Yes, it’s been that long.

I’ve been writing, if you can call composing in my head “writing”.  I’ve got quite a lot to say, and I’ve got a few drafts of things, particularly on game difficulty.  I’m re-reading Emotional Design as part of this, and trying to get to and through the interactive media chapter in order to talk more about it.  This has been churning in my brain for more than two weeks, which is why I was so glad to see this month’s Round Table is about game difficulty.

We’ve been doing a lot game-wise.  We’re still playing through Keep on the  Shadowfell, and we’re finding it moderately difficult to stay alive.  Or the players are, but that could be because I’m a big meanie.  I want to write about that, because I think it’s partly an expectations thing — comparing it to 3rd edition — and it’s partly an emotional thing.  I experienced it on game day, and Girl has experienced it in our gaming sessions.  I did buy the Monster Manual, and am perusing it now.  The module doesn’t really require any other books, which is good. It should keep us busy until the rest of the Heroic modules are out anyway.  I’ll be writing more about this soon.

The other thing we’ve been doing a lot of is Rock Band.  I temporarily fixed our Rock Band guitar controller, and then replaced it with a GH3 controller. I could probably re-fix the RB controller, but, ultimately, it’s about the clickiness/mushiness.  The GH3 guitars have a clicky feel, while the RB is mushy.  And we’re clicky-keyboard type people too.

In other entertainment news, SexyWife and I went to see Sexy Lips Wanted on Thursday. It was an enjoyable popcorn movie.  We chose it from a rather long (for us) list of popcorn movies because it was the only one rated R, and the only one with Angelina Jolie naked.  I want a picture of the bullet at the end that Jolie uses. I could have sworn it said “Goddess” on it.

Girl and I saw Hancock Saturday morning.  I wanted to see the new Brendan Fraser movie, Journey to the Center of the Earth (mainly as a palliative, until The Mummy comes out).  It was playing in the IMAX, and thus 1) not cheap seats and 2) vastly disapointing in the past.  The only movie I was glad I saw there (as opposed to seeing elsewhere) was Beowulf.  Not particularly glad I saw that one overall, but in IMAX it was cool(er?).  [Note the Jolie theme here.]

I had heard that Hancock makes sense for the first 2/3 of the movie, and then takes a sharp left turn. A left turn was taken, but I felt it had been largely telegraphed by the actors.  It just hadn’t been spelled out in minute detail ahead of time.  I appreciate that.  Will Smith has become an impressive actor, even though he’ll always be the rapping Fresh Prince to me on some level.  Still, there were points in the movie where he completely sucked me into the emotional mess that was his character, and I forgot that he was Will Smith.

I’m not saying that Hancock is the best movie ever.  I liked it more than Iron Man and Wanted, the other two popcorn movies I’ve seen this summer.  And perhaps that was because they didn’t explain every little detail.  It felt like there was this huge mythos behind the movie that was there but never surfaced to the movie.  It lent it some richness that other more explanatory movies don’t have. That was part of what I enjoyed about it.

I’ve been kind of out of communication for three weeks to pretty much everyone I don’t physically see.  I’m sorry for that, and I’m working on it.  One of these days I’ll know why this is so much easier than more personal communication.  But I see you there, and I want to talk.

Yesterday I outlined Assassin’s Creed, and discussed how the narrative was failed by the gameplay. All of these things: narrative, gameplay, control mechanisms, and the art and sound of the game combine together to create the collaborative story which is created in the mind of the player as they traverse the game, and to some extent as the people around them watch the game being played. The goal of a great game is to combine all these elements so that they support each other in framing the emotional state of the player, and their understanding of the game, its thesis and its aesthetic.

In terms of Ataïr’s story, the game does a reasonable job. You get a feeling for the message here: peace is the goal, but only via freedom and knowldege. This counterpoints with Desmond’s story, where he has no freedom, little knowledge (or reliable sources), and is constrained in what he can do. This becomes a metaphor for the player of the game who only has two choices: follow the narrative where it leads, or quit the game. Desmond can quit, but will die if he does; the player can quit, but then they will fail at the game. Ultimately, we know from the start of the game that Ataïr will survive, but that he won’t achieve peace.

As a player, I most strongly identified with Desmond. He, like me, was a controller, the puppeteer. His goal was to live Ataïr’s life as closely to the way Ataïr lived it. As you do so, you get closer to the key game-ending memory, and are rewarded with more “synchronization” with Ataïr, which in game terms serves as your health bar.

This, and the notion of “socially acceptable” and “unacceptable” (or “low” and “high” profile) actions are real successes in the game. The parkour style movement, the climbing is fun except when Ataïr jumps in a way that’s unexpected, and too easy when he does too much for you. I found myself missing Prince of Persia in this case, where the Prince’s movements (mirroring my first feelings about Tomb Raider) were precise and predictable. This led me to, on two occasions, kill an innocent and lose one of my tick points. I had so many of those that it no longer mattered to me in the penultimate memory block (the next to last level) when it happened.

In fact, this highlights one of the problems with the game: it is too easy. I don’t think of myself as a hardcore gamer. I’m the best at these kinds of games amongst my peer group, but I wouldn’t put myself next to a serous FPS’er, nor a just about anyone in the hardcore gamer age (15-25 or so). At almost 40, I’m above the marketing age for “gamers” by a year or two (and always will be, as gamers age). That’s fine with me, I like juvenile games sometimes, but I long for truly adult games — both in emotion and content.

So, when I say that Assassin’s Creed is ultimately too easy, I think I know what I’m talking about.

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