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daakjenaar · 10 months

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Manic creativity in the best cRPG

I’m not doing anything else with this Tumblr account, so I’ll post my inane ramblings instead.

There is a fine line to walk when trying to fit so many ideas into one video game. Walk too far on the side of serious, realistic content, and you’ve brewed a modern Larian Studios game where an insistence on being down-to-earth is utterly destroyed by a comic-relief encounter with some sort of whimsical chicken in between body horror and misery. Or to a lesser extent, have an otherwise mostly serious story get derailed by something lighthearted but altogether harmless, as is the experience with so much of Fallout 2. Walk too far to the side of cartoony, goofy subject matter, however, and watch as your writing becomes the wrong kind of laughable the moment you try to get mature. See the Borderlands series for a fine example.

I just made someone angry with each of those takes, so moving on.

There are ways to maintain a balance. The simplest way is to stick to one side and cut out everything that doesn’t fit, to curate a game to be a cohesive experience. As much as it’s a shame that so much of Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic 2 was forced to be cut, for all its faults, the game is a serious take on a classic, perhaps overdone franchise with a clear thesis. The balance between comedy and maturity can be achieved, of course, but that is easier said than done. As much as I hate to praise the works of Chris Avellone, I must cite a second project he worked on, every terminally online person’s most formative roleplaying game. Fallout: New Vegas is by no means a flawless game, I’m still amazed that the same quest can jump between the absurdity of helping a bunch of zombies piloting prop rockets to their holy land, and genuinely feeling conflicted about their treatment of their non-ghoul scientist ally. Of course the ghouls need these model rockets, that makes perfect sense, but did they need to gaslight this poor human into helping them? The quest I’m citing is the go-to for anyone singing the game’s praises, but any number of the game’s regions are host to the same kind of mix of the two tones. With high-enough quality in your writing, even the most disparate vibes can mesh.

But that’s a high bar. Saying to “just write good enough to make it work, lmao” is useless advice. Writing is exceedingly difficult, and good writing even moreso. So what if you try doing everything at once? Every idea, regardless of cohesiveness, coherency, sometimes even quality, all thrown into a bizarre soup of raw creativity.

If that sounds like a good time, then I urge you to get yourself a copy of Wasteland 3. All at once, it is one of the most engaging, fascinating, and baffling video games I have ever played. A point where it crosses the threshold from ‘a few weird ideas’ to a display of sheer, manic creativity. The kind of game where I encountered a weaponized statue of Ronald Reagan and the robot anarchist commune said statue is fighting. Where many quests center around a society of people named the ‘Monster Army’, who wear outfits taken from an off-brand Spirit Halloween and inhabit an old, buried mall. All the while, this Monster Army is under constant threat from a bunch of crazed clown-themed bandits who bring pain and destruction wherever they go. A partially-mechanized army of well-organized raiders seek to pillage and claim the post-apocalyptic snow-swept lands of Colorado, lands currently led by a man who wields a comically large warhammer wrapped with an American flag, sitting upon a throne of guns.

Wasteland 3 is a truly, genuinely bizarre title. At every turn, the game has some new idea to throw at you. The tone is so erratic that there really is no tone anymore. In its own way, it is such a strange and incoherent game that it comes full circle into making perfect sense. The most faithful attempt at recreating a classic psychedelic film in a game format. The game’s own drug imagery aside, every facet of its story seems to be focused on baffling and throwing off the player. The gameplay itself is quite good as far as cRPGs go, but the story is why the game has stuck with me so strongly for well over a year after playing it. Even when the game gets serious, there’s still an air of delirium. Sure, everything seems to be making sense now, but when is this important character going to do something fucking weird? I know it’ll happen, I’m just waiting. On paper, Wasteland 3 should be a mess, incoherent in all of the worst ways, and a cautionary tale. In contrast, though, it broke the idea of coherency so hard that it makes perfect sense. You just need to be in the right mindset to pick up on it, the kind of mindset you get in after clearing out a clown-bandit circus camp or watching a (good) Ralph Bakshi movie.

There are absolutely points being made, satires to be found among the bizarre vignettes, and moments that justify the game’s strangeness. I’m sure that the murderous Reagan statue’s saying something witty about America, and I can’t help but look for some meaning in the Patriarch of Colorado and his throne of guns. A game written by a more self-serious writer might try to add a few more layers of abstraction, but Wasteland 3 dares to ask the most important question.

With a sufficiently large gun, can I kill Ronald Reagan? If you know anything about writing essays and wish to malign my sloppiness here, please direct unto me your rage in great detail. I am a failed arts student, and thus too lazy to properly structure arguments.

#wasteland #crpg #video games #short essay #am i doing this right #how do i tag posts correctly #fallout #ronald reagan i guess #the s blade has a hackblood charge

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bog-o-bones · 7 years

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Today I received three Blu-Rays from bootleg website Showa Video. Since they are a relatively unknown website in the greater kaiju community, I thought I’d do a review of the releases I bought from them. Check it out in the Read More link below!

Mothra vs. Godzilla (1964)

Discs: 1

Audio: Japanese LPCM 2.0 & TrueHD 5.1

Extras:

Trailer

1970 Champion Festival cut

8mm Promotional Footage for Mothra (1961)

Storybook Gallery w/ narration

Interview with Yuji Sakai

Behind-the-scenes photo gallery

Concept Art/Storyboards feature

(Assumed) Japanese audio commentary from 2003 Toho DVD

Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster (1964)

Discs: 1

Audio: Japanese LPCM 2.0. TrueHD 5.1, & Dialogue-less track (Sound FX and Score only)

Extras:

Trailer

1971 Champion Festival cut (re-titled Godzilla, Mothra, King Ghidorah: The Greatest Battle on Earth)

8mm Behind-the-scenes footage (HD) (Narrated in Japanese)

Interview with Haruo Nakajima

8mm Promotional footage

(Assumed) Japanese audio commentary from 2003 Toho DVD

Destroy All Monsters (1968)

Discs: 1

Audio: Japanese 2.0 & 5.1, AIP/Titra dub, International dub

Extras:

Rare Media Blasters commentary by Steve Ryfle & Ed Godziszewski from recalled DVD/Blu-Ray

Trailer

1972 Champion Festival cut (re-titled Godzilla: The Grand Blitz Operation)

Interview with Yukiko Kobayashi

Storyboards & Designs by Yasuyuki Inoue

Three narrated storybooks

8mm Promotional Footage for Atragon (1963)

8mm Promotional Footage for Destroy All Monsters (1968)

Theater program gallery

Japanese audio commentary from 2003 Toho DVD

For those who don’t know, Showa Video is a bootlegging website that sells unofficial copies of various unreleased Japanese science-fiction movies and television shows. The selection is mind-boggling and at times, it’s hard to not fawn over the releases they have. Not to mention, a flat $6.75 shipping rate (U.S. only) is quite a deal. Arguably their greatest “line of products” is their Toho Godzilla Blu-Rays which are bootleg copies of the Japanese Blu-Rays released by Toho. The bootlegs are almost entirely the same as their Japanese counterparts but with the added bonus of English subtitles which the genuine copies do not have. These subtitles appear to be direct translations as opposed to dubtitles usually found on official releases.

I won’t go over audio or video on these reviews as I’m not particularly well-versed in film quality know-how so I’d be lost in my element trying to compare the quality to Region 1 DVDs or any other releases around the world. From my own viewing, the films look great on Blu-Ray. I’ve read some reports that on Toho Blu-Rays, colors like black and blue tend to be washed out during night scenes and that it’s recommended to adjust your TV settings accordingly. This was apparent on the Showa Video releases and it’s not a huge deal to me personally as I am always fiddling with my TV’s visual settings. The audio was also of good quality on these releases, the voices are clear and there isn’t any hissing found on films like Godzilla (1954).

Now on to the main attraction (and the reason most Godzilla fans are interested in these releases): special features! Yes, it’s true; the Japanese Blu-Rays come packed with all kinds of bonus material that puts their American counterparts (both DVD & BR) to shame. The most prominent feature found on all three releases is the inclusion of the Champion Festival cuts of the films. Here is a wonderful article on the Champion Festival if you do not know what it is. Basically, these are “kiddie matinee” versions of the film that Toho released in the late 60′s/70′s that are edited to be shorter and sometimes even feature new titles. These cuts have never been released on Region 1 DVD and it’s a real pleasure to finally see them in their entirety. I did not check if these cuts of the film feature subtitles, but I do not think that they do. Regardless, their inclusion is great for those who are interested in the history and different versions of these films.

But what is probably the best out of all three discs is the 8mm Behind-the-Scenes featurette on the Ghidorah disc. This feature is not only in pretty good quality for such old footage, it’s the only actual film footage I’ve ever seen of BTS for the Showa-era. To see Ghidorah in his early stages of creation as well as a rare public appearance by Haruo Nakajima in the 1964 suit is an absolute treat and well worth the $15 asking price for the Blu-Ray. I only hope that there is someone out there who is willing to translate the commentary on it so we can learn more awesome BTS details about one of the greatest films in the Showa era.

Some other noteworthy features were on the Destroy All Monsters disc, most notably the inclusion of the Media Blasters commentary by Steve Ryfle and Ed Godziszewski. It’s a shame that this was taken off of the disc before shipping as the information in it is astonishing and well worth a listen. It’s made me appreciate DAM a lot more. Another awesome inclusion is the original AIP/Titra Studios dub of the film, which is how it was released in America. This dub was previously unreleased on home video (the ADV VHS contains the arguably inferior International dub) until the release of the Media Blasters DVD/Blu-Ray which has become considerably rare these days.

Other extras include a strange feature which is basically a slideshow of vintage storybooks from the late 70′s (maybe?) with voiceover narration. I’m unsure as to what exactly this is, but the artwork is reminiscent of those weird crossover images that are passed around on Tumblr a lot these days. Then of course, you’ve got your standard photo galleries, interviews (in this case, Yuji Sakai, famed Godzilla sculptor, Haruo Nakajima, and Yukiko Kobayashi, the lead woman in Destroy All Monsters), and standard trailers. There appears to be Japanese-language audio commentary on the Mothra and Ghidorah discs, but from what I tried, I can’t get either to work. I don’t think this is a fault of Showa Video, it’s probably something I’m doing wrong myself.

Overall, Showa Video may sell nothing but bootlegs, but I’ll be damned if these aren’t some of the best bootleg discs I’ve ever owned. They all come in high-quality cases with colorful and wonderfully printed artwork (which themselves are just awesome in their design). I highly recommend anyone who is impatient with companies like Classic Media or Universal to give in to the underground bug and purchase some of Showa Video’s releases. They are manufactured on-demand so stock will never run out. I’m honestly considering selling my R1 Godzilla Blu-Rays so I can replace them with these bootlegs, they are that good.

Overall Ratings:

Mothra vs. Godzilla (1964): 4.9 stars. This would’ve gotten a perfect five if it included the American cut.

Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster (1964): 4.9 stars. This would’ve gotten a perfect five if it included the American cut.

Destroy All Monsters (1968): 5.0 stars

#godzilla #showa video #blu-ray #blu-ray reviews #mothra vs godzilla #Ghidorah the Three-Headed Monster #destroy all monsters

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jwuffygaming · 5 years

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James Wuffy’s Retro Adventure - Entry #0

Hey everyone!

I know not many peeps still use Tumblr, but I figured this was a good place to get started. I will explain the title soon enough, but here’s the reason why I’m making this series:

I like retro games. A lot. I like that a game can be good or fun (and preferably both!) regardless of:

how old it is;

how well-known it is;

hardware limitations of the time;

nostalgic value.

However, despite my fascination with old games, I have not actually beaten many of the classics. While I have played a few, I did so on console emulators, using save states.

For the uninitiated, save states are artificial save points that a player can create at any time when playing on an emulator. If they screw up, they can restore that save point, as if nothing bad happened.

This means I did not experience those games the way they were meant to be played. As such, I aim to fix this, and beat some of these classics properly:

if a game doesn’t have a save/password feature, I will beat it in one go;

if a game doesn’t store the number of lives/weapons/etc. I had upon saving or using a password, I will grind for them once more (foreshadowing~~~);

if I have to keep retrying over and over to get better at the game, so be it.

I intend on recreating the experience of playing on console, for better or for worse. Hence the name of the series, James Wuffy’s Retro Adventure. And I’m gonna be documenting my progress here, on this blog.

Being an introductory post (which is why it is entry #0), I wanted to briefly shame part of my gaming backstory, focusing on 4 games from my childhood.

So here we go!

A little backstory...

I was around 4 or 5 years old when I had my first gaming experience (I was born in 1990, for reference).

One of my grandparents’ neighbors had an NES, and she let me play on it.

The NES, or Nintendo Entertainment System, is an 8-bit console released in Europe in 1986. It was originally released in Japan in 1983, and there it was known as Famicom, or Nintendo Family Computer.

She had the 2-in-1 Super Mario Bros/Duck Hunt cartridge and The Legend of Zelda. I can’t recall if she had any other games.

Funnily enough, another neighbor of my grandparents was my cousin, who had a bootleg NES console, with those multi-game cartridges. We were able to play dozens of games on it, it was a lot of fun.

Eventually, my parents bought me and my brother an NES. I was around 6 years old by then. The NES was pretty old at this point, and it came bundled with two games: The Hunt for Red October and Solomon’s Key.

For a while, these were the only two games I could get my hands on. I eventually moved to another house, and one of our neighbors had an NES too. He had two games that I had not yet played: Super Mario Bros 2 and Nintendo World Cup. He let me borrow those, and I had a lot of fun with them.

But let’s get into a bit more detail, shall we?

The Hunt for Red October

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The Hunt for Red October was tough. Its music isn’t catchy or upbeat, it’s downright eerie - fitting for the story’s atmosphere, but unpleasant to listen to for longs periods. It also has some pretty nifty cutscenes for NES standards.

The original book was published in 1984, and a movie based on it was released in 1990. The game came out in 1991, making it a “movie tie-in game”, which were notorious for being quickly-developed cash-grabs, riding on the popularity of the movie and having varying levels of quality. They did put some effort into it though, unlike most movie tie-in games of this era.

In this game, you control a submarine, and you can:

shoot forward with the A button;

shoot limited homing missiles with the B button;

collect items to replenish missiles and repair the sub, among other things;

camouflage yourself temporarily from enemy subs with the Select button;

fight a boss at the end of each stage.

You also take damage from touching walls and other obstacles, so you have to tread carefully.

The final level has a drastic change in gameplay style. It’s a platforming level where you control who I presume is the captain and have to kill enemies and disarm bombs that have been planted on the submarine. And this level drags on.

One time, my brother and I accidentally put in a “99 lives” code. We were never able to replicate, and upon looking it up online, I’ve no clue how we managed to even do it in the first place since it’s quite long.

We beat level after level, but you always start the final level with 5 lives, regardless of how many lives you had before. Unfortunately, we didn’t manage to beat the game.

But oh well, on to the next one!

Solomon’s Key

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Then, there was Solomon’s Key. This is one of those games where each level is equivalent to “one TV screen”. A lot of NES games were like that, at the beginning of the console’s lifespan.

You control Dana, a wizard that can create and destroy golden blocks with the A button (or bonk them with his head twice to destroy them) and throw fireballs with the B button when you have them in-store.

In terms of stages, you have:

48 regular stages: 4 stages per Zodiac constellation;

12 bonus stages - Hidden Room: these are unlocked by collecting a constellation item in each 4th level of a constellation;

3 secret stages - Room of Time, Room of Space, Princess Room: these are unlocked by collecting seals along the way. Doing so will replace 2 of the bonus stages with the Room of Time and the Room of Space;

1 final stage - Solomon’s Key

If you play the game casually, at most, you will complete all the regular stages, maybe a few bonus ones, and the final stage. This will grant you one of the game’s endings, but not the best one. You have to collect all the seals to be able to unlock and complete the secret stages. This is mandatory if you want the best ending.

However, these seals are hidden. When an item is hidden in a tile, you have to create and destroy a golden block on top of that tile, and then the item becomes visible. BUT, since there are no hints whatsoever as to which stages have seals, and in which tiles they are hidden, you’d have to create blocks in every single tile of every single stage to find them all on your own.

Do a little research instead: look up a walkthrough or use the video above, it’s the sensible thing to do.

The game is quite long and has no password system. There is a continue code, that allows you to continue up until stage 41. I don’t think my brother and I knew about this code at the time, so this is another game we didn’t beat. It’s still a pretty cool game though.

Nintendo World Cup

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Now, I don’t really like football. However, this game is seriously a lot of fun. Here are a few reasons why:

there are no yellow nor red cards, so you can tackle and slide into players as much as you want. In earlier matches, you can actually put the other players out of commission by tackling them over and over, and they just lie there on the field, KO’ed. Unfortunately, you cannot tackle players from stronger teams, so you’re stuck using the slide to steal the ball from them;

you can do super-powered kicks/headbutts, called Super Shots, which are harder for the goalkeepers to defend than regular shots. Any players hit by a Super Shot go flying around, which was always super fun to watch as a kid;

2 player matches, with exclusive football fields to pick from. You can go with the default grass field, a field with rocks that players trip on, an ice field where players that get tackled/slid into slide all over the place... it’s a lot of fun;

a password system, so you can resume your progress after turning the console off without a problem. And you could alter a couple of digits in the password to play with a different team as well.

I actually did beat this game as a kid. So many fond memories :3

Super Mario Bros 2

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Super Mario Bros 2 is by far the most well-known game in this list. It’s also infamous for being a reskin of a game never released outside of Japan called Yume Kōjō: Doki Doki Panic. Supposedly, the original SMB 2 was deemed too difficult for Western audiences at the time, and Nintendo was afraid that it wouldn’t sell well overseas, especially after the first game in the series was such a big hit. So, they took Doki Doki Panic, which was an easier game, tinkered with its looks and released it as the official SMB 2 in America and Europe.

In this game, you can play as Mario, Luigi, Toad, and Princess Toadstool, as she was known at the time. Each has their own stats in terms of jumping capability and strength, this last one determining how fast a character can pick up enemies, objects, and vegetables. Every time you start a new stage, you get to pick which character to use:

Mario is the well-rounded character, with average jumping skill and strength;

Luigi jumps the highest and has a very floaty jump, staying in the air longer. This also means that he’s a little harder to do precise jumps with;

Toad jumps the lowest but is the strongest character, picking up things really fast and being the fastest when holding something;

Toadstool is the weakest character, but possesses the best aerial movement, since she can glide for a couple of seconds, allowing for long jumps and more precise landings. She’s the most beginner-friendly character, and thus, my main character of choice as a kid.

Every character can also duck for a few seconds until they start flashing. This allows them to do a high jump and reach high platforms. Without this jump, some characters wouldn’t be able to complete certain levels. At the time, I didn’t know this ability existed, and so I thought certain levels were only beatable if you picked Luigi.

There are also hidden warps in the game, that let you skip several stages ahead. I actually managed to discover these warps on my own, and I was pretty proud of myself :p. It was one of the first games I beat on the NES, if not the first one.

Last words

And with all that said, I think it’s about time I wrap things up here. I know it was a lot to get through, but hopefully, you enjoyed my ramblings :3. And maybe you’ll be interested in checking some of these games out yourself.

My next entry will be the proper beginning of the adventure.

Until next time!

#James Wuffy Retro Adventure #Retro Adventure #Gaming #Retro #The Hunt for Red October #Solomon's Key #Super Mario Bros 2 #Nintendo World Cup #NES

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