Her Ongoing Mission

The Green Skinned Chronicles (aka. my time in the Star Trek Online Beta)

(WARNING: MASSIVELY NERDY ROLE PLAYING TO FOLLOW)

Captain's Log:  Stardate 20100125

I've spent some time now as commander of the Avalon, and gained quite a bit of experience both in space combat and on ground missions.  For the most part, my missions have been fairly interesting, though nothing grand like Captains Kirk or Picard would have experienced.  Most of my orders involve something like, "Go patrol these sectors!"  When I get there, there are usually enemy ships that I need to destroy, we circle each other and trade fire, and then we warp out to another sector to do it again.  Some missions have been pretty interesting, though.  These have often involved hidden outposts that I have to beam down to and explore.  I have to say, I've enjoyed my away missions more than my time on the bridge.  Maybe it's just because the away missions seem more rare right now.  Yet there's something to be said about leading a team of five and watching them efficiently work together to dismantle a horde of Klingons or Orions.

As for ship battles, there's still a thrill to outgunning three ships at a time, though it can still start to feel like a routine.  I had no idea that my life in Starfleet would be so violent.  There have been times when I've been glad to have the help of other ships in the vicinity, though there are times when I am glad for the chance to fulfill a mission on my own.  For some reason I've always found solace in solitude.  There's just something more relaxing about being able to complete a mission on my own pace without feeling beholden to the other commanders.

I wonder if there will be more variety as I advance in Starfleet?  Will the missions get more interesting and engaging?  Or have I hit the status quo?  Only time will tell.  For now, though, it's still rewarding to get new weapons and armor, or new equipment for the Avalon.  I guess it will do for now.

Lieutenant Neajea signing off.

...OK, I'm going to pull back the curtain for a minute and talk as myself.  The Klingon race is now available in the Beta, so of course I decided to go try them out.  The result?  I don't think I'm going to spend much time as a Klingon.  I guess they're the PVP race or something, and boy does it show.  This game may not be heavy on the story elements, but they don't even try with the Klingons.  They just basically say, "OK, you're a Klingon now.  Go kill stuff."  PVP has never been something I look forward to in any game, MMO or not.  I don't have as much fun competing against others in a video game, and I usually just walk away angry and frustrated.  I never really tried any of the Battlegrounds stuff in WOW, and I really don't even like group quests and stuff like that.  So when the main draw of the Klingon race is that you're going to be doing a lot of PVP, I basically just throw up my hands and say, "Done!"  Maybe you like PVP.  Well go have a blast.  That isn't for me.  The Federation stuff is still fun for now, though I'm interested in seeing what the other factions will be like.  Right now, I have no idea how long I'll be playing Star Trek Online.  We're still in Beta, so I can't help but wonder what direction they'll choose to go in supporting the game once it's released.  WOW was about the only MMO I ever got into before, and it was the repetition in that one that always turned me away (and yet I keep going back every few months...).  I understand that's the norm for MMOs, so who knows how long STO will keep my interest?  In the words of the great Lieutenant Alia Neajea, only time will tell.

...Where No One Has Gone Before

The Green Skinned Chronicles (aka. my time in the Star Trek Online Beta)

(WARNING: MASSIVELY NERDY ROLE PLAYING TO FOLLOW)

Captain's Log:  Stardate 20100121

I receive my first assignment as the official commander of the USS Avalon, and what happens?  We can't actually embark on the assignment because Chief Engineer McDoodoopants is sitting around with his thumb stuck up his rear exhaust port.  He gave me some cock and bull story about "downtime for server maintenance" or something, but I know he's just lounging around in Club 47 with a bottle of Saurian Brandy.  It's fairly well known that McDoodoopants is a raging alcoholic.  Still, I can't blame him.  If my parents had saddled me with a last name like McDoodoopants, I would probably be hitting the booze pretty hard myself.

Of course, my life isn't all roses right now either.  There's a reason very few Orion women join Starfleet.  All the men think you're going to want to sleep with them, and all the women hate you because all the men want to sleep with you.  I've managed to get by, but mostly by keeping to myself.  Of course, it's very hard to do that when you're in command.  Still, I guess my natural traits are helping me maintain an authority presence.  This came in handy when we finally were able to ship out on our first mission.

The Admiral assigned us to locate the Azura, a vessel that had gone missing.  As we explored their last known location, we were hailed by a distress signal from the Azura herself.  The ship had come under attack by Orion raiders.  While some might imagine I would be conflicted about firing on my own people, I was raised by humans.  I never much cared for the Orion ways, and their barbaric methods and attitudes are shameful.  Needless to say, I had no hesitation on ordering the Avalon to open fire on the pirates.  We took out two of their ships and then beamed aboard the freighter.  According to the tried and true Starfleet method, I personally led the away team onto the ship.  You might question the wisdom of having the senior members of the ship going on a dangerous assignment, but I would remind you that my last away mission saw me returning as Captain because all the other senior staff were butchered by the Borg.  On the ship.  Where they were supposedly "safe".  I believe I will be leading every away mission from now on, thank you very much.

The Azura was in shambles.  Orion boarding parties had done a number on the crew, and plasma was venting everywhere, hindering our progress.  We had to deal with the plasma leaks in order to reach the warp core, which was on the verge of breaching.  Our team was able to defeat the raiders while beaming the Azura's crew to safety.  During this time, though, the Orion ships returned with a frigate.  It was a hard fought battle, but the Avalon and her crew performed admirably.  We got the captain of the Azura out of there just before the warp core breached and destroyed the ship.  Not a bad first trip, if I do say so myself.  Unfortunately, McDoodoopants decided to bust out the Romulan ale to celebrate.  Who knows when we'll be able to get underway next...?

To Boldy Go...

The Green Skinned Chronicles (aka. my time in the Star Trek Online Beta)

(WARNING: MASSIVELY NERDY ROLE PLAYING TO FOLLOW)

Captain's Log: Stardate 20100119

The Captain is dead.  The First Officer is dead.  Heck, even the janitor who cleans the latrines on deck 17 is dead.  Or at least I assume he is (poor Roger).  Cause when they tell an Ensign that she is now the highest ranking officer on board the ship, that must mean that most of the crew has met their end.  I am Alia Neajea, and I am now the acting Captain of the USS Avalon.  God save us all.

The Borg came back.  I don't know why, but they came back and they attacked our fleet.  I was ordered over to the Khittimer to help them beat back a Borg boarding party.  While I was there, the Borg decided to go have another party over on the Avalon.  The kind of party where you kill or assimilate everyone on board.  When I got back, I was told that I was now Captain and we needed to go get back in the fight.  Lucky me.

Well, somehow we got our weapons and shields repaired, at least enough to get back in action and take out a few damaged probes.  Then one of the cubes showed up.  Thank God it was already damaged as well.  If it had been at full strength we would have all been dead.  Instead, we joined an assault team and blew them back to the scrapyard.

The Avalon was then ordered back to Earth.  I obeyed, expecting to be sent back to drydock for a while until the new captain arrived.  Imagine my surprise when the Admiral informed me that I was now the captain of the Avalon.  I guess with the war against the Klingons, and now open conflict with the Borg, Starfleet has a shortage of commanding officers.  Of course, he didn't make me a Captain.  He made me a Lieutenant.  But I'm in charge now, regardless.  I never asked to command.  I suppose most people join Starfleet in dreams of sitting in the big chair of their own starship, envisioning themselves as the next James T. Kirk.  Me, though?  I just wanted to see the stars. Well, now I'm in command, so it's time to show everyone, especially myself, what I'm made of. 

A Call For Reason

That's it. I'm calling it. This year is to be referred to as Twenty Ten. No more of this "two thousand and ten" nonsense. Twenty ten. And Twenty shall be the standard for the years to come. Mark it well.

"Whoa there, man!" I hear you say. "You can't just up and call it! There have to be discussions! Evidence has to be presented! You need to present a compelling case before we can just go ahead and call it twenty ten." Well I have a compelling case. I have an irrefutable arguement that will end this debate once and for all. What is this ironclad evidence? Mega Man.

That's right, I'm invoking the blue bomber himself. You see, at the start of every Mega Man game, they display the year it takes place in. But in order to keep from tying themselves down to a specific date, they use 'X's. This results in a date like 20X6. Now consider how you would say that date. Would you say "twenty x-ty six", or would you say "two thousand and x-ty six"? Two thousand and x-ty six sounds stupid, doesn't it? Twenty x-ty six is clearly the correct way to say such a date, so it clearly must be the correct header for this year as well. Ergo, twenty ten.

So now that Mega Man and myself have logically shown the correct way to say this year and blown the arguments for "two thousand and ten" out of the water, I look forward to hearing "twenty ten" being proclaimed across the globe. For if we cannot unite in the pronunciation of the year, how can we ever hope to stand together once the robot rebellion inevitably comes to pass? For the good of all mankind, I welcome you to Twenty Ten.

Weekend Pep Talk

Hey man, we need to talk. Yes, I know by talking to you, I'm actually just talking to myself. We should probably go see someone about that. It's not exactly a healthy thing. But before you go see some quack about getting some happy pills, let's talk about this weekend. You know what we need to do. You've been putting it off for some time now. Sure, you had good excuses. The holidays were here, family was in town, friends were here to visit. Those are valid reasons, but at the heart of it, you were still making excuses. Now, though? It's time. We need to play some Dragon Age.

Hey! Hold up a second, OK? I hear what you're saying! Yes, you've already played some of Dragon Age. It's been pretty awesome, in fact. You've got your character made, you went through your origin story and saw your family that was modeled by your own character's appearance. That was cool. And that sequence was pretty brutal as well. Then there was that battle in the tower. That got pretty intense. Good thing you had a warhound by your side. But now that you're in the first real town and getting quests, and the world has opened up, I can tell that you're balking at going forward. It is kinda intimidating, I know. Choices aren't easy, and this game offers a ton of them. Plus, the completionist side of you and the side that wants to appease your party members are kind of at odds too, since completing some of these side quests is bound to peeve at least one of them off. But this is a game that deserves to see some of your time.

Look, I know you've got errands to run and things to do. Decorations need to come down, and your car is filthy. Wash that thing, will you? Also, a haircut wouldn't kill you. But you've got to be able to fit Dragon Age somewhere in there. It's a great game. It probably could have snagged a spot on your top five list last month if you had bothered to play more of it. You and I both know that it's go time. So get out there and show those Darkspawn what you're made of! Although my stomach is growling pretty bad. I should go eat something. Also, I've got a lot of Dexter to catch up on...

Shattered Memories

Silent Hill: Shattered Memories is the kind of game I would love to make someday.  I love to play the traditional styles of video games, but if I were to actually get involved in making games, I would want to make the kinds of games that explore video games as a story-telling medium.  I often think about the unique methods video games can use to convey ideas and stories to the player.  These are methods that are different than films, television, or even books.  In games, the player is in control and able to interact with the world, instead of just being taken along for the ride.  Some of the best stories in games are ones that have the player make decisions that will impact the game in ways they don't see until much later, or have revelatory moments that flip the player's perspective of the story on its head.  Silent Hill: Shattered Memories accomplishes both of these and executes on them brilliantly.

Shattered Memories has been described as a re-imagining of the original Silent Hill, and boy is it ever.  If you're familiar at all with the original Silent Hill, you may think you know what to expect going into this game.  You start off as Harry Mason, you've just been in a car crash, and you're looking for your daughter Cheryl.  You might think, "Oh yeah, I got this.  Give me a pipe so I can start bashing the monsters from those crazy cultists."  If you thought that, you would be dead wrong.  Aside from the names of characters and the car crash, this game is completely different from the original.  I mean, it's shocking how different this is.  I'm not just talking about the lack of combat.  In the original, you were fighting (or running from, usually) a ton of creepy monsters of different shapes and sizes.  In Shattered Memories, you can't fight the creatures.  Instead, you get put into intense (and often intentionally confusing) chase sequences.  That's pretty different.  It also veers away from shocking and grotesque imagery, going more for uncertainty and a more mental approach to the horror (that still remains disturbing and effective).  But the biggest difference is in the story itself.  This is not the original Silent Hill.  And you know what?  I kind of like it better.

Now if you remember my horror games post, I had high praise for the Silent Hill series, so I'm not knocking what it has accomplished thus far by any means.  But the direction Shattered Memories takes is one that I would embrace wholeheartedly.  There have been some comments/reviews that Shattered Memories isn't really a Silent Hill game.  And they're right, when you consider the continuity of the series up till now.  All that crazy cult stuff and the horrifying "Otherworld" are gone here.  All the things you might think of that make up a Silent Hill game are pretty much gone here, save for the town itself.  And yet, the atmosphere and the psychology involved in the story make me feel like this very much deserves to have the Silent Hill name attached to it.  Let's be honest, the best game in the series (that would be number 2) focused away from the odd cult story and focused more on the characters and their psychological issues.  In that regard, Shattered Memories stays more true to that spirit than any of the other sequels.  Harry's journey gets more and more bizarre to the point where you wonder how on earth they could possibly resolve it in any satisfactory way.  And then they totally do just that.  I won't spoil anything, but I will say the ending allows you to actually look back at what has transpired, and see the meaning in all this stuff that previously seemed inexplicable.  It's really cool, and one of those tools I love to see storytellers use. 

And yet the story itself is dictated by your own actions.  I don't know what all the game is reading while you're playing, but it is somehow analyzing you as you play.  The most obvious method is via the psychoanalysis sessions you have with the game's therapist throughout the game.  But it is reading something more from your actual gameplay style.  When I finished the game, it began to profile me, and it was pretty spot on for the most part.  Eerily so.  And this is where the real beauty of the game lies.  As you play the game, the characters and story are altered by the choices you make.  This means that one person could see the game from an entirely different perspective than another.  While I'm sure the general flow and major locations remain largely the same, I have a feeling that the kind of story you experience and the resolution could be very, very different.  I've finished the game once, and I'm very interested in going back in to try a different approach.  To see some of this in action, check out this video and see how the player reacts:



I have to say, as far as stories in games go, Silent Hill: Shattered Memories and Uncharted 2: Among Thieves (my personal Game of the Year, if you recall) stand tall at the top of the heap this year.  Yet they both approach their storytelling in drastically different ways.  Uncharted goes for a tightly focused and thrilling narrative that parallels the best of the summer blockbusters.  Shattered Memories instead opts for a very experimental and intriguing psychological thriller that allows the player to basically form a story tailored for them.  While I am definitely looking forward to more games learning and utilizing the methods used in Uncharted 2, I would love to see more developers build on the work established in Shattered Memories.  And who knows?  Maybe some day I might actually get to do that myself...

Best of 2009: Uncharted 2: Among Theives

Last week, before delving deep into the worst of 2009, I said that my top five games weren't ranked.  That's not exactly true, because while I've waffled on which of the prior four were better than the others and not coming up with a real answer (thereby resulting in me saying, "Well then they're all good and therefore not ranked!"), Uncharted 2 stands tall as my favorite game of the year.  I talked about it back in October, so I'm sorry if I repeat myself here, but I can't help it when talking about this game.  It was the game I had been anticipating the most, and then the hype machine really got to me and made my expectations high.  Well Uncharted 2 not only met those expectations, but it blew past them to make one of the most memorable game experiences I've had in a long time.

 

I was a huge fan of the original Uncharted.  It was the first game I bought and played when I got my PS3 (Metal Gear Solid 4 technically came with the system, but I didn't play it until later).  The story and the characters hooked into me deep and left a lasting affection for them that had me craving for more.  The gameplay was solid as well, though it had more than a few frustrating moments.  Combat all too often forced you to fight waves of enemies that used cheap tactics, and when you died you would have to do it all over again.  It really started to feel like a chore, and I admit I groaned a couple of times when I realized I would have to hunker down and face yet another wave of pirates or mercenaries for the next ten minutes.  I would still recommend you go and play Uncharted: Drake's Fortune, though.  First of all because it's a great game, and second of all because the sequel might make it hard to go back once you've played it.

 

You see, Uncharted 2 fixes just about any issues the original had.  There are maybe two instances during the game where I recall really getting frustrated, and that was it.  The rest of the game is one of the most action packed thrill rides I've ever seen.  I know that's a ridiculous cliche of a phrase, but it fits Uncharted 2 so well.  The game moves at an incredible pace, and it's constantly throwing you into crazy situation after crazy situation.  It really is the video game equivalent of a big blockbuster movie.  Its greatest success is in how well these moments are executed.  The game starts you out being mortally wounded and having to climb up a train that is dangling off the side of a cliff, for crying out loud!  That's the opening sequence!  The next thing you know, you're engaged in a high stakes robbery, running for your life as a helicopter tears the building apart from under you, racing from train car to train car, and leaping from truck to truck as gunfire rains down all around you.  And those are just a few of the great moments in this game!

These moments are held together with fantastic gameplay and controls.  Whether you're sliding between cover during a heated firefight, or clinging to ledges as you scale all the numerous obstacles and objectives, Nathan Drake does it all seamlessly.  If you die, you almost never feel like it's because the controls screwed you.  These gameplay sections also seem like they're paced better than in Drake's Fortune, keeping the flow of the game moving at just the right speed.  The combat sections definitely feel the most improved.  Combat worked fine in the original, but it seems superb here in Among Theives.  I can't really describe what it is that makes it better.  You just have to have played both games to understand.  When you play the sequel, you just feel like something got improved even though you can't describe what it is.  The best I can say is that I actually found myself looking forward to the next time I could clash with the villains of this world.  Add in stealth moments that are actually viable avenues now, and you've got a fantastic adventure that is hard to put down.

In my opinion, though, it's the characters that make the Uncharted world so great.  These are not the stereotypes that I've come to expect and hate in games like this one.  You know, the macho hero, the over the top villain, and the sexy-yet-fierce love interest.  Here, the characters seem fleshed out and real.  The incredible graphics really help here, as the character models are able to effectively express the emotions being presented without ever making you tilt your head at any Uncanny Valley stuff.  The voice acting is also top-notch, with probably the best performances ever in a video game.  You've got a slimeball antagonist, a truly frightening villain, some complex supporting characters...heck, you even develop an attachment to a character who never speaks a word of English!  And standing at the center of it all is Nathan Drake himself.  Nolan North delivers another amazing performance as our hero, giving just the right mix of charm, emotional range, and incredulity at the crazy situations he finds himself in.  Drake and his supporting cast are able to sell you on the world they are in and make you believe it, even if it's just during the time you're playing.  They let you escape, and isn't that why we're supposedly playing these things in the first place?

I can't wrap this up without mentioning the multiplayer.  I didn't really care that they were adding multiplayer in the sequel, since it's the single player experience that I love about these games.  I have logged a little bit of time with the multiplayer, though, and I've been surprised at how well the Uncharted gameplay fits into a multiplayer setting.  It seems pretty fun, and I'm looking forward to getting back into it at some point.  And if you read my Modern Warfare 2 post, you know that's not something I say very often.  This is a pretty neat bonus to keep you coming back, and it's something they didn't even have to add on when you think about it.  Kudos to Naughty Dog on this one.

Uncharted 2: Among Thieves raises the bar for action/adventure games, and really for video games in general.  The level of polish and care that's gone into this game shows, and delivers an experience that's a head above anything else out there.  I love the story, I love the characters, and I love the fun I have when I'm playing it.  In short, I love this game.  And that's why Uncharted 2: Among Thieves is my pick for the best game of 2009.