SHINAN'S PROFILE

So. I read the "Greatest games You've played" and I thought about it. And I thought about this gigantic long answer I had in mind for it but then I realized that the games I would list wouldn't be the greatest games. But they would be the most important games.

What I mean is that while Super Mario Bros. 3 is one of the greatest games I've ever played. Super Mario Bros. 2 had a longer lasting impact on me.

So, caution, before you read forward be warned that this will be massively long and I won't bother with screenshots so skip to the end or read this were I ask you. "What were the games that left a lasting impression on you? And why?"

I will list games in chronological order, not in the order they were released but in the order I played them.

Zelda II - The Adventures of Link
I've already played a bunch of Nintendo games by the time I play this. I've enjoyed my platformers and my Game & Watch games and whatnot and my gaming covabulary is existant. And I know I drew platforming levels in crayon in kindergarten (which should be at least two or three years before I played this game) but still this is the first game I can come up with which blew my mind all properly.

And it was all because of experience points and a world map. I was really bad at this game but the basic idea that I would get better at it by killing loads of things (also known as "levelin up")was really novel to me. You could say I spent most of my time playing this game grinding this game.

Tecmo Cup
So when I've wrapped my head around experience points in Zelda II (and in Castlevania 2 as well. What was it about 2s in those days, Zelda 2, Castlevania 2 and Super Mario Bros. 2 were all completely different than the games that came before them) along comes a godsdamn football game with that stuff. By this time I had also been introduced to tabletop roleplaying. And the idea of a stat-based football game was just to awesome and crazy to pass up. I even made a board-game version of this with stats and d20s and a game master.

Day of the Tentacle
This was the first game I played that had voice acting. I had dabbled in adventure games before this. Leisure Suit Larry and King's Quest and some other old games. Of course I didn't own a computer so I always had to play for a couple of minutes at some friend's house. Day of the Tentacle I also played at a friend's house. Or actually I played at my cousin's in Sweden during a trip there. We were supposed to be "visiting" Sweden but I spent a lot of my time in front of that computer playing Day of the Tentacle. In the end I didn't get very far. And I didn't finish the game until about ten years later using SCUMMVM but it is the game that created my wannabe affection towards adventure games.

I say wannabe because although I loved Day of the Tentacle and I tend to love the games. I'm also very, very bad at them and tend to hate them when I actually have to play them. But I want to like them.

Championship Manager: Season 97/98
All these previous games have led to one game. Sort of. Football games with stats where you manage a club? It's like a dream game come true. Tabletop roleplaying and Blood Bowl combined into an awesome simulator of the greatest game on earth?

Though actually it wasn't Championship Manager that did it for me. Actually there was a demo of a similar game that I don't know the name of included in a magazine and that demo had two months of gameplay that I played over and over. But Championship Manager is the first full-length football management game I played. Like strategy games before it (A list that doesn't seem to have a whole lot of game-changing games for me... oh wait I just came up with one but that's in the future) this game was all about that stuff. And it had an incredibly long-term campaign as well. Of course I rarely was any good at it. Going from Divison 3 to Division 2 in fifteen seasons and that was about the extent of my success. But these games have never been about the success but about the stories that are created through "emergent gameplay".

Final Fantasy VII
Final Fantasy VII was quite the hyped game. In the year leading up to its European release the gaming magazine I read had a monthly feature about the game and stuff in it. I didn't even realize games could possibly do things like Final Fantasy VII did (and Final Fantasy VI before it. I had read some "tips and tricks" for FFVI and it detailed strangely divergent paths where if you did x on y then z happened instead of k, but only if you did it within timeframe j, if you didn't then l happened instead.) All this seemed very exciting to me.

Then I got my hands on the game. Again at my Swedish cousin's (though a couple of years after my encounter with Day of the Tentacle) so again I spent most of my time glued to a TV playing the wondrous game that was Final Fantasy VII. I got as far as out of Midgar before we had to go home. But I just had to get my hands on the game proper after that and played through it.

And it was fucking magnificent. As a Euro the closest thing you got to the console RPG was Zelda 2 and Tecmo Cup, Final Fantasy VII opened up a whole new world to me and apparently there were hundreds of these games in existence. I downloaded an emulator and played a bunch of them and by the time Final Fantasy VIII was released I had almost grown tired of them because by then I had come across...

Fallout
So. Fallout eh. This game blew my mind. Or well, its demo blew my mind. I spent a couple of hours downloading the four partitions of the 20mb Fallout demo, installed it and my mind was blown. This was tabletop RPGs turned into a video game. I could walk anywhere! Do anything! The choices were endless! And it had the dialogue trees from Day of the Tentacle as well and I could explore and kill and do all kinds of shit. And everything in a gritty post-apocalyptic universe. Fallout single-handedly changed my perception of what games could be. Just like Final Fantasy VII had shortly prior to that.

I guess in your teenage years your perception of the world really does change on a weekly basis.

Deus Ex
This is a jump of a fair amount of years. After the massive onslaught of games in the late nineties I guess I was content with playing Championship Manager all day long. Though to be honest much of the time was spent playing less important games on emulators and Resident Evil on the Playstation. But after being (re)introduced to the first person shooter with Perfect Dark I got my hands on Deus Ex for a reason I can no longer recall. the First Person Shooter wasn't a genre I was overly fond of, my first experience being Wolfenstein 3d on a mac computer at my dad's work. But with Perfect Dark my feelings had softened somewhat and with getting a computer with an actual graphics card I could delve into this world.

Enough preamble Deus Ex was a first person action game but it was also a roleplaying game with all the good dialogue choice goodness. In my first playthrough of this game I was pretty damn amazed. Having spent my time playing mostly Resident Evil I couldn't tell bad voice acting from good and the storyline of Deus Ex was just incredibly engrossing with all its twists and turns. By now I had become somewhat a searcher of non-linear role playing games. Just like Fallout, never actually finding any of that. But Deus Ex had a bunch of divergent paths in its first playthrough and, as I've said so many times in this topic already, I was blown away. There was so much to explore in such a big world and it was cyberpunk. Which was a genre I was very much in love with at the time. This was the game that proved to me that first person shooter games can have stories too. And good stories too.

Shogun: Total War
I picked this one up by mistake. It was a buy three pay for two deal and I didn't know what to get as the third game. But I remembered my not-at-all brother saying that in Total War when your archers loosed their arrows you follow them as they hit into the enemy. I was sceptical. I hated real time strategy. Command and Conquer had more or less been my first and last encounter with the genre. They all seemed to be about a bunch of guys building a base and collecting resources. The closest thing to fun I had come to was in the game Seven Kingdoms (which had a conversion mechanic and a cool economic model) and Settlers 2 (where I didn't have to fight). But I got Total War anyway, not only because of arrowcam but because my not-at-all brother had said that it also was close to Warhammer.

By this time I was collecting plenty of Warhammer. So Shogun it was and yes it was all I didn't know I wanted from a strategy game. A slower pace, units in formation, formation that mattered, actual strategy! This WAS Warhammer in a real time computer game. I watched with glee as the arrowcam was all that was promised (before turning it off since it was a useless feature) and conquered Japans with my archers. I've always been a sucker for archers. In Warhammer my first army was Wood Elves so I guess you can go from there. Since Shogun I've played nearly every Total War and in a roundabout way you could also say it introduced me to the campaign map mechanic that would make me fall in love with Europa Universalis 3 (though I guess the first Hearts of Iron also did that in a way)

Fallout Tactics: Brotherhood of Steel
This is not actually a particularily good game. But it is still important to me. Once upon a time (probably at my Swedish cousin's) I had played a squad-based tactical game. For years afterwards I tried to emulate it and create a ruleset for my army men and later with tabletop wargaming and especially Necromunda that itch got scratched a bit more. I had almost forgotten about the idea of a squad based tactical game. Then I stumbled upon Fallout Tactics. Or perhaps not stumbled since I was a fan of the series and anything with Fallout in it was worth a look. So Fallout Tactics introduced me to squad-based tactics and led to Silent Storm and today I bought Frozen Synapse which I hope will scratch a similar itch.

The Orange Box
Another jump of a bunch of years. Having your old computer unable to play new games might be the proper factor. Though in the inbetween I did discover some massively important games that I don't really know if I should put them on the list or not. The one I now came up with is Dwarf Fortress which. Yeah. Should be on the list. The Orange Box can wait.

Dwarf Fortress
I had played Liberal Crime Squad, which more or less was my introduction to ascii graphics. I had been scourging World of the Underdog or whatever the abandonware site was called and then Dwarf Fortress was featured in a gaming magazine and I thought "huh" and downloaded it. A whole day went by. I don't remember if I ate that day or not. Might be I didn't. Instead I played Dwarf Fortress. This was more or less the ultimate simulator game in early alpha. Unlike when I first encountered Fallout the possibilities were actually endless this time. It was Championship Manager and roleplaying and tactics and everything imaginable meshed into one. With a bit of Dungeon Keeper mining for good measure.

The Orange Box (properly this time)
So yeah a new computer and new possibilities. Of course this new computer had already had encounters with Battlefield 2142 and Medieval 2: Total War but The Orange Box seemed as good a time as any to get to play the game that apparently was all the rage. So just like how Deus Ex had changed my view on first person shooters so did Half-Life 2 retrospectively. Having played some first person shooters I sort of knew what they were about but still Half-Life 2 brought it into a new level. With all its variety both in gameplay and environments and the polish the game showed and with commentary tracks in the episodes I got a true glimpse into the minds of game designers and all the things I had never thought of before. The commentaries on Team Fortress 2 and Portal did similar things. And yeah Portal was awesome too. And years afterwards Team Fortress 2 would be pretty game-changing for me too. But right then it was just a fun diversion.


I think I'll end with The Orange Box. There's probably loads of games I could think of still (hmm. GTA3 for example. That game was fairly monumental too. Even if I did play it in like 2008). And I've forgotten most of the console games I've played. Probably because I haven't played many. Guitar Hero may have been a gamechanger but it didn't etch itself into my mind that badly in the end.

But yeah this topic is already incredibly overlong and my Frozen Synapse download is finished so I don't know what I'm doing writing this anymore.

But as I promised in the end I might be interested in some of your games that "changed your gaming life". You don't have to be as godsdamn verbose as me if you don't like, but a little bit of context always goes a long way.

So this is something that comes up a lot. And yeah there's been topics about this in the past and this is just going to be another one of them.

In the Biggest Design Flaws there recently was a comment that swearing was awful. Whenever someone talks about Max McGee's games all they seem to focus on (well not all but it seems to be one of the big talking points) is a couple of fucks here and there.

It seems like a lot of people have problems with swearing. Even though people generally are giant fucks on IRC and on the forums it doesn't stop them from crying like cunts whenever someone dares say something profane in a game. "But these cute sprites shouldn't say that." "It just doesn't fit into a fantasy game."

My stance on this is. Fuck that. Seriously. Sure I can get the disconnect in seeing sprites (that were probably ripped from a game from the early 90s when game censorship was at a level where you couldn't get a profanity in even if you wanted to. Sort of like the Hays Code) say things they clearly didn't say in some canon somewhere. But really the only reason it sounds awkward is because it didn't happen in the 90s censorship.

So why is the game profanity a problem to so many?

And on the thing where "you can't swear in fantasy/medieval". Are you really that fucking stupid? Do you really think people swore less in ancient times? That they only spoke in "thous" and "thees" and "myladys" while slaughtering people left and right?

Or not really. But since the year is coming to an end it's sort of customary to do one of those "best of 2010". And since my interest is movies I'm going to make the movielistthingamajig.

So this year eh in movies eh... Pretty shite. I'd ask you to come up with a top 10 but I'm not sure I can come up with one myself. So if you read this topic and I give a list of ten movies then I guess this is a top10 movies of the year topic. Otherwise it might be a top 5.

I have my top 3 very clear though. Because there were three movies that were sort of head and shoulders above everything else.

1. Rare Exports
This is a Finnish film about Santa Claus. Or Father Christmas. It takes the shape of a fairly innocent horror movie for the whole family. There's a bit of Spielberg and a bit of Astrid Lindgren in this one. The best of two wonderful worlds. Together with the Finnish mentality of course. (And daylight that last two minutes on screen. I love how they go and visit someone and it's daylight and when they come out of a house it's dark. Such are the Lapland winter days)

Anyway it's a wonderful film and everyone should see it. Even if it is in foreign and even if the official US trailer is a piece of shite. Watch the real trailer instead

2. Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World
From Edgar Wright, the creator of Spaced and Shaun of the Dead. How could this possibly be bad?

Well it's a bit like anime so I guess it could actually be really bad. But the fact is that when anime is live action (and not images that move 4 frames per second) it's pretty damn awesome. This is a movie with ADHD and loving every minute of it.

3. Kick-Ass
In some ways Scott Pilgrim and Kick-Ass are similar. I think they appeal to roughly the same group of people and they were roughly a similar disappointment at the box office (and making money on DVDs). They both have ridiculous premises that you could probably call postmodern.

They're also both really good. Kick-Ass is less fantastical and more gritty but still a lot of fun.


So the top three that was easy enough but the remaining seven? Let's list movies and see if I can get enough of them...

Inception
This movie was hyped as shit. And it clearly fulfilled a lot of the hype. Also it spawned a lot of memes and comments as anything that is huge and awesome does. It's a sweet-ass action movie with lots of exposition. Yeah it was good.

Shutter Island
An early year release. But an excellent film. I (like many others) figured out the twist within the first twenty minutes. But unlike movies that rely on the twist (like anything by shymalalaladingdon) this movie played it out wonderfully and apart from the occasional mindfuck here and there it's a fairly clear-cut movie. And definitely worth a watch.

I guess Leonardo DiCaprio delivers at least.

How to Train Your Dragon
I'll admit this much. I don't much care for the 3d fad. I've tried to stay away from 3d movies as much as possible. Because shit 3d can make a decent movie unbearable. And good 3d can only make a bad movie... actually it won't really make much difference. But How To Train Your Dragon got a lot of buzz around it so I had to see it.

I don't regret it. It's a cool movie that probably is better for being in 3d with it's pov flying sequences and whatnot. It's also very cute and not obnoxious which is always a plus when it comes to these kinds of films.

Toy Story 3
I've never been a fan of the Toy Stories so I didn't see this one until it was out on dvd. But it's a great little film filled with moments of greatness. But I don't regret missing it in cinemas (because it was probably in 3d)

The Social Network
This film objectively speaking is pretty damn excellent. It's well-paced with an intriguing plot and a great cast. Though my favourite thing about the movie was probably the score. I mightn't have been as enamoured with this film as other people are. But it's still a great film. But I'll prefer the score anyway...

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1
It's Potter. It's also a movie that is basically only build-up. This film will probably seem greater once part 2 is out (or it will turn out to be complete shit... Like that other movie series what was it called oh yeah. The Matrix)

Predators
Say what you like but this film was insanely enjoyable.

Machete
Say what you like but this film was also insanely enjoyable.

I guess, like DiCaprio, Danny Trejo tends to deliver as well.

REC 2
Obligatory zombie movies (it was better than Survival of the Dead), the sequel to REC (which was remade shot-for-shot into Quarantine for illiterate English-speakers) takes the story in a weird new direction. It takes off seconds after the first movie and further explores the backstory of the whole thing. It's a weird new direction but I loved every second of it nonetheless. But I can also see how some people would have a problem with it.

Valhalla Rising
I guess this is my yearly artsy pick. Mads Mikkelsen as a one-eyed silent warrior escapes from captivity and travels with some christians in search of the holy lands (to kick some muslim buttocks in the Crusades). There's long stretches of silence in this movie. It's very slow. But also very compelling. I was a bit disappointed at the ending though. It was too predictable. But you can't have everything. At least it looks good and has a great feel.


Hmm. It seems I counted wrong and got a top3 AND ten other movies I thought were worth mentioning. I guess the year didn't suck that badly then.

Here are a couple I would have liked to see but haven't had the chance yet:
Micmacs
Four Lions
Animal Kingdom
Splice
Never Let Me Go
The Extraordinary Adventures of Adèle Blanc-Sec


So yeah. Awesome movies of the year!

Since my announcement is hidden in the Anyone up for a quickie contest I decided to make a topic with. I'm not actually sure if it goes here or in Moronic but someone can probably move it where it belongs if it doesn't belong here.


So this is what it's about. It's a contest that starts Sunday (though if you feel like cheating you can start right away) and ends on Tuesday (when you wake up on Wednesday the contest is over. If you didn't go to bed at all on Tuesday night... Well... I don't know what to make of that.)

The theme of the contest is "One Room". The game has to take place in a room of some sort. This is pretty open. If you want to go strange and have a guy sitting at a computer playing a massively epic RPG (that you also play) then go ahead, but good luck with finishing it in three days.

The engine is free. As are any kind of other resources. Basically for this short contest you are allowed to rip, steal and be immoral all you want when it comes to anything used in the game. Hell. You may even find a game on google and submit it as your own. (Don't do this)

This contest is not in any way an official RMN event. I just decided to start it after that topic was made. You have until Tuesday.


Entries:
catmitts Future Ghosts http://rpgmaker.net/users/catmitts/locker/The_Room_XKVD_Hi_Quality_DVDRip.rar
Mary 4D Room Sweet Room http://rpgmaker.net/media/content/users/3654/locker/One_Room.exe (this one requires RTP to work)
StormriderAngel Soul Sphere Arcade http://www.mediafire.com/?26012hzhv6a66gc
StarSkipping Choice http://www.mediafire.com/?m0039dcnvbk9ocg
Dudesoft Take Down. Narwhal of Doom http://www.mediafire.com/?o4vfwaaats1am5e
YDS The Room: Pandemonium in the Palace Penthouse http://www.mediafire.com/?4o5nx6ienpg31ms
Results will come soon.



Results are in
I took the categories the games could win in from the Misao 2006 category list. Basically this means that if you got selected for a category your game won a Misao!


"And this was made in RPG Maker because...?" Fewest Default Systems Entries
Future Ghosts
Judge's comment: Because it wasn't!
Runner up: Soul Sphere Arcade


"Etrian Odyssey" Best old school RPG
Future Ghosts
Judge's comment: It had only two colours! Must be old school then.


"Lawsuit Waiting to Happen" Most excessive yet non-chalant use of sprite rips.
Take Down. Narwhal of Doom
Judge's Comment: With so many famous characters in one game and completely unauthorized. That lawsuit will happen any second now!


Best ABS
Take Down. Narwhal of Doom
Judge's Comment: There's more than one character in this game that have terrific abs. And it also has superman.


Best Atmosphere
Choice
Judge's Comment: It has terrorists killing people. That's good for atmosphere.


Best Battle Character Sets
Take Down. Narwhal of Doom
Judge's Comment: See below

Best Boss Battle
Take Down. Narwhal of Doom
Judge's Comment: See above

Best CBS
Soul Sphere Arcade
Judge's Comment: I think this is the only game where you fight crime shooting at spheres while avoiding to hit the black sphere. (I wonder if this is some kind of comment on the white guilt. A game where you avoid to hit blacks)

Best Characters
The Room: Pandemonium in the Palace Penthouse
Judge's Comment: The main character in this game is a deep three-dimensional study in humanity.
Runner up: Take Down. Narwhal of Doom

Best Complete Game
Future Ghosts

Best Cutscene
Choice
Judge's Comment: This game is one long cutscene but it manages to be intriguing nonetheless.

Best Dialogue
Future Ghosts
Judge's Comment: The snarky dialogue of the main character spices up this game greatly.

Best Dungeon Design
Room Sweet Room
Judge's Comment: I believe this is the only game where something similar to a dungeon appears.

Best Dungeon Puzzle, Like, Ever
Room Sweet Room
Judge's Comment: See above.

Best Female Protagonist
Room Sweet Room
Judge's Comment: Three female protagonists, all very strong rolemodels for all females out there.

Best Game Balance
Soul Sphere Arcade
Judge's Comment: This game has a good balance between difficulty and the announcer's comments.

Best Game Title
Take Down: Narwhal of Doom
Judge's Comment: It's an ominous title that promises great things.
Runner up: The Room: Pandemonium in the Palace Penthouse

Best Humor
Soul Sphere Arcade
Judge's Comment: I had to snicker at my failure and my success. Though it was a lot more failure than success.

Best Intro
Choice
Judge's Comment: It had a cute skyscraper in it... I'm running out of things to say here.

Best Male Protagonist
The Room: Pandemonium in the Palace Penthouse
Judge's Comment: The main character in this game is a deep three-dimensional study in humanity.
Runner up: Future Ghosts

Best Map Design
Choice
Judge's Comment: It's a spacious apartment that looks really right. And expensive. I wonder what the rent is on a place like that.

Best Music
Soul Sphere Arcade
Judge's Comment: None of the music was particularily noticed (except for the music in Take Down. Narwhal of Doom where I was about to claw my ears out after a while)

Best Non-RPG Game (in RPG Maker)
Choice

Best NPCs
Take Down. Narwhal of Doom
Judge's Comment: Though some of the NPCs are not great it makes up for that with diversity and a couple of shining stars.

Most Overhyped Game
Room Sweet Room
Judge's Comment: After all the hoops I had to jump through to play this game and the comment made by catmitts in the contest thread. This game was probably the most hyped of them all.

Best Sci-Fi RPG
Future Ghosts
Judge's Comment: This game has the most intriguing of the sci-fi elements.

Best Storyline
The Room: Pandemonium in the Palace Penthouse
Judge's Comment: The story of one man's struggle to get out of a room.

Best Special Effects
The Room: Pandemonium in the Palace Penthouse
Judge's Comment: More ghosts than Future Ghosts, more alcohol than Take Down. Narwhal of Doom. More shit than Room Sweet Room. This game has a lot of special effects.

Best Use of The DBS (RPG Maker)
Take Down. Narwhal of Doom
Judge's Comment: I think this is the only DBS.

Best Villain
Take Down. Narwhal of Doom
Judge's Comment: This game has a villain I know is going to be iconic in the future. If it not already is.

Best Visual Consistency
Future Ghosts
Judge's Comment: Keeps consistently retro throughout.
Runner up: The Room: Pandemonium in the Palace Penthouse

Biggest Waste of Time
Choice
Judge's Comment: Having to play through those slow cut-scenes for every attempt at the endings... So much time that could have been wasted writing these comments instead.

Darkest Storyline
Choice
Judge's Comment: Although many of the games involved slightly dark storylines. Choice was the only game with a truly grimdark perspective of things.

Game Most Likely to Evovle Into a Shitty Webcomic
Choice
Judge's Comment: It has all the ingredients for this.

Game of the Year
The Room: Pandemonium in the Palace Penthouse

Hideki Anno Memorial Meaningless Symbolism Award
Soul Sphere Arcade
Judge's Comment: Avoiding to hit black balls because they are black. I'm not sure it's meaningless. I'm not sure it's symbolism. But it's too good a joke to pass up.

Most Disturbing
Take Down. Narwhal of Doom
Judge's Comment: You can't deny that it is a fairly disturbing game.

Most Egrerious Butchering of the English Language
Choice
Judge's Comment: Theirs so much on this that is so much wrong.

Most Intriguing Plot
Future Ghosts
Judge's Comment: This game is genuinely intriguing. It's a glimpse into a bigger world that sounds like it'd be worth it.

Most Obvious Instance That A Game's Author Was High When S/he Wrote It
Take Down. Narwhal of Doom
Judge's Comment: This is not actually true. Only a truly non-high person can write a game like this.

Most Original Use of Setting
Soul Sphere Arcade
Judge's Comment: All games but one has a storyline of some sort. This game decided to break the mold and make a puzzle game that takes place in... a room! It's actually pretty ingenious when you think about it.

Most Original Villain
Take Down. Narwhal of Doom
Judge's Comment: This game has a villain I know is going to be iconic in the future. If it not already is.

Most Promising Cancelled game
Calunio's The Room Remake
Judge's Comment: Anyone quitting because of "insanity issues" is a game that it was a pity it was cancelled.
Runner-up: Despite's game.

Worst Dialogue
Choice
Judge's Comment: Butchering the English language gives the worst dialogue too. Though chances are they're only worst because they're butchered.

Worst Game of the Year
The Room: Pandemonium in the Palace Penthouse
Judge's Comment: This is the game with the most shit in it.


Award pictures graciously made by Dudesoft. Acceptance speeches for your awards can be made in this thread. Or in a separate MP3 file or movie on youtube.

Alright. IRC was bubbling with rumours and questions and no one knew anything and the site was down for two days.

So what happened. Or more importantly: Is this likely to happen again?

And what can be done to get information out to users about what might (or might not) have happened in case something like this were to happen again. RMN has a twitter account so that could probably be used for quick messages like "HOOOOLY SHIT. It's down". But the IRC topic was also about a day late in updating and when it did it was with <GreatRedSpirit> (somebody should update the topic to something like "rmn server shat a brick, future unknown")" which on the whole wasn't overly helpful.