GAMERS DECIDE - AzaleaValkyrie

10 Video Game Characters I’d Like to Be Friends With

AzaleaValkyrie — Mon, 11 Jan 2016 02:46:53 +0000

Real life is hard. But games can help!

Many people who played video games growing up didn’t have a lot of friends. But playing games brought us a fictional world where we were special when we felt ostracized, where characters relied on us to be the hero when we couldn’t do anything right.

Video games are a form of escapism, but who can blame us? We found our power among pixels—it’s no worse than watching television or reading a book.

I don’t know about you, but I grew quite attached to the characters I grew up playing with. Looking at my modern life, I’ve compiled a list of characters that I’d like to be friends with.

Let’s take a look at who they are and why…

1. Sora (Kingdom Hearts series)

He... he knows how to use that, right??

Sora has long been one of my top picks for fictional characters I’d like to know in real life. Sora is endlessly cheerful and relentlessly loyal.

He never gives up and will do anything to make his friends happy. The most important thing in his life is making people’s lives better. He loves to see people smile and is willing to do the work to get someone to do so, whether it means crossing the universe or simply making a silly face.

I’m just really excited for Kingdom Hearts III right now.

2. Yuna (Final Fantasy X/X-2)

Does she always have to look so sad?

Yuna is soft-spoken but has one of the same major character traits that Sora has: she loves to make people happy. She’s absurdly selfless! She knows that she’s merely considered a beacon of hope and that her continued existence is much less relevant than what she does with it.

Because of this, she allows herself to be taken advantage of in her pursuits to make others happy. I’ve definitely spent a lot of time being like this, so I’d like to teach her the importance of self-care. It’s okay to live a life that revolves around making other people happy, but if you don’t spend any time taking care of yourself, then it wears you down.

The recent remaster of FFX/X-2 is gorgeous.

3. Navi (The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time)

At least she’s cute and little.

I know Navi gets a lot of crap from gamers because most people see her as really annoying. But think about the practicality of Navi in real life.

On your way to a test but forgot to grab your pencil? Navi would tell you that you probably need that before you leave.

Wanna teach Navi who’s the boss? Try eating her.

What is an annoyance in a game would be a blessing in real life if you’re a forgetful person or if you’re in a rush. Plus, she gives you a targeting mechanism, so you could use that to throw things exactly where you want them—even darts or spitballs!

4. Sonic (Sonic the Hedgehog series)

GOTTA GO FAST

Sonic taught me that it’s important to stand up for the little guys. The armies of evil may be scary and tough, but you can’t afford to be afraid. The entire planet depends on Sonic and the Freedom Fighters.

It’s daunting to fight against robot forces, but if Sonic didn’t do it, then who would? It doesn’t matter how small you are—every little bit helps, especially when you allow courage to carry you past even the most frightening of challenges.

Having that much bravery alone makes him a worthy friend. But he’s also a hyperactive speedster, and I can’t help but want him around so he could help me do things more quickly.

Sonic has sped over to mobile devices, too.

5. Carmen Sandiego (Carmen Sandiego series)

You haven’t seen the last of Carmen.

Carmen Sandiego may be considered a villain, but could you imagine having her as a friend?

She’s a woman of the world—she knows a lot about different places and time periods, and she loves to travel. What more could you want from a friend?

Wouldn’t it be amazing to go with her to Italy so she can steal the Leaning Tower of Pisa? Personally, I’d just love to know where she keeps all of her famous landmarks. That’s gotta be one big warehouse!

Carmen will always be relevant to me, no matter how old I get..

6. Pyramid Head/Red Pyramid Thing (Silent Hill series)

Just another day in the life.

Pyramid Head/Red Pyramid Thing might seem like a strange choice to you, but if you’ve seen the second Silent Hill movie, you won’t have a hard time understanding why I’d like to have him as my friend.

He’s already an intimidating character in the series, so he’s certainly someone you should hope to get along with. In the second Silent Hill movie (Silent Hill: Revelation), Pyramid Head [SPOILER] acts as a bodyguard of sorts for the main character. When she calls for help, Pyramid Head is there to save the day [/SPOILER].

Even if you don’t like the Silent Hill movies and/or don’t consider them canon, wouldn’t you still rather be on good terms with the scary creature that has a giant, sharp weapon and a propensity for violence? Seriously.

https://www.facebook.com/SilentHillRevelation/videos/772373686133366/

Pyramid Head IRL

7. Elizabeth (Bioshock Infinite)

Most NPCs don’t waste their time judging you. Elizabeth, however, makes time for it.

Elizabeth is the kind of character that you can’t help but remember. She’s intelligent, and not only can she pick locks like a pro, but she can also rip holes in the fabric of the space-time continuum.

Her power to unzip the universe is like a better, more efficient Portal gun. Yes, she has some troubles learning to control her ability, but she’s clearly intelligent enough to improve at it.

Watch this video to learn about the process of creating Elizabeth!

While I don’t promote using lock-picking for illegal purposes, I can’t help but think it would be nice to have her around if you get locked out of your car or something.

8. Princess Zelda (The Legend of Zelda series)

Fashionable and functional clothing!

Princess Zelda serves as a reminder that a princess can be pretty and feminine while also being a strong, effective leader. Okay, yes, she gets kidnapped. But she is clever and has her own sneaky methods that help her be a self-rescuing princess.

This is a princess who is well-versed in a variety of subjects, making her well-rounded and pretty awesome. She can fight with several different weapons, use amazingly powerful magic, plan military strategy, use diplomacy, and think her way out of just about any situation.

Plus, she’s got a talent for music and destruction!

Zelda has moved from being a two-dimensional bunch of pixels to a brilliant woman with many useful skills. This is seen the most clearly in Hyrule Warriors, but for those of you who don’t consider it canon, you can see these aspects of her shining through in other games in the universe. After all, it’s the legend of Zelda, not Link.

9. Unnamed Prince/Dastan (Prince of Persia series)

He looks a little bit like Yuna from the back.

The unnamed protagonist of the Prince of Persia series (known as Dastan in the movie, Prince of Persia: the Sands of Time) is someone else who I think could be handy to have around.

The main reason is that he’s an amazing climber! Got locked out of your house? He could climb up your house and down through the chimney and just unlock the door for you.

The iconic rooftop escape from the Prince of Persia movie

I’d love to be able to use his Dagger of Time, but I’m pretty sure it wouldn’t work in our world since the Sands don’t exist here.

In any case, he has stellar acrobatic skills and a fierce determination. I’d love to spend time with him just because he seems so cool.

10. Luigi (Super Mario Bros. franchise)

That is not the face of a merciful man.

Luigi is one of the more respectable members of the Super Mario Bros. universe. He’s not a flashy attention-seeker—he just does what he knows how to do.

He wants to help, but he doesn’t have the massive hero complex that his brother does. Luigi understands how the world works and doesn’t try to affect the status quo.

Despite being shoved to the side all the time, Luigi remains optimistic, even when he’s scared. He admits to his fears and tries to conquer them. Isn’t that more admirable than being someone who will jump into any pipe he comes across and doesn’t have to work toward being brave at all?

Luigi has his own version of adventure.

Honorable Mention: Juliet Starling

Zombies suck!

Since finishing this article, I played Lollipop Chainsaw. Let me tell you this: it is now my favorite console game!

So why Juliet as a friend?

Well, she's got a strong sense of all the qualities I find important in a friend: loyalty, justice, and determination.

Juliet saves her random classmates from hordes of zombies (despite the classmates routinely saying really crude stuff to her when she saves them), saves her boyfriend from becoming a zombie, and goes on to defeat the zombies that are controlling the hordes and taking over her town.

It sucks when zombies put themselves back together!

Her sense of loyalty to her school, her friends, and her (now decapitated) boyfriend truly makes her stand out among all of the generic heroes we're given on a regular basis.

When the zombies are being rude and harrassing people, she makes sure that they know it's not okay to be mean, even if you're the undead! She doesn't tolerate any form of bullying at all.

Juliet also knows that it's going to be a serious uphill battle to save seven different areas of her town from powerful zombies, but she knows it's up to her and her family to take care of it. Despite the world crashing down around her, she doesn't stop, even when it gets really scary and disturbing.

She loves her boyfriend, her family, her friends, her classmates, and her hometown. She's not afraid to stand up for herself or anyone else.

And that's exactly the kind of friend I look for.

And now for the part with audience participation...

Now that you’ve seen my picks, what are yours? What characters from video games would you like to be BFFs with?

Tell us in the comments below!

10 Ways Video Games Help You In Real Life

AzaleaValkyrie — Sun, 10 Jan 2016 06:04:25 +0000

Have some new excuses to play just one more level.

Has a relative or friend ever told you that video games are a waste of time? Fear not, because there are actually a lot of skills that you’ve been secretly learning while gaming your heart out.

Here are 10 abilities you’ve gained through video games...

1. Fast Reflexes and Instincts

You know that person that always feels the need to say “think fast” before chucking an object at somebody’s head?

Thanks to video games, you can indeed “think fast!”

A trailer for the Mythbusters planning to test Fruit Ninja.

Quite a few studies have been done that prove that playing video games actually allows you to react quickly to pretty much everything—whether it’s making a decision on the spot, catching a baseball, or jumping over streams of fire on Temple Run 2.

Temple Run 2’s Karma Lee gets ready to jump.

2. Keen Eyes

It’s also worth mentioning that people who play video games are often more observant than other people. We’re not perfect, but we’re definitely better than most people at noticing little things in our surroundings. After you’ve spent that much time looking for a fresh set of ammo, you get used to spotting the small stuff.

This mad scientist is queen of the mountains in Guild Wars 2.

Maybe that’s why so many gamers are bad at reading facial expressions—because we aren’t accustomed to characters having a lot of emotional range.

Are they... smiling? Or angry? Constipated, maybe?

3. Sneakiness

One thing I learned while playing video games is that nobody is as sneaky as they think they are. Games have taught me that I need to be aware of all my surroundings—especially when there are guards and other people around.

Nothing to see here, folks.

I’ve learned from sneaking around Hyrule Castle that you have to be aware of which way the guards are facing and when they will be changing direction.

Meanwhile in the Dead Rising universe... (rated M for a reason)

In fact...

4. Pattern Recognition

That’s right—we’re good at recognizing patterns. All those puzzle games are finally paying off!

Even Tetris has entered the 21st century.

Because gamers spend so much time studying intricate details, we’ve been trained to notice the little things and recognize how they are connected to each other. This can range from knowing when that annoying guard is coming around the corner to pushing heavy cubes into the right spot.

There are many types of puzzles in the famous Legend of Zelda series.

5. Cooperative Skills

Me and my homies always turn up.

Now, some people think that video games teach people that they don’t need to make IRL friends in order to have fun.

You probably prefer video game sports to “regular” sports. There’s nothing wrong with that, but it’s highly likely that someone in your life has encouraged you to join an athletic team of some kind. And they would always use that one argument about how sports teach you how to be a good teammate and all of that other happy stuff.

Don’t go printing this section out to go show your parents, but playing video games can contribute to being a good teammate.

Sometimes, playing with a sibling or friend can end in a screaming match, but overall, you do gain the experience of working with others and trying to figure out how to make a compromise so you can kick the butts of the bad guys.

The intro video for Portal 2’s Co-op Mode.

When you play Portal 2’s co-op puzzles and other such games, you have to work together to solve a puzzle. If you don’t communicate with your partner, then you can just enjoy running around the room for hours, because most of the puzzles do require a second person.

6. Directional Navigation

Now, I know I can remember my way around if I’m in a building, but most of the time, I am pretty terrible at remembering any sort of directions if they involve navigating a town or a set of roads.

But I can walk or fly around World of Warcraft’s Stormwind with no issue whatsoever.

Same old, same old.

I like to think that my ability to get around inside buildings comes from those days of playing the original Tomb Raider so many years ago.

Lara Croft ain’t afraid of no temple.

7. Frugality

The Aperture company sure has a way with money.

Despite what people like to say about gamers spending a ton of money on new consoles and games, we’re actually quite frugal folks.

Don’t tell me you’ve never had a game where you end up saving every bit of currency and have millions of coins as you’re heading to defeat the final boss.

Hello, is it me you’re looking for?

8. Persistence

Oh. This thing. Seems ... friendly?

Now, I know some people who have destroyed their game controllers before. And you can tell a lot about a person by how they react to having slow Internet.

But the most persistent people I know are people who fight the tough boss battles over and over while they figure out a strategy.

And let’s not forget about the veterans of Legend of Zelda games who spend more energy working on dungeon puzzles than a lot of people spend on their job or their homework.

The Dark Souls series is always seeking new ways to challenge players.

9. Creativity

Those dungeons bring out another important side of being human: creativity.

It’s obviously pretty easy to point out that creativity comes out in all types of games, especially ones where you can decorate your house, town, car, or whatever.

A game doesn’t have to be serious in order to be enjoyable.

But you also develop creative problem-solving skills. People who play video games are often more inventive than other types of people, simply because we spend our time actively creating solutions for problems that don’t have a simple answer.

And that brings us to our last point, as the characters and plotlines follow suit with their complexity.

Want to be creative with your problem-solving skills and enslave a race of cute creatures? The Pikmin series might be for you.

10. Openness Toward Others

Meet the Sniper of Team Fortress 2.

One of the most important things I’ve learned, though, is that we can’t afford to judge people based on what they look like.

Some of the scariest characters have the capacity to be interesting, helpful people.

Dragon Age’s Morrigan might seem intimidating, but she’s a pretty cool woman.

Some of the most helpful people hide behind a shy demeanor but are able to really fight when it comes push to shove. A character will sometimes seem like they don’t have any real skills at all, but then they develop into the best lock-picker you’ve ever seen.

Or perhaps, in a wicked twist, your favorite character turns out to have been the villain all along.

You really should know better than to attach yourself to characters after The Great and Powerful Oz turned out to be merely the man behind the curtain.

But that’s how we grow. We all learn to be careful of who we ally ourselves with.

It’s okay to be open to people who seem like they won’t be any help. But it’s also okay to be suspicious of people who seem like they are too perfect to be for real.

Everyone—both characters and real people—has their own life and secrets. People just aren’t always what they seem on the surface.

Remember when you saw Shrek for the first time? And remember how you felt when you learned more about Fiona and her secret? That complexity of character applies to so many characters I’ve seen in video games.

Sometimes, what they seem is what they are—if your sidekick seems annoying through most of the game, then they’re just annoying, and I’m sorry to have to be the one to break it to you.

But something I love is being surprised by how multifaceted and interesting the characters can become if you give them a chance to develop.

Elizabeth: more than meets the eye.

5 Ways Felicia Day Has Made Gaming More Accessible to Women

AzaleaValkyrie — Sat, 09 Jan 2016 19:47:16 +0000

She's so much more than a geek icon.

Gaming has long been treated as something just for the guys, but why should they get to have all the fun?

I was raised on the Commodore 64 and the Nintendo Entertainment System, and I just couldn’t stop there! I can’t even begin to guess how much time I spent on the Sega Genesis and Nintendo 64 when I was a kid.

From Kingdom Hearts to Tomb Raider to Heroes of Might and Magic II, I found myself enchanted by any game I could get my hands on.

But geek culture has changed and developed a lot since I was young, and my local gaming club is... well, it’s a real sausage fest.

A lot of stereotypes have developed around what it means to be a gamer, but we need to start breaking some of those barriers down. The whole point of gaming is to have fun, to take ourselves out of the ordinary and into the fantastical.

Let’s get rid of the “sweaty person in their mom’s basement” look and show the world that a gamer can look like any type of person there is.

To that end, I’d like to take some time to talk about everyone’s favorite geek icon: Felicia Day. From being valedictorian at her college to graduating with a math degree to beating her addiction to World of Warcraft, Felicia Day seems to have it all—and is loved by men and women alike.

She’s adorable and perky, and the things she’s done for gaming for over a decade frankly dwarf the efforts of other celebrities to bring geek culture into the limelight. (Did you know that Vin Diesel loves Dungeons & Dragons?)

One of the best things about Felicia Day is that she’s helped to show that gaming is multifaceted and can be fun for anyone. Above all, she’s considered relatable, and that goes a long way.

Felicia Day has done a lot to make gaming more accessible to women, particularly through her company Geek & Sundry. Let’s take a look at 5 of those things...

1. The Guild

Wil Wheaton’s character, who’s introduced midway through the series, is not a member of the eponymous guild, so he’s not in the banner.

The Guild (a completed Web show of 6 seasons) is arguably one of Felicia’s biggest accomplishments for the gaming community, especially through the show's female characters.

If you’ve ever played World of Warcraft, then you’d definitely appreciate the show. It focuses on a group of people in a local guild for their favorite MMORPG (Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game), The Game. It’s incredibly similar to WoW but develops more into its own thing as the show progresses.

The main character is Cyd, played by Ms. Day herself. She generally goes by the name of her priest character, Codex. One day, she and her guildies notice that Zaboo, a member of their guild, has gone missing.

It’s in the middle of this conversation that Zaboo shows up at Cyd’s door, declaring his love for her. He has decided to live with her.

This is the face of a woman who is questioning every single decision she has ever made in her entire life. People: if a person looks like they are dying inside, then you should give them some space. You should also try not showing up uninvited at someone’s house when you have literally never seen them in person before. The More You Know!

Cyd is nervous about standing up for herself and asking him to leave but eventually folds under the pressure, as many women do when a man forces himself into her space without invitation. (I cannot stress enough that you should never, ever do this to anyone—regardless of their gender and how you feel about them.)

She grows increasingly uncomfortable and finally tries to force him out. But he won’t have any of it.

What I hope that everyone gets out of watching this plot line is how uncomfortable and miserable Cyd becomes, especially when Zaboo actually shows up at her room in nothing but his underwear and a wizard hat. (Please, please don’t do this to people you are not in a romantic and/or sexual relationship with.)

As the show goes on, Cyd learns that being nice all the time isn’t good for her well-being. She becomes much better at standing up for herself and her guild.

Everyone in the guild ends up meeting up, and they slowly become friends outside the game. No group of friends is complete without drama, especially in gaming crowds (sorry, it’s just plain true), and they grow up over time after causing problems among guild members both in and out of the game.

And now for a musical interlude!

The Guild shows what it’s like to be a female gamer among typical male gamers.

The four main male characters are Bladezz, Zaboo, Vork, and the sometimes-antagonist Fawkes, who’s from a different guild. While it may seem at first that Bladezz, your typical rogue troll, is the real issue in the group after he steals the majority of the guild’s funds, Zaboo is absolutely a bigger menace toward the beginning of the series.

The show’s refreshing diary sections and honesty give us a deeper look at what it means to be a woman who is stuck being around a man who clearly doesn’t value her wishes.

After we get more of Zaboo’s back story, we find out why he’s like this. As time goes on, he learns to grow on his own and not rely on Cyd for his emotional well-being. His emotional and mental health significantly improves because of this sense of independence.

Cyd, Clara, and Tinkerballa give viewers a great representation of different types of women who play video games. They all have their own problems, from having low self-esteem to being self-absorbed, and they grow exponentially as the series goes on. None of them have the personality of being “the girl” in the group.

The characters of The Guild are complicated and multifaceted. Cyd begins with an addiction to The Game and what looks like social anxiety. By the end of the series, (spoiler) she actually is able to hold a job and manage relationships of all kinds (/spoiler).

One of the things I love the most about the series is how it shows what it’s like to be the person on the other side of the screen.

2. Voice Acting in Dragon Age II and Guild Wars 2

Fear her.

Felicia has another Web series called Dragon Age: Redemption. It’s comprised of only six episodes, but the character she created, Tallis, has actually been included in some Downloadable Content (DLC) for Dragon Age II. The DLC, “Mark of the Assassin,” is a story of infiltration and intrigue.

Because the show is so short, I won’t say too much about it! Just watch the first episode for yourself.

Action Hero Felicia! Coming soon to stores near you. (Not really, but they should.)

But that’s not the only character she’s voiced for a video game—Guild Wars 2 has been graced by her presence.

Her NPC (non-player character) in GW2 is an Asura named Zojja. The Asura are a proud race of tiny creatures with huge brains and an ego to match. Asuras typically are heavily involved in various fields of science, especially robotics.

MR. SPARKLES WILL SEE YOU NOW.

The elementalist Zojja is a former member of the group Destiny’s Edge. Her mentor, Snaff, was a great researcher and inventor—someone even an arrogant Asura like Zojja regarded as a genius—but was killed through what she believes was the carelessness of a fellow member of Destiny’s Edge.

Zojja is particularly attached to Taimi, the cutest Asura ever.

TAIMI IS SO CUTE.

Taimi is smaller than most Asuras and has a distinct limp, despite her clearly young age. Zojja took Taimi under her wing and takes care of her almost as a mother figure.

Zojja is a woman of few words, but Ms. Day gives her just the characterization she needs to become an individual with whom you can identify and empathize. She has a chip on her shoulder and has absolutely no problem speaking her mind, which makes her particularly relatable when she voices her feelings about the death of Snaff.

Giving Tyria a voice: a look inside the voice acting of Guild Wars 2

3. TableTop

Two of a kind: a couple of the geekiest people on the planet

Dungeons & Dragons has always been considered something quite uniquely nerdy/geeky/dorky. There are certain geeks who couldn’t imagine themselves stooping so low as to participate in D&D.

But Ms. Day isn’t afraid to try new things, so she gives tabletop gaming a try. Wil Wheaton hosts a show called TableTop and invites your favorite geek icons to join in. Various types of tabletop games are played from start to finish so you can learn about the game and watch celebrities play together.

While Felicia isn’t in all of the episodes, her company Geek and Sundry provides a great platform for TableTop. The third season ended on August 20, 2015.

In one of the episodes Felicia appears in, one of the guest players is Alan Tudyk (known for his roles in Firefly, Wreck-It Ralph, and Suburgatory, among others).

This episode may be close to 40 minutes, but it’s definitely worth a watch. There are such mature statements as “it’s peepee water” and “it’s kind of like a muffled, airy fart.”

The Forbidden Desert... Why do we always have to go to forbidden places?

By creating a casual venue where likable, famous people can play tabletop games, the show allows a variety of games to be showcased. They’re clearly a lot of fun, and I hope that the show has helped geeks of all stripes to understand that we don’t need to be judgmental about what we play.

So how does this affect women in particular? Well, D&D has long been seen as the realm of basement-dwelling men, but Felicia’s appearance in and support for the show gives us the opportunity to see a woman playing in a tabletop game without being judged for it. In fact, her presence isn’t just tolerated—it’s welcomed.

My local gaming club does have a lot of men in it, but feeling welcome there really allowed me to be myself and learn how to play modern tabletop games.

The more women we see playing tabletop games, the more we’ll see women actually joining in on tabletop games. Visibility and acceptance are everything, especially in the gaming community.

4. Gaming Live-streams

If Felicia Day says you’re never weird on the Internet (almost), then live-streaming can’t be that weird, right?

With the advent of Twitch TV, live-streaming video games quickly became an important part of gaming culture.

Buying video games can get pretty expensive, especially when it comes to new stuff, so watching a person play something before you buy it can save you a ton of money if it doesn’t end up being your thing.

Renting games has become a part of the not-so-distant past, but watching a game stream can give you almost the same effect—but with entertaining commentary and reactions.

Many streamers are male, but there are quite a few female streamers out there that are making names for themselves. Felicia Day is now one of them!

Live-streaming + video games + Magic: the Gathering + Felicia Day… It couldn’t get much geekier.

With how many male streamers there are and how the gaming community sometimes treats women, it can be pretty intimidating to imagine being a female streamer.

Heck, sometimes, it’s intimidating being a female gamer in the first place. One night when I was playing WoW, this one guy whispered me and asked me to have my character come up and dance on him. He promised it would only take a few minutes.

That was one of the last times I played. It definitely wasn’t my reason for not playing anymore, but it stands out as something that was really uncomfortable.

Felicia Day has bravely stepped into the sphere of streaming, and I feel like this is a good step for women who like to play video games, as well as women who are thinking about getting into gaming.

5. Music Videos

“I’m The One That’s Cool” is an anthem for every geek and nerd that’s ever been bullied... which is basically all of us.

“Oh, no. Don't pretend I didn't see
You roll your eyes at my gaming tee
Don't know if you can read or if you've seen
The sweet piece in this week's Wired magazine

The latest trend has hit its peak
They say that geek's becomin' chic
So now you're out of style as you can be
And I'm in vogue, so you can bite me”

Long have we nerds and geeks been laughed at and mocked. But Felicia Day, much like other geek celebrities, advocates being yourself and liking your geeky things despite whatever the haters are saying.

While a lot of geek culture has seemingly become mainstream, there are still plenty of naysayers.

But Felicia even shows us that anyone can make a connection with each other—even a gamer girl and a country boy:

Probably the only country song you’ll listen to on purpose.

“Game On” (seen earlier in this article) is a music video based in the universe of The Guild. One important part of it is that Cyd/Codex is trying to play The Game less. (Of course, Zaboo convinces her to get online, through Bollywood-style song and dance.)

Cyd’s previous therapist quit on her because she was too addicted to The Game to get a job and move forward in life.

Rather than tell Cyd that her addiction is okay, Zaboo encourages her to enjoy the things she likes.

It’s okay to have fun playing games if that’s what you want to do with your free time. It lets you step out of your body and into a fun world for a little while.

Cyd is concerned about how people view her—they just don’t understand why she likes to play video games. But Zaboo helps to bring her out of her shell and remind her that a having an escape from reality is important.

The last of the music videos I want to talk about it is “Do You Wanna Date My Avatar?”

And here come the obligatory snide comments about how a healer doesn’t need a Dexterity-based vest.

It’s fun, it’s silly, it’s catchy, and it shows people being willing to be in relationships! In so many games and basically every other type of media (movies, ads, etc.), women are often treated like a prize by the men instead of being an equal party in a relationship.

But not here! Codex (Cyd’s priest character)’s guildies are being open and honest about their intentions. They ask if you want to date them and explain that it doesn’t have to be anything serious if you don’t want it to be.

“Do You Wanna Date My Avatar?” has strong messages of consent, which I think is becoming more and more crucial in today’s society.

By allowing the characters in the music video to be themselves, Felicia shows that the most interesting relationships come when both parties are interested in each other! It’s a novel concept—I know.

I’m obviously not going to try to speak as if I know what was inside her head when she was writing the song and deciding how to shoot the video, so I’m sure plenty of the stuff I got from it isn’t 100% intentional. But I do think that it really says something that the song and video don’t reference forced relationships at all.

Even though Zaboo spent a lot of time trying to get Cyd to love him, the video shows all the upsides of dating someone through a game, rather than shoving their admittedly confusing relationship to the forefront.

Meanwhile, Felicia shows off her prowess with the violin in “Star Spangled Pride Pants.”

Final Thoughts

Felicia Day is a smart, savvy, sassy businesswoman. She’s relatable, funny, and honest. She has been very open about her former WoW addiction and has used her experiences as a female gamer to make life better for other female gamers.

I’m not the only one who believes that.

It’s important to show people like her playing games, because some people need to be reminded that there’s no such thing as a “fake geek.”

You either identify as a geek, or you identify as a non-geek. And both of those are valid and perfectly fine identities.

10 Reasons Guild Wars 2 Is the Best MMORPG Right Now

AzaleaValkyrie — Fri, 08 Jan 2016 07:16:10 +0000

I bet you don't believe that I can prove it.

This introduction was the most difficult section of this article to write. How do you convey that a game really is the best current MMORPG (Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game)?

After all, that’s kind of subjective. An old writing adage preaches that you should show your point rather than just state that it’s true.

Guild Wars 2, in short, is the best MMORPG I’ve tried thus far. It puts an innovative spin on the things you like in this type of game and removes or alters the things people don’t like.

With the awesome and attentive staff of ArenaNet, Guild Wars 2 has proven to be the kind of MMORPG we’ve been asking for. While I can’t cover everything in a 10-point article, I present to you the top 10 features of GW2 that make it the best MMORPG on the market right now.

1. The Living Story

Rather than have a static plot that requires the player to just follow along, the Living World story grabs you like a grappling hook.

It makes you feel like not only are your efforts valued but also that your character is valued on a personal level. Some of the greatest warriors in the world have noticed your talent and want to test your prowess on the battlefield.

This is not something to be taken lightly. Your favorite characters will sacrifice their lives for the cause of the greater good.

There is a plague in the land of Tyria—a host of humanoids and dragons that desire to expand their reach. And you will stand beside Destiny’s Edge and be grateful that you were able to be a part of this

The Royal Terrace

2. Representation of All Types

As a long-time member of a local gaming club, I’ve realized that one of the most important things when gaming is safety. I’m not really talking about fire hazards or anything like that—I mean the safety of personal comfort, plain and simple.

Many of the 60 active members were male, but there were several women, too. What’s important here, though, is that I didn’t feel unwelcome.

Not too long ago, a guy was being creepy and ended up scaring off a bunch of potential new members. I hadn’t realized how much I valued the safety of our space until then. The matter was taken care of, but the damage was done: we couldn’t bring back the people who had left because of him.

Guild Wars 2, for me, is a safe space. The NPCs (Non-Player Characters) represent people of all different types, particularly among the MOGAI (Marginalized Orientations, Gender Alignments, and Intersex) community. MOGAI is a term that is more inclusive than LGBT+ and doesn’t need to be edited every time a new group speaks up, so I prefer to use it (read more here: http://thedailyqueer.com/2014/10/19/what-is-mogai/).

At the center of MOGAI representation are the characters Marjory and Kasmeer (both humans), seen below.

They’re so cool~

Instead of the story focusing on how they’re in a relationship, the game focuses on the situations that you and your friends have to handle together. And it lets us see how freaking adorable they are—Kasmeer at one point says, “Jory, you scared the fluff out of me!” SO CUTE!

Just gals being pals! Hahahaha... no.

But wait! There’s more! ArenaNet made their support of the MOGAI community even more apparent after the Supreme Court ruled in favor of equal marriage.

Love wins!

Furthermore, there’s an entire race of (most likely) asexual plant people, known as the Sylvari. Because they’re born from a tree, they can’t reproduce. However, they do have serious romantic relationships that have nothing to do with gender.

Caithe, another important character in the Living Story, once had a romantic relationship with a female Sylvari that eventually turned to evil. This relationship is referred to on many occasions and is actually part of the basis for small segments of the story.

Seeds of Truth: a story path that focuses on Caithe

In a June 2015 patch, Aid Worker Symon became Aid Worker Sya, a canonically transgender NPC. The response to this transition has been widely received quite well by the community: https://forum-en.guildwars2.com/forum/game/gw2/TY-Anet-for-Transgender-NPC

To read more about Sya, check out the official Guild Wars 2 wiki page for her: http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Aid_Worker_Sya

But it’s not just the MOGAI community that’s represented: there are characters of all colors, sizes, shapes, and more.

Taimi is an Asura (a small race that looks like Stitch from Lilo and Stitch) who’s a major part of the Living Story. She is not only smaller than other members of her race, but she is also disabled. She has a very distinctive limp, and her tininess, cuteness, and apparent disability cause other Living Story characters to become rather protective of her.

But she doesn’t want this protection. She may be young, but she’s figured out how to get around on her own, so their protective nature actually makes her quite irritated. Taimi hates feeling like people think she can’t do anything, so she stands up for herself.

Oh, and she’s an amazing inventor who’s created a golem that she rides in. Rather than dwelling on her disability, Taimi finds ways to compensate for what other people would count as deficiencies on her part.

All about Taimi!

3. Personal Story

FIGHT ME! This character is a human warrior.

For me, the most compelling part of Guild Wars 2 is your personal story. Rather than telling literally everyone that they’re a special snowflake who can change the world, Guild Wars 2 puts you in the shoes of someone who has the potential to be a great hero someday.

Your character, with their mildly customizable back-story, will have a totally unique experience. A rich, human mesmer will have a very different life and adventure from a just-awoken Sylvari ranger who has seen a white stag in their dreams.

You begin with a simple mission, and your story escalates from there. You’ve slain a mighty beast—perhaps you could help with some other stuff. After that, you follow a path related to the answers you gave at character creation.

At the end of that story arc, you are presented with the opportunity to join one of three different factions. You complete a few missions with them and then hit another crossroad where you can choose something different. This pattern repeats itself up to the maximum character level (currently level 80).

More about personal stories!

4. The Mystery Surrounding the Dragons and Human Gods

One of the biggest characteristics of the Living Story is the quest to defeat the dragons that are taking hold of Tyria.

At first, you think that it’s what must be done. But the more you see, the more you realize that it’s not as clear-cut as you originally thought. Maybe the dragons are necessary.

A couple of dragons have been defeated by the end of Season 2 of the Living Story.

The revenant, the profession that arrived in recent expansion Heart of Thorns, focuses on legendary characters. This is the Herald specialization—it uses Glint, an ancient dragon, to deal damage.

If you’re in the mood, you can go fight against the dragon Tequatl for amazing loot.

A fight against Tequatl

But that’s not all… Around the same time that the six gods of the human race stopped communicating, six elder dragons were awakened.

So far, no one knows for sure what the connection between these two events is, but we do know that it’s going to be something big.

5. Objective Quests

ALL SHALL LOVE ME AND DESPAIR. This character is a human Tempest, the new specilization for elementalists.

Objective quests are another feature that improve upon typical MMORPG features. Rather than having a quest hub that you have to return to every 5 minutes, there are Renown Hearts spread across the land of Tyria.

Renown Hearts are like quests, but you can do them in your own time—there’s no quest log constantly filling up. If you want to do half of it and come back later, that’s totally fine.

What is Guild Wars 2?

Each heart is based where specific events are happening. Perhaps there are maggots infesting a farm. You would be asked to do things like dig up maggots, kill maggots, water crops, and feed the animals.

Get your Renown up to 100% for that heart, and you can buy exclusive, unique items.

What’s really great about the hearts is that you are de-leveled in areas that aren’t in the same level range as you are. If you’re level 50 and need to go back to a level 15-20 area, then you will be taken down to level 17 so that the difficulty level is more appropriate. This prevents people from two-shotting creatures and destroying the quest objectives.

Speaking of which…

6. Beneficial Cooperative Play Elements

Guild Wars 2 heavily rewards cooperative play. You gain experience points from helping other players—and even NPCs.

Reviving an NPC will provide you with experience points, as will reviving a player and helping them in combat.

Your loot is personalized to you specifically—you never have to worry about taking someone else’s stuff. If the body sparkles, then it’s yours to loot freely.

Dynamic events, though, are what really revolutionize this aspect of cooperative play. In nearly every area of Tyria, there is a chance to trigger special events.

These events are based on the surrounding areas and how many players are in those areas. A simple dynamic event is one in which you capture baby genetic experiments; you don’t need a lot of people for that one. A more difficult one is a raging minotaur stampede.

What are dynamic events?

Working together with other players is the only way to beat these events—every person’s effort makes a difference. The more you help other players, whether it’s reviving them mid-combat or helping them take down a Veteran Oakheart, the more rewards you receive.

In addition to these basic dynamic events are the holiday events.

Wintersday! Treat yo’self!

Each holiday event takes over a specific area, and there are all sorts of mini-games you can enjoy.

Wintersday (my favorite event) turns a portion of Divinity’s Reach into a real winter wonderland. You can do caroling, snowball fights, and a large-scale toy event hosted by Tixx himself!

Tixx is an Asura who is basically Santa Claus if Santa were a brilliant (but a bit insane) inventor. Fight off his inventions with candy-cane swords and wooden ballistas!

7. Combo Attacks

Raaaawwwwwrrrr.

One of the most unique aspects of combat in Guild Wars 2 is the way that your abilities can actually interact with the abilities of other players.

For example, one mesmer spell creates a bubble of chaos that causes all non-enemy spells to ricochet and do more damage. If you cast a spell within that bubble, your abilities will be affected by it, too!

Combat!

By using abilities near each other or in succession, you can create all sorts of cool effects that can be combined to take down your enemies in the coolest ways possible.

8. True Customization

A female member of the Charr race, a ferocious species that is all about war

If you’re interested in customization, then Guild Wars 2 is easily going to become your new favorite game. When you create a character, you choose a race, gender, physique, hair style, and much, much more.

You can customize the ways your eyes look down to the most minuscule of details. Your jaw line? Customizable.

Eyebrows? Customizable. Seriously.

For additional changes, you can purchase dyes, transmutation charges, and makeover kits. Plus, each race has special features that are customizable—Norns have tattoo options, for example.

Armor and weapons have varieties of appearances, and you can even use dyes to change the colors of your armor whenever you want for absolutely free.

It really is that simple to change the color of your armor pieces. This character is a Norn engineer.

You can also use transmutation charges to make your armor and weapons look like different armor/weapons. Plus, weapons’ abilities change based upon your profession—an engineer’s rifle is very different from a warrior’s rifle.

The gem store also has special deals on a regular basis, and it provides a variety of fun, decorative items. You can also purchase general upgrades, such as getting extra bank space or a new character slot. There are also specialty logging axes, mining picks, and harvesting sickles that never run out of uses and have cool effects when you use them.

Hero Points allow you to customize bonuses to your abilities and help you create a specialization that’s almost entirely unique to your choices.

Character customization video from 2011

9. Dungeons

In typical MMORPGs, you can expect to see a dungeon feature of some kind. Guild Wars 2 has two different forms of dungeon-running.

Charr teamwork!!

There are regular dungeons, which have a story mode and an explorable mode. For each dungeon, you get three options of how to go through it, and in both story and explorable modes, dynamic events can happen.

According to the GW2 website, dungeons “reward players who enjoy organized parties, epic challenges, and delving deeper into the secrets of Tyria.”

And then there are Fractals of the Mists: challenging dungeons that require amazing teamwork and effective battle strategies. Your party can do three randomized fractals in a row, and each time you complete a fractal, the difficulty of that fractal will increase. You’ll also increase the level of your rewards for doing that fractal.

More about fractals

Even better still, for the upcoming expansion (more information in the image gallery), ArenaNet has announced that raids will be added to the game!

10. Cross-Server Parties

Stronghold PvP Public Beta: ArenaNet Devs vs. Twitch Streamers

Something that’s been arriving in games is the ability to play with people who are on a different server from you. It’s frustrating to find out that you’ve been playing on the wrong server and can’t play with your friends. Once, I had gotten a World of Warcraft character up to level 9 before I found out that there were two servers with the initials “KT.”

It takes a lot of coordination to make sure that multiple people are doing what they’re supposed to on the same servers. So when your friend tells you that your server is full, you can’t help but cringe. But fear no more!

Guild Wars 2 allows you to create parties with your friends who are on different servers. All you have to do is invite your friend to your party, and they’ll be able to hop servers to run around Tyria with you.

Two of a kind...?

This feature is refreshing, even though it’s available in a few other games. Being able to play with people you know is always nice, especially when you started playing at different times and hadn’t discussed servers with them. It doesn’t punish you for making new friends outside the game, which ultimately allows you to benefit from helping and playing with others.

Smite Gameplay: 10 Things We Love About This MOBA

AzaleaValkyrie — Fri, 08 Jan 2016 00:27:25 +0000

What is a great MOBA made of?

What is it that you look for in a game? Is it graphics? Or do you love to have a good set of characters?

When I began to play MOBAs (Multiplayer Online Battle Arenas), I didn't think to ask myself those questions. Something was missing, but I couldn't quite pinpoint what it was.

And then I found a MOBA that changed my mind.

It had everything—it was gorgeous and full of opportunities for wonderful gameplay like I'd never seen. Better yet, it was still in beta testing at the time, which meant that it was only going to get even more amazing as time went on. And I was right.

It’s time to look at my favorite MOBA, Smite.

This inventive game has dazzling graphics and a wide variety of everything that you could hope for in a video game—from innovative character abilities to gorgeous settings, Smite looks at the players’ needs and puts them first.

What do you like about MOBAs? Well, the best parts of these games are made even better in Smite.

This game takes you to the world of the gods and drops you right into the middle of the biggest battle the universe has ever seen.

Let’s start with what drew me to it when it was just in its beta stage...

1. The Clever Concept

Thor, Awilix, Bellona, Ymir, and Sun Wukong stand victorious in Arena mode.

Have you ever said “my gods can beat up your gods”?

Smite takes your favorite deities and puts their mythological abilities all in one place. Is Thor actually stronger than Loki? What would happen if you pitted Ares, the Greek god of war, against Anubis, the Egyptian god of the dead?

Put your skills to the test by fighting against other players in Smite: the Battleground of the Gods.

Various gods face each other in this beautiful cinematic trailer.

Something that really appeals to me about this concept is that I've always been fascinated by mythology. Bringing all of these characters together lets us create new stories of our own, unlike any other game out there.

2. The Inventiveness of Its Over-Shoulder Feel

So other than the concept, just what is it that makes this game so different from other MOBAs? Take a look at this video and see for yourself.

Smite: not your average MOBA.

Instead of the distancing overhead view, Smite throws players right into the throes of battle.

Much like many MMORPGs, Smite keeps you close to the combat and forces you to think quickly, as if you yourself are fighting for your life.

Bellona, the Roman goddess of war, chases down Mercury, the Roman Messenger of the gods.

3. The Playable Characters and Their Endless Variety of Abilities

Guan Yu, the Chinese Saint of War, takes a breather before resuming his fight with Thor.

For me, one of the biggest draws is the variety in the gods. I played League of Legends for 3 years but eventually got tired of it because it felt like the same game every time. It seemed to me like every character and ability set was the same as a previous character.

Having even a basic knowledge of mythology makes the game even more fun. You might find yourself squealing when you see your favorite deities all in the same place, using abilities that you can recognize from the stories you heard growing up.

Of course, their abilities aren’t always going to work perfectly! Smite’s version of skill shots means that you have to use the best of your skill to destroy them like the god you truly are.

Here’s the god-reveal video for one of my favorite goddesses, Freya:

The Smite staff is nothing short of prolific. They have many playlists on their YouTube—from comedy to patch overviews to tutorials and much, much more. They even have chibi lore videos to add a simple, cute explanation onto the official ones

Here’s the charming lore video for Freya:

This is the god-reveal video for one of the newest playable characters, Amaterasu:

For a list of all the currently available gods and their abilities, go here:
http://www.hirezstudios.com/smite/nav/game-info/gods

As a note, Smite is constantly updating their gods and skins, so they might look different in the game itself if you are reading this article sometime in the future.

4. Its Rewarding System of Masteries

In this video, diamond skins are introduced, using Hercules, the Champion of Rome, as an example. Diamond skins are currently being modified.

Something else unique to the game is that Smite offers something other than experience points for leveling up. Every time you play with a god, you earn worshipers—even if you lose the match. Get enough worshipers, you get a mastery rank.

I love that it makes me feel like I’m progressing in the game. More mastery ranks equal more ego points—and awesome, exclusive skins based on your rank. The Golden, Legendary, and Diamond skins are beautiful and unique to each god.

Isis, the Egyptian goddess of magic, shows off her shimmering, blue-and-gold plumage. Isis was one of the first gods to have her Golden skin updated.

5. The Different Game Modes

A glorious look at Olympian territory on the newly-updated Conquest map.

One of the best things about this game, as you can tell, is the sheer amount of variety it offers—and this extends to the different types of playable matches.

The big one is Conquest Mode, the standard 3-lane MOBA map.

As with the other match types, the goal is to destroy the other team's Titan. But you must first destroy their turret towers and phoenixes to get into their base to attack the Titan.

Arena Mode takes you back to the days of gladiator fights. Matches in Arena Mode are intense but, most of all, very fast-paced. Two teams of 5 fight it out in close quarters, and if you even yawn at the wrong time, then the Loki (the Norse trickster god) on the enemy team can sneak up and shank you to death.

I can personally say that this is a great learning experience, even if it sucks in the moment. But you get drawn back into the heat of the battle so quickly that you don’t have time to sit and lick your psychological wounds.

Recently, the developers revamped the map. It's an all-new, crisp, clean experience.

Siege Mode is a match type unique to Smite, and it's a shorter version of Conquest, with four players on each team and only two lanes.

The goal is to get the Siege Juggernauts to help you take over the lanes and get to the Titan more quickly.

Assault Mode is pretty much All Random, All Middle. It's a great way to show off how good you are with any god you play as. It also has the benefit of your opponents often getting gods that they haven't played with much.

Joust Mode is single-lane Conquest, boasting intense 3-on-3 action. There are fewer opportunities for miscommunication and stumbling over each other.

Smite also has several practice modes, which is unique in that you can run around Jungle Practice with any god—not just ones that you own.

6. How Skill-Oriented It Is

Thor, the Norse god of thunder, swings his mighty hammer.

When I first began playing Smite, I almost gave up. I had expected the learning curve on Smite to be similar to that of League of Legends. It was not.

Every death made me feel worse and worse. But I’m no quitter, and Smite has made me so glad for that fact.

It has never been so rewarding to start becoming skilled at a game.

Smite brings a whole new meaning to skill shots. It’s fast-paced and in your face like no other game. In fact, some of the amazing plays in this game are submitted to “Top 5 Plays,” which are published on the Smite YouTube channel on a regular basis.

Below is a video displaying the top 10 plays of 2015.

This video highlights some of the best, most interesting plays of last year.

7. How Beautiful and Fluid the Graphics and Animation Are

Nemesis, the Greek goddess of vengeance, swings her blade as she enters the lane for a surprise attack.

Running in Unreal Engine 3, all of Smite’s abilities, emotes, backgrounds, characters, and costumes are quite stunning. You can see the movement of fabric, the rain hitting the cobblestone, the sparkly glimmers of your enemies’ blood spattering against the unforgiving ground.

A release video of the coolest skin for Nox, the Roman goddess of night.

8. Its Integration of Curse Voice

Curse Voice, a system for voice-chatting, allows players to seamlessly communicate with each other during each match for strategy coordination.

This program even gives you a free skin for Apollo, the Greek god of music, if you play 5 matches while using Curse Voice.

Apollo sports his free Curse Voice skin.

Since the World Championship was sponsored by Curse Voice, take a look at this video for the tournament:

A gorgeous cinematic trailer for the World Championship.

9. Its Large Variety of Flavor-Based Purchases

In addition to the Curse Voice skin, there are loads of other flavor-based additions.

The cleverness and variety of skins are pretty amazing—each skin brings something fun and new to your experience of the game.

Uncle Zeus and Ra-Merica pose together.

Smite also has a system of voice commands that are used by hitting short sequences of keys. For example, typing “VVGH” will cause your character to say “hi.”

If you don’t purchase that god’s voice pack, it will be in the announcer’s voice. Some skins have different voices from the standard, so if you buy the voice pack for a god, then you’ll have access to the proper voices for each skin of that god.

There are also fun emotes, such as waving and dancing. While there aren’t any official videos of the dance emotes, here’s a skin-reveal video for Bastet’s (the Egyptian goddess of cats) Kawaii Pop skin that will make you want to dance in your seat!

Bastet is so kawaii, yes?

The best thing of all is the Ultimate God Pack. For $30, you can get every existing god and every future god—forever.

Each time a new god is released, that god is unlocked on your account. I legitimately can’t exaggerate how awesome the Ultimate God Pack is. Don’t waste your time getting frustrated with playing the same 10 gods over and over. Trust me: $30 is a steal.

10. How Responsive and Committed the Game's Staff Are

Smite staff often respond to posts on the Smite subreddit.

There’s one more thing that makes Smite stand out above other PC games: the staff.

While some companies are known for their terrible customer service, the staff of Smite go above and beyond to listen to and communicate with their player base.

Smite’s staff members are open and communicative, most of them sporting a Reddit account. They also post on Twitter when there are sales or special events.

They sift through a ton of posts and try to take their fans’ ideas and complaints into account when working on development for the game. They obviously can’t do everything, but it’s easy to see that they care.

In fact, let’s finish this article off on a warm-and-fuzzy note:

The staff took the time to make a visit to the Make-a-Wish Foundation in Georgia, where the Smite headquarters are.

5 Game Villains You Should Feel Bad For

AzaleaValkyrie — Wed, 02 Dec 2015 05:33:09 +0000

Who doesn't love to hate a good villain?

As Batman once said, “You either die a hero or live long enough to see yourself become the villain.”

Many villains are certain that they’re in the right—that they know how to save the world and make it a better place.

After enough shady decisions, they’ve descended into villainy and must be stopped by a chipper protagonist.

While villains are generally hazardous to the state of the world, you have to remember that they were once normal people (or whatever species). That means that things aren’t always so black and white—perhaps they have some redeeming qualities.

Or maybe they just have something that makes you feel a little bit bad for them.

Let’s take a look at 5 video-game villains that I feel a little sorry for...

1. Bowser (Super Mario Bros. series)

YUMMY HEROES

Bowser is one of the most iconic villains from a video game series, right? How on earth could be redeemable or sympathetic? He’s a kidnapper who has lava and spike traps inside his house!

However, if you take a moment to remember that he used to go by the name “King Koopa,” things become a little more clear. Remember the seven Koopa Kids/Koopalings and Bowser Jr.?

Here come the Koopalings!

That’s right—Bowser is just a single dad who wants to find a mother figure for his children.

Bowser is known to be very proud of his children, and at one point, he tries to convince Mario that Peach is actually the mother of Bowser Jr.

In recent times, it’s been stated that the Koopa Kids aren’t actually Bowser’s kids, but that wasn’t the case for many of the games.

It’s obviously not okay to kidnap people, even if it is for your children. But maybe we should cut him a little slack from time to time. He just wants companionship, and honestly, who doesn’t?

2. Giovanni (Pokémon series)

Goggles and hovercraft are not included in the Villain Starter Kit.

Your character in the main Pokémon games (as in not including the Mystery Dungeon games and other such deviations) is 10 years old. Every time.

While that already seems highly irresponsible on the part of your character’s family, it also says a lot about the world around them.

Many of the gym leaders are teenagers, but there are plenty that are adults, too. The stores and Pokémon centers are run by adults, as are the police forces and other such necessary parts of society.

However, that means that Team Rocket and the other teams that staunchly play the villain roles are full of teenagers and adults.

Members of Team Rocket can come off as bullies or snobs at times. And they’re beating up people and taking their Pokémon. They’re stealing animals from children, in most cases.

But your character—the hero in this scenario—is a 10-year-old who goes on to defeat many various members of Team Rocket/Aqua/Magma/whatever and then to take down the leader of the organization itself.

Giovanni is first and foremost a business man. He runs his criminal organization very strategically. This is a large group of criminals operating under a leader who has solid, evil plans.

Yet your character—a pre-teen child—is able to successfully emerge victorious from not only this battle but also from their various hideouts.

I honestly just feel embarrassed for Giovanni, especially when you take the Pokémon television show into account.

Two of his worst henchmen are basically serving as the face of the organization while messing up everything they touch. He can’t even get one Pokémon from them. Like, not any single one of any kind of Pokémon. How sad is that?

What a disgrace.

3. Cia (Hyrule Warriors)

Don’t mess with her. Seriously.

For those of you who haven’t played Hyrule Warriors yet (shame on you!), Hyrule Warriors is a delicious blend of everything you love about the Legend of Zelda series and everything you love from the Samurai/Dynasty Warrior series. It’s a fun hack-and-slash that gives you the chance to explore Hyrule in ways you’ve never been able to before!

The character Cia is new to the Zelda multiverse. There are also a few other new characters, such as Wizzro and Volga, and nearly all of them are villains!

Cia will cross realms and fight other villains just to get what she wants. What’s your excuse?

However, Cia is your primary game-changer. She might look a lot like eye candy—especially in that one cut scene where you see her boobs before you see her face—but she is not to be trifled with.

She seems to be working for Ganondorf, but she actually proves herself to be much more than a lackey.

Cia challenges his power and decides—to no one’s surprise—that she is better and stronger.

You’re done for.

So why should we feel bad for her? Well, it turns out she’s got a big old crush on Link.

She becomes incredibly jealous of Zelda and ends up growing corrupted by Ganondorf’s influence, hence why she kind of goes off the deep end.

Have you ever been so rejected that you don’t even make it into the trailer for the game?

I won’t spoil anything, but a lot of Cia’s actions are fed by this intense jealousy, to the point that you actually begin to see her side of the story.

She was actually a fairly normal person before, but her possessiveness over someone she’d never actually met in person grew into a deep-seated hatred with a desire for the power to make him hers.

Ever been green with envy? Can you imagine what you would be like if it consumed you completely? Being jealous can go away, but Cia’s took over her entire life, whether she wanted it to or not.

4. Doctor Ivo “Eggman” Robotnik (Sonic the Hedgehog series)

MINE IS AN EVIL LAUGH.

This is definitely showing my age, but Dr. Eggman had a way cooler name when I was growing up. So that means I feel bad for him for two different reasons!

According to various sources, though, the Slavic name “Robotnik” means “slave” or “worker.” So, I guess that’s not any better.

But regardless—growing up with the name Dr. Robotnik made me respect him. It felt like he was a genuine threat.

You’re just not a true villain until you have an evil grin.

And now? Would you really like the shape of your body to be the main way people refer to you? He’s shaped like an egg, so he’s “Eggman,” hahahahahahaha.

What’s the other reason I feel bad for him? Because, like Giovanni, he is the mastermind of a corporation that is constantly being foiled by a group of teenagers. In some cases, it’s only one teenager.

Sonic has a real attitude problem and is clearly genetically better off than Eggman. It’s an uphill battle that will continue as long as Eggman wants to take over the world. Sigh.

He’s fighting against a creature with hyperspeed and a motor mouth—he really just can’t get a break!

Eggman in action

5. GLaDOS (Portal series)

And this is what we call an Alpha Female, folks.

If you have not completed the story of Portal 2, then I advise you to click away from this article and go elsewhere!

Okay, we good?

All right, so we know GLaDOS is lonely. She’s stuck in this test facility, and the most recent record we have of another person (as in someone other than Chell) being there is Rat Man—and we don’t even know how long ago that was.

So Chell, our protagonist, has been the only person in the Aperture facility for a very long time. But she was also asleep for the majority of that time. So all GLaDOS has been able to do is create new testing rooms and talk to herself.

Once you’ve finished Portal 2, you find out that GLaDOS is a victim of Aperture’s overzealous “we do what we must because we can” attitude. She was once a woman named Caroline, which you find out through various tapes in the game.

Cave Johnson is enthusiastic about science—too enthusiastic for anyone’s good.

I’m pretty sure we know who would be the villain in this series if he were still alive.

He was paying people to come test their elaborate, dangerous inventions, and he became too wrapped up in the corporation to care about how this was affecting people’s lives.

There is also a piece of something that was recorded but never included in the final game. It’s an audio file of Ellen McLain (GLaDOS’s voice actress) as Caroline, screaming. It was essentially deemed to be too rape-y, so it wasn’t part of the final product.

It is also worth noting that some eagle-eyed artists realized that GLaDOS’s body actually looks like a woman who has been tied up and is hanging down. This really drives home the fact that Caroline did not want this.

She did not want to live forever. She did not want to be trapped inside a building as a homicidal robot. She did not want to be stuck in the body of a potato.

GLaDOS thinks we can put our differences behind us. For science. You monster.

Ultimately, GLaDOS is a lonely woman who had immortality forced upon her. And after all these years of defending herself and creating this harsh exterior, she seems to feels fondness toward Chell (even if she won’t admit it). She also can’t seem to help but be mean to her—it’s her only real way of existing now.

So she dishes out the snark and the fat jokes and the comments about Chell being an orphan. It isn’t until she has to be a potato for a while that some of the façade finally drops.

And I think the songs from the ends of the games say more than I possibly could on the subject! GLaDOS used killing as a main form of entertainment, but her tiny scrap of empathy for Chell makes it less fun.

She only wants Chell gone now. But really, can you blame her?

10 Ways Steam Has Changed the Gaming Industry

AzaleaValkyrie — Mon, 30 Nov 2015 07:28:17 +0000

Oh, holy Steam, what all have you brought us?

There are certain companies that make you glad to spend your money on their products. And then there’s Valve: the only company that makes you feel grateful for opportunities to give them your money.

Valve has brought us many wondrous things. The biggest of these is Steam, the little application that could.

Steam is a program that is basically a hub for every computer game you could possibly want, which has changed the gaming industry in many ways.

Let’s take a look at 10 of the things that Steam has brought us...

1. A Customizable, One-Stop Hub For Everything You Need

Valve is always busy making new things for us to love forever.

One of the most important features of Steam is that you have a one-stop hub for everything you need—new games, updates, installations, and more!

Every time you open Steam, you get a handy little pop-up to tell you about updates and other news. You also have a little friends list box that you can check to see who’s online and what they’re playing. It even includes a little instant-messaging system!

Assuming you have auto-updates on, your games will automatically download and install the latest updates as soon as you log onto Steam. You can rearrange the order they download in, too.

If there are new games coming out or you want to look at the store to add more to your collection (more on that later), then you can find everything you need all in one place.

Steam provides a unique experience to each user, making sure to take care of what’s most important as a gamer. It’s a customizable, one-stop hub for shopping and playing your favorite games. What more could you ask for?

Technology!

2. Super Sales

One of the biggest things Steam is known for is its killer sales.

How do Steam sales draw you in so much?

Just about every sale, you’ll find at least one game that you really want to play. And hey, it’s 75% off! What could go wrong?

Oooooooooh.

Everything. Everything could go wrong. You can’t handle the rabbit hole that is a Steam sale. You will buy everything you can afford—and then some.

In fact, Steam also brought us...

3. A New Meaning to Game Collecting

How many games do you have on your Steam account?

Now, how many of them do you actually play? Go on. Go count them.

You probably feel a little bit sick right now. Do you play more than 30% of the games you own on Steam? If so, color me impressed.

The 2011 Saxxy Awards for TF2

You don’t know why you own so many games. And you have no idea why you keep buying more of them.

There’s just something about collecting games that seems really appealing. And you do convince yourself that you’ll play all of these games some day.

But when will “some day” come?

Probably whenever GlaDOS stops being sarcastic toward Chell. Sooooo, never?

4. Variety of Games Larger than Traditional Stores

And of course, the ability to buy a ridiculous amount of games comes through the sales and the variety of games available in the first place.

Tags allow you to search for exactly the kind of game you’re looking for.

Steam is a great piece of technology because it works the way we’ve always wanted the Internet to be: easily navigated and full of everything we could hope to find.

You want to try a casual game? An action game? Steam has it all.

Want a scary game? Try the Five Nights at Freddie’s series.

5. Steam Greenlight

Mammoth Gravity Battles: a ridiculous game brought to you by Steam Greenlight.

In addition to bringing the hottest new PC games straight to you, Steam also gives you the chance to decide what the next big thing could be. It provides a simple platform for gamers to choose what they think should be fully developed.

Here’s the description according to the official “What is Steam Greenlight?” page:

“Steam Greenlight is a system that enlists the community's help in picking some of the new games to be released on Steam. Developers post information, screenshots, and video for their game and seek a critical mass of community support in order to get selected for distribution. Steam Greenlight also helps developers get feedback from potential customers and start creating an active community around their game during the development process.”

Steam Greenlight is innovative because it actually allows players to say “This is what I would like to see. You should make this.”

The projects are submitted in various stages of development, but you get to see the whole process of a game going from a twinkle in someone’s eye to a fully playable game that millions of users will get to experience.

A sample of some games that were approved through Steam Greenlight.

6. Advanced Wish List Functions

A screenshot of the main store front.

I’m not much of a wish list person, but I love the way the wish lists work on Steam. Each game’s store page obviously has an option to add it to your list, but it goes so much further than that on Steam’s wish list page itself.

Not only can you e-mail people your wish list, but you can also look at other people’s and send them games that they want to try but haven’t bought.

Going to someone’s wish list is a quick and easy way of finding out what they don’t own but would like to, and you can go to each item’s store page and choose to purchase them as gifts for your friend or whoever.

My favorite part of the wish list is that you can re-order the items on the list to show which games or other content is a priority for you. It only takes a simple click and a drag to choose where each item goes.

Aperture knows exactly what you should do for Valentine’s Day.

7. A Revitalization of the Dying PC Game Industry

Through innovative games like Portal and DOTA, Valve used Steam to draw attention to the fact that PC gaming doesn’t have to all feel the same.

It seemed like the PC gaming industry had really hit a standstill, but Steam re-popularized computer games by figuring out that gamers wanted something inventive, something that wasn’t the same as everything else they’d tried.

For a brief time, Portal was free because it was finally being brought to Mac users. This was an announcement for it.

Valve acknowledged that gamers were interested in new things and has done their best to continue to provide new experiences like never before.

And the statistics don’t lie: there are millions of gamers on Steam at any given point through the day or night.

That... is a lot of people.

But that’s not all!

8. Old PC Games Because Backwards Compatibility Isn’t an Issue

Something great about Steam is that computers, despite the amazing technological advances they’ve undergone, are relatively the same device as they were 20 years ago.

You can’t really compare a PlayStation 1 to a PlayStation 4, nor can you compare an original GameBoy to a Nintendo 3DS. They have the same general function, yes, but the methods of storing data—cartridges and disks—have changed drastically. Trying to put Pokémon Blue into a 3DS will only end in tears and frustration.

PCs still work via CD-ROMs for the most part, and storing data into the computer itself is pretty much the identical process used in a Windows 98 machine.

Therefore, it makes sense to be able to bring back older games and modify their format a little bit so they can be used on a modern machine.

Battlefront II!

Even better still, developers are actually even looking at their games and updating them. I don’t just mean in the sense of a reboot or a sequel—Tomb Raider: Anniversary is the same game as the original Tomb Raider, but it’s run instead on a modern, more high-tech engine. This brings back a fun game and gives it a new life, rather than completely leaving it behind.

My hero!

9. Indie Developer Recognition

How do you hear about the majority of indie developers?

Is it through Steam? That’s what I thought.

Indie games are put up on the same level as any of the major gaming companies. You can buy a Sonic the Hedgehog game just as easily as you can buy something from a company you’ve never heard of.

Long Live the Queen’s main menu. The game is surprisingly complex and challenging.

There are so many good games out there that don’t have the funding of Nintendo or Sony. Steam gives them an avenue to find new customers.

Valve has also created a program called Valve Pipeline, which allows teenagers to work with them so they can learn about the gaming industry.

The Valve Pipeline promotional video

10. Lowered Game Prices

One of Steam’s many, many sale opportunities.

Okay, so we have huge sales and indie games available for purchase. How could anything else be affected in the realms of pricing?

Well, it’s simple. By providing short, simple games that only cost a few dollars, Valve has helped us question our definition of a game’s worth.

Is Alien: Isolation worth $60? $40? $15?

The pricing of console games has risen with inflation, for the most part. I still can’t imagine paying $50 for a Mario Party game.

Would you rather own 50 $5 games or 10 $50 games?

There’s no right answer to that, seeing as the 50 $5 games probably came from a major sale and may never get any playtime and $50 is not necessarily an indication of quality.

Only you can determine what you think a game is worth, and developers are starting to see that gamers are willing to pay less and less money as time goes on.

Games? More games? Yesssssssss..........

10 Reasons Growing Up on PC Games Made Me a Responsible Adult

AzaleaValkyrie — Mon, 30 Nov 2015 05:46:25 +0000

There's a lesson in everything we do, even when you're playing as a fat, Italian plumber who does no actual plumbing.

A common refrain among parents is that video games will ruin your life. However, I recently realized that there are a lot of ways that playing video games actually helped me to become a responsible adult. Adulthood is definitely scary when it’s looming over your head, but if you take a closer look at the things you love, you can pick up a lot of valuable lessons from them.

Here are the things that I learned from growing up on PC games...

1. Time Management

Nostalgia attack! Does it feel enough like the ’90s yet?

I’m sure you feel skeptical about this; after all, who knows more than gamers about spending lots of time on something?

My age is showing, but here goes: I learned time management because I grew up on dial-up Internet.

Most people who remember dial-up groan and cringe at the sound of the noise that meant we were connecting.

But I associate that sound with freedom.

You need more pylons. Whether you can build them or not.

Let me explain. My dad has worked nights almost my entire life. So for us, we grew accustomed to his schedule and tend to sleep in until he gets up.

I’ve had insomnia since I was really little, but Saturday mornings were the one time I knew I had complete reign over the downstairs.

I began to get up early on Saturdays and ended up having about 4 hours to myself to use the Internet with no interference at all. The sound of dial-up, to me, is the sweet sound of “I can do whatever I want.”

Of course, that time was mostly spent playing computer games and going on the Nintendo forums (which no longer exist in their original form).

Despite my insomnia, I actively chose to get up early so I could have time to do the things I enjoyed without someone griping about wanting to use the computer or make a phone call.

I learned time management from games, simply because I valued being able to sit in peace and quiet while doing the things I loved the most.

This skill has saved my butt so many times. Choosing to alter a part of your schedule is a big commitment, but it paid off because I was able to apply this ability to finding time to both work and play without getting too stressed.

2. Self-Sustainability

Don’t tell me you didn’t love the crap out of Pocket Tanks.

This might sound a bit silly, but I think video games helped to teach me to be entertained on my own. I’ve always loved reading, just as much as I love video games, and having these two hobbies really taught me that I didn’t need other people in order to have fun.

The majority of my social interaction happened at school, not outside of it, so having a hobby at such a young age helped me to avoid feeling lonely.

Amnesia: the Dark Descent reminds me a lot of the games I played growing up.

Sure, I had friends that I was close to, but I kept to myself most of the time after school hours. I never felt like I had a deprived childhood because I was on my own during my free time.

As an adult, this has carried over, so I don’t feel bad if I spend the evening at home—in fact, I prefer it!

3. Intelligence

I’m one of the few people that played educational games for fun. (Yes, boo, I’m no fun. I’m so boring. Yadda, yadda, yadda.)

Reading Blaster and the Encarta Mindmaze game were ones I spent hours and hours playing. Yukon Trail is still a game that I’m incredibly fond of and nostalgic for. Amazon Trail 2 (didn’t like the first one) taught me about geography, diplomacy, fishing, history, culture, native plants, animals, photography, and much, much more.

The Encarta game was a labyrinth that asked questions that you could find the answers to in an encyclopedia. Getting answers correct would advance you in the maze.

And let’s not forget about Carmen Sandiego, my favorite expert on traveling and the treasures of the world. Carmen taught me about asking the right questions and paying attention to even the tiniest piece of information.

The real boss of the world.

Sorry, Mario Teaches Typing. I wish I could have appreciated you. But learning how to type sucked.

These games taught me that learning can be really fun and that it’s rewarding to be able to remember different types of information—and that remembering these things actually can matter in the long run.

However, Mavis Beacon is still my mortal enemy.

4. Morality

Remember this?

Many games do not offer the ability to choose or develop your alignment on the spectrum of good and evil, but there are quite a few these days that do.

Growing up on games gave me a lot of different perspectives on many types of people, allowing me to peek into their personal lives and understand that their existence is just as valid and important as mine.

By listening to the stories of characters in games, I was able to realize that my actions affected other people in ways that were different from how they affected me.

Modern-day games such as the Mass Effect series have expanded the realms of player choice in video games.

5. Patience

Some things never change.

Tired of those long download times? Try thinking about what it was like in the year 2002! Things were making progress in the realm of computers, but opening Web page and installing games weren’t the quickest of tasks.

The sound of dial-up, despite being the sound of freedom for me, isn’t exactly short. And the amount of time between one Saturday and the next time I could play console games wasn’t the shortest of times, either.

As a young person, it is the most difficult to be patient but is somehow the time of your life when everyone expects you to be the most patient.

Sure, I got to play Kingdom Hearts (not a PC game, but it’s the first one that came to mind for this example) for “only” four hours on Saturday, but when would be the next time I could play at all?

Definitely showing my age on this one.

Would the computer or T.V. be taken over by someone else? Would I prefer some peace and quiet on the Internet? Would I be able to wake up early enough to get anything done?

This kind of patience has helped me to sit through classes that seemed to be going nowhere. Being a more patient person as an adult has allowed me to control my temper and recognize that I sometimes need to slow down for a few minutes.

6. Resource Management

Oversized shorts? $40. Clown shoes? $80. Pixie dust? Priceless.

In most games, there is a variety of things that you can collect and hold onto until you need them, such as Phoenix Downs in the Final Fantasy series.

It’s not just about hoarding money so you can buy stuff for the final boss—you have to decide if you want to use your last potion on this one battle when you know there is another battle coming up that may be much harder.

I haven’t started planning for the inevitable zombie apocalypse, but I think we as gamers are definitely more capable of managing our resources and stockpiling what we will need in the future.

Zombie-killing pals!

7. A Sense of Community

Even though the Internet wasn’t quite like it is today, the gaming community had already begun to gather and discuss what we’d been playing.

GameFAQs was already developing a base of users, and the Nintendo forums were basically my home away from home. I’m still friends with some of the people I met on there.

These guys will always be friends, too.

Being able to talk about games wasn’t just “oh, this is what I’ve been working on recently” or “this is my favorite character”—it was working together to find new solutions to difficult puzzles, too.

It was like a happy little fan club where we could help each other and gush about the cool stuff we’d seen recently. Because I didn’t spend much time with people outside of school, these were the friends I could talk about gaming with the most. I was often alone, especially during middle school, so I was able to actually talk about one of my favorite hobbies with others—without even having to leave my house.

My new best friend!

Instead of growing up feeling lonely, I found a community that helped me to remember that I wasn’t alone. Knowing this feeling allowed me to join a gaming club in college and to eventually become an officer. My main job as an officer was to handle any internal disputes, and ensuring that our club was a safe place for everyone felt like one of the most natural things in the world for me.

There was a guy that was scaring people off by being creepy, and helping him become better at socializing was actually really rewarding. He’s even getting better at it still.

In fact...

8. Empathy

Game companies are now acknowledging that characters can mean a lot to players.

Realizing that we’re outliers is one of the first steps to becoming a more well-rounded human being.

Yes, gaming culture has become more than just a small group of outcasts these days, but the empathy we developed as loners has helped out a lot in my daily life.

Instead of judging people when I meet them, I acknowledge that everybody is different.

And some people will just hate you as much as you hate them.

A lot of us have been ostracized for our appearance and for our awkwardness with others. It’s important to remember what that was like.

Somebody may not be the type of person you expect to play games, but that doesn’t make their existence and hobbies any less valid.

9. Accountability

Even the smallest actions matter.

Have you ever royally messed up in a game when you haven’t saved recently? Have you ever saved right before a big event in case you needed to re-do it? Have you ever mashed down on the power button to keep a game from saving after you did something stupid?

I think most gamers have.

But there are also times when you wish you could reset it but are unable to, and you have to live with whatever decisions you made.

How about a baptism?

In many games, your actions directly affect other characters, and the plot is sometimes linked to these small decisions or screw-ups.

Gaming has made me more accountable for my actions. Instead of just jumping in impulsively, I try to consider all of the possible consequences. Just think of your life as a game without save points.

Each thing you say or do or think will affect your life and the lives of the people around you. Use that power wisely.

10. A Sense of Purpose

Act with purpose. It’s fun to run around without a goal in mind, but think about how much more satisfying it is to complete a quest or beat a tough boss fight.

If you don’t live your life without specific purposes in mind, you end up just sitting around wondering why you haven’t done more with yourself.

In games, you mostly have NPCs to act as bumpers to make sure you stay on track. But in real life, you have to be your own Navi.

Train yourself to observe your surroundings and to examine your own life. Are you just playing games all day? Or are you using games to reward yourself for a hard day of work?

It can be tough at times, but accomplishing something always feels better than frittering time away. Yes, it’s fun to sit and play idle games or tower defenses or whatever else you like. But do the games you play have goals in them?

Do you have a goal for what you’re getting out of gaming?

I’m not saying games can’t and shouldn’t be fun. I would never say that. But growing up on games made me realize that getting stuff done is actually more satisfying than something mindless.

Guild Wars 2 is unlike any other MMORPG on the market right now.

I like games that make me feel like I’m doing something and that the things I do actually matter in the sense of how the game responds to them (props to you, Shadow of Mordor and Guild Wars 2).

Do you actually care about your game of Cookie Clicker? Or do you feel better when you build a Rube Goldberg machine in Minecraft?

What’s more entertaining—a match of Temple Run 2 or completing a difficult temple in Tomb Raider?

Hi, Lara.

Playing video games has reminded me that other things matter too. Yeah, it’s fun to spend hours on Nightmare mode of Diablo III. But it’s also really fun to finish writing a novel, to finish up a big project, to finish cooking a delicious meal.

Open up the curtains just a little bit. The games will still be there a few hours from now. But friends and opportunities don’t last forever.

Shadow of Mordor Gameplay: 10 Things You'll Love

AzaleaValkyrie — Sun, 01 Nov 2015 17:20:42 +0000

Do you have what it takes to simply walk into Mordor?

It can often be disappointing to step into the worlds of your favorite movies and books through video games. As a long-time fan of the Lord of the Rings series, I was cautiously optimistic when I heard about Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor.

Of course, I pre-ordered it anyway. After all, I loved The Lord of the Rings: The Third Age and love LotR, on the whole, to the point of being really annoying about it.

Are you the kind of person who would refresh LordoftheRings.net just so you could hear the actors welcoming you to the site? Does your family refuse to play Trivial Pursuit: The Lord of the Rings Movie Trilogy, Collector’s Edition, with you? Do you wish you could go slice up a bunch of Orcs in a good ol’ hack-and-slash?

If you said “yes” to any of those questions, then Shadow of Mordor may be the game for you.

Let’s take a look at the top 10 reasons you should check it out...

(Note: This is an incredibly violent and bloody game and has been rated M (for Mature) by the ESRB. Some images and videos in this article reflect this rating.)

1. Its Cool Character Designs—As Unique and Vivid as the Peter Jackson Movies

Yes, the NPCs are judging you.

Seriously. Remember how the Orcs and Uruk-hai each had individualized armor and design in Peter Jackson’s version of the Lord of the Rings trilogy?

Shadow of Mordor doesn’t fail to impress in the same regard. Most Uruk-hai have names and their own agendas—but more on that in a bit.

In some games and movies, it’s easy to say that there are multiple characters who look similar to each other. Not so in this game. Each character is completely distinct from each other, and as the story progresses, they become even more so.

Peek into the plot and stunning character designs.

It’s easy to look at an Uruk-hai captain and say, “Oh, that’s Mâku the Torturous.”

And that leads me to one of my other favorite things...

2. The Uruk-hai Chain of Command

Hallo, poppet...

One surefire way to get my interest in a game is to make what I do actually matter. Of course, we have our own personal story as Talion, and all of that is good, but what I like is what happens when you die.

Because you aren’t mortal, dying and coming back to life makes a lot more sense than, say, Mario having additional lives. In Shadow of Mordor, it’s not that you’re dying and have additional lives saved up. You’re just coming back as a wraith again—and they remember you.

What’s really cool about this is that the Uruk-hai are actually affected by your death. The Uruks look right into your eyes as a player and talk about how your death will help them in the ranks. And help them it does!

In many games, you get pulled back to your latest save point. But not here. The Uruk challenges an officer, and if it wins, then it will kill that officer and take its place.

And if you keep dying to the same Uruk? It remembers you. It will sometimes even make snide remarks about your previous death.

If you love to feel your blood pumping and the nerd rage rising, then have fun taking on the Uruks who have killed you a hundred times over because they’re directly blocking your pathway to wherever you’re going and you can’t go around them.

I was curious about one of the Uruk captains, so I looked him up. There were several results, but they didn’t match the name exactly. There was someone who had him labeled as “Beastmaster,” while someone else saw him as “Blood-Hunter”—and neither of those matched mine!

This game is highly customizable in that your actions directly affect all of your enemies.

Meet Sauron’s army. They’re DYING to see you...

3. NPC Interactions

Many games have a lot of silent bystanders or people who will occasionally say something every 15 minutes or whatever.

No, in Shadow of Mordor, every living thing has a unique experience of its own. You can sit on a ledge and watch Caragors devour the enemies you’re avoiding.
And you can listen in on the trash talk, such as “I was going to test out my new bow, but Ratbag was nowhere near me.”

They’re probably going to talk about you behind your back.

There’s all sorts of glorious gossip and vaguely high-school infighting. It’s honestly pretty funny but rather enlightening. Listening in on conversations lets you get an idea of what the Orcs and Uruks think of each other, and you can expect it to be relevant in some way later on.

Meet Ratbag, your new best friend.

So how do you listen in on all of this without getting brutally murdered?

Funny you should ask, because that’s the next reason...

4. Wraith World

No, that’s not a new theme park where you can meet someone dressed up as the Witch King.

A mysterious wraith brings a Ranger named Talion back from the dead, and your new friend makes himself at home—in your body. Bonded together, you team up to figure out why people are being stuck between the world of the living and the dead.

You’re able to easily switch back and forth between being a flesh incarnation of Talion that’s in what we would call the “real world” of the game and being the wraith in a separate level of reality.

Remember when Frodo and Bilbo put on the One Ring in the movies? They enter this shadowy plane where they are significantly less visible but also inhabit the same realm as the Ring Wraiths.

That’s where you are. Wraith World! Coming soon to a town near you!

The world of the wraiths also comes with several unique skills, and one of those is the ability to use the Vulcan Mind Meld—oh, that’s copyrighted? Ummm... “Interrogation” to reach into your enemy’s mind and see what he (this game is a real sausage fest, honestly) has seen.

You can learn a lot from this, but it’s also really difficult to do it, because there are usually a bunch of other Orcs getting in the way. I’ve definitely accidentally killed a few good sources of info because they kept coming up in front of me when I was offing someone else.

Our wraith friend sometimes points out that we have the ability to be as brutal as our enemies and that this is the way to victory. But honestly, the wraith plane does so much more.

You've got a friend in you...

When I first started playing, I got increasingly frustrated because I couldn’t get anywhere. Every time I left my little tower, I’d attack the nearby Orcs to get them out of the way. But they killed me.

Then I tried entering the wraith plane. You wouldn’t believe just how much of a difference that makes. Use your wraith capabilities as often as you can—that is the true key to making a difference in this game.

Frodo, Sam, and Gollum had to be sneaky when slinking around Mordor, and the same is true for us. If you have a hero complex and try to go in and kill every Orc you find, then you’re mostly just going to end up dying a lot.

Sneak around as much as possible—that’s the one thing that your enemies can’t do. Instead of the one-man army you can be in games like the Dynasty Warriors series, you have to be aware that you are still just one person (kind of) fighting against the endless ranks of the Dark Lord’s forces.

This video explains the wraith abilities in more detail.

5. The Immersive Setting

Everything the light touches... is Mordor. It’s ALL the dark, shadowy place, even when it isn’t.

Now, I’m sure you’re wondering if the game does justice to the land of Middle-earth.

The answer? It does. I promise.

The glorious variety of characters and landscapes are more than enough to bring you to the land of Mordor.

While a couple of things look a bit weird (the bushes you can hide in), it is otherwise as faithful of an attempt to create this world.

But if you don’t like the armies of Sauron, then you may find yourself frustrated with the environment. You’re a neutral agent who just wants some answers. And in doing so, you are trying to take on the Dark Lord’s forces on your own.

It got the "Game of the Year" award for a reason!

6. The Postmodern Plot Progression—the Future and Past Intertwined

Talion once had a family.

Speaking of the plot, let’s take a look at how it’s presented—no spoilers here, though. From the very beginning of the game, the story is as fragmented as you feel.

Your primary character, Talion, is confused and disturbed. He’s dead but somehow alive.

And this is shown by pulling you between the past and the present so you can learn more about where you came from and where you’re going.

Your ability to see into the past through your enemies’ minds and artifacts that reveal your wraith friend’s story brings the past into the present, creating new mysteries while occasionally answering questions.

Oh, a little forceful mind-reading never hurt anybody...

7. The World Goes On Without You

Despite all of this, the world around you is still doing its thing, whether you’re doing anything useful or not. If you die while trying to stop an Uruk’s feast, then that Uruk will still rise in power—and so will the ones who were planning an ambush all the way across the map.

You just plain can’t stop everything from happening. While the game adjusts for this by creating events as soon as other ones end, there’s a real sense of immediacy that comes with it.

As Seen on T.V.!

What will you spend your time on? Can you defeat a captain, or should you go free the slaves you passed by earlier?

Each and every thing you ignore will have an effect, just as much as when you do attend to something.

You’re so vain that you probably think this caption’s about you.

8. Its Impressive Difficulty Scaling

Because your actions and inactions allow Uruks to rise in power (or die), the game gets harder as it goes on.

Shadow of Mordor does a commendable effort in keeping you up-to-date with the happenings of the Uruk-hai. Each time an event ends, regardless of the result, the game shows you what has occurred because of it.

If you lose to an Uruk, then it will gain more power, and it will remember you the next time—after all, you’re already dead. It may even seek you out if he thinks you’re nearby. Typically, losing to a ranked Uruk-hai will allow that Uruk to challenge another officer and take its position.

Sometimes, that Uruk will die in this attempt. However, if an Uruk moves up in the ranks, then its power increases, making it more difficult to defeat later on in the game.

The Nemesis system is unique to this game.

Instead of a traditional leveling system where you move areas based on how much you’ve done, the enemies level up around you as you do.

Oh, it’s 25 to 1? Seems about right.

If you keep dying, then the area becomes more difficult, so you have to get stronger or find a new way to get where you’re going.

Speaking of which...

9. The Open World

Forge your Nemesis. Through dying over and over again.

I know a lot of games are doing open worlds these days, but that doesn’t make this one any less cool. Because it really makes you feel like you’re in Mordor, exploring the different areas feels much more rewarding than a game that tries to pin you down to a specific path.

Since the world does go on without you, each time you go somewhere, something will have changed in some way. This prevents it from feeling like you’re going nowhere if you keep dying.

If you love Tolkien’s books and/or the movie versions, then Shadow of Mordor doesn’t fail to impress. The LotR series takes place in such an expansive universe, and it’s honestly just plain fun to see it sprawling out like this in a way that hasn’t really been done before.

I love finding new ways to experience the LotR series, and if you do too, you’ll be thrilled about getting lurk around Mordor with an all-new story.

Do you even lift?

10. Its Glorious, Faithful Rendition of Gollum

This video gives you a glimpse into the game and how things work. Not enough Gollum, though.

Now, the majority of the things I talk about here are based around the different things you can do and see. But this final entry is just icing on the cake.

When I first saw the LotR movies, I was enthralled by their representation of Gollum/Sméagol and soon began to mimic his little cough of “Gollum, Gollum.” I actually became quite proud of my imitation.

My mom has never been able to get into the original trilogy, but she liked the Hobbit movies—and Gollum. She’s watched bits and pieces of the LotR movies, and for some reason, she decided she liked Gollum. This made my attachment to him grow stronger, since I’d have at least one thing from the series that I could talk about with her.

So you can only imagine my delight when I finished the first boss battle and saw Gollum peeking up over a rock at me!

While the movies use as many practical effects as possible, Gollum was a special case of CGI. In Shadow of Mordor, you’d almost think you were seeing the movie version of him! He’s rendered wonderfully, and every part of him—from his demeanor to movements—makes you feel like you’re right there with the real thing.

Where is the Preciousss?

I was excited to see him in the game, of course, but seeing such a faithful representation of him really allows the game to draw you into the universe and remind you of the first time you saw the movies on screen.

If you like Gollum, then you won’t be disappointed! He’s just as sneaky and paranoid as the Gollum you know and love.

And if you like the Lord of the Rings universe in any capacity and you like clever but violent games that will challenge you moment after moment, then Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor is definitely worth checking out. It’s fun, difficult, and absolutely immersive. Venturing into the Dark Lord’s forces has never been so entertaining.

GAMERS DECIDE - AzaleaValkyrie

10 Video Game Characters I’d Like to Be Friends With

Real life is hard. But games can help!

1. Sora (Kingdom Hearts series)

2. Yuna (Final Fantasy X/X-2)

3. Navi (The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time)

4. Sonic (Sonic the Hedgehog series)

5. Carmen Sandiego (Carmen Sandiego series)

6. Pyramid Head/Red Pyramid Thing (Silent Hill series)

7. Elizabeth (Bioshock Infinite)

8. Princess Zelda (The Legend of Zelda series)

9. Unnamed Prince/Dastan (Prince of Persia series)

10. Luigi (Super Mario Bros. franchise)

Honorable Mention: Juliet Starling

And now for the part with audience participation...

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