Weapon Analysis

"It's dangerous to go alone! Take this." This famous quote from the original Legend of Zelda is what starts the journey of Link. The sword he acquires is used throughout the game to slay villains and assist him in dungeons. In later games, Link acquires a more iconic weapon, the Master Sword. To this day, when Link makes an appearance in a game, whether it is his own or a game like Super Smash Bros, he has his trusty weapon. This seem like trivial knowledge, but the Master Sword is not only used as a weapon, it is also used to further Link's image. A weapon, although just an inanimate object, can amplify the presence of a character, and is very important in the appearance of  a character.

If the Master Sword wasn't iconic enough, there is still the Buster Sword from Final Fantasy VII. By solely mentioning the name, a picture of Cloud (or Angeal, or Zack, depending on what games you've played) wielding that behemoth of a weapon pops into your head. Because of this sword, Cloud is considered physically strong, and the sword helps add to the "tough-guy" attitude he has. The sword is huge, so it sticks out like a sore thumb, and while their are other video game characters that fight with a greatsword, such as Ike (Fire Emblem), Sigfried (Soul Calibur), etc., the Buster Sword has a very distinct appearance. Unlike many greatswords, Cloud's is only sharp on one side, it also has a very broad base for the blade, and remains broad until it reaches the tip. Cloud's Buster Sword (top) looks more like a sharpened chunk of steel with holes than it does a sword (bottom).

Even in shooting games like Call of Duty, a character's presence can easily be felt by the appearance of a specific weapon. If only 1 player has a weapon with Gold Camo, everyone can recognize that player. Whether his name may be Xx420BlazeItSwagxX or ted42, everyone will know who who that player is without have to look at the name above the generic character. The weapon speaks louder than the character, and any time that weapon is seen, a player immediately can tell who is there. Other games like this include World of Warcraft and Guild Wars. Even though the characters in those games are built to the player's interest, the appearance of a unique weapon can say more than the character's physical appearance can.

However, not all weapons can point to a character. In games where party members can have any item at any time, it is hard to tell what belongs to whom. An example of this would be held items in Pokemon. While one can argue that these items aren't weapons, they aid the Pokemon in battle, much like a weapon. If I gave you a list of items, it would be impossible to tell which of the 719 Pokemon owned it. While it would make sense to have Lucario hold Lucarionite, a Lucario can also hold an Oran Berry, a silk scarf, etc., just like Hitmonchan could hold the Lucarionite.Again, the argument could be made that held items shouldn't count as weapons, but in that case, the "weapons" would be left in the Pokemon's attacks. Even on this level, there really isn't a lot of presence from an attack. While I agree seeing Flamethrower means the opponent has a strong attack, simply seeing the animation for the attack won't tell me who the user is. While the attack can't be used by all Pokemon, a large pool of them can, including Fire (obviously),Water, Steel, Fairy, Normal, Fighting, and other types of Pokemon.

In short, a character's weapon can really emphasize that character's appearance, but only if that character is the only one with such a weapon. When multiple characters can have the same epic-awesome-super-powerful weapon as you, it is no longer "your weapon".

Are You Afraid of the Dark?

The next-gen consoles on the market today are always capitalizing on their amazing 32 Million p HD+ Deluxe display for their games, showing how realistic the graphics can be, but does this hyper-realism matter? Without a doubt this technological advance is incredible, but what does this mean to games?

Art-style is incredibly important for creating a mood for a game. Aside from games, looking at the artwork of Tim Burton, it is easy to tell he wants to create a creepy kind of mood, even for something as light-hearted as The Nightmare Before Christmas. Games can have moods created for them in the same manner, an example of this would be BioShock. At the end of the day, BioShock is a shooter, but so are Halo, Call of Duty, and Battlefield. However, BioShock gives a creepy atmoshere, complete with dark scenery, characters with distorted faces, destroyed environment, etc. These all combine to give BioShock the "feel" is has. If the game had more sunshine and everything was nice an orderly, the game would feel far less dark, and the exerience of the game wouldn't be the same.
While BioShock is still rather realistic in its graphics, this helps compliment the mood. If an object is more realistic, people can relate to it more, making actions, such as turning their head backwards, far more creepy.

Another example of mood creation is Conker's Bad Fur Day. Despite all of the innapropriate themes, the game still gives a light-hearted atmosphere thanks to the art style. With Conker's cartoony appearance, the bright and sunny evironment, and the upbeat, cheery music, it's hard to ever take any of the profanity and swimming in feces seriously. If the cast of Conker's Bad Fur Day was replaced with the cast of Uncharted or God of War, the threats may be taken a bit more seriously. They may cringe when their charater has to swim through realistic sewer water, etc. This game was meant to be crazy and off-the-wall, so it only makes sense that the characters are bright and cartoonish. (This may sound like it completely contradicts my arguments about Conker's appearance in my post "Are You Sure You Belong Here?", however, mood and theme have different attributes, so while a Cartoon squirrel shouldn't be in a game with mature themes, it can certainly be in a game that is meant to be absurd and off-the-wall.)

Some games, however, have moods that don't make sense for the game. Re:Kinder, for example is meant to be a horror RPG, so it would make sense to have some realistic creatures that have sharp teeth or otherwise look scary. A game like this could use a realistic and darker art-style, similar to BioShock. However, the game gives an art-style that suited more for a children's cartoon. There is very little "horror" feel in this game, as enemies include an evil teddy bear (on left), and the environment still has a lot of color. The gameplay itself may not be bad, but the experience of the game is greatly decreased due to the art style.

Even with the advances in technology that allow for incredible definition, sometimes that isn't what's best for the game. The mood desired is incredibly important when creating characters, evironments, and music.