Fighting Codes

Lo, and behold, the fruits of my digital labor!

Okay, so it's not incredible by any measure, but it's something. Before today, I could make a text laden white page of boring crap, and it wasn't in any way impressive. Now, I can build a background in Photoshop, botch it in size, build the text content in HTML and use CSS to setup a page with proper links and consistent visualization of the content. With the page pictured above, I have three pages linked together, and there is less than two pages of HTML and CSS to show for it, all spread across four notepad documents. I'm really digging what CSS can do, and it was always the tool that I had longed to use in my previous attempts at web design and didn't know about.

So after this one day of reading and practicing, I'm getting this stretch of ambition where I will rebuild this blog entirely out of my own content and design, using the on-site HTML editor...and hopefully a CSS style sheet if I can figure out how to employ that. If nothing else I guess I can link it in from somewhere. Anyway.

I have a lot to do from here out if I want to continue using HTML and develop my skills into something. Not to mention, I really would like to do something beyond this. If I can use HTML and CSS, I can learn other languages...except for C.

Okay, back to my notepad pages.

Ultima 1: Ending the First Age of Darkness

I have finished my first Ultima game, and I had an absolute blast. I can't think of anything like it.

A strange man appears in Sosaria, and is hired by kings to fight monsters and go to random sign posts around the world in exchange for stat points and gems. When the Stranger has all of the gems, they are to buy a space shuttle and fly into space where they shoot down Tie Fighters to become a Space Ace. Becoming a Space Ace convinces a princess to tell you where the King's time machine is, provided the Stranger frees her from prison. Why the Princess is in prison, I don't know. Still, the Stranger travels through time and kills the evil wizard Mondain before destroying the Gem of Immortality.

So, three different types of nerdy stories, with a guest appearance by a balrog...er...I mean, balron!

Okay, so it's a bizarre game, but it's a lot of fun, and I think everyone should give it a try.

This isn't really a review, but I think that there are some people bored enough to read this, and I'd like that...ummm...you go out and pick it up. www.gog.com . You'll also get the second and third games from the series, for just six bucks. Enjoy folks.

A Personal Halo Retrospective

It's been eleven years since the first Halo came into the world after a long string of versions and designs. Third person shooters and strategy games lined the road that lead to a game changing first person shooter, now known and, at times, revered by the gaming public. Me, I enjoy it. Even as it has changed, become the poster child for great online gaming, become the old favorite, and completely get put behind an overrated modern war shooter and all of its clones. But, the point is, Halo 4 is coming, and I just finished Reach (my first Halo completed on Normal difficulty sadly, but I did it), so I feel like talking about Halo.

Ten years ago, I was selling donuts for marching band and met one of my grandmothers neighbors who was chewing through the single player campaign again. He got me in for a bit of co-op, and I enjoyed what I played. He then invited me to one the lan gaming group he had on the weekends. I spent a many of sessions with these people, and cultivated some level of FPS gaming ability that I've been trying to improve on in recent years (with increasing the difficulty out of the easy mode that allowed me to see through several games). It took a long time until I actually got a chance to play through the campaign. When it finally happened, I was impressed, and I am still impressed. Great art design, and fairly strong story telling matched with strong game play made for a great experience. I still enjoy it when I return to it.

Unfortunately the magic was blurred with the sequel. Ambition and bizarre story decisions hurt Halo 2, but it seemed that the focus went into the multiplayer rather than the single player campaign. Also, the ending left a lot to be desired. They picked up the pieces with Halo 3, which I flew through in co-op in a single night (well almost...the person who bought the game was pretty ticked that an eighty dollar game was almost completed in a few hours.

But this was the last that I thought that I'd see of the series. What Bungie had delivered was a great trilogy of sci fi action games, changing the way that people approached the genre, and, unfortunately, made the style common in the gaming landscape. However, it was still the first, and it definitely deserves respect for that. When Bungie announced that they were releasing an expansion to Halo 3 called ODST, I bought in. Or, well, I played it co-op with the same roommate who had paid for my Halo needs in the past (well, I did buy that sweet Master Chief 360 controller). Following ODST, I was impressed that they could actually shift the way that their series was designed a bit. ODST was incredibly entertaining.

Now, Bungie has parted ways with the series, and has set sail for new shores with the Destiny franchise. In their absence, Halo Wars was released (which I haven't played yet), and the prequel Reach. I just finished Reach, which was a stunning game. There are so very few games that are so dismal in tone from the outset, especially war focused shooters like the Halo franchise has produced. I'm impressed that they would risk such a move.

But I do feel that Bungie created something very dense, ready for the creation of great stories. While the Halo games won't win awards for their storytelling, there is the potential there for something amazing. The lore is interesting, and is always growing. Given the work done on Reach, I think that the stories of the Halo universe are in good hands with 343i.

I am actually looking forward to Halo 4, and Bungie's Destiny franchise. These studios have done good stuff. Remember, I think of games as a source for having fun.I enjoy a good story, and stellar gameplay, but I can still dig a good shooter. And that exactly what I've always expected from the Halo franchise.

The Redeemer Saga...I'm going to enjoy it....

Just give Reach a try...bleak game...

The Speculation Machine

E3 is coming up in about a month or so, and everyone is already screaming about the future. Who will live? Who fails? What technological masterpiece will represent the greater gamer population this time? Well, no one knows, and everyone with an opinion is posting it on the internet. And every time I see one of these articles, I can't help but read it and wonder what drug induced fanboy madness could generate such thoughts. The most recent of these was an article saying that Sony was this generations Sega, and that the PS4 will fail. While this isn't impossible, it most certainly isn't likely. Sony has held a huge place in gamers homes since the PS1 launched, and I don't see that changing. The PS3 was a harsh learning experience for Sony though. They had to see that having a colossal ego wasn't the route to take for getting a console off of the ground. Now they are doing fine, despite dumping millions of R&D dollars into a short lived motion control program (thank God that the Move is pretty much no more). Nintendo isn't in a much better place, though. As the Wii has wound down in sales and visibility in preparation for the release of the WiiU, they have released a follow up to the successful DS line with the 3DS, which had a harsh start to what has turned into a success, and there is unending doubt surrounding the WiiU. As a longtime Nintendo fan, I can't help but feel the same. The rumors of technology on par with the 360/PS3 don't do much to help Nintendo stay appealing to the so-called Core gamer. Sure, the tablet controller is an interesting interface and could do great things when applied well, but we don't see that yet. We know that games that have been announced for current consoles are due on the WiiU, but that's it. The lack of information doesn't lend itself to Nintendo's favor, so the outlook is bleak. But nothing is concrete. I will keep watching it, because it does look interesting.

Microsoft is the company who needs to watch themselves.

As with Nintendo, Sega, and Sony alike, there have been decisions made for each of these three companies that have ended up causing more harm than good. Nintendo stuck with cartridges, which made production costs high, and development difficult due to the complex architecture of the machine. Sega entered their third generation with a chain of failed products targeted at toppling the Nintendo giant, and ultimately drained finances from their company, and focused on a very small target audience: arcade gamers. Sony entered their third generation with a egotistical marketing campaign, paired with an expensive piece of hardware that was difficult to develop for, and had a small amount of interesting exclusive titles, and a collection of buggy ports from the 360. While Microsoft hasn't played its cards for the next generation, or even given a peek of their hand, there is much for them to look out for. One of these concepts is the idea of preventing used games from being played on a console.

While I don't prefer used games, they are a necessary evil. The problem is tied to the cost of new games. When your console still plays DVD's and you are pushing a sixty dollar price tag without including instruction manuals (as EA has done), I don't see where the price of product can make any sense. Yes, it costs millions to make a game, and market it. But that sixty dollar price mark on war-shooter-game-eighty doesn't make me want to play it. Next, the push for digital distribution only doesn't help the collection mindset, which ultimately keeps a console in the gaming landscape for decades to come. Also, sequels have to make money, and those used copies of war-shooter-game-seventy-nine would definitely get people prepared to play the samey crap that major developers are pushing these days. All of these things have a place and its time to find a balance to them all. If you want to sell one of those irritating online pass things, give an incentive. Sure, Alice: Madness Returns isn't that great of a game (per reviewers), but the online pass includes a copy of the cult classic Alice. That's worth ten bucks the EA can make without breaking a sweat. It's an old game past its lifespan, and its a way to make quick money. But EA is essential the video game version of Satan, so this is a moot point.

But we have to wait for these things to happen, folks. No console is in trouble yet. There are things playing against everyone this generation. While this has been one of the most financially fruitful generations in gaming since its inception, its time is fading. The deck has been shuffled and the cards are still being dealt. No one is going to topple anyone until all the systems are on the market, and the bets are being made.

Ultima VII -- Here We Go

Those who have spoken with me about gaming in recent months know that I've taken an interest in the classic Ultima series from Origin Systems, and raped by EA. Well, I've picked up a couple of the games in various forms, and I'm going to take a crack at them. So far, I've picked up Ultima III: Exodus on the NES (CIB no less), Ultima IV: Quest of the Avatar, and Ultima VII: The Black Gate and Serpent Isle on the PC. The only one I've been able to make any headway in is Ultima VII, and I think that is due to a mixture of things. One is that I am horrible at old RPG's. Another is that I suck at Western RPG's period. The most personal one is that I just can't figure out how to heal my characters in Ultima III on the NES. I'll figure it out eventually, but for now, Ultima VII.

The idea is to make a chronicle of my efforts in Britannia, taking down the Guardian and The Fellowship, and eventually heading off to Serpent Isle to bring back the serpents of balance. Yes, I know too much about the plots already, thanks to the fantastic Spoony Experiment retrospective, but I'm not counting that into my experience of the games. I feel like the game has to tell the story too, rather than what little I know from watching Spoony's videos.

So, I've made my first run at the game, which starts with a murder investigation. What is easily one of the most graphic images I've seen in a classic video game opens the story. So far, I've drawn a connection to The Fellowship, a creepy cult that has replaced the Virtues of the Avatar as Britannia's religion, and the dead blacksmiths issues with the local branch's leader. In my investigation, I recruited the blacksmith's son, Spark, who doesn't really have anything left in his home town. I assume I need to hire a boat to the mainland, seeing as the game starts on an island.

Obviously, I haven't gotten very far. So instead, it's time to look at a few other things. My purchase of the game was from GOG.Com. I was looking at the SNES version, but I gathered from a few reviews that such a review would be a horrible decision. Well, I've not completely discounted that move, given that it's not in front of me to make that move, but I'll cross that bridge when I get to it. For now, GOG's version of the game is a very sweet purchase. Gamers who buy Ultima VII from GOG will be gifted with the original game, the Forge of Virtue, which sends the player on a quest to regain status in three virtues as well as destroy the remains of Exodus from Ultima III, Serpent Isle, which plays as Part II to the game, and The Silver Seed, the expansion to Serpent Isle. The Silver Seed is supposedly the first example (as far as I can tell...) of EA cutting the budgets necessary for Origin Systems to finish their work on these games. Such budget cuts would be the primary reason for such colossal messes as Ultima's VIII and IX, which were the primary reason for the series disappearing.

On that note, I would love to see Lord British reclaim his franchise from EA and make a new entry in the series. With the success of such giants as The Elder Scrolls in the past decade, the time is right for the Avatar to return to the RPG landscape. The Elder Scrolls couldn't have even happened without the ground work provided by Origin Systems and the Wizardry series, which has also completely faded from view (though I've never played it). Or maybe I would just like to see more Wing Commander games.

That, however, is a discussion I'll save for another day.

Check back, as I indulge in a giant role playing quest that has nothing to do with Final Fantasy.