My Top Ten Favorite Video Game Characters, Part 3

Yay, more video game characters!  Last time we talked about Saavedro and Siegmeyer, two tragic characters who succumb to their own despair.  Don’t worry though guys, I don’t only like depressing stories.  Let’s get right to it with number six!

Number 6:  Laharl, from Disgaea

 

“To show my appreciation, I’ll only beat them half to death.”

Disgaea is hilarious.  Pure and simple, the funniest game I’ve ever played.  It’s a tactical roleplaying game where you have to strategically move your characters in order to defeat your enemies.  In addition to the main cast, you’re able to create your own set of characters to support them, which is awesome and adds a lot of variety to the game.  However, the absolute best part of playing this game is just how much fun it is to listen to the characters, whether they’re fighting, arguing, or just being their awesome selves.  Disgaea definitely doesn’t take itself very seriously, with a lighthearted atmosphere, comedic character interaction, pop-culture references, and above all:  Laharl, Prince of the Netherworld.

Laharl is the son of the now-late King Krichevskoy, the lord of the Netherworld and ruler of demons.  Being the arrogant and power-hungry kid that he is, Laharl wants nothing more than to take is rightful place on the throne and rule with an iron fist, manically laughing all the way.  Heh heh heh heh, HAAAA HAHAHAHAHAHA!

With the help of his servant, Etna, he embarks on a quest to prove his worth as the Overlord.  I wish I could describe the sheer hilarity of watching those two interact, but it’s honestly something you have to see for yourself.  Along the way, they meet Flonne, a happy and loving angel who’s appalled at the greedy and violent nature of demons, and seeks to teach them the meaning of love and kindness.  Of course, she is the polar opposite of Laharl, which leads to yet more comedic interaction.  The entire game is just fun, plain and simple.  What separates Laharl from the other characters as well as most characters in general is that in addition to the multitude of funny moments, he also has some very deep and serious character development that’s presented in an awesome way.  

 

As Laharl continues his adventures, you discover that he may not be quite as evil as he proclaims himself to be, much to the joy of Flonne.  Small acts of kindness which would seem trivial and commonplace to most people are a big deal for him.  However, even as he tries to convince everyone, including himself, of his wicked nature, he occasionally shows his softer side, usually by being merciful on his defeated foes.  All of this comes to a head when you find out that Laharl’s mother, who he outright refuses to talk about, was actually a human.  She fell in love with his father, and despite the fact that humans die after being in the Netherworld for too long, she refused to abandon him or their newborn child.  Because she died due to her love for Laharl, he views love as useless and a sign of weakness.  In a very emotional scene where Laharl is able to speak to the ghost of his mother for a brief moment, it really brings out just how deep-rooted his inner turmoil is, and makes him stand out as a character. 

Overall, the game is still mostly comedic and silly, but the added depth and character development to Laharl when he’s already so funny and awesome (he takes out a fleet of ten thousand battleships by himself) earns him a spot on this list.

 

5.  Grigori, from Dragon’s Dogma

 

”What is your purpose here, Arisen?  If you sought to live you had naught but run and hide yourself away. But then, tell me, child of man....what does it mean to live in truth? To wage war against the passing days? To pray to the unseen for a few breaths more? To raise grand cities from stone, and spawn new life in turn? Mankind has done this, yes, and more. But is the tapestry you weave truly of your own design?”

As you can tell, this guy loves talking.  By guy, I of course mean giant awesome looking dragon.  In Dragon’s Dogma, the dragon who you later find out is named Grigori has begun laying waste to the land, and it’s prophesized that only the chosen being known as the Arisen can defeat him.  You see, the dragon has appeared countless times before, and each time, it wreaks havoc on the realm before flying off to its lair in a distant mountain, seemingly waiting for something.  Well it turns out, that something is you.  And of course, that’s your ultimate goal:  slay the dragon and stop his reign of destruction.

It sounds like a pretty generic plot, but you’re going to have to trust me when I say its anything but.  It turns out, that the reason the dragon mysteriously flies off is because he recognizes your character as the Arisen.  What makes you the chosen one?  After all, you start out as a harmless fisherman who would have no chance of winning in combat.  You are one among countless people with the bravery, determination, and courage to undertake the long and hard journey and face him.  But what makes Grigori stand out as the best character in this game?

 

Well, let me first say that the fantasy nerd in me has to give him points because he’s a flipping dragon, okay?  You can’t get much more awesome than that.  But Grigori goes far beyond the normal coolness that being a dragon comes with.  As you can tell from the above quote, he’s very philosophical and ominous.  Once you finally, after a long and perilous adventure, are ready to face him, he gives you a choice.  You can give up the one you love the most (basically the character you showed the most interest in throughout the game) and he will stop attacking the country.  You can leave and never have to face the seemingly impossible task of slaying him.  Otherwise, it’s time for the final showdown.

The reason Grigori gives you this choice is simple:  Even though the Arisen is someone who possesses the potential to defeat him, there’s no guarantee that they will.  In fact, many Arisens in the past have failed.  Grigori didn’t choose you because you would win, he picked you because you would at least try.  The above quote is from the final speech he makes before you fight him, which is the main reason that cements him as one of my favorite characters.  He describes humanity’s desire to expand and evolve, and how you represent their will to survive in the face of oblivion, for a dragon is destruction incarnate.  Grigori was created in order to test mankind’s worthiness to live on.  He doesn’t want to destroy you, he wants you to defeat him.  But he wants you to prove, beyond all doubt, that you’re worthy of leading humanity forward, and so he won’t hold back.

Should you decide to fight, what follows is one of the most climactic battles in gaming history, and Grigori continually encourages you to keep fighting and to show him your true strength, while at the same time asserting that you chose to fight this battle of your own free will, and that there’s no one to blame but yourself should you fail.  It’s an amazing battle, a grand finale to an amazing character.  Grigori is just too awesome for words.  There’s a lot more to the game’s story that I can’t mention here, but suffice to say that no other game has successfully recreated the thrill of battle against insurmountable odds in quite the same way. 

"Some welcome the end with arms outstretched, while others come to face death incarnate, arms in hand.  I ask again.  What is your purpose here, Arisen?"

 

That does it for these two awesome characters!  Next time, we’ll start getting into the characters who aren’t only my favorites from video games, but some of my favorites of all time.  Thanks for reading!

My Top Ten Favorite Video Game Characters, Part 2

It’s time for the next post of my list of favorite video game characters!  Last time we had two AIs, one a philosophical computer, the other a spunky and sassy girl.  This time, we take a look at some characters who may or may not be 100% right in the head.  Craziness and insanity are always interesting traits for a character to have, and can have a big impact on their story and how they interact with the world they’re in.  A character who may not be all there can spice things up by being unique, funny, or even scary.  So without further ado…

8.  Saavedro, from Myst III: Exile

 

“When I finally made it back home and I saw…. I saw… it would have been better if I had died.”

Ah, the Myst series.  One of my favorite game franchises ever, it’s one of the first game’s I played in my youth where I truly felt immersed in the world and story.  The games have difficult puzzles, intricate and deep stories, and awesome characters to boot.  I had to think for a while about my favorite character from this series.  Atrus, the wise and methodical father who creates links to other worlds?  His father Gehn, a power-hungry madman who treats those same worlds like garbage and has enslaved or murdered countless people?  I finally decided on one of the series’ more obscure characters:  The villain of Myst III, Saavedro.

At the beginning of the game, you meet with Atrus and his wife Catherine in their new home that he created for them after the events of the previous game (by the way, the Myst series is mostly about creating other worlds by describing them in magic books, at the end of which is a panel with which you can then transport yourself to that world.  Weird, I know, but if I were to fully explain it we’d be here all day.)  After talking to Atrus for a mere few moments, this guy appears out of nowhere and lights the library on fire.

 

What a jerk.  It gets worse, he steals the new linking book that Atrus has been working on, and without it he has no way of getting back to the civilization that lives there.  With no explanation whatsoever, Saavedro runs off and locks himself in a tower, which of course requires some clever puzzle solving to access.  As you journey through the game on a quest to retrieve the lost book, you slowly discover Saavedro’s past.  And let me tell you, it’s not pretty.  He’s one of the saddest, most tragic characters I’ve ever seen in a game.  Everything he had was taken away from him (indirectly and through several misunderstandings, but that would be spoiling things) by Atrus.  His home world of Narayan was engaged in a civil war, his wife and child died in front of him, and he was then trapped on a different world for 20 years with nothing but his complete and utter despair for company.  Needless to say, he’s gone a little bonkers.  Completely obsessed with revenge, Saavedro spent all of that time planning to take everything from Atrus in the same way that everything was taken from him.

Not only is this character an awesome and interesting villain, he’s also very entertaining to watch and listen to.  The Myst series uses live actors who are edited into the game, and Saavedro is played by Brad Douriff, known for other awesome roles such as Grima from Lord of the Rings and Billy from One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest.  He pours tons of emotion into Saavedro and expertly conveys the mind of someone who has spent the last two decades desperately and methodically planning revenge.  It really brings the character to life, and despite the inevitable dark twists that Myst’s stories are known for, you still look forward to seeing his next appearance.  Near the end, where Saavedro goes completely over the edge in the final world, there are some of the most intense and emotional moments of any game I’ve played.  Saavedro is truly an awesome villain and is my favorite Myst character.

7.  Siegmeyer, from Dark Souls

 

“No worries!  Adventuring is my life; I’m prepared for the worst.”

Dark Souls, the sequel to a game I have talked about before, Demon’s Souls (which will also be later on the list!) is even more bone-crushingly difficult than its predecessor.  The story is also far more complicated and in depth, and the world is sprawling and open rather than segmented like in the first game.  There are many more characters to meet along the way, and several of them have their own miniature storylines which the player can follow through and complete as an aside to the main story.  All of these characters are awesome in their own unique way, but I still have a clear favorite.  This is yet another sad and tragic story, in my opinion the saddest one in a game full of dark and depressing stories.  There’s also a little bit of crazy in there as well, in a much more subtle and ominous way.  Let’s go to the land of Lordran and meet the brave knight, Siegmeyer of Catarina.

You first meet the knight in shining onion armor near the beginning of the game.  Both of you are beings known as Undead, which are able to die over and over again, but eventually they will become Hollow, a mindless and soulless being that attacks all others.  At first, he’s merely stumped as to how to get past a gate, the very same gate that you must pass in order to progress.  He seems very happy and content with life, often sitting down and trying to think his way through problems, rather than fight.  He loves adventuring more than anything, and his bright personality stands out in the dark world of Lordran.  His boisterous laugh never fails to make me smile and feel like adventuring.  But, of course, there is far more to him than meets the eye, and his jubilant personality and brave attitude disguise a very different man, and not in the way you would expect.  He never betrays you or tries to harm you.  He doesn’t “turn evil” or secretly commit heinous acts.  That wouldn’t be sad enough.  That wouldn’t scar you for life.

 

After you open the gate, it isn’t long before you meet him again.  You find him several more times throughout the game, and discover that him needing your help is a common trend.  First he needs help getting past a boulder trap, then there are enemies in his way, then he needs some antidote moss, it goes on and on.  Each time you talk to him, he seems to be a little more hesitant to ask for your help.  He always thanks you and promises to repay you in the future, but it becomes obvious that he can’t seem to overcome his fear of the danger that lies before him.  It injures his pride and stains his status as a proud knight to ask for help, but he does so anyway.  Despite his fear, he is determined to keep adventuring, as though he’s trying to prove himself to someone.  Maybe himself?  Regardless of the reason, he’s so determined to keep going that he even abandoned his wife and daughter from Catarina in order to pursue this life.  But it’s clear that he just doesn’t seem to be cut out for it.  Physically, he’s very strong and a capable fighter, but he can’t seem to get past his mental, or perhaps emotional, barriers. 

Siegmeyer’s journey, in a way, directly mirrors the player’s.  You are both trying to get through this dark world and attain your separate goals.  Many people have pointed out that Siegmeyer is similar to players who use walkthroughs and guides to help them get through the game.  You may get past one thing, but then you won’t be prepared for the next thing, forcing you to use it again, and again.  As someone who did have to use a few tips from the internet in order to get past certain points, I can confirm that I felt the same guilt that Siegmeyer feels when he asks you for help:  The shame of not being able to complete something on your own merit.  For a proud man like Siegmeyer, there is no greater pain for him then to be assisted through his journey, yet be unable to help you in return.  It turns out that his contemplative nature and tendency to think rather than act stems from his secret belief that he only needs to wait for his problems to be solved, a belief which you caused.  Even if the player were able to offer some sort of condolence or words of comfort (which they can’t) it would likely only make him feel worse.  All of this catches up with him in one of the final areas of the game, a dangerous temple of fire called Izalith. 

Below Siegmeyer is a pit of horrible demons, and he’s quite afraid to go down there and face them himself.  However, this time he offers you assistance.  He tells you of his plan to jump down and distract the creatures while you make your escape.  He assures you that as a strong knight, he won’t be harmed.  From here, you have two choices.  There is no way that he would be able to kill the creatures by himself.  If you let him face them alone, he will die.  But if you stand by him and help defeat them, he will have suffered his final and greatest shame.  He thanks you for saving him once again, but there is no sincerity in his words:  only despair.  And that’s the last time you see him alive. 

In the midst of everything, his daughter, Sieglinde, has arrived in Lordran to deliver her mother’s dying words to Siegmeyer.  His daughter’s bravery and ability to find him without even being Undead is the final push that sends him over the edge.  Remember, the definition of insanity is trying the same thing over and over while expecting a different result.  But Siegmeyer, so filled with despair and so desperate to prove himself to the world, sets out on one last journey.  He goes to the most dangerous place in the world of Dark Souls:  Ash Lake.  There, he engages in a hopeless fight against a giant hydra, despite there being no chance for him to win.  And when an Undead dies one too many times, they become Hollow.  His daughter finally manages to track him down, but too late.  They fight, and Sieglinde is forced to kill her own father.  So ends the story of Siegmeyer, the bravest and yet most unfortunately proud knight you will ever know. 

 

So right now you’re probably thinking I’m some kind of deranged sadist who loves watching characters suffer, based on this post.  On the contrary, I felt absolutely horrible when I found Sieglinde standing above her father’s hollowed corpse, crying and wishing that things could have been different.  I love this character so much because his story so intricately illustrates the dynamic of pride and despair, and what happens when you give in to it.  Siegmeyer died doing what he loved, adventuring on his own merit.  Whether he overcame his fear and proved his bravery or simply went completely insane and charged to his death in a mad quest of self-fulfillment is entirely up to your interpretation.  Personally, I will always remember Siegmeyer as an honest friend and a truly brave man.  Because despite all of his fear, and knowing that his adventures would eventually take his life, he never gave up.  While he needed your help along the way, perhaps it was still better than going home with his dreams unfulfilled and never taking the journey at all.

 

That wraps up these two characters, maybe next week we can read about some less depressing ones.  In addition to part 3, the Halloween post will also be up, which I’m really looking forward to.  I’m interested in what everyone else is doing for Halloween, too!  Post a comment about your own favorite characters, or ask a question about these ones, since they both come from games with very complicated and lengthy stories.  Thanks for reading!

My Top Ten Favorite Video Game Characters, Part 1

From great games come great stories, and from great stories come great characters.  If I had to choose my favorite fictional character, I would probably explode.  I love good characters that are well written, entertaining to watch, and add something to the story they are in.  Characters that are interesting are easy to become emotionally invested in, and when we’re attached to a character, it makes the story even better, because we feel something towards it.  Whether we want the character to succeed and attain their goals, fail and be defeated, or just crack off another joke, we are invested in that character because they have become real to us.  This is even more awesome in a video game, because sometimes you are playing as or interacting with the character you love.  I decided to make this list of my favorite characters firstly because, of course, there are many awesome characters I want to talk about.  In addition, it will give me the opportunity to talk about several different games, some of which I’ve already discussed.  I’ll try to avoid spoilers for major plot points in each game, but talking about why I love a particular character will definitely involve SOME stuff being given away, so be warned. 

So I sat down one night and compiled a list of a bunch of characters I liked.  Surprisingly, narrowing them down to ten wasn’t as hard as I thought, as the characters I’ve ended up with are the ones that really stand out to me.  There are a couple of rules I made for this list:  Only one character per game series, because otherwise a bunch of them would probably be from the same game.  Also, the character must have been originally created for a video game, so no games based off of movies, books, or animes will be counted, since I wanted to keep the focus specifically on video game characters.  Unfortunately, I have to split the list up into several posts, otherwise it would be ridiculously long.  I will write about two characters per week and make the entire list five posts long.  I hope you all enjoy reading about the characters and why they’re my favorites!

10.  SGDS, from The Infinite Ocean

"Infinity lies beyond these walls."

  This character is unique among its peers due to the game that it originates from.  The Infinite Ocean is a flash game, meaning it’s played on an internet website.  Usually, they are fun little distractions made by just a few people, and not generally known for their deep plots and interesting characters.  However, this game is one of the most thought-provoking and philosophical that I’ve ever played, mostly because of the central character, an artificial intelligence known as SGDS. 

Sometime in the hypothetical future, a group of scientists come together with the purpose of creating artificial life.  This project has been undertaken many times in the past, but this group builds upon past failures and decides to go all-in.  As you progress, you come to understand each scientist on the project through the journals they have recorded, and much of the game is spent reading various philosophies, not only on how to create life, but how to feel about it once they succeed.  The scientists are having a hard time paying for the extensive hours that everyone has to work, and it seems that they will fail, until the government offers them military funding.  In exchange, this will officially be a government project, and the AI they are creating will be their property.  Many of them are opposed to the idea of their creation being used like this, but they eventually relent, because it’s important to them that their dream be realized.  Eventually, after years and years of programming, they flip the ‘on’ switch and watch as the first life created by man displays two solitary words on a computer screen:  “I AM.”

This game is really fun and has challenging puzzles in addition to the dialog, most of which involve escaping through strange and creepy rooms.  It's a very atmospheric game, with depressing music and cryptic messages left on computer screens.

What follows is some of the most in-depth, morally ambiguous, and thought-provoking dialog I have ever read.  The Sentient Global Defense System, as the military dubs it, converses with its creators and quickly learns everything about our world.  It records its own thoughts about everything, the nature of life and death, why we feel emotion, what true beauty is, what love is.  It’s incredibly fascinating and the designer did a fantastic job making this character feel real.  His writing is inspirational and very open to interpretation, and you feel like a philosopher after playing this game.  I would love to sit and have a long conversation with SGDS about… well, everything. 

When a giant world war erupts, the military wrests control of SGDS away from its creators, who have grown to love and respect it over time.  They plan to use the AI’s vast intellect and power to control all of their weapons and strategically use them to win the war.  SGDS, who after extensive thought has deemed the Earth as a beautiful and irreplaceable gift, and life to be worth living, refuses its task, as using the weapons it possesses would likely cause the deaths of millions.  The military puts SGDS into ‘emergency mode’, which is a dream-like state of hibernation that allows them to control the AI’s actions.  What happens next is entirely up to how the player views the events and clashing mindsets within the game. 

 

You can play this game at armorgames.com for free, if you’re interested!

9.  *Hyun-ae, from Analogue:  A Hate Story

 

This is yet another weird and unique game.  Presented in the style of a graphic novel, the actual gameplay is mostly reading, similar to The Infinite Ocean.  Oddly enough, this character is also an AI, and once again, the game is set in the far future.  You are a Space Investigator who is sent on a mission to download the record logs of a ruined Korean generation ship that mysteriously vanished several centuries ago.  You must read through the many letters, security records, and diaries of the ship’s passengers to determine what caused the catastrophe.  However, it would be boring if there wasn’t a little interaction with some fun characters along the way, right?

There are a couple of AI’s in the ship’s systems that can help you discover the truth, two mysterious women named *Hyun-ae (pronounced Hyun-MAY) and *Mute.  Both of them have separate personalities, opinions, and dark secrets.  I chose *Hyun-ae as my favorite because she is far more mysterious and more interesting to talk to.  As you discover more and more of what happened aboard the ship, you also discover more about the two AIs helping you.  *Hyun-ae was originally a human girl born on the ship.  She was diagnosed with an incurable disease that would cause her immune system to degrade until she died.  She was given only a couple of years to live, and her parents decided to cryogenically freeze her, suspending her body in time until a point in the future where they could hopefully cure her disease. 

However, when she woke up, things had taken a very different turn.  The ship society, as you have figured out from the various letters, had somehow devolved into neo Confucianism.  This is a fancy way of saying that the new way of life was a more old-fashioned and medieval way of thinking, meaning that women's sole purpose in life was to get married, have children, and attend to their husband.  Imagine waking up and discovering your right to speak your mind and live freely had vanished.  Not to mention that their medical techniques had also degraded, so there was no way she could be cured.  *Hyun-ae's backstory and dialog is really emotional as well as fascinating. 

*Mute is also a great character.  The two AIs despise each other and each blame the other for their personal problems, which is a really funny and interesting dynamic.  When you show one of them a letter and they state their opinion of it, it’s always cool to see how the other one reacts.  Overall, the game is incredibly fun, despite most of it being reading.  Because you can make choices in how you talk to each AI and focus more on one or the other, the story is drastically changed based on your personal views. 

I don’t want to spoil the major parts of the game, but suffice to say that at some point you have to choose between the two AIs.  One of them is lost forever, and the other is the one you’re stuck with for the rest of the game.  The first time I played, I had grown more attached to *Hyun-ae, and was more interested in her story.  No matter which one you choose, there are parts of the story that are cut off from being solved without both of their perspectives.  In contrast to *Mute’s sassy and obnoxious nature, *Hyun-ae is more shy and reserved, although she will still readily state her thoughts, if you let her.  Over the course of the game, you uncover the mysteries surrounding her life, and based on how you feel about her and talk to her, you will have different results.  I love the characters in this game, and the ability to talk to *Hyun-ae is what puts her slightly above SGDS on the list. 

This is just the beginning of what has turned into a pretty long list, so stay tuned!  Post a comment about your own favorite fictional characters!

 

The Walls are Talking

 

Halloween is coming soon!  I love the holiday because it means dressing up, hanging out with friends, and having a lot of fun.  Lots of people love watching scary movies, but I’m a big wimp when it comes to horror stuff.  My brain knows that what’s happening isn’t real, but that doesn’t stop me from freaking out over the littlest things.  Regardless, I have still watched a few of them for the sake of stretching my comfort zone.  In addition to movies, there are also horror games as well, which can be even scarier because you are directly immersed in the story, as video games do.  Once again, I haven’t played very many, but there is one in particular that is worth discussing, and would fit the spirit of Halloween perfectly.  On the week of Halloween, I will post about that game, one of the best and scariest ever created.  For now though, something that isn’t exactly "horror", but just as immersive and foreboding.  Let’s go visit the world of kairo. 

 

As you can see, this place makes no sense.  It looks like an abstract artist’s lucid dream, or a mental patient’s description of the interior of a kaleidoscope.  You wake up in a vast whiteness, empty save for a small structure up ahead.  Spatial limitations mean nothing in kairo, so even just this tiny place is actually a labyrinth of connecting rooms, each stranger and more impossible than the last.  As I began exploring, I half-expected Chesire Cat to appear and start giving nonsensical advice.  kairo, in both theme and atmosphere, is certainly like Wonderland.  What are you doing here?  Who are you?  What is the secret of kairo?

 

All of these questions are revealed as you explore further and further, solving the strange puzzles and re-activating the ancient machinery that litters the ruins.  Much of the world draws inspiration from Egyptian architecture, and traversing the convoluted rooms is not unlike making your way through one of the giant pyramids, searching for treasure and answers.  Of course, all logic is thrown out in the window in favor of floating bridges, upside-down coliseums, and awe-inspiring infinite rooms.  Unlike most puzzle games, there is nothing to pick up, nothing to combine together, and bare-minimum interaction.  Everything is solved by doing the only thing you can do:  walking around.  There’s no dialog, no other characters, and no explanation or premise given.  You are alone here. 

 

Early on, as you begin to explore and experience the game, the plain-looking and grainy walls and deafening silence of kairo give no illusions of former grandeur, no do they bear any particular features other than being strange and abstract.  (There’s actually an option to turn off the grainy static that covers everything, in case you get a headache.  It adds a lot to the immersion, though.)  It feels like the world is a photograph or drawing, not ruined or decayed from a glorious past, but a frozen snapshot, like it has never changed and has always permeated.  You feel like a trespasser who’s gone past the “DO NOT ENTER” sign, a stranger in a foreign land, the sole actor in an empty auditorium.  As you turn on the strange machines one by one, you can’t help but feel that someone, or something, is watching you.  Waiting with baited breath for you to accomplish your tasks, solve all the mysteries, and realize your destiny.

All of this becomes apparent through the amazing world design as well as the dark and foreboding music.  Such delightful tracks such as The Walls are Talking, White Noise, and Underground Orchestra echo from around the corners of the monolithic kairo.  Hearing it by itself doesn’t convey the same emotions that it does while playing the game.  In addition to solving the puzzles, exploring the more hidden areas of kairo will yield tiny bits of information about the story, all without dialog or cut scenes.  It almost seems like the world of kairo itself is telling the story.  Even after completing the entire game, the story is intentionally left ambiguous and open to interpretation, and giant chunks of information are left out for none but the most determined players to discover.  

As you make progress and reveal more gigantic structures, solve increasingly bizarre puzzles, and explore the darkest depths of kairo, more things start to happen.  Creepy things.  The world grows darker and more twisted, the already bleak story becomes even more cryptic, and now you are certain, beyond any doubt, that something is watching you.  Nothing ever jumps out at you and no monsters chase you, but by merely continuing on in this strange place, it can be just as frightening as any horror game, purely from the heavy atmosphere and spine-tingling mysterious that unfold.  Even if puzzle solving and exploration aren’t what you want from a game, I recommend it only on the basis of experiencing the atmosphere and world design.  If you’ve ever experienced, or even just imagined, the feeling you get by being in complete isolation, with nothing but your thoughts to accompany you, you already know what it’s like to play this game.  And it’s awesome.  kairo is a masterpiece because it’s able to create the same feeling as if you’re standing alone in the center of an empty baseball stadium, or wandering alone in an abandoned building.  For me, it brings back memories of the Myst games (which I’ll undoubtedly post about at some point, those games are so amazing!) which have similar tone and atmosphere. 

Stare at the towering walls and listen carefully to the static-ridden radio signals.  Walk across an infinity while gazing up at the grainy red sky.  Hope that whatever it is you’re doing here, it’s for a good reason other than for someone to laugh at the rat running through the maze.  Unlock the secret of kairo.

 

(Also, if anyone meets Alice somewhere on their travels, don't let her borrow any money and tell her she still owes me that sandwich.)

Towards the distant Light

 

I’ve played a lot of games in my life, far more than I could count or recall, but after a lot of thought, I believe I have a clear favorite.  Of all the thought-provoking, emotional, and satisfying games I’ve played, there is one that I hold in the highest regard.  There are several games I have played that I consider masterpieces of design, ones that I can’t stop talking about (or playing, for that matter) but from the most unlikely source, I found a game that is, in my personal opinion, perfect in almost every way. 

Well, I’ve set the bar for this game awfully high.  There are multitudes of reviews and articles that sing this games’ praises, and none of them, including this blog, can truly do it justice, because it’s something that must be experienced for oneself, similar to how one has difficulty describing a painting or symphony using only words.

A couple of years ago, a trailer for a game was released at a major convention that didn’t make any sense.  A strange being that appeared to be made of cloth wandered a vast, empty desert.  Not doing anything noteworthy or eye-catching, just walking.  In the distance, looming beyond the horizon, a mountain rose into the sandy sky.  At its summit, a pillar of light between twin peaks.  The cloth-being was walking towards it.  Eventually, a second one joined the first, and together they slowly kept walking, journeying, together.  And that was it, the trailer for the simply-titled Journey, a game that stood out from all the others at the convention. 

This game immediately caught my attention due to its unique premise and mysterious atmosphere.  Many games release similar mysterious trailers, and they usually mean one of two things:  The game is so boring that they couldn’t have made the trailer interesting if they tried, or they are deliberately under-advertising it because the rest of the game is so amazing, they don’t want to spoil any of it.  Sincerely hoping that it was the latter in this case, I bought the game on the PlayStation Network as soon as it was released.  And for the next two hours, I walked my cloth-clad character towards the distant mountain, overcame all of the obstacles set before me, experienced a fascinating and deep story, felt stronger emotional ties than I ever have to a game, and at last, when I completed it with tears in my eyes, I silently set down the controller and turned off the system.  I have played it fifteen times since then.

 

Part of me wants to gush and rant about the game’s every detail and describe just what kind of journey you undertake once you see that light on top of the mountain.  But, not only would this post be several thousand words long, nothing I could say would do the game justice.  Like I said earlier, it’s something that must be experienced in order to appreciate it.  However, what I will say is that this game showcases the vast potential of video games and how meaningful and enjoyable they can be.  The art style and visuals are awe-inspiring.  The story, told completely without dialog, is unlike anything I’ve ever experienced.  And the music, oh my god, the music. Austin Wintory, the lead composer, ingeniously weaves an amazing symphony into the gameplay, such that it feels as though the game were made for the music, instead of the other way around.  I’m not exaggerating when I say that as I listened to the soundtrack perfectly accentuate every step of your journey, I felt some of the strongest emotions in my life.

As if all of that isn’t enough, there is also the fact that this game is multiplayer.  Rather than the traditional ‘invite a player to your game’ system, you randomly find other players along the way.  The only way to communicate with each other is with musical chirping sounds.  It sounds limiting, but in fact, it’s the most free and pure form of communication I think I’ve ever seen, as it transcends language barriers, biases, and prejudice.  It doesn’t matter who each player is, what they’re doing, or why they’re playing the game.  You’re both taking the journey together now, both of you heading towards that light on the mountaintop.  Even if they’re just chirping noises, I’ve never had a problem understanding what the other player is saying.  You can tell I love a game too much when I talk about how the multiplayer system is deep and thought-provoking.

 

 All-in-all, this is a weird and sort of pointless post, but on a blog about video games, I felt the need to talk about my favorite game of all time.  I wanted to talk about it more, but I don't want to deny anyone the experience of playing it for themselves by satisfying their curiosity with spoilers.  I hope that everyone reading this reaches their own personal mountaintops, and that they find the pillar of light waiting for them at the summit.  But remember, it isn’t only the destination that’s important.  It’s the Journey.