Pokemon 

It started out pretty badly for Pokemon, especially because of Pikachu's Pika Bolt which apparently did struck some of the children who were watching when the show was first shown. But look at it today, about 15 years after it was born, Pikachu is still traveling with Ash! And Nintendo has ever since released countless number of games. Among the first, was Pokemon Red and Blue.

Pokemon Red and Blue seems to be the most classic, primitive game of Pokemon. It was black and white, played on the super gigantic heavy Gameboy which is now a fossil. Graphic wise, it was by grids, even each of the monster, characters, etc. Compared to today, the game is coloured, and even 3D if you play it in Dreamcast or Nintendo Wii. 

What makes Pokemon game is so interesting. For me, it is the idea of collecting the pokemon. The first batch of Pokemon was numbered up to 356, if Im not mistaken and yes, you have to catch all those monsters in order to 'perfect' the game. Of course it is almost impossible to do so, as the last Pokemon was only available through direct trading with the Pokemon Centre in Tokyo and New York. But nonetheless, 'collecting' seems to spark a lot of interest in gaming. Look at gensoSuikoden and even MMORPG like Ragnarok. Collecting characters and rare items is among the main reasons why people play those games. If we see at Harvest Moon, Final Fantasy series and even Plants Vs Zombies, the concept of collecting whatever it is drives players to pay it more and more.

It is not surprising that there are still people who prefer to play the original Pokemon Red and Blue compared to the more advanced one like Silver which turned into Platinum and I think they are coming out with some weird stones for the title. It gives the indie feel also the recollection players will have when they replay these games. Likewise, people too often prefer the squared Mario Bros. compared to the new 3D version.

Back to Pokemon Red, gameplay is very very long and it did get boring in the middle. However, the ending was very much nicely done, with the peak of fighting the Big 5. (and yeah, no matter how fast you play the game, Gary will still be fighting you towards the end). Narrative-wise, this game has definitely a lot of potential, which proved to be correct as the following sequels followed the main story line but added MILLIONS of additional features. 

There are a lot of consideration in creating the game. For example, in the game, you will get a bicycle which is very very helpful as your character tends to walk very slowly. You will also get teleportation devices which will teleport you out of some deep unescapable dark caves with monsters which are 20levels higher than you roaming around. And the points where these items are awarded by the CPU is very much suits the timing when you need it. So Nintendo must have did a lot of trial and consideration. These are minor items and you might not see it as significant, but the truth is, it is, and these items surely help your gameplay easier.

This game also has the best instruction that any other games have ever provided to players. Maybe because it is aimed to suit the young, the instruction is made very very clear. The game also divides the instructions and rules accordingly, not given to players in one big slap. It creates a pacing for the game. However again, the 60% spot of the game seems to be a bit draggy. Many would remember Broke and Misty and maybe Erica, but not many do of Blaine and Sabrina. 

But in overall, I think Pokemon Red especially is among the greatest cutesy RPG game that Nintendo has ever created. For me personally, I would still prefer the more advanced version like Sapphire and Emerald as they have more features and additional side-quests. But still, Pokemon Red is a game not to be forgotten.

kelvin

Ragnarok online

Ragnarok online, one of the top online game for the last many years. Just like many other MMORPG, Ragnarok is a simple type of game with very little narration but involves almost a zillion of things going on. It can be mini quests, jobs, trading, level up, getting items, stealing, etc. Regardless of that, RO is still one of my most favourite online RPG game.

Although Im very bad with online games, I pretty much enjoyed RO. Believe me, all my characters have never reached the 2nd class. It remains as lousy Trader, or MP-les Magician. It sucks, but I like its graphic and animation design, not forgetting characters avatar. 

RO too is the first time Ive ever experienced real-time based events, like Christmas where there will be Santa monsters giving out free candies and sometimes Santa Hat. Then other events like Valentine, etc. Of course these kinds of events are no longer a rare find, as games in facebook and even iPhone are doing the same. 

One of the best feature of RO for me is the landscape design. Setting such as buildings, towns, mountains, etc are very flat. Yes they make use the 2D landscape but as your avatar roams through the XY grids, it becomes XYZ. Likewise, it is almost the first experience to play on such landscape which tricks your eyes and add another dimension just by you playing on it. Not only that, the design are pretty much realistic but consistent with the characters which are a bit cartoonish and animated.

However, one bad thing about MMORPG is the pace of the game. Well, obviously you are playing your own pace, but that when it is offline. When you are online, you are competing with millions of other players. Some worst scenarios are your monster being killed by others and the EXP goes to them. It sucks big time, especially if the monster drops rare items. Not only that, there are people who spend 24/7 infront of their computer, controlling their avatar and giving no mercy to rare monsters for their extremely high rewards. And if you were to compare with yourself, playing at most 10 hours per week ... you know.

Yes, that is about online RPG games for me. Very much fun but when it comes to competing, it kind of difficult to handle. And without competition, any games would be boring.

kelvin

Dance Dane Revolution

Interestingly, this game has become "classic" in such a way that not many are still playing it. Maybe because of the new-born direct interactive platform like Wii, but this game was the first- i think- to involve direct body movement by players. Played by stepping on directional arrows on the playmat, players have to use their bodies, or at least their active feet to play this, interesting game.

I find, yes still find that this game is pretty amusing. The songs as far as I can remember from season 1 were great, remixes were done quite tacky and ... nice. I can still remember that I was trying very hard to master the 6 stars song after trying out the super-easy Boom Boom Dollars. And yes, that is one reason why the game becomes more than just moving your ass up and down the mat.

Players will be graded after they finishes a song, with either D,C,B,A,SS. SS means super perfect and for many, the aim for playing the game is to get SS for every single songs, including those that will twist your feet around. There is a degree of challenge here.

Next thing too is how the game becomes competitive. Players can choose to play with another players and compete in who gets the higher score. When this is played in public, it can be really competitive and challenging, not forgetting you've got to have a really thick skin to jump stupidly, trying to step on the correct arrows.

Well, many people think the game is stupid, yes it is but it is quite fun when you know how to play it. It was a really hip game almost a decade ago but I just find it interesting on how such genre of game has developed to what it is today.


kelvin

BUBBLEWRAP

A very irritating IPhone game but very much usefull when you are about to kill people waiting for busses that come every half an hour because of the ever-slow land transportation system in Singapore.

There is a similar art work in Jakarta Biennale 2009 where the artist installed bubblewrap in bus stations. Believe me, it works damn well. And how irritating it can be to listen to bubblewrap being burst under the extremely humid and hot sun of Jakarta. Well, now you have the bubblewrap in IPhone!

A simple game where players have to exercise their fingers and speed to burst as many bubblewrap as possible. When you burst 290 and more, you made it to the international rank! How amazing is that.

Well, this game is fun, active, interesting, funny and helpful. Very smart, brilliant, simple, etc etc etc.

I think too, this game is an example of how a simple thing can be developed into an interesting game which will make people play and play. I believe that this kind of game, or more like entertainment or finger exercise platform will last. Short gameplay but lasting impression. Brilliant

kelvin

Final Fantasy Tactics by SquarEnix

I think this game is the most interesting game of all time; except when it reaches NDS for some weird reason, it went straight downhill. The original FFT which is played on PS then now available to PSP, is among the top rated tactic game with awesome story line, which I think is still relevant to today as long as Vatican still standing.

Anyway, this game has a very interesting gameplay, like a chess board. This is the first tactic game that I have ever played, which I think one of the earliest game that uses this form of battlefield. Basically, it is like chess where characters move in grids, buildings are very square-ly almost like de stijl. However, landscape is still very much interesting, very eye-appealing, almost very original. To cut it short, physically, this game rocks.

Did I mention about the characters' design? They are perfect. Each characters have different outfit, according to their Jobs. You can be a Knight, Monk, Priest, Wizard, Calculator *duh*, Dragoon, etc etc and even Dancer and Bard. I think too, this game leads to MMORPG like Ragnarok and MappleStory to develop very unusual job system for their characters. Of course, with each jobs, you have different abilities, movement, speed, etc.

Gameplay wise, it is very easy. Especially almost about 50% of gameplay, you will recruit this old man who can practically rule the whole battlefield by himself. This is very weird, of course, since Squaresoft (the original developer of the game) has the habit of making players suffer with weak characters. But nonetheless, the game is made more challenging with the almost-close-to-countless side-stories with secret characters and MANY MANY MANY limited items to collect. For a perfectionist in virtual world like me, this game is just perfect. The secrets are obtainable but difficult.

Then SquarEnix made this game possible to PSP. How great is that that now, the game is available even in MRT!!! Well, I dont need to point out any weaknesses of the game, it is just perfect. :)

kelvin

Puzzle Bubble by Taito

A relatively boring game, which interestingly manage to survive for more than a decade, and still counting. Puzzle Bubble by Taito is a game where players have to shoot bubbles with a bubble of the corresponding colours. The game goes on and on and on with slight development of the narrative.

Yes, Puzzle Bubble seems to be boring, not puzzling which it should have been like. Players will just stare to the screen and press a button on the controller and experience the glittering bubbles explode which will most likely, spoil their eyes. I find that the game itself has too long history while the game is suitable for a short-period game.

There are ways to develop the game, like what Taito has tried, by injecting a narrative plot into it. However, they did it poorly. So it didn't work. And honestly, the main character, the dinosaur thing looks very irrtiating. So, there are some ways that this game can be improved like approaching it in a different narrative plot.

In the game that me and my teammates develop, we hope to be able to push this game into a slightly more interesting game, but applying a simple narration into it, with a completely different theme.

kelvin

gensoSuikoden by Konami


gensoSuikoden is an RPG game developed by Konami, inspired by the original tale of the 108 heroes in the Chinese history. It is a very narrative game, with very deep emphasis on the story development. Gameplay wise, it is considered to be an easy game to complete with average hours between 20-30. What makes this game very interesting is how it has been developed up to 7 series at the moment, with story line that connects to each other. It is also interesting to see different style being adopted by Konami and platform which has improved from Playstation to PS2 to PSP to NDS and now to PS3. This game is all about narrative and development, whether it is in-game or the physical improvement in itself.

One important thing that I find in game-making from this game is narrative. gensoSuikoden may not provide players with the challenge of defeating super-ultra difficult lv.999999 monsters or secret bosses, but it depends on the story line. Adopting one of the most favored plot of war, this game interestingly adapts to the main theme but at the same time, branches out into highlighting social, economical and political issues, which can be reflected today. In terms of narrativity, this game seems to excel.

Another interesting factor is the idea of recruiting 108 characters, which up to 60% are useable in battlefields. It is challenging, at least for me, to gather the characters and to see how each develops as the game progresses. Again, Konami inputs the narrative factor into each characters, as if they are creating a history by itself.

One weakness which players often find in this series is the rather inconsistent difficulties in the game. Up to date, the 4th series of the game has received more thumbs down as it has the shortest gameplay of average 15hours but the richest narrative. In contrast, the 5th installment has the longest gameplay of average 35hours but among the simplest story. I find that when a title has a huge fan base, it is important to maintain the consistency of the gameplay. Unlike any single titled games, a continuous game like this have a bigger responsibility to deal with.

In conclusion, narrative is indeed an important factor a game, esp RPG, since the genre itself says so.

kelvin

2D.2.5D.3D

Harvest Moon,  Country Story or in fact many other farming and even RPG games, make use of the Parallel Landscape to create the illusion of 3 dimensional floorplan. Parallel Landscape on the other hand, is not even close to 3D but a completely flat 2D tiles which do not even make use of shadow or size to emphasis the idea of space.

It is very interesting to see how the human eyes can be 'tricked' through the placement of objects in creating a spatial landscape. Comparing to Tetris, the concept of creating the floor plan is very much similar. Tiles after tiles are placed on top of each other in an orderly manner. The only different is, the type of tiles. For example, in Harvest Moon, the soil will be brown colour while the grass will be green. Other than this, the same application is used. So what makes Tetris 2D and Harvest Moon 3D, or 2.5D, or maybe 2D but looks 3D.

I personally find this form of landscape is extremely clever. It is almost minimalist and effortless to create but pleasurable to the eyes. I guess, one of the reason is the mixing of the 2D and 3D sprites involved on the landscape.

For example, in Harvest Moon, although the map are flat, the plants, trees, characters, animals are somewhat 3D. They only have 4 directional images ( up, down, right and left ) but there is good use of shadow and size to emphasize the spatial relationship. The character for example is not purely flat with one colour filling in a specific body parts, but the cap for example, ranges from dark blue to blue to light blue. Even with this minor details, the idea of space is achieved in the simplistic 2D flat background.

Creating such landscape is easier comparing to Isometric Landscape such as Restaurant City and Theme Hospital. However, similar effect can be achieved, in fact a slightly more interesting effect is resulted. Parallel Landscape is not boring but giving players another layer of creativity in exploring the game as a whole. While on the other hand, Isometric Landscape provides the space for exploration thus limiting the self-creation in gamer's mind.

Kelvin

Restaurant City by playfish

Restaurant City (RC) is a game where a player sets up a restaurant. He/she can decorate the interior, as well as the exterior of the restaurant. He/she also is allowed to change the menu, learn the menu as well as upgrade food quality. Being a real time-based game, RC is another challenging game from playfish.

Game mechanics are very much simple. Every interaction between the players and the game, is just by clicking. Players can move the cursor to wherever he/she may go within the screen of the game. As boring as it may sound, clicking can be as exciting as player will be racing against time. You would not want your restaurant to be open when your employers are dead tired. So, the idea of clicking, unlike other facebook games such as Farmville, is quite interactive and able to keep the players busy.

Similar to SIMS, this game allows players to decorate. Items such as furniture, fridge, cooking pots, etc are for sale. However, they are not cheap. An average dollars invested everyday, is approximately $5000. However, a furniture can cost up to $10,000. It may seem to be unreasonable but this heightens the intensity of the game itself, adding a layer of difficulty and distance between player’s desire to purchase, in comparison with the ‘income’ that they get.

Other than decorating, one of the key factor in this game, being a food-related theme, is the dishes that players can prepare. Unlike Cooking Mama where players do not have to worry about ingredient but they actually ‘cook’ the dishes by cutting, sauté-ing, frying etc, RC focuses on getting different ingredients. For example, to cook a Mushroom Soup, players would need Mushroom and Butter. Once players have the two ingredients, which can either be bought, harvested or given free daily, they can unlock the Mushroom Soup dish. A dish can be upgraded until Level10, where it will give more points when served to customers. Interestingly, there are a vast range of ingredients, up to 40 different types and up to 60 different dishes. Again, this makes the simple game into an experience of collecting. Not missing the fact that some dishes have limited time to be unlocked before they are gone forever.

Those are the two main feature of the game which made more entertaining with minor features such as buying clothes for your chef, visiting other restaurants, etc. Such ‘mini-games’ are also important in magnifying the enjoyment of playing. Also, there is an educational side to the game where daily, players can take the Food Quiz once and if they answer correctly, they’d be given an ingredient.

RC seems to be boring at first sight, where players can not control the movement of the characters. However, this is replaced by the other features that the game provides, which apparently seem to overcome the disadvantage of control. Moreover, RC is not a mere game, but educates too. It seems to fit, the overly used term, work hard and play hard.

Kelvin

CHARACTERS=GAMEPLAY=PLOT

Star Ocean : Till The End Of Time by SquarEnix

Star Ocean is a series of RPG games, created by Square initially, which is now SquarEnix. It is a pretty much unique games, with its signature battle procedure. Basically, instead of telling the characters what to do, players move one characters, out of 4, in a battle. Players then move that character, just like a multi-combat game like Tekken or Street Fighter. The remaining 3 characters are moved by the computer.  

This feature is what makes players devoted to the series. The battles in this game are visually attractive as the 4 players involved will create myriad of moves, resulting in never-ending streams of colors filled with movement effects as well as sounds. Moreover, the enemies too double the intensity of such images and heightens the thrill in going into battles. Unlike any other games, battles in SO:TTEOT have never been boring, but very much anticipated.

This game has great character designs but very much mundane like any other RPG games. Male lead, sword bearer. Female lead, magician. Short character, old character, butch character, evil-like character. Not forgetting extra character who is almighty. However, despite the not-so-original character concept, their visual designs are eye-appealing. Costume, facial expression, movement as well as the relationship of individual to the whole setting are commendably match. Character design is very much important in games, especially RPG as they are the representation of players, but in the virtual world. SO:TTEOT manages to capture players’ interest in this factor.

Additional factors such as overall setting, landscape, level gaining, weapon modification, magic units, skills, etc also add on to why this game managed to become very popular when it was released almost 6 years ago.

However, one thing that this amazing game lacks. It is the primary factor, the most important factor of all, the story. It started out to be very medieval, the usual RPG setting with a smooth plot with a little bump here and there. But as the story progresses up to 70% of the gameplay, it has brought the game experience from max to zero.

The story and plot of the game suddenly change to the setting of real-life. Well, basically, the characters are actually characters from a game. The game manufacturer decided to abolish the game due to economic reason and these characters apparently, jumped out from the computer screen and started killing real humans. This swap, which many might see this as an opportunity to widen the gaming plot, does not seem to be useful, at all. The not-so-connected plot from virtual world to reality, with no slight indication for the first ¾ of the story, was suddenly altered. As if, the last ¼ portion was forced.

I stopped the game, despite enjoying the non-Final-Fantasy-characters-such-as -boys-who-look-like-girls game from SquarEnix. The 30 hours spent on the experience was pretty much entertaining and I would have given it an 8 out of 10 rating. However, when these characters started to kill real people, I’m sorry, but it is not more than a 0 out of 10 ranking.

In conclusion, I find that there must be a balance on the key factors for games, especially RPG where narrative factor is emphasized. Character design, game play and plot have to be able to weigh equally throughout the game journey. Some games have far better gameplay then character design, and it won’t work either. Players expect the best from the games that they are playing, or at least a strong reason why they should invest on their time, playing.

Kelvin

WE ARE PETS OF OUR OWN

Pet Society by Playfish

Pet Society is a real-time-based game where you create a pet and try your very best, to take care of it. Sound simple, but I find the game is challenging and difficult to some extend, as the perfectionist in me could never be satisfied with this western tamagochi.

The game is pretty much simple. First you create a pet, with your own choice of colors, ear shape, facial shape, eyes, etc. Then you'll name it. Once you do, you are given a house, starting with a few rooms and you'll gain new rooms as your level increases. Next, you are able to furnish your rooms, buy clothes, toys, and even fishing. The main mechanics of the game is to collect things. Whatever that you do, regardless whether you are playing balls, racing in the stadium or fishing at the pond, you'd gain something. You will receive either coins or items, as an exchange of your time.

It is a real-time-based game afterall. Means, if you plant a seed and it says 24 hours to grow, come back the next day, your flower would have bloomed. Coming back before the specified time, would leave you waiting for it. This time-based factor adds another layer of excitement and contribute the the extreme difficulties of the game. You'd lose money, opportunities and even special items when you miss the time frame. Remember too, that this game is all about collecting, the rarer the items are, the better your pet would look like, and that leads to, the better player you are. 

Pet Society is not just a game for leisure. But it becomes a trend, a part of gamer's life. It is almost impossible to stay in the game for a consecutive 1 hour or so, as it is boring. But once you log off, do some other things, and for the next 3 hours, you'd want to come back. You'd want to fish more, you'd want to check if the food is cooked. You'd want to get money. And with money, you'd want to get rare finds. 

The brilliant outcome of the game, is its possibility of being a habit. Being a time-based game, Playfish, the company also adds and discards items from the shop regularly. If the items are removed, it becomes rare. Items that are special for Christmas, Halloween or Chinese New Year becomes an extreme novelty. Owning them, means everything.

It has become a habit for many people, and this leads them to spend real money, to get exclusive items. Through dollars and cent, you'd be able to purchase Playfish Coins which can be used to buy special items. When a player has spent real money in the game, he or she has turned the game into an investment. Not only money, but also time. 

This game too has created new languages and form of communications. In the forum, many would want to buy rare items with code such as 4*999, 7*9999, 6*99 and so on. It is meaningless to others but to this gamers, it is a symbol. For example, 4*999 means 4 items which cost 999 coins. 999coins-items are extremely rare, and cant be found in the shop. They are, limited edition. 

After you play for quite some time, you'll start to realize that you have bought many items. And every items that you buy/get, you are proud of it. You would want to showcase them and when other players get into your house, they know how good you are. So you'd start placing all items in the room. Messy. This has become a reflection on human nature to pick things up, like flyers, old items and place them in their rooms. For me, what I am seeing now in my pet's house, its like a virtual form of my own rooms. This brings the game into a direct social comparison, despite it looking childish and pretty useless.

So, Pet Society is not merely game, but also a habit, an investment, an education, a research and a social commentary of today's society. It makes you feel as if you are a pet of your ow in the real world. An interesting game, indeed.

Play the game here : http://www.playfish.com/

Kelvin