My Games of 2011, The Games That Weren't My Games

Much like last year, there were several games that, while noteworthy, I simply didn't get into playing them for one reason or another.  Some because I didn't want to, some because I didn't get to, and some because I just didn't have the funds to justify getting it.  Luckily(?) this year I didn't really have any games that I just didn't get around to playing by some miraculous glut of purchases, so that's honestly one less section that I have to put in, however there's really only two sections that the games for this year to fit into for me.

No Ability

Terraria

I actually keep forgetting about Terraria in every fashion for a multitude of reasons.  It's a PC-Exclusive game that will most likely remain that way, it seems like it's either completely entrenching one moment or completely off-putting another, and I actually own it, technically, but I can't play it because my PC is terrible and has no shaders to speak of in the graphic cards or something.  I know, really authorative on PC gaming specs, right?  Anyways, I got myself a Steam Profile a ways back as almost a cruel joke for myself since I'm not fooling anybody; I can't run shit on this machine.  And shortly after that, I was handed a copy of Terraria and it was going to be fun times because I mean, look at Terraria, it doesn't need -shit- to run, right?  Wrong.  It needs more than I have, which means it's....well, completely untouchable to me for now.

It's unfortunate as, like I said, at times Terraria looks like the kind of game I personally would sink -hours- of my life into when in the right mood, as, despite the lack of 3D space to work with, Terraria compensates by having a lot of 'fluff' items to decorate with.  Dummies that you can put full suits of armor on for display, statues, varied pieces of furniture, etc. the possibilities are already numerous and growing more and more with every update.  It's out-paced Minecraft in that department by quite a bit already and has the added benefit of, well, being more of a game than Minecraft unfortunately.  While I'm not one to needlessly compare the games, as the internet seems wont to do, there are striking similarities and in brutal honesty, Terraria is a more realized game and feels like it's actually past release.  It has actual NPCs rather than placeholders, actual boss fights, plural, rather than only one, and definite 'post-game' content that shapes the world around your character and their designs.

However at the same time as the above, there is only so much that you can do with a single plane of input.  (Well, two as there's a background layer for walls)  You can make things that look kind of neat, you can make overly elaborate towers and tall buildings to compensate for the single plane and....that's about it.  There's not really the expansive feel that you get with 3D terrain.  I mean just look at this video of a series called "Medieval Minecrafting" in which one DurandalofAegis proceeds to make a gigantic castle in Minecraft.  There's a real feel of scale that I really don't think you can recreate in a solely 2D environment.  Maybe I'll get proven wrong, and there is obviously merit alone to Terraria itself, merit that I would've loved to explore personally, but I just couldn't.

Star Wars:  The Old Republic

Another PC offering (as will likely all the 'no ability' games be), The Old Republic and the upcoming Phantasy Star Online 2 caused me to really really consider my position on MMOs because they are both games that I would really like to play.  I'm just not sure -how much- though, as I wouldn't want to pay for the privilege of playing the game I bought with other monies, and that's really a stance I'm not planning on wavering on.  We'll see if that stands when I actually have a computer that could play either game, as I suspect I might buckle under the weight of being able to play something with my Li'l Sis (TOR) or being able to play a PSO game online for the first time after missing out all those years ago on Dreamcast.  All venues that I would consider listening to suggest that TOR is actually something to keep an eye on and to play and, most importantly, enjoy, but I am not really the best judge of these things.  Still, after great enjoyment with the Knights of the Old Republic games, it would be nice to give TOR the ol' college try.

Minecraft

Still.  Goddamnit.

No Hurry

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

While it may be considered blasphemy in some places, I don't think Skyrim would have placed very high on my GotY list even if I had played it.  Regardless, I didn't and the reasoning is quite simple:  There's no need to buy Bethesda games at launch.  I have made this point again and again and will continue to make it until it proves to be mis-truth.  The games are generally riddled with bugs that may or may not render some future additions completely untouchable if not just generally hamper your experience, and they will invariably always get some form of expansion packs that are then bundled in when the game goes "Game of the Year Edition" the following year.  And all the reasons to play it, the expansive maps, the stories, but main and side, and the actual experience of the gameplay?  Those will all still be there when you pick up the game a year down the line at a discount with content that people had to shell out half the games value to get additionally.

Regardless, I find it hard to be anything more than a little charmed with the openness and such of Bethesda worlds that so entrench others.  I have fond memories of Morrowind and Oblivion, but they're only of dicking around which you could generally do in most games.  While the specifics might be exclusive to these games, the general vibe is not, nor can it be, so it' not something to really tout.  For instance, the most fun I had with Morrowind was getting it on PC, using the glitch that let you make spells that would permanently buff your stats to make a super dude and then going around and assassinating the guards of the land with shurikens until 1) I died or 2) the game crashed.  Similarly in Oblivion, I had a lot of fun just killing people to throw them into rivers and the like and specifically causing trouble in the district of the Imperial City where the Thieves Guild meets for initiation; hopping up on those rooftops and taunting guards and civilians that happen to be annoyed at you while they just stare at you in impotent rage, it's a pretty good feeling.  Yet not feelings specifically found only in Bethesda games.

Portal 2

I hate to do it, but I gotta be that guy.  I didn't really care for Portal which is no doubt partly caused by the overexposure I and the rest of the internet was subjected to after its massive success.  I gave it a try, played until I couldn't, which meant I didn't beat it, and just couldn't be bothered to care.  Even when I saw the rest of the game via two different Let's Plays I couldn't care.  I realize that's just my own personal thing here and no representative of popular opinion or of even an opinion that you should have, but I can't really lie about it.  And as far as I can tell, Portal 2 promised from day one to be more of the same but bigger and 'better', so I basically just had to write it off to a later date.  I'll give it a try just like the first Portal and since the internet hasn't exploded with memes from the game, hopefully I'll be able to enjoy it a bit more.

Batman:  Arkham City

Much like Portal 2 being more of the same of Portal 1, Arkham City had been described as more of the same of Asylum but, again bigger and 'better' which...just isn't very appealing to me.  I didn't dislike Arkham Asylum, but when I beat it I was very much done with it.  I had done the bulk of the side stuff already, so when the game dumped me back into it after the final boss fight, I could only walk around for a little bit before I shrugged and moved on.  I can't tell what it is, but Arkham Asylum was just one of those games that, while I was playing it, it was awesome and I couldn't get enough until I was finished, and then when I was finished, I just couldn't be bothered to have anything more to do with it, as I said.  It wasn't like the combat wasn't great - it was.  It wasn't like the characters, the acting weren't wonderful and nostalgic - they were.  It just was not a game made with replayability in mind to me, which is a bit rough considering one of the two(?) trophies I had left was to play the game through again on hard.

Like the rest of them, I'll play Arkham City one day.  That day is just undetermined and very much in the future.

And finally one last game that wasn't my game of the year and I'm going to give it its own section.

Don't Hate Me, Chance

Dark Souls

I assure you there is a very, very simple reason for why I didn't play Dark Souls this year, nor will I for a while yet:  I haven't played Demon's Souls yet.  I know I was talking about starting that up months ago, going so far as to even plan out my character far in advance, but I just haven't gotten around to it.  Other games take priority over one that's going to stab me repeatedly in the throat while I am learning its ways, I'm afraid, and me being weird as I am, I can't let myself play the sequel before the original even if they have nothing to do with one another.  It's just not a thing I can do, and I would suggest that I suffer for that as others might suggest as well.  While I am assured that Dark Souls is a very good game, I have only been able to muster a wary eye towards it, wanting to know of its ways, yet not wanting to be spoiled on too much of it.  I want just that right amount of preparedness for when I step into its world that I might learn the hard knocks without suffering the easy ones as well.

While there's a few other games that could make this list, these are pretty much the note-worthy games here.  There's really no ill will towards any of them, just not any particularly high level of excitement, either.  And if we know one thing about me it's that that's what I crave:  games that excite me.  Whether it be for the concept alone (Lollipop Chainsaw) or the promise of something I already like, but refined (Like, every sequel this past year that I played), I have to feel something for the game before I want to exchange currency to hold it in my hands.  It'll be a dark day indeed if I lose that feeling, but I really, really doubt that day will ever come, which is something to be quite thankful for.

Haven't Heard About the Wii-U in a While..

Until now, that is, with Pete Hines, VP of Marketing at Bethesda stating that Skyrim on the Wii-U is a 'possibility', provided the Wii-U can support the game.  Which, I find a little funny, since it's a Bethesda game, and in all reality, nothing can properly support a Bethesda game since....well, this is a really long build-up to making fun of Bethesda for releasing buggy games, so I'll just kinda stop there and give away the punchline.  Because, y'know, Bethesda makes buggy games.  Buggy games that are, at times, really fun and offer a large variety of things to do, much more than most games, but buggy nonetheless.

Given that we still don't know when the Wii-U is actually going to come out, what it's going to really be like when it's completed, how the controller set-up is really going to work and a pile of other things, I don't really know how much weight needs to be put into this, since the console could very well not come out for a couple years yet.  When it actually comes out of the factory, all these games that have been shown as playable on it will be outdated heavily and it's only anyone's guess if said games will ever be put on the console, or in what fashion.  Maybe PS3-style dual-packs of 'classic' (at that point) games at a reduced price with additional Tablet possibilities?  I wonder if Nintendo is going to come up with some sort of mandatory thing for ports, as Sony/Microsoft have (Well, more Sony since Microsoft doesn't want your stinking ports.) or if they'll just sort of let devs do whatever (read:  As little as possible) and call it a day.

I guess this is why I don't do a lot of talking about the Wii-U; there's just too much that's not really concrete at this point, and rather than looking at it favorably like the Vita, I am every shade of cautiously optimistic, since Nintendo's strategies for their last 'advanced' product haven't been panning out too well.  (though again, I will re-iterate that the 3DS will be just fine, goddamn people, we know this already)  But, by contrast, at least with the Vita, I have/had something a little more concrete than we have with the Wii-U; which is basically just games from other consoles playing on it and looking just as shiny as it does on the 'big boys'.  And a couple Nintendo-made videos, which, you never trust those kinds of videos since they're videos and not games.

Really, that's...about it, for things I have to say.  Slow news this weekend, unfortunately, and I haven't done much more in Yakuza 4 aside from challenge work, so nothing really to gush about there.  I guess there is the fact that Star Wars: The Old Republic finally has a release date and a pricing structure is a thing, if just because it's turned me off to the game completely ($15/Month?  Well, we know my thoughts on this) if just because I don't have a PC to play it, nor $15 a month to....play it.  I guess I'll just see how it fares from the side-lines and if I get a good enough computer and the cash to put into it, I might dip my toes in.

News Dump - New Games and New Info

This is another one of those nights where there's just quite a few topics one could bring up, but each one doesn't really offer a lot of a basis to make a full-fledged post over, yet still are big enough that they necessitate being brought up at the very least.  So, seeing as it's the only thing my drug-addled mind can push together (goddamn allergies), it seems as good as anything.  This is also another one of those nights where, despite my willingness to post, and post something substantial, it's just not a thing that can be done, so apologies for that.

First up is something that is, honestly, something that's been on my radar since last year, and one could only hope that a recent interview (rather, a recent interview that Joystiq made an article about) points to a long-awaited PS3 version of Deadly Premonition (in Non-Japan).  While not the first time he's gone out there expressing his desire to do more, make more games and really take off, he seems to have more concrete plans in mind and, hopefully, some financial backing.  Or hopefully his concrete plans will bring financial backing, or something.  Point is, somebody needs to help Swery make some more goddamn games.

Quoted as saying, "Trying to think of ways to create a sequel, that's definitely on the table, trying to create a prequel is also definitely on the table; and also a project to have more people play Deadly Premonition." in regards to his current plans on Deadly Premonition, it's clear that he wants to make Deadly Premonition a thing that is a series, and, thankfully by the way he set the game itself up, a Prequel nor a Sequel would feel 'forced'.  And also, clearly, the last line would be the indicator of his intent to port Deadly Premonition proper to other systems; the only question is what.  (Psst!  Swery!  Vita Dev Kits are pretty cheap!)

We'll just have to take a 'wait-and-see' approach to whatever comes of this, since, hopefully something will come of this.  I mean, I'd be willing to put down money on something happening, honestly.  It's just always the waiting (and seeing F.K. in my drinks) that kills me.

Second up is some rather surprising news from the lands of Skyrim.  At least, surprising to me, as I haven't been following the game, but I'm sure at least part of it is a surprise to, well, most everyone who hasn't already read the article, seen it on the internet, or read it on Twitter (which is on the internet as is the article but semantics) is the news that not only will you be able to get married in Skyrim, but said marriages can be same-sex ones.  Now, while I'm not really of an opinion either way and without getting too political about it, this is honestly pretty cool.  Marriage in general is a neat, if unexpected, step in the game direction, and going right from that to same-sex is a rather bold step if nothing else.

I'm not really sure as to what the proponents of marriage include, as you can't just marry anyone, if I'm interpreting the text of this tweet correctly, but the people you can marry are marry-able (it's a word now, Blogger isn't listing it as misspelled.) regardless of your race or your gender.  This....well, this could turn horrific really quickly, so I'm going to skim away from this rather swiftly, but, again I wanted to point it out at least since it's neat.  I have to wonder what the benefits (in-game) are to getting married, and what could happen to, er.....nullify it, should you get bored of your nagging Orc husband.

We've been over this again and again, Japan.  You really, really need to stop with the awesome PSP games because all it's doing is making me sad that I'll never get to play these games on my american PS- wait what?  It's being localized?!  I....Hrm...I'm not sure what to think here.  Let me collect my thoughts here for a moment....

...

Yes, NISA.  Yes.  You're doing good things here, and it would be a reaaaaaal shame if you just stopped with Black Rock Shooter in the whole localization department, if you know what I mean.  (Please give us more PSP games)

Anyways, my own personal knowledge of Black Rock Shooter (The Game) (Well, the series it spawned from too, but, really, nobody's going to call it Black Rock Shooter:  The Game) is....beyond limited, but the simple fact that it's a PSP game that's been announced this late in the game and is definitely hitting American shores is almost enough to guarantee a purchase.  The fact that it's apparently a third-person shooter/RPG is mere icing on the cake.  The deliciously portable cake of...girl robots vocaloid(s?) shooting rocks from cannons at stuff or.....Erm....

...Okay, it's just really nice, alright?  And it makes me happy.

There's other bits of news out there, like 'Malicious' getting an enhanced Vita port, GameStop literally losing their -minds-, and Gabe Newell continuing to harp on XBox Live, but I'm not really attached enough to any of those stories to write up anything near meaty enough, so hopefully you'll be able to read and form your own opinions there.  But that feels enough for tonight, so I will try to resist taking another Zyrtec and relax with some youtube videos.

Lawyers Are Awful, Notch Isn't

Now, I don't mean to put anybody off when I say this, specifically because I know going into a law career is a good idea and such, but, let's be honest here:  Lawyers pretty much ruin everything.  At the very least, copyright lawyers, since it seems 90% of anything they bring to the table like lapdogs for their pay is some vague, awful claim to appease their masters and show that they are, in fact, doing something for the money they get.  Of course, it's not -always- the lawyers themselves....but most of the time, it really is.

So, this is pretty much the story you've heard time and time again:  Company A trademarks a name, Company B trademarks another name that happens to have a word in common with Company A's game, Company A's lawyers catch wind of it and pounce.  Today's culprits just so happen to be Bethesda's lawyers, suing over Mojang Specifications (I never knew that was that actual company name.  Huh!) over their trademark for the game, "Scrolls" claiming, you guessed it, their usage of Scrolls infringes on Bethesda's usage of Scrolls in The Elder Scrolls series.

In a candid blog post by Notch, he explains that, well, this isn't exactly a surprise, since Bethesda started sniffing around all the way back when they first filed the trademark for Scrolls, demanding more information on their desired usage for it.  Notch was cool about it, since he's a big fan of Bethesda (I mean, he planned to launch Minecraft the same day as Skyrim, out of reverence, which, unfortunately won't be able to pan out) and started talking compromise right away to ease their fears on just how the word "Scrolls" would be used.  But Bethesda never really got back to them about it.

Until, well, today.  A 15-Page letter from a law firm in Sweden (where Mojang is based, obviously) showed up earlier today, demanding not only that Mojang immediately cease and desist using the term "Scrolls" for their game that isn't even in Alpha yet (I...don't think.  I have been out of the loop on Scrolls) and also to compensate them for court fees that come from.....threatening to sue them for their Pre-Alpha game that happens to share a common word with their major franchise.  At least, I would imagine that's why they want, quote, "a pile of money up front" when in the context of a pre-lawsuit letter.

For the record, Scrolls is looking like it's going to be a Trading Card Scroll Game of sorts, so the chances of getting it mixed up with any of The Elder Scrolls series are...rather slim.  But then again, I did google "Scrolls" and the previously linked website came up before anything for The Elder Scrolls came up.  Maybe that's the extent of research necessary before filing a lawsuit for infringement!  (If that's the case, Bethesda's lawyers need to get on Scrolls Unlimited and Scrolls from the Dead Sea, pronto!  Of course I'm kidding.)

I've gotta say, Notch is really going about this the right way, since he's totally right:  Lawyers do not actually represent a company, regardless of what you might think.  They're just there to protect the company from the once in a blue moon time when someone really screws around with your company's name or something, but the rest of the time, they have a need to justify themselves, lest they become redundant.  So until I hear someone from up-high in Bethesda really ration out that Mojang's trademark for "Scrolls" is infringing on their series in any way, I'm thinking the same thing here.  This is just Lawyers being Lawyers.  We'll just have to see how it pans out.

Skyrim - In This Place, There Always Be Dragons

At least, that's what Todd Howard, Producer, says.  Not only will dragons be part of scripted events and such, but they will also just be a randomly spawning monster around the countryside.  While not explicitly surprising, it is a bit comforting to me especially, as I am a man who enjoys Dragons, clearly.  (I really don't even have to link to that post.  For whatever reason, it has about 10x more views than any other post of mine and I have absolutely no clue why.) 

Now, I haven't talked about Skyrim much, and that's just mostly because of the little stigma I have with Bethesda games.  I always get them for consoles, and then I always end up getting them again on PC to actually play them, what with all the mods and such out there.  Real cheap-like, of course, but I always feel like I let myself get into them too early, when a packaged version of the 'full' game comes out a year later and drops like a brick in price.  Of course, I can't currently play them on PC since this PC just.....just sucks and I wouldn't actually want to do any gaming on it, but you get my point.

And I'm pretty sure that's what I'm going to do with Skyrim this time.  Not only did my last foray into a Bethesda game burn me a little (Oblivion GotY on PS3, no DLC = Angry Panda), I just don't have enough time.  With Summer coming around, I'm not going to be playing my PS3 a lot unless I get some real, true cooling options out here, which isn't that likely, and I already have too many games as it is.  One of them being Fallout 3:  GotY which I haven't even touched yet, which, well, I'm sure I don't have to explain anything about that at all to you, the reader.

Of course, that isn't to say that if whatever computer situation I get next is able to play it (which isn't too likely) I won't, because Skyrim looks really, really interesting.  The Dragons, the new Dual-Wielding system, the usual 'real' open-world you get from Bethesda, its allure is pretty strong.  And it just looks absolutely wonderful from all the material they've released.  But then you have to consider 'the other side', the bugs and such that you know will be there, and might be a continual pain in the ass and, again, the fact that there will likely be two big expansions, little bits of DLC, and then a big package deal after a year and change.

I like to think I've become a fairly patient man.