Taking a Portal to the next Bastion.

In case the title of this post wasn't obvious, and puntastic enough, I recently finished Portal 2 and Bastion.

Here are my thoughts on both:

Portal 2:
     Portal was superior to Portal 2. The primary reasons for this being ones that can't be replicated. The twist in Portal where you escape from the final test chamber, and the newness of the experience really made the first Portal game stand out, both made it a step above Portal 2. Even so Portal 2 has great writing, introduces new mechanics to go together with the original portal mechanic, and is all-around top notch in it's delivery of all those things.

Bastion:
     This game is probably in third place, behind Saints Row: The Third and Skyrim, for my top game of 2011. For an independent game (Despite being eventually published by Warner Brothers) that's a pretty big accomplishment. The art, music, and emotion invested in each of the moments really makes the game shine.

(Editors Note: I wrote this up briefly a few months back before being buried in college work, I figured I would put out my initial thoughts on both games after having completed them.)

The Best Kind of Dragons, Infinite Dragons.

You know what's cool?

A Dragon.

And might you so happen to know what is even cooler than a Dragon?

Two Dragons.

And of course the best kind of dragon is an "Infinite Supply of Dragons".

If you don't know what I'm talking about, PC Gamer recently reported that Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, will have "an unlimited amount of dragons", or, as I like to call it, "Infinite Dragons."

That's right, Infinite Dragons! If you were to calculate that amount of dragons on a multi-sided die, it would be an "Infinite Sided Die"

A, "d-Infinite", if you will, as opposed to say, a "d20". Except the "d" doesn't stand for "dice" it stands for "Dragons", and instead of six dragons, or twenty dragons, we have infinite dragons.

Now, I have talked to a few people and read a few arguments against having an unlimited number of dragons to slay with magic, swords, or your bare hands. Some argue that the amount of dragons will make fighting a dragon less special, and that the mystique of fighting a dragon is often that they are so few in number.

Well, my argument to them is this, yes, I concede, that the more something happens, the less unique it becomes. However, what makes dragons so amazing and awe-inspiring is, for the most part, not how rarely you encounter them, but the fact that they are giant, flying, fire breathing, tanks, made of scales and death.

Dragons are like a force of nature; One does not simply fight a Dragon, one survives a Dragon. When you see something like that, which has through video games, table top games, fantasy novels, and myths been so feared, you have two responses, fight, or flight.

Then there is what fighting and killing a dragon means in Skyrim. In Skyrim when you kill a dragon, you absorb it's essence and become more powerful. You're become some form of Dragon Kirby that kills it's enemies, eats them ,and then absorbs its powers.

The only thing that I really hope is that many of the dragon encounters vary enough in terms of difficulty, strategy, and that the encounter itself is designed to make you feel like you are the heroe in some kind of Norse epic poem.

No one will really be able to determine that until the game comes out. I can't wait until release when I can begin slaying dragons, an unlimited amount, and constructing some form of dragon-bone castle from them, now there is a lair for a true hero.

Achievment Unlocked: Games are federally recognized as art.

So before you continue on, read this.


Seriously, I know you're still there, take a quick look.
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I'm talking to myself now, aren't I?


Welcome back! So as it seems the NEA can now give grants for video games as public works. I won't go into further detail on the specifics, as you just read them, but this could have some really interesting possibilities.

Games that wouldn't normally be granted a budget, on account of graphic content or niche appeal, now have a chance of being made and distributed publicly.

I would like the greatest public project the world has ever known... H.P. Lovecraft: The Game, you basically play as Lovecraft who has to fight monsters from his own story.

It's a 3rd person actions rpg, and you, as Lovecraft, wield an evolving Victorian Pen-Sword.  Or something like that. It would be very awesome.