Me vs JRPGs vs cRPGs (or however capitalization works now)

Confession time. Actually, I've confessed this before, but it still needs to be reviewed and analyzed, so whatever.

I started gaming in the 80s, and very quickly took to RPGs. There's always been something about living a great novel that has always appealed to me. I love my real life, but I also love the escapism and investing myself in another world that comes with a great RPG. I love the lore, the compelling narrative, the rich characters, the deep systems, all of it. It's really about all I play. I'm at a point now in which, if I venture into another genre, it feels shallow and almost pointless. There have been a few remarkable exceptions, but nearly every non-RPG game feels like something in which I cannot find something to invest myself. 2D platformers feel like me just pressing buttons while getting aggravated. Even a lot of the old classics feel like little more than nostalgic diversions that ring utterly hollow.

THIS DOES NOT MEAN I JUDGE YOU FOR LIKING WHAT YOU LIKE, SO TAKE A GODDAM BREATH.

However, that atrocity is not what I am here to confess.

My early RPGs were things like Ultima and ... Ultima, maybe? And some really primitive shit on Atari of which I can't remember the name.

All that got blown out of the water, though, by the first Final Fantasy. I remember reading about it in a Nintendo Power strategy guide. NP briefly went to a weird format in which every other issue was a strat guide for a game. I wanna say the others were Ninja Gaiden II (one of the great non-RPGs of all time) and some other shit. SMB3, maybe?

Anyway, I read the guide in advance of the game, fell in love with all the numbers and huge land masses, saved up my allowance, and then walked down to the local Wal-Mart and bought it. And fell madly in love. That was potentially the single-most life-changing gaming experience I've ever had. It really altered not only what kind of games I knew I loved, but solidified that I wanted to be a creative person for the rest of my life.

And I pretty much stuck with JRPGs through the 90s (Final Fantasy was released in the US in 1990.)

I did have a time in which I didn't play much. I took a break from gaming to have sex with girls, smoke weed, and get drunk, before I realized I could combine all that with my love of gaming.

Side note - of any man I know, I have the highest ratio of taste in great games to hot chicks I bedded in the 90s. I know that Final Fantasy VI was the best console game of the 90s AND I slept with a model in the 90s. Just sayin'.

As the turn of the century hit, JRPGs tanked. Or I outgrew them. Or both. Or I dunno. It all kinda peaked for me with Final Fantasy IX and Chrono Cross. They're both amazing games, and signal, for me, the end of an era. I've played great JRPGs since then, most notably Final Fantasy XII and Lost Odyssey, but the PS2/Xbox era was where I made a pretty drastic transition.

I can point at two games that caused this major disruption for me. First, Final Fantasy X, despite the great battle system, was a bad game, at least for what I need from a game. The characters, the story, the tone, and the world were all off-putting. The lack of a world map grated on me, but I accepted that Squenix was trying to on-board new fans, and I guess that was a thing or whatever. I actually really enjoyed FFX-2 a LOT more. Gone was the melodrama and incessant whining, replaced with a hilarious and lighthearted tone, which was vastly appreciated.

So, FFX was the first incident. The second was Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic. I remember reading about it, probably in EGM, and thinking 'oh, it's not turn-based, so I don't give a fuck.' Then, I was over at a buddy's place in St. Louis, pulling bong hits, while he explained to me this amazing 'KoOR' game that his other buddy had, and how there were all these different choices that you could make, and it sounded pretty cool. So, a few nights later, I hooked up with this hot Puerto Rican gal in Chicago, and as we were stumbling down a street, I saw we were going past an EB Games, and decided 'fuck it,' and ducked in with her. I snagged an Xbox and a used copy of KotOR. We went back to my place, and proceeded to get loaded while I set up my Xbox and KotOR. I ended up stopping because I could tell I was gonna miss out on my first Latina if I didn't refocus. We went upstairs, had our fun, and then, afterward, when she was asleep, I snuck back down to start playing.

In my defense, I did have breakfast made for her, since I'd been up all night trying to find Bastila.

And KotOR really tipped the scales. From there, I got into Jade Empire, KotOR II, The Elder Scrolls, and then I shifted over to PC gaming during the PS360 era, and discovered the wonderful Piranha Bytes games, The Witcher, and more. I still buy every Final Fantasy that comes out. I played through X, X-2, XII, XIII, but haven't finished one since. I'm pretty lukewarm on FFXV. Honestly, most of it is that it's only on console (I play almost exclusively on a pretty spiffy laptop that I can take anywhere), and the characters are BLAH.

Looking back, though, it's funny, because I missed out on some of the best PC gaming ever. I wasn't on PC at the time that Baldur's Gate, Torment, Arcanum, NWN, and others were hitting.

And that's more or less my confession. I can't decide if I'm a fraud or not. I'm a nearly-40 PC gamer that has never played through a BioWare game that came out before KotOR. I'm sure some snide neckbeard is sneering at me as he reads this, but just remember. I had a better 90s than you did. I guarantee it.

Looking back over the years, I think my greatest RPG gaming experiences, and this is really another post for another time, are probably Final Fantasy, Final Fantasy VII, KotOR, Dragon Age: Origins, The Witcher, SWTOR, Pillars of Eternity, and probably something amazing that I'm not thinking of at the moment.

What about you? Have you swung both ways, in terms of JRPGs and cRPGs? What do you prefer? What are your favorites?

Videos
Here's some cool shit about video games from today.




Also, I am streaming today at 1630 and 2000 (central time) over on my Twitch channel. Not sure what we're gonna at 1630, maybe some Divinity: Original Sin 2, and then 2000 will be the resumption of The Road to Andromeda: Mass Effect 3. See ya tonight!

-Blaine

Yo! The Expanse is back tonight!

Hey all! I just wanted to quickly pimp my favorite show, which is returning for season 2 tonight!

The Expanse! Check out the original trailer from before season one:



It's a fantastic science fiction show that's unlike anything else out there. It's based on a great book series, which I equally highly recommend!

The short version - humanity has expanded to Mars and the Asteroid Belt, which have formed three distinct societies, and they're all pissed at each other, when an external threat makes itself known. And it goes from there.

If you wanna get caught up real quick, you can watch it on Amazon Prime.

What's so remarkable about this show and book series, is that both go down so smooth. The story is absolutely riveting, the characters are rich, the world and its lore are highly detailed and very interesting, as well as utterly believable. I love this show. I love the books.

Now check out the season 2 trailer:



Try this series out. Even if you're a terrible person, and don't love science fiction, the story has significant relevance to our modern world, and the characters are so vivd, you'll want more and more. It's absolutely great, and really takes the viewer/reader on a grand adventure.

If you already watch, I'd love to talk to other folks that enjoy it. Lemme know!

If you don't, and you take the plunge, lemme know!

-Blaine

Prepping for E3 in ... February?!

I'm a junkie for E3. I fucking love it. Every year, I take the week off, set up like 5-6 screens, have a schedule off which I work to know what to watch when, and just totally immerse myself in the spectacle.

I actually went to a couple back in the early 2000s, and it was exhausting, but pretty cool. Frankly, I'm too old for that shit, and I have a better time a) not working at the event, and b) enjoying other people doing all the work and presenting to me my favorite games.

I have two events around which I plan my entire year: St. Louis Cardinals Spring Training in Jupiter, FL (March) and E3 (June). I'm a planner, and I plan the living shit out of things, especially these two.

I actually enjoy the planning part of E3 more, though. I'm more in control, and I don't have to pacify anyone or take anyone else's needs or feelings into consideration. It's MY week, just for ME. And it's great (Spring Training is also amazing, but in a whole different way. It's the most relaxing thing I do every year.)

Before we dive into it, check out this video that Anthony Parisi posted about his trip to the first-ever E3 in 1995. It's pretty amazing stuff.



So, E3 used to just be a couple days of a floor show, and maybe a press conference or two, but it's now ballooned into a spectacle that spans about a week.

The actual show, for a few years now, has been three days in June, on a Tues-Thurs. For a while, several companies, like Microsoft and Sony, have held their pressers the day before, on Monday. Now, companies have been pushing into the day before that, Sunday, and EA holds an event the weekend before.

You'll also see some trickles the week before now, where studios and/or publishers will host online events around one game, to ensure that it doesn't get totally buried in the madness of the following week. I remember examples from last year included Deus Ex: Mankind Divided and Destiny: Whatever That Expansion Was.

EA
So, EA already put their stake in the ground for this year. Again, they're not going to have a booth, but they will have their own event in the weekend before the show (like last year), and their games will be at other publishers' booths (namely platform holders, like Microsoft and Sony). No word on when their presser will be, but they led off last year, and went mid-day Sunday. And it was a fucking disaster. They just didn't show any compelling footage. It was a few seconds of Mass Effect Andromeda, a spoiled teaser for Titanfall 2 single player, several minutes of people looking very serious in front of monitors while presumably 'developing' while some voice assured us that they were hard at work on Star Wars, and what seemed like 45 minutes of dudes talking about soccer. It was awful, and such a bad way to start my E3.

EA needs to learn from last year. Presumably, they'll be showing Battlefront 2, BioWare's new IP, something else cool, and then about 80 minutes of fucking FIFA and more than two minutes on the Sims, which is two minutes too much, and five minutes on their American sports games.

Everyone Else
The other big guys (Bethesda, Microsoft, Ubisoft, Sony, and Nintendo [and occasionally Squenix]) usually trickle out their presser times and rough plans in the two months leading up.

PC Gamer, the last couple years, has put on a not-presser, as well. I hope they do it again. It's been a little rough, but has been great for gamers like me to see the really niche PC shit that I care about.

Outlets like IGN, GameSpot, Twitch, and others will start releasing their coverage schedules anywhere from a couple weeks out, to a couple days out.

My Planning
I start a OneNote late in the year before. I would start it right away, but I'm usually so sad that E3 is over that I just need to get away.

Games
I start with the games that I think might be there, and I make a second list of games that aren't out, won't be out before E3, but I think won't be at E3 (super indie stuff or stuff that's WAAAY down the line). Publishers, of late, have been loathe to even hint at games that aren't close to release at E3. What we've had recently is stuff that's going to be out by Christmas that year, with a few exceptions.

This is also a good way to deduce where in the dev cycle a game is. I knew Mass Effect Andromeda was not going to release last year based on how little presence it had, despite reassurances from EA. I don't believe for a moment that BioWare and EA had any confidence that it was going to make 2016, based on the lack of stage presence and the lack of E3 demos.

I continue to every so often tweak my lists of the 'will be there and wanna see it' and 'probably won't be there but let's make sure.' As we get closer to the show, if I don't see the game on any coverage schedules, I'll shoot a note to someone at the developer or publisher and ask. They'll usually tell ya straight up if the game is NOT going to be there, unless it's a major MAJOR HUUUGE release and is planning on being a surprise at a presser.

Pressers
As each publisher announces their presser date/time (they're usually the same every year), I make note of those and start blocking out a schedule. I factor in pre and post shows from both the publisher, and the outlets (Easy Allies was the best for this last year). Last year was a little irritating because Ubi and the PC Gaming Show overlapped a little. I hope they avoid that this year.

YouTube Gaming had some excellent programming on Presser Day last year. I hope they do the same this year.

Floor Show
In late May and early June, the press outlets will start releasing their coverage schedules, and it's usually not all at once. You'll need to keep checking back, all the way up to the first day of the floor show.

The floor show coverage is now at a point of total saturation. There's more coverage of more games than any of us can consume (or would want to), so I sift through their schedules, look at what's interesting, then pick that.

I used to watch every demo of each game in which I was interested, but what I usually found was that it was the same demo every time (more and more, what's brought to the stage by the developer is a recording of someone playing, and not a live demo), and the outlets tend to ask the same-ish questions. What I go for at that point is I'll watch whoever has it first, and usually one more time at another outlet, just to verify that I'm not seeing anything new. This can also be a good time to hop over to another game that you don't know anything about, and just give it a look.

In the past, I've watched GameSpot (usually my first choice and multiple stages), IGN (the earliest coverage), and Twitch (who, annoyingly, isn't on the same 20min blocks as the other two, but is instead on 15min blocks, which fucks up my Excel spreadsheets).

End of Day
Giant Bomb and Easy Allies both have had solid end-of-day coverage. Giant Bomb is fun because of the guests that flow in and out, and Easy Allies is fun because I just love their cast of characters and personalities.

What I usually do is put on a game and one of the two end-of-day streams, and just chill the fuck out. It's a great way to relax and process everything, especially after the Monday pressers and Tuesday floor show. Sony usually gets too much talk, but they're also the current flavor among the peasants, and almost every console game worth owning is also on PC, so it's all good.

I'll have more to say about this as the next four months tick by, but watching that 1995 video got me flashing back.

Also: E3 this year is 6/13-15, but that's just the floor show. Prepend a couple days to that, and that's more or less the whole experience.

What about you? What's your E3 procedure? What are you hyped about?

Lemme know in the comments!

UPDATE
I almost forgot. Here's some cool streams I'm watching today. GameSpot: The Lobby (1300 central) and The PC Gamer Show (1500 central).

Watch live video from GameSpot on www.twitch.tv
Watch live video from PCGamer on www.twitch.tv

-Blaine