PMG02 Barfs out words #4: Re: Let's Plays

If you watch my YouTube channel (which by the way is: https://www.youtube.com/user/PaperMarioGuy02/). You would have noticed that when I started producing written content for the channel that I implied that I would not be tying up loose ends with let's plays that I started in years past. (Don't watch those by the way they're terrible). However if you watch my YouTube channel (which you still should) you would know that I'm doing let's plays again. Don't freak out though written, content isn't going away (after all you're reading a blog post). But there will be gaming content. Because I'm starting them back up the rest of this post is going to mainly be my thoughts about let's plays.

In case you're living under a rock with no internet (in which case how are you reading this) let's plays are videos posted to the internet of someone commentating a game whilst playing it. In the last two years they've become wildly successful and have taken the world by storm. In my opinion there are three types of let's plays out there. Type a is the most popular leave your brain at the door let's plays that are just a fun thing to watch after a hard day and I think it has its place for that just straight up entertainment purposes. Now south park recently did an episode on these types of let's players and touches on all of my problems with them so that is definitely worth a watch. Type b of let's plays turn them more into film projects and years can be spent on preparing for them. Type b is really good but let's plays of that type are few and far between (probably due to the aforementioned years of preparation that they can take). Type c is when someone just talks to themselves while playing the game without putting any real entertainment face on. You would think then that type c has no place, but due to their generally laid back nature I find them somewhat relaxing.

In summary I think that all let's plays have their place but I really don't want them to take over my channel. Because I really want to keep myself doing scripted content I've decided I'm going to-once my current let's play is over-do a follow up video on actual English history for some background on who exactly I was playing as in my Civ 5 game. Anyway that's about it I will keep you posted (most likely in an ALog) on the status of the video so you can know what stage it is in. Bye.     

PMG02 Barfs out words #3: Pokemon ORAS review/editorial

     Disclaimer: This video is targeted at fans of the pokemon video game series if you don't know what this series is or is about, this video is not for you.

About every year there is a pokemon game, and this annual installment is a remake of the 2002 release of pokemon ruby and sapphire. Pokemon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire (I know, real original titles) which are the 2002 releases with a gen 6 X&Y finish. I got the game on launch and after having completed it here are my thoughts, in a review.

Story: There really isn't very much to say here, it’s a nintendo game after all. You find yourself in a small town, you get your starter pokemon, you find yourself a rival you collect 8 gym badges and become the best trainer in the region. All well fighting your games pokemon mafia group and getting your games resective legendary pokemon and enslaving random wildlife to do your bidding. It’s not the focus of the game, the stories have always been barebones (except for black and white) but I sort of wish they did more to expand upon it from the originals then just one thing that I won't spoil for you. This lack of story expansion starts to show my main problem with the game.

Presentation: The graphics are exactly the same as X and Y’s so I won't spend too much time on them. Beautiful cell shaded models (especially for the 3DS) but a very low resolution for such a small screen (it is very easy to see pixels at certain points). Sonically however the game is amazing. Honestly the music might be my favorite part of the game. It does exactly what I want a remake to do which is draw heavily on the original content, but remix itself a decent bit to justify the purchase. There are relaxing tracks, fast actiony tracks and a lot of fun remixes that I’m sure anyone who grew up with those games would get tons of nostalgia from. anyway that’s enough gushing let’s move on.

Gameplay: This is what makes or breaks any nintendo game and let me preface this by saying even though I'm about to crap on this game a lot. (like a lot, a lot) Just know that as a game it is a fun, (and lengthy, I had clocked in 18 hours by the end of it) fairly easy RPG. (The keyword there is fun, it is an enjoyable experience which is an far too many games forget about.). Now I don't think that anybody likes it as much when somebody on the internet is nice to a game so on to my problems. First some nitpicks: Why didn't the get rid of the parts that essentially required level grinding I thought pokemon had moved past that. Why are the pokemon center and pokemon mart not squished into the same place. It wouldn't be that hard to just redesign the town a little around that and we figured out that the squashed model is more convenient.Both of these problems dance around my main problem so let me explain.

Nintendo lost money at the end of 2012 and 2013 and their main problem was the wii u. But instead of trying to pick between the casual or hardcore audiences with the thing and moving forward. they're looking back to when times were better for them and are seeing what of that people still want. (I personally don't think that nintendo is headed for bankruptcy any time soon but that’s beside the point) You can see that very easily this year with Mario kart 8, Super smash bros. for the 3DS and wii u, the Xenoblade chronicles remake for the 3DS, Majora’s Mask 3d and Pokemon ORAS. And I think the reason nintendo just made the same game from 2002 with a shinier coat of paint and mega evolutions is that they don’t want to damage the quote on quote “secret sauce” that made the originals so popular. I see that in the lack of squishing public facilities together. I see it in the lack of level cap increased and I could name quite a few more things that support this hypothesis. What this fear of changing things does is it prevents the game from fixing things that were problems in the original

Conclusion: To end this I would like to say that I still really like the game and I'm still a fan of the series but if they pull this twice in a row then I might think to take the move to abandon ship. The subtitle of this video (or blog post) is Call of Pokemon Modern catch ‘em all 3 because I fear that pokemon is headed for the same fate that that series has/will suffer. Turning in to the same game every year with slight tweaks but still selling millions of copies, then in 10 or 20 years dying a sad death with nobody caring remotely about its recent titles. Yes that is what I think will happen to CoD. I think for a year or two, but only a year or two the remake strategy will work even better than what would have happened if they made entirely new games. (people like familiarity after all) Which is why I think nintendo will gain money this year. So nintendo you can remake but fix the mistakes that were in the original that seem archaic now alright, ok bye.

PaperMarioGuy02 barfs out words #2

     Hey It's another blog for the first time in several months I wanna try to keep these short from now on (under 250 words). I just wanted to say here that the script writing for the american revolution is almost done and that this blog isn't dead. This post is just mainly to get something out the door so I can get invested in writing stuff again that's all I really have to say

PMG02 barfs words Entry 1

I type this first blog entry for two reasons. One to announce that because I'm writing videos now I will also be writing blogs. Expect new blogs every suday at 5:00 ADT or AST at http://papermarioguy.blogspot.ca/. Second I'm writing this to memorialise September 14th 2014 as the last date I will write anything under the PaperMarioGuy02 umbrella on the PC I'm using right now as we are getting a new computer. RIP hp pavillion PC 2007-2014.