Reposted from Examiner.


Usually when you play a game, your goal is to beat it. There's nothing like that sweet feeling of victory when you see the end credits roll. But what about when you play an MMO game? Players get into MMOs knowing there won't be an "end," that they will waste away hours of their lives for a game that they can't even beat.

Or can they? Taiwanese World of Warcraft player, "Little Gray" has recently managed to be the first person to get all 986 achievements now available on WoW. For games like WoW, reaching the level cap is only the beginning, thanks to plenty of end-game content and achievements like the ones that Little Gray has gotten. Can it be said that Little Gray "beat" WoW? Only until Blizzard comes out with a new patch.

So how exactly do you beat an MMO? Reaching the level cap is a definite first must. Once you're there you must set to work collecting all the things that can be collected (limited edition mounts or pets? Special costumes?). Then you can gather every title and achievement that are available within the game (like the achievements on WoW, or collecting all the titles and Monster Information in Atlantica Online). Once that is out of the way, there is still more to do! Upgrade all your equipment to the highest that you can, and beat all the monsters/bosses that are created by the development team for perfectionists like you. Does your MMO have any competitions? Win them. If all this sounds too easy for you, don't worry - as you're working on these things, the game is sure to come out with a new content patch and give you lots more to do.

Ok so maybe fully beating an MMO is pretty difficult (if not impossible). But Little Gray's ability to get so many achievements is impressive. Think about it, WoW has been out for 5 years already, and only one person has managed to do this? This WoW player shows us that it's not impossible, at the very least. But you do need a few things before you set out to do the same in your MMO. Having a lot of time on your hands is a must. So is having a lot of patience. Being at least mildly perfectionist helps. And you will probably need to stock up on energy drinks and coffee. Good luck, my friends.

What do you think beating an MMO would take? ... And why do we go through the effort of playing games that we know we can never beat?

I made an impulse buy a couple of weeks ago. You know the kind - you go into the store to "look around" and five minutes later you're walking out of the store with a newly purchased item, wondering what just happened.

I bought Rune Factory.

Rune Factory is a "Fantasy Harvest Moon," and it turned out not to be as bad or cheesy as I thought it would be. I came home, booted it up, and before long I was leveling up and farming like a pro. As in any Harvest Moon game, your character gets to try and win the heart of one of many women in the town, and eventually marry her. I decided that the adorable witch spa owner, Melody, was the woman for me.


Every day I farmed, took care of my pet monster/animals, ran around and wasted my stamina... then I just sat and stared at the DS screen blankly.

"What are you doing?" my husband asked me one time when he saw me doing this.

"Waiting for 3 PM in game."

"...Why?"

"That's when the spa opens!"

Now, Rune Factory is different from Harvest Moon in that it is part Farming and Dating Sim, but also part RPG. So there is a main storyline and plot to follow. So one day my character awoke to find that Cecilia, the little daughter of the bookstore owner was missing. She's a cute little girl, too young for my character to court. But I figured finding her would make me look like a hero in the eyes of the love of my love, Melody. So naturally, I rescued the kid.


There are so many things that can bring a sense of fulfillment in Rune Factory. When you finally get enough wood to upgrade your house (2,000 pieces! 10 at a time!!!), you feel triumphant at the accomplishment. When the love meter of your chosen future wife reaches the maximum and you ask her to marry you, you can't help but feel happy.

But these aren't the best moments in the game.

In my opinion, there is one moment that is by far the best moment in Rune Factory.

After you rescue Cecilia, you can find her in her usual spots. But when you speak to her, she doesn't say what she usually says. Instead, she says:

"I LOVE you!"


I aww'ed out loud.

You would too. That made my day (is that kind of sad, actually?)


What is your favorite, most awwww-inspiring moment in a game you've played?

Hi there. Your name is Mannie. You are a travel agent.

Oh you're also dead.


The Grim Fandango is a hilarious, epic adventure of the skeletal Manuel Calavera (skelleton in Spanish, har har), who has to work off his time in a travel agency for the dead before he can move on to his final eternal rest. But things go wrong, as they usually do, and you end up doing some traveling yourself.

The characters are lovable, the scenery and graphics are gorgeous for the time (1998), and the entire game, in typical old school LucasArts style, is absolutely hilarious.


I've been playing this gem recently, and the only thing that sucks about the game is the controls - you can only use the keyboard, and Mannie tends to be a pain to maneuver into doorways.

Of course, the dialogues are the best part of this. Need convincing?

Glottis, the affable demon driver, talking about his car: "There was a high-pitched whining noise. Kinda grating, you know? I couldn't nail it down. It only stopped when I pulled up here."
Valesco: "What was it? The blower?"
Glottis: "Nah. It was Manny, screaming like a cat tied to a cruise missile."


And another:

Hector: "Ah Manny... so cynical... What happened to you, Manny, that caused you to lose your sense of hope, your love of life?"
Manny: I died.

But seriously, do yourself a favor and play this game. If you never have, you're missing out.

Who's with me?

Gone are the days when virtual reality was actually distinguishable from real reality! In keeping with the current fad of blurring every line in existance, Real Time Race is creating a system that will allow gamers to race with real people. Not that this isn't what they have been doing since the advent of online racing games. No, remember, this is reality meeting virtual reality. The difference in this new system is that you sit at home and use a controller to go through the race track, while the people you are racing against are actually there on the track, in real cars. And the whole thing is televised.

The way the system works is right before a race, a specially equipped car runs through the race, recording and creating an interactive map of the track. This data is sent to your system, allowing you to race through the track yourself when the race actually begins from the cockpit of a virtual but real car. The whole thing is so "real" that it has a distinctly unreal feel to it.

Not that I underestimate the common gamer, and not to downplay the difficulty of a racing video game.. but how is that fair? I mean, there's a bit of a difference between sitting at home and moving around a controller and sitting inside a car and driving through a track. Besides, why are we going through such a huge effort to stimulate this kind of thing? What happened to going out there and DOING it?
 
Do you think this is a brilliant idea, or not so much?

Aaaand we're back. Last time we all shared what our gaming aliases are (this is beginning to feel like show and tell). This time, let's talk about something more substantial - things that have no right existing.


You know you have at least one thing you feel the video game world could do without. We at HL do:

What could you do without in the gaming world?

I could name several things here: noobs, copycat games, movies based on video games, hype. If I had to pick a reasonable thing to do away with, it would be the third-person camera perspective. Playing a third-person game makes me feel like I'm playing the game from an outsider's point of view as opposed to actually being "in" the game itself. An isometric or "bird's eye" perspective is a non first-person perspective that works infinitely better than third person. This gripe is primarily addressed towards RPGs like WoW or Guild Wars, but I do not understand why survival horror games like Silent Hill or Resident Evil are done in third person. I feel like I'm watching a movie instead of going through the experience myself. Horror games work so much better when everything is in your face.

Yuliya said:
Games created specifically to show off the capabilities of a system. I'm talking about the Wii and the DS here, guys. Seriously, I hate it when games make you do things with the stylus or the wii-mote just because they can. It's perfectly possible to have a great game on both systems that uses their specialties well, instead of forcing them on. The World Ends With You is one of my favorite games and it uses every single thing you could possibly do with the DS. You've done it once... you can do it again!

Matt said:
First person shooters. Halo, Call of Duty, gah it's the most tired gameplay format for me. If there's a decent story behind it, like MGS or something, then I guess it's excusable...but Halo sucks eggs. Boom.


Tanner said:
Assholes during online play, delays, obvious game-design laziness, and franchises refusing to learn from their mistakes. You can probably imagine what I think of Super Smash Bros. Brawl… the most enjoyable clusterf*ck of all time, that’s what.


What about you?

What are some things you could do without in the gaming world?