Refraction Gaming

So, this is something that I've been wondering about for some time now. I've seen it all through video games and, for a while, just accepted it that that was the way things went. However, after reading books, being exposed to multiple forms of literature, movies, video games, etc and generally watching how things progressed, a thought occurred to me. If people are running out of ideas of what to do with the franchise, why not revive the franchise by introducing a new character and focusing on that character instead? The gameplay style doesn't have to change, Mario showed us that with focus on Luigi or Yoshi instead of Mario, though sometimes a gameplay change can be a welcome addition as well, if done right. I think the primary reason that most people don't expect to see a change of character is because most fans become attached to the character for multiple, varying reasons. There's not a lot of reason to change a character once its become the icon of the franchi...

I've talked, among my friends, that I find that the fan-game "Another Metroid 2 Remake" is anything but just another Metroid 2 Remake. It is, in fact, the only one that will be recognizable among the fan community as a proper remake of the lost-in-time "Metroid II: Return of Samus" for the Game Boy. The more I play it, however, and the more I think about it, the more I begin to wonder if this is actually the case. What if Nintendo does choose to make a Metroid 2 Remake, in a style that is 2.5D, or done with quality spritework should they go that way? Unlike AM2R, there won't be rather visibly stock visual effects and sound effects being used for explosions, for fireballs, for the shots, etc. It is a small quip that I find with the game, but I cannot ignore it on a critical evaluation. They do stand out and they do detract from the quality slightly. Nintendo would be certain to have the capability to remake it with their own specifically created visual effe...

Physics engines can be the most wonderful thing in games. They can help a game feel better when performing actions, let things react to each other as realistically as possible, and other such things of that nature. However, these physics engines can also lead to the most frustrating things I've ever seen. In this case, Breath of the Wild has given me far more anger issues with its physics engine than I care to count. Remember when puzzles in Zelda could always be accomplished because you couldn't accidentally lose the piece to the puzzle irretrievably? Well, in Breath of the Wild, one could also just leave an area and come back and everything would reset. There is one such island, far to the South West portion of Hyrule, where this is not the case. There is an island where a shrine is located that requires the player to basically "reset" themselves. It takes away Link's gear and basically makes him play survival, on an island that wants him dead. There are...

Stealth is one of my favorite genres, so forgive any bias I hold with rating this well or not if I find it to be lacking in the actual need for stealth action. I first heard of "Mark of the Ninja" when watching a YouTuber by the username Gaijin Goomba going through and looking at games that, supposedly, have "ninja" in them. His problem was, of course, that none of the ninja being shown off were real ninja. Ninja Gaiden, for all of the flashy material it shows, does not show Ryu Hyabusa doing anything remotely "ninja"-like. Instead it has him out in the open murdering hundreds of demons at a time, not using stealth and subtlety like real ninja were trained for. Other games feature ninja as a background ideal to an otherwise flashy and in the open character. Then he seems to stumble upon this gem, Mark of the Ninja , which is a quirky, stylized art, 2D stealth game featuring a ninja doing...actual ninja things: sticking to the shadows to remain undetected...

I love playing the original World of Warcraft, or other games with dangerous overworlds. Because of the danger that is posed in traveling across them, a sense of accomplishment comes with fully exploring and bearing witness to what is present. The same feelings are coming back, for once, in the new Zelda game: Breath of the Wild. The world in the new Zelda is lush, enormous, and more importantly, dangerous to explore. It may not start that way, but coming across monsters is always a trial and there are numerous powerful enemies wandering the map that can make life very difficult for explorers and travelers alike, even one as heroic and amazing as  Link. Death is a very real possibility and the distinctness of the world lends itself to being something that will stick in my mind forever. What is it about danger, though, that makes something memorable? I guess there's always the fact that being there longer means that one gains an appreciation for the world, but the danger forces ...

A complaint wandering about the MMO side of gaming is that such games are becoming "too streamlined" to be fun. Well, how is this meant? That's where it gets tricky to talk about, because lots of MMO's have done streamlining to their benefit. Others have fallen from grace in the eyes of many because of doing what they called "streamlining" the game. World of Warcraft, for instance, has become infamous for how it has toned down much of its content. But what does it mean to "streamline" something and how is it used for MMO gaming? To streamline something is to, in this instance, make an operation, machine or system more effective and efficient by implementing faster or simpler working methods. In most instances, we would think of this as a good thing. Having a game flow faster as a result of having to think less about the mechanics and instead focusing more on the actual gameplay seems to be a common popularity trope within games. Games become more...

Raids should be difficult. They're end-game content, they encourage groups of people to actively communicating through voice chat and be on top of their games when engaging in them. However, raids have been a spot of contention among players for some time. How hard should raiding be? Should it be something worth the push and shove? Should it require breaking the game's mechanics down to min/maxing the stats in order to succeed? How hard is too hard? I ask the last question because it's something that has occurred to me while talking about raiding difficulty last night. Final Fantasy XIV has always had hard fights as part of its gameplay experience, and they're generally fun. I have been playing for a long time, used to carry hard mode primals and never quite did the extreme mode primals, the largest reason being because I was lagging too much on mechanics that were rapidly becoming far too punishing when failed. Titan EX is a good example of this early on, where faili...