Tag Archives: Mods

Fallout 4: Settle or Wander?

November 30, 2015 Alex McCumbers

Oh, I’m the type the guy who’ll never settle down. I’m never in one place. I roam from town to town.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k3IlHBBGCIw

Every time this commercial comes on, I find myself whistling the song from that point on. This advertisement has become iconic with the game, for good reason. It sets the mood with it’s older sense of style, contrasted with the bleakness of the Commonwealth.

What’s interesting though is that Fallout 4, more than any other entry in the series, gives an equal option to settle as well as wander.

Sure, every denizen of the Wasteland must scavenge to survive, picking up cans for their all too precious aluminum or lighters for the oil. However, the addition of the rather deep building mechanics gives players the option to make a home out of nothing. Whole towns can be constructed in many locations, complete with the ability to make truly unique light shows and defenses to keep invaders at bay.

With enough spit and grit, even the most run down areas can be called home.

Not only that, but the mobile game Fallout Shelter actually gives players a hint at the community building gameplay featured in Fallout 4, complete with similar assets. Settlers can move into a claimed area, needing resources to survive and weapons to defend themselves. It’s intriguing to see groups of people create a meager existence and manning their posts. Nothing gets me motivated like one of my settlements coming under attack. Sure, few of them have names or stories, but these are people who have trusted me as their leader, and I can’t let them down. The only complaint of this system is that it can be rough to manage several settlements at once.

Many of the players I know have spent many of their hours simply perfecting their home base. As soon as the mechanics are understood, it becomes an addiction similar to that found in Minecraft or Rust. Some players have even exploited the system to create stunning works, including a recent building of a Rubik’s Cube replica. Practical? Not really. Style? Absolutely. Super Mutants can surely see it from miles away.

For added style, this thing actually works! Image originally posted on VG247.com

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Making a home is a central theme to Fallout 4‘s design; its all about being taken out of one’s comfort zone. Everything these characters have known has been blasted by the nuclear weapons and further stripped away by the dangers of living in the Commonwealth. Any way to keep one’s mind off of the Deathclaws and Raiders is a powerful thing. Preston (one of the many companions), after getting close to the player, will reveal that finding such good company changes his outlook on his entire existence. It’s a truly humbling conversation that is comparable to many other characters and stories. Its easy to get attached to them.

It’s these moments of peace and revelation that makes Fallout 4 so powerful.

I’ve spent whole evenings just discussing the layers of meaning after being blown away by a quest or dialogue. Fallout as a series has always made players think well after the controller has been put down or the program is shut down. The latest installment does this in almost every moment, especially when confronted with the ideals of the Institute or the Brotherhood of Steel.

There’s so much more to Fallout 4 than I can relay with a single article. Imagining the things yet to be discovered and the extra content surely to come is mind blowing. And the mods! Surely, the homes players carve out of the dust will continue to become more elaborate when new pieces are inevitably added by Bethesda or the modding community.

I will be in the depths of this city for quite some time.

Whether one’s settling down or wandering around, the wasteland is a challenging place, filled with possibilities. Fallout 4 is truly what you make of it, and it’s tools for doing just that are awesome.

Look forward to more Fallout content in the future, as its sure to be fired up on our consoles and PCs for quite some time.

Interview

Building The Forgotten City: Interview with Nick James Pearce

November 16, 2015 Alex McCumbers

Sitting down with The Forgotten City, a story-driven mod for Skyrim, was one of the most immersive experiences in recent memory. It has left such an impression and heightened expectations when it comes to story and atmosphere. Luckily, I’ve gotten to know Nick Pierce through email and asked if he would mind answering some questions for Giga.

He humbly obliged.

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Why mod Skyrim? How does that particular game fit the goals of the project?

So many reasons. First of all, modding Skyrim is awesome fun! Though I probably don’t use the same definition of “fun” as most other people. For me, it’s a creative outlet. I get to activate parts of my brain that I don’t get to use in my day-to-day. I suppose the alternative to modding Skyrim would have been to make my own indie game, but it wouldn’t have been anything like The Forgotten City. Modding Skyrim is like standing on the shoulder of a giant (the giant being Bethesda Game Studios); it allows you to do things you couldn’t dream of doing alone.

I started modding Skyrim because I was inspired by a lot of modders from Oblivion and Fallout and wanted to try my hand at it.

I also drew a lot of inspiration from my favorite side-quests in Bethesda’s games. For example, I remember stumbling across the Dark Brotherhood by accident in Oblivion, and being blown away by how much work had gone into something I might never have discovered; that made it feel personal, something unique to my adventure. I remember stumbling across Vault 11 in Fallout: New Vegas (technically made by Obsidian, published by Bethesda) and its chilling social experiments which exposed some dark truths about society. I remember “Waking Nightmare” in Skyrim; entering a dream state to travel to the past, if only in a superficial way. I remember discovering the ancient Dwarven underground city of Blackreach, and wishing I could have explored it more. The Forgotten City takes loose threads from all of these quests, and weaves them into something I hope is even greater. It’s an homage to Bethesda.

Elder_Scrolls_V-Skyrim_Concept_Art_Ray_Lederer_Troll_Fight

What sort of challenges did you have to overcome with this mod?

Well this mod took me 1700 hours to make, and I think more than half of that was spent fixing bugs. Some of them were pretty funny. I had this one ridiculous bug for a long time where Brandas, on his deathbed, covered in horrific burns and speaking his last words, was supposed to fade away into death. Unfortunately, just before he died, he would stand up out of bed, face the player, then comically ragdoll into the floor. In the end it was caused by something that just seemed totally unexpected.

Generally though the key challenges were acquiring the skills I just didn’t have. When I started I had no idea how to use the Creation Kit, write scripts in Papyrus, cast voice actors, master sound files. The whole time I was learning on the fly. Every time I hit a big hurdle I had this feeling of dread as I realized: “If I can’t sort this out, this project is dead in the water, and everything I’ve done so far is for nothing.” (I’m an optimist, you see.) But three years on, I never encountered a hurdle I couldn’t overcome—that’s pretty satisfying, looking back.

“Modding Skyrim is like standing on the shoulder of a giant (the giant being Bethesda Game Studios); it allows you to do things you couldn’t dream of doing alone.”

What are the perks of modding, as opposed to full game design?

The main one is creative control. I wasn’t pandering to a demographic, and I didn’t try to simplify anything to make it more accessible to the general population. I made a game for intelligent gamers, because that’s what I wanted to play. It turns out a lot of other people wanted to play that too.

Another perk of modding is that you get to work on all aspects of the project, not just one aspect. One of my favorite parts were working with the 18 voice actors I cast: getting to know them, listening to their performances, hearing the lines I’d written come to life, sounding better than I had ever imagined. And now I chat with most of them online pretty regularly. I’d like to think of them as friends. That’s been a lot of fun. Also, working with Trent Moriarty (the composer) has been really fascinating and thrilling as well. I don’t know how, but he managed to take a few ideas and emotions and transform them into these achingly beautiful musical compositions. I feel privileged to have witnessed him working his magic.

Another perk is not having to worry about how many people play it. Don’t get me wrong, I’m pretty stoked that 50,000 people have downloaded it within 2 weeks of launch (from Nexus, Steam Workshop and ModDB combined), and I wanted to make sure Trent and the voice actors got as much exposure as possible, but I would have been happy enough if the number was a fraction of that.

What is your history with Game Design? Were there other projects before The Forgotten City?

I don’t have a history in game design: this is my first project. If you don’t count the terrible games I made in QBasic when I was 13, which I don’t, because they were terrible.

How does it feel to have The Forgotten City receive such praise?

It’s been a big relief to get such positive feedback. I tried to pitch the game at intelligent gamers, and I wasn’t sure how well that would be received; TFC gives players a bit more credit for being intelligent than the vanilla quests. . . The reaction has shown there are a lot of intelligent gamers out there, and they seem to appreciate games that treat them as such.

Fallout4_Concept_Blast_1434323459.0 — Gorgeous concept art from Fallout 4.

Are there any other projects in the works?

At the moment I’m weighing my options, but one possibility I’m excited about is a Fallout 4 expansion. I’ve had a lot of requests for that, and I’m looking forward to playing Fallout 4 and dreaming up some ideas for sci-fi social experiments in Vaults.

The Forgotten City has seen praise by many outlets, including Giga, and can be downloaded via the Skyrim Nexus or through the Steam Workshop.

Game File, Games and Software, Indie Pennant

The Forgotten City Tells a Story for the Ages

October 22, 2015 Alex McCumbers 1 Comment

Bethesda Softworks often has the best support when it comes to post-launch modification. Such has been the case ever since Morrowind, adding hundreds of hours to an already time-encompassing game. Skyrim has also left open its proverbial bed chambers, accepting anything from Thomas the Train as a dragon to all manners of nudity.

All jokes aside, there is still plenty of life left in Skyrim on the PC, at least as long as people like Nick Pearce have something to say about it.

The Forgotten City adds a whole new area for players to explore, packaged with its own narrative and a plethora of top-notch voice acting. A quick download and a bit of a walk leads hopeful dungeon divers to a gorgeous scene of a cave mouth just behind the veil of a waterfall. What lies beyond the entrance are mysteries beyond typical logic.

Charred corpses lay strewn about broken Dwarven architecture, husks of their former grandiose. After delving deeper to the heart of the underground city, a desperate girl looms over a massive well, her face in obvious despair. She approaches Dovakhiin, asking him to help find her brother, who has been exploring the ruins. Accepting the quest feels simple enough, but after the exchange is over, one quickly realizes that in order to find him, one must take a leap of faith.

Falling through that shaft felt like a mistake, but luckily a deep pool of water lies at the bottom. Once again the player gets to explore a destroyed city, eventually coming across a lake house. Inside is a broken soul gem, and a note that tells of the tragedy and pleads for help. Magic then swirls about the only doorway, giving the player no choice. Stepping in flings the hero into the past, before the tragedy.

Stepping out of the lake house is a powerful moment. The sheer beauty of the place, after witnessing what will befall it, immediately plants seeds of wanting to save the city. There are several little moments like this in The Forgotten City that demonstrate the modder’s keen understanding of using the environment to tell the story. Frankly, this first moment is brilliant. Invested in the story already, players are introduced to a host of characters as a simple farmer leads the Dragonborn to the Jarl, or Mayor of the city.

Many people are introduced, giving hints to their story and background with expertly crafted dialogue. Even the characters’ tone is used to add more to each exchange, something that vanilla Skyrim often failed to achieve. In fact, much of the appeal of The Forgotten City is uncovering each character’s unique story.

After a strange meeting with the Jarl, in which the player presents him with a letter written from his future self, the Dwarven Law is introduced. After this conversation, the Jarl tasks Dovakhiin to find out who will trigger the calamity that ends their utopia and to stop them by any means necessary. He looks out at his city from his perch at the top of the Citadel, desperately wanting things to stay how they are.

“The many shall suffer for the sins of the one.”

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As the story progresses, the Dwarven Law reveals itself as being quite the moral dilemma. Many characters call the Jarl’s leadership into question, leaving many to ask just what is against the Law. Others sought refuge from the brutal world outside, seeing the Law as a saving grace. This idea of morality is paralleled with the characters.

One such example is that of Vernon, a produce vendor in the city square. He seems to enjoy his work and is happily ready to sell his wares, but his mood drastically changes when a note comes from under the door. The note calls Vernon an abomination and threatens him, all in blood red ink. Players can take this note straight to the Jarl and sentence him to death, yet a more interesting option lies in showing the letter to Vernon. Vernon, seeing this treatment before, reveals that he is gay. Players are then left to find who would write such a letter and try to resolve the issue.

This focus on characters and narrative permeate the entire game. There is little combat to be had; only a few situations lead to a sword being drawn. Where the mod shines is how its narrative proposes an interesting “Who will do it?” detective scenario, while also elaborating on the mysterious Dwarves of Tamriel. Truly the story is worth exploring, especially when factoring in the multiple ways to finish the quest and return to the present. Learning a character’s motives through looking at what they have in their home, or their subtle shift in tone rewards players who pay attention to detail.

The Forgotten City also sports a polish that many mods fail to achieve on their first few versions. Other players have complained about certain events not triggering correctly, but I found no such problems during my six-hour playthrough. I did spend a lot of time walking back and forth in the area when trying to solve a puzzle, wracking my brain to think outside the box. When I finally succeeded, I felt that I was rewarded for my cleverness and laughed at my fear of destroying the city. I would reload a save every time I accidentally stole a carrot or hit the wrong dialogue choice. The cataclysm can be reversed by revisiting the lake house and going through the portal again, creating a Groundhog Day-esque time loop.

Dr. Who would be proud of Pearce’s use of time travel and the theories associated with it.

The Forgotten City’s final moments are truly epic as the pieces of the puzzle fall into place. Things are clarified in interesting ways. To get the best ending, one has to use what’s been learned in order to do something absurdly brilliant. Finishing the game, for me, was a bittersweet moment. Bringing closure to the characters of the city brought true joy to my heart. I’ll even go as far as saying I teared up a bit. Yet, I was left feeling hungry for more adventure, wanting to discover other things lost to the destructive nature of time.

This adventure is an excellent example of game modification being used to its true potential. The atmosphere adds layers of depth to the expertly crafted narrative, while talented actors and actresses give a flawless performance. Like a giant puzzle, solving the mysteries of this long-forgotten city is rewarding both on a mechanical level and on an emotional one.

The Forgotten City is the candle I will hold up to all other mods that follow.

Action, Adventure, Arcade, Game File, Games and Software

Alex’s Top Game Boy Advance Rom Hacks

December 15, 2014 Alex McCumbers

No matter where one stands on the idea of emulators, no one can ignore just how cool they are. I discovered this wonder about eight years ago and I’ve been an advocate since. While scouring the web in my youth, I discovered something even better than being able to play Pokémon on my laptop.

Budding game designers have often turned to altering existing games to create their own spin on classic games. Pokémon has probably been hacked the most, due to the general ease of doing so and the simplicity of the game itself, but beyond that there is so much more. I’ve collected a bit of a list of the coolest rom hacks that I’ve found so far. Note that I haven’t played every hack out there and I’m always open for suggestions.

In no particular order are my favorite Gameboy Advance hacks.

Pokemon: Liquid Crystal Version – This hack of Pokémon: Fire Red was probably my first experience in rom hacking that involved huge alterations. I’d played a few translations before, but never had I seen such an expansion. Liquid Crystal is a faithful remake of the Gameboy Color title of similar name with extra content. Players will be able to explore both Kanto and Johto regions in the excellent graphics of the GBA.

What made this hack great was the fact that it added the Orange Islands. After Ash’s journey in Kanto, there was still some time before Gold and Silver released. This led to a smaller arc involving a chain of islands. This season of the anime quickly became my favorite and I’ve always wanted to play in that region. Liquid Crystal allows trainers to do just that, even though it wasn’t finished the last time I played five years ago.

This isn’t the only Pokemon hack out there either, not by a long shot. However, this one always seemed so well-done that I chose to include it instead of detailing about twenty other amazing hacks. If you can’t get enough Pokemon, dive into the world of rom hacking.

Metroid: Disturbance – Disturbance takes all the mechanics of Metroid: Zero Mission and forces the player to use them to the absolute best of their abilities. I found myself having to use the wall jump tactic early, just to get through the first 20 minutes. Enemies are tough and upgrades are scarce. In fact, many of the upgrades are acquired in a new order, creating new puzzles and challenges. It’s all really cool considering how short the Metroid games were on the console, so any expansion is welcome. Players who seek a challenge will love this hack!

Disturbance proves that there is still some fun to be had in the realm of 2D Metroid games. Now if only Nintendo felt the same and cut out Samus’ vocal chords. . .

The Last Promise – Fire Emblem was probably one of the best games to come out on the GBA period. The animations are amazing to this day with excellent sprite art. Tactical matches are played in a grid and players will have to battle their way through overwhelming odds. However, the main twist to Fire Emblem was the permanent death mechanic and its challenging gameplay. Players can advance to the next chapter after losing a character, but there’s no way to get them back. Is the sacrifice worth victory?

The Last Promise takes the Fire Emblem engine and creates its own epic saga. Players will play as Siegfried, a knight at the precipice of rebellion. The challenge remains and while the story isn’t really anything new (at least as far as I’ve played so far) it is rather engaging, especially for fans of politics heavy fantasy.

I’m always hungry for more GBA Fire Emblem, so The Last Promise was the perfect fix. Excellent gameplay, awesome animations, and an abundance of characters make this one of the coolest hacks on the console.

Translations
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Fortunately, for those that lack the Japanese skills needed to play every game, some die-hard fans have taken the time to translate some otherwise lost classics. These hacks merely change the language and otherwise leave the game alone.

Mother Series: English Translation – While I’ve never had the chance to sit down and play Earthbound, I’ve always respected it. Basically it’s an RPG series with a huge following that puts a simple American boy against aliens, twisted cars, and other nightmares. The writing of these games are constantly praised as it is extremely witty and funny. Unfortunately, Earthbound is actually called Mother 2 in Japan, making it the only journey Ness got to go on for many gamers. Weird how RPGs on the SNES never were numbered right. . .

Thanks to hacking, the Mother series lives on! Not only has the third title been translated, but there’s also a translation of Mother 1+2 floating around the web. For some reason Nintendo holds on to Mother like Disney does its vaulted movies, as if they were too great to have available all the time. Occasionally, there will be rumors of Mother 3 coming to Virtual Console, but until that happens, this fan hack is a great way to experience something lost in time.

Super Robot Wars J – Japan loves crossovers. Recently on the 3DS, players got to command all sorts of characters from Sega, Namco, and Capcom. Project X Zone was co-developed by Banpresto who were also behind the Super Robot Wars franchise. It’s common knowledge that giant robots are popular in media, especially anime. Therefore its strange that this vast series of fan service doesn’t get as much attention outside of Japan.

Basically, Super Robot Wars is a tactical RPG similar to Fire Emblem or Advance Wars. Players command robots, fighter jets, carrier units, and more all from any anime or comic they can cram in. There have actually been a few games of the series released in English, but they mysteriously lack any of the other brands like Gundam or Mazinger. This hack represents that lost opportunity.

While Super Robot Wars J is a bit wordy, the game itself is awesome. It’s pure eye candy on the Gameboy Advance.

Fire Emblem: Sword of Seals – Roy always did confuse me as a character in Super Smash Bros Melee. The game claimed he hailed from Fire Emblem, but I only knew Lyn, Hector, and Eliwood. Little did I know that little Roy here was the son of Eliwood and he had his own game.

There’s really not much to say about this game other than its confusing numbering (Sword of Seals is actually Fire Emblem 6, but takes place after Fire Emblem 7, which was the first game in English on the GBA). The animations are awesome, the story is there when you want it and gone at the touch of the button, and the characters are usually interesting, if fairly static. I wished that I would’ve got to play this after Fire Emblem, but this hack has given me something I hadn’t even known about.

Conclusion – So that’s the world of GBA hacking in a nutshell. Will these hacked games ever be completely accepted by the gaming industry? Probably not, but companies like Valve and Chucklefish who embrace the hacking community to expand the lives of their creations are creating superb experiences. I don’t know if I’d have enjoyed Skyrim on PC at all if it wasn’t for the mods.

Some of the best gaming experiences of the past few years have come from hacks or mods. Goes to show that a game may not be available for purchase any more, but that doesn’t mean you have to stop playing.