Mixed Up Game Quotes

A Legend of Zelda Wishlist

Sounds like there is a new Legend of Zelda in the works, and while details are fairly scarce at the moment it looks to be tied directly to Breath of the Wild.  I've heard some voices of concern over reuse of existing assets, particularly the world map, but I think that they might be jumping to conclusions a bit prematurely.  We really don't know what changes are being made besides a few visual upgrades shown off in the teaser trailer.  Having said that, I do hope Nintendo makes a few adjustments.  Actually, there are several things that I really would like to see implemented.  Call it a wishlist, if you like.

I won't go into detail on this first request, mostly because Joseph Anderson (of Youtube fame) has a video (here) breaking down the problem (among several others) in exhausting detail.  Cutting to the chase, the way weapon damage and armor absorption are calculated under the hood is kind of wonky.  More often than not it leads to situations in which Link only takes a quarter heart of damage per hit, or else loses the entire health bar except for a quarter heart from a single blow.  It's the kind of problem tabletop RPGs sometimes have, a lack of granularity.

On a bit more positive note, I really enjoyed the exploration aspect of Breath of the Wild.  In particular, the ability to climb up almost any surface and glide down from great heights is something that should be included in more open-world games (Horizon: Zero Dawn sequel, please make it happen!).  One more freedom-of-movement feature  I'd like to see is the ability to dive underwater.  Much like Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, there doesn't need to be an emphasis on submerged combat just the opportunity to explore sunken shipwrecks, underwater ruins, and maybe even some flooded caverns.

Tangential to my last request, it would be nice to have more compacted zones with a lot of detail.  There was a bit of this in Breath of the Wild when it came to the three mazes and dark forest, but the only other built-up location that felt truly memorable to me was Hyrule Castle.  Certainly more places like that, whether they be dungeons, temples, fortresses or crypts would be a welcome addition.  I guess what I'm really asking for is a bit more Dark Souls in terms of environmental design.

Lastly, I just want to say, I hope it's possible to find a proper sailboat (like the one in Wind Waker) this time around.  The rafts in Breath of the Wild were functional, but a somewhat inelegant method of travel.  Here's hoping if we go sailing again we can do it in style.

Trichroma Quest

Recently, 80s nostalgia projects have been popping up more and more in media.  It can be seen in film ("Super 8"), TV ("Stranger Things"), novels ("Ready Player One"), and video games (Duck Season).  If there is a game that feels like the greatest sci-fi/fantasy hits of that decade all squished into a single piece of entertainment software, it would have to be the upcoming Narita Boy.

So, What's this game about?  Based on what I can gather it looks to be a pixel/sprite based side-scrolling 2D action game...a bit like old arcade machines such as Double Dragon or Rastan.  Visually, there are a lot of references to movies popular among children of that era ("Tron", "The Last Starfighter", and "Never Ending Story" being some of the most obvious influences).  One other film that might slip past unnoticed by most is "Rock and Rule", a 1983 animated feature about defeating evil through the power of rock music.  Yup...it doesn't get much more 80s than that.  Gameplay and visuals aside though, what's up with the title of this game?

My guess is it's a nod to Narita City, Japan.  Some people might be familiar with the place simply because it has an international airport (not to mention a rather famous Shinto shrine).  William Gibson, father of the cyberpunk genre, began his first novel with the words "the sky above the port was the colour of a television tuned to a dead channel."  It was originally published in 1984 with the title of "Neuromancer", and features a first act that takes place in Chiba City, Japan.  If you're not up on your geography, that's the same prefecture that Narita is located in.  Coincidence?  It certainly could be...although it should be noted that the story trailer for Narita Boy features the voice of a Japanese woman contacting the titular character via what looks to be an old Mac computer.  Video footage for the game hints at there being two worlds overlapping each other.  One of the worlds is described as being digital.  Is it possible that we are seeing an artificial reality projected over a futuristic dystopia?  I don't know, but there is certainly more going on than meets the eye...to borrow a famous phrase from a famous 80s cartoon...

Mario Maker II

The original Mario Maker was an interesting construction toolkit with an interface well suited to its exclusive platform, the WiiU.  I found making my own Mario levels to be intuitive, and I was quite pleased with the results of my endeavors.  I even shared a couple of level codes on this blog although I'm sure they have long since been auto-deleted from the online servers.  It's an unfortunate policy at the root of the one big problem I have with Mario Maker.

At that time, creation and curation seemed to be completely dominated by gimmicky levels in which the designers really just wanted to show off their engineering skills...or alternately/conjunctively make levels so brutally difficult that Super Mario Brothers: The Lost Levels seemed like a cakewalk by comparison.  Now, I'm sure there are fans of those kinds of Mario Maker levels, but for me the enjoyment of playing Nintendo's flagship series has always come from a more traditional design philosophy.  Thankfully, Mario Maker 2 addresses this issue to some degree by having a large collection of Nintendo-made levels already baked in.  While not traditional in the purest sense, they do an excellent job of showing how to utilize every feature while being fun to play at the same time.  Because of this integrated tutorial of sorts, I feel like the user-made levels available online are a bit better in terms of overall quality this time around.  Of course some users might also be drawing on experience gained from their time spent with the first game...regardless, here's a couple of new levels I made for Mario Maker 2.

"Going Up and Down (among other things)"
RQD-2X3-CWF

"CAVES"
Q3M-6XR-B0G

"Koopa Forest"
SXW-XN8-H8G

"Climb Time"
X0B-W29-G8G

I am Mother

Earlier this year I made a blogpost about a little indie science fiction film called "Prospect," and how it felt like a prequel to the video game series Metroid.  Well...I watched another low-budget sci-fi movie entitled "I am Mother" recently, and it definitely feels like a prequel to Horizon: Zero Dawn.  Before I continue, a word of warning...spoilers ahead.

So what's "I am Mother" about?  The basic premise can be summed up as follows:

A baby girl is artificially born in a massive underground facility and raised to adulthood by a robot nanny.  

While I was watching the film I was a bit worried it would go the route of "door to the outside world opens...and roll credits."  Thankfully, "I am Mother" avoids that particular pitfall despite its limited budget.  In fact, most of the third act takes place outside the bunker.

Another area in which this movie excels is depicting a machine intelligence.  It's a common failing of science fiction writers to depict their A.I. characters with largely the same traits and emotional rhythms as humans.  That's not to say a sufficiently advanced A.I. couldn't try to emulate human behavior, but it would be like an apple masquerading as an orange.  Both are pieces of fruit much like humans and (perhaps one day) A.I. are sentient beings, but they are not the same kind of consciousnesses.

Anyway...what's all this got to do with Horizon: Zero Dawn?  Well, in that game one of the big plot twists comes in the form of humans (and actually all life on earth) being wiped out by runaway military robots.  Once said doomsday machines have completed their task though they became inert leaving the door open for reseeding of the planet by a collection of caretaker A.I. constructs.  However, the A.I. in charge of teaching got sabotaged and (as a result) was unable to educate the new batch of humans, only raising them adulthood.  Hence, humanity has to largely start all over again from wandering tribes to crude city-states up to budding kingdoms.

In some ways "I am Mother" is a "what if" spin on the Horizon: Zero Dawn backstory.  What if education were possible?  Perhaps one of the other contingency A.I.s could assume the duties, albeit with a lot of difficult (at least initially).  If so, then you have a prequel film to the video game Horizon: Zero Dawn entitled "I am Mother."