Gameplay is a Vehicle

Gameplay is an important part of a video game. In fact, it's what makes a video game, well, a video game. Without it, we just have a movie. In most cases, the focus of a game is on its gameplay and mechanics. In others, it's a way to progress the story with elements of interactivity. Gameplay is the vehicle in how the medium moves along, while the game's layout and story is the track.

A while back I was playing Final Fantasy X in an effort to work through my backlog of video games. I can't say that I've picked up the game for a while. However, it got me thinking about the mechanics of the battle system, and how it differed from my other experiences with other Final Fantasy games. FF X uses a turn based battle system, that also changes with the actions that the player takes. For instance, a standard attack will keep the order of battle. However, if I decide to use an item, use an ability, or cast a healing spell, the order is changed. This allows me to strategize, and puts more weight on the decisions that I make in battle. Though, admittedly, I was playing Final Fantasy X for its story, as opposed to its gameplay. While the battle system is solid, it's nothing all to special. Granted, it's a majority of the game, but it's more of a means than a focal point. Final Fantasy games, and other RPGs, are primarily all about the story that they want to tell. However, gameplay is still important. Gameplay is the reason I haven't invested as much time into other Final Fantasy games. I find that the ATB system isn't functional, nor conducive to carrying the game. There's nothing wrong with a turn based battle system. Pokemon proves this with every game. Turn based is safe, and reliable. Like a mini van.

That being said, other games have an immense focus on their gameplay, such as fighters, platformers, shooters, and the like. These games spend a long time in development having their mechanics worked on. Having them be refined to the highest end. To make the controls tight and responsive. Super Meat Boy is a good example of this. In SMB, the player has full control over the character, yet is sent against nearly impossible obstacles. These boards are extremely difficult, but can be overcome with skill and patience. It's all possible within the confines of the games mechanics. Like a driver trying to shave off seconds to get a better time each lap, or to move up to the next position on his conquest for first place. Games that focus on their gameplay are like sports cars. Their fast, responsive, and extremely dangerous because you'll end up dying a lot. Though, when you've mastered it, you come off looking like a badass because you can swerve around corners and maintain control every inch of the way. Games with gameplay are its primary function are like a Lamborghini.

Some games don't necessarily have a set track. They allow the player to go anywhere, and do anything that they want to. These games can go off the beaten path, and go mudding, get dirty, and have fun doing whatever catches their fancy. Skyrim is one of those games. Skyrim allows players to go wherever, and do whatever they please. If they wish to become a master of the arcane arts, then they can do so. If a player wants to become a master of the sword, wearing heavy armor, and carrying a shield to plow through enemies because stealth is for the weak, then they can do so. If the player wants to be a deadly shadow that takes out his enemies from a distance, or slit throats, then they may do so. If the player wants to become a werewolf; and the list goes on. Other games like Just Cause 2, let the player go wherever they want, and blow up anything they want. These game can allow for total exploration, for both on and off road. These games are like a Hummer.

Some games try and do something different. Some games experiment. They've still got four wheels and an engine, but there's something... different about them. They don't obey what is traditionally considered a game, they do things differently because they understand that games can do more. The Walking Dead video game by Tell Tale Games tells an emotional story, with character, and heart. The game doesn't really have anything of a traditional game. There isn't much action, yet there's a lot of drama. There is gameplay to be sure, but not as we understand it. Games of earlier days were still experimenting with gameplay, and game design. The Dreamcast is home to many of these, including: Ecco The Dolphin, Crazy Taxi, Jet Grind Radio, Space Channel 5, and Shenmue are only a handful of games that broke the mold of what a game is. These kind of games take what we know as a game, and modify it to become something more, something different, something wonderful. These games are kind of like... well, this:

As important as gameplay is for a video game, it's really more of a vehicle. How much fun you have with that vehicle is how well it functions. Game play is absolutely crucial to a game, as it can make or break it. There have been several times that I haven't completed a game because of its broken gameplay, as everything hinges on it. That being said, it isn't everything. If Mass Effect didn't have the story, or universe that it did, it wouldn't be the same game. 

What are some games that you play for just the gameplay, or vice versa? Are there games out there that you couldn't care less how the gameplay and mechanics were so long as you got to experience the story? Let me know in the comments!

Why Do I do This?

I just want to talk about video games for a second here. I love video games, it's what I do. It's what I'm best at, and they're just dang awesome.

I want to talk about how they give me a sense of agency. HOw they make me feel like i can truly accomplish something. How they can make me face my fears, and let me overcome my fears. How Zelda has taught me courage, and bravery by going down into the depths of dungeons for the sake of a kingdom. For the sake of love. I want to talk about how I became a jedi while playing Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic. I want to talk about how I climbed the seven thousand steps to High Hrothgar, and slayed a dragons in Skyrim. I want to talk about how I have met great evils, and destroyed them. How I united an entire galaxy to fight alongside me as I faced down the Reapers in a battle that we were ultimately going to lose, but we fought all the same. With tenacity and strength, as brothers and sisters fighting for survival. These are all the great things that video games have allowed me to do. They are an absolutely wonderful medium that I want to share with people, and that should be shared. I want them to be talked about in a way inspires greatness, that inspires people to pick up a controller to play a game, and experience it for themselves. I want video games to be respected, and not to be looked at with scorn and disdain at the very mention of the genre. I want to change the conversation about video games.

I don't want to talk about the mechanics of the game, the layout of the levels, or the clunkiness of the controls, because that in itself is clunky. It's stilted, and a chore to listen to someone talk about that. No, I want to talk about the emotions that I felt. The sense of speed that I got from playing Burnout and the thrill of coming in first place. I want to talk about the atmosphere and charm of Bioshock as I stroll through the halls of the sunken city, and discover the perverse leadership that ultimately ruined it. Video games, ultimately, are forms are art, and art evokes emotion. Art tells stories, art records history, art makes history, art brings us perspective of the artist, art brings up debates about what was the intention of the art. Now, not all video games are good, every kind of art form has its share of schlock, I mean, look at Michael Bay's work.

I'm really looking forward to what's becoming of the video game industry. Nowadays, we find Call of Duty's and Battlefields that all look and feel the same. Sadly, the video game industry has become somewhat of a factory, that's just churning out product, rather than creating something unique or wonderful. With people like Bobby Kotick, the head of Activision, who view the industry as a way to make money rather than art, it's difficult to see any kind of progression. However, popping up, all over the world are independent game developers who create games like nothing else anyone has ever seen before. Notch ( aka Markus Persson), of Mojang studios, created Minecraft. The game exploded, with no marketing, making millions solely on the basis of word of mouth, and supporters to pave the way for it to become the most successful indie game in existence. Just this year at PAX, the Penny Arcade Expo, there was a booth dedicated entirely to independent video games and indie game developers. That booth was larger than either of Microsoft's and Sony's booths. There are good, creative, and fun games out there, they just need their fifteen minutes of fame, and they can go on to make it big. That's what we all want. We want the little guy to succeed, and we want to see something new, and we're only going to get that from these independent game developers. Those game developers grew up in the same era that I did, and want to create games that are the kind that they want to make. And the kinds of games that they want to make, are they kind that they grew up with.

I remember playing games that were fun and inventive, and did something interesting. They weren't the best games, they had their flaws, but at least they tried to do something different. I find that commendable in this day and age, where invention is scarce. I grew up in what I think was a golden age of gaming, when developers weren't afraid of trying out something new, or when they were still finding out just what a game could do. I stand by it that the mid 1990s to early 2000s were days of true innovation in the games industry. The Nintendo 64, Sega Dreamcast, and the Sony Playstation brought forth some of the most monumental games in the industry. Final Fantasy VII, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, Soulcalibur, Jet Grind Radio, Super Mario 64, Mario Kart 64, Jet Force Gemini, Half-Life, Grim Fandango, Deus Ex, Thief, Resident Evil, Mega Man X, and many, many more. It isn't out of nostalgia that I say that these are great games, it's because they are. I still pull out the old games, because it's important to know where we've come from as an industry, and to take the occasional trip down memory lane. Ok, so maybe nostalgia is a bit of a factor, but they really are good games. If playing Civilization V has taught me anything: is that golden ages come and go, and I believe that we are on the cusp of another golden age. Not just with video games, but with other forms of art as well. I think it's going to be an interesting time to be alive, and experience something new.