Time to Start Over

Hello faithful readers.  I know the wait has been long, but worry not, Super Dope Gaming is back.  Holidays have a way to crush ambition and leave you feeling more alone than ever.  Video games on the other hand always give you something to strive for.  A goal.  So thank you, video games, for giving all of us gamers an alternative to the soul-devouring holidays.  On a brighter note, we now have a whole new year to look forward to, with many hopefully fantastic games on the horizon.  Nintendo may have another great year ahead it, what with the 3DS likely to come out sooner or later, and the next iteration of the Zelda series, Skyward Sword, set to hit shelves.  Of course, Sony has the next Uncharted, which looks fantastic, and Little Big Planet 2 which has a score of 93 on Metacritic.  That's already impressive.  Then, for Microsoft, Kinect should really be taken advantage of this year and we should see some really exciting ideas for how to implement the peripheral.  Outside of the hack videos, that is.

So you see, the new year comes with much promise for you gamers out there.  We should all be excited about the future.  I know I am, but I'm in love with video games.  What with all the new gadgets and games that make my heart race.  Oh, so dreamy.  If only I was a millionaire, I would pay off my school loans and then blow the rest on more games than I could ever hope to play.  Maybe something's wrong with me, but I like it.  The point being that if you were, for some reason, disappointed with 2010, then look forward to 2011.  It's a wondrous time for gaming, so ignore all those troubles out there in the real world.  No one wants to hear about such downers.  Forget about all your strife and grief over lost relationships, going broke, or losing your house, it's time to appreciate what you do have instead of everything you don't.  Did you lose some (most) of your money in Las Vegas last month?  Play some Resident Evil to make it seem like you're striking back at the soulless husks of casinos.  Girlfriend or boyfriend dump you? Play some Pokemon to have that special bond between you and something that can NEVER, EVER LEAVE YOU.

You'll never leave me, will you Bulbasaur?  Not like that b**ch Karen.

Gaming has a way to make your life better.  Just plug in the latest game you're obsessed with and go at it.  Soon enough you'll forget all about giant oil spills and not getting exactly what you wanted for Christmas.  Look forward to the new frontier and ignore the fact you're going to have to drop out of school and become a McDonald's drone.  Maybe you even have to move back in with your parents, in that small town you hated, get that job you swore you'd never do and reconnect with your old friends who piqued in high school.  That's alright; there are princesses to save.  Surely there's going to be something amazing in the following year that will make everything wrong seem all better.  If that something won't come out until the next holiday season, then you can throw yourself into all the previews and speculations.  What else is better than creating an idea of something in your head that cannot possibly happen?

People celebrate the new year in order to forget old acquaintance and never bring them to mind.  You must also forget the sins of gaming past and look towards the future of gaming.  Sure, there are still games made seemingly just to take your money, but you have to look at the brighter side of gaming.  Pay attention to games that are coming from some big franchise, like Mass Effect 3, to predict which games will be worth the time and money.  Also, don't forget to read all the reviews you can.  People like me, who happily spend time playing games so that people can learn from my mistakes, write for your needs.  Here at Super Dope Gaming, we rely on the people who rely on us.  We play through some shovelware, but mostly we like to tell you about the games that are Super Dope and can offer a great experience.  By the way, look forward to new things coming to this site in the new year.  There are always things turning in the minds behind Super Dope Gaming.

 Mostly kittens.

Just remember, Dope Gamers, there is a silver lining of Uncharted or Zelda for every dark cloud of Lost in Shadow (which had such potential).  Don't give up hope for the next big gaming development that's sure to wow you in ways you've never thought of.  Keep watch over Blizzard for Diablo 3 and Eidos for Arkham City.  Personally this is what works for me when I want to forget about things too horrible to think about.  So right now, I'm mostly excited for those upcoming games, even though I spent most of the break going through the "Humble Indie Bundles," which were good, but only about four out of ten were really great experiences.  In other words, don't worry about life, just play some video games.

When Games Go Overboard

I'm not sure about you, but I love playing videogames. I would miss work or class if it meant I would get another shot at the boss who's been plaguing the land with evil. He had it coming, anyway. Don't get me wrong, if it's a day I cannot miss - for fear of getting fired or maybe some kind of exam - I'll take the hit and leave my game behind, but will no doubt crave some more play time until I get back in the action. Somehow, I still sound like an addict, but what about those games that make you feel like you have to keep going? Is it always a good thing for the game to present you with near-infinite quests in order to keep you busy? Games are designed to grab their audience and keep them playing, but when does the point of "too much" come?

Anyone who has played any Role Playing Game (RPG) will attest to the countless quests available to fill your time. This is not a bad idea. I know I always want to continue from one mission to the next, despite only one out of 30 being part of the core story. I'm not sure why we feel so compelled to deliver some letters, kill a few bandits, or trek the world, facing demons, beasts or terrorists in order to find one missing person, but we do. To add insult to injury, most quests don't even give rewards worth the time sunk into completing the task. I once spent three hours, traveling from one place to the next, enduring many loading screens and killing anything that got in my way, just to get an item I vendor'ed before the next mission. All gamers know this feeling. Some game developers even praise themselves for all the possible tasks to undertake in their game, while leaving the main story as a small drop in the bucket. The entire series of Grand Theft Auto is a prime example of when extras take over the story; another series that does this is Fable. Neither of these games are known for their gripping narratives or involving gameplay, but for their open-world environments and incredible possibilities (many of which most other games do not have). The aspects which make these games famous have nothing to do with the core of the game, so how does one judge a game when its so full of extra material that it overshadows the main story?

To be blunt, it makes the game worse. By the end of Fable 2, I was sure I finished a bad game. I wanted to keep playing and kill more store/house owners to buy up their property, but I wanted nothing to do with the core game. The story was tired and dry, many quests felt like re-done versions of quests from the first Fable and the ending was just awful (the final boss is you either shoot someone once or your team member does). As for Grand Theft Auto, I don't even know what the story is. I've never seen anyone play the game and do missions to advance the character or story, just a lot of stealing cars, driving around, and blowin' stuff up real good. What makes a game great is when the player gets involved with the characters and cares about whether or not they succeed. You cannot possibly think a game is good, but the characters and story were trash. To take it one step further, one can say the entire genre of RPGs is guilty of going overboard. When did it get to the point that gamers even care about the position of the protagonist's eyebrows or width of their ears? And that's before the game even starts. Once you get into the game, there are, of course, numerous Quest-Givers who ask for a certain number of this or for you to go somewhere and talk to that guy, which do nothing other than grant you some experience or money.

The problem with this is the idea that side quests and the main story are different games unto themselves. Recently, more and more games have a tendency to provide the character with choices which affect small parts of the story. Games like Dragon Age: Origins allow the player to kill possible members of your party. This doesn't do anything to the protagonist or for the story itself other than give you fewer party members from which to choose. If you already love your current party, why not kill everyone else? Definitely makes it less to manage.

The solution to this problem is to make the side quests, all the "extra junk", have some kind of impact on the story. IGN discussed the difficulty of being evil in games, but Super Dope Games wants to take it one step further (especially since I personally have always thought being bad was much easier and more fun): Leave nothing in the game that does not affect the story in some way. This means more than just how your party members talk to you or how random Non-Playable Characters (NPCs) react to you. The Mass Effect series takes a nice step in this direction by giving you optional material which helps you out. Sure, you can ignore all your people, but you can also talk to them and make them loyal, which gives them a bonus ability, making them better in a fight. The "extras" in Mass Effect are optional, but they more directly influence how well you do in-game. None of which force you to be the hero, by the way.

If you decide to kill a party member who's a famous member of a certain race, then let that race make things harder for you: coming to sabotage your missions, putting a price on your head, refusing you from entering areas they control. More to the point: if you choose to ally yourself with monsters, let the monster-killers hunt you. As for the "conversational reactions" present in most RPGs, the intricate choices of facial structure can influence those. If someone has a giant nose or, God Forbid! a mouth that slope down too far, then people should find the protagonist unattractive and be less friendly. Maybe that strays too far away from "everyone's beautiful in their own way" but we all know that's a lie anyway. People like attractive people.

Even the fact that these optional aspects of gaming are known as "extras" lets people know how little they matter. The main story, quests that one cannot avoid to complete the game, is what's most important. That doesn't mean the optional quests have to make less of an impact, and it doesn't mean you have to jam a game full of them just to keep the audience entertained. We just ask that what our character does, matters.