care of it as best as I can, and have had to take it to the shop a couple of times. Now, a bo-staff isn't as mechanically complex as an internal-combustion engine, but I'm sure that Kilik had made a few dents and dings into his weapon while training with it. I suppose that the attachment to the items that our virtual counterparts wield is as much as we make up. We can be creative and believe what we want to believe.
Still though, I like my car, and I'll hate to see it go. I've had a lot of fun with the adventures that it has taken me on.
Lately I've been playing GTA V, and I realized that I couldn't care less about my car. In GTA V, each of the main characters get their own personal cars that they can drive around town. Though, as nice of a touch as that is, it's still just a mode of transport. When you lose your car, it really isn't that big of a deal. Players respawn, and take their pick of whatever thing with wheels and an engine is the most convenient. There is a bit of mourning yes, but you quickly move on, and take some poor saps car for your own. There's no attachment to the characters car. It's just there to take you from point A to point B. It doesn't have any special abilities, there's nothing special about it, it's just transport. In the multiplayer mode of the game, cars are merely assets. A scale of your characters progression through the game. There's no heart put into them. There is time, and virtual, sometimes real, money put into them, but only to tweak or improve.
The whole car modification craze started in the early 2000s with the movie The Fast and The Furious. This trend immediately found its way toward gaming with Need for Speed: Underground. Players could modify their cars to look and drive the way that they wanted them to. While I did feel an attachment to my Mazda Miata, which took me through a majority of the game. However, when I discovered that there was a superior car, I traded it in immediately, with minor remorse. I did love that little Miata, and watching its evolution from a crummy street sedan to the beast that it had become. It was sad to see it go. However, once I got behind the wheel of my new Nissan Skyline, the Miata seemed like a distant memory.
This is kind of the standard fare for video games. Diablo, Borderlands, Forza Motorsport,and Skyrim all have the same format of work to get stronger, to get better items, to work faster, to get better items. It's a vicious cycle that doesn't stop until you reach the top. Which, when reached, is a bit of a bore. There's nothing left to accomplish. It's all been done. I felt no attachment to the cars, or equipment that I picked up throughout the game. Some items lasted me for a good while, but all fade away when I find a better replacement.
In other media, such as movies, television, and books, characters have attachments to their stuff. Characters in fantasy films, or shows, always seem to have their signature weapon. Jon Snow of the Game of Thrones show has his Longclaw. That sword holds a certain significance to him, as he keeps it well taken care of and it becomes part of his identity. Aragorn of The Lord of the Rings has Anduril, The Sword that was Broken. The weapon has history, and it serves as evidence of who that character is. Aragorn's sword pretty much proves that he is the rightful king, just by wielding it. Even in the movie Men In Black, K risks his life just to get back his favorite gun. There are a few guns that I like in certain video games, but I can do without them.
Some games capture that sense of ownership with signature weapons and items. I know I keep going to The Legend of Zelda, but it's a classic game. It's kind of like going back to Star Wars when discussing movies. Though, Link and the Master Sword share a bond, that is tied together by destiny. Link is supposed to have the Master Sword. It is his sword, before he even knew it. There are others besides The Legend of Zelda, such as F-Zero, or Soulcalibur. In F-Zero, Captain Falcon is nothing without his Blue Falcon car. Those two go hand and hand together. It would seem wrong to put Captain with any other vehicle in the F-Zero Universe. With Soulcalibur, each character wields a unique weapon. Ivy has her chain sword, Kilik has his bo-staff, Maxi has his nun-chucks and Nightmare has the Soul Edge. However, all of these are more iconic than personal items. The weapons and fighting styles seem to be more tools, and mechanics than something that the character had to struggle to learn. Even when reading through the characters bios in the extras section of the game, the mention of the weapons re sort of throwaway material. There doesn't seem to be any kind of ties with the characters and their respective weapons, other than they have trained with them for many years. That's all well and good. A good fighter should know how to use their weapons, and such a feat would take many years of training to accomplish the things that they do with their weapons.
However, we don't see those struggles. We don't know how long it took them to get to know their weapons. Me and my car have been through a lot. I've taken care of it as best as I can, and have had to take it to the shop a couple of times. Now, a bo-staff isn't as mechanically complex as an internal-combustion engine, but I'm sure that Kilik had made a few dents and dings into his weapon while training with it. I suppose that the attachment to the items that our virtual counterparts wield is as much as we make up. We can be creative and believe what we want to believe.
Still though, I like my car, and I'll hate to see it go. I've had a lot of fun with the adventures that it has taken me on.
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