Shadowmoor Sighted

Some intrepid surfer on the intarwebs decided to be kind to the magic loving community and share a collection of Shadowmoor packaging shots he ran into.

The boxes are the awesomesaucenessnessiest.

You manage to glimpse at a freakier version of Lorwyn's Greater Elementals (Horrors?), an anthropomorphic blue thing merged with flowers (Oona?), a bad-ass-looking Kithkin (Mistmeadow Skulk and his kin), some sad pathetic Elf, an elemental looking thing, and a mutant Merrow with fish heads. (Does this mean we see smart, devious, malevolent Boggarts?)

So the dark/alternate Lorwyn theory is pretty much pseudo-confirmed. All we have to wait for now are the mechanics - which, according to MaRo, aren't very tribal at all. At least we get more cards of the same type, so the synergy with Lorwyn is there.

Now I'm wondering if they actually changed the colors of each race. For one thing, them Kithkin look awfully white/black to me.

Ivalice how I love thee

As I mentioned in an earlier post, I've been spending much of this morning going through that old FF Retrospective on gametrailers. Much to my surprise, other than the FFVII world, a close runner-up in FF Franchise history to have the most number of games/features set in the same setting is the world of Ivalice.

Since the setting is so robust, and I've been wondering, are there any solid table-top RPGs set in the world of Ivalice?

I spent the last 10 minutes looking through forums, and other than a few Tactics d20 homebrew pdfs that are floating around and a site dedicated to a more miniature-based experience, I haven't had much luck. I can find thread after thread dedicated to Avatar: the Last Airbender adaptations, but to Ivalice, nada. Just a handfull of stuff, mostly using the d20 system.

Below are some of the notable finds. (Not including the pdf I just found on mininova. can't link to that can I?):

• Various Final Fantasy D20 conversions on gleemax
• Ivalice RPG by Returner Games (work in progress)
• The miniature based game by Federal Knight (looks d20ish)
• Ivalice D20

Of all of them, I think I'll try to research on the last link more, or at least get in touch with the guy. I'm giving the last link extra credit since it seemed to have some disagreements with the history of Ivalice as chronicled by wikipedia.

While Squeenix has confirmed that all Ivalice titles so far take place in the same world, they're a bit mum as to the exact chronological order. There are several theories as to which goes first and what happens when, but it's all educated guesswork for now.

For example, Vagrant Story seems most recent since it's a more modern take on the original Tactics, and both share the lack of moogles - the extinction of which was noted in the original Tactics. Of course, that seems to be a bit odd as FFXII (that has moogles) references in it's bestiary a character Vagrant Story, which puts Vagrant Story someplace behind FFXII in the timeline. Confussed? I am.

Now, I'm wondering: should I try to homebrew a system myself?

I'm starting to like the idea that was put forth in Tactics Advance that Ivalice is meleable reality that could be spontaneously created/re-created. If a system could be made to bring a seeming illusion of order to that chaotic re-creation process, and an in-game mythical element could be tied with it or onto it, it could explain away all the timeline confussion. Not that there's a shortage of things to choose from. Of the top of my head theres' the Totema, the 12 Zodiacs, the Espers, the Darkness, the Great Grimoire, so on and so forth.

It could be used as the reason why people from the wrong plane: Cloud; and people from the wrong time: Balthier; keep showing up in the Lion War.

You're talking about storytelling? Rewatch War of the Worlds.

I was surfing around gametrailers.com today for entertainment and general intertubes lulz, and for some reason, the several-months-old Final Fantasy Retrospective feature caught my attention.

I clicked the link, watched several of the shorts, and one particular line that was said in the short about Final Fantasy VII caught my attention. The narrator quoted Stephen Spielberg who apparently, said this:

"I think the real indicator will be when somebody confesses that they cried at level 17."

So, what's so so special about the line? Well it turns out, that at the time -- around 2004 -- Spielberg said that to a class of film students. His stand was that games weren't quite there yet as medium to tell stories.

This got me a bit miffed. So I did what I could to track down that quote of Spielberg on Google. Eventually, it lead me to an article defending storytelling in videogames and that specific videogame CG cutscene, where, it's safe to say for certain that a whole lot of us gamers cried: the Death of Aeris.

I think from the pundits -- and Spielberg's point of view -- a lot of the storytelling moments in videogames fail to stand on their own. The acting always seems off, the lines seem forced, and the camera angles all feel off, but I think the author of the article I linked to hit the nail on the head with these lines:

What has been missed here is the context for the scene that comes from playing the game itself.

The whole base of the discussion on that slide is ludicrous. His contrasting point was the opening section of Kingdom Hearts II. Who would try to compare the two to five hour mix of gameplay and scenes that make up the opening sequence of Kingdom Hearts II and a one minute clip long clip that is shown 40 hours into the 10-year-old FFVII? We don't do this when discussing traditional film. You're not going to find an article out there decrying the state of current film making by taking the "Ride of the Valkyries" scene out of "Apocalypse Now" and trying to deconstruct it without taking the rest of the film into account. And we're not going to start trying to compare the special effects with the first half of "Black Hawk Down" or "Saving Private Ryan". But the essential silliness of this exercise only scratches the surface.

Cutscenes in a game have more to do than an equivalent piece of traditional film. They don't just tell story. They have to support the game, and the game is an integral part of experiencing them.

Yep, context is pretty much paramount if you're going to squeeze any amount of emotion out of videogames.

For example, a 10 minute "History of the Legend of Zelda" audio-video piece from Video Games Live is saw on YouTube once got me to cry. Also, whenever I hear the opening theme of Final Fantasy VII or the smooth piano notes of Kingdom Heart's "Dearly Beloved," I get chills down my spine. I bet that a person completely unfamiliar with Link, Aeris, or Sora wouldn't have a similar experience.

I think that like any other medium, you get out of it what you put in. Games just tend ask for a whole lot more involvement from its audience than movies or books.

Ch-ch-changes

So sad. Reuters reported a few days ago that Namco Bandai Holdings closed around one-fifth of its arcades last thurdsay. Not only that, Sega Sammy Holdings said that they also plan to close around 100 of their arcades.

What's killing the arcades? Not MMOs apparently. No folks, blame the Wii.

You know, I like the Wii as much as the next guy, but coin-op penny-arcades hold a special place in my geeky heart.

This is sad, sad news for me. Here's to hoping that it won't be a trend. *sniffles*

Avatarded

There's this rumor floating around that Episode 14 of Book 3 of Avatar: the Last Airbender, The Boiling Rock Part 1, will air today at around 8:30 pm in Argentina, their time.

This, supposedly from an insider in the production unit that was responsible for dubbing the series into the local language. The "source" claims that the people responsible for dubbing, are actually done with the whole season already. And that they're just waiting for the episodes to air to admire their work.

It's already around 8:44, my time, so I guess we'll all find out in an hour or so. (Accounting for the probable 12 hour difference, and the upload time to the intertubes.)

EDIT: Oh well, it was too good to be true.

Weekend Manga: "Failed Attempt"

Spike: How's white weenie doing?

Go to any Magic: the Gathering forum right now and there's probably a thread discussing the future of the color white.

Why the discussion? Well, that's because popular opinion is that the color white as a whole isn't getting much support from WotC. Sure, every now and then you get an Oblivion Ring, but then you get a vanilla 2/10 at rare. Imagine the expletives you'd be saying if you open that in a pack.

The complaints range from the very simple "white gets bad rares!" to the very thoughtful, "Wizards just seems to be going through the motions with white right now. They finally managed to fix green, now they're trying to figure out how to focus/fix white."

The funny thing is, that despite the debates and the numerous rants about how bad white is right now, the color can still manage to surprise several metagames and place 1st. In that same tournament where a Reveillark deck managed a top 8 finish, this combination of 75 cards posted the best results:

GPT Shizuoka 2008 - Chiba
1st
Ishimura Shintaro

Creatures:
4 Cenn's Tactician
4 Goldmeadow Harrier
4 Goldmeadow Stalwart
4 Kinsbaile Borderguard
4 Knight of Meadowgrain
4 Wizened Cenn
1 Tivadar of Thorn

Spells:
3 Oblivion Ring
3 Griffin Guide
4 Sunlance

Lands:
13 Plains
4 Rustic Clachan
4 Horizon Canopy
4 Mutavault

Sideboard:
4 Soltari Priest
2 Stonecloaker
1 Tivadar of Thorn
1 Wispmare
1 Militia's Pride
4 Mana Tithe
2 Coordinated Barrage

Looking through the list I saw another Japanese 1 of in the form of Tivadar of Thorn. Yes, them Japanese folks love 1 ofs in decks, they seem to draw what they need, when they need it. It's called listening to "heart of the cards." A secret technique perfected by an ancient master named Yugi. Anyhow, what makes Tivadar stand out is that he's white's weenie's solution to the changeling menace. Protection from Goblins means protection from Mutavault, Chamelleon Colossus, Taurean Mauler, and Nameless Inversion. Protection from Goblin Rogues is an added bonus.

Another element that surprised a lot of forum pundits is the presence of Cenn's Tactitian in full force. Most folks deemed that white weenie wouldn't have time to pump creatures with the Tactitian's tap ability. Turns out, you just need him for his cost, and his other ability that lets you block better. The tap ability's just a bonus that ties in with the Borderguard in the deck.

So what else stands out in this white weenie deck? Well, if you hadn't noticed, it has 25 lands. Shintaro must've been pretty much hellbent on using the reinforce mechanic on Rustic Clachan instead of playing it.

Observations aside, since word broke that it got first spot, folks have been trying out variations to the deck. Not that the deck itself isn't already a take on kithkin weenie before Morningtide was released.

Some are trying out Ajani Goldmane to place more emphasis on combat phase via the granted vigilance and +1/+1 counters. Others have thought it best to combine the weenie deck with the counterintuitive Wrath of God. The idea is that Kinsbaile Borderguard loves a reset spell anyway, so why not put it in your deck? Also, there are those who choose to go with the theme and are slaving away at getting the Ballyrush Banneret to work (much to the chagrin of those who think the deck's curve is good enough already).

Will the deck live past this one tourney? Who knows. Other archetypes are already coming out of the woodwork. There's the Bitterblossom-control archetype that's red/black instead of blue/black. And then there's the Pat Chapin-hyped mono-black Rogue aggro that allowed for Bad Moon to finally see competitive play again. I mean, who knew it was good with Marsh Fliter and Oona's Blackguard? *rolls eyes*

There's also the tier 1 staples in the form of Dragonstorm; the various builds of black/green, the ever popular RG mana ramp; the faeries of the green, black, and blue variation; and the many forms of changeling aggro. That's a lot of possible roadblocks right there.

On paper, the power level of the deck seems sub par compared to the staples, however, you can't deny a 1st place finish. I urge all the spikes out there to give this archetype some thought (because I'm not one of you, I'm a scrub) or better yet, some tweaking. Maybe it does indeed have the legs to be competitive.

Where's Countryside Crusher?!