This is a generic blog post about random things, because, well, I can do that. It's a blog, and that's what I do with a blog. Have I said blog enough yet? The first thing is that I've located the origin of my affection for 2D platformers, and its name is Adventure Island. I downloaded Adventure Island from the virtual console, having formerly had Adventure Island 2. While the Adventure Island I have found to be clearly inferior in literally every way, there is something there about which I had entirely forgotten and why I enjoy the games so much: The fruit. In Adventure Island, you control Master Higgins, who is in constant need of replenishing his energy with fruit. This forces the player to hurry through the level hastily or risk dying of lack of fruity goodness. This has since been the way I've played every platformer, and if I don't have that option, I invariably find the experience less enjoyable (this is why I do not find Sonic fast). They aren't the best games, the most original or most polished, but Adventure Island has infected me with the foundation of enjoyment in platformers.
The second thing is the nature of a game. I am playing Suikoden V, and have a problem. In two days I had played the same 9 hours worth that it took me over a week to play in God of War. What's wrong with that, you say? We've all had long gaming sessions. But this is hardly a game at all. Just as games such as Brain Age fail to fall within a paradigm of gaming denomination, Suikoden V does the same by pushing the game so far focused of the story that the game portions themselves take an obvious backseat. I am about 16 hours it still feels as though I'm in a tutorial, yet it is highly enjoyable in that the focus, which happens to be the story and characters, is done very well and the gameplay while simplistic generally avoids tedium or frustration. So the question then becomes, is this a good game? Story often does play a role in the evaluation of a videogame, but where does that end? Is it the enjoyment of a game or the quality of its gameplay that is ultimately what is important? The game slowly ramps up, so if I end up writing a review for it, it will probably have shifted enough to make a conventional review, but I can say to this point that the gameplay is mediocre, yet I've enjoyed it nearly as much as anything I've played this year, just as I've greatly enjoyed many movies. What's particularly interesting though, is that the cinematics are frequent but relatively short, and these repeated portions that are often simply walking from place to place manage to pace the "game" well enough to feel unlike a movie, yet entirely storydriven. Given my playing of games across all genres, I haven't played any one genre that extensively, so maybe this is just what modern JRPGs are, but I'd call Suikoden V an adventure game first.
Lastly, anyone see the Daily Show Interview from Hell? If not, give it a look.
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