Defiance and the dancing bear
Let’s all pause for a moment to appreciate the show giving us another non-English curse word to pepper speech with while avoiding strict censor guidelines.
The dancing bear joke really isn’t; it’s more of a punchline in search of a setup. It’s simple enough, though. If you see a bear dancing in the circus, you’re not concerned with his form. You’re just impressed that the people training him got him to dance at all. Sure, it’s mostly just shuffling back and forth, but does it really matter as long as it counts as dancing?
A lot of media has the dancing bear problem. Strictly speaking, for instance, it doesn’t matter if the Transformers cartoons are any good, it just matters whether or not they sell toys. Skylanders toys could come to life at night and try to kill your pets, but the important thing is that they tie into the video game. You get the idea. When you’ve got any piece of media tying into something else, you’re starting out with a dancing bear.
Defiance falls into that category quite handily. It’s a show that’s made to tie into an online game running at the same time, with the promise that the two will feed into one another – events in the game are reflected by the show, and vice versa. The problem being, of course, that a show not aimed at supporting a merchandising line can’t survive for long on novelty. It’s not enough to be a dancing bear here; you have to be a bear that turns out to be a pretty good dancer.
The Final Fantasy Project: Final Fantasy IV, part 1
Artwork from a sketch by Yoshitaka Amano
There’s no game in the series that’s had a more tortured path coming over to non-Japanese markets than Final Fantasy III, but Final Fantasy IV certainly deserves a nod, especially as it’s the subject of a lot of rumors and aspersions that simply aren’t true. Everyone knows that it was released as Final Fantasy II originally, that the version released in the US was easier than the one released in Japan four months earlier, that a lot of it was censored… you get the idea. And, unfortunately, even with the ability to clear up a lot of misconceptions now, they persist just the same.
Let’s start at the beginning. Final Fantasy IV started development after Final Fantasy III‘s release simultaneously with Final Fantasy V… sort of. Square was working on two titles for the two Nintendo consoles: Final Fantasy IV for the Famicom, Final Fantasy V for the Super Famicom. Limitations of resources meant that the idea of another Famicom game was scrapped, and instead all of the resources were brought over to the retitled Final Fantasy IV. The Famicom game was apparently about 80% done and some elements were supposedly reused, but it’s never been stated what, exactly, got reused. (I have speculations, but that can come later.)
The Final Fantasy Project: Final Fantasy’s first generation
Artwork from a sketch by Yoshitaka Amano
You know what I really wish the end of Final Fantasy III signified? That I could move off of my PSP. Sure, I love the system, but I’d really like to be playing these games in a format that allows for proper screenshots. Alas, the rules I’ve laid out keep me on this handheld through Final Fantasy IV and points related, not that things get much better once I move on to Final Fantasy V.
What it actually symbolizes, however, is that I’ve finished up the last game in the franchise that appeared on the NES, or the Famicom if you’d prefer. All three editions are remakes, yes, but the original games started life in the 8-bit era. It’s an interesting element that’s easy to overlook in favor of strict linear progression, but I think it has important implications and information about the franchise as a whole. Yes, in some ways the hardware was just that – hardware, the stuff powerful enough to run these games. But it also has implications for breaking up the flow of the series and how it’s evolved over time.
Hard Project: DOOM
It’s so hardcore it doesn’t even need a description beyond one word.
Calling the original DOOM anything short of a game-changer would be underselling its importance. It was a polished, unique experience, more or less creating the first-person shooter experience in the eyes of many players. It was a shareware title, which made it easy to learn about. It was violent for its time, another feather in the cap of a game that was already laser-guided to reach the hearts of a very definite audience. It was beautiful. It was stunning. It let you blow demons up with a shotgun or carve them up with a chainsaw.
Best of all? It was modifiable by users with minimal effort. Which was pretty important.
In the early days of the Internet, DOOM and its functionally almost-identical sequel, Doom II, were a big deal. Doom 3 – the first actual sequel the game had in a decade – met with positive reviews and it was a success, but it sure as heck wasn’t a success like its predecessors. Heck, it didn’t even match those games in tone, being far more concerned with the idea of sneaking through darkened regions and navigating linear stages. But that’s kind of to be expected. Making Doom 3 was always going to be a difficult proposition, and there’s a reason why the next installment is languishing in development hell. This is a hard project.
The Final Fantasy Project: Final Fantasy III, part 11
Artwork from a sketch by Yoshitaka Amano
Fun story about the endgame area here: while the game was still in design, it was discussed whether the last area should feature a save point or not. It was decided against because it would make the game “too easy.” So instead, you have to fight six bosses and climb through a huge long dungeon with no chance of saving, and if you die for any reason you have to do the whole thing all over. Thanks, guys. That was a great decision and I’m super glad you made it.
Those irritations I’ve had about the remake come full circle here; these bosses posed enough of a challenge in the original, but giving them all extra attacks results in the degenerate state wherein one of them can literally kill you in one turn if you get unlucky. Seriously, you could at least have added a “continue” option for groups that get unlucky. Throw us a bone here. I suppose it is the source of darkness, though, you can expect certain amounts of unfairness.
Recent Work
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Chocobo Dash
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Eliot Lefebvre 