Evening, all! It’s time for another discussion piece. We aim to do something a little different each time, and certainly we’ve not got much coverage of Japanese RPGs on this site in general. So today we’re looking exactly at just that sort of game, with Ys: The Oath in Felghana.

Hello everyone. With the year drawing to a close, it’s time to take a quick look back at all things FFG in 2013.

In terms of content, things were pretty quiet during the early months, as the not-inconsiderable task of porting content from the old site to the new one took up the bulk of our time. In an effort to continue our discussion features, as well as actually play some of the modern classics that everyone else is always raving on about, we started off with a (spoiler-tastic) discussion of Mass Effect. Although the end product probably wasn’t very helpful as a review, both the game, and the discussion, were a lot of fun.

The next ‘proper’ discussion review on the schedule was an RPG of a slightly different vintage,  Shadowcaster, although it became a solo effort after yours truly wimped out early on. Later in the year, Jo joined us to chat about the edutainment classic, Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego? – but although we had other discussions planned, that was it for our new review format in 2013.

While Stoo offered his thoughts on Worms, in the form of our long-neglected second opinion feature, I was revisiting a true oldie from my Atari ST days – Midwinter. To my surprise, it had aged surprisingly well, and becoming engrossed in, and completing, the game some 20 years after I last played it was one of my favourite moments of the year.

Ignoring my oft-repeated promise to not play any more games based on the TV show, I added a review of the hugely-inconsequential CSI: NY to our database in March, by which time it was full steam ahead on the new site, which was finally unveiled at the beginning of June. It was sad to say goodbye to the old design that had served us so well for many years (even more so for my colleague, who actually put the thing together from scratch) but hopefully WordPress will better allow us to add tweaks and improvements without too much fuss.

For the rest of the year, content seemed to fit into one of two categories – abandonware from the early 90s, and more modern stuff from the middle of the last decade. Like Midwinter, reviews of the likes of Crazy Cars III, European Champions and Corruption were motivated by a sense of unfinished business from the 16-bit era, and it was fun to go back and revisit them all. Meanwhile, the likes of FlatOut 2, Test Drive Unlimited and PES 2008 represented some of my favourite titles of more recent years, and it was good to be able to write about, and recommend them, here.

Oh, and the JMan dropped by to offer a guest review of the first Euro Truck Simulator game, causing me to believe that I’d probably gone a little easy on the amateurish efforts of King of the Road a few years back, as well as stirring my interest in the critically well-received sequel (since purchased at a low, low price thanks to the Steam sale, breaking my no-games-in-2013-embargo in the process).

With any luck, the year ahead should offer a similar amount of more of the same. Aside from projects already in progress, we have no fixed plan – and, as always, we’re happy to take requests.

Thanks for reading, and all the best to you in 2014.

Hi there!

Hope you all had a good Christmas.

Our final review for the year is Corruption, which gives the site a couple of firsts. It’s our first review of a text adventure, and also the first time my stated intention to review a text adventure wasn’t just a glib throwaway line at the end of a newspost attempting to assuage some guilt at having covered a reasonably modern game. Huzzah!

Readers may or may not remember my vow to not buy any games in 2013. As New Year’s resolutions go, it lasted longer than most, although in the end, I didn’t quite make it. The lure of the Christmas Steam sale, and the prospect of transporting fake manure from fake Grimsby to fake Carlisle in a fake truck proved too much to resist.

In one way it seems a shame not to see it through the extra few days to the new year. But this was never really about contriving a sense of achievement out of an extended period of self-denial. If it had, the whole thing would have been a lot harder, and I would have been feverishly been counting down the days until it was over.

To tell you the truth, though, it wasn’t all that difficult at all. At first, it felt a little strange not to be making my usual lunchtime trips to the Computer Exchange. (Instead, I went to Superdrug, and probably went overboard on keeping the household stocked up on toothpaste and shower gel in those early months.) And yes, I was occasionally tempted by news of Steam or GOG discounts, whenever they reached me. But it was never anything more than that – a mild feeling of going without, like being at a dinner party and not helping yourself to the last bit of pudding, even though you kind of wanted to. (If you were alone, you’d have eaten it, even though you were full, but you’d only have regretted it later.)

I didn’t save any money, although given that I normally only buy heavily-discounted or second-hand games, I didn’t expect to – especially seeing as these funds were most likely diverted to the purchase of dental flossing sticks and large bottles of Sanex. I also didn’t make much progress through my backlog – a quick review of the year (speaking of which – don’t worry readers, it’s coming soon!) suggests that my time was largely split between newer games that I’d already played quite a bit of and older abandonware fare.

So, you may ask, what was the point? Well, I guess it goes back to that conversation I had with my work colleague that prompted this whole idea. I’m not sure when the last time was that I had a look at my games collection and thought, there’s nothing here for me – time for something new. In fact, I don’t think that’s ever happened. At no stage in the year was I bored. Given a free evening or weekend I’d never be short of ideas about what to play.

I’m not interested in paying a premium for the latest tech or releases, and buying newer games that I’m not interested in simply to try and keep up to date is something I’ve become less and less bothered about. (That’s not to say I’m not interested in newer games, and over the Christmas period, generous friends and relatives have furnished me with some items from my Steam wishlist and an Xbox 360, for those times when I’m in the mood for such things.)

In the meantime, older titles have been added to the collection because they could be potential review-fodder. But I’ve come to realise that there’s a limit to what I’m going to be able to write about. On the evidence of the past year, I’ve probably got my hands full already.

Reason enough, I reckon, to keep it going. No new games in 2014? Why not?

Hi there!

Tonight we take a look at Test Drive Unlimited, a fact that makes us feel quite old, because we can actually remember writing about it as something new and exciting at various points a few years ago.

Still, when you put the depressing march of time to one side, it’s good to be able to actually write about the game properly and include it among our reviews.

Next time on FFG: a text adventure (probably).

[edit]paragraphs fixed. That’s what I get for copy-pasting formatted text into WP.

Even though I don’t think I’ve remembered more than a couple of his birthdays since about 1999, Rik was kind enough to get me the Swapper for my own a month or so ago. Here are a few thoughts:

It’s a puzzle-based platformer, casting you as an un-named astronaut lost on an abandoned space station. A central feature is a tool that lets you create clones of yourself – up to four at a time – that copy your exact moments. Run to the left, jump, etc, they do that too. You can also transfer your consciousness from one body to another – the “prime” body is the only one that can move between rooms, or pick up the orbs you need to unlock further areas of the station. The death of that real you means a fail and trying the room again, whereas other clones are disposable.

Puzzles then are usually based around somehow getting the Real You into a position to get an orb somewhere in a chamber. So a simple situation might be, having two clones standing on pressure switches to open two doors that block the way. You set one up in the right place, then have to figure out how to get the second in position without having the first move away.

What makes matters complicated is, the cloning and swapping functions need a clear line of sight. As well as physical obstructions, there are different coloured lights that each block one function but not the other. So you might be able to get a clone in the right place to grab an orb, but then you have to figure out how to transfer to them.

So far I’ve found the puzzles about the right level of challenge – there have been a few rooms where I was utterly baffled for fifteen minutes thinking that it simply wasn’t physically possible. Then I had the sort of moment of clarity that makes puzzle games so rewarding. (even if also the nagging feeling that smarter folks would have done it in half the time).

The game also has bucketfuls of atmosphere – it’s gloomy and a bit creepy on the station, a mix of metal corridors, alien undergrowth and chambers that almost look church-like. There are few active threats, apart from hazards to fall into, but there’s still a sense of something ominous. Along the way you encounter crew logs that give you a bit of a clue as to what’s taken place, along with one very erratically behaving survivor. Then telepathic rocks start talking to you in your head. Which, as I type this I realise sounds dumb, but it’s pretty spooky when it happens. They represent some sort of sentience so alien and far removed from us that they basically perceive only a realm of pure thought, and are rather baffled by the concept of physical reality.

Throughout this the gadget that shoots your mind around, and the backstory of its development, is used to raise questions about the nature of consciousness. Are our minds just a by product of physical functions of our brains? Or something more than that? Also we might wonder, even if we could through technology gain the ability to manipulate and tamper with consciousness, is it a good idea to do so?

That question is highlighted in a particularly chilling way when you realise something possibly quite terrible you’re doing, not even as some key plot event, but just as a part of the standard gameplay. Remember I said those clones are disposable? You’re basically creating and then murdering people, several at a time, just to open doors. The body count by the end is horrendous. I don’t yet know if these clones have consciousnesses of their own, and I’d be scared to find out. On the one hand, they lack any sign of control of themselves, mimicking your every move. But, the device that beams your mind into them is called the “swapper”, which to me implies a two-way exchange.

So there’s a sense of faint horror in the background, or at least something rather unsettling. Which together with the moody environments and the solid puzzling make this a rather worthwhile experience. I struggle to keep up with indie games, but I’m glad I actually paid attention to Rock Paper Shotgun’s recommendations for once.

Morrowind isn’t the sort of RPG where you need to go looking for advantages. After a first ten levels or so of running from demons and flailing ineffectually with your sword, you quickly find yourself escalating in power. By level 30 or so there’s not a lot that can seriously challenge you. Still, there a number of exploits out there if you’re feeling lazy or unscrupulous.

Levitation
Start with something simple: enemies without spells or ranged weapons basically have no way to handle you while you’re airborne. If monsters are giving you grief, float away out of reach whilst giving them the finger. Sadly this feature was removed from later games.

so long, sucker!

More levitation
Morrowind has a custom spell-making system that’s very flexible, to the extent that you can come up with some tricks that the developers probably never intended. In particular, you can take spells that are meant to apply beneficial effects to the player, and fling them at an enemy instead. Spells such as the aforementioned levitate.

Now this sounds like a bad idea. However, make it a minimum strength spell and your enemy will be levitating really slowly . So you can take a moment to heal yourself, or dance around using ranged attacks, while the frustrated enemy closes on you at a glacial pace.

Alchemy abuse
You make potions with the alchemy skill. Strength of the potion depends partially on your character’s intellect stat. You can make potions that boost intellect. I think you see where this is going?

Make an intellect potion, chug it, make another while under the influence, repeat several times, until you feel your intellect is suitably boosted. Then proceed to make a bunch of potions of other useful kinds, all stupidly powerful. So you can give yourself mega-healing, or super-fast levitate, or just flog your little vials of superpower serum for buckets of cash.

Troll people into attacking you
Maybe you’ve decided to murder some NPC because you want their armour, or their squeaky voice irritates you. Or possibly you’re not a complete monster, you’re just carrying out duties for some faction that this NPC has foolishly made an enemy of.

Unfortunately if you start a fight and kill someone in public, you get a bounty on your head and guards will try to chase you down and arrest you. To avoid that sort of aggravation, you need to make the NPC attack you first so that when you kill them, it’s an act of self defense. The way you’re meant to do this is either by taunting them or using an enrage spell, but these require a decent investment in Speechcraft and Illusion Magic skills respectively.

So here’s the cheap way: make a crappy job of pickpocketing them. Just stroll up in full view and jam your hand in their pocket. You don’t even have to take anything. Just getting as far as the “view what they’ve got” screen registers as an offense. Irritated at such dickish behaviour, they will immediately attack. And you can quite freely fight back, just make sure to let them land the first hit. You still have a bounty now but, unless you pilfered a high-end magic sword or something, it’s far less than the penalty for murder, and guards can’t even be bothered to actively chase you for it.

While up staying with Jo (currently trying to do a few things before she turns a certain age) recently I had the rare opportunity to access the full suite of last-gen consoles – the “Ex-Box”, the “Pee-Ess 3” and the “Wee”. Left to my own devices for an hour or so, I decided to give Forza Motorsport 3 on the 360 a quick go.

I had little knowledge of the game, save for a dim awareness that the series was highly regarded by console racing fans, and that in some eyes it had superseded the once-mighty Gran Turismo as their title of choice (although obviously such things may depend on your particular format affiliations).

Gran Turismo: Here I am, finishing sixth on the easiest track.

Now, an hour is certainly not long enough to form a judgement, but in the time I played, I entered three different events, all of which required me to race around the same three tracks in slightly different cars. At the end of each, my victories (which came as a relief given I was using someone else’s profile and couldn’t work out how to change it) earned me what seemed like an improbable number of points and unlocked a number of vehicles. And yet, a huge number of events remained (by the game’s own calculations, my efforts added about 0.2% onto the overall progress meter).

It reminded me very much of the aforementioned Gran Turismo series, of which I am equally ill-qualified to speak, despite owning a couple of the games. Some years ago, though, as FFG’s self-appointed racing ‘expert’, I remarked that:

“1998 was most notable for the benchmark racing title, Gran Turismo. While catering for those wanting a quick 15-minute blast the real beauty of the game was the career mode, offering an almost bewildering amount of depth.”

I really should get around to re-writing those brief history articles. Although what I said was kind of true: I was bewildered by the career mode, to the extent that I never really bothered to get that far with it. Indeed, my main experience of the series was in split-screen multiplayer, with my friend and sometime-nemesis PG attempting to exploiting my mental frailties, with some success, by muttering “don’t mess this last corner up” each and every time I led on the final lap, a tactic which often left me wheelspinning in the sand amid a flurry of swear words rather than basking in the glory of victory.

Everyone fails their B License on their first go. Even your Dad did – although he’d never admit it now.

When I wrote those words I was going along with received opinion at the time in order to show I was down with the console kids. Since then it’s become a little more acceptable to criticise the series, but I’m not going to do that either – I really haven’t played enough to do so. All I can say is that the games have never grabbed me, and there’s something very dry about the career mode that doesn’t appeal. I certainly don’t like being made to race the same tracks over and over and over again just to get somewhere either – it seems like a cheap way of drawing a game out (a criticism that could also be levelled at some of my favourite arcade racers, too).

The veteran games writer Stuart Campbell has some thoughts on this that are worth reading, I reckon. I’m not sure GT really is the equivalent of value-brand beans, but I kind of get what he’s saying here.

(P.S. Although I’m not really saying either game is boring, I just realized that “Bore-za Motorsport” scans a lot better as a title).

So it looks like the latest remake off the line is Speedball 2.

I’m pretty sure they’ve tried to do this before, with Speedball 2100 on the PlayStation, which was essentially the same game with blurry textured polygons in place of sprites (at the time this represented an improvement, but it has to be said, the original’s visuals have probably aged better).

A further remake, Speedball: Arena, never saw the light of day as far as I can tell, before 2007’s Speedball 2: Tournament was released to a fairly mixed reception.

The latest version looks to be more of a ‘back to basics’ type remake, and will be a 2D affair. Jon Hare, of Sensible Software fame, is involved, and claims that this will be “the best version of Speedball that’s ever been available on PC”. Well, he would say that, wouldn’t he?

They’ve done this sort of thing before with Hare’s own Sensible Soccer – do a new version with updated graphics, disown it, then do another one, then disown the 3D altogether and re-hash the original.

My own opinion is that remakes of this sort don’t do anyone any favours. It would be best to just leave these old games be, and give people access to play the original instead (via a GOG release, for example).

As for Speedball 2, I was never a huge fan myself – and although my review is one of those old ones that possibly needs a remake of its own, I’d stick by my general position that it was okay at the time but no classic, and doesn’t really stand up all that well, which is probably why I haven’t rewritten it, to be honest. (You may notice that the review of the 2007 game I linked to, not entirely co-incidentally, says something similar – but other opinions are of course available).

Here’s the trailer for Speedball 2 HD, then. I don’t think it looks that great – sharper, yes, but the HD only seems to highlight the terrible animations: