Arthas Menethil: A Frozen Soul

Arthas Menethil, Prince of Lordaeron. A stalwart defender of justice and promising Paladin, future king of the strongest nation in the known world and a man of kindness and compassion. When the scourge of undeath began to claim his land, he claimed that he would pay any price, make any sacrifice, to save his people. And he did.

Taking up the cursed blade Frostmourne, his singlemindedness was his undoing. The first thing the runeblade did was steal his soul, and with it went everything he once stood for. In taking up the blade, he fell victim to The Lich King's machinations, becoming everything he once fought against. He became The Lich King's champion, losing his connection to the light and becoming the first of a new generation of powerful Death Knights.

Arthas was so effective as The Lich King's champion that upon the completion of his plan to merge with the corrupted prince and obtain a new physical body, Arthas shoved the King's consciousness out and took the mantle of Lich King solely for himself, becoming one of the greatest threats that Azeroth had ever known.

I LOVE this story. I think a lot of people would say it's one of the major highlights of the entire WarCraft franchise. Why is it so good?

When we meet Arthas, he's:

Likable
Heroic
Driven
Compassionate

But also

Narrowminded
Overly passionate
Impulsive
Reckless

His flaws are apparent almost from the beginning, but they don't overshadow him or outright spell his downfall. I don't think he ever had a giant red flag that said "I WILL TURN EVIL" over his head, at least not until the major incident at Stratholme. His journey into darkness felt mostly organic.

Even at his worst, when he still had his soul, his actions could still be justified. He purged Stratholme to save the rest of his kingdom. He used mercenaries to burn his own ships because he honestly believed that going home would spell doom for Lordaeron. He was an extremist, and he missed the forest for the trees, but his heart was always overflowing with a desire to do well by his calling, which was to protect and lead his people.

Frostmourne itself is an instrument of tragedy. He loses his soul, and all that's left is his passion, which turns from a burning love to a cold whirlwind of death. Without his care for others, all that's left is his extremism, his strength, and his drive, without any of the human emotions that directed these traits to good places. The Lich King plays the role of a deceiver who is fully aware of Arthas' flaws, and uses them against him to turn him into his pawn.

Arthas ignores all of the warning signs (including a literal one on the dais of the blade) and lets himself fall into his trap. If he had calmed down for just a moment and tried to assess the situation, or listened to his friends and troops, he could have avoided his fall. This makes him accountable for his actions to a degree, which means even without his soul, the chaos he brings to others is equally tragic and detestable.

Even watching others spew their hatred for him has an element of tragedy to it. Can a man be held entirely accountable if he's missing his soul, and if his soul was stolen from him in a devil's gambit? Only the one who was closest to him, Jaina, seems to realize that something went wrong. Jaina claims over and over again that Arthas isn't being himself. All anyone else sees is a man that betrayed his kingdom for reasons they can't fully understand. A traitor and a monster. Which he was, but only through some fault of his own.

In the end, when he's finally defeated, Frostmourne releases all of its captive souls. The first thing Arthas sees is the ghost of his father, and, almost in abject terror, reaches out and grasps his hand.

"FATHER!" He says, with great exasperation. "Is it over?" He asks, as if this entire time, his soul was begging for him to be released from the torment of becoming what he hated.

And his last line doesn't end with a bang of light, like many fallen hero stories do, but the chill of darkness.

"I see only darkness before me..."

Arthas was never redeemed. He was, in the end, accountable for what he became. But there's an underlying sense of sadness to everything he does, because it's not entirely his fault either.

The juxtaposition between what a person can do for good or for evil is always interesting, and Arthas is no exception. When he fought for good, he was a proud prince who'd do anything for his people. When he fought for evil, he became a storm of death and destruction, a terror that the world collectively feared and abhorred.

I want to say rest in peace, but does he deserve it? I don't know.

What Kind of Gamer Are You? (As Defined by Link)

This is a silly little Livejournal-esque quiz I whipped up a while back. Of course, these are reductive by nature... but I still think they're kind of fun.

Green Link - The Leader

Green Links tend to lean towards being social gamers. Greens tend to enjoy working in teams, whether it be co-op or team based multiplayer, and are likely to try to convince their friends to play a game they've enjoyed. Green Links are well rounded in their interests, and they can find enjoyment in a game's story, or can forgive a lackluster plot for stellar gameplay, as long as the game excels in any one area. The most compelling reward for them is beating the game or, for multiplayer, working well with others.

Greens are straightforward, so they tend to enjoy action, adventure, less convoluted RPGs, or platformers, but they can really find enjoyment in anything. Greens may find particular enjoyment in MMOs or team based multiplayer due to the communal experience. Most likely to participate in an online community.

Blue Link - The Adventurer

Blue Link gamers are there for the experience, the story, the soundtrack, and the atmosphere. They tend to stop and smell the roses, explore every nook and cranny, and often enjoy searching for collectables or scanning through a game's compendium or codex. The most satisfying rewards for Blues are the journey and the memories.

Since Blues are more conceptual in nature, they don't tend to gravitate towards a specific genre. They can enjoy an RPG, puzzle, or action based game as long as the overall idea "clicks." They tend to gravitate towards single player experiences, not because they don't like playing with others, but because they frequently offer a more well crafted world and narrative. They tend to get into arguments with Reds, who frequently claim that story doesn't matter in games. Most likely to buy an artbook for a game.

Red Link - The Fighter

Red Links are the competitive type. They like playing games to win. Reds are all about hitboxes, high scores, and kill counts. They're there to be the best. Reds will often try to master a game - they want to do everything so that they stand on top. That platinum trophy is meant to be displayed on the internet. That speed run is meant to be shown to others to show them that they did something amazing. The most satisfying rewards for Red Links are overcoming difficulty or beating out others.

Red Links tend to gravitate towards multiplayer, such as fighters, MOBAs, or shooters. However, you'll also find the variant of Red who finds enjoyment in "hardcore" single player games, such as Dark Souls, which reward perseverance and gate out the more casual crowd. Reds can be more critical of a game's flaws and will let everyone know what is they don't like about a game. Story is not important for them - after all, gameplay is what matters in a game. Most likely to watch or participate in e-sports, or argue with Blues about the importance of story in a game.

Purple Link - The Aesthetician

Purples play games to feel good. They're similar to Reds in that they seek victory, but they do so for the material reward. There is nothing more satisfying to a Purple than getting a new piece of loot, a new skin, or a new gun. They are likely to buy all of the DLC for a game in order to "have more stuff." For Purple Links, a game must reward their pleasure circuit for it to be enjoyable. They need to receive a concrete reward for making substantial progress. Purples also have another variant: the type who needs their experience to be optimal at all times. Framerate and graphics matter to them, enough so that if they aren't up to their standards, they're going to let you know. Having the latest and greatest gadgets to play games at 100% is important to them. They went out and bought a Pro, even if they already had a PS4. A Purple's greatest reward is getting more stuff.

Purples are likely to play loot-based games, such as MMOs or Diablo-likes, but can find enjoyment in many different titles as long as the game frequently rewards them for their progress. Purples tend to gravitate towards being PC gamers, as PCs offer them the best graphics and performance. Steam sales are their thing, because they love collecting games. Adding more to their collection - whether it be in-game, collecting the game, or with supplementary materials - is what they live for. Most likely to buy an Amiibo, or invest a substantial amount of money in a gaming PC.

As for me, I'm a Blue Link, through and through, although I think there's a dash of green in me as well. At the end of the day, I'm there for the atmosphere. I'll spend hours combing through a game's codex or debating its lore with others. Games have always been a conceptual "experience" to me, and I'll be the first to argue that yes, games can be art. Despite that, I still want my game to be an enjoyable game, and bad gameplay will detract from the experience for me.

My top five games of all time are:

Final Fantasy VII
Xenogears
Metal Gear Solid 2
Mega Man X
Suikoden

Mega Man X doesn't really fit with the story experience, but I always did love the atmosphere in those games. The soundtrack alone might be reason enough to love it.

Robot Master Superlatives

Mega Man is the king of themed enemies. Take a central idea like ice, wood, lasers, gravity, etc. and run with it. Simple, but effective.

With Mega Man 11 coming soon, I thought it would be fun to look back at the bosses across the entire franchise, and rank them based on their strengths.

Mid-bosses, story bosses, and final bosses don't count. Only the core stage bosses.

The rule I've set for myself is that I cannot choose a robot master for more than one category.

Here are my personal Robot Master superlatives!

1. Most Creative - Gemini Man

While most robot masters have a theme that easily translates into a combat ability, Gemini Man's thing is that there's two of him. There's nothing about that that has any inherent fighting ability, so the devs had to get a little more creative with him by giving him laser beams and a crystalline aesthetic. He ended up being one of the coolest looking robot masters despite his general idea being harder to come up with a design for. His name is also creative - they could have easily called him Clone Man, but instead chose the name of the gemini constellation.

2. Best Stage Theme - Snake Man

Mega Man is full of great music, and it was really hard to choose one that was my favorite. Snake Man's stands out to me because of the unique atmosphere it has compared to the others. Most Mega Man stage themes are upbeat and give a sense of drive, but there's something about Snake Man's that has an almost acid trip-like quality to it. His stage feels surreal and dreamlike because of it, especially because of the huge snake bosses and the nature of climbing all over a bunch of giant snakes. Perfect level and sound design harmony.

3. Most Fun to Fight - Burner Man

Most fun to fight? Well... maybe that's going a little far. But the sense of satisfaction gotten from beating him is definitely worth it. Burner Man is one of the hardest robot masters in the series, especially if you're playing as Bass. While most bosses can be cheesed with their weakness, Burner Man has to be strategically pushed off the side of the screen with a wall of ice, making him a skill based battle even if you have the ability he's weak to. His fight is definitely the one that stands out to me the most.

4. Best Stage - Flash Man

I actually had both Gemini and Snake Man in the running for this, but alas, I decided they were better fit for other categories. My reason for liking Flash Man's stage is admittedly pretty shallow. It just looks cool. Lots of glowing lights and a great cool blue color scheme. Just my kinda thing.

5. Best Copy Ability - Metal Man

Ah, the Metal Blades. Famous - or infamous - for being a weapon their own master is weak to. I chose this ability not because of its usefulness, creativeness, or coolness, but because I find its concept to be hilarious. If Metal Man ever tripped he could easily kill himself. It's made even funnier because he's one of the more menacing robot masters, making his flawed design even more outlandish.

Number One - Freeze Man

Freeze is definitely my favorite. For one, ice is my favorite element by a fairly wide margin, and he has the icy aesthetic down to a T. Secondly, he looks awesome even without considering his affinity for ice, with his shoulder pads and gem encrusted boots. Freeze Man is also one of the only robot masters to show a definitive attitude. He taunts you before the battle, and if you hit him with his own ability, he'll take no damage, gloat, and do a flashy pose. Everything about him is, well, cool.

These are my rankings, but looking ahead to Mega Man 11, some of them may soon be dethroned. The Robot Master design in 11 looks to be on point. Time shall tell if they're as cool as they look!

New Bruce, New Gotham, New Focus: Why You Shouldn't Sleep on The Batman Telltale Series

I know a lot of people are weary of Telltale's games these days, whether it be from the engine or simply because most of them have failed to reach the highs of The Walking Dead Season 1 or The Wolf Among Us, but their recent Batman series shouldn't be overlooked. Why?

There are a few reasons.

One: It's a refreshing reinvention of the Batman mythos. Opting to show Batman's beginnings for the umpteenth time would otherwise come off as stale, but Telltale's reinvented Gotham makes what is old new again. Gotham itself is a bit more futuristic than the dark and gritty city we're used to, with neon lights and bright colors abounding amidst millenial technology. It's not quite Batman Beyond, but a nice midway point between the traditional 20th century Gotham and Beyond's. It's Gotham if it was created today.

A more modern Gotham is one of the series' most compelling aspects.

Two: This also extends to the cast. The rogue gallery are the characters we know, but from a completely different perspective. The Penguin is Bruce Wayne's childhood friend, a skinny guy who plays the role of an anti-Wayne (although not an anti-Batman) and comes off as more menacing and capable than his goofy classic counterpart. The first season opts for a new villain entirely, who is loosely based off of Scarecrow, but has their own new story to tell.

We meet Joker before he becomes Joker, and at this time, he does not even go by the name Joker, but the name John Doe; we meet him as an innocuous asylum patient and guide his development, not as an enemy, but as a tenuous friend. Joker and Harley are inverted, with Harley taking big bad role and Joker being her submissive underling. Tropes are constantly not just subverted, but turned sideways; everything you knew is completely redone from the ground up, making everything feel new and exciting.

Harley takes over as the assertive leader of the bad guys this time around.

Meanwhile, Joker is much more passive than usual, and even comes off as sympathetic at times. Red and green find themselves inversed.

It's hard to avoid spoilers without getting into the really interesting stuff, but Batman's entire supporting cast is the same. You'll hardly recognize the people you recognize, and despite this, they still feel in-character. It feels like a what-if universe.

Three: This is more of a Bruce Wayne game than a Batman game. Sure, we get to beat up mooks as the Bat. We even get to choose the color of his bat tech. But these stories show the human side of Batman, the struggles Bruce goes through playing through his double life. We see Bruce Wayne, the billionare. Bruce Wayne, the detective. Bruce Wayne, the adoptive son of Alfred Pennyworth. Bruce himself is also portrayed in a much more humanistic light, and his relationships with the people around him are the highlight of the story, especially his "father" Alfred and his "friend" John Doe. Most Batman stories want to focus on Batman the badass. This one focuses on Batman the man... but still lets you be a badass in between.

This is a game about Bruce Wayne first, and the cowl he wears second.

There's also a Catwoman romance that you can either play straight or straight up ignore, but that's up to you.

As one last addendum, I found the second season to be an overall improvement to the first. It has higher highs and lower lows, and it drags a bit in the middle, but oh boy does it have some awesome moments. I think, as a complete product, I enjoyed it more than season one, and by quite a bit, too. The stakes feel a lot higher, and there's a constant sense of suspense throughout all five episodes. It also has a much stronger set of villains than season one.

I know this is a fairly brief overview, but I'm trying my best not to give away all of the game's surprises or spoil anything. I think any fan of Batman, casual or hardcore or otherwise, owes it to themselves to give this game a shot. To me, it was the most invested I'd been in these characters in a long, long time.

A Treasure Lost in Japan

Recently, I've decided to delve further into the SNES' depressingly staggering list of RPGs trapped in the land of the rising sun. Enter Rudra no Hihou, or Treasure of the Rudras.

This game was, as you can see by the little logo on the bottom left, made by Squaresoft in their prime. Released in 1996, it was one of the last titles to ever be released on the Super Famicom. This resulted in the game being very pretty, with good looking spritework and stellar animations. The in-game art style is something of a mix between the smaller, chibi characters of Final Fantasy V and their slightly taller, more detailed counterparts in Final Fantasy VI.

This is what the field will generally look like.

These are battles.

In Rudras, words are power. See that gibberish on the bottom of the battle screen? That's a spell. Spells in this game are literally written, or enscribed, in a spellbook you access from the menu. Certain words mean certain elements - Tou is thunder, and Aqu is water, for example. Prefixes or suffixes can be added for extra affect. Youtou will be a slightly stronger thunder spell. Touna will target everyone. Likewise, Youtouna will be a stronger version of Touna.

And don't think that it ends with set prefixes and suffixes - you can get several variations on spells depending on what you use. How do you learn what words to use? Simple. You discover them throughout the world, from hearsay and hidden in drawers. You can experiment on your own. Or you can look it up on the internet, but I doubt that was the original intention.

Interestingly enough, if you put in CHUCKNORRIS, you get a super powerful 45 MP Holy spell. If you put in CAMELOT, you get a really cool lightning spell that looks like a golden pyramid. This means that there must be an algorithm to the wordplay I don't understand, because it looks like you can fool around and put anything you want in there, and sometimes get something really awesome out of it. Everything you put in results in something, even if it's a low level Void spell (which many random combinations are). The mantra system, as it's called, is incredibly unique.

Of course, the game has the typical equipment upgrade cycle of other RPGs, as well. The battle system is basically Final Fantasy's ATB set on wait mode (at least by default) with the mantra system replacing a more typical magic system.

The story is good, but not great. Every 4,000 years, something called a Rudra awakens and destroys the dominant race of its time. By the time the game starts, this has already happened four times.

Four races were wiped out, or close to it, and now, it's almost the humans' turn. Uh-oh.

There's a heavy mix of technology and medieval themes to the story, which Square seemed to be particularly fond of during this era. It reminds me a lot of Final Fantasy VI in this regard, with a heavier emphasis on the technology part. There's an overarching narrative about the world being insanely polluted and humans destroying the earth on their own, which is pretty cool.

What elevates it beyond good is that there are four stories, three of which are playable. The four main characters of Sion, Surlent, Riza and Dune all end up with something called a Jade, a crystal marking them as chosen ones to end the constant cycle of destruction that occurs every 4,000 years. The world is going to end in 16 days, and you play through Sion, Surlent, and Riza's stories as they lead up to the coming of Armageddon, Ragnarok, the apocalypse, or whatever else you want to call it.

Sion,

Surlent,

Riza,

and Dune.

Dune is an interesting offshoot of this idea, being a jadebearer in which you name along with the others, but not being playable. In fact, he's generally antagonistic towards the others.

Dune also has a companion named Cid. (I told you this was a secret Final Fantasy game). The two of them are essentially petty thieves who constantly get in everyone's way.

As for the three playable leads, each scenario has its own director, leaving each character's story with its own style of writing, mood, tone, and atmosphere. This is especially appealing because they do share a world and interact with each other, with stories affecting the other characters depending on actions you take. The world is both unique and unified.

Each story feeling so thematically different from the others does the game more good than harm, as changing the lens through which you see the world should rightly make it seem very different. The overarching plot also fits together nicely, which is impressive.

Sion has a very typical JRPG story, with tournaments, sky islands, lost childhood friends and kings to serve. Surlent is an archaeologist who seeks knowledge, and his game feels the most unique - without going into spoilers, it takes some very creative turns and doesn't rely on tropes for any of its characters or plot points. Riza is the chosen one, a priestess meant to save the world. Each character also gets their own music, from world map themes to battle themes.

Speaking of the music, it's awesome!

I don't know what else to say other than that it has some of my favorite peaceful town music since Star Ocean 2, and some killer dungeon themes. My only complaint is that it starts over after every battle, so you end up hearing the beginning of each theme more than the rest. A lot more.

I haven't finished the game yet. I'm about halfway through each character's story. My major complaint with the game is that it throws you some very heavy difficulty spikes as it goes on, with bosses becoming impossible to defeat without fooling around with the mantra system. Grinding also seems necessary at times.

Overall, I'm really enjoying it, and I highly recommend it to anyone who enjoyed other Squaresoft games during the SNES era.

The Joy of Being There

Sometimes I wonder why I even like video games so much when I value narrative so highly.

Narrative is always getting lambasted in games. Even games with legitimately good stories catch flak for it on a knee-jerk reaction basis. A frequent jab you see is "good for a video game," sometimes followed up with a "which means terrible anyway" or something along those lines.

Don't even get me started on Zelda games.

But I even like the worlds of games that I can admit have badly written or paper thin stories, like Mega Man, of which several people have noted or proven on the internet recently. So what is it about games that draws me in over movies or books?

Nobody would ever poke fun at this analysis, right?

I think, for me, it's because books and movies know exactly what they are. They have a mission to tell you a story or show you something, and they go about doing that the way that they always have.

Games are different, though. The story is told through interacting with the world, and the medium is essentially entirely new. Books have been around for eons, and so have stage plays. But games? The closest thing we had until video games were toys, board games, card games and the like. All of a sudden we have things that are similar to interactive movies, but still substantially different at their core. Because of that, the way each game draws you into its world is entirely unique.

This changes the game. Pun intended.

Like, why do I like the world of the original Donkey Kong Country games so much? It's about a damn monkey trying to find his bananas. But the art style - the fusion of lush jungles and mechanized dystopias in the first game, that slight hint of the consequences of industrialization, the fantastically oppressive atmosphere of the enemy's home turf in the second game, and the fantasy Canada of the third game (not being ironic here, really) - coupled with the music, holy crap, the music.

This is what sells me on its world. It creates an atmosphere and tone and even a narrative completely separate from the actual really stupid narrative being told. I listen to Life in the Mines or Hot-head Bop and am transported right back to this oddly transcendental place.

DK traverses a mineshaft. Life in the Mines plays here. It seems so simple, but the atmosphere is incredibly thick.

With Mega Man X, for me, it's the act of growing stronger. It's a simple freedom fighter story mixed in with a bit of humans vs. robots with a touch of a slightly dystopian future. But you are in it, as Mega Man X, and, later on in the series, also as Zero. That simple act of putting you in the character's shoes adds so much to that world. Blasting through Boomer Kuwanger's tower to that heroic rock anthem tells its own story. X is a God damned hero fighting for justice.

And then there's the ominous, slightly sad, yet still upbeat infiltration of Sigma's fortress, the stage in which your mentor Zero dies and passes on the torch to you. Music plays such a big part in selling the world of a game, more than it can in a movie. I feel like a soldier probably did marching to a battle anthem against the enemy in this particular game.

But then games that actually have a focus on narrative take it to a whole new level. Star Ocean 2 is one of my favorite games of all time. It's basically off-brand Star Trek, but I like it way more than I do Star Trek. Why? Again, because I'm there. I get to bring Claude from town to town and talk to people. I get to build relationships between characters with private actions. I get to sit there and make stew or chicken for my party to eat, and level up my cooking in the process.

A simple sci-fi story is made infinitely more human through a simple skill crafting and relationship system. And the ever important musical score, which in this game makes the journey into a dreamlike, sometimes heavenly adventure, is again imperative to setting a certain atmosphere. These things come together to add depth to the narrative that the narrative by itself never could have.

Training yourself to make your own items makes the game immensely personal - er, wait, bad example.

There. See all the wholesome things you can pursue? You can even write novels and sell them if you want to. It humanizes the party you spend so much time with, and makes the otherwise relatively simple plot more compelling because of it.

I think this is why I love video games despite their admittedly lackluster stories, and why I get so mad when people say story isn't shit in games. Or is shit. Funny how both of those mean the same thing. Slang is a helluva thing.

It's because story is everything to me, and it manages to remain so despite the fact that the line-to-line dialogue and narrative backbone is inherently weaker than it is in other mediums. I feel as connected to many incarnations of Hyrule as I do to Westeros or Middle Earth, and there's infinitely less dialogue and depth to Hyrule.

I can only wonder what games will do once standards for narrative improve. I love their worlds so, so much, and the interactivity is why I keep coming back to them as my number one hobby and form of amusement.