Books and Bastards

I defeated the evil and dreaded Dark Fact at the top of Dharm Tower this week and, with that, traveled to Ys, where Book I closes and the second of the series begins.

But, I'm getting ahead of myself.

Only after my defeat of Spinnyrockdudeballthing that Ys started to actually feel like an RPG and not just a running-into-things simulator with the occasional boss fight. As I progressed I met with another mirror-teleporter puzzle followed by another bossfight: two demon head guys surrounded by fireballs menacingly floating around the room.

A few failed attempts where I had done no damage made me realize I obviously wasn't doing things right. Only after finding a magical flame sword and a level or two of grinding – both things which gave the game more of an RPG feel – was I able to defeat the dastardly duo. The only way to damage the boss was by hitting the orange head and, when hurt, he'd instantly switch places with the purple. Overall a fun little boss fight which made me appreciate the movement in the game a little more as I weaved in and out of fireballs that changed their spinning direction as well.

Another boss down, I ascended a few more levels up the Tower of Dharm only to be faced with a strange door which took away half of my health every time I touched it and, true to Zeno's paradox, the door never killed me as I was unable to touch it an infinite number of times.

Conveyance became a slight issue here and I was left unsure of what to do. The Book of Gemma, the book of Ys received after defeating the rock boss, mentions a blue amulet used to ward off evil or something, but I was confused as I already had a necklace from an earlier portion of the game which had also been used to ward off "evil traps" and was blue. It was only after some mindless wandering and a deal of backtracking that I found out that there was a completely different item required to get through the aforementioned door which is given to the player by a man named Luta who, unsurprisingly, is from the Gemma family.

Now, maybe I'm just a little slow, but this problem probably could have been avoided if I actually had any sort of investment in characters and a reason to learn their names. Nevertheless, there's no excuse for the mindless and mundane backtracking involved in getting the amulet.

While on my adventure for the amulet, NPCs began to speak of a being known as "Dark Fact" and, BAM, out of no where I suddenly have an antagonist. There isn't too much of a buildup before you fight the guy and no relationship or rivalry is really established compared to other RPGs, but there's something ominous about Dark Fact and what little happens between you and him leaves you craving more and eager to continue onto Book II.

With eyes like that, they should call him DANK Fact. Dohohohoho.

For a final boss, he isn't too difficult. In fact, the hardest boss in the game for me was probably that damn splitting bat-demon. After a short monologue about how you're weak and pathetic and how he's really cool and powerful, he sort of just bounces around the screen as fireballs fly through the air, eventually splitting radially in a fairly easy-to-dodge manner. The floor does begin to break as you damage him, but, in all my attempts, it was never really an issue.

Following his defeat, you acquire the sixth and final book of Ys and are treated to a nice cutscene where Adol is transported from Esteria to Ys itself, where even more shit is going down. I haven't reached the first boss of Book II yet and am currently traversing some sort of mine where I have to return the books of Ys to these statues that tell me stuff. So far, the graphics have been nicer, the world feels more alive, and there's the addition of magic in the second part of the Ys Chronicles and I'm hoping for a much cleaner and less dated game overall.

On the topic of books, I finally finish George R.R. Martin's A Dance With Dragons which means I'm finally up to date with the Song of Ice and Fire series and no longer need to worry about spoilers around every corner. I enjoyed the book series even more than the show as it makes for a much wider world, isn't as necessarily sexualized, and provides a lot of interesting character development. Though I eagerly await Martin's next book in the series, The Winds of Winter, I only began the series this summer when it was pushed to the front of an already long list of books I've been wanting to read.

Though the Ys series is currently the focal point of The Back-Blog, there are a number of other games I play on the side. These include multiplayer-based games/games I've beaten but continue to play their multiplayer modes (e.g. DotA 2, Awesomnauts, and Serious Samuel), games I've "beaten," but play from time to time in an attempt to 100% them (e.g. Super Meat Boy, The Binding of Isaac, etc.), games which pass the time (Duels of the Planeswalkers and Magic: The Gathering in general), and, lastly, games which I have taken a metaphorical "nibble" of, but end up getting fulling engrossed by them.

This last category is currently occupied by Stealth Bastard Deluxe; a game which advertises itself as a 2D, side-scrolling, stealth game, but plays more like a platformer with some stealth elements. The game is quite fun, easy to play on-and-off for short periods of time, and comes fully equipped with challenges ranging from collectables to achieving S-ranks on every level. I can definitely see it going in the "games I've 'beaten,' but play from time to time in an attempt to 100% them" category in the future and recommend it to die-hard platformer fans and players in need of a fun, yet challenging game alike.

Bizarre Bosses and the Return of a Hero

I am sorry to say that my trek through Darm Tower has been quite slow, yet steady. To be honest, I haven't played very much as the game hasn't entirely gripped me and due to the fact I often move my Wii around and it can be a hassle to constantly set it up and take it down over and over again. Excuses aside, the Tower of Darm has proven interesting to say the least.

There have been a couple of simple puzzles in the Tower, yet puzzles nonetheless. They usually require an item received after beating a boss, some backtracking, talking to NPCs, or a mixture of the three. One involved destroying a column which was playing music so morbid that listening to it drained your health and blocked your progress. Another required a brooch which allowed you to teleport throughout a maze made up of mirrors. Neither proved too challenging.

The first boss of Darm Tower was a giant and fearsome mantis. I'm not sure what it is about mantis-based enemies in (mainly eastern) video games, but they always seem to throw sickle-like projectiles. That's not how mantises work, but I can see where such an idea would come from and it's clever game design. The fight begins with the insect throwing out two sickles which fly out a set distance, pause, and then fly back to their source, but that number quickly grows to three.

I'mma slice you!

Complications arose when its sickles would get "out of sync," so to speak, when, say, two sickles would be at their apex, but the third was returning our just being released. This made it difficult to get hits in at times and I honestly died a couple of more times than I would have liked. It was until I refound the Silver Armor (you lose all the "silver" items you have at a certain point in the Tower and are forced to find them again) that I finally beat the beast and was rewarded with a Book of Ys and a hammer to smash the morbid pillar.

The second boss of the Tower of Darm is a spinning rock dude who shoots out smaller rocks in a pinwheel-like fashion. He ended up being much easier and only took two attempts to down. The only troubling thing about his fight was that his projectiles spawned exactly under him, which is where he hit-box was as well. This meant that you could be hit by an unseen projectile if not careful about the timing and position of your approach. The prizes for defeating him were another Book of Ys and the aforementioned brooch.

What do you call rock poop?
There's no punchline. I really don't know.

Unlike myself, the video game industry has been quite busy! Especially in the realm of Kickstarter, a site where indie games, and a number of other things, can become funded by regular people all around the world. That is, if the idea is popular enough.

For Keiji Inafune, the mind behind Mega Man, popularity was no problem for his latest brainchild: NOT-MEGA MAN Mighty No. 9! Mere days after being announced on Kickstarter, the project already reached its $900,000 goal and is currently blasting through its stretch goals. Though there aren't any gameplay video yet, but the concept art and concept in general looks amazing. Plus, we can trust Inafune (right?).

As excited as I am, the fact that Comcept (Inafune's team) has had to resort to a Kickstarter irks me for a few reasons:

1. A number of people are essentially paying for a game that A. Isn't necessarily even started yet and B. Know little to nothing about. I'm going to safely assume this shouldn't be too much of an issue for a respected veteran of the industry like Inafune, but it's a problem with Kickstarter in general. That being said, if the game is funded, people can just wait and pay for the finish product after they see more, get to play a demo, and so on. Unfortunately, this leads to a second issue:

2. Funder restricted content. Many Kickstarter projects have tiers for funders based on how much money they put into it. This is fine when it's a t-shirt, a coffee mug, or a heartfelt "Thank You" letter (though it would be nice if such things were available after the funding period so those who can't drop a large amount of money at once have a chance to purchase them at a later date), but, at times, in-game content finds itself place in the rewards section of a Kickstarter page.

Mighty No. 9 currently has two in-game things on its reward list: a Golden Beck skin and an exclusive transformation. The former is purely cosmetic and I really have no qualms with it, but the latter affects gameplay! Now, it's yet to be seen how said transformation will work and it may be quite balanced or a joke transformation, yet it's still irksome that one has to pay so much more (in this case, about $60) to get the full game.

Call it foolish. Call it overreacting. Either way, it sets a precedent I'm not to fond of. Though, I do think my last complaint is the most worrisome:

3. Funder created content. Way down the rewards list for Mighty No. 9, you can see "HELP CREATE A CHALLENGE" and "DESIGN AN ENEMY." Granted, these rewards are limited to only a certain number of people, but can these individuals with a lot of disposable income be trusted with creating in-game content? Call me cynical, but I'm not sure. It's wonderful that you care so much for a game, but leave the technical stuff to the professionals.

This one comes with a qualification as well, though. As long as the professionals have a strong guiding hand and the balls to say "no" when necessary, such rewards shouldn't be too problematic and act as nice bait for those willing to take it and throw all that money in.

All things considered, I see Kickstarter as, ultimately, a force for good in gaming. Other Kickstarters I have been monitoring are: Shovel Knight, Shantae (Also started this week, and another series I apparently need to look into. I feel like my backlog has only extended since I've started this blog. What's a man to do?), and Kaiju Combat (This project is one I think has been hit a little harder by my three complaints above compared to something like Might No. 9).