GBGames

The Illusion of Gaia was not exactly a popular game, but I loved it. I rented it, but after my three days (remember when you could only rent from Blockbuster for three days?!?) were up, I went out and bought it.

It even came with a free shirt, which I recently had framed.

A part that stood out in my mind was the raft.

At one point, the main character and Kara, the lead female character, are stranded on a makeshift raft. Unlike most video games, the point wasn’t to get off the raft. After all, you’re stranded. You can’t go anywhere. It is just you, the girl, the raft, and ocean as far as the eye can see. Most games would have you try to swim out to some secret area, or catch a ride on some passing dolphins, or something.

But you were stranded. And you wait. Maybe someone will save you?

At one point, there are fish jumping out of the water. When you hit them, she gets upset. She’s a vegetarian, you see. How could you hurt those innocent fish? I don’t remember if I felt guilty or annoyed at the time. All I know is that the scene changed. Actually, it was just another day on the raft. Another day of waiting.

On the other hand, you’re starving. She’s starving. As brutish as she thinks it is, maybe eating fish is ok because it is necessary? Ben Franklin was a vegetarian, but even he agreed that if it was ok for the fish to eat each other, it should be ok for him to eat them. So you eat.

And then the sharks came. They circled the raft. She freaked out. You’re ready for anything at this point. But they just leave. The sharks leave. When you think about it, the sharks would only attack if they were hungry. It gets you thinking about how humankind treats animals.

Unfortunately, you don’t have too much time to think about what happened. One day, your character faints. After your rescue, you later learn he had scurvy.

The scene lasted for 28 days. In real time it is of course only a few minutes, but for 28 days you are stuck on a raft. There wasn’t much to do, of course. What would you do if you were drifting in the ocean with nothing? You could only think. So I thought. I wasn’t just reading about someone else thinking. I wasn’t watching someone else in despair. I was there.

Apparently most people hated this scene. They wanted to get to the action, I suppose. I liked it. If anything, this scene is the one that shows what games are capable of becoming.

The following is what happens when I get sick and can’t do much else with my time. Some parts could have been better, but try to enjoy it. It was just something fun, but singing it might get tricky at parts. If someone thinks they can also make a Flash animation to go with it, go for it. B-)

The Indie Showdown of Indie Destiny
A parody based on the better written The Ultimate Showdown of Ultimate Destiny which you might want to see first before reading the rest.

The old creature named Wik was hopping around
the magical forest like a big playground
when a Darwinian squad burst out of the shade
and hit poor Wik with the squad’s grenade.
Well Wik got pissed and began his attacks
but was blocked by the research physicist Max
who was about to serve a multidimensional dish
before he got distracted by the oil blob Gish

And Gish starting cracking Max’s hips
When they both got punched by Grace and Trip
But before they could return to their old apartment
a Zombie Smasher Punker jumps out from their basement
and using a zombie Nazi’s arms like a bat
he proceeded to beat them, just like that,
but his bat broke and he ran away
and an alien hominid tried to save the day.

This is the Indie Showdown of Indie Destiny.
Good guys, bad guys, and explosions as far as the eye can see,
and only one will survive. I wonder who it will be?
This is the Indie Showdown of Indie Destiny.

So Wik jumps down and eats the alien’s gun
and Laser Dolphin ain’t having much fun
and then Max came back hobbling on his cane
but the ninja N jumped out and stole it away
and the squad turned around, trying to aim steady
when Punker came back, this time ready
but suddenly something caught his leg and he tripped
He didn’t see the resourceful tongue of ol’ Wik

but the squad did see him, and they checked their sights
but Beethro and Halph pulled down all their tights
and in the confusion they threw their grenades and they missed
but N just blocked them with both of his fists
then he jumped in the air and fell and cried
when Punker headbutt him in the side.
They both fell down, and when they got entangled
Dark Elf Feyna arrived, and they were strangled.

This is the Indie Showdown of Indie Destiny.
Good guys, bad guys, and explosions as far as the eye can see,
and only one will survive. I wonder who it will be?
This is the Indie Showdown of Indie Destiny.

There was a great white light, and everyone wondered why
as Super Dudester descended from the sky.
He swung his arm wildly and gave a kick
and hit the face of poor ol’ Wik
who fell to the ground, writhing in pain
as Punker summoned an Uzi and Max recovered his cane
but Super Dudester saw them and did not fret
for he simply sang out and both of them wept.

Then in came Thomas and his magical words,
and Petey and Patty joined the hordes
and armed with tanks by the Federated States
came Wednesday the Witch, Glow Worm, and their mates
Professor Fizzwizzle, the Vikings, the Natives,
the Rumble Box fighters and the barbarian invaders.
And the Red Texas Four arrived from space
with the battle-ready Damocles for a taste
of a fight with the Dudester who for the first time
was the one with tears falling from his eyes.
It was the bloodiest battle the indie world ever saw
and indiegamer forum posters looked on in awe

and the fight raged on for a century
many lives were claimed, but eventually
the champion stood on the body piles
There was a yellow Chuzzle, blinking his eyes.

This is the Indie Showdown of Indie Destiny.
Good guys, bad guys, and explosions as far as the eye can see,
and only one will survive. I wonder who it will be?
This is the Indie Showdown…
This is the Indie Showdown…
This is the Indie Showdown of Indie Destiny.

Homeworld:Cataclysm wasn’t a sequel, but it was a great extension to the story of the original Homeworld. Basically, you’re in charge of the Somtaaw’s ship, the Kuun Lan. The Somtaaw keep to themselves, researching and mining, but they are bound to aid and protect Hiigara when requested. Cataclysm made references to “The Beast” periodically in the documentation, and so I had a vague idea that there was some Borg-like enemy to fight.

The game starts with such a call to protect the homeworld from the attacks of the Taiidan. Providing support wasn’t too difficult in the first mission. The second mission involved saving and protecting a Manaan destroyer, the Bushan-Re. To research repair technology, you jettison the mining container and create the Engineering Module. I managed to protect the Bushan-Re from the Turanic Raiders, even though they sent some Mimics in pretending to be friendly support.

At this point, a distress call comes from a nearby object. I sent a worker out to return it to the ship.

Later, I reach the Somtaaw’s research frigate, the Clee-San, in another sector. They may have the ability to shed some light on the alien artifact. They docked with the Kuun Lan. We had to escape to deep space to avoid an attack, but once we were in isolated safety, they procede to experiment.

But something goes wrong. Power fluctuations, biohazard warnings, and screaming further the confusion. The research module turns an ugly shade of red, apparently from a biomechanical infection of some kind, and to save the rest of the ship, the hangar module is jettisoned. What just happened? The Clee-San will investigate, but wouldn’t move until I provided an escort of “10 fighters”.

Now, if the infected research module was going to attack me, I didn’t think I would send just 10 Acolytes. So I sent 30, just for good measure. After all, I was in the Cub Scouts. I was being prepared. If I was going to be attacked, I was going to have overwhelming force involved.

So I sent my fighters in as an escort for the Clee-San. Slowly the ship approached the module, as the Kuun Lan hung back. The Clee-San docked with the module while I watched in anticipation. It started to download the data recorders. That data should help in determining what happened.

Suddenly a particle beam shoots out from the module! The Clee-San‘s last transmission was for the Kuun Lan to stay clear. Screams from the fighters becoming infected horrified me. I moved as quickly as I could, but the infection spread too quickly. Any ships I ordered to retreat moved only moments before becoming infected. My efforts were futile. It was terrible. I just sent 30 fighters to their deaths! I didn’t know! I didn’t know!

I then realized that those infected fighters were going to be coming after the Kuun Lan. I didn’t have any ships left for defense. I spent a lot of my resources on those 30 ships!

Luckily for me, a group of raiders appeared, demanding the Clee-San. Unluckily for them, they ignored my pleas to avoid it and were infected. I used that distraction to hyperjump out of the sector. I was safe for now, but forever impacted by that moment.

Throughout the war with The Beast, I never forgot those 30 ships. Technically, they weren’t more than digital bits running through memory on my computer, but the screams were terrible. The drama was real. The details of the names or types of ships involved in the above story might be remembered incorrectly, but the feeling of dread when I realized that I had just caused the deaths of 30 good people will stay with me. It wasn’t a cut-scene or a FMV movie to watch passively. I participated in it. Logically, it wasn’t my fault. I couldn’t have known what was going to happen without cheating. Technically I could have restarted the mission and tried again. I normally prefer the challenge in similar situations, but the reason for not restarting this time was different. I didn’t want to dishonor the memory of the loss. Oddly, those 30 fighters were identical clones of each other. It wasn’t like you normally would have a tie to any one of them.

Still, I had made a bad decision, and the consequences were very real to me. My fight wasn’t just to play a game anymore. It was for honor. It was for redemption. Neither of these ideals were communicated directly by the game. There was no “Honor Meter”, for instance. I simply had a strong desire to make things right again.