Tag: video games

A Fall of Good Memories

The Kid in Me Has Reunited With Old Friends

I haven’t been on the blog since I ran my first half marathon earlier this year.

Since then, I’ve been training for a full marathon and have eclipsed the 13.1 mark 4 times since that first half marathon.

I didn’t think I’d ever be where I am now, running my first half marathon and my first full marathon in the same year, but, I’m still climbing.

There’s a journey involved with that story and once I cross the finish line in Dallas on December 13th, you will hear about it shortly after that.

Today will be about a different topic. Today is a little more about the kid who never thought he’d be where he is today for a different reason.

Today is about how this Fall has invoked special memories from my youth that I just had to discuss. I may jump around a bit, but please be patient with my thoughtful word vomit.

I’ve always loved the fall. One of my favorite things I’ve ever written was on this blog a couple years back about what the Fall means to me.

Football, flannels, the fall colors, and Halloween of all things are truly things that calm me down. In how hurried of a society we’ve gotten ourselves into, I rely on the fall to be the great equalizer.

Football season arrives with cool weather that has always soothed me. Leading right into my favorite holiday of Halloween just makes it even better.

So what is it about this fall that’s made me feel good? Well, the cool wind brings back warm memories of the past. This fall has been all about tapping into good old nostalgia and taking a much needed smelling of the roses.

I’ve also written about nostalgia on the blog before and while I discuss its positives and negatives, I’d like to lean much more into the positives this time around.

Video games are almost always that nostalgia kicker for me. But it’s not just me that’s feeling that nostalgic bump: the whole industry is!

With The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time Remake soon to drop, it’s one of those games that stands as a legit attention threat to the highly-anticipated Grand Theft Auto VI release just a few weeks later.

Not only is OOT one of the greatest games ever made, it’s one that literally transcends time itself across its story and its legacy. People still have the original game as their favorite game of all-time and I don’t blame them!

The game itself was first introduced to me by my older cousin who had a Nintendo 64. And God bless him because I’m sure he was “made” to share his console with his younger cousins at family gatherings, but in my youth, this was one of the more formative experiences of my life.

While Mario Kart 64 was the prime attention-grabber at the time, I couldn’t help but still feel captured when I first heard the Song of Storms for the first time. I mean, nobody forgets their first time hearing this:

I eventually got to play through Ocarina of Time as it was brought to different consoles over time, never thinking it could ever be remade considering it was, indeed, a classic that as long as it got scaled up and was available on some Nintendo hardware, it was fine.

But, the people love Link. Our boy wasn’t in need of a modern remaster, but boy are we glad he is now. Look at this side by side:

The game isn’t going to be a 1-to-1 remake. They’re going to take some liberties and update the experience so it plays like a modern game. Good things like camera control and giving Link a jump button! If you said “Jump” button in 1998, people would’ve thought you were insane!

While some people are upset the changes are going to be made, I can’t help but be excited about the changes and what improvements have been made. I went back and played the original a couple years back and yes, the age of some of the controls and situations shows all too well. It doesn’t make it any less of a classic, but at the same time, it’s still frustrating.

With a modern game, OOT can continue to live on forever, building its legacy from the original audience to a brand new one that will carry the game and the fandom forward. I’ve been in the Zelda fandom for a long time and will be when I get to show future generations the OOT remake.

That’s how time is meant to be. And to quote Sheik from the original game to close out this section, I say this:

Another video game remaster has had my attention this fall.

Toy Story 3: Complete Edition is the remastered classic from the PS3 era that has, until now, been locked on the now aged PS3.

Sony has this issue with remastering and porting PS3 games to modern hardware. However, given peoples’ love and want for more experiences from the old days, they couldn’t help but jump on board with this.

Toy Story is in my Top 3 films of all time and always will. Sheriff Woody will always hold a special place in my heart. As shown in this comparison photo of me and my older brother from days past and when seeing Toy Story 5 this summer, that love will always be there:

Back in 2010, when Toy Story 3 came out, it became one of the first experiences I’d had where I cried in public. That film, to this day, makes me cry on the spot throughout the entire end sequence of the film.

We obviously took care of our toys from the old days, but coming home from the movie and being able to hop into the Open World “Toy Box” mode of the Toy Story 3 video game helped create new memories with Woody, Buzz, and the rest of the gang in a much more interactive way.

The Toy Box mode has dozens of hours of missions, activities, and more that brought the scenarios you once only played with your imagination and your toys to digital life. This game created a fun environment for our favorite toys to clash with aliens, Wild West bandits, and more in a free-for-all sandbox where the only limits are your imagination.

Having this game back on PS5 is like a hug to my 13-year-old self. The kid who wondered how long those memories with Woody could last, considering Andy had just decided to move forward from his memories in the climax of the third film.

While that 13-year-old kid grew up and is still doing his best to figure it out, he’s still got a friend in Woody. The toys are still here to help after all these years. To Infinity and Beyond.

The final game I have to discuss is one that’s also boldly coming out in November to dethrone GTAVI as this fall’s top game:

This game actively referencing GTA in its marketing is the perfect way to go about the unexpected remaster of a beloved title from 2004.

Shrek 2 gripped the nation like no other. I’ve written about my love for Shrek on the blog before, but this game was one of the best multiplayer experiences on consoles, hands-down.

The PS2’s Multi-Tap, an accessory that allowed 4 controllers to be plugged in at once, was made almost specifically for this game.

The game loosely followed the plot of the film with a few deviations to help carry the plot out a little more.

I always played as Donkey where I could and his “Burro Blast” special move was always one of the top experiences of playing as him. I also can’t help but remember every sleepover from the years 2004-2006 almost always had Shrek 2 as a part of them because it was such a great 4-player game.

Everybody got a chance to find a character they liked or play as a new character in each level. The gameplay balance and challenges of this game was also spectacular because just when you thought you loved playing as Shrek, you’d have to play as the Big Bad Wolf for a few levels just to move things forward.

But, one of the most notable parts of this game was that at the end of each story level, the game would activate a “Hero Time” moment and a single player would have to pass a challenge to advance the game:

There was nothing quite like passing the controller around with siblings and friends as we all failed some of the harder “Hero Times” as young 7 and 8-year-olds.

While I’m sure myself and my friends have become better gamers in the last 22 years since this game’s initial release, I can’t wait to play this with them again.

To cap off this nostalgic section, I’ll just have to close it off with a banger from the Shrek 2 soundtrack:

I know I tend to wax poetic about nostalgia and compare what was to what is a lot.

I’ve realized this blog has become much more of a time capsule for me as much as it’s also my attempt to entertain through a kind of storytelling I don’t get to do on an everyday basis anymore.

A lot of the stories I have from my life experience wouldn’t be possible without the three games from above nor the ones from this chart below:

Now, none of the 9 games on this graph of mine are the three remastered games in this blog. However, almost all of them have modern remasters or ways to play them today.

As a matter of fact, now’s never been a better time to be a Kingdom Hearts fan like myself because you can finally take it on the go thanks to their most recent release on Nintendo Switch!

So, my lasting message to you from this blog is this: if you’ve ever had a favorite video game from when you were younger, there’s never been a better time to go dig it up and play it again.

Whether modern consoles have it available or not, you can recapture what you once had. A lot’s happened since you last played that game. I know it has. A lot of hard days with even harder situations you never thought you’d experience have happened to you.

But, these games can help center you and bring you back to a much more peaceful time, guaranteed. While we can’t rewind time, we can carry the happy memories with us into the present to create a better future. Whether it’s in a virtual sandbox with your favorite toys, listening to soothing tunes on an ocarina, or breaking an Ogre and his noble steed out of jail with your friends, the tales of our past can give us the right spark to fly into the future.

Enjoy your fall. Create some new memories.

~DS

The Last of Us Season 2 Butchered the Lesson the Game Taught Us

Video games still remain the best way to experience TLOU

The Last of Us Part II is an amazing video game. Though its story choices still remain controversial to this day, the lessons the story teaches are grounded and spectacularly human in a post-apocalyptic wasteland of the United States.

Five years after the game’s initial release, I’ve played through The Last of Us Part II exactly twice. The initial playthrough in 2020 where I experienced the twist and everything that came after for the first gut-wrenching time. The first time I played through it, I respected the game for its choices, liked it but didn’t love it, and didn’t know when the next time I would play it again.

The second time I played through this story was just a few months ago in preparation for HBO’s television adaptation The Last Of Us which was set to tell the first part of the second game.

This second playthrough, knowing what happens to the characters and being able to accept it, made me love the second game and appreciate the story that was being told through it even more.

Ellie’s journey for revenge turning into Abby’s story of redemption and survival teaches us that while the more animalistic qualities of humans can surface, our ability to forgive and love are still what we’re greatest at.

I got caught up on the season finale of The Last of Us Season 2 the other day. After watching seven episodes (which is too short of a season, but I digress), it’s safe to say that the way this story is experienced is still best told on gaming consoles rather than on television.

This blog will get into spoiler territory for both the show and the game, so if you want to stay fresh on those, this is your time to escape. You’ve been warned.

One of the biggest issues I had with the show version of The Last of Us Part II was when and how Abby is introduced.

Abby, portrayed by Kaitlyn Dever in the television show, is introduced in the very first episode of the season. While game Abby is also introduced early on, you don’t know who she is, what she’s doing, or how she’s involved in the plot at all.

If you have subtitles on for the early game of TLOU2, Abby and her crew are listed as “Woman” or “Man.”

Despite disagreeing with when Abby was introduced, I wanted to let the season play out to see how they’d balance the two stories the game features: Ellie and Abby.

However, the show continues to follow Ellie’s perspective from the game. Abby gets her moments in the first two episodes, making even players of the game surprised at how the story was experienced differently between game and show:

The above tweet was my reaction to the big moment from both game and show that has divided the fan base for five years: Abby killing Joel less than an hour into the video game and less than two episodes into the second season.

I would argue that the battle in Jackson is cooler than the basic patrols that lead to the brutal moment in the game, however, the death scene itself is still supreme in the game.

Not just because it’s surprisingly less gratuitous with its violence, but also because we had no idea who Abby was or what was going to happen.

Yes, players of the game and the curious folks who couldn’t help themselves knew what was going to happen before the season even started. However, those that didn’t know what was going to happen knew from Episode 1 of this season who Abby was and what she wants to do because, she just says it:

“When we kill him, we will kill him, slowly.”

While this doesn’t take the stakes out of Joel’s death, Joel’s death works much better when you have no idea who the hell Abby is.

You don’t find out that Abby is the daughter of the doctor in the hospital until halfway through the game, when you finally take over Abby’s perspective after making it to the end of Ellie’s Three-Day Seattle journey.

To that point, which was mirrored almost identically in the show, that’s the first time you see Abby since Joel’s death scene. As Ellie hunts her, she becomes much more of a goal rather than a character until you experience her story yourself.

But let’s break down the game and show versions of the final scene:

They occur almost identically, which I applaud the show for doing. The problem is, since we know who Abby is and who her dad was in the show, there’s even more reason to hate her completely than even be at all interested in what happens next.

In the game, when the perspective changes after this moment and you play as Abby, I’ll never forget my reaction the first time I played.

After that scene cuts to black and you continue again moments later as a young Abby, I threw my controller at my desk and said “Fuck this bitch, I don’t want to get to know her!”

What starts off feeling like just a segment of gameplay that will have you back to Ellie shortly, turns into a full adventure through the same 3-day journey in Seattle from Abby’s perspective.

You’re forced to learn her story, who she is, and what the war between the WLFs and the Seraphites actually looks like from the ground level. When Abby meets Lev and Yara, two Seraphite children, her perspective on “Scars” changes and thus, our perspective on Scars changes as well.

This is all how you grow to actually care about Abby and her story. She protects two of her enemy’s children and risks her reputation and life with the WLFs to save them. You learn that she is a redeemable character as well and that once again, despite the animalistic qualities of revenge, these characters grow, change, love, and forgive.

Because the show told us immediately who Abby was and what her goals were, I fear the audience will not be there for Season 3 of the show. Part of what makes Abby’s story great is the mystery of her from Ellie’s perspective before experiencing Abby’s story for yourself.

The show revealed all the wrong things too quickly and it will affect how Abby’s story is told.

Quickly on the Seraphites vs WLF war, I think the show butchered their introduction as well. Ellie’s encounter with the Seraphites happens like this in the game:

Ellie doesn’t get to know that they have children amongst them, she just sees them as nearly faceless enemies that want to live in the world their way, the no-tech Seraphite way. Anyone that uses firearms is the enemy.

As you play as Ellie, they’re horrifying. You hear them whistle, they barely need light to see, and you can get sniped by a crossbow bolt from anywhere in the dark woods.

You don’t learn more about who they are or that they have children in their ranks until Abby meets Lev and Yara. That’s what makes the Seraphites more interesting. It allows you to see the other side of the fear you experienced when you encountered them as Ellie. You grow to care for them as Abby. It’s a nice duality to the story.

In the show, you’re immediately sympathetic toward the Seraphites. The first scene they’re in shows the massacre of a group of them that includes a child. Ellie and Dina pretty much side with them against the WLFs very quickly because they know the WLF group is the one that kills Joel.

Rather than fear them, you sympathize for them through Ellie’s TV story. This makes Abby’s narrative already weaker heading into the show’s third season. The Seraphite/WLF war is much better through the eyes of Abby rather than Ellie.

So much so, they added in this scene where Ellie nearly gets killed on the Seraphite island right before Isaac’s attack. This moment doesn’t happen in the game. While the writers used it as a tool to show Ellie’s obsessive sense of revenge to get to the aquarium, we didn’t need it. There’s a reason it got cut from the game, it doesn’t really make sense.

I’m not the only one that feels this way.

The island attack is entirely covered in Abby’s side of the story because that’s the climactic conclusion of that storyline before the convergence moment happens and our two characters’ stories come to a head in the theater lobby.

I guess we’ll wait and see how they do Abby’s story in Season 3, but it’s already off to a disjointed and confusing start. While Abby is a controversial character, the strongest aspect to her story is getting to actually care for her.

Because they’ve changed how we view/interpret the WLF and Seraphite war, as well as how Abby is introduced, Abby is already playing from behind further than she already was from her game’s counterpart.

The last thing I’ll talk about is the Joel porch scene:

Game Version
TV Version

While the scene plays out perfectly and nearly identically across both mediums, the timing of it is completely and totally wrong. I guess I can understand from a writing standpoint why you wanted to have this closure moment with Joel before the end of this season because next season will primarily be Abby.

BUT: what makes it work is that this scene is the very last scene in the game. This scene tells us that Joel, even in death, was a figure for Ellie to understand forgiveness. She forgave Joel despite him doing what he did to save her. The third act of the game shows Ellie sacrifice everything, including her fingers and her relationship with Dina, to continue her pursuit of Abby.

This climactic fight between these two comes after playing through Abby’s story. This comes after realizing that Ellie is being extremely stupid in the face of revenge. While yes, we love Joel and part of us still wants Ellie to exact her revenge, Abby is a character we care for and it makes the final conversation with Joel following this fight stick that much more.

Ellie looks back upon this conversation after failing to play the guitar with her now mutilated hand and realizes that despite Joel being taken from her, she herself regrets pursuing Abby. Forgiveness and love outweigh revenge and hate, even in the world of The Last of Us.

Now that Joel’s conversation with Ellie is in the middle of the show, how is that final lesson going to be taught? Ellie is still the main character of TLOU. While we learn Abby’s back story and her reason for fighting, Ellie’s story is the core of the games and show.

Putting this moment where they did hurts the overall payoff of Ellie’s plot and Abby’s plot combined. The Santa Barbara part of the story alone doesn’t deserve a full season because by that point in the game, it goes by quickly because we get what the main lesson is.

However, the conclusion of the game is still strong because of that Joel scene.

Now? They’re going to have to land a potential 4 season show without one of the best scenes both the game and the TV series has offered so far in their arsenal as a final moral.

When Season 3 inevitably premieres on HBO, I will be there on Day 1.

I love the game series and the story too much even if I have to be disappointed with how the television show has allowed it to play out.

If Craig Mazin and Neil Druckmann are able to pull this out of a nosedive, I’ll be the first to admit I was wrong.

However, as of now after two seasons of the show, it’s clear now more than ever that video games are very much a theatrical medium for storytelling.

Even if you nailed season one of this show as an adaptation to the first game, the overall sentiment in my mind is that The Last of Us is better experienced played vs. watched.

~DS

P.S.

To close out this blog, always listen to Gustavo Santaolalla’s music from this series to calm your nerves: