The Talos Principle is a puzzle solving game that is very “Portal-esc.” The landscapes are made up of ruins from ancient civilizations. There is regular glitching in the surroundings that never lets you forget the artificial nature of the world. There are 3 main building structures and a forbidden tower. Each building contains a different landscape with 8 doors and each door leads to an outdoor area containing 4 to 6 gated puzzle areas. The first building looks similar to ancient roman type ruins. The second building contains Egyptian style buildings and figures. The third is very “renaissance” looking, with castles and great oaks. I haven’t gotten to the forbidden tower yet.
I found the landscapes of this game amazing. The puzzle area’s geography is very important and things are placed in such a way to make the puzzles more challenging. Some hidden easter eggs in this game rely heavily on paying attention to the geography and on one occasion pixel hunting over the moon. I found this game to be very similar to portal, if portal was an open world puzzle solving game, not only in the fact that it’s a “puzzle game” but also in its sarcastic and brooding nature.
I found the landscapes of this game amazing. The puzzle area’s geography is very important and things are placed in such a way to make the puzzles more challenging. Some hidden easter eggs in this game rely heavily on paying attention to the geography and on one occasion pixel hunting over the moon. I found this game to be very similar to portal, if portal was an open world puzzle solving game, not only in the fact that it’s a “puzzle game” but also in its sarcastic and brooding nature.
The video game with a sense of place that I chose was “GRAND THEFT AUTO 5.” The definition of a sense of place according to Google is: “a combination of characteristics that makes a place special and unique. Sense of place involves the human experience in a landscape, the local knowledge and folklore. Sense of place also grows from identifying oneself in relation to a particular piece of land on the surface of planet Earth.” In class, we learned that a sense of place is “a feeling that we know what it is like to be there.” GTA 5 fits these definitions perfectly.
The game is based on Los Angeles, but they call it “Los Santos.” Since I am from the Los Angeles area, I can attest that the accuracy of the mapping is remarkable. The list of buildings and streets that look exactly like they do in real life is extensive. There are several videos online comparing Los Santos to Los Angeles that are easily over 2 hours in length.
I often find myself getting homesick. I have no family in Portland. I haven’t been home in about 3 years. The sense of place in this game is so strong to me, I habitually find myself roaming the streets of Los Santos to ease the pain. Incredibly, it seems to work like a charm. When I play GTA 5 with my friends up here, they will laugh at me when I see a landmark that I know all too well. I’ll begin jumping up and down and relaying old memories and stories that have happened “there.”
The game is based on Los Angeles, but they call it “Los Santos.” Since I am from the Los Angeles area, I can attest that the accuracy of the mapping is remarkable. The list of buildings and streets that look exactly like they do in real life is extensive. There are several videos online comparing Los Santos to Los Angeles that are easily over 2 hours in length.
I often find myself getting homesick. I have no family in Portland. I haven’t been home in about 3 years. The sense of place in this game is so strong to me, I habitually find myself roaming the streets of Los Santos to ease the pain. Incredibly, it seems to work like a charm. When I play GTA 5 with my friends up here, they will laugh at me when I see a landmark that I know all too well. I’ll begin jumping up and down and relaying old memories and stories that have happened “there.”
The map I chose this week is from Fallout 3. I chose this map, not only because I have it memorized like it’s a real place, but also the way it is used. In many games if you want to look at the map, it is either in a corner of your screen (CoD games), or in the start menu (Skyrim). I loved the mapping in Fallout 3. They used a tool that’s on the main character’s wrist called a pipboy3000. The fact that your character looks down at their arm for the map rather than backing out into a start menu made the game so much more immersive. It made it easier to forget you weren’t actually a bad ass in the wastelands. I really felt that this brought a sense of personal presence to the game.
Another cool feature of this map is that locations didn’t appear until you had either gone to them or the location had been assigned by a person of interest in a mission. There was however, a perk your character could gain that would open up every location, but this was not required to explore. In many other games all of the locations are either already visible, or if you go to one location, others open up around it, despite not yet exploring the area (Skyrim).
Orientation came easy while playing this game. A marker always tells you where you are and you can place other markers to guide you to your destinations. It became difficult at times for way finding. I only had problems when I was in a building or tunnel that consisted of many levels. The pipboy3000 only shows either an entire world map, or a map of the level you are on. Following an arrow when it is on another level right underneath you can make you slip up and question your surroundings. Once you got used to it though, it was easy to navigate where you were.
Another cool feature of this map is that locations didn’t appear until you had either gone to them or the location had been assigned by a person of interest in a mission. There was however, a perk your character could gain that would open up every location, but this was not required to explore. In many other games all of the locations are either already visible, or if you go to one location, others open up around it, despite not yet exploring the area (Skyrim).
Orientation came easy while playing this game. A marker always tells you where you are and you can place other markers to guide you to your destinations. It became difficult at times for way finding. I only had problems when I was in a building or tunnel that consisted of many levels. The pipboy3000 only shows either an entire world map, or a map of the level you are on. Following an arrow when it is on another level right underneath you can make you slip up and question your surroundings. Once you got used to it though, it was easy to navigate where you were.
Without even hearing the dreaded music that comes with this picture, we all know it. Every kid in the 90’s with a Sega Genesis can feel their heart pump harder with just the first measure of the feared drowning music from the Sonic the Hedgehog series. The arrangement was simple, a small two-note jingle that gets faster and louder as your character gets closer to death. You rush back and forth across the screen looking for an air bubble to make the countdown stop. As a kid playing this game, I often found myself holding my breath as well. Even as an adult watching my own children play the sonic games, I feel the same sense of dread as the music starts up from the other room. I wonder if Yukifumi Makino, the composer of the drowning sequence, realizes the terror he’s implanted in the 30-something year old adults walking around today.
Nitsche discusses the use of sound and music in video games. He states “…games allow users to change the timing of events, demanding an immediate reconstruction of the musical score.” The example of Sonic drowning is a perfect model of this. Your character is underwater, you know you have to hurry to either get up out of it or to find an air bubble. Right when your character is running out of air, the soundtrack changes to that horrible score. The second you find an air bubble, the score will go back to the regular level music, and the search for a new air bubble begins again.
-Alicia Raines
Nitsche discusses the use of sound and music in video games. He states “…games allow users to change the timing of events, demanding an immediate reconstruction of the musical score.” The example of Sonic drowning is a perfect model of this. Your character is underwater, you know you have to hurry to either get up out of it or to find an air bubble. Right when your character is running out of air, the soundtrack changes to that horrible score. The second you find an air bubble, the score will go back to the regular level music, and the search for a new air bubble begins again.
-Alicia Raines