PixlBit

Hey Esteban how 's it going ? I really enjoy your blogs and fair comments I will contune to keep up with reading your stuff, 

Thanks! I used to write more before but my desktop PC broke so it was difficult to. Now that I have a new one though, expect to see more posts from me!

I really like this series Esteban, great job. I never picked apart the environments in PoP and said, "That's beautiful line, color, etc" like an artist would, but I appreciated it as art. I knew the environment artists created this world from scratch and I loved it. It was huge, colorful, and I adored the way it was a stylized realism. Mountains look like mountains, humans look like humans, water, clouds, and fire all act like they would in real life, but the whole game was magical and enhanced real life in every way. In an artistic way. There wasn't a generic bone in that game's skeleton as far as the presentation went. It took imagination, skill, and hard work for the environment, character, weapon, etc artists to pull that gameworld off and I really loved it in the end. Seeing PoP running in HD in all it's bright varied color, giant scale set pieces, and acrobatic animation just made me so happy. It really was a pleasure to see that world and play in it.

Most people I know didn't think much of the mechanics, specifically the combat. My friend Justin quit the game because the combat was boring and repetitive, but I loved the game and I wasn't focusing on the combat. The combat is pretty inconsequential but the game itself wasn't inconsequential because of that fact. The point of the game for me was the relationship between Elika, Prince, the world around them, and how they moved around in it. I couldn't care less about the combat and the darkness monsters. They just showed up, I killed them, and got back to the aspects of the game I enjoyed the most: The environment traversal (platforming and acrobatics), and the story. I wouldn't have been upset if PoP knocked off combat all together in that game.

It's like Mirror's Edge. The game doesn't need combat in the way they implemented it. You don't need to give Faith a gun, because Mirror's Edge is most fun when you're using evasion and parkour (environmental traversal). You don't need to have Prince going toe to toe with a sword or anything, because the real star of the game is the platforming and acrobatics (environment traversal). They built a giant gorgeous world for you to move around in and uncover mysteries. The routine melee battles just take you away from the world and give you some filler that will keep you busy. The parts of PoP that stuck with me the most were the fact that humans corrupted the world and you need to figure out what happened and how to make it right. You get to explore the world and traverse it horizontally and vertically in incredibly exciting and high flying fashion, all while you pal around with Elika and develop a connection with her. At no point in that do I feel the need to insert some hack & slash.

The status quo says we need to have this and have that to make a good game, but I really think PoP might have benefitted from taking a dump on the status quo and trying something different. I want to create levels and gameplay, so those things are the most important parts of any game to me, but I don't make the mistake of assuming that combat always equates to fun. I had the most fun in PoP when I was just exploring the environment or evading something.

I agree with you on the relationship between Elika and the "Prince". That was the focus of the first blog in this "series." (I don't know if I'm going to make this a series. I'll just writing as it comes to mind.) That is still the strength of this title in my opinion. The environements and the way they're presented is fine but the character exposition is sublime.

Mirror's Edge was a game I didn't like because although the graphics were nice and the premise was interesting, it just didn't work. I always had trouble perceiving how close I was to ledges, how far gaps were and I constantly died over simple obstacles like that. Didn't care for the control layout either. Prince of Persia may not focus on gameplay but they're functional and relatively familiar. It's a shame I couldn't overcome its design flaws.

I love Mirror's Edge more than this Prince of Persia. Maybe it's because I felt a sense of closure with Mirror's Edge... nah, there's more reasons why, but that is one way to sum it up for me.

Care to explain? Mirror's Edge was always a title I wish I could enjoy.

Sure. I'm probably going to be a bit incoherent, as my writing tends to go that way sometimes. I know the game is a few years old, but I will try not to spoil anything for those that haven't played it.

I love the artistic style of the game, but then again I also love it in Prince of Persia.

In terms of gameplay mechanics I never had much issues, but there was this one time I got stuck because I didn't know I could break through glass in a certain way. I loved the fact that everything you did would put you at risk of dying. As you're moving you make your way as you go, but you have to do it fast using just your instinct, no thinking, just go go go. Of course if you died you could plan it out, but the idea is make it on your first go, and if you decided to try it later in another way you quite possibly could. I also loved the verticality of the gameplay i.e. climbing, hopping, and running up vertical obstacles. Like some people say, it is a first-person platformer. It has some similar elements to Metroid Prime's first-person exploration experience, yet both have a different pacing, but I love both of them just as much.

I chose to play the game from the very begining with the premise that I wouldn't use any weapons. I would still fight my way through if needed, but no killing. I was enjoying the game just fine, but then I reached a point in the game where I just could not follow through. I tried everything I thought was possible only to end it in death. I actually had to come back to the game a few days later, so I would be fresh. I tried the same methods again, and reached the same dead end. Until I started thinking "what if I have to do even less to go through", it seemed insane to me back then because I didn't think the character's running speed was fast enough. All I had to do was run as fast as I could towards my target while I ignored the obstacles. It worked. It was the 1st major time that the game had triggered in me an emotional, and rational response to a level I still try to have to this day.

The 2nd major time I got a huge positive reaction was from the ending. I'm not going to spoil it, but I will say that at the time I was playing First Person Shooters online a lot with my part-time coworkers. That ending made me realize a calmness, and imperative in me that was far more rewarding in the end. In all things.

I never write this much. I feel it doesn't convey all that I want to convey, as there's always a missing element. It would be far much easier with telepathy...

That's a persuasive argument if I've ever heard one. I'll definitely try Mirror's Edge again. I'll rent it or something. It definitely seems like the game had a profound effect on you. Might I suggest a blog post of your own? I know you said you don't write much but I'd love to hear more about your experience with this game.

If you have any nearby acquaintences that can lend you the game, that would be swell.

As for writing a blog post I'm sure I will never type one out, as that would take me days (if not weeks, that's why I don't do reviews) and then I would not post because I was not content with it. I'm never really happy with how words come out when typed. It's a weirdness of mine. In due time I will crank out some blogs of the audio, or YouTube kind (I don't even know if we can do that in our blogs). Maybe.

I think you can. Just embed the video or audio in a post.