My Blog Page
As of my freshman year, I will be posting content centered around a certain topic. You can expect my blog posts to feature well-written sentences.
Brady Bryan
JRPGS, or Japanese role-playing games, often scare many modern gamers away at the sight of the genre due to a number of reasons. Most modern gamers prefer to play FPS games, sports games such as the 2K franchise, or fighting games such as Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. Further blurring the line, some would rather play action or adventure games such as God of War or any of the Super Mario games such as the recently-released Super Mario 3D All-Stars which contains the three monolith 3D Super Mario games in one package. While JRPGS are almost solely action-adventure games, they are typically avoided by many gamers with clear reasoning why. As someone who is a die-hard fan of the Pokémon franchise which is classified as a JRPG, one might assume that I am a fan of most, if not, all JRPGS. However, this could not be further from the truth as I am incredibly adverse to tradition JRPGs for the same reasons many others are. JRPGS suffer from the very core values that make them JRPGS: Characters tend be set in their roles, each JRPG's story follows the same plotline, there is more emphasis on story and less freedom in terms of gameplay, and the characters can be uninteresting or generic in the realm of the genre. Of course, there are some games that break the mold of JRPGs, such as the Persona series or the Pokémon mainline games, but the remaining 90% of JRPGs are boring and monotonous. Of course, JRPGs were far more popular around a decade ago since the video game and internet climate were vastly different from that of today's internet culture as people back then were hungry for anything to keep them entertained. Such a reason is also why visual novels were popular back then despite being an interactive movie, which admittedly is less cool in practice than in concept. According to some unspoken JRPG list of rules, the boss or "big bad" of each JRPG has to be some religious figure or "God" of the universe, and it's up to the ragtag team of outcasts to save the world and win the day. This trope is unbearably generic, unintuitive, and unimaginative, making it the very definition of fodder with no greater thinkpiece left for the player to consider other than "religion is bad." Since the story is the focal point of JRPGs, the text and dialogue would be crucial to the world-building and suspense-building of the game. However, JRPGs fancy the idea of including lame, uninteresting pieces of dialogue consistently placed throughout the game that contribute little to nothing towards the overall experience. It is understandable that the developers would want to create memorable moments which are endearing to the player. However, the way the developers go about it has been done to death, and is almost always cheesy and lame. It may appear as though JRPGs are completely flawed on a player-base level, and while there may be some good merits to their name, I simply cannot refute such a claim with total confidence. Even as a gamer whose first and second favorite games are Pokémon Black and Persona 3, my disdain for the oversaturated, mishandled, unintuitive genre reaches a boiling point when even the aforementioned games manage to get under my skin or force my hand at customizing my experience with them via modding or emualtion. Recap:
0 Comments
Brady Bryan
Imagine having a conversation with another person. Naturally, the conversation is going to head in a direction where one person gives the other person a random scenario in which the opposite person chooses between two options. In an ideal world, the one being questioned chooses one of the options which navigates the conversation in a direction which varies greatly from the other option had the person decided to respond differently. Think of a conversation as a "Choose-Your-Own-Adventure" game with the ultimatums determining where and how the player will advance through the game. If one were to apply this analogy to video games, one might think it to be a crucial part of any video game, especially if it is visual novel-esque. However, what if the ultimatums never mattered? It is an all too familiar occurence. Video games tend to present the player with meaningless dialogue options solely to yield a "unique" response that furthers the player's immersion, but fails to do so horribly. Games of this particular variety include the Persona franchise, countless visual novel games, and numerous other JRPGs such as Pokemon. If there is any doubt about the outcome of dialogue options being the same, simply test the theory as many have done as the evidence doesn't lie. Use a save state prior to making a choice, then reload the state and choose the opposite option. If the outcome yields a proper consequence for each choice, then rejoice as it is a rare occurrence. The purpose of dialogue-ultimatums are to reward the player for making the right decision, whether it be in the form of a new item, increased stats, or getting to know the character better. The purpose of narrative-based ultimatums are moreso the same with a greater emphasis on interactivity. With that being said, it is questionable as to why ultimatums were created to seemingly inconvenience the player. Games whose foundations rely on the player interacting with other characters in order to progress the story rely too heavily on such a cheap and lazy trope. Instead of fleshing out each separate event in order to further immerse the player and provide meaningful gameplay, the developers opted for a cheap facade that makes their game look deeper than it appears to be. Despite this, it can be considered a good thing that most games allow the player to "mash A" through the dialogue, so this blight may not be so unbearable... Recap:
Brady Bryan
Earlier this year, Valorant became the new craze for PC players worldwide. With its CS:GO-like gameplay and character designs reminiscent of Overwatch, it quickly garnered a large following. Another factor that contributed to its success is how it was first made available to players. For a short period of time, Valorant was only made available through Twitch, a streaming service which provides rewards for watching streamers stream gameplay or real-life content. Sometimes, viewers would get a code which gave them access to the beta of Valorant in which they could match with other beta players, making the game a sort of niche commodity. Aesthetically, the game is decent on the visuals. Nothing about the game stands out more than the characters whose appeal lie solely in their appearance and skills (moreso their skills). The character designs are mediocre at best and lack interesting personalities. It feels as though the player is playing as a piece of cardboard with over "ten cool new sayings." The character selection is also limited as there are only eight playable characters. The music isn't especially notable either as the tracks in the game are generic compositions for background noise with the most prominent pieces being those on the main menu. While the characters and the music aren't the selling point of the game, the main interest lies in the gameplay. Valorant's gameplay is a double-edged sword. Those that play CSGO will feel right at home, while those craving a first-person shooter that features unique gameplay will be left wanting more. As mentioned before, the only differing factor between Valorant and most other first-person shooters are the skills as well as the only game mode in Valorant being "Bomb," a "search and destroy" style game mode. It is questionable whether the choice to only include one game mode was intended to be a sort of bold step away from the first-person shooter genre. Conversely, the game handles well on the controls, though that's about the only positive remark the game has going for it. Similar in fashion to other shooter games, headshot detection leaves a lot to be desired, and while the game has its fair share of hackers, that issue is not a result of the game's shortcomings. There isn't much else to say about the game other than it feels like another CSGO clone. In fact, many other reviewers of the game compare it to Counter Strike in the first few sentences of their evaluations. Valorant can be summed up as the love child of Counter Strike and Rainbow Six: Siege with influences of Overwatch, though I would rather choose one of the games if I wanted a complete experience. The only way that I can even open the game is if I have nothing better to do than shoot the breeze with friends. While others may argue that the game has been in beta, the same could be said for Fortnite which has featured hundreds of new content over the years. Rating: 3/5 Recap:
Brady Bryan
The first day of school is right around the corner, not only marking my final "first day of school" but also the transition into an an entirely new education experience. Many students and teachers alike are still very unsure about how this year will exactly turn out, as well as general reception to the reformed online education system. This is especially pertinent to me since I am part of the game art design, which heavily depends on online software. Since schools are no longer taught in-person, I believe it may be more difficult to aid and gain help from others. Regardless, I am still quite anxious to see what the new teaching environment will be like. Last year's curriculum was centered around learning the basics of the Unity program as well as how to code in C# using Visual Studio 2019. Though our time in Unity was cut short due to being sent home for the rest of the year, we still came away and practiced with what we learned and were given. With this, I am looking forward to more coding since it was a complex and bothersome task for me with regards to figuring out the single line of code that rendered the Unity animation and game unplayable. Despite the hardships, I wish to look past it and commit the coding process to memory as my current memory regarding how to optimize code is spotty. I also want to utilize others' lines of code and see what they do in the program. I looked into some other coder's codes for a certain action such as this one and they interested me and inspired me to want to do the same by experimenting. Aside from coding, I want to do more with my 3D models in Unity as I did not have a chance to import my own models into Unity for further modification. While this is an ambitious thought, I want everyone in the class to collectively work together on a single Unity game where we can have multiple ideas and options made available by a sort of makeshift team. I think that concept would be both fun and entertaining. While I am aware that we will continue down the paths of Unity and C#, this year may have affected our original modus operandi since not everyone will have access to the tools we use. As a result, inclusivity will become a large factor in how classes are organized, especially ones that rely on technology. Whether those with access to Unity at home will have separate objectives is yet to be seen, but I am excited to see where this year will take us nonethless. Recap:
Brady Bryan
As I have detailed in the prior post, I have been working as a video editor for the last four months. During that four months, both I and the client have created several distinct projects without completing a single one. That is, until yesterday. I have previously stated that video editing is not a "one-and-done" process, but rather includes a series of prototypes that builds, improves, and revises upon each new version. The purpose of each prototype serves as a sort of checkpoint that can be used to determine what next steps should be taken, which involves rewatching each prototype over and over again to see where numerous additions can be made. In our case, our first completed video project by the name of "Night Palms" took eight prototypes to complete over several weeks, and I intend to discuss the process of creating each prototype until the final product. Of course, one cannot create a video without the appropriate clips. In preparation to create a new iteration of a certain project, expect to be sent new material every work session. New clips are the lifeblood of the project, almost literally. As we created the later prototypes, more and more new material replaced old material and was inserted at certain points to increase thematic cohesion. One useful quality of having multiple prototypes is that while the project slowly takes form, the visionary has time to debate whether an idea should be applied to a particular scene based on the clips that precede and succeed it. With each new prototype the decision to increase the length of prior clips were made albeit only for another half-second to a second. However it makes a world of difference when accounting for how long you want the current image to register in the minds of the audience. Such an ability to efficiently increase the length of a clip with few clicks attests to how imperative non-destructive editing is, which is a skill that is best learned via practice. The same technique was applied to adding sound to certain clips as the entire six minute video contains very minimal sound at the beginning and end by design. Of course, each prototype increases in length with production, albeit marginally. From the first to the final prototype, the difference in length was approximately two minutes across each work session lasting two to three hours. It just goes to show how numerous hours of editing yield seemingly minimal results. While the first five or six prototypes where devoted to building and establishing the foundation of the project, the last few prototypes where devoted to fine-tuning and making final adjustments at certain intervals. With this being only one of several other video projects that we have created, both the client and I have quite a ways to go before we take care of everything. Consequentially, we are going to start yet another new project next week. In any case, the final "Night Palms" prototype is indicative of one small leap simultaneously being one large step in our collaborative career. Night Palms Recap:
Brady Bryan
Around the middle of March, I became a video editor for a retired Oberlin College professor. Since I knew the basics of Adobe Premiere Pro (despite many claiming the program along with much of the Adobe suite to be inferior when compared to similar programs) which was his criteria for editing, I figured that I would be a suitable fit for the task. The process goes as such: He uploads several clips to a Dropbox folder prior to the editing session where I am able to access and download them onto my computer. Once we are both ready to begin, we initiate a Skype call and he tells me how to edit each clip while I share my screen in order to assure that each edit is to his liking. Prior to the online collaboration, he would drive over and watch and direct me step by step which was absolutely more efficient than the online calls, but can't be helped due to the entire pandemic pressuring citizens to self-quarantine to reduce risk of contraction. The main leitmotif of the clips he uploads is light. That is, each clip is relates to light reflections, flashing colors, shadows, contrasting colors, and the like. The multiple projects we work on are typically accompanied by composed pieces that convey the tone and overall attitude of the clips. For instance, if there are many fast moving light sources that frequently change colors, the song would be whimsical and flighty in nature as if to resemble a sort of "circus-y" vibe. While one might think that being a video editor requires one to learn and master every nook and cranny of their respective video editing software to create quality works, such a notion is not necessarily true. Not every clip needs a fancy, eye-catching transition with super bright lights and flashing colors (ironically contradicting the contents of the raw footage). Simple hard cuts and cross dissolves will suit one's fancy. The key to editing is deciding whether certain clips will need more or less editing than usual, although this isn't calculable. When it comes to editing, less can and most likely will be more as destroying the original identity of the clip should be the last idea on the editor's mind. I may not know everything about Premiere Pro, but becoming a video editor has definitely pushed me towards exploring the software further in order to accomplish what my client wants with adequate accuracy. It also taught me the aforementioned lesson that excessive editing can be detrimental to the overall initial integrity of the raw footage, as well as unobtrusive editing being an optimal option in certain scenarios. With video editing, the editor will be faced with how to properly handle the raw footage optimally (avoiding destructive editing at all costs in case the previous edit was a better decision). Below is an example of a prototype of a light project that is currently being worked on. Example Recap:
Brady Bryan
With the recent release of the highly anticipated Animal Crossing: New Horizons, fans of the Animal Crossing series and even outsiders who have recently caught on to the hype that is ever so prominent of Twitter and Instagram, everyone has scrambled to purchase it (and Doom Eternal due to the ironic, heavily contrasting duality of the selling points of both games) and play it immediately. While long-time fans of the series are well versed in what the series has to offer, it is important to remember the game that preceded it as many of its fans already have: Animal Crossing: New Leaf for the Nintendo 3DS. Being the first Animal Crossing game that I ever truly played (not including Animal Crossing Wild World which I would just walk around in as I had no idea what to do), New Leaf had a lot to offer with quality in spades. First and foremost, this game is heavily centered around interactions with the NPCs and incentivizes the player to return every day as their is something new each and every day. Think of this game as being largely episodic, where different features are unlocked each day. That being said, the player is never truly done with the game as they need make sure that they tend to their town by watering flowers, pulling weeds, and interact with other villagers to ensure that the town never grows ugly or the villagers dislike you. How long you choose not to play the game affects the status of the town as well as your popularity, so don't think that you can get away with neglecting your duties as mayor. The villagers are some of the most expressive NPCs to ever exist. Each of them are rich in personality and dialogue. There are several villager archetypes such as peppy, snooty, and cranky, and while every single villager falls into one of these categories, each and every single one of them have their own unique catchphrase. The villagers will often trade with the player, make requests, or simply give the player words of encouragement which is admittingly quite touching. Talking to the villagers is one of the primary ways of advancing in the game as they will request public works projects that the player can then fund with bells, the in-game currency. While this sounds linear, keep in mind that this is only one of the ways to progress. Other forms of progression include donating fish, fossils, bugs, and famous artworks to the town museum, upgrading all of the stores on Main Street. This is all done in the pursuit of the main objective of all Animal Crossing games: paying off your house debt. Sounds dreadful, you say? Well, I won't say that you are wrong, but their are enough distractions to pull your attention away from that and instead focus on improving the town. Besides, the prospect of paying of you debt has already been joked to death by fans (lovingly, mind you). The game is very cutesy in both style, animation, and music. The town music changes with each hour, making there a grand total of 24 songs that the player hears just by walking around in their town alone. Other songs such as the ones heard in shops or on the island are also simple in melody. Referring back to expressions, the player and the villagers' expressions change depend on what is being said, causing the villagers to be bashful, angry, or happy, so there is never an unclear emotion when talking to one. There are never any errors to be had when playing the game, and aside from being meant for very casual gamers, the game does its best to appeal to everyone, even finding itself extremely popular among the LGBTQ+ community. It does a phenomenal job at making the player feel calm and relaxed. I want to say that there is not a single soul on Earth that should not play this game, but unfortunately not everyone is interested in games that require heavy devotion of time and energy, and would rather play games where the ending is not far from sight. While that may be the only noticeable issue the game is ineffective at handling, that is purely by design and is not a result of poor development or mismanagement. For anyone looking for a "timesink" game, look no further and play New Leaf or New Horizons as even after only two days of its release, every single fan both new and old is very pleased. Rating: 4 out of 5 Stars Recap:
Brady Bryan
At the time of me writing this post, the entire population of Earth is currently dealing with the spread of COVID-19, or Coronavirus as it is more commonly referred to. During this time, everyone is advised (or forced in some countries) to practice self-quarantine, limiting themselves from outside interaction as much as possible. Some stores changed their schedule to make hours shorter, healthcare products are flying off of shelves as I speak, and restaurants closed their dining rooms, limiting customers to drive-thrus only. Aside from shutting down stores, restaurants, and the like, COVID-19 has shut down, cancelled, or delayed video game tournaments and events. One of the first tournaments/events to be negatively affected by the Coronavirus was Bandai Namco's TEKKEN Masters tournament two weeks ago. The company posted about it on their social media platforms such as Twitter and Instagram, as well as their website much to the dismay of the potential attendees. While many people dismissed the Coronavirus as a small little flu virus, this incident was a precursor to what was to come. Despite some negative results of the virus, some companies and platforms have improved and upgraded their services to adjust and aid online users. Discord, a social gaming platform heavily used by gamers internationally, temporarily increased the maximum amount of people in a live stream from ten to a whopping fifty. This was done to accommodate for teachers and instructors to teach their class online, which had been at the forefront of discussion among parents, school staff, and students. Niantic, the developers of Pokemon Go, has made it easier for players to catch Pokemon in the safety of their own home by substantially increasing the amount of Pokemon that spawn in an area. They also increased the amount of items available from PokeStops, as well as set up a bundle of 30 Incenses for a single Pokecoin, the in-game currency. Incenses rapidly increase the spawn rate of Pokemon around the player, typically lasting for 30 minutes. However, the incenses bought with the in-game currency now last for an hour, making Pokemon encounters substantially easier and streamlined. Whereas many stores and restaurants are limiting the amount of products sold per person and/or limiting their menu in response to the Coronavirus, many other online services are being generous with their services. Pokemon Go and Discord are only two examples of "doing God's work" unto their consumers. In any case, many people online are citing this unorthodox time period as the perfect opportunity to stay inside and play video games, which is a common trope among the gaming community. While they might not be inherently wrong, it is still important that everyone stays safe and continues to properly take care of themselves appropriately. Recap:
Brady Bryan
I'm sure that everyone remembers their first time playing their first video game, or at least what the first video game they ever played was. For me, it was a racing game for the first Playstation when I was only two. Of course we all most likely did not know how to play or what to do our first time around, but for those of us that decided to stick around and continue to play, we became familiarized with what was expected of us over time. We had to defeat the boss or beat everyone else in a race or just go on an adventure. It was the first time we ever had a virtual interactive activity where our stimuli experienced new stimulus. As confusing or uneducated as that sounds, it was something none of us had ever experienced before. Fast forward to today and those of us who chose to continue playing video games throughout the years have either continued to feel a nostalgic enjoyment when playing or watching a game announcement that features beloved characters, beloved gameplay mechanics, or fantastic music, or have gradually dwindled in responsiveness to the latest games such as myself. Backtracking somewhere between the first time we played video games and the current timeline, we can find ourselves playing games that could hold our attention for days upon weeks upon months. While this may be due to limited options to entertain ourselves with, we could just sit down and play our games in any way that we wanted without being pressured to complete a mission with the utmost urgency. When I was around ten years of age, I would come home from school and play Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 2 for the Playstation 2. As any aware person knows, Dragon Ball is a franchise that is heavily associated with large, grand-scale fights of grandeur. I would rarely play the story mode (mostly in part due to my not knowing that there was a story mode as I simply wanted to beat up enemies) and instead play the training mode for days and days. I would choose my character and another character to be my opponent, and create my own head-canon, essentially creating a story mode of my own. As extremely repetitive as this was, I was never bored since the fights were "cool-looking and awesome." When I play Budokai Tenkaichi 2 now, I'm still surprised at how well this game holds up today in terms of animation, gameplay mechanics, user interface, etc., but needless to say, I'm not as "on cloud nine" as I used to be when I played it long ago. Much of that wondrous excitement has dwindled as more and more games came out over the years. This can be attributed to the feeling becoming commonplace with the release of numerous other games that illicit the same feeling to the point where it no longer affected me. This could also be the result of the newer games not living up to the hype that video games years ago once did, although this can be refuted by the fact that earlier video games had a stronger affect on us as it was a medium not fully realized. I truly am envious of fans that are able to become overwhelmingly overjoyed when they see something that is enticing from a video game advertisement as it reminds me of the times when I once felt that way, namely open-world games. Seeing everything that the player is capable of performing in a large-scale environment was (and still can be) a wondrous feeling. Recap:
Brady Bryan
Remember the magical feeling we would get from playing video games as a kid? Remember experiencing a fun, engaging, interactive piece of media that no matter how repetitive your style of gaming was, retained the same enjoyable sensation for hours on end? Yeah, what happened to that? Where did it go? I no longer feel the same way I once did about video games about ten years ago. Comparably, it feels as though I am experiencing a less severe version of burnout when playing despite not being the creator of the game. This has been a feeling that has been looming over me for the last two years. Even when I procrastinate on accomplishing something such as homework, I get the urge to play video games over anything else. However, I get that empty feeling that I can't seem to shake. The biggest factor is that I know that other people are experiencing the same feeling. There are countless times where my friends (or sometimes myself) are harassing each other to play a multiplayer game together such as Rainbow Six Siege, but immediately get bored of the game after two matches (three if lucky). At this point we either get on a different game or we stop playing completely. One moment the fervor to play a game comes, the next moment it disappears. The fervor to play dissipates faster if we lose or die continuously (which is extremely commonplace). After all, dying is less fun than living. Instead of playing games to have fun, I have been playing video games to pass time, which feels sinful to me because my personal enjoyment of video game comes from aiming to have the most fun I can, disregarding time as a factor and/or result of gameplay. However, since I get this feeling with pretty much any game, every game feels the same to me in some way, shape, or form. Obviously playing Pokemon or Mario should not feel the same as playing Call of Duty or Rainbow Six Siege, but unfortunately it does. Perhaps there is an instance where I do not feel such a despicable feeling while playing games that has to do with the content of the games that I have come to familiarize myself with. This was more of an analytical look at how video games have been affecting me for the past couple of years, and how it affects my cognition of the fictional world, which in turn affects my cognition of the real world. When something you once loved so dearly that you were practically inseparable becomes a cyclical pattern of dull or limited enjoyment, that sinking feeling seeps into other activities. With that being said, what made games so special in the first place? Why do we feel so incomplete playing what we love? Think of this blog post as the first part of an analytical chain of posts. Recap:
|
AuthorBrady Bryan is quite familiar with blogs since he had to frequently post on his blog in 6th grade. Although its been a long time since then, he still knows what a proper blog should look like. Archives
May 2021
Categories
All
|