Main Minecraft

Wtf.. now that's a rare case. Me posting a blogpost with a Malay blogpost title. Yeah, it's read as "ma-en" as in play in English, not "men" as in "main"... (Way to go Dark. Now go teach little kids vocabulary). Anyways, now that we're in the mood for Malay...

Delaqroux In...korperasi meng... uh....menaik tarikh...? (up..date?)... YEAH!!!

There was a time in past Dark's life when he loved playing with stackable blocks. He love building castles and fortresses with them and every time the structure is completed, he foresaw an army trying to take over the castle. Past Dark, while also the castle's designer, roleplays the castle's defender and, using the best of his design, he outsmarted the forecoming army. Of course, Dark won everytime, proving his supremacy over and over again to the dumbass army. Good times, we both, Present Dark and Past Dark, agree. But gone are those fun, innocent times. Til this one guy created MINECRAFT!!

No, not yourscraft.. minecraft.. (Sorry, just had to do that joke)

Minecraft is exactly a reminiscent of those simple playtimes. You play as a blockish guy in a world full of blocks and you, similar to playing with stackable blocks, tear down the blocks that shapes the world (which is called Mining) and restructure them (put them side by side or stack em up high) to form castles or houses or whatever you can think of. Also, to make your mining and building job easier, you need to craft better equipments and sometimes, better blocks to assist you (which is called Crafting). There's no storyline to Minecraft but rather you create your own. The game consist of nightime and daytime in which the world's creature (yeah, there's random spawning creatures) spawns from cows, sheeps, pigs and chickens during the day (You can kill them for food and more crafting materials) and not-so-pleasant baddies during the night. Now, the baddies, like the army i used to imagine, wants you dead. so the only way for you to survive the night is to build a smart, baddies-proof structure. Fun eh? No? Well, fuck you.

Anyways, while actually more of a survival game, Minecraft is a pretty relaxing experience once you're familiar with the day-night cycle (Mine and build during the day, hide and craft in your fortress by night). You dont need to kill those baddies for any reason. there's no scoring system or whatever. But as long as you're safely in your castle at night and can watch those baddies burst into flames as the next day's sun appears, it's just a satisfying feeling. Soon after, you find yourself enlargening your hiding place (from cave to a house, to hideout, to castle, to fortresses.. whatever you can think off) all at a relaxing pace. There's nothing telling you what you should design, there's no missions, no scoring and you can play with a mate in a total mine and build game. I played all by myself and i find myself building some underground sanctuary with tunnels and bunkers.

Will it appeal to you? Maybe yes, maybe not. The premise of mine and build without a storyline or a mission may sound dull to some. But hey, Minecraft has sold millions of copies and some game website has already regarded Minecraft to be one of the most innovative games in 2010. So why not take it for a spin. Til then, i'll see you again when my KLCC block tower is finished.

That's not my design up there but it's one example on what you can build with Minecraft. Wait til my KLCC is done... it will be way more awesome.

Delaqroux Out.

Grand Theft Alchemic Drive & Halomari Threemacy

Delaqroux Inc Updates!
This post was originally made as a trial post on My IGN blogsite. Just saw some notice about the blog being a mere beta version so i thought i might as well make a copy of my blogpost on my normal blogsite instead. Anyways, this blogpost will entirely be about games (IGN stands for International gaming network after all) so for those who couldnt care less about this topic, i really suggest skipping this one. Then again, it's a free blog.

Despite being an experienced blogger on my usual blogsite, i thought i would just give a blogpost on IGN a shot. And what other topics are worth discussing here than games! And on top it of, something about games that i have just thought about a few minutes ago; it’s a new term (probably) so bare with it. It’s called; GAME MIXING!! p/s: pardon the grammar, the not-making-sense-ory, or the pure stupidity of this post. I love you all.

Yeah, game mixing. It’s basically you getting two different gameplay elements from two different game titles and mixing it up to make a single game. No, Marvel vs Capcom titles are what i call as cross-overs (not sure if other people call it that) – Game mixing is entirely, mixing gameplay elements rather than the same old gameplays elements of one game only with a dash of characters from both original titles. Not sure if i’m making much senses here. But here’s an example of game-mixing that i wish to see… or play… maybe.

Grand Theft Auto IV + Robot Alchemic Drive
I’m sure everyone’s familiar with GTA4 but not RAD for the PS2 system. It’s basically a robot driving game where you defeat monsters from outer space (google a review on youtube and you’ll see some gameplay). The best part about RAD is the robot driving thingy obviously and the best thing about GTA4, to me, is the thievery (you stealing cars = fun). But mixing the gameplay elements from both GTA4 and RAD, you’ll get Grand Theft Alchemic Drive!! It’s basically the world of GTA except there’s robots fighting in the streets. And what you can do is the ability to hijack one robot and use it to complete missions (which consists of shooting people on the ground as well as people in robots as well). If it seems that your robots busting up, worry not – get out of the cockpit and hijack another robot. Just be careful you dont recklessly destroy or kill the entire population or you’ll get stars – the intergalactic polices will be after you…. IN THEIR VOLGARA ROBOTS!!!! (of course, you can hijack those too)

HALO + KATAMARI DEMACY
Yes, the stupid prophet is back and yes, human is at the brink of extinction that they resorted to training/creating super soldiers called Spartans. But is it enough (with all Spartans being MIA and all) with only John to clean up the entire mess? NO! Spartans should go KATAMARI!! Yeah, why pick up normal human guns, rechargable shields and jump extra high when you can roll into a ball and sweep the entire Covenant fleet with you! People complain about the Propher dying off way too easy in HALO3? No fret with HALOMARI!!! You roll into a ball of Covenant armies and you crash into the prophet bowling-ball-down-the-alley style! Oh, and those missions with Arbie (The Arbiter)? Who says there can only be one ball on the playing field? Jump in? Try ROLL IN!

So, now that you are familiar with this Game mixing thingy, what are your ideas for two (or more) gameplay elements to mix into a single title? Let me know what you think! =)

p/s: Gee… posting blogposts about gaming ideas that make no sense is kinda fun… Thanks My IGN!

The cursing kid on Killzone

Delaqroux Inc Updates.

for those who dont know what Killzone is, it's a shooting game on playstation 3 and it's about interplanetary human wars somewhen in the distant future (sigh... XXX years in the future and it's still humans waging war against each other... classic..). So, i'm not sure how should i be explaining the game for my readers out here but let's just say, there's the goodie-goodie interplanetary peace-keeping force on one team and then there's the oppressed guys in gasmask on the other team. There's more depth to the gameplay and stuff of course but if you duke it out online, you'll play with 31 other human players from all over the world and you blast on the rival team. Simple. Which team was I on? Well, the guys in gasmask with glowing red goggles of course. Come on. You know me. I hate virtual peace. Virtual chaos all the way.

So, i was playing and playing. Pretty much minding my own business until this one point, i'm racking up pretty good killing streak and staying alive all the way. But that's not the point of the story. Okay, so my internet connection isnt always good (most often it's so-so) but for some reason today, the internet is almost perfect that you can hear the online chatter super clearly (they're the players speaking through the game mic - kinda like online voice chat during plays). Kinda wish i have a mic... I wanna talk! <-- this is an inside joke. sorry.

So, i was hearing all those people talking while they're playing, screaming all the way, laughing, passing commands, talking about strategies, and pretty much things i dont really get - all in all sorts of accents and slangs. In one point, i thought it was pretty cool. Here we are, blasting each other with guns and grenades like it's actual personal when the people playing are from all over the world connected with the single uniting idea - the love of playing games. It was almost touching. But then, i noticed a voice of a kid saying things which makes us all think, "does this kid actually knows what he is saying?"

So, yeah, apparently, most of the voices sound adult-ish's. But this one kid, due to the fact that he obviously sounds like a kid, make his voice stand out from the rest. But that's not all that stood out from the rest. This kid was throwing out curses like... i dunno... One-word curses for me is pretty much normal and i suppose they are accessible to all ages but this kid, he knows the average of five to nine word curses. For example; (under-age readers; cue for you to scroll down and ignore this line) something something "wtf... you shit-fag-gay-ass-gay-retard-n00b" something something something. Yeah, true story. And that's just one that i recognize. I heard some whole lot of it and i, for a moment, was like "wait... whuuuud?" and "dude, give piece a chance". And then there's this one point he was wailing and cursing for God-only-knows what reasons that there was some crashing sound on his line (I assume he was repeatedly shot at and he got angry and threw something - probably his headset). And i thought this was normal for people to curse and go on flame wars so i kept quiet (and i dont have a mic anyway) but at this one point, there was this British guy who totally got pissed off and told that kid to shut up (he has a British-ish accent, i think). Well, the kid didnt. He blew out awhole lot more.

Pretty much the main idea that crossed my mind is; who taught this kid all this? Well, of course, i assume that the kid love games and well, let's just say, characters in games do curse alot - pretty much of an observational learning might have taken place. But shouldnt someone watch what this kid is playing and how this kid is playing them? And that reminds me of a ladyfriend of mine's kid she's babysitting and the kid's just 4 or 5 years old, and he came back from school one day saying that he heard another kid said "fuck". Where the hell does that other kid learned that word from? In fact,the first kid even use it himself thinking it wasnt that bad of a word. And then, there was that indonesian kid on youtube who smokes and he's barely in school yet. Then, there was some news of some kid doing his female friend (yes, "doing", you know what i mean) and they are all in flippin primary school! Seriously! Kids these days?

So, as closing words; i do curse. I love cursing and not just your typical one-word curses, i curse in the system of word chain and terrible, terrible things are said. I dont drop f-bombs though. F-bombs are for kindies cursers. I cursed about moms, and interlinked parts of human body, and innappropriate entities which exist only to be use as insults. I have got myself totally pissed and i cursed without knowing whatever that is that i have said but they are definitely hurtful. And i have friends who curse too. Some curse appropriately, in which i do too for the most cases (eheh... at least, i think i do), but some other just simply throw those words around without thinking. Several times, i've seen them cursing in front of their kids, both unintentionally and intentionally (thinking their kids are too young to understand what they are saying). But seriously, i guess they are hurtful words and things that hurt, unless they are virtually hurtful like blasting someone on Killzone Online, are bad - especially for kids... so please, tone down the bad words please. Dont curse just so you think you'll look cool doing it. Lay it off unless you do need it for anger/stress management or something. Or pretty much, dont curse at all.

After all, you kiss your mother with that *h***y-c**-g*****ing-***r*'s-**n*-****ing-***k-s****d mouth of yours? :p

Faery Tale Adventure 2

Delaqroux Inc Review!

And when i said "review" this time, i mean, we're gonna review way, way, waaaay back in time... or to be specific, 1997. There wasnt much to be awed about gaming industry back then. Games are pretty much constructed on a very simple mechanism, mainly bashing everything that moves, repeatedly pressing an attack button and insane amount of red pixelated blobs which are supposed to be splatters of blood and flesh after a kill, supposedly representing realistic gaming violence and gore (*cough* Mortal Kombat *cough*). Gaming wasnt revolutionary. There was no such term as next gen. There were no kickass graphic or epic gameplay. Everything either narrows down to repetitive action, puzzle, insane button mashing, 'realistically' depicted fighting games or point-and-click system.

But then there was some company who tried to make a difference. Some succeeded but most died in the effort. The successful ones marked a big stepping stone in the gaming industry up until today such as blizzard with Diablo (RPG) and Warcraft (RTS), Eidos with Tomb Raider (Adventure) etc.. Those who have fallen; remain unheard through the ever flowing course of time, their glory unrecognized. Yet, there are few who heeded to their dying call. I was one of them. So, here, we're gonna give some tribute to those unsung heroes of the gaming industry.

So if i'm going to ask, "anyone here ever played The Faery tale Adventures 2?", i can be more than sure that the whole place will fall into a dead silence. Yeah, no one ever heard of it. But i tell you, that RPG game produced in 1997, was among the greatest RPG with the most epic storyline i have ever played.

As how Diablo allows you to control a single, fully customizable character, The Faery Tale Adventure 2 (TFTA2) allows to control THREE at the same time (you control one while the other two is controlled by the computer but you may switch control with the computer at any time). Of course, the AI controlling the two character isnt as smart and they tend to get stuck in corners at time but when things get rough, they do cover your back and they're freaking good at it too. Aside to that, the NPC number is phenomenal. The world is divided into around 10 continents or so with five of them human habited and the others are entirely controlled by demons and monsters. But the amount of NPC in every villages and towns are massive. And another highlight to that is that all the NPC are voiced! That's something rare for a game dating back as 1997 isnt it? The graphic consist of pixels but it is good enough for you to identify the character's gender and what's the character doing. The fighting system, however, is unique. While it may seem that you can mash your right mouse button over and over to attack an enemy, the battle system is actually turn-based, and strategy really kicks in at this point where you have to make a decision on whether to continue bashing the enemy, retreat, evade, cast a spell (which may take awhile to be casted but with devastating effect once casted successfully) defend the next oncoming attack, or protect your teammates. Not forgetting, deciding whether your two AI controlled character to either bash the same enemy unit, or provide u some cover from other oncoming enemies, so you can have a one on one duel with the enemy. For a game made in 1997, crappy sound system and in 2D graphics, how cool is that fighting system for you? The adventuring aspect of the game is pretty epic as well. There is the main missions, obviously, but most of those missions requires you to travel around the continent and trips' expenses are never sponsored. You have to earn your own keep. That is when you may choose to either take a heroic sidequest of slaying a cave full of goblins, help a damsel in distress (who turned out to be the mayor's daughter- earning you a free one-way trip if you helped her out) or even as simple of a job as picking apples in an orchard. Seriously, no kidding! You have all your rights to choose!

Oh.. and as a side note there; i worked as a burglar back then, killing travellers to get some easy money :p

So in all, i freakin enjoyed Faery Tale Adventure 2 as one of my earliest RPG game ever. The company went bankrupt after producing the game with such a high budget and expense. But to me, it sparked out my interest to explore deeper within the RPG world of gaming. Of course, one company went down the drain in the process of revolutionizing the RPG concept of gaming. But i grew to love RPG from them.