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.jpg) 1.1 A battle rages on a nondescript battlefield in the Vektan countryside. Enter Vektan soldiers, [Templar], and Helghast soldiers. TEMPLAR The comms dost worsen. Doth any person mark me? We shall be routed without aidance. Fie! ISA SOLDIER 1 I prithee, sir, what now? TEMPLAR We retire rearward. Enter ISA Soldier, [Sanchez] TEMPLAR God's blood! Dost thou seek to meet thy maker? Who's there? Stand, and unfold yourself. SANCHEZ For Vekta! Private Sanchez, sir. Quake not for the Helghast, sir; They wade into our snare. Mines! Lo, dead mid-step! TEMPLAR Will the minefield last? SANCHEZ Pray, not long, sir-- They've sought intrusion the greater part of the day. TEMPLAR Knowest thou this area, Sanchez? SANCHEZ Yessir! I've oppressed the Helghast since first light, But I can no longer hearken the Forward Post o'er the ridge. TEMPLAR Truly. Sanchez, marshal the way. We must hinder the Helghast's approach. Lead us through alive. SANCHEZ Yessir! To the main line we shall go. Cover my advance. [Templar and Sanchez] dodge Helghast mortars and machine gun fire. They take cover in an ISA controlled bunker outside the city. ISA SOLDIER 2 Captain Templar, praise god! And here returns the rest of your unit. ISA SOLDIER 3 Captain, you live and breath! Art thou injured? No. Thitherward is the city's entrance. Thou must cross the industries to find HQ. Helghast have broken through; they already occupy the city. Be mindful. SANCHEZ Godspeed, sir. Exeunt  This first image was from the opening cutscene, but since I missed it I'll cover it here:  There's our first glimpse of the Interplanetary Strategic Alliance (ISA) logo. That's not the standard logo, though. What we see on that broken wall is the ISA "sun" logo. Which is, well, basically the same as the standard logo only it has visible sun rays radiating from it. The more commonly seen ISA logo is this one:  We talked a bit about the Helghast triad's connotations to the Nazi swastika, but now I want to look at the actual symbology of the icon itself. The number three obviously can carry a lot of meaning. Past, present, future, or mind, body, soul--there are a lot of things you can attach the number three to. Not to forget the Christian symbology of three being the Father, Son, and the Holy Ghost. Is there anything to that? Well, maybe. Look at the name of the people using the image: Helghast. The people of Helghan were originally called Helghans until Visari coined the term "Helghast". Where did the word come from? Well, "gast" is a Middle English word for "ghost". It could be that the addition of "-ghast" is meant to infer that his people now have "spirit". Either that, or he intended it to be something to menace their enemies: "hell ghost". Could it then be a perversion of "holy ghost"? Regardless, there's more to it. Triangles are used in alchemical symbols. A triangle with the base down refers to water and earth, while a triangle with the base up refers to fire and air. The Helghast triad is shown in both forms, so if there's an alchemical connection it may be tenuous and incidental. Lastly, the three arrows bursting outward seem to indicate expansion or explosion. The Helghast are certainly ready to fight and are eager to take Vekta for their own. This seems to be the strongest (and simplest) explanation for the use of the arrows. Conversely, the ISA use a circle for their symbol. Circles are often used to represent protective themes or shields. In opposition to the Helghast triad, the two halves of the circle could represent the ISA's purpose of containing the Helghast threat. A circle can also represent eternity (see: Ouroboros). With regards to alchemy, the circle represents spirit. This all isn't even mentioning the fact that the sun is seen as a life-giving image. What does this all mean? Well, if we're going to set up clear good-guys and bad-guys, it helps to give them symbols that make them seem holy and life-giving, and violent and into witchcraft respectively. Although, I don't think it's that simple. Guerrilla Games is going through a lot of effort to make really clear and obvious black and white heroes and villains. I sort of brought it up in the video when crow and I talked about colour theory, but I think this is all sort of a red herring. We're supposed to think that ISA=good and Helghast=bad at first glance. Yet there's a lot more to the story than that. Everything is more of a shade of grey, and that'll become a lot more obvious as we get further into the games and start delving into the series' lore. nine-gear crow posted:Also, one last bit of personal analysis on the ISA logo: SpecialK800 posted:There are a lot of design things going on between the Helghast and ISA logos. You guys mentioned the differences in the coloring and Crow mentioned the sort of "barbed" nature of the Helghast triad. But the difference between curved lines and harsh angles is important too. Curved lines denote softer, more organic things. This is carried over with regard to the ISA. Their soldiers, though all armored, tend to have exposed heads and patches of visible skin. In Killzone 1 we see them defending a world with actual nature, though it is ravaged by war brought by the Helghast. The Helghast triad, meanwhile, uses harsh angles and straight lines, often denoting a more artificial or mechanical design. The Helghast then fight completely covered by armor and machinery. Throughout the entire series you barely ever see that sickly pale Helghast skin on a soldier. Their forces look like warfare machines from the outside. And when we finally see Helghan, well let's just say their world has a lot less nature to enjoy (at least until Killzone 3). There are so many tiny details regarding the symbols and their use, especially the variations on the Helghast triad, that you could write a book. chiasaur11 posted:I know it's a gimmee, but the thing that struck me about the ISA logo? All this talk about religious symbology made me laugh when I screencapped this image though:  They say that there are no atheists in foxholes, and it seems for a moment that Jan Templar might have found Jesus himself--  --so I think he was a bit disappointed to find out that it was only Pvt. Sanchez.  I've always thought the first few areas of Killzone were meant to serve as a "greatest hits" of WWI and WWII. After all, we're literally fighting Space Nazis, right? The game is eager to drive that point home. This first stage is one huge reference to WWI's trench warfare. I'd elaborate more, but I don't think I have to. Really, all you need to do is GIS images of WWI battlefields:  Thankfully, we have  I snagged that image of the boot because I thought it was strange. I've played Killzone six or seven times now, and that's the first time I've noticed the boot. Why is it there? What does it mean? Who did it belong to? Why are there no other boots in the game? Or wait, ARE there other boots in the game!?  Crabtree posted:To me that separated boots screams Kemmerich's Boots from All Quiet on the Western Front. A good pair of boots were one of the most precious commodities a soldier could have in the Great War, it was both comfort and protection against the horrors of Trench Foot caused by likely sitting around in dank, deteriorating trench conditions for possibly months as you wait for the next senseless charge of the day. I mean, for God's sake, this was the war where one of its deadliest battles, Verdun, spanned the course of over 9 bloody months. In the book, the boots bring nothing but death or misery to those that possess them. And yet they are still coveted and taken, from mutilated friends or robbed from corpses that obviously no longer need them. "What good are they to you, (Franz)? I can use them!" With regards to the Hakkendorf building below, I'm not sure, but I think it's just a name. I'm not sure what its roots are or where it's from (maybe The Netherlands? That's where Guerrilla Games is based). If anyone has any thoughts, lemme know.  Wahad posted:Hakkendorf is not a Dutch but a German name - for example, Düsseldorf, the German city, means "town/village of fools". I'm not sure what Hakken means, but if it's an alternate spelling of the word "hacken", Hakkendorf would be "town/village of chopping" - perhaps denoting a place with lots of lumber production?  Most of the historical information for Killzone doesn't appear in the games themselves. Guerrilla did write up a whole bunch of really interesting stuff, though. It used to be available on a website around the time when Killzone 2 was released, but that whole thing has since been taken down. I was fortunate enough to discover that a forum user at NeoGAF by the name of "Sentry" got screencaps of everything and made them available. Here's the thread in particular if you absolutely must read up on everything immediately. I will be covering it all with annotations over the course of the next few updates, though. The lore splash page looked something like this:  As you can see, there are seven distinct eras covering centuries of time in the not-too-distant future. Killzone, Killzone 2, Killzone 3, Killzone: Liberation, and Killzone: Mercenary all take place during the "Second Extrasolar War" era, that tiny little wedge on the far right of the timeline. Yeah. Seriously. This series has a LOT of history. As far as I can tell, Killzone: Shadow Fall takes place between 20-30 years after the end of the Second Extrasolar War--but that's neither here nor there at the moment.  The Terran Era is the closest to our current time and has a lot of issues that we currently have. Namely: energy crises and fear of global apocalypse. It's a pretty cool back story and could easily be the genesis for any number of science fiction novels, games, or films. Heck, it even starts with World War III:  In an alternate universe, we got Mad Max. In the Killzone universe, we got space Nazis.  That's interesting. We could very well have been immediately thrust down a path where corporations are effectively ruling all space colonies a la the Alien franchise, and yet here the United Colonial Nations (UCN) are placing strict regulations in order to try and curb that potential outcome. The Helghan Corporation is present at this time, eager to become the next Weyland-Yutani.  The idea of a Space United Nations working frantically with a group of highly-trained elite volunteer soldiers from member nations to try and colonise space for a dying Earth is an awesome one. If they ever make a Killzone: Origins game, this could be an interesting concept to go off on. It could be a 4x type game. Actually, heck, they could make a 4x game in the current Killzone universe and that'd be sweet. Or it could be a Killzone: X-COM kind of thing, who knows.  Someone on staff must be a Sid Meier fan. This star stuff is a bit out of my league, so if anyone knows more about astronomy and such, please share it. As far as I can tell, Alpha Centauri is actually a binary star system: two stars orbiting each other. Hence, the Alpha Centauri A and B. Wanna take a guess at what the rocky planet around A and the lush Eden around B wind up becoming?  Nothing major to note here. A changing of the guard.  And here we get our first intonations that the Helghan Corporation might be run by less that exemplary people. A few things to note here. First, the names of the UCA Navy vessels. They're all very fitting for deep space exploration/colonisation vessels. A lot of Biblical names present. Archon - A "ruler" or "leader". (Greek origins). Triumph - The most obvious name. "Victory", "conquest", etc. (Old French origins) Pacifica - Likely derived from "pacific" and not from the name of a city or company. Thus, "peaceful" or "tranquil". (Latin origins). Jericho - An ancient city of Palestine. (Hebrew origins). Seraph - A member of the highest order of angels. (Hebrew origins). Harbinger - A herald marking the approach of another. (An alteration of a Middle English word. Has roots as far back as Old Saxon and Old High German). Too bad they all Also, I like to imagine that the Interplanetary Banking Guild (IBG) and Dune's Spacing Guild are basically the same thing.  We discover that the two planets, Helghan and Vekta, are both named for and by the Helghan Corporation and its CEO. Interesting. This ends the so-called "Terran Era". Now that space colonisation is one its way, humans are no longer limited to inhabiting the Earth.  Gameplay in all the Killzone games are a bit clunky. Part of this is to really ground the player in the game universe and feel like they're truly responsible for the actions they take on-screen. For some people, this really worked. For others, they hated it. One thing's for sure, the games have often needed tweaking to their controls to be comfortable to play for most people. The first thing I did in the video was turn off AUTO RELOAD. It's a horrible, horrible thing that is a minor help at the best of times, and responsible for most avoidable deaths at the worst of times. Reloading in this game is a slow, ponderous task. Sure, it's more realistic, but it also means you need to adjust your play style accordingly. If you run out of bullets in a fire fight without cover, what makes more sense: pausing to reload your gun, or quickly drawing out a second loaded firearm? It's the latter. Always the latter. You can carry three guns on you at a time (that's one more than Killzone's contemporary Halo! Truly, the Halo-killer!), so there's no excuse to not use that to your advantage. With AUTO RELOAD on, though, it negates that bonus as you can't interrupt the reload action. Once it starts you just gotta let it play out and hope you don't die before it's done. So turning it off is a great idea. The Helghast's StA-52 AR was a rather hated gun by the internet because of its second fire, a single shotgun shell. See, on paper it's a great idea: if you turn around a corner and are ambushed by a Helghast squad, you can quickly off the closest soldier with the single shotgun blast, and spray the remaining 60 rifle rounds at the others while you retreat for cover. In practice, the AUTO RELOAD made the player reload the underslung shotgun after that single shot, leaving them open to fire and wishing they could use the primary fire. Again, no auto reload, no problem. Anyways, onto our HUD. As you probably saw, there's a Health Bar, a Stamina Bar, and an Ammo Bar showing off a gun's remaining primary and secondary rounds. I mentioned that each character plays a bit differently, and that's true. Each character regenerates Health and Stamina at different rates and takes different amounts of damage--not to mention they start with different weapons, move at different speeds, specialize in certain weapons, and have access to certain areas. It all sounds very cool, but in practice, the differences are rather minimal. Still, here's Templar's stats: Templar HEALTH REGEN - Average STAMINA REGEN - Average DEFENSE - Average WEAPONS - M82-G Assault Rifle, M4 Semi-Automatic Pistol ABILITIES - Can climb ladders, and vault over obstacles   Voiced by Kal Weber I mentioned in the video that I thought Templar was our "everyman action hero". Each of the four main characters in Killzone seem to be portraying an action hero trope, and in Templar's case, he's the blue-collar working stiff caught in a bad situation. He's John McClane, Martin Brody, Marty McFly, Duke Nukem, Theo Faron, Sarah Connor, whatever. He's the guy who's not too much unlike yourself, who deals with everyday problems not unlike yourself, and who can never seem to catch a break not unlike yourself. As we'll see, Templar is the most grounded of the group, can take John McClane-like beatings and keep on kicking, and has loveable relationship problems. Despite being one of four playable characters, I feel like Templar is the "canon" main character, and as such I'll be playing him for the game's ending (though frankly, the ending differences between characters are so minimal it's laughable). He'll also be our protagonist in the PSP game and a major character in the sequel.  Uncredited--though there are, like, five people credited as "Additional ISA Voices" An ISA Private who was present on the ground for the Helghast's initial invasion. Sanchez is a pretty gung-ho kind of guy, but he gets the job done and helped get Templar through the trenches safely. He's alright in my books.  Most of the vehicles appeared in the opening cutscene, but I neglected to speak about them there, so here they are--though the Overlord and Hover APC are both in this first mission.  Helghast Cruiser The standard Helghast fleet cruiser. It's design is based off of early First Extrasolar War variants. Heck, if it ain't broke, don't fix it, right? Has a mixed armament of missiles and AA batteries. Can hold six Overlord Dropships and carries a complement of Leechpods, small craft used for space-to-space boarding parties. They are smaller than ISA Cruisers and lack their firepower, but that allows them to have a numerical superiority and to handle better in atmospheric conditions. If it's ship-to-ship combat in space, though, the ISA Cruiser generally always comes out on top. During the Vektan invasion, they were able to overwhelm the existing ISA Navy because most Cruisers had been phased out in favour of an Orbital Defense System.  Helghast Overlord Dropship The HGH Overlord is the backbone of the Helghast air force. Armed with twin Scylla machine guns, it is able to rain down hellish cover fire while troops rappel to the ground. Can carry eight soldiers. There is no canopy, so the pilot does not need direct line of sight to fly. Advance monitors allow them to pilot and fire, effectively making these flying tanks. As such, only sustained heavy fire can bring down these ships. Some of the most durable and reliable vessels in service, the HGH Overlords continue to be used long after the Second Extrasolar War up into the events of Killzone: Shadow Fall.  Helghast Jet Bike A fast-attack vehicle. Lightly armoured, they can be shot down with standard assault rifles. They are rather unsafe and their Helghast Air Cavalry is prone to fatal accidents. Oh, and the pilot is uncovered, leaving them vulnerable to small rounds fire. They are basically Space Harleys, not unlike Swoops from the Star Wars EU.  Helghast Hover APC Designed specifically for the Vektan invasion, they are far more mobile on the planet's surface than their ISA counterparts, the Lancers. Specifically, they can maneuver over muddy and rocky terrain without hindrance. They were also responsible for much of the Third Army's early victories. Despite being able to hover, they are still vulnerable to land mines. The base model can carry ten troops and is equipped with a Scylla machine gun. There is an anti-air model (shown) equipped with a Chimera Heavy Weapons Platform, though it can only hold six troops. There is also a Multiple Rocket Launcher (MRL) model, but its entire storage is used for ammunition, so it is used exclusively for fire support.  Strategic Defense Platform Also known as the SD Platform or Orbital Defense Platform. Huge satellites with a large solar sail. They are armed with high powered lasers capable of performing pin-point bombardment strikes. They are strong enough to pierce the armour of UCN Cruisers, vessels twice the size of ISA Cruisers. Knowing this, part of the Helghast's invasion plan of Vekta was to disable and capture the SD Platforms. In doing so, they could turn them against the UCN when they inevitably showed up to reinforce Vekta. Once the SD Platforms were built, Vekta no longer saw the need for maintaining a large Navy and began demilitarizing and decommissioning their Cruisers.    M82 Assault Rifle Manufactured by the ISA, it is their standard-issue rifle. Comes in variants with a grenade launcher or silencer attachment, known as the M82-G and M82SE respectively. Is a powerful rifle with high accuracy and an average rate of fire. It's recommended for mid-range combat, as sustained rate of fire ruins accuracy, but a trained marksman utilizing single-shots can easily deliver head shots. It's a solid rifle that you can generally keep stocked on ammunition as long as you aren't wasting shots. We'll only see the M82-G in Killzone 1, as it's only used by ISA RRF (Rapid Reaction Force). All other games we play as regular ISA Marines, who use the standard M82. RRF soldiers are always on stand-by for an enemy invasion and make up 15% of a colony's military. Templar is RRF, just to be clear. Vektan RRF casualties were so high after the Helghast invasion that it was disbanded and its survivors absorbed into other forces.  M4 Semi-Automatic Pistol Manufactured by the ISA. Uses .50AE ammo and has a 7-round clip. Intended to be the Space Desert Eagle and is about as useful as one, hyuk! But no, seriously, this gun is terrible and should only be used by masochists. It's awkward, clumsy, and there's a shortage of ammo for it. Ditch it as soon as possible and use any other gun.  M194 Fragmentation Grenade Manufactured by the ISA and nicknamed the "door knocker". Can kill a man within 2 metres of the explosion. Is armed with a series of lights in order to allow soldiers to more safely "cook" grenades. Very popular and also used by Helghast military--they love throwing grenades when you hide in cover too long.   StA-52 Assault Rifle Also known as the StA-52 Light Assault Rifle. Manufactured by Stahl Arms, this gun is the workhorse of the Helghast military. Uses a helical magazine, much like many real-world bullpups. This allows for a greater ammo capacity, though the complexity of the weapon can increase malfunction (thankfully this game takes place in the future, so all those sorts of problems have been ironed out). The StA-52 AR is a solid gun for short to mid-range application. It loses accuracy with sustained fire, so isn't great for long-range combat, though its iron-sights can mitigate that problem a bit. In Killzone 1 this gun is okay at best, unless used by Hakha. This rifle is significantly more useful in later games. Is seen in two variants: one with an underslung single-shot shotgun attachment, and one without. The only time the former is seen is in Killzone 1 in the hands of the Helghast Third Army, the invading force on Vekta under command of General Joseph Lente. Purportedly the most well-trained of the Helghast Army (watch the LP, these guys are idiots), they are certainly the most well-funded. This could explain why they were armed with more advanced hover tanks and assault rifles than Helghast in later games.  M224 MOMAG MOMAG=Mounted Machine Gun. ISA manufactured and their most common emplaced machine gun. It's 50Cal. linkless ammunition belt allows for a higher rate of fire than other MGs, but results in massive recoil. Sustained fire is not recommended.  "Killzone" Physics:  IT BEGINS. Sally fucked around with this message at 23:41 on Nov 12, 2014 |
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May 1, 2014 19:49
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Video won't play for me-it buffers for eternity. Also,when it does play, it abruptly stops,flashing an error message. Edit: now it works just fine. Weird. VolticSurge fucked around with this message at 20:38 on May 1, 2014 |
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May 1, 2014 20:28
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Blind Sally posted:
Hakkendorf is not a Dutch but a German name - for example, Düsseldorf, the German city, means "town/village of fools". I'm not sure what Hakken means, but if it's an alternate spelling of the word "hacken", Hakkendorf would be "town/village of chopping" - perhaps denoting a place with lots of lumber production? Enjoying this thing so far, keep it up!
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May 1, 2014 20:32
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yep the commentery version is borked for me too
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May 1, 2014 20:46
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I've had to use Opera to actually play the video, Firefox and Chrome won't do jack poo poo.
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May 1, 2014 20:49
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Odd. I just watched them both in Firefox. I, uh, I don't know? I'll check in with crow.
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May 1, 2014 20:54
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Yeah. It doesn't seem to to be working. I'll check it on my PC and see what the hell is going on and re-upload it if needed.
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May 1, 2014 21:01
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Yeah, dammit, YouTube done goofed and the commentary videos for stages 1 and 2 aren't playing properly. The good news is the rest of the level 1 videos are. Give me an hour and a half or so to reupload them and we'll try this again. In the meantime, here's a couple of things I was asked to do by Blind Sally asked me to do but I never got around to it because I spent all last night restoring my iPad after Apple's stupid iOS update bug bricked it.  AAAAAAAAAPPPPPLLLEEE!!!!!First up is the character portrait for poor Pvt. Sanchez. And though you can't see the video yet, here's a preview of what we've lovingly dubbed "Killzone Physics" wherein characters will glitch the gently caress out and start doing stuff like this: More often than not it usually only happens when characters ragdoll after death, but there are a few instance of the live AI doing some pretty bonkers stuff that we encounter. Its primarily confined to the first game though, but when we do come across "Killzone Physics" in games 2 and 3 will we gladly point them out to you. Also, one last bit of personal analysis on the ISA logo:  This variant of the ISA logo is only seen in Killzone 1 and has been dubbed the ISA "sun" logo by players. There's no offical go-to version of it available online. I had to plumb the depths of DeviantArt to find a useable vector of it for the LP. That said, thanks to DA user FenixArtBox for the vector. (Just try to ignore all the My Little Pony artwork...). Anyway, the sun logo is trying to colour your perception of the ISA as the unambiguous "good" guys here. Their logo is a sun, a source of light and warmth and prosperity. There are no sharp edges on the logo unlike the Helghast logo, indicating that the ISA's authority radiates outwards seemingly benevolently, as opposed to hostilely like the barbs of the Helghast logo. Morever, the logo is green in colour, as opposed to the Helghast's black, red and white logo. The choice of colour here seemingly indicates that the ISA are on the side of "life" as all their equipment and iconography are seemingly verdant colours: green logo, green armour, warm orange highlights on their armour, and in Killzone 2 and Killzone 3, they also have soft blue lights added to their armour to contrast the harsh red and orange lights of the Helghast soldiers. And yet, you'll notice that the ISA logo, in both versions, is a very grey, almost sickly green colour. The implication, when looking at it through a Colour Theory lens seems to indicate that, yes, there is life here, but it's slowly dying too. This is compounded when you look at the variation between the two ISA logos between Killzone 1 and Liberation/2/3. In the first game where the ISA are allegedly the good guys, their logo is the sun variant. In the rest of the series, where the waters of the ISA's true nature and characterization becomes muddied (significantly), it's replaced with the simple sphere logo. The warmth and light has been stripped away from the ISA. They're no longer worthy of having the sun as their emblem any more, and there's a moment in Killzone 2 that demonstrates this kind in such a way I was actually struck by the symbolism of it when it happened. ....On and it also kind of looks like the OSHA High Explosive warning sign too. nine-gear crow fucked around with this message at 22:00 on May 1, 2014 |
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May 1, 2014 21:57
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And that's that. The new videos have been uploaded and they should work properly now. Sorry about the delay.  
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May 2, 2014 00:10
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I remember the reason I didn't like this game-all the freaking brown. People give Gears of War and its ilk flak for spawning the "Real is Brown" trend,when this game was the pioneer. It hurts my eyes, which is why I was happy that the sequels have colors that aren't brown.
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May 2, 2014 00:27
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VolticSurge posted:I remember the reason I didn't like this game-all the freaking brown. People give Gears of War and its ilk flak for spawning the "Real is Brown" trend,when this game was the pioneer. It hurts my eyes, which is why I was happy that the sequels have colors that aren't brown. The thing about trend setting is that you have to actually be popular. (Gears also didn't invent sticky cover based shooting)
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May 2, 2014 02:06
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There are a lot of design things going on between the Helghast and ISA logos. You guys mentioned the differences in the coloring and Crow mentioned the sort of "barbed" nature of the Helghast triad. But the difference between curved lines and harsh angles is important too. Curved lines denote softer, more organic things. This is carried over with regard to the ISA. Their soldiers, though all armored, tend to have exposed heads and patches of visible skin. In Killzone 1 we see them defending a world with actual nature, though it is ravaged by war brought by the Helghast. The Helghast triad, meanwhile, uses harsh angles and straight lines, often denoting a more artificial or mechanical design. The Helghast then fight completely covered by armor and machinery. Throughout the entire series you barely ever see that sickly pale Helghast skin on a soldier. Their forces look like warfare machines from the outside. And when we finally see Helghan, well let's just say their world has a lot less nature to enjoy (at least until Killzone 3). There are so many tiny details regarding the symbols and their use, especially the variations on the Helghast triad, that you could write a book. ... But I won't be writing it.
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May 2, 2014 02:40
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Rinkles posted:The thing about trend setting is that you have to actually be popular. (Gears also didn't invent sticky cover based shooting) Indeed, one of the games that pioneered the cover thing was something called "Kill.Switch", I believe. It was otherwise generic,so I can't recall much else about it- much like this game. Maybe that's why it wasn't super popular?
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May 2, 2014 02:51
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I know it's a gimmee, but the thing that struck me about the ISA logo? It's corporate. I mean, it looks less like a nation's flag and more like it comes at the end of an infomercial for NutriPharm. The Helghast's symbol says "We're the baddies", but it also says "We are a nation-state with a military.". They're bad people, but they're people. The ISA's symbol says "Cayce Pollard is about to start puking her guts out".
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May 2, 2014 04:02
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Perhaps a minor quibble, Sire Mander, but 'tis "exeunt," E before U. Wonder if any other media critic or satirist has used high-art trappings to not only snark dismissively about pop culture media, but draw attention to themes people may have overlooked. Too much of modern satire is genuine misanthropy in a flimsy comedic disguise, so you get a lot of really uninteresting meanness for its own sake.
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May 2, 2014 04:40
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SiteMeister posted:Perhaps a minor quibble, Sire Mander, but 'tis "exeunt," E before U. The closest thing I can think of is "Brows Held High" by Kyle Kallgren aka Oancitizen on That Guy With The Glasses/Chez Apocalypse.
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May 2, 2014 04:46
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To me that separated boots screams Kemmerich's Boots from All Quiet on the Western Front. A good pair of boots were one of the most precious commodities a soldier could have in the Great War, it was both comfort and protection against the horrors of Trench Foot caused by likely sitting around in dank, deteriorating trench conditions for possibly months as you wait for the next senseless charge of the day. I mean, for God's sake, this was the war where one of its deadliest battles, Verdun, spanned the course of over 9 bloody months. In the book, the boots bring nothing but death or misery to those that possess them. And yet they are still coveted and taken, from mutilated friends or robbed from corpses that obviously no longer need them. "What good are they to you, (Franz)? I can use them!"
Crabtree fucked around with this message at 06:04 on May 2, 2014 |
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May 2, 2014 05:53
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nine-gear crow posted:The closest thing I can think of is "Brows Held High" by Kyle Kallgren aka Oancitizen on That Guy With The Glasses/Chez Apocalypse. I recommend this if you like this sort of thing, also if you like to feel clever when people make obscure references.
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May 2, 2014 16:34
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Man, so many rad posts. You guys are finding all sorts of sweet things I missed. This is brilliant! First, thanks for fixin' the vids, crow. I updated the post. Oh, and kudos for finding a clearer example of the ISA "sun" logo. I couldn't find one and it was driving me nuts.SpecialK800 posted:There are a lot of design things going on between the Helghast and ISA logos. You guys mentioned the differences in the coloring and Crow mentioned the sort of "barbed" nature of the Helghast triad. But the difference between curved lines and harsh angles is important too. Curved lines denote softer, more organic things. This is carried over with regard to the ISA. Their soldiers, though all armored, tend to have exposed heads and patches of visible skin. In Killzone 1 we see them defending a world with actual nature, though it is ravaged by war brought by the Helghast. The Helghast triad, meanwhile, uses harsh angles and straight lines, often denoting a more artificial or mechanical design. The Helghast then fight completely covered by armor and machinery. Throughout the entire series you barely ever see that sickly pale Helghast skin on a soldier. Their forces look like warfare machines from the outside. And when we finally see Helghan, well let's just say their world has a lot less nature to enjoy (at least until Killzone 3). There are so many tiny details regarding the symbols and their use, especially the variations on the Helghast triad, that you could write a book. This is interesting and dips into a point I was going to bring up in later videos. Guerrilla seems to be trying to say something about homogeneity. Specifically, that they're associating it with evil and bad things. As you say, the Helghast come across as very artificial, whereas the ISA seem far more organic. For all we know, the Helghast soldiers are clones stuck in identical suits of armour. They could literally be Storm Troopers mass produced for the Vektan invasion. The have no distinguishing marks from one another, they all have the same goggles, the same weaponry, and--though this may be more a limitation of the game's engine--they all have the same angry British voice. By contrast, the ISA are individuals. They do not wear helmets, or if they do, they do not cover their faces. You can see the people in the armour. You can see that they are human beings of different nationalities, with different hair-styles, with moles, scars, different voices, etc. etc. It's a same-y collective fighting a group of proud individuals. Of course, this gets kind of turned on its head when you give it a closer examination. When you squint at the Helghast, you'll notice that they aren't all identical. Some of them wear berets instead of helmets. Some don't wear helmets at all, and you can see their faces. Some wear sleeveless uniforms. It's subtle, but it's there, and it suggests that they're just as individualistic as the ISA, but perhaps the ISA doesn't notice or care to notice because they find the Helghast so unrecognizable and inhuman. Again, to contrast that, when you peer closely at the ISA, they're all basically the same--much like the Helghast. Okay, so there's like, one woman, and two or three people of colour in the Vektan military, but otherwise it's predominantly youngish-to-middle-aged bald-to-short-haired white men. I swear, 98% of all ISA NPCs we meet in Killzone (and its sequels, frankly) are just those aforementioned white dudes. Though we can see the ISA soldier's faces and recognize them as individuals, being able to see them all also shows off just how homogenous the ISA/Vektan population is. Now, what does this mean in the greater scope of the Killzone universe? I have some theories that I'm still trying to sort out, but I'm not entirely sure. chiasaur11 posted:It's corporate. Oh man, that's so obvious I didn't even pick up on it. Of course it's really corporate. Well, as we delve more into the game's hidden lore, that begins to make so much sense. Nice catch. SiteMeister posted:Perhaps a minor quibble, Sire Mander, but 'tis "exeunt," E before U. 'Sblood! What hath I wrought? Tis a trifle, indeed, but nonetheless I have corrected the error! Many thanks. Crabtree posted:To me that separated boots screams Kemmerich's Boots from All Quiet on the Western Front. A good pair of boots were one of the most precious commodities a soldier could have in the Great War, it was both comfort and protection against the horrors of Trench Foot caused by likely sitting around in dank, deteriorating trench conditions for possibly months as you wait for the next senseless charge of the day. I mean, for God's sake, this was the war where one of its deadliest battles, Verdun, spanned the course of over 9 bloody months. In the book, the boots bring nothing but death or misery to those that possess them. And yet they are still coveted and taken, from mutilated friends or robbed from corpses that obviously no longer need them. "What good are they to you, (Franz)? I can use them!" Ha, clever! I would never have caught that. I haven't read All Quiet On The Western Front since grade school. Considering that first level seems very obviously to be trying to evoke imagery or ideas from WWI and trench combat, I think that discarded boot (which looks to be in excellent shape) could very well be a reference to All Quiet. It's certainly one of the more well-known pieces of WWI literature. The question then is are the ISA supposed to representative of these characters struggling in the trenches, or is the boot supposed to be more evocative of the Space Nazis now bearing down on the protagonists? (Or perhaps it's just a subtle nod to a great book?)
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May 2, 2014 18:59
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The whole "no one wears helmets in the trenchlines of notAmerica" came across as a wee bit dumb/hollywoodism, but sure toss it up for showing "individualism".
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May 2, 2014 23:10
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Hmm. Though if we want to be generous to the game, then perhaps the choice to have the ISA soldiers be un-helmeted is a very deliberate one. Say we do consider the ISA a sort of notAmerica (or a Space America) and their lack of helmets to be a bit of stupid Hollywood-ism. Where did they get it from? Maybe regular UCA-issue uniforms have regulation helmets but ISA don't because they are literally a bunch of stupid redneck backwater colonials that the Earth Fleets look down on. I mean, maybe that uniform is a deliberate, if misguided, attempt by ISA culture to emulate powerful historical nations? If that's the case, why wouldn't a Space America emulate the USA in the most obvious of manners: through their pop culture. After all, Arnold schwarzenegger didn't wear a helmet in Commando, so why should the ISA, who basically consider themselves to be the action heroes of space? If we want to push the Individualism angle, we could talk about it in terms of national generalizations. The USA is often consider to be a very individualistic nation (well, most Western nations are). If the ISA is Space America (and they do have American accents so that isn't a far reach), then this might be a bit of subconscious stupidity on their part. By contrast, the Helhast are a much more collectivist nation. Consider that they are based off of real-world totalitarian nations, like the Soviet Union and North Korea, this collectivist nature makes sense thematically. There are no individuals on Helghan (excepting Autarch Visari, our glorious leader), only the Helghast--and we are all Helghast! Everyone works, fights, and dies for Helghan. In fact, everyone serves compulsory military service and must wear identical masked uniforms to further hide their identities and unify them into a single hive mind. Maybe I'm being too generous to the game and to Guerrilla, but I figure I ought to be for this LP.
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May 3, 2014 17:56
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Blind Sally posted:This is interesting and dips into a point I was going to bring up in later videos. Guerrilla seems to be trying to say something about homogeneity. Specifically, that they're associating it with evil and bad things. As you say, the Helghast come across as very artificial, whereas the ISA seem far more organic. For all we know, the Helghast soldiers are clones stuck in identical suits of armour. They could literally be Storm Troopers mass produced for the Vektan invasion. The have no distinguishing marks from one another, they all have the same goggles, the same weaponry, and--though this may be more a limitation of the game's engine--they all have the same angry British voice. By contrast, the ISA are individuals. They do not wear helmets, or if they do, they do not cover their faces. You can see the people in the armour. You can see that they are human beings of different nationalities, with different hair-styles, with moles, scars, different voices, etc. etc. It's a same-y collective fighting a group of proud individuals. It also just generally references (and apparently subverts) the way movies and games frequently have the Bad Guys all wearing helmets that obscure the face and/or completely identical uniforms (like Starwars' Stormtroopers, for instance), thus dehumanizing the enemy because they become nameless, faceless, copy/paste soldiers.
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May 3, 2014 18:23
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azren posted:It also just generally references (and apparently subverts) the way movies and games frequently have the Bad Guys all wearing helmets that obscure the face and/or completely identical uniforms (like Starwars' Stormtroopers, for instance), thus dehumanizing the enemy because they become nameless, faceless, copy/paste soldiers. This has been used in a lot throughout history. For example:  A rather famous art piece, I know, but it shows off the theme of humanizing the hero as being both an individual and a martyr, while dehumanizing the villains (the french soldiers) by hiding their faces. Each civilian is clearly distinct from one another, but the soldiers mercilessly killing them all appear to be a collective group with no face and no humanity.
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May 3, 2014 18:33
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Blind Sally posted:Ha, clever! I would never have caught that. I haven't read All Quiet On The Western Front since grade school. Considering that first level seems very obviously to be trying to evoke imagery or ideas from WWI and trench combat, I think that discarded boot (which looks to be in excellent shape) could very well be a reference to All Quiet. It's certainly one of the more well-known pieces of WWI literature. The question then is are the ISA supposed to representative of these characters struggling in the trenches, or is the boot supposed to be more evocative of the Space Nazis now bearing down on the protagonists? Depending on who could have worn it, it would be a little strange if it was from an ISA soldier because the people who wore it or coveted the seemingly always well-kept Cavalry Officer Riding boots were all German. Which would be all the more stranger that clearly high thigh boots would be worn at all in the far flung future, unless there’s some possible subtle hint to a second Gilded Age mentality for the ISA. If it was from some Helgan trooper it would first be a little weird in imagining a scenario where they either died or lost their boot, but also a little humanizing trying to imagine the aforementioned scenarios and tie them directly to the characters of the book. In the end, the easiest explanation is just direct reference material for someone lucky enough to spot it. But then again, who says the Helgan are too collectivist? Visari clearly has an eye for merchandising if he’s putting the iconic look of his soldiers on boots! (Yes, its technically for Killzone 3, but all the same very  )
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May 3, 2014 21:06
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Crabtree posted:But then again, who says the Helgan are too collectivist? Visari clearly has an eye for merchandising if he’s putting the iconic look of his soldiers on boots! (Yes, its technically for Killzone 3, but all the same very Well, in that case it's Jorhan Stahl merching the poo poo out of everything, which, as well see when we get to Killzone 3, is entirely in-character for Stahl! 
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May 3, 2014 21:20
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.jpg) 1.2 Enter ISA Soldiers, and Helghast Sniper obfuscated by scenery ISA SOLDIER 1 Keep thy heads concealed! Enter [Templar] TEMPLAR Salutations, soldier. Appraise me of the situation. ISA SOLDIER 1 Hail, Captain Templar, thou art a most welcome sight. We hast rebuked the enemy's assault, yet remain assailable thitherward. Tis a sniper. Our rifle was abandoned in the water tower yonder. We can givest thou covering fire to retrieve it. TEMPLAR Aye, I mark thee. Hold fast. HELGHAST SNIPER Craven fly-bitten apple-johns, thou art death-marked! ISA SOLDIER 2 God's blood, save us, sir! ISA SOLDIER 3 No! Not Johnson, he was naught but a boy! TEMPLAR Begone, Helghast. ISA SOLDIER 1 The whoreson expires! Rally, men, we go hence to the HQ. TEMPLAR Soldier, how fare you? ISA SOLDIER 3 Alas, poor Johnson! I knew him, Captain Templar: a fellow of infinite jest, of most excellent fancy: he hath-- TEMPLER Enough, get thee gone. To the HQ. Exeunt Welcome back to the first chapter of Killzone 1, wherein we experience a "greatest hits" of WWI and WWII styles of warfare! Today we're going to see street-to-street combat, the likes of which were seen at the Battle Of Stalingrad. Basically, the ISA are combating the Heghast in bombed-out city ruins and fighting over one block at a time.   Compare what we're seeing in the level to images of the Battle Of Stalingrad. Or, heck, check out this picture I found (only, you have to replace Russian with ISA and German with Helghast):  I should note that most historians consider the Battle Of Stalingrad to be a key turning point in the European theatre, marking when Germany stopped making gains and the tide of the battle began to turn in favour of the Allies. This is not the case here. This stage will not be a turning point for the ISA in the invasion of Vekta. Oh, and we also notice that we have arms at this point:  The reason our arms are so visible during actions like vaulting over debris, hitting switches, reloading, and climbing ladders is the very same reason we don't have a "jump" button. It grounds the player into the game character and provides a more realistic "weighted" experience. Truly. When asked if they were going to add in a "jump" function to Killzone HD, Technical Director Michiel van der Leeuw and Senior Programmer Frank Compagner said: quote:FC: No, something like that would require extensive changes to the levels, to prevent players from climbing out of the geometry.  Also, is there anyone who's into guns? What's the benefit of having an orange-coloured scope? Is it like wearing those glasses that reduce sun glare? It doesn't seem to be any sort of heat or night vision kind of thing, it's just looking through the world like looking through a glass of urine. Maybe it has something to do with the Helghast "seeing red" when it comes to fighting the ISA, though it's really more an amber colour than a red.  I also noticed more Hakkendorf buildings throughout the level. It must be the name of a company, because the city we're fighting through is the aptly-named Vekta City.  I also thought this bit of the level was sort of poetic. What we're playing is essentially a corridor shooter. Killzone opens up in places, but we're never not being funneled through a linear corridor. The fact that this corridor/tunnel is raised upwards is a clever microcosm of the entire first game. We're going to spend our time being funneled through corridors onwards and upwards until we end up in the mountains of Vekta. If I could sum up Killzone in a single image, it would be this: the player being funneled upwards. Now, if I could sum up Killzone 2 in a single image, it would be the player being funneled downwards. I'm going to go reread Heart of Darkness to make sure I'm getting my analogies straight, but I kind of view the first game as an anti-Heart of Darkness, with the characters going down the river away from madness and despair and into clarity and hope. Killzone 2 is where it gets dark and the characters go up the river to reach the inevitable confrontation with Kurtz.  Today we're going too look at the Early Vektan Era.  I've made reference to Vekta and Helghan being some sort of bizarro America and Britain before, and this history isn't helping. 12 Colonies on Vekta? Does that make Helghan the 13th? (If so, does that make Helghan Georgia?) The perceived allusions to the American revolution that I noted were in Visari's speech only seem more plausible.  I can't wait for the inevitable release of Killzone 4 which takes place on Gyre and is basically Pacific War In Space. Haha, just kidding! Gyre will never ever be mentioned again in the Killzone mythos! Anyways, here we have the formation of the ISA. Already we can see they're going to be a very bureaucratic organization, entirely government-run and government-funded. I think it's neat that each government gets its own little ISA force to play with, though.  Everything is just peachy, but we've just been set up for a major point of conflict. For ships to get from Vekta to ANYWHERE ELSE, they must pass through Helghan airspace. Same for any ships on Earth, Gyre, or any other colony wanting to reach Vekta: they need to pass through Helghan. Not problem now that every one is on the same side, but--well, we'll see how long that lasts.  Yup, everything is just peachy. Though, I imagine having both planet's governments on Vekta is going to cause some friction down the line. Also, the ISA getting uppity about Helghan wanting to have its own military force is ridiculous. It's clear that Vektan politicians want their planet to remain the seat of power in Alpha Centauri even this early in the timeline. Not a crazy idea, either, as Vekta is much more desirable planet to live on. Oh, and just a reminder of the mentioned triad:   The Helghan Corporation is now basically self-sufficient from Earth. That's gotta be bothering the UCN/UCA.  Remember, the ISA are UCN backed. Despite their independence, you go high enough up the ISA chain and you'll find links to the UCN/UCA. The Helghan Corporation/Protectorate is a private company compared to the ISA's Earth government roots. The more independent they become they unhappier Earth will be (and the more sanctions will be imposed). The Alpha Centauri purchase by the new Helghan Administration has thus got to be a pretty big embarrassment for Earth. Still, caught in a rock and a hard place. At least Earth still exerts a tonne of control through UCN/UCA forces and ISA Command in the area. This won't last, though, and we all know it. First thing's first: how bad is that sniper rifle? While it's basically a one-hit kill no matter where you hit an enemy, it's awkward to see out of, has a slow firing rate, and is awkward to aim. I said awkward twice, there. It's really awkward. See, while aiming you don't move the screen to line up your sights. You move a reticule within the screen. It's really hard to describe without experience this horror for yourself, but you can probably get an idea of what a joke it is in the video. I mean, it's not totally broken, but it doesn't really work either. Probably a good thing they stopped producing them. Oh, I'd also like to say a few words about Killzone HD. With the release of the Killzone Trilogy, Guerrilla decided to dig up the old back-up files from a shoe box and do an HD version of the first entry in the series. Yeah, you heard that right, shoe box. Anyways, the obvious difference is that the game now supports 720p and has trophies. It also looks nicer because the graphics are uncompressed, unlike the PS2 version. Oh, and there's been a number of minor bug fixes that fix some invisible walls, draw distance, and just generally improve gameplay. Yeah. So if you think this game looks clunky and awkward now, ooooh boy, you haven't played the PS2 original. (I unironically love them both). So yeah, everything is better in Killzone HD, even though they didn't add in a "jump" button.  Helghast Light Hover Tank This tank strikes a balance between the maneuverability and speed of the Hover APC and the firepower of heavier Helghast tanks. In fact, the Hover Tank can keep pace with Hover APCs, which is probably why they were used extensively in the first strike during the invasion of Vekta. However, this speed comes at a cost. They are rather lightly armour and can easily be dismantled by a group of ISA soldiers with anti-tank weaponry. They do not see much use outside of the blitzkrieg on Vekta.  StA-52 SLAR Aka the StA-52 Sniper/Light Assault Rifle. Manufactured by Stahl Arms, it was the only known sniper rifle fielded during the Vektan invasion. Not long after, a superior sniper rifle manufactured by the Visari Corporation would enter production. This would be the sniper rifle seen during ISA invasion of Helghan. Not that this hurt Stahl Arms all that much, they pretty much produce every other gun in the Helghast inventory. This rifle is a heavily modified version of the standard StA-52 LAR, with six high-calibre rounds and an adjustable scope. Considering how crap this gun winds up being, though, it's probably a good thing they stopped producing them. There aren't a lot of guns in this level, so I want to talk quickly about the two largest corporations on Helghan. That they're both arms manufacturers should come as no surprise.   Stahl Arms As you can see, Stahl Arms borrows the Helghast triad for their logo. Very patriotic. They are the largest corporation on Helghan and focus almost primarily on research, development, and production for the Helghast military. They focus primarily on small arms for the soldiers on the ground and have a philosophy devoted almost entirely to high-capacity rapid-fire weaponry. That said, there are a few factories working on extremely high-tech projects. Founded by Khage Stahl, the company is currently owned an operated by his son, Jorhan Stahl--who doesn't have much to do now, but will appear in Killzone 3.  Visari Corporation The second largest company on Helghan, and thus Stahl Arms largest competitor, is the Autarch's own family company, the Visari Corporation. Unlike Stahl Arms, Visari Corporation focusses almost entirely on experimental weaponry and support weaponry, rarely gunpowder based. They are also responsible for manufacturing Helghan medical equipment.   Now, I'm noticing a very interesting pattern here. Helghan is very corporate, obviously. These colonies were originally created by corporations. The two largest corporations on modern Helghast basically run the entire planet. That said, notice that they are family companies? I think that's great. Who DOESN'T want to see a family company succeed? Compare this to Vekta. On Vekta it's all government corporations. One big faceless conglomerate run by the ISA. Their weapons and vehicles are developed in-house and have such exciting names as the ISA Laboratories or ISA Weapon Systems. There are no families here. There are no people here. It's just the company. Just the brand. Perhaps the Helghast are merely the logical conclusion of small family businesses standing up against faceless multi-national corporations? That said, here's the ISA developed weapon we saw in the level:  M404 Missile Launcher Has a dumb-fire mode and a laser-guided alternate fire. It's much lighter and easier to use/handle compared to the Helghan missile launchers fielded during the Vektan invasion. Nicknamed the "drainpipe" by ISA soldiers. After the Vektan invasion, some lunkhead in ISA R&D gave it a new paint job and started calling it the "M80 Rocket Launcher". Despite their names, the two weapons are identical--except that the M80 is only available in Killzone 2's multiplayer. Go figure. paragon1 posted:I don't think the corporation's being family owned is supposed to make them sympathetic. I think it's supposed to scream "monarchy" or maybe "oligopoly". The people who dislike corporations and portray them as evil tend to think of the very wealthy people who often own them as the new aristocracy. We aren't seeing sentimentality over mom and pop shops via Stahl and Visari in my opinion. "Killzone Physics" re-emerge quickly after the last video.  And I hope you've all seen The Thing--  
Sally fucked around with this message at 02:09 on Mar 7, 2015 |
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May 4, 2014 19:11
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Here's some more example of "Killzone Physics". We dubbed this poor bastard "Sgt. Stripper" while we were playing through the game because of his unfortunate tendency to die in, well... compromising positions vis-a-vis a pole each time we replayed the level.  
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May 5, 2014 01:04
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Good god, I'd forgotten about those. I'll never get tired of Killzone's goofy-rear end physics. Truly it was the PS2's "HALO KILLER" that was promised.
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May 5, 2014 04:16
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I love the Killzone series and am glad some one is doing a massive LP of them. Its a pity neither of you have mercenary or shadow fall, because both are pretty good. I think the series falters a bit with 3 for reasons i will expound on when we get there. Dapper_Swindler fucked around with this message at 05:33 on May 5, 2014 |
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May 5, 2014 05:30
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Killzone. Ah Killzone, so much potential pissed down the drain. The main characters past the first game become so incredibly stupid that it almost makes me want to sympathize with the Helghast. I say "almost" because they really just can't stop being Space Nazis at any point ever. It's like they're trying to impress us with how fascist they are being. Which is funny because you could definitely read the plot of Killzone 1 as being a fascist narrative itself. I don't think the corporation's being family owned is supposed to make them sympathetic. I think it's supposed to scream "monarchy" or maybe "oligopoly". The people who dislike corporations and portray them as evil tend to think of the very wealthy people who often own them as the new aristocracy. We aren't seeing sentimentality over mom and pop shops via Stahl and Visari in my opinion. The only reason I can think to have any coloring at all on your scope is some kind of tinting to reduce glare. I'm pretty sure said tinting wouldn't make the world look like piss. Edit: Also Shadow Fall is pretty much crap gameplay and a story that only works if you assume everyone involved are astonishingly stupid.
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May 5, 2014 06:22
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I've been enjoying the videos, and I remember enjoying the bit of the game I played with my brother. However, some of your analyses fall flat. The ISA Logo stuff is an interesting take, but the "greatest hits of WWII" needs more personal insight. With the amount of WWII subject matter inundating every form of media, especially when it comes to FPS from around this era, what is the significance of Killzone reminding us of the war? Movies such as Saving Private Ryan, shows such as Band of Brothers, and video games such as Medal of Honor have already become an established part of the player's pop culture. Are we, as the player, supposed to draw upon our meta-textual knowledge of WWII and apply that to what we have seen in the game? Is this so that even if we don't fully understand the universal causes of KZ's ware we can still sympathize with fictional characters, to understand the scale of war, or to understand (or trick us into thinking) that sometimes bad guys are just bad? All of this is positive for KZ, except that just leaves the negative. With all the praise that the analysis has been giving, the thread would be remiss without some scoffing. The usage of meta-textual knowledge could be smart, but it could also be lazy. The idea of fighting space Nazis in a space WWII appears to be a well-used video game cliché repackaged. The developers could have taken a popular formula (WWII era FPS) that would have been an easy cash-grab and "prettied" it up to separate it from the rest. A lot of the changes sit on the surface of the game, but never penetrate the plot or story enough to really test the limits of the genre. While most players see this as just another Call of Duty or Medal of Honor with a sci-fi setting, the developers try to tell that they are wrong, and that this game is more than the common FPS's that have been flooding the market. Also, and this is something I don't suggest, you could probably go into all sorts of Jungian ramblings about the number three.
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May 5, 2014 14:38
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As a gun owner, I've never shot with or seen an orange-tinted scope. I do use orange or yellow tinted shooting glasses, but it's to reduce glare + eye protection and doesn't darken your view as badly as sunglasses normally would. I don't remember them using that orange tint in the later games for the sniper rifles, so maybe this was just a one-off? I wouldn't say that this game really references world war I at all. Aside from the boot, which may or may not be a reference to All Quiet on the Western Front, trenches weren't used solely in World War 1. The point of trenches is to provide a decent amount of cover and protection from enemy action, whether that comes from infantry, artillery or other heavy weapons. I would look at the entire thing (At least so far) as a comparison to just World War 2 and how it has taken a sort of "total war" aspect, with whole cities being targeted and reduced to rubble. And while some cities were the subject of aerial bombing in World War 1, they hardly ever had a devastating, or large area of, effect. For the grenades and their "cooking off" timers, 5 seconds has been the standard for a grenade's fuse for the longest time. It might seem long, but it's hardly uncharacteristic and serves a good purpose.
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May 5, 2014 17:06
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paragon1 posted:I don't think the corporation's being family owned is supposed to make them sympathetic. I think it's supposed to scream "monarchy" or maybe "oligopoly". The people who dislike corporations and portray them as evil tend to think of the very wealthy people who often own them as the new aristocracy. We aren't seeing sentimentality over mom and pop shops via Stahl and Visari in my opinion. Yeah, that bit was more of a throw-away joke than anything. I think your point about it being a "monarchy" is spot on. Especially considering that the Visaris are treated like royalty. Scolar basically sits on a throne and his daughter is effectively the Princess of Helghan. Oh, not to mention the immense and unquestioned power Visari wields as their Autarch. I've been thinkin' about the coloured scope, and it makes most sense from a practical standpoint to reduce glare. That said, I also like to imagine that whoever was responsible for it was a huge Bono fan and wanted to give the rifle true Bono Vision™:  I also like to think that one of the reasons Stahl Arms stopped manufacturing them past Killzone 1 is because the association to Bono made it a huge piece of crap. And with regards to Shadow Fall, my PS3's disc drive is broken and I'm eventually going to get a replacement Blu-Ray player. In all likelihood, I'll get a PS4 so by the time we finish Killzone 3 we could roll right into the new game. Dunno any easy ways to do Mercenary, though, considering the Vita still has no video output and Sony has no plans to release Vita TV in NA. That said, as I mentioned earlier I have no opposition to turning this into a KILLZONE MEGATHREAD if someone else wants to LP the newer games. I'd be happy to help go through them and continue the analysis. Mr. Highway posted:[Good points] In the interest of full disclosure, I will absolutely be championing Killzone's cause. It wouldn't make sense for me to claim that Killzone has enough depth to be compared to Shakespeare then turn around and deride it as generic pap. Though there are lows so deep that even I won't be able to defend them, I will largely be trying to view the games in a positive light. The challenge for me, then, will be to see if my analyses can hold up under the thread's scrutiny. In that regard, I'm fully expecting there to be some amount of scoffing at the ideas presented. So let me try and respond to your remarks, because I think you're right in that I haven't really explained why I think the first chapter is a sort of "WWI & II Greatest Hits". Killzone 1 was released in 2004, and as you mentioned, a number of big WWII-related media had been present in pop culture by this time, including Saving Private Ryan, Band Of Brothers, and approximately nine Medal Of Honor games. As such, I think the players were absolutely meant to draw on and apply them. It allows for Guerrilla to imply a much deeper story than is present in the game. (I'm going to focus on WWII because it's clearly the biggest influence on the game) World War II was a massive and complex event, not easily summarized. Guerrilla seems to have wanted to have a complex universe as evidenced by the huge effort made to create a rich and detailed timeline, but they didn't convey that in-game for whatever reason. Frankly, I don't think they wanted to--which I'll come back to. By drawing so many parallels to WWII, Guerrilla is able to have their huge operatic sci-fi shooter without needing to spend too much in-game time building or explaining the world and the reasons for this conflict. Instead, they are able to imply a huge back story by tapping into the player's meta-textual knowledge of real world events. Rather than needing detailed motivation for the Helghast invasion, it is enough to see a charismatic WWII-esque dictator give an impassioned speech before kicking his soldiers out the door. We now imagine the Helghast to be a post-WWI Germany won over by a madman due to harsh sanctions imposed by the supposed "good guys", the ISA--who are now representative of Western Europe given the nature of the Blitzkrieg-like invasion we witness in the opening cutscenes and first few levels. Now when you think about making a sci-fi shooter, you've got to realize that you have a lot of freedom. When it takes place on planets far from Earth with futuristic technology, the With regards to why Guerrilla didn't include a richer story in-game, I feel like they didn't want the added burden. One of their philosophies seems to be grounding the player in the universe and making it feel real. By having too much political back story, it begins to remove the player from the conflict at hand. They want you to feel like a grunt in WWII, only in space, and so you're given about as much in-game information and history as one of those grunts might have. You don't need to know the long history of conflict and animosity between Helghan and Vekta, it is enough for you to know that the Helghast are xenophobic pricks led by a mad zealot who have decide to invade your beautiful and lush homeworld unprovoked. They are the bad guys and you are the good guys. An oversimplification given the game's overarching plot, but totally what a guy like Jan Templar would believe. In fact, throughout the games the main characters are mostly removed from the politics. As we'll see, the leaders in Killzone 1 largely do their plotting and planning in cutscenes removed from the player and the forces on the ground. Templar and co. receive their orders and they do what they do, without necessarily having the full picture that their leaders and politicians do. This continues throughout the series, though honestly, I don't think it's adequately portrayed until Killzone 3. Some people complained that Orlock and Stahl's scenes were essentially removed from the events the player was involved in, but as far as I can tell, that's entirely the point. And holy crap, this wound up being a much longer response than I intended. Uh, how'd I do? Sally fucked around with this message at 18:38 on May 5, 2014 |
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May 5, 2014 17:56
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Blind Sally posted:And holy crap, this wound up being a much longer response than I intended. Uh, how'd I do? You answered the questions I had. Since I never played any of the sequels, I will be interested to see how the idea of meta-textuality will apply to them, especially since, judging by what you said, that seems to be one of the aspects that discerns this series from other FPS's.
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May 5, 2014 21:14
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I remember renting this game from Blockbuster when it first came out, I didn't even finish it. The whole thing was the definition of mediocre. One of the big things that struck me about it was that here is this planet getting invaded by this massive force and Space WWII is supposedly happening, but there's hardly anyone to be seen anywhere.
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May 5, 2014 22:53
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You guys make fun of the "crooked" fins on the missiles and how the devs didn't fix them but it looks like they just used real life ATGMs as their reference for modelling the missile: 
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May 5, 2014 22:55
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Huh, I've never seen them with fins like that. Admittedly, I don't have the greatest knowledge of weaponry, nor do I know anything about aerodynamics. Thanks, though!
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May 6, 2014 14:48
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.jpg) 1.3 Enter [Templar] and ISA Soldiers ISA SOLDIER 1 Captain Templar, the invasion hast severely compromised this area. Thou art needed at headquarters. Onward, through the shuttle repair bays. ISA SOLDIER 2 Inbound jetbike! Incoming Helghast! TEMPLAR Fie, tis never-ending. ISA SOLDIER 1 With haste, before we're swarmed. The ISA Soldiers and [Templar] cross the stage, fending off Helghast attackers along the way. Enter another ISA Soldier ISA SOLDIER 3 Sir, this way. The headquarters are yonder. ISA SOLDIER 1 Thou shalt go on ahead, Captain. We will defend this position or lay down our lives. TEMPLAR Brave soul, stay strong. I tarry no longer. Away. Exeunt Not a long level this update, and nor is there a lot to talk about that hasn't already been touched on. This is one of the shortest levels in the game and it serves to prolong our fight through the city. In keeping with our total war concept and "greatest hits of WWI and WWII", we have gone from street-to-street combat to building-to-building and could still be in Stalingrad or any other battle bogged down in large city centres. In that way, this stage is an extension of the last. The buildings themselves are referred to as "shuttle repair bays". I assume they refer to some sort of civilian shuttle, though we don't really see any ever in Killzone. The only vehicle specifically referred to as a shuttle in-game is a space shuttle, so these may or may not be bays to repair them. Of note, this is the first stage where we start to see dissimilarities between Helghast goons. I incorrectly referred to him as a Helghast Scout, when in fact he was a Helghast Officer:  The difference between Officers and Troopers are subtle: one wears a garrison cap, one doesn't. Ha. It's a minor difference and most people don't pick up on it, but it shows that not all Helghast are identical even if it's hard for non-Helghast to tell at first glance--is that space racist? Anyways, Officers are generally equipped with StA-52 LRs, though we'll occasionally see them with grenade launchers. For reference, here's a closer still of a Helghast Trooper:  Today we're going to look at the "Platinum Era", wherein the Helghan Administration enters a Golden Age or prosperity with their two planets and tensions begin to rise with Earth.   It's good to see that the Helghan Administration is making use of their unique position as a hub between colonies to tax the every-loving poo poo out of everyone else. I'm sure that's not going to piss off anyone at all. Nope. People are just going to tighten their belts and pay because they understand that that's the nature of business.  Haha, whoops! It looks like they actually pissed Earth right off! I don't believe that Heavy Crusiers get much screen time in the Killzone universe. They're certainly an ever-present threat from the Earth-fleet, and are one of the reasons why the Helghast target the ISA SD Platforms for capture during the Vektan Invasion, but we don't really get to see them in action. By the time of the events of Killzone, the Helghast and Vektans are still only limited to standard Cruisers so that Earth can maintain its superiority.  And so we essentially have our Space American Revolution, with the Thirteen Colonies (Twelve on Vekta, and Helghan) seceding from their mother This is quite a brief "filler" level and we don't run into a lot of new content. No new guns or vehicles, though it's the first time we've encountered jetbikes in game. They can deal a lot of damage but due to the nature of their strafing attack they're rarely a problem unless they attack in groups, which only happens a handful of times in the game. They're fragile, so sustained fire can bring them down, however they generally just leave after making two passes so it's better to conserve ammo and just duck when they appear. Oh, and melee sucks in this game. I'm not going to pretend that Killzone ever really was the "HALO KILLER" that game magazines made it out to be, but if it were, it wouldn't be killing Master Chief with its sweet melee. There's nothing more frustrating than taking damage while running up to the enemy, taking more damage while you try to get the context sensitive melee prompt to appear, then taking even more damage/dying because the enemy had too much health and your melee attack didn't trigger his death animation. Worthless. There are melee weapons in this game that increase damage enough to make them more viable, but it's generally not worth the effort, especially since the melee weapons cannot be found in the environment, and thus can only be used with specific characters who have them for starting equipment. Sally fucked around with this message at 23:43 on Nov 12, 2014 |
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May 6, 2014 16:20
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This seems like an interesting take on this game. I don't know yet if the game deserves it, but I do really like the scenes you've written so far. If you're searching for subtext, Hakkendorf is possibly menat to evoke Hakenkreuz, a German term for the swastika (literally 'hooked cross'). I have to say the logo doesn't really fit with the look of the what was shown up to that point. Looks like Arial to me, and that kind of ruins the early 20th-Century aesthetic that was going on. (True, it could be an earlier Grotesque typeface, but it still seems out of place.) Another note: 'Seraph' is Hebrew in origin, not from Latin. And possibly unrelated, but maybe something that subconsciously influenced the designers: This is not the first Helghast with glowing eyes.  From Lone Wolf, indeed, drawn by Gary Chalk if I'm not mistaken. vvvvv Kangra fucked around with this message at 23:33 on May 6, 2014 |
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May 6, 2014 23:07
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That's from Lone Wolf isn't it? Looks rather familiar to me, mostly because of how darn annoying those guys were when it came to fighting them.
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May 6, 2014 23:11
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