Misc. Video Game Rants

I have a problem with many games. It really hit home during this, my second go round with Dishonored. (had I known there were trophies for completing the game with no kills, my first time would have been a much different game!)

So, in Dishonored, you get a crossbow. You get bolts, sleep darts, and incendiary bolts. Obviously, one of the three will enable a nonlethal takedown. So I'm trying for the nonlethal trophy, and I need to stock up on sleep darts. You start the game able to carry 10 of each. At the shop, with enough coin you can upgrade your capacity (doesn't specify if it's a bolt quiver or belt pouch or what). So, I upgrade to the point where I can carry 30. YAY! And I start purchasing. 30 bolts. 10 sleep darts... you have reached max capacity. WTF.

If they fit in the same crossbow, they should all be about the same size. If I have a capacity increase, it should affect ALL crossbow ammunition! Okay, maybe weight plays a factor. So I should be able to sell all my lethal ammo and carry 25 sleep darts! Some kind of logical ratio...

Thief did the same thing. You can have 30 broadhead arrow, 15 fire arrows, 5 rope arrows, 5 knockout gas arrows, ETC. You have one quiver. So, if 5 rope arrows take up that much space, one should be able to carry 5 broadheads and 10 rope arrows! It's just frickin realism!

Your ammo should fit in with your capacity and your play style! In the real world, does a "fighting man" say to himself "I can carry 3 clips of FMJ, and only 1 clip of HE rounds"??? NO! If his mission requires lots of fireworks, maybe he takes 2 clips of each. Maybe he takes 1 clip of FMJ and 3 clips of HE. Point is, if you have a capacity of 4 clips, you carry 4 clips, regardless of what's in them!

I'm not just picking on Dishonored and Thief. LOTS of games are guilty of this CRIME. I will grant them, there SHOULD be a difference in capacity for bullets and shotgun shells and .50 cal ammo, as they are all quite different sizes and weights. But when you have a weapon that fires multiple types of ammo and they are all the same size, capacity should be YOUR capacity, not some made up BS for fair play.

Now now now, if the Dishonored knock-out bolts are anything like the Green Arrows knock-out arrows, then they have boxing glove heads... much bigger than the lethal normal darts.

I surprised you didn't know this. Shame. On. You.

Green Arrow? Really? You know, Sooth, for being so anti-Metro in the Windows 8 thread, you sure do pick some dandy characters to represent your points of view! But hey, in the Green Arrow's defense, that mustache must tickle!

Seriously though, that's why I gave allowances for the rope arrows in the Thief series. Though they appear as normal arrows on a counter top (they do have a browner hue than broadheads), when they stick in wooden rafters and such, 30-40 feet of rope uncoil down to you for climbing. SO... I assume the functional reality of these rope arrows would give them the appearance of a harpoon or something, with the rope wrapped around them, hence taking up more quiver space.

I tried to find some GOOD images of the different bolts in Dishonored for comparison purposes, but didn't find any. No, I didn't think of taking some pics while playing...DER! BUT, the bolts are pretty much what one would expect, arrows about 7 inches long, with shafts about 1/4" diameter. The sleep darts look like long hypodermic needles, with a slightly coned tip, normal looking fletchings, and while the shaft is about the same size as the bolts, there is a vial in midshaft approximately 4" long and 3/8" diameter, filled with bubbly green sleep juice. Perhaps the added diameter of the vial takes up more room, or the possibility of glass breakage means more careful packing, but in game, if a bolt and a sleep dart are sitting side by each, they appear the same size.

So again, if I can carry 30 bolts AND 10 sleep darts, I should be able to carry 10 bolts and 15 sleep darts. Even if there's a size issue or a lack of bubble wrap in my fanny pack, I should be able to outfit quatities based on play style and mission needs.

There... I bring science. You bring... sigh... Green Arrow. Sheesh.

Ooh ooh! I have another! Trains...

Keep in mind that my experience with "modern" first person shooters is lacking, and I unfortunately have never tried a 'Red Dead' or 'Call of Juarez' version of the shooter. As many of you know, when the discussion of shooters comes up I fall back on the glory days of older Clancy tactical shooters or the Unreal Tournament series. There were several trains in my history of gaming, but in all examples I have personally played, nobody ever got it right.

In the book I'm reading now, it's during a fictional history steam-diesel-punk extended Civil War, and there's a Union train running on hydrogen by way of a coal boiler making steam for heat and somehow pulling the hydrogen out of the water tanks. This train is the biggest baddest thing to ever grace a track. The Confederacy enlisted the help of the Republic of Texas to build a southern equivalent that runs on a new Texan discovery, being diesel fuel. The Confed train is a V-12 with "exposed pistons" (???) and has about 3 times more pulling power, but also less armor and mounted weapons, than the Union train. I just went through CHAPTERS (like 5 or 6... maybe more) of the Union train getting raided by Confed "3-wheelers," the two trains chugging side-by firing cannon and anti-aircraft guns back and forth, soldiers lining up in the windows using small arms fire... ETC. The feeling brings forth imagery perfect for a game. So I think back to any trains I've ever boarded or defended.

The feeling has NOT been captured in any games I've played. Maybe it's the lack of a real sense of speeding down the tracks. Maybe the ones I've played use unrealistically large trains... crap, I just had two mental picture flashbacks of 2 trains in games that FELT right, but no clue what games they were in! DAMMIT!!!

Anyway, right now I'm thinking in terms of game design again. I'm leaning towards team-based tactical, one team defending, one team boarding and pacifying. Hostages? If it was a Clancy there would have to be, but multiplayer adds the possibility of stupid people NOT understanding the use of hostages.

Have the defenders on the train. They have a limited supply of gear, but they also have the advantages of location, speed, and visibility. Start the assault team in a makeshift camp one mile-ish from the tracks. Have a chopper (choppa!), some jeeps, maybe some bikes or wheelers... something to catch the train with. Start the map, let the assult team have a few minutes to outfit in a tent, discuss a plan of attack (should we put a sharpshooter on da choppa? Any chance we could get ahead and blow the track? Assault rifles or close-quarter?). Then they try to take the train, while the defenders do what they do. Voice capabilities, but also have auto-vocal announcements for those without headsets, like Defender-6 sees a guy jump on train car #3 and it yells to all defenders "Hostile at third car!" Then someone gets to run through the train, ducking as glass flies around from assault guys outside shooting through the windows. Actually create the sense of closed spaces at high speeds.

Wouldn't make an entire game, but I would sure enjoy playing that level! Really going to bug me now if I can't remember the 2 mental screenshots I saw. Oh, and if any of those "cowboy" shooters have train levels let me know!

This is kinda game/company specific, but it's been on my noggin since watching episodes of Valkyria Chronicles on Crackle. I played Valkyria Chronicles. Played the crap out of it. I loved everything about it... the story, the game mechanics, the graphics, music, characters, weapons, the blending of game genres, the THINKING. So I watched some of the show, and wikied the game yet again, and discovered there was a third one! I knew there was a second, and it was probably the biggest reason I wanted a PSP (other than FF Dissidia)... and now there's a third Chronicles for the PSP.

Here's my rant. Sega made an in-house rendering engine they called "Canvas" which was capable of rendering animation which looked like ink/pencil sketch outlines and watercolors for shading. The cutscenes were rendered in it, the game was rendered in it, and it looked awesome... not just because it was different, but because it made the entire game a piece of art. The game won quite a few awards for best graphics of the year, but sold like crap in the states; and the PS3 exclusivity didn't help its sales, in my opinion.

After the price drop, and after the anime/manga came out and the rest of us "westies" found out how awesome a world the game had, the sales picked up, and Sega released a sequel... on the PSP!!! Then another, also on the PSP.

SO... this Canvas rendering engine. If they're not going to use it for the betterment of ALL video games everywhere, they should release it for sale or free use or something! I know we have the cel-shaded games starting to boom, and I've seen them in various stages of tech from back in the days of 'XIII', but Canvas had a certain artistic zing that still sets it apart. For Sega to have this tech, release a couple games that most won't play because they don't have the system seems like such a waste!

I DEMAND more Valkyria, AND more Canvas... on ALL systems (current systems... don't need a Canvas game for the C64... ). C'mon Sega!!! What do you have to lose?