Immortallium's Blog

Linear Vs Open World Game Design

Published March 19, 2020

I can remember the controversy of Final Fantasy XIII when it was released. People had a variety of problems with the game (I’m more fond of the game than most as evidenced by my Final Fantasy game ranking) but one of the more prominent issues was the linearity of the game. Considering how open world Final Fantasy XV ended up becoming, I thought it might be worth discussing the pros and cons of linear vs open world game design.

To start with, I should explain that I have always leaned towards Japanese games over Western games. In my youth I played as many JRPGs as I could get my hands on (this usually meant just Final Fantasy). These games tended to favor a linear design which meant exploring a world where you progressed from point to point, occasionally exploring a side area but, in general, limiting exploration until you acquired vehicles that allowed you to traverse mountains, sea and air late in the game.

Often in Final Fantasy games, you will receive an airship to explore the world near the end of the game.

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Literal Vs Adaptive Translation: Which Is Better?

Published March 16, 2020

When translating a work, should you translate everything verbatim or should you change words so that the intent is carried across? This is a question that I have seen arise again and again and, while I have a strong preference on the matter, I thought it might be worth examining the pros and cons of each and why some people might prefer one over the other. While much of this can be applied to any medium that is translated from one language to another, my focus is going to be primarily on manga and anime.

Before we begin analyzing translation, I should first explain that there is no “one true translation” from Japanese to English. Japanese is from the Japonic language family while English is part of the Indo-European language family. Along with the geographical distance between their points of origin, this inherently means that many sentences can be translated in multiple ways and still be correct.

A map of the Indo-European language family.

A map of the Japonic language family.

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Gundam Timelines: Not As Confusing As You Think Part 2

Published March 12, 2020

Here is the conclusion of my article that began in “Gundam Timelines: Not As Confusing As You Think Part 1“.

Cosmic Era

Cosmic Era is the setting for Mobile Suit Gundam SEED and Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Destiny. Easily one of the most popular timelines which enjoyed tremendous sales and high Gunpla sales. Gundam SEED sees the conflict between normal humans called “Naturals” who live on Earth and genetically modified humans called “Coordinators” who live on colonies in space. The Cosmic Era was also the first alternate timeline to receive a sequel series, Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Destiny, a testament to its success.

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Gundam Timelines: Not As Confusing As You Think Part 1

Published March 9, 2020

As I mentioned in “Gundam 40th Anniversary“, one of the more intimidating aspects of Gundam is the various timelines. Before I began watching Gundam, I too was intimidated by this aspect. However, it is not nearly as complicated as it first appears.

The first thing to remember is that each timeline is separate. The only exceptions are Turn A Gundam which contains references to other timelines and Gundam Reconguista in G which references a previous timeline. Beyond that, no timeline connects with each other. Therefore, the most important thing to do is to start at the beginning of a timeline. To help with that, I will explain each timeline and where to start within that timeline.

Universal Century

Universal Century can be considered to be the quintessential Gundam timeline and is easily the most developed. The original Mobile Suit Gundam is part of this timeline along with its sequels Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam, Mobile Suit Gundam ZZ and Mobile Suit Victory Gundam. In addition to these TV series, this timeline contains a variety of spin-offs, OVAs and movies. You will see that my most common recommendation will be to start with the first show produced in a timeline which in this case would be the Mobile Suit Gundam TV series or the Mobile Suit Gundam movie trilogy which tells the story of the TV series in a more condensed format. However, for this timeline, I would actually recommend the OVA prequel Mobile Suit Gundam: The Origin which is set before the original series and lays the groundwork for the war and politics as well as providing a wide range of characters with added depth.

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My Thoughts On Collecting Merchandise

Published March 5, 2020

Whether you are into anime, manga, video games, western animation etc, it is near impossible to avoid the intense marketing of merchandise. Whenever I enter a GameStop store these days, I note how much of the store is now dedicated to merchandising. Perusing Twitter (and the internet in general), I am flooded with ads for collectible figurines, plushies, mugs etc. Why is merchandising so crucial to the industries and what are my thoughts on collecting it?

Merchandising has always been important as a source of revenue for anime. When Osamu Tezuka created the 1963 TV series of Astro Boy, he realized that he would not be able to recoup his costs from television networks. Instead, merchandising was viewed as key to making the Astro Boy anime profitable. Even today, merchandising is vital to the anime industry with series such as Puella Magi Madoka Magica bringing in $400 million of merchandise within 2 years. I would be remiss if I did not mention one of the most successful anime franchises of all time, Gundam and the fact that the series has made billions in merchandising.

Astro Boy established the importance of merchandising for anime.

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VR: A Discussion

Published March 2, 2020

It has been nearly 4 years since the first commercially available VR (Virtual Reality) headsets such as the HTC Vive, the Oculus Rift and the PlayStation VR were released. Despite all of this time, it still feels like VR gaming is niche and has yet to break into the mainstream. 2020 is poised to be an important year for VR and I felt like having a discussion of why I’m excited about VR while, at the same time, pointing to some of the problems that must be sorted out.

Let’s begin by explaining what VR gaming is. Pretty much all VR headsets feature a screen for each eye and the goal is to make you feel immersed in the world of the game. Beyond that, the headsets differ in how they track the movement of your body, whether they use a console, PC or other device and what controllers they use.

2016 felt like we were on the verge of a gaming revolution. The first VR headsets became commercially available and we began to see YouTubers and streamers showing off VR games. Many of these games felt more like tech demos than proper games but, even so, we saw many interesting titles such as Job Simulator, Space Pirate Trainer, Superhot VR and more.

Space Pirate Trainer was one of the most exciting games I saw for VR in 2016.

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Why You Should Read Rumiko Takahashi

Published February 27, 2020

With the announcement by Viz Media that Mermaid Saga is going to be re-released in a collector’s edition, the upcoming release of Maison Ikkoku and the ongoing release of Urusei Yatsura, it is clear that now is an excellent time to begin collecting Rumiko Takahashi’s works. But who is she and why should you begin investing in her manga?

While having trained in Kazuo Koike’s (of Lone Wolf and Cub fame) Gekiga Sonjuku, a school to teach how to create manga, I would not describe her works as gekiga. Instead, what Rumiko Takahashi took away from the course was that characters drive their manga series and to focus on creating engaging, likable casts.

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Sub Vs Dub: Why I Watch Both

Published February 24, 2020

I was perusing twitter the other day and noticed that the argument of Sub Vs Dub had cropped up again. I have stated in the past that neither is superior and that it is up to the viewer to decide which they prefer in their anime. However, I thought it might be interesting to discuss my own thoughts on the matter and why I watch some anime dubbed and others subbed.

When I began to watch anime around 2008/2009, I chose to watch everything I could watch dubbed. Occasionally I would watch an anime subbed if I heard that the dub was poor or if there was no dub at all (looking at you Ocean Waves and, at the time, Only Yesterday!) but I would guess that I watched around 90% of my anime dubbed back then.

Only Yesterday did not receive an English dub until 2016.

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Why You Should Watch Don’t Hug Me I’m Scared

Published February 20, 2020

I have spoken before about my desire to see more horror animation. While there are plenty of anime (and some western animation) that feature horror elements, they are more often than not driven by some other aspects such as action or sci-fi. While thinking about this, I rewatched a web series (whether it counts as animation or not is debatable) called Don’t Hug Me I’m Scared and was reminded how much of what I was looking for could be found in this show.

I discovered the first episode of Don’t Hug Me I’m Scared when (like many people I assume) a friend showed it to me. I can remember not thinking much of it at the time, admiring the production value but finding the shock value ending a little tasteless. In 2015 while watching an episode of the Game Grumps playthrough of Bloodborne, Danny compared one of the monsters to a character from Don’t Hug Me I’m Scared. Interested, I decided to watch the four episodes that were uploaded at that point and realized that I had seen the first episode years before.

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The Strange World of Dreamworks 2D Animated Films

Published February 17, 2020

I’m sure that we are all familiar with the Dreamworks Animation brand which has released films such as the Shrek franchise, the Kung Fu Panda series, the How to Train Your Dragon trilogy and more. These are all 3D CGI animated films and I do believe it is fair to say that 3D animation is what most people think of when they think of Dreamworks. However, did you know that of the first 7 films that Dreamworks Animation produced, only 2 of them were 3D CG films with the other 5 films animated in 2D?

It’s an interesting array of films as well with The Prince of Egypt (1998), The Road to El Dorado (2000), Joseph: King of Dreams (2000), Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron (2002) and Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas (2003). Featuring 2 bible stories, a legendary city, a literary adaptation and a semi-historical film, these films are a strange mix when it comes to quality and animation.

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Immortallium's Blog Posts

Cosmic Era

Universal Century