tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7344068351653946740.post2914141637971756736..comments2024-01-07T18:12:05.881-08:00Comments on Versus CluClu Land: Is Death the Mother of Beauty?Iroquois Pliskinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14324582950813408440noreply@blogger.comBlogger11125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7344068351653946740.post-36151087644648284552022-08-07T03:51:01.349-07:002022-08-07T03:51:01.349-07:00Thhis is a great blogThhis is a great blogGas Contractors San Marcoshttps://www.gas-contractors.com/us/gas-technicians-california/gas-contractors-san-marcos.shtmlnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7344068351653946740.post-38145029544587198252015-11-15T01:00:43.639-08:002015-11-15T01:00:43.639-08:00Charming & High Class Escorts In Brisbane
The...Charming & High Class Escorts In Brisbane<br /><br />The famous Brisbane escort is ready to give you the best time ever. She will indulge you with an <a href="http://brisbaneescortannie.com" rel="nofollow">exotic relaxation services</a> and lots of fun. Incall and Outcall anywhere in Brisbane. Call @ 0408721789 for booking.Annie - Independent Brisbane Escorthttp://brisbaneescortannie.com/faq/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7344068351653946740.post-36811115984324392862008-12-05T15:23:00.000-08:002008-12-05T15:23:00.000-08:00I'm only about halfway through the game, and I hav...I'm only about halfway through the game, and I have mixed feelings about the rescue system. It's happened a whole bunch while platforming, because I'm clumsy. That's frustrating, of course, but I've noticed that after a couple hundred falls the princess (seemingly, anyway) starts making increasingly frequent and sarcastic comments about saving my butt, like she's frustrated too. <BR/>During the boss fights, however, the mechanic is a much bigger success. If you think about it in terms of how often, say, the Hunter steps on you and almost chops your head off, the game would become an incredibly unforgiving Mirror's Edge-like experience without the princess there to rescue you.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7344068351653946740.post-31578623362473703952008-12-05T01:37:00.000-08:002008-12-05T01:37:00.000-08:00I haven't played the game, but from the way you've...I haven't played the game, but from the way you've described it, it doesn't seem like there's no 'failure'. When you fall there's failure, you're just picked up and placed a little ways back. Isn't this exactly what happens with a normal checkpoint system? Here it's just given a narrative justification. You could make an argument about whether the checkpoints are too generous, but not that they don't exist. <BR/><BR/>From a narrative stand-point, I'd have to agree that a hero that's basically invincible doesn't sound too compelling. Where's the tension and drama come from? Where's the conflict?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7344068351653946740.post-38890504477854802392008-12-04T16:46:00.000-08:002008-12-04T16:46:00.000-08:00"Is Death the Mother of Beauty?" ... Yes.Death and..."Is Death the Mother of Beauty?" ... Yes.<BR/><BR/>Death and it's inevitability makes our lives meaningful. The relatively limited time each of us has available to us during a lifetime gives us purpose. Without this fixed parameter to live in we'd enjoy life to a point and then we'd just be bored and purposeless for the rest of eternity.<BR/><BR/>Players are afforded the luxury to cheat death so we can continue to enjoy the fantasy but without the mechanic of some kind of failure, usually death, there isn't much purpose. (In my life experience so far there isn't much 'beauty' that isn't associated with a purpose.)Sandy McArthurhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09343009886646644558noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7344068351653946740.post-28208721835676176532008-12-04T16:06:00.000-08:002008-12-04T16:06:00.000-08:00It's not just the game being easy that conflicts w...It's not just the game being easy that conflicts with the heroism of the character, it's the fact that the story is now literally about a Prince who, as presented unequivocally in the narrative, is <I>a bumbling fool who constantly needs to be saved by a mystical spirit</I>. At least with quick loading the fiction is maintained that the player's failing is not a part of the "true narrative". Now there's not even the rewind feature of the first game with accompanying voiceover "No, that's not how it happened". With an unbroken gameplay experience, what they're now saying is "Yes, this is how it happened. The Prince lost his footing and a magical being saved him. Then he got stabbed but a magical being saved him again. Then he miscalculated a jump but it's okay because a magical being saved him from falling to his death." It's not a good story. It might maintain the flow of gameplay, but it completely sacrifices the narrative in the process.Michelhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00302937491137230150noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7344068351653946740.post-18980847538389718312008-12-04T11:57:00.000-08:002008-12-04T11:57:00.000-08:00@chesh maybe give Progress Quest a go.@chesh maybe give <A HREF="http://www.progressquest.com/" REL="nofollow">Progress Quest</A> a go.Sandy McArthurhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09343009886646644558noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7344068351653946740.post-70955132768048530992008-12-04T09:44:00.000-08:002008-12-04T09:44:00.000-08:00I think another quotation from Penny Arcade sums i...I think another quotation from Penny Arcade sums it up better:<BR/><I>This is similar to the philosophy behind Final Fantasy XII, as expressed by our own Gabriel: if all I'm going to do is select attack from a menu, why shouldn't it handle that part?</I><BR/>To build on what Michel says, it's taking a system that was not necessarily great in the first place (quick-save/quick-load for PoP, mindlessly attacking on trash mobs in FFXII) and making it, if not good, at least more palatable. For those of us who've become inoculated to the crappiness of certain mechanics, this seems like a fucking <I>revelation</I>. Just imagine what will happen when a developer replaces it with something genuinely better!cheshhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00039481558237999619noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7344068351653946740.post-11424933348543697882008-12-04T08:50:00.000-08:002008-12-04T08:50:00.000-08:00@michel: I'm not claiming that the mechanic is in...@michel: I'm not claiming that the mechanic is innovative, saying that it achieves something that no one's ever tried before, or couldn't be achieved by implementing a quicksave option. <BR/><BR/>What I'm saying is that making the choice keeps the experience moving at a certain pace. This works in the context of the rest of the mechanics and it works for the kind of experience the designers are trying to create-- one which is centered on your swiftly exploring the environments and figuring out paths through them. It would be impossible to get the kind of rhythm they were going for if you had to think about dying before every jump. <BR/><BR/>I don't think this totally resolves blow's problem (He would probably think that making the game easy conflicts with the heroism in the storyline) but I do think eliminating the death fits in somewhat with the style of the narrative and I don't think it breaks the game, at least from my perspective. <BR/><BR/>@L.B.: The downtime is super-short, and this is key. (Too Human had an infamous unskippable cutscene that was clearly intended to be a punishment.) Like I say, I don't think minimizing the failure for missed jumps ruins it, but I may be in a minority here. <BR/><BR/>The connection to character is interesting really interesting. The prince is presented as this devil-may-care sort, and I don't think the game revolves around tension. Maybe we have a case here where the narrative and mechanics coincide. I have to say I played Bioshock on normal and didn't find it boring at all, but I think you're right that some kinds of experiences need the feeling of tension that comes from substantive death.Iroquois Pliskinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14324582950813408440noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7344068351653946740.post-80208333039793395802008-12-04T08:14:00.000-08:002008-12-04T08:14:00.000-08:00Haven't played the game but it sounds like an inte...Haven't played the game but it sounds like an interesting experiment. Does the actual downtime of loading and going back become an intrinsic part of the failure? Is forcing the player to be inactive in a relatively active medium a part of their punishment? If so, chopping it out might irk the experience.<BR/><BR/>I think when it comes to challenge I just like it to have some kind of intent beyond "because it's the last level". The character who has been portrayed as a, like, badass should stay a badass when I fight him. I think Blow hits it on the head when he says removing challenge can inhibit the experience. Both Far Cry 2 and Bioshock are downright boring if you don't play them on normal. If the game is delivering a tense experience, then punishment is a necessary part of the beast.Kirk Battlehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16612840105075834275noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7344068351653946740.post-60195796791054867982008-12-04T05:18:00.000-08:002008-12-04T05:18:00.000-08:00All the new Prince of Persia does is automate quic...All the new Prince of Persia does is automate quick saving and quick loading. It quick saves the game before each jump, battle, whatever, and if you fail then it quick loads while also presenting a brief unskippable cutscene of the girl saving you. Please correct me if I've misinterpreted this supposedly innovative functionality, but I don't think I have. It's still fundamentally broken and doesn't address anything that Blow was talking about. I don't think I've ever seen a player or critic argue that quick saving before every significant or insignificant event somehow improved the game -- quite the opposite, in fact.Michelhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00302937491137230150noreply@blogger.com