Game Narrative and the never ending quest.

I wanted to write something about the experience of narrative in games, and the act that is very elusive to me, finishing a game. I cannot recall the last time I finished a game. Even thinking back over recent years, there is only a handful of games I have finished, generally ones with a narrative so compelling that I could not leave them alone until it was over. Bioshock! That's the last game I finished, and a fine example of an utterly absorbing narrative.

Considering that the genre of games I tend to enjoy most is the role playing game (both western and japanese), my inability to finish games is even more puzzling, as this is a genre in which great emphasis is placed on seeing where the story goes, and in the case of several fine examples, seeing what effect the choices you make within the game have on the outcome of the story. My problem is I like to savour a good rpg, which means it can take me years to finish them. And if there is no handy way of telling what you were up to if you pick it up after a three month break, they generally fall by the wayside. Please developers, include a way of refreshing my memory, please.

I used to find this never finishing games situation troubling, staring at the shelves here in Random Access Memories tower, weighed down with row after row of uncompleted games, but now I see it as a symptom of a change in my approach to gaming, and my tastes in the way narrative is presented with a game. I tend to have cravings for certain games. One month I may crave some turn-based stratehy, the next arcade racing, etc. So I follow these genre whims, rather than feeling obliged to play the most recent game I bought, and hence I leave behind me a trail of discarded unfinished games, which will be returned to in the mythical endless summer holidays some child-like part of my brain so desperately clings to.

It doesn't help that the two games I seem to be mostly playing these days are Warhammer Online and Sins of a Solar Empire (Surely the best named game in existence?). These are two games with no scripted story as such, instead the player weaves their own narrative within the framework of the game. I prefer this non-structured approach to game narrative. Rather than the game designer telling a story which I am gradually uncovering, there is the freedom for my own highly personal tales to emerge. I am a fan of structured story-telling in games, don't get me wrong, I am just finding that these emergent personal stories, particularly in multiplayer games, are far more enjoyable at the moment.

Housekeeping, part one.

A few words about this here blog. I can be pretty slow with updates. I am now aiming to make at least one decent post a week, hopefully more. I see no sense in pre-fixing posts with a "sorry it's been so long" type message. I like the idea of being at least reliable enough to post once a week, but if it is slower, so be it. I hope this suits us all, yes?

I am also going to try to make more considered, mini article-like posts rather than my usual banal. "Today I played (insert game), it was great". There is enough banality on the internet already, the least I can do is forumlate my banality into concise and banal think pieces.

I am hoping to make a pretty banner and fancy things up a bit round here, but mostly it's words first, pictures and fluff second.

Oh, and I am rubbish at spelling.

Also, today I played Warhammer Online, and it was great.

The 'End of the Year' post.

Feels like a timely and ubiquitous game of the year post is called for. After literally minutes of soul searching and tea drinking, I am pleased to announce that the winner is...

Final Fantasy Tactics Advance 2: Grimoire of the Rift

*Gasp*

Firstly, what an astoundingly grand and ridiculous title, bonus points awarded right there already. The story might be flimsy and the lead character has tendency to be an annoying brat, but to complain about that is like complaining about the story and characters in chess. This is a charming, incredibly deep and customizable turn based strategy game, and the choices about how to develop your rag tag band of misfits, what missions to take on and how to tackle them have kept me playing long into many evenings. The interface is a delight, there is a Hard mode for those who thought the previous game was a bit too easy (that would be me), and you can play it on the toilet. Give yourselves a pat on the back, humanity, we have come a long way.

Begin the begin.

Welcome to random access memories, a new place for me to pontificate about gaming matters.