Women in Video Game News: Not a Hot Month

A few days ago I posted on Super Whatnot about my intentions to start reading comics because of the DC Universe re-launch. I made a passing comment about how women are underrepresented in the industry and that there are some complications with how they are represented in the medium itself on too many occasions.

Video games are no different.

Typically I wouldn't go out of my way to post about simple gaming news, but there have been a pair of stories that have really irked me in the last few weeks and that I feel like I would like to address here.

1. BioWare's Liara (Mass Effect) figure reveal
2. Dead Island's code place holder for a player character

Sadness rant after the jump.

Notice

Alright, two things:

1. I went to continue my BioShock game and to my dismay I found a lack of save games. It seems fate has turned against me and this blog, and I need to restart my game. I was probably 6 hours in maybe? Hard to tell, I get sidetracked easily.
2. I purchased Red Dead Redemption as a reward for receiving my first full pay cheque for my new job.

The result is me abandoning/putting on hold my current BioShock project and picking up with Red Dead.

Yeah, I know. I'm disappointed in myself too. Now, Red Dead Redemption, I can beat this!

Maybe.

BioShock, Diving In--wait, that's a terrible title....

I haven't had the chance to get any further in BioShock recently. I've had a guest in the home and so less time to play games on my own. On the plus side, I've had the opportunity to partake of the joy that is Scott Pilgrim arcade game just released for Xbox. Despite this though, I still would like to take the opportunity to discuss my very first moments of BioShock.

I believe I may be overly fond of this game's opening. Indeed, it may be so good that my previous attempts to play through may have been hindered by my fear that the rest of the game cannot live up to it's first hour. The momentum and vividness of those first moments are cinematic gameplay at its best. Finding yourself twenty five feet below the ocean surface, oriented only by the glow of fire, and surfacing only to find the tail of a plane sinking underwater, and pushing towards what appears to be some mysterious plane destroying lighthouse: spectacular. Then, through sheer lack of options you push forward, and are taken back underwater by some submelevator as the voice of BioShock introduces you to the utopia Rapture was to the farce you will soon find yourself vying for survival in.


Then, as you land, you witness the murder of some random man at the hands of some monster, a monster who soon turns his attention to you, weaponless, in a preserving jar. But luckily some asshole is going to save you. I know enough about this game not to trust this fuckhead but his voice serves as your only comfort in these first moments, saving you from the first splicer and directing you through your first steps in Rapture.

As soon as the game begins begins after this point the lustre is lost a little for me, but it peaks once again in that small room where you are forced to wait for the door to unlock while the silhouettes fill the propaganda film that fills the entire one wall. As they smash and claw their way through that glass screen, I'm always so impressed at how intense this moment is on me. Bravo, Ken Levine, bravo.

Grrrrr.

Playing through this time, though, it was funny to see how dated this game looks nowadays. NOWADAYS!, as if 2007 was a generation ago. But really, as you swoop through the "high" rises of Rapture, the whale moves swims passed and he just looks blocky and simply animated. How things change, even in a few years. I used to marvel at the visuals of this opening moment, but now I'm distracted by how dated they appear.

Despite this, the environments still looks incredible, and those flying turrets are still the bane of my existence. As I said in my initial post, I am playing on "Easy" so sadly some of the suspense is gone, and I feel confident as I stride the halls zappin 'n smackin any splicer silly enough to fuck with a guy with lightning hands.

I did get pissed when I discovered I had to choose between magic powers. I'm assured I get more slots later, but right now, I don't want to choose between force push, fire, and lightning. I like comfort the ability to light a man on fire and then throwing a chair at him provides. Ah well.

When it comes to my weapons, I feel a little underwhelmed. They seem perfectly serviceable but I'm just bored by the stand-by pistol, machine gun, and shotgun. I know this is just the beginning, but I'd really like to feel some sense of freshness when I blast a hookhand's head apart. As it is, I feel I'm just fulfilling a genre obligation when I use these weapons. Also, I run out of ammo so frickin fast it ain't funny. Given, I'm a terrible shot, but I fail to see the point of a pistol when it seems firing it seems the equivalent of putting nine bullets in my hand and just throwing them across the room. I usually hit with one or two shots, but that's of no comfort to the wall I just chewed up.
 

Then, of course, came the big moment: my first battle with a BIG DADDY. Poor guy when don't like the "don't-taze-me-bro" guy. It's "Easy"'s fault I know, but this guy dashed at me once knocking me back across the room, which only gave me ample time to empty another clip of machine gun ammo into him before he could approach again. I guess there aren't much brains in the glowing orb of a head they carry around in the middle of their torsos.

And I didn't kill the little sister. I can barely force myself to play bad in rpgs and that doesn't require me to bust open a toddler in a pink dress. I've heard the ADAM difference from good to bad isn't as large as you'd suspect from the ratio it presents you as your moral/mechanical dilemma in that moment.

That's all I got. I'm not sure why anyone would read this now that I put all this down. Oh well, not going to erase it all now.

New Project: BioShock

Or should I say, BioSchlock!? Am I right? Sigh.

So I failed. Um, I'm not going to be completing FFXIII. I could say maybe I might come back to it eventually, but I'd feel amiss without also saying that this would be not-fucking-likely. I do however like the idea of blogging through my experiences as I play a game, and even like the idea of trying to complete games that I'm not necessarily predisposed to, or have failed to do so in the past, because I'm trying to broaden my horizons. Let's say.

I'm not saying that I plan to only blog about my little list of troubled games, but rather it might be the projects I undertake while not playing the new games I'm excited about. Given my bank account and how infrequently games I'm genuinely pumped for are released, I'll have plenty of time to play these other games.

Which brings me to BioShock. Wee.


Background: I'm not a big FPS player (I'm bad at them) so I was never all that interested in BioShock when it was released. But!, everyone raves about it, especially in terms of how the narrative is integrated into the gameplay, so I eventually picked it up a few years ago for a good price. Since then, probably once a year, I've tried to play it. I usually get past the first little bit, right after you see, but not fight, the first BIG DADDY, and the game path branches a little. About at this point I end up not returning to the game for two reasons.

First, the game creeeeps me out. The splicers are pretty scary, but what really freaks me out is the combination of the lack of a radar and the sound. I don't play FPSs often and when I do, I'm used to radars. So, when I'm fighting bad guys, I know, in some sense, where the bad guys are, and more importantly when there are bad guys. But BioShock, justifiably, does not have a radar, so you're constantly unaware of when splicers are about, and worse, where they are specifically when you can hear them. And that sound. Their sound. And their creeping about. Knowing they're there but not able to find them and knowing they're going to get me when I least suspect it. Christ. I'd be terrible at survival horror.

Secondly, I get a little lost. I tend to get anxious when I'm not sure which way is the right way to progress in the game. It's not that I don't like exploring, it's just that I like to know which is the progress direction, and which are the fuck around and collect ammo, upgrades, and such directions, so I can do those first. BioShock sort of lets you know the progress direction, but coupled with my preexisting creep out, and my tendency to die all the freakin time while I fumble around and explore the non-progress areas, I tend to get a little discouraged. When I think about sitting down to play again, I find myself lacking the needed motivation/desire.

But, I think I can beat this one this time. I mean, its not a grind-fest like FFXIII, and this game has a difficulty level, which, I'm not afraid to admit, I put down to "Easy" this time. I think this will help me stay motivated, and help me to not just drift away. As it is, I've already made it past the part at which I've previously failed to progress, and I'm kicking ass. The game is really really easy on easy and so I think I'll be able to move through and experience what everyone says is so good about the game without the constraint of my terrible FPS abilities to exacerbate the issues that normally prevent me from making it further into the game.

Also the blog project should help. It kept me going at FFXIII longer than I certainly would have last time. Which, laughably, wasn't even out of the tutorial. (As a side not, I tend to agree with Yahtzee about tutorial lengths in this instance.)

And yes, easy. I've beaten Ninja Gaiden 1 and 2 on extra hard difficulties so I'm not insecure in myself that I can't play a game on easy.

Man, if I could play as Ryu from Ninja Gaiden those splicers would scare me one bit. Dual katanas are good comfort against any foe. Except for "Master Ninja".

If you hadn't noticed...

Fuck it.

It's been a long time...

... getting from there to here.

It's been a busy last couple of weeks around here, and so I haven't had much time to either blog, or to even play FFXIII for that matter. But!, all my visitors have finally vamoosed and so I can get back to my usual schedule of having to come up with reasons not to play FFXIII.

I've decided to actually come back to it with forgiveness, not hatred, in my heart. I should reserve my bitterness for things that are of real consequence.

See ya soon.

Back in Full Swing

And by full swing I mean obligated reluctance. Essentially, I started up again and remembered exactly why had lost my desire to play. Oh well, go fuck yourself self, play the game you said you'd play.

Hours played: 9:49
Played up to Chapter 5: Operation Nora