I played a lot of adventure games as a kid. At first this usually meant text adventures, where you type “Go North” or “Get Sword” to progress. Some had graphics, but some of the best ones didn’t. I still have fond memories of trying to acquire the Babel Fish in “Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy”, or figuring out the spoonerisms in “Nord And Bert Couldn’t Make Head or Tail Of It”, neither of which had any graphics.
But typing is tedious, and I’m a visual person, so I gradually got tired of these. Later I played the LucasArts games “Maniac Mansion” and “Zak McKracken and the Alien Mindbenders” on my C64. These used a point-and-click interface where you constructed sentences by clicking words and objects. It was an easy, intuitive interface and the games had a great sense of humor. I remember wishing there were more games in the series, but sadly, “Day of the Tentacle” didn’t come out for the C64.
I didn’t play any real “storytelling” games for a long time after that. After college I got into role-playing games. I love RPGs, but no matter how much story they put into them, you still spend a lot of time grinding levels and buying equipment. Sometimes it’s nice to play a game where you don’t have to worry about combat, like an interactive movie where you just make decisions.
I've played a bunch of visual novels, but I’m starting to lose interest in them. They require a lot of time to read, and honestly, it’s hard to find ones written well enough to be worth that kind of time. At this point if I’m going to take the time to read a book, I’d rather just use my Kindle.
I’ve skipped a few storytelling games I’d probably like, just for lack of time. There are several from TellTale games that sound interesting to me, like Jurassic Park and Guardians of the Galaxy. I tried the GotG demo, it seems pretty cool. I might come back to these.
Recently, I started playing “Life is Strange”, along with the prequel, “LiS: Before the Storm”. Life is Strange is a few years old now, but then I’m usually a few years behind everyone else when it comes to playing new games. Heck, I could probably start a blog dedicated solely to modern retrogaming, given the frequency with which I'm late to the party.
As of this writing, I’m only about a chapter into each LiS game. I should probably have finished one before starting the other, but I’m weird that way. Unfortunately the ending of LiS has already been spoiled for me, but I’m still looking forward to it. And no, I haven’t yet decided what I’m going to pick for the final sadistic choice, but… and let’s keep this spoiler free… I will probably abide by one of Spock’s most famous quotes, painful as it may be.
I have to say I’m impressed with both games. The visual interface is simple and stylish. When you approach an object that can be interacted with, words pop up (with a charming handwritten font) that show which button does what. The menu screens have a scrapbook theme that fits the story. The stories are compelling and I like the characters. You’re presented with a lot of difficult choices, and for a wishy-washy person like myself, making an important decision can be just as tough as a Ninja Gaiden boss.
Graphics have improved in the four years since LiS was released, but I’m still impressed by the artistry of these games. They make great use of camera angles, landscapes, body language, music, and other nuances that give the story a cinematic feel. There’s something to be said for any game where I can tell what my character is thinking by the way they’re standing.
The main character in LiS has the ability to rewind time, which not only allows you to undo bad events, it also lets you master the art of conversation. Accidentally insult someone? Rewind time. Find out someone’s secret interest? Rewind time so they don’t remember telling you, then suggest the interest yourself. It reminds me a bit of Groundhog Day, when Phil tries to gain Rita’s affections by memorizing her favorite things. “Before the Storm” doesn’t have this supernatural element, and instead introduces a “Backtalk” system where you can “win” conversations by choosing the most appropriate insults in the context of a conversation. It’s hard to say which I like better.
I can tell you I prefer controlling the protagonist of LiS to that of BtS. Max (LiS) is a photographer, a pastime I can relate to. Meanwhile, BtS’s Chloe is kind of a jerk (to be fair, her life sucks), and her main artistic talent is snarky graffiti. I have a hard time making decisions as Chloe, because I can never decide if I should do what I would do in real life, or if I should stay true to her character. I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to play D&D though, even though it didn’t seem like her style. Playing a tabletop RPG within a video game was awesome.
A while back on my other blog, I posted about the lesbian romance novels I’ve been reading lately. This was possibly my favorite aspect of the LiS games. I’ll always cheer for any positive LGBT representation in a video game, and the LiS games seriously get it right.
Yes, some people do complain about the over representation of LGBT characters in video games today. It seems like every time you turn around, there’s another LGBT character. Some bigoted critics even accuse the game industry of “shoving it in our faces”. But I think of it as catching up. I’ve been playing video games since the late 70s. If you look at the biggest games from 2014-2018, it may seem like there’s a higher-than-statistically-likely percentage of LGBT characters (okay, I don’t really see it, but some do). But if you expand your range to 1978-2018, the percentage of LGBT characters is unrealistically low. Given time, this supposedly unrealistic influx will settle down and even out. But the truth is, these critics aren’t actually interested in realism; some of them think even one LGBT character is too much.
Okay, to be fair, in a lot of old games you don’t really know your character’s sexual orientation, and sometimes not even your gender. It’s not like “Pong” has a deep backstory. But once games did have recognizable characters, the protagonist was usually male, and they were often tasked with rescuing a female, which establishes some definite cishet gender roles.
As I’ve mentioned before, my favorite games are the ones where you can create your own characters, or at least choose your sex. If there’s a romance option where you can choose your sexual orientation, so much the better. In Dragon Age, for example, I always played a female character and romanced women. I would have done the same in Mass Effect if I’d ever gotten around to playing it. The Life is Strange games may not let you create your own characters, but they do a good job of giving you a character I would have created for myself.
Both are excellent games so far, and I highly recommend them. I'll try to post another blog when I finish them, with a more complete analysis. They make me really with I had more free time.
“Life is Strange 2” is currently coming out. It’s being released episodically (as were the others), and as of this writing only one episode is out. I don’t know if I’ll be as interested. The main characters are male, and anyone who knows me knows that I’m 50% more likely to buy a game if there’s a female protagonist. That percentage is even higher if I can play as a lesbian. On the other hand, I hear LiS2 has some excellent social commentary that would appeal to a raging SJW like myself, so I may still check it out. I will wait until all the episodes are out, though. I hate owning incomplete games.
I didn’t play any real “storytelling” games for a long time after that. After college I got into role-playing games. I love RPGs, but no matter how much story they put into them, you still spend a lot of time grinding levels and buying equipment. Sometimes it’s nice to play a game where you don’t have to worry about combat, like an interactive movie where you just make decisions.
I've played a bunch of visual novels, but I’m starting to lose interest in them. They require a lot of time to read, and honestly, it’s hard to find ones written well enough to be worth that kind of time. At this point if I’m going to take the time to read a book, I’d rather just use my Kindle.
I’ve skipped a few storytelling games I’d probably like, just for lack of time. There are several from TellTale games that sound interesting to me, like Jurassic Park and Guardians of the Galaxy. I tried the GotG demo, it seems pretty cool. I might come back to these.
Recently, I started playing “Life is Strange”, along with the prequel, “LiS: Before the Storm”. Life is Strange is a few years old now, but then I’m usually a few years behind everyone else when it comes to playing new games. Heck, I could probably start a blog dedicated solely to modern retrogaming, given the frequency with which I'm late to the party.
As of this writing, I’m only about a chapter into each LiS game. I should probably have finished one before starting the other, but I’m weird that way. Unfortunately the ending of LiS has already been spoiled for me, but I’m still looking forward to it. And no, I haven’t yet decided what I’m going to pick for the final sadistic choice, but… and let’s keep this spoiler free… I will probably abide by one of Spock’s most famous quotes, painful as it may be.
I have to say I’m impressed with both games. The visual interface is simple and stylish. When you approach an object that can be interacted with, words pop up (with a charming handwritten font) that show which button does what. The menu screens have a scrapbook theme that fits the story. The stories are compelling and I like the characters. You’re presented with a lot of difficult choices, and for a wishy-washy person like myself, making an important decision can be just as tough as a Ninja Gaiden boss.
Graphics have improved in the four years since LiS was released, but I’m still impressed by the artistry of these games. They make great use of camera angles, landscapes, body language, music, and other nuances that give the story a cinematic feel. There’s something to be said for any game where I can tell what my character is thinking by the way they’re standing.
The main character in LiS has the ability to rewind time, which not only allows you to undo bad events, it also lets you master the art of conversation. Accidentally insult someone? Rewind time. Find out someone’s secret interest? Rewind time so they don’t remember telling you, then suggest the interest yourself. It reminds me a bit of Groundhog Day, when Phil tries to gain Rita’s affections by memorizing her favorite things. “Before the Storm” doesn’t have this supernatural element, and instead introduces a “Backtalk” system where you can “win” conversations by choosing the most appropriate insults in the context of a conversation. It’s hard to say which I like better.
I can tell you I prefer controlling the protagonist of LiS to that of BtS. Max (LiS) is a photographer, a pastime I can relate to. Meanwhile, BtS’s Chloe is kind of a jerk (to be fair, her life sucks), and her main artistic talent is snarky graffiti. I have a hard time making decisions as Chloe, because I can never decide if I should do what I would do in real life, or if I should stay true to her character. I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to play D&D though, even though it didn’t seem like her style. Playing a tabletop RPG within a video game was awesome.
A while back on my other blog, I posted about the lesbian romance novels I’ve been reading lately. This was possibly my favorite aspect of the LiS games. I’ll always cheer for any positive LGBT representation in a video game, and the LiS games seriously get it right.
Yes, some people do complain about the over representation of LGBT characters in video games today. It seems like every time you turn around, there’s another LGBT character. Some bigoted critics even accuse the game industry of “shoving it in our faces”. But I think of it as catching up. I’ve been playing video games since the late 70s. If you look at the biggest games from 2014-2018, it may seem like there’s a higher-than-statistically-likely percentage of LGBT characters (okay, I don’t really see it, but some do). But if you expand your range to 1978-2018, the percentage of LGBT characters is unrealistically low. Given time, this supposedly unrealistic influx will settle down and even out. But the truth is, these critics aren’t actually interested in realism; some of them think even one LGBT character is too much.
Okay, to be fair, in a lot of old games you don’t really know your character’s sexual orientation, and sometimes not even your gender. It’s not like “Pong” has a deep backstory. But once games did have recognizable characters, the protagonist was usually male, and they were often tasked with rescuing a female, which establishes some definite cishet gender roles.
As I’ve mentioned before, my favorite games are the ones where you can create your own characters, or at least choose your sex. If there’s a romance option where you can choose your sexual orientation, so much the better. In Dragon Age, for example, I always played a female character and romanced women. I would have done the same in Mass Effect if I’d ever gotten around to playing it. The Life is Strange games may not let you create your own characters, but they do a good job of giving you a character I would have created for myself.
Both are excellent games so far, and I highly recommend them. I'll try to post another blog when I finish them, with a more complete analysis. They make me really with I had more free time.
“Life is Strange 2” is currently coming out. It’s being released episodically (as were the others), and as of this writing only one episode is out. I don’t know if I’ll be as interested. The main characters are male, and anyone who knows me knows that I’m 50% more likely to buy a game if there’s a female protagonist. That percentage is even higher if I can play as a lesbian. On the other hand, I hear LiS2 has some excellent social commentary that would appeal to a raging SJW like myself, so I may still check it out. I will wait until all the episodes are out, though. I hate owning incomplete games.
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