Orisinality

So, I've been debating for some time now on which Orisinal game(s) to post about. Well, I'm taking the easy way out and just tossing you all a link to Orisinal.com. You can't make me pick a favorite! You can't!

If you could, it might be "Bugs". Or if I'm in the mood for a puzzle game, I'd probably pick "Bauns". You know, "Roperunner" is pretty damn fun too once you get the hang of the control scheme. Gah! How can so many great games come from one mind?

There's also a rather nifty eCard maker down toward the bottom of the page that allows you to arrange flowers and then send off your unique arrangement for that special occasion. Yes, that one. Aren't you glad I reminded you?

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Why play it? Erm, don't I mean "Why play them?" Well, play them because they are fun. Play them because they are cute. Play them because they are both extremely challenging and extremely gorgeous. To put it simply, Ferry's games are what all Flash artists should strive toward making. And you should strive toward the link to Orisinal.com on the right.

Chalk another up for Konjak!

I really enjoyed Konjak's game Noitu Love and was briefly amused with his simple (yet infuriating!) puzzle game called Tripline. Chalk, on the other hand, is in a category by itself.

Chalk is polished. Looking like something you'd buy for the Nintendo DS, this freeware gem amassed 14,000 downloads in one week. The play style is similar to a scrolling shooter, but even that comparison is kind of a stretch. Control is all done with a mouse, but if you have a PC with a touch screen, that's when this game really shines.

There's not really a story to this game per se, but you control a school girl (teacher?) who's got a magic piece of chalk. You have to defeat enimes by drawing lines with this chalk between them and the bulletts that they shoot. You can also destroy barriers and such in the same manner.

I'm not quite sure how the creator came up with a concept like that, but it's pure genious. Follow the link on the left and try it out.

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Why play it? It's an innovative concept and you're an innovative player. It's also fun. You like fun, right?

A Mid-Knytt Snack

I'm always searching for good games. Heck, this blog is all about the gems I've found online. I found two such gems in a little corner of the Internet that belongs to Nifflas. At their most basic level, "Within a Deep Forest" and "Knytt" are throwbacks to a time when hopping from platform to platform was what playing video games meant. What sets Nifflas's games apart from the rest is their mood.

In both games, the mood is similar. It's this odd sense of desolation mixed with freedom that I've only experienced in dreams. When I was around 7 or 8 years old, I had a reoccurring dream in which I was completely alone. I don't mean "alone" like my parents had left me somewhere. In my dreams, I woke up one morning to find that everyone in the world, as far as I could tell, had vanished completely and, once I had walked around for a bit, I knew that they were never going to return. However, these dreams were not nightmares. They had this sense to them that I now had a lot of responsibility on my shoulders. With this responsibly came a sense of freedom.

The main characters aren't actually alone in these games. There are creatures that roam about, but they are certainly not your typical video-game monsters. For the most part, they're benign. These monsters don't typically interact with the main character; they are just going about their business as if you're not bouncing around or scaling walls in front of them. They are little more than interesting background props. The lack of interaction with other characters, along with the dreamlike ambient music, only serves to reinforce the mood of beautiful isolation.

These games are platformers; but they're platformers with a heavy dose of "Myst"-style exploration poured into them. Though the graphics are pretty simple, both of Nifflas' games stand out as stark dreamscapes of twisting tunnels and odd rock formations. All in all, these games are really quite spectacular. Follow the link and check them out for yourself.

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Why play it? These are the only platformers that I can describe as "haunting" and not feel too cheesy about using that adjective. This is one of them.

We were the first that ever burst; Into that silent sea.

I don't know that I've ever been quite so excited about an upcoming game as I am about Aquaria. It's not yet released, but I've been following the boards at bit-blot.com closely ever since Alec and Derek decided to enter it in to the Independent Games Festival. They won the grand prize and it's easy to see why.

Aquaria is beautiful. From the rich 2-D landscapes to the wonderful voice-acting, what I've heard and seen from the trailers just leaves me with spindles all over my skin. Every trailer that I've seen makes the animation and control look ultra-fluid, much like the ocean in which the main character is living.

The story appears to center around Naija, a young mer-girl who awakes without her memory in the vast ocean world of Aquaria. Watch the trailer on the website to see more. Your guess is as good as mine on how the story will unfold, but I can assure you one thing; with the amount of care that Derek and Alec have put into this game, it's going to be spectacular.

One of the things that excites me the most is that the inspiration for this game comes from three of my all-time favorite games -- Metroid, Zelda, Castlevania: Symphony of the Night. If you're in to pigeonholing games, I suppose that Aquaria falls under the category of "action adventure". From reading the blog and message boards on Bit-Blot, it sounds like there's a lot of exploration involved also. With the fluidity of the control scheme and the rich, hand-drawn graphics, I have a feeling that the exploration of Aquaria alone is going to be more fun than half of the games out on the market now.

Check out the link to Aquaria and marvel at it for a while. Hopefully you'll become as hopelessly addicted to a game you've never even played yet as I have. I'm just here to share the love.

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Why play it? Well, you can't. Not yet at least. When they release Aquaria, it'll be plain to see why.

...and the greatest of these is Loathe.

I was not impressed the first time I tried Kingdom of Loathing. My first impression of KoL was that it has terrible graphics, a clunky interface, and that the whole game is nothing but a big spoof. How can a game that's one big running gag about roleplaying have any staying power?

Spoof it may be, yet after playing out my first day in the game, this little web-based, turn-based MMORPG has really grown on me. KoL is pure genius. The art may be bad, but it's intentionally so. The interface may be clunky, but you can navigate around well enough. The wit and wordplay of the item descriptions alone pulled this one ahead of many other MMORPGs out there. Jick (the creator) is hilarious. He's successfully created a game that mocks all other RPGs while still being completely engrossing.

The first thing that KoL reminded me of was a goofy card game I discovered at GenCon back in 2000 called Munchkin. I'm not sure if Jick got his original inspiration from Munchkin, but KoL certainly feels a lot like an pre-pubescent game of D&D.

The Kingdom of Loathing isn't just laughs though. This game has some rather interesting features. Every character level up to level 13 has its own quest associated with it. After you've finished your level 13 quest, you can continue to level up and go about your business. With levels comes more powerful spells and the ability to fight more powerful monsters. However, many players choose to Ascend, allowing them to save one of their skills from that life and start over again with a new class at lvl 1. Ascending also allows you to up the difficulty of the game, giving you better rewards upon finishing that Ascension. A typical ascension takes about 2 weeks of game play, but many people have it down to a science and have ascended within 2 days. It's all a pretty nifty system that keeps the game interesting.

KoL is completely free to play. It operates on donations and, yes, donors do get in-game benefits. For every $10 you donate, you get a "Mr. Accessory". This is a fairly powerful item in itself, but you can also use Mr. Accessories at Mr. Store to buy various items, including familiars and special items that change every month. As in many games that run on donations, you can get some really cool stuff as a donating member. However, Jick has made sure that items gained from donating will never unbalance the game. I've never felt like I'm at a disadvantage because I don't have the most current item of the month, yet I still drool over them and can't wait to see what's in store (Mr. Store, that is) for next month.

I'm just finishing my first Ascension in the Kingdom. It's been a good run and I think I'll be playing this game for a while. I've added a widget (or whatsit or whatchamacallit... fascomis?) to the side of this page with in-game contact info for various MMORPGs that I'm playing. If you'd like to chat, message me in game. I'll be happy to explain the ropes to you.

No beggars though. Beggar.

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Why play it? KoL is free to play and is an engaging romp through a fantasy setting...that's full of stick-figures. Happiness.

Tibia - The Siren's Opening Verse

In my opening post, I mentioned a little game called Tibia. Like a first love, I briefly thought that this could be the one for me. Though I was grossly mistaken on the "One" status of Tibia (it's really quite embarrassing), it is quite an enjoyable little game. CipSoft, the creators of Tibia seem to have added quite a few more features to it since I last time I played.

Like many free-to-play games, Tibia is full of the usual riffraff. Scammers, and "rotflmao-omg-lolz ^_^" noobs are a dime a dozen. The graphics aren't the best and the control scheme is a little counter-intuitive. However, there's a pretty nice new player training system that gets you on your feet pretty quickly. You start off on the newbie island where there are quests to complete and monsters to slay. Everything you do there prepares you for your eventual decision to leave the noobie island for the mainland and picking a character class. One of the other things I really like about Tibia is the fact that there are many multi-lingual people. On an average day, I generally see English, Spanish, German, Portuguese, and French spoken. I like to see that in an online game. It proves that this game really does have a world-wide fan base.

While tibia didn't hold my attention like some other RPGs have done, it's still worth taking a look at. I've added a link to Tibia in the right-hand, "MMORPG Links" bar. Check it out already!

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Why play it? These days, there are a lot of games out there that offer what Tibia has. Play Tibia if you're looking for a more retro feel to your MMORPG without losing too many of the features that the others offer.