DT – No News Pre-Vacation

As some might remember and others might not, I usually take a lengthy vacation around X-mas time. This year is no exception. In fact, I’ll be flying out tomorrow. As such, no more updates until I return, which will be in early January. I’m not really feeling up to a full news entry today, so I thought I’d just toss out some randomness and call it a year.

The same old BS is still kicking it all over the globe, most of it you don’t need rehashed and the rest, well, happy hunting.

The Holiday Season

Though I don’t tend to celebrate holidays in general, I find the Christmas Season fascinating at times. Largely centered around the brawl that some theists and atheists get into over various aspects of commercialization and religiosity around December. The so called War on Christmas, as some term it.

Were I to sum up my views, I’d most agree with this delightfully insulting little animation.

Christmas is what you make of it. Be it a family time, a religious time, a commercial time or any combination of the above. No one should tell others how to celebrate. If others don’t’ do it how you do it, leave them to it and strike your own path. Myself being an agnostic sort, I don’t care much for the religious aspects, but I don’t begrudge others their enjoyment at a time when enjoyment is the key.

Christmas Cards

To me there are few things of less worth than these cards. Never fails that at least half a dozen folk come out to distribute them once December rolls around. I dutifully open them, glance at the interior, then toss them to the side to eventually be trashed.

I know, its all about the thought, but it seems a waste to me for people to purchase a few dozen cards, all with the same bland, committee crafted messages, sign some names, then pass them out like it means something. In a way, I don’t think much thought goes into these cards.

It would be different if one were to write a little holiday letter to certain people that is a more personal expression of thoughts during the holiday season. That would mean something and that is something I might keep and place somewhere for sentimental reasons. Instead untold numbers of trees die to express generic holiday sentiments that likely won’t last long past the end of the year.

Half Life 2

My god. If more games like this existed, I’d be poor. If you’ve played it, then you probably know what I mean. For the uninitiated, Half Life is a game franchise dreamed up by the good folk at Valve. The first game followed the adventures of Gordon Freeman, an MIT grad working at a secret research facility called Black Mesa.

During the testing of a strange rock sample, the scanner malfunctions and causes a resonance cascade that does serious damage to the complex and opens a myriad of portals through which alien critters start to stream. As Gordon you fight your way out of it and end up stopping the alien overmind before a mysterious ‘G Man‘ puts you into a sort of stasis for future use.

Half Life had a series of expansions, the most prominent being Blue Shift and Opposing Force that played out the same space of time as two other characters(Barney the security guard in the first, Adrian Shepard the military grunt in the second). Only recently have I gotten the privilege to delve into the second part of the Half Life saga.

Yes, I do say privilege, because it has been a grand old thing. Half Life 2 is everything I’ve ever wanted from an FPS. It has a stunning graphics engine for one. The environments look excellent and the cinematic way in which their technology is used tickles me every time I see it.

For two, the gameplay is simple, yet quirky. You don’t have a lot of bells and whistles to keep track of. Tried the demo for a game called Jericho and despised it for the complexity of the gameplay. Half Life 2 can be picked up by just about anyone and played skillfully without having to relearn what any standard FPS will show you. You run with the keyboard and look/shoot with the mouse.

The inclusion of a tool like the gravity gun, which lets you pick up inanimate objects from afar and punt them with bone crushing force is one of those innovations. It has so many uses that skilled playters could likely(but not easily) beat the game with only that weapon. Usable ammo for it being the only limit. Not every place has grabable items.

For three, Half Life 2 has a sublime story that isn’t afraid to get serious one moment, then get a bit silly the next. Thus far there have been three installments in the story. The original game and two episodes that add on to it. A third episode is lurking silently in the future. In those episodes, you can see the storytelling improve remarkably.

In the original game, Gordon is awakened on a tram headed into a place called City 17 by the G Man. It’s revealed that he’s been out of action for years.. decades perhaps. Only now has his time come again. The first part of this game highlights how Valve likes to set the stage. You start weapon and equipmentless, wandering within a train station until a face from the past rescues you.

You meet Alyx Vance and are quickly thrust into action. From one aspect to the next, the transition from place to place is seamless. Where you go and what you do makes sense(within the scope of the game’s fiction of course). You travel to a nearby rebel base, get forced into the Zombie overrun town of Ravenholme(where skillful use of the gravity gun shines), you end up driving along the coast through Antlion infested areas to reach Nova Prospekt where you gain control of Antlions to be used as fodder for your attack on the prison. Then back to City 17 to be the lynchpin in a full scale revolution.

Episode One picks up just where the first left off, with the Citadel damaged and the danger high. You have to go back into it to slow the chain reaction that will destroy it, but while there you discover a secret. The rest of the game is you and Alyx(who is with you for the whole of this episode) fighting your way out of the city before the Citadel goes critical again.

As before, Episode 2 picks up where one left off. The barely escaped explosion of the citadel has left the train in a wreck and you must escape it. Not long after that comes one of the more impressive in game ‘cutscenes’. Nope, no info from me, you have to go see it for yourself. Throughout this episode, your goal is to get to the Rebel HQ of White Forest with the information you got in Episode One. This particular Episode ends with a harsh tragedy, which is a horrid cliffhanger for the end, but promises some serious story in the third.

While I don’t want to give away too much of the game for those that haven’t played it, I must point out one last set of events that highlights how much they fixate on story and emotion in how they set things up. In Episode 2, Alyx is injured by the newest addition to the enemy list, the Combine Hunter. She nearly dies, but is saved by Gordon. Later on, while moving to White Forest, you’re both ambushed by a small pack of hunters. You start inside of a building, with ample cover. The voice actress for Alyx does wellputting first fear, then angered resolve in her voice as she faces her fear of the things that nearly ended her life as you both put paid to the lot of them, proving to her that this menace can be fought and killed. The emotional payback for that arc is satisfying indeed.

Not only this, but one thing in particular has enamored me to their design team. They’ve started including developer commentary within their games. When turned on, floating speech bubbles will be scattered throughout the maps. By activating them, you can listen to a developer talking about an aspect of the game, level, character design or other such topics. It’s been a great insight into how their team works and has given me a deeper appreciation for the work and testing that goes into the game. Not just from a gameplay standpoint, but how they listen to what play testers think about the NPCs and their personalities. No other developer has ever does this and I hope that they continue to do so with all of their games.

Suffice it to say, I love Half Life 2. I’ve played through all three of the currently released games multiple times and still have a desire to play through them again. But even more so I’m eager for Episode 3 and the continuation of the story of Gordon Freeman. It can’t come out soon enough.

Disgaea: Afternoon of Darkness

This is another of my game fetishes as of late. A pleasant little RPG for the PSP. One I could see myself playing for a good long time. Why? You can level your characters intot he thousands and you can go into the ‘Item World’ to level up your items. Of course, you get more items while in the item world, some of which you might want to level up.. which gets you more items, some of which you might want to level up, which gives you more items..

Yeah, it’s an eternal circle that stays fresh because the Item World is randomly generated each time you go in, so it’s never quite the same. Add that to a quirky, often absurd story and a few added extras to go along with that and you have a winner in my book. It’ll keep my busy on my vacation for sure.