Dispatches

Dispatches, Part Five; Or: Beneath the Sheltering Sky

Hello again, pleasant dreamers, for my first post-class Dispatch from the home front of God of War. This episode takes us up to the bit with the Sirens, which we’ll be getting to shortly. Before we go underway, though, I’d like to take this opportunity to offer our first post-class challenge. What, preytell does it entail? Simple– I’d like to see what someone else’s Dispatches look like.

When I say “somebody else,” I mean you, Charles. Yes, this blog is beginning to turn into a two-pony show between us, but if it is I’d like to see how you document game on a first-run-through, play by play basis. Specifically, I’m curious as to how you’d react to (altogether now, everybody!) Metal Gear— the first two MSX games in the Subsistence package, to be exact. Last time we talked about this you still hadn’t played them, and I think you owe it to yourself to do so. You’re very attached to the whole idea of MGS as a trilogy, it’s own thing– which it both is and isn’t. I’d really like to see how you view the experiences of the original games, as I think in its own way they might both disabuse you of the notion of MGS as its own self-contained series and reinforce it at the same time.

As for another somebody else, how about you, Oren? Don’t worry, I’ve long since given up trying to convert you to the fold of Kojima acolytes– instead, I’m wondering how your experiences with Ico have been shaping up. Have you sat down and played the game yet, or is it still sitting on your shelf? In the case of the latter, why not try cooking up your own journal of wanderings through the castle in the mist? I’d definitely like to read a room-by-room account of how that game works, if for no other reason to better understand its structure from a first-go-around perspective. I can’t do that myself, of course, since I’ve beaten the game about three times already. If you’ve already conquered it, though, maybe somebody else can volunteer…

Consider this a formal call-out, you two. If our blog is to survive the coming summer, we must conjure up our own little feud, forth with! Now, onto the show!

Suicide Bluff

A quick diversion of level design. Really a choice in the curiosity of the player to go left instead of right, for a change. The long climb to the silent temple, shrine and cliff Kratos plunged from at the beginning of the game is a nice little bit of foreshadowing-reminder. Mechanically, it serves no function in the game. Narratively, it provides a nice bit of countdown, making sure we don’t forget exactly where this story’s headed. I like the reward of a Phoenix feather for taking the trouble to go all the way up. Once again I’m really not crazy about those goddamn R2 screens adressing you directly. DO YOU HEAR ME, JAFFE? YOU’RE NOT FOOLING ANYONE! I AM NOT KRATOS! STOP PRETENDING THAT I AM, DAMNIT!

Sewers of Athens

First of all, the sword-bridge entrance is a nice bit of aesthetic design– subtly cribbed from Tolkien, by way of Jackson– as are the snailshell-spiral staircases at either ends– even more subtly cribbed from Lang, by way of Lucas. The gameplay in there is reminding me just how combinatorial the combat system in this game is becoming. Mostly it’s about weighing the different threats that come your way– do you devote your energy to the large swath of minor baddies hounding you, or to the one-or-two giant minotaurs? Each class of enemy is it’s own seperate force vying for your attention with the other– the biggest danger in this section is fighting the wrong one, since they’re all attacking at the same time.

This is where I probably started playing the game the way it’s meant to be played– carefully rationing out my magic spells and timing all my jumps, blocks and attacks as carefully as possible in order to destroy certain monsters quickly, wear others down slowly and avoid as many blows from the rest as possible without opening myself up to attacks from anything else. There’s a good amount of strategy involved in deciding whether it’s better to eliminate smaller threats as fast as possible so you can contend with the big ones without any blockades, or to go after the biggies and reap their extra health, thus better stocking you for the rest of the enemies overall.

The sewers themselves aren’t that great a section– very linear and straightforward– but they’ve shown me how complex the battle system is in this game, just like you’ve said, Charles, though I’m sure I’m not near the point to which you were talking about. Combat boils down to mathematics, here, with each equation brought to life by giant, stomping creatures bent on ripping you apart. If only algebra had been taught like this in school…

The Road to Athens

Another nice example of knotted pathwork. Returning us to the scene of Ares’ war-path serves as another fine bit of countdown-providing gameplay. One quibble, though– if the Oracle was so goddamn close when she did her Princess Leia-hologram thing, why didn’t she just open up the spiral-staircase and let me in that way? Couldn’t she see that coming?

Desert of Lost Souls

Believe it or not, but that opening cut-scene actually wasn’t half bad in this case. I like the idea of Cronos punished for all eternity carrying Pandora’s palace on his back (Wait a minute– Pandora has a palace on the back of a Titan? What?) as punishment– it nicely doesn’t exactly contradict ancient mythology, as he can very well also be emasculated, as according to the story (Talk about adding insult to injury). What I’m still not so crazy about is the whole idea of Pandora’s Box as a MacGuffin weapon– not in and of itself, mind you, but because of how there’s ABSOLUTELY NO EXPOSITION AS TO WHY IT’S SO POWERFUL. Would it really kill them to give a brief origin story for Pandora’s Box, and as to why, exactly, it can kill a god? I mean, I’m willing to take a leap of faith here, but really, all they have to do is watch Raiders of the Lost Ark to figure out how to do a scene like this. I mean, they must’ve seen it to know to set thise scene in the fucking desert.

Which brings us to the Sirens– who are in the desert for some reason.

Oh-kay– first of all, the design in this section is pretty sloppy, I’m sorry to say. The audio clues are minimal, making finding the Sirens a matter of just running around alot. I like the idea of them leading you into bigger traps of monsters, but at that moment the combat system becomes a wee bit too lopsided against you– but maybe that’s just my frustration from having to go through so much trouble finding them speaking. Also, the actual level design itself has some holes in it– literally. I fell through one near the statue and into a black void. Is that supposed to be an intentional, creepy, expressive moment, or did the mapmaker just take a day off, there?

Then there’s the issue as to what the Sirens are doing out in the desert. They’re sea temptresses, people. Heck, they’re synonimous with mermaids, for crying out loud. Sirens sang their song and looked hot to sailors at sea, beckoning them to pilot their ships straight into deadly rocks and sink. Odysseus had to steer past them on the waters– not in the sands. Granted, they’re really just here in the game to provide an excuse for an audio-design puzzle, but it’s not well designed enough to work, nor is the leading-the-player-into-traps-of-minotaurs design working either, or at least it’s a bit too demanding after my bit of exhaustion of going bored out of my brain trying to find these stupid songbirds. All in all, this section of the game could’ve used a bit more fine-tuning. It’s basically a locked door that doesn’t quite have the right key, and too much is asked of your to create the proper harmony.

Have we gone through all the music puns? Yes? Good. I’m going to bed, pleasant dreamers. See you when we’re all wide awake.