Here's to Broken Resolutions and a Better New Year

 So as this awful year draws to a close, it's unsurprising that a resolution made as recently as three weeks ago has been unceremoniously broken. I had wanted to get psyched up for future World War 2 Armored Fighting Vehicle (WW2 AFV) scale model kit projects by indulging in digital turn-based wargames via my traditional year-end PC gaming binge. Well, I still pampered myself with some gaming time but with old school Japanese role-playing games (JRPGs) instead. The silver lining to this is there's still a link, however tenuous, to the hobby in the form of colors. Here's what I mean ... 

 Arguably, there is no better example of fantastic use of colors in an old school JRPG than The Legend of Heroes - Trails in the Sky by Japan-based Nihon Falcom. At the very least, it was one of the first ones I played which made good use of color combinations on its pixelated characters as well as world. I never finished my original run in my (PlayStation Portable (PSP) before it kaput. Luckily for me, a PC version was released some years ago on my go-to gaming portal i.e. Steam. So now I get to relive the world of Zemuria in glorious high-definition (HD), colors and all. 

Nihon Falcom's The Legend of Heroes - Trails in the Sky

In this make believe world, even the floors have delightful color combos ...

... well, not all floors but the game, more often than not, makes great use of colors

Turn-based combat is a key element in most if not all JRPGs

 One of my most treasured memories of JRPGs was (and still is) Final Fantasy Tactics on the very first PlayStation and subsequently Final Fantasy Tactics: The War of the Lions on the PSP. Both titles are sort of a sub-genre of your traditional JRPGs and is classified as tactical role-playing game (TRPG). Such games focus more on the tactical combat aspect than in the role-playing per se. So it was a nice surprise when I stumbled upon Banner Maid which was developed by China-based Azure Flame Studio. This is the closest I have come to in years, in terms of TRPG game-play in a JRPG inspired title. What's even better is the title makes fantastic use of colors (see below).  

Azure Flame Studio's Banner Maid

Apart from the protagonist (which isn't shown here) most of the female characters ...

... found within an alternate world of historical France are fairly voluptuous

Banner Maid is largely a tactical role-playing game ...

... that takes inspiration from the classic Final Fantasy Tactics

The game makes great use of colors for both its 2D anime as well as 3D pixel characters

 Meanwhile, Octopath Traveler is a more recent JRPG title that uses retro character sprites whilst also incorporating polygonal environments and high-definition special effects. If you haven't played old school JRPGs before, then it's quite likely Octopath Traveler would be your first experience of what it's like to role-play chibi-style character sprites in a make believe world. Barely having started a game on this title, I am already impressed with its use of colors. My first impressions are that each character's game world seems to have a color theme of their own. For example, the character Primrose uses warm and earthy hues to reflect her bio and backstory (see below). That's a great way to think of colors and I'm sure it'll translate into future creative endeavors in the hobby.   

Acquire/Square Enix's Octopath Traveler

Primrose is one of eight main characters you can play ingame

And so it begins, Primrose's journey in the land of Orsterra

Octopath Traveler is a role-playing game with "HD-2D" graphics ...

... a style that combines retro-character sprites and textures ...

... with polygonal environments and high-definition effects

 And so the year ends with a broken resolution. Moreover, you would agree it has been a terrible year with the ongoing pandemic. It can only get better, right? So with the new year upon us, I would like to take this opportunity to wish one and all a safe and happy 2021. Cheers!

Video game characters I wish were miniature model kits

For me to care enough to want to paint a miniature, I need to first and foremost like the character being depicted as well as be inspired by the lore or story behind the character. In this modern era of PC and console gaming, graphics technology has finally caught up with the visions of video game script writers and rendered many memorable characters in truly engrossing story lines. Certainly a far cry from the days of Pong and Space Invaders, when all the story was in the packaging and instructions while lousy graphics meant the rest was left to the imagination.

PS3's The Last of US is the best video game I have ever played

Now I am very fortunate to have experienced the joy of video games since the early days of console gaming ala ATARI ... a period of close to three decades. After all the many firsts I experienced as a gamer (one that sticks to mind is playing Tomb Raider on the PS1 and experiencing a truly interactive 3D environment for the first time), I say this without any doubt whatsoever ... the PS3 exclusive game "The Last of Us" is the best video game I have ever played. Never had I experienced a game in which one cared so much for the characters as I did for Ellie and Joel in "The Last of Us".  

A 12" premium statue by Project Triforce

Throughout the game, you can see the relationship grow between this pseudo father-daughter duo in the little bits of in-game chatter as well as emotional cut scenes. Naughty Dog, the developer of "The Last of Us", had released a special Post Pandemic Edition of the game which came with a 12" painted statues (by Project Triforce) of both Ellie and Joel. If I knew just how much I was going to love this game I would have scrounged up every last dollar I had to get my hands on the figures. I would love to work on a Ellie and Joel miniature conversion but for now I have no idea which minis to use.

Sarah Louise Kerrigan or the Queen of Blades in Star Craft

Blizzard was, in my mind, the first developer to incorporate story telling successfully into a real time strategy game. And what could be cooler than the Queen of Blades herself. Sideshow Collectibles, a specialty manufacturer of licensed figures, announced in July of 2013 that they were going to release a statue of Kerrigan as part of their announced Blizzard licenses. The picture shown below is of the figure before it is painted but I believe Sideshow Collectibles only sells them painted. Bummer! What I wouldn't give to be a painter in the Californian company.     

Early production picture of Sideshow Collectibles Blizzards license figure of Kerrigan

Yet another video game character that I would love to work on is none other than Lara Croft herself or better known as Tomb Raider. Specifically, I would love to paint the younger version of Lara Croft as depicted in Tomb Raider circa 2013. She looks more natural than the earlier versions of Lara.

Lara Croft when she was younger

Crystal Dynamics had released a 8" Lara Croft action figure in its Collectors Edition which looked rather cool but could have been much better. I have seen some painted garage kits of Lara but all tend to portray her in the usual boob fest galore that has come to epitomise the franchise. I thought the direction Tomb Raider took with the 2013 release was fantastic not only as an origin story but also in that it portrayed Lara as a character that you would genuinely care and root for.

Tomb Raider (circa 2013) Collections Edition figurine

All these wonderful characters make me want to learn sculpting and try my hand at creating garage kit miniatures. Wouldn't it be cool to sculpt what you want to paint ... pretty super awesome I say.