On Progress and Stylish Capes – A Review

I’ve been interested in writing a blog about video games for a while. Sure, I’ve snuck some info in on storytelling and music, but for the most part I haven’t had the guts to completely alienate my audience with an entire blog on what used to be my only pastime, but here I am, attempting to fill my quota of three blogs so that for the remainder of the break so I can just relax.

I figure I might as well push people away early.

When it comes to video games, like movies, they’re broken up into genres that are then condensed into smaller subgenres and then those get condensed even more, and more, and more.

There are a lot of genres everyone has heard of like: action, puzzle, or fighting games. And then there’s the ones a lot of people have heard of, but maybe never really think about like: RPGs (think World of Warcraft or Final Fantasy), FPSs (think Call of Duty or Overwatch), or adventure games. And then there’s the nichest of the niche. Things like rogue-lites,* walking simulators, and Metroidvanias.

For the most part, I end up playing RPG’s, rogue-lites, and fighting games. I also am attached to a couple different developers and will play generally whatever they produce.

I wouldn’t say I’m particularly good at any type of game. I generally have an OK reaction time, but that doesn’t mean much since I get overwhelmed pretty quick, but what I do generally know is a lot about the mechanics of how a game works.

I just have a memory for silly quirks and little tidbits of information. And that really is what carries me in most “competitive” games.

For example, you can pick between 73 different characters in the newest Smash Brothers game. Meaning you’re never really starved for choice. You can always find a character that fits your playstyle because there’s like 60 something mostly unique characters who all fit into different niches. But what do I do when someone wants to test their skills against mine? I pick random.

In a lot of ways, it’s because I am indecisive, but there’s also this rush of having to come up with a whole plan for a character you only sort of understand, and all that comes from my own fundamental skills in the game.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m usually pretty good at Smash. Excluding guest writer for the blog and overall humble winner, Aubryn, I beat most of my friends regularly. I generally have done well at tournaments. Even winning a few, way back in the day.

I don’t know why I do well, exactly. I know that sometimes its dumb luck. Sometimes its because I play in a very weird way. But I also know that it’s because I do occasionally know what I’m doing.

I never considered myself a fighting game fan until recently. I hadn’t realized that a lot of my favorite memories in gaming came from fighting games until I was reading an article on the game For Honor after not playing it for around six months.

College roommates can attest to many hours spent playing Smash and Mortal Kombat. Even one of my biggest time sinks as a kid, Maplestory, took a lot of its newer combat systems from fighting games. Which explains why I was so addicted.

But I never identified as someone who liked fighting games. I guess, I never had to. If someone asked my favorite genre, I’d generally say puzzle or adventure games. And that’s just not true! Recently I haven’t had much time for games, but all of the games I have played have been fighting or rogue-lites.

Rogue-lites, by the way, are weird. They are games that basically randomize a “run” every time you play. If I had to compare them to anything, I’d compare it to something like Solitaire.

Here, let me butcher this explanation further. In a standard game like the Legend of Zelda, you’re one character making constant “story” progress, right? In a rogue-lite you are trying to finish the story, but when you do eventually die, your progress is set back at 0. Most rogue-lites have a little bit of “progression” in between “runs.” But, for the most part, you just unlock more ways your run can be “random” in the future.

I am having trouble explaining this, but basically the standard gameplay loop for a rogue-lite is this:

Start a new “Run”

Live for twenty minutes

Die.

Start a new “Run”

Live for twenty-one minutes

Die.

And the point is you just keep trying and trying until you get good enough to beat the game. Most rogue-lites encourage multiple playthroughs since they only take 1-2 hours to beat. You might see why someone without much time likes to spend it on a game like this.

Rogue-lites are famously difficult. They are intentionally tough as nails, so that way there still is a sense of progression as you play the game. That being said, the progression is on the player’s end in terms of skill rather than the “level” of your character.

I guess, that’s why I’m drawn to both fighting games and rogue-lites, because at the end of the day, I can’t just “grind” until my character is strong enough to do whatever I want. I personally, have to become intimate with the game’s mechanics and also need to progress to become good enough in order to have fun.

Hm.

Wait a minute. This wasn’t about video games at all! It’s more introspection!

So. It turns out, even in my leisure time, I’m just trying to better myself. That explains why my favorite game series is Dark Souls, a game that combines the brutal difficulty of a rogue-lite with the mechanics of a fighting game, in order to give player’s a personal sense of progression in terms of skill.

I suppose I am addicted to progress.

Well, progress and games where your character has a cool flowy cape, that is!

Sometimes… it’s the little things.

Anyway! Have a good rest of your week! And have a good year!

*= Rogue-lite or roguelite is a really dumb name. It comes from the genre “roguelike,” which stems from the game Rogue. The whole premise of Roguelikes matches that of Rogue-lites, except that roguelikes are turn based, while rogue-lites are not. That is an oversimplification, because if we went into the nitty-gritty… it’d just be annoying. I am frustrated by genres, as constant readers probably are aware by now, and this really is just icing on the cake.