#that part of the system is just objectively better and more satisfying for both players and GMs in PF2e | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

mobilegta45 · 4 years ago

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Download our application along with install it on your phone-- that's all. The application is stable and also there should be not a problem with both the configuration and additionally the being successful video game. If you have an issue or something does not help you, please utilize the type, a screenshot of your phone, and also a recap of simply what does not work. Grand Theft Auto is the collection of popular in addition to likeable instalments that allow us finish up being the genuine culprit. Started years earlier, this remarkable manufacturing has actually obtained a large amount of extremely taking in features in addition to components that will most absolutely attract the choice of everybody else. That is why it was an issue of time prior to the designers from Superstar Games workshop prepared a mobile variant of their latest success, particularly GTA 5 Mobile.

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#Apk Gta 5

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burgerpocalypse · 4 years ago

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Yesterday I started a replay of Half-Life: Alyx, and I want to both share some low-energy ppnions and also tell everyone that I have an Index VR headset.

So, HL:A is the most recent entry in the Half-Life series, which had been sitting in the attic since 2007’s Half-Life 2: Episode 2’s unresolved cliffhanger ending. It’s also a substantial single-player release from Valve, whomst have not gleamed the general public with any substantial single-player releases for around a decade. It’s also also Valve’s first full-fledged VR title that isn’t just a tech demo for your mom or tech industry journalist live-in boyfriend. It is rather unfortunate that not only is it incredibly belated, but also unattainable for the casual video game fan as well as the casual Half-Life enjoyer.

Though it certainly is a complete package that provides a highly tuned VR experience that dunks on all other VR games, there’s some smudginess to it that I feel has not been given proper analysis for whatever reason. Maybe the few people who have played the game are just happy to have another Half-Life entry or a really good triple-A VR title, which I certainly understand. I’ll do my best to quickly go over my grievances as to not waste your time.

The gameplay of Alyx is pretty good. I hadn't had much experience with VR before getting the Index, just a few demonstrations here and there. Regardless, I find it quite easy to slide in and out of VR and don’t experience any substantial negative effects like some other unfortunate souls might. Alyx was essentially the first actual VR game I played, but even then it was really simple for me to become acclimated to controlling my character, even going so far as to using more advanced movement and view options right from the get-go. I bring this up because Alyx is very obviously designed around being accessible to someone whomst has never played a VR game, or potentially any game. As such, there are considerable concessions that put a relatively low limit on what can be accomplished by more experienced players and even someone of intermediate skill.

You only have three weapons, which are a pistol, a shotgun, and an SMG, with two inventory slots for usable items like grenades and health packs. Sure, you can physically hold additional items, even going so far as holding a container filled with grenades and junk, but personally I found that to be a real painful experience that wasn’t worth the trouble due to physics jank and accidental droppage. Besides, it’s not like players are encouraged to do clever/compulsive inventory management, since the environment is lousy with weapons and healing and I rarely was found wanting for more ammo or health.

Combat encounters typically involve around five enemies, with considerable space in between encounters. When not solving puzzles and exploring crusty environments, you’ll be crawling through zombie and headcrab ambushes or pushing through squads of Combine soldiers, which is the essential Half-Life formula. Zombies and headcrabs behave the same way as they have for the past twenty years, with a few slight twists like weak points for instant kills or minibosses. While soldiers are highly accurate with their shots and do attempt to flank or force the player out of cover, they are much less mobile and aggressive than they have ever been. This is fine for VR since players have to physically aim and take cover, though soldiers definitely will stand around and wait to be shot sometimes.

Each fight is intense and combat is by no means brain-dead easy, but from the perspective of someone that has played a lot of Half-Life and shooters in general, the combat in Alyx is limited in scope. I didn't feel much challenge, outside of maybe the final bits of combat. The few times I died were usually due to VR control finickiness when trying to reload, me losing focus and not paying attention, or me making a really, REALLY dumb mistake.

Exploration is fine. It’s mildly entertaining scouring an environment for useful things, though I quickly learned the developer’s tricks, and the act of pulling drawers and opening cupboards got old real fast when all you get is some bullets. Really, you’re only looking for ammo or resin for upgrades, and everything outside of puzzle solutions is just junk and noise. I’m not a puzzle-oriented person, and will become bored and lose interest if a puzzle asks me to remember more than one thing or figure out any complex solution, so it’s fine that no puzzle goes beyond at most one step of complexity. Physics jank is rife throughout the world, and VR only makes it worse (or better, if you prefer the jank). There were one or two times I had to load a save due to a physics object bugging out, the culprit being a valve getting stuck in a wall.

I have little to say about the story. It’s a prequel to Half-Life 2, which is whatever. The plot spins its wheels the entire time, since we know that nothing we do will have any effect on the games we’ve already played. It also tries to be coy about the identity of a particular character, when we know that the character will clearly not be who they say it will be. It doesn’t advance the story of Half-Life in any meaningful way since it ends with the same cliffhanger as HL2: EP2 in what is essentially a canonical retcon. It sets up more mysteries while also refusing to answer any lingering questions. It introduces a character and other elements that are obviously not in the game that chronologically comes after, and so on.

My expectations and testicles have been ground into a fine paste as a result of Valve’s silly little 13-year unresolved plot point cocktease, so I suppose it’s just that I’m not in a forgiving mood, but I found Alyx’s story to be an insulting, blue-ball inducing, time-wasting non-entity, and if Valve wants to think that I’m dumb enough to be satisfied with a 30 second teaser for their next project as part of Alyx’s conclusion, then they can go fuck themselves.

While I’m at it, the level with Jeff is dumb. I’m not interested in a level with an enemy that is inexplicably invulnerable to guns and follows me around for no reason other than to act as a gameplay contrivance. I wasn’t scared in the slightest because I’m a total asshole and possibly a sociopath, so the experience was a dull slog through a haunted house with annoying puzzles and no combat. If you found this to be your favorite level, great, but in my opinion it can fuck itself right alongside Valve.

In conclusion, Half-Life: Alyx is a great game, with notable issues and shortcomings in its gameplay and a deeply disappointing story. If you already have VR and a capable system, I certainly recommend it. Don’t get VR just for Alyx, though. You’ll probably be let down by the rather meager library of VR titles afterwards.

Thanks for reading. Sorry there's no interesting art to look at.

#valve software #half life #half life alyx #video games #review #virtual reality #valve index

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mamthew · 4 years ago

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My full review of Persona 5: Scramble. Some mostly minor spoilers scattered throughout, though I try to flag them in advance.

When Persona 5: Scramble was announced, my expectations were fairly low. As it was yet another Warriors spinoff of a better-known series, I expected Hyrule Warriors but with Persona characters. I thought we’d get the P5 crew, maybe even a few from P3 or P4, maybe a villain or two, mindlessly tearing through thousands of enemies in essentially interchangeable levels, justified by a threadbare, 6-hour story. The demo, then, blew me away. It was just…the beginning of a sequel to Persona 5, maintaining the locations, presentation, and characters of the original game, but with a beat ‘em up battle system. I began thinking of Scramble as a direct sequel to literally my favorite game of all time, including everything a sequel might entail.

Having played through almost all of Persona 5: Strikers (I have started but not bothered seriously attempting New Game+ in Merciless difficulty), the game we ended up getting was halfway between those, I think. They managed to recreate the presentation of P5 impeccably, with gorgeous menus, beautiful battle effects, entertaining scene transitions, etc. However, the half of the game that isn’t dungeon-crawling is deceptively scant. The story centers around a road trip across Japan, but each city isn’t nearly as realized as P5’s Tokyo, with only about 3 rooms apiece, and some of the later ones not even getting a hub at all. The hubs really only exist to have shops, with none of the time management, minigames, or relationship building in a mainline Persona game. Still, it’s the only Persona spinoff I’ve played that has a real-life component at all, so I found it refreshing to get to wander Sendai, Okinawa, Osaka, and other towns in a game I’d initially not expected to have any towns at all.

The dungeons are where this game shines, though. They’re actual Persona 5-style dungeons, made occasionally even more dynamic with the addition of platforming and sidescrolling sections reminiscent of Nier Automata. The battle system uses the bones of the system in every warriors game, but slowly builds on it with more and more complexity until it’s not only a unique system, but is honestly one of the more engaging action battle systems I’ve played in a minute, in which you’re constantly trying to time dodges just right for extra hits, which can then open the option to either get in an extra hit with your character, which heals some SP, or switch to another character for an extra hit with them, which increases the rate at which the special gauge increases. As Joker, you have an array of Personas you can switch between on the fly, shifting your moveset, your stats, and your strategy as you go. Each of the other characters has their own gimmick that makes them unique and fun to play and sets them apart from Joker, who otherwise would have access to all their elemental attacks and stat spreads. Strategically placed objects around dungeons can be used to pull off special moves in battles, as well, letting you jump up to chandeliers and drop them on enemies or dive off of walls and tackle enemies. The battle system takes a little too long to actually become complex, but once it actually reaches that point it’s really rewarding. The bosses, too, are fun, with designs deserving of the Persona name and strategies that make full use of the environments. You can even replay them at different difficulty levels as the game goes on. I’ve never played a Koei Tecmo game with this much polish, and the battle system makes me hope the Warriors team goes to try an actual Platinum-style character action game. I think they’d knock it out of the park.

I’m a little split on the story of this game. The bones of the story are good. The characters are all written perfectly, and seeing them interact again was enough that I actually teared up a bit when I first booted up the game. I enjoy the new characters, and they work well with the party. The pacing is solid and it has a good emotional core. The villains are decent for the most part, and the ending is pretty satisfying. Several of the villains directly correlate to specific party members, too, which gives us further insight into those party members, and lets us watch as they see themselves in someone else and recognize where that other person broke off from their path. The game is in part about trauma and the ways it drives individuals to lash out at a world they’ve always believed to be cold and unforgiving, which could be a powerful message if done well. In this game, though, it’s not done very well at all. The ultimate message – if this game could be said to have one – is that individuals without support networks are driven by trauma to make bad decisions. That’s not…necessarily untrue, but it’s not…necessarily true, either. This message is probably at its worst when the game gets into inadvertently ableist territory with a character near the end, who -spoilers until the end of the paragraph- tries to essentially enslave mankind because her dissociation due to trauma convinces her that she has no emotions and therefore the species as a whole should have no emotions either. It’s…frankly a really gross bookend on a game that, until that point, had managed to avoid most of the issues with male gaze and homophobia that the original game had.

Every message in this game, though, is too individual-focused to function as a real message or social commentary. It even undercuts the sharp themes in the original by showing people in similar positions of power as the original villains just…choosing not to fall to corruption and consequently avoiding all of the problems that would arise from their power discrepancy. For a spoilery example until the end of the paragraph, the villain in Persona 5 who’s a CEO is a villain because his need to make profit drives him to exploit his workers, paying them less and working them more. The villain in Strikers who’s a CEO is a villain because his father was abusive and that led him to think people must be controlled. One is a real-world problem applicable to any CEO. The other is a story that exists only in the fictional realm.

This wouldn’t be such a glaring issue if Persona games – and especially Persona 5 – weren’t known for their social commentary. That’s not limited to the main games, either. Persona 4 Dancing was a rhythm game with a story about parasocial relationships and the pressures they place on public figures. Strikers ostensibly touches on parasocial relationships, but doesn’t…really have anything to say about them.

The game does try to make a statement sometimes, but everything it tries to say is disjointed, at odds with the previous game, or inapplicable to real life. The villains’ deeds don’t really have much similarity to each other, either, unlike in 5, and it’s stated outright that several of them would not hold any power at all without the supernatural world, which both prevents their stories from saying anything about the real world, and flies in the face of the purpose of Persona as a series. The supernatural worlds in Persona games are the collective unconscious, which means that the worlds are used to give the characters and the player visual representations of abstract concepts. The Palaces in Persona 5 are not the sources of the villains’ power; that comes from regular old societal hierarchies. The characters in Persona 4 were experiencing their inner turmoil before they were sucked into the TV world, and the midnight channel only made manifest what was already there and unseen. Conversely, the first two villains in Strikers are only in the public eye because they use supernatural means to make people like them. That the supernatural means involve smart phones doesn’t say anything about technology, because that’s not how technology actually works. In a follow-up to a game that was as furious at the world and desperate for change as Persona 5 was, it’s a glaring departure for the characters to just…befriend “the good cop,” or -spoilers again- push the mayor who’s based on Margaret Fucking Thatcher to run again but do things the “right way” this time.

That being said, I’m not actually that upset with this game. I have a lot to say about its missteps because I have a lot to say about Persona 5, but the gameplay is legitimately fun, and I do really love seeing the characters again. I’m more bemused than upset with the game’s fumbling of…the thing that made me fall in love with Persona 5 to begin with. Part of that is because the game is still so solid and fun, and the characters are written so well that I can overlook the issues. Even deeper, though, is that the last few years has radicalized so many people that the statements made in Persona 5 are simply…more visible in the mainstream than they were when it released. Late show hosts rage about the exploitation of waged workers. Video game streamers remark on the cruel arbitrariness of the current system. Shows about cops are being pushed to justify their existence to an increasingly disillusioned public. I think if Persona 5 released today, it wouldn’t have the same impact it did in 2017. To my mind, the game no longer carries the responsibility it once did. So this game is fun and doesn’t really matter, and that’s actually okay.

But if Persona 6 isn’t a return to form, I’ll take it back.

#persona 5 strikers #persona 5 #persona 5 scramble

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gunslingertales · 5 years ago

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Saving grace || A.M - Chapter 2

Story summary: Arthur struggles with his guilt and his loyalty towards the people he always thought of as family. He starts questioning the life they’ve been leading lately and wonders if there’s still a place for him somewhere out there in a world that’s so quickly chaning. Then he meets a woman with fire in her eyes and gold in her heart who seems equally lost in the great unknown that’s life.

Chapter Two: “ Dreams” Find the other chapters on my blog under /masterlist

Chapter summary: As he rides into Valentine, Arthurs plans on having a drink or two with young Lenny and then returning back to camp. He doesn’t expect running into a familiar face. And spending the next day with that person. And learning about her childhood and her dreams.

Likes, comments and especially reblogs are more than appreciated ♥

[additional note: I am German. Sometimes I get the tense wrong or make mistakes. I am useless when it comes to punctuation. Go easy on me, please.]

The small town of Valentine is an awfully dirty place. Both figuratively and literally. You don’t even have to take two steps and your shoes are already coated with mud. Like the sweltering humidity of the Lemoyne swamps that cling to your skin or the grimy winds coming from the mines of Annesburg that settle on your lungs, the dirt lies upon the town like a thick blanket you just can’t shake off.

Arthur thinks it’s ironic, how the people turn their noses at him and the gang and their way of living. Of their makeshift camps and on-the-go lifestyle. They scowl at the thought of their tents and bedrolls yet voluntarily move to a town like this where you can’t tell if you’re wading through mud or your neighbors’ shit.

Then again, Arthur doesn’t care an awful lot for other people’s lives. His own is chaotic and confusing enough, what good could it possibly do to rack his brain about other people’s choices? Least it ain’t quite as bad here as it is in Saint Denis. That place is a cesspool of every single thing Arthur has an unprecedented disdain for. Too many people pretending to be above everyone else just because their jackets got fancy gold buttons.

He can’t picture himself ever living in a place like that. Though to some it might be a place of comfort, of safety, to him it only feels like a cage. And he’d rather die than give up his freedom.

Mouse slows down to a gentle trot as they approach the Valentine Saloon. A golden glow shines through the newly fixed window of the building and laughter and song echo through the room and flood out into the streets. Lenny hitches his horse next to Mouse and gives Arthur an expectant look “Just one of two, right?”

“Sure. Just a drink, no drama”

None of the men are getting lots of chances to wind down. Sure some of them are perpetually drunk to some extent but to really get a night off to - to have fun, that’s not a chance that presents itself very often. Living a life like they do, you always have to be alert. Life ain’t your friend so you gotta look out for yourself and your people.

There’s quite a few people inside, drinking and eating and laughing. Sometimes Arthur wonders what his life would be like if he had married Mary and given up on the gang. Would he spend his free time here drinking away his sorrows and his feelings of inadequacy compared to Mary and all she could’ve had? Or would they wander into town every once in a while, grab a bite to eat, and enjoy each other’s company?

He shakes his head to push the thoughts away. There’s no use in getting lost in what-ifs. They’re just another reminder of what he can’t have and what he messed up.

“You,” the Barkeeper approaches, pointing at Arthur as he leans against the bar “ I don’t want no trouble!”

Arthur raises his hands in mock surrender “And you ain’t getting none from me. I was just defending myself.”

Though his eyes still hold a hint of doubt the barkeeper seems to be satisfied with that answer. Something tells Arthur that he isn’t the first person butting heads with that damn Tommy guy.

Lenny regards the exchange with a smirk playing on his lips as a shake of his head.

“What?”

“Nothing. Just … do I wanna know?”

“Nah don’t think you do.”

They share a laugh and receive their drinks and for a moment, Arthur’s heart feels a bit less heavy. For a second the weight of the world doesn’t rest inside his chest. Like he can be unbothered for just a night.

Two drinks in he leans his back against the bar and lets his eyes wander around the Saloon. Drunk fools stumbling over each other, a piano player belting out melodies, smiles upon smiles and songs, and music.

In the furthest corner of the place, a woman sits alone by a table, a plate untouched in front of her. She seems too fancy to end up in a dump like this. Her hair is pulled up in intricate braids and her blouse has frilly lace in the front. Something about her intrigues Arthur.

The first time he ever laid eyes on Mary an electrical current surged through his system like waves crashing to the shore. She was beautiful and smart and she spoke like she knew the world belonged to her. He never felt deserving of her and he never was but for a while she let him believe it. She was beautiful and soft and she wasn’t … she wasn’t what he’d known all his life. And maybe that’s also part of what intrigued her when it came to him. The excitement and the unknown. But that novelty wore off for her rather quickly it seems. The night she broke the engagement and his heart, he doesn’t remember that night but he does remember the pain.

Looking at the woman in the corner, he doesn’t feel the excitement or the sense that he needs to have her in his life, the way he did with Mary. That doesn’t mean he’s unaware of his intrigue. As much as he doesn’t want to get involved with other people’s drama, he sure likes to hear their stories. After all, ain’t that what our life is made of? Stories. One after another. Sometimes you’re the main character and sometimes an onlooker. Sometimes your the hero and sometimes - sometimes you ain’t.

When she lifts her head though, a strange sensation floods through him. Though the dimly lit room doesn’t allow him to get a perfectly good look at her, Arthur can immediately read the sadness on her face. It’s radiating from her. He knows it ain’t his fault, at least not entirely but still, a pang of guilt settles in his stomach. A knowledge that he ain’t innocent in any of this either. Seeing her brings back all the heaviness and the weight that rests on his heart. It floods back in and clings to him like cigarette smoke.

He wants to leave now. Just get out of here and take Mouse for a ride through the fields and valleys and relish in the great wide somewhere. But he can’t. His legs feel like they’re stuck to the ground like flies on a honeypot. He feels guilt sometimes, about his deeds. Especially when the people don’t deserve his unkindness. He’s never really felt like this before. Then again, usually, they don’t have to face their doings again.

Drinking his third beer, he tries to ignore her. He genuinely does. It ain’t his fault and it ain’t his problem. Why should he care? No one asked her to pawn off her jewelry for a mistake she didn’t commit. Maybe that’s exactly the problem though, the knowledge that she’s a good person and the fact that Arthur voluntarily chose not to extend the same kindness towards her.

A commotion from the corner pulls his attention back towards her. A big burly man with a frizzy, unkept beard stands beside her table, leaning on it for support. A bottle dangles from his fingers and the sway in his posture tells Arthur that he’s way deep in by this point.

“I’m just tryin’ to be nice Miss. Ain’t no reason to get feisty on me.”

“Can you please let me enjoy my dinner in peace?”

“Come on sweetheart, lemme buy you a drink at least. Then maybe I can take you up to one of them rooms. How ‘bout that.”

“That’s disgusting and I said no!”

Though he can’t see her eyes, he’s sure they’re filled with the same fire and wrath that had been directed at him just a few weeks ago. With every moment passing, he gravitates more towards her, ready to jump in if the man got any more stupid ideas running through his head.

There’s a special place in hell for men who can’t extend a certain amount of respect towards the fair gender. He knows that even some men in his own group, his own family, often seem to forget that and Arthur is the first to call ‘em out on it. They call him soft for it but he doesn't think that’s him being soft as much as it’s him basically being raised by two men who value women for what they are. Smart and beautiful and human beings worthy of being treated with respect. Not objects for their own enjoyment and entertainment.

“Lady, I ain’t gonna be asking so nicely no more.”

“Is there a problem here?”

May’s eyes snap up towards Arthur as he approaches the table and he catches a glimpse of the flames, passionate and … pissed off. Though as they fall on him, a kind of calmness washes over her and he isn’t quite sure if he likes it or if it makes him nervous.

“Just a dispute between two lovers, ain’t that right Dove? None of your concern, buddy.”

“We ain’t lovers you delusional rat !”

Arthur can’t help but let out a laugh at her insult. It fits the guy, really, though his frame is broad and meaty, he’s got beady eyes and a long face.

“You better shut your mouth you-“

As the man lifts his arm, that’s when Arthur really sees red and takes a step in between him and May who, despite her best efforts, can’t suppress the worry and fear settling on her face.

“Nah, I suggest you shut up and get the fuck out of this place. They just fixed the window and it would be an awful mess if I had to break it again when I throw you out. Of course, I could also shoot or stab you right here right now but, I don’t think that’s in any of our best interests now, is it?”

Arthur’s voice is low and deep and though that’s both a result of bad genes and chain-smoking, it does come in handy every once in a while. Mary–Beth had once told him that it gives him a sense of perpetual danger and toughness.

The man stares at Arthur, unsure of what to do. His eyes then shift towards May, back to Arthur and back and forth one more time. Carefully he considers his next move and then — then he shrugs his shoulders in defeat, huffs out an annoyed sigh and turns around, leaving the saloon with the slam of a door.

“What a horrible horrible man.”

“Sorry about that”

May rests a gentle hand on Arthur’s arm and signals for him to sit down, which he does - reluctantly. Again she extends a kindness towards him he is severely undeserving of.

“What are you apologizing for? You ain’t don’t nothing wrong. “

“Oh, I’ve done plenty of things wrong in ma life.”

“I meant right then. What brings you here then, Mr. Morgan? Spending my money on a beer?”

Though she says it with a smirk and not a hint of malice, it still sends a sting to his chest though. He could ease his mind and tell her that he hasn’t sold the ring, hasn’t even put it in the camp’s collective. The earrings yes but not the ring. It still sits in his saddlebag waiting for — well he isn’t exactly sure what for.

“Just having a drink with ma friend over there and saving women from delusional rats it seems. What about you amiss Everly? What’s gotten you dressed up so fancy? You look like one of them ladies on the poster they hang by the theatre in Saint Denis.”

She scoffs then takes a bite of her lamb fry. “Glad you think so but unfortunately that ain’t no consolation to me.”

“What happened?”

He’s well aware that he has no right to ask her about it. They hardly know each other and yet she’s been so open and forward from the first second she opened her mouth that day he came around the Downes Ranch, it doesn’t feel strange asking her about it. It feels natural. Like the right thing to do.

“ Well since Thomas ain’t doing good and I’m looking for a new place of work I thought about finally taking a leap and making my dream come true. But, as you know, I am no woman of a big fortune nor do I come from a family of money. I was trying to get a loan from the bank of Valentine but …. no luck.”

“Huh, ‘m sorry about that.” He’s not exactly sure what he’s sorry about. The fact that Mr. Downes is dying or the fact that she wasn’t granted a loan. Or maybe both. Probably a bit of both.

“Ah,” she shrugs “I’d already expected this outcome. Some big-shot oil tycoon from Saint Denis already has his eyes on my piece of land anyway so the money is only the first obstacle.”

“Piece of land? You wanna become a rancher now?”

May lets out a sweet chuckle, “ No. I wanna be a teacher. I want to build a school for Valentine.”

“A school? What for?”

“Well … to teach. The world is changing, Mr. Morgan. We’re living in the age of progress but what good does it do us if we have machines taking us anywhere and everywhere when we can’t read even the most simple of instructions? We owe it to the children to start the progress with them.”

Arthur has never set a single foot inside a real school all he’s ever learned he learned on the road. From Dutch and Hosea. Reading and writing were never something he was particularly fond of learning but now that he’s older, even he can admit that it’s a big advantage in life.

“If you say so.”

“I do. I taught Archie to read. Edith too. I think it’s a luxury we should all be able to afford.”

“ Well, I ain’t gonna disagree with that. Let me buy you a drink.”

She takes the last bite of her lamb, then wipes up the remaining gravy with a potato, before softly tapping a napkin to her lips. “That’s very sweet of you but I should go. I have a room at the hotel for the night and I’m quite concerned that if I agree to one drink I will agree to more and then I won’t make it to my room and that’s just money wasted now ain’t it.”

For a second he wants to be brash. Wants to tell her that he wouldn’t mind making sure she gets to her room safe and sound. Wouldn’t mind joining her there. But while he lets himself think it, it just ain’t his personality to speak those words. Especially not to a woman who shows him kindness time and time again when all he ever does is disappoint and do the wrong things.

“Alright, Miss. You stay safe out there. I sincerely hope it all works out for you. With that school and all. “

May places her small hand on his stubbly cheek, warm from the alcohol coursing through his system and the gentle touch of a woman.

“Oh don’t make this sound like a goodbye. Our paths will cross again, I know so. Trust me, Arthur!”

He likes the way his name sounds falling from her lips. Likes her warm smooth skin on his. Like the sincerity in her eyes and the fire softly burning beneath it. He likes this girl and that’s one scary thought. Ain’t nothing good ever happened to the girls he liked.

“You have a good night, Miss Everly.”

As he returns to the bar, Lenny already fixes Arthur with a look of amusement and mischief. His eyes are glossed over from the drinks and his balance don’t seem to work quite as he’d like.

“So who was that pretty lady?”

Just the woman he hasn’t been able to get out of his head since he met her. The one he’s been sketching in his diary over and over again. The one he ain’t don’t right by. The one that’s way too good for him.

“No one. Just some girl. Now how about another drink, Lenny ma boy?”

The night goes by in a flash. It’s a blur of yelling and dancing and laughing and fighting. Of searching for Lenny, several times. Of walking into a room he has no business walking into. Of making friends and enemies. And then fade to black.

That is until the next day when the midday sun beats mercilessly down onto his tired body, slumped against the trunk of a mostly barren tree. It’s the sun that wakes him up. The sun and — her.

May stands before him like a goddess in an ancient story from a foreign country. The sun shines behind her veiling her in a golden glow, giving her a gleaming halo.

“Look at you, I told you our paths would cross again. Why are you down there?”

“Fell asleep.”

“On the floor?”

“It happens.”

His voice is rough with sleep and exhaustion from the night before. He ain’t as young as he used to be and nights like the previous one leave marks now. It’s something he doesn’t like to admit but something he has to come to terms with.

“I know it’s past noon but I can offer you some breakfast if you like,” May exclaims pointing towards her horse and the little wicker basket strapped to the saddlebag. “Well it’s lunch for me but breakfast for you. I got coffee too.”

Arthur rubs the sleep from his eyes and scratches his beard in contemplation. He’s got nothing to do today and he’s, he could be checking up on Dutch and his plans but with the way things are right now, he doesn’t really mind getting some time away from all that mess. Micah is also waiting for him in a cell in Strawberry but that’s so far down on Arthur’s list of things to do. That nasty son of a bitch can rot there for a while longer. Might do him some good, actually.

“Coffee sounds mighty fine.”

“Alright, you’ll have to follow me though. “

“Sure. Lemme get Mouse real quick. “

Arthur drags his tired body back towards the Saloon and a few minutes later he returns, now straddling Mouse and carrying a big bundle of fur on the back of his horse.

“What in the world is that,” May asks, swinging herself back onto Beans.

“Fur of a grizzly.”

“No way! You’re a hunter, then?”

The two of them fall into a slow trot next to each other with May walking just a tad in front of him leading the way.

“Ain’t much of a hunter. Just pure luck. Had help from my —“

What exactly was Hosea to him? His father, kind of but it wouldn’t feel right calling him that. He had had a father, albeit a pretty poor example of it. But he’s more than a friend. He’s family.

“ from a family member.”

“I think you’re allowed to take pride in this, Arthur. It’s a nice fur and it seems like it was one big fella. That’s something not a lot of people can do. Allow yourself to be proud.”

Pride, Arthur knows, makes men do foolish things. It makes them feel invincible. Makes them stop paying attention. It leaves them vulnerable. Pride ain’t doing no one no good.

“Whatever. Where we going anyway?”

“Oh, I’m just going to break my own heart real quick,” May says as if it’s a completely normal thing to exclaim.

They gallop on for a short while until she stops at the top of a small hill. Slowly, not moving her eyes away from the patch of land before her, she gets off of her horse and takes the wicker basket. “Come, let’s sit down by the trees.”

A row of oak trees provides some shade from the burning sun as they sit down on the warm prairie grass. For a moment the world is still. Not silent but still. Soft and comfortable. The scent of coffee fills the air, waves along with the desert winds. The mug May hands to him, it’s warm in his hand and for the first time in a long time, Arthur feels at peace with himself and the world.

“This is it,” May announces and, arms spread out wide, gestures to the land before them.

“Well I must say, this is quite impressive,” Arthur humors her, voice laced with sarcasm.

“Oh, you big oaf. Stop making fun of me. This is the piece of land I wanted to buy. The school was supposed to sit right there. Walking distance for the children of Valentine and the surrounding ranches. Now it belongs to Mr. Robert Montgomery and god knows what he’ll put here.”

“I’m real sorry about it. I ain’t ever really had a dream like that but I bet it’s not a nice feeling. It’s a damn shame too. Can see you teaching them kids some things.”

“Yeah?”

“Sure.”

She looks wistfully across the valley, a glimpse of longing sparkling in her eyes. “It’s all I've wanted to do since I was a little girl. My daddy never had much and he wasn’t a good man but he was honest and he was a hard worker. My momma was soft and sweet like honey. She made him more gentle. Made life sweet for him. They both came from nothing but when they had me they wanted to make sure they gave me everything I needed to survive in this world. To make something of myself. Momma learned to read and write from an older lady who lived across the street and taught it to me and my daddy. From him, I learned to fish, to hunt, to skin and prepare animals. I think with the way they gave me all this knowledge they wanted me to become good at something and make that my crime. Instead, I became passionate about sharing knowledge. About giving this education to other children. That’s where our future rests, ain’t it? The children?”

She’s right. Whenever he looks at Jack. Whenever he watches Abigail or John look at Jack, all he sees is the hope that he turns out better. That his life doesn’t rest with them. That there is more for him than robbing and plundering.

“Do you have children?”

It’s an innocent question but it manages to hurt him more than any other question probably could. It reaches all the dark corners of his heart he tries so hard to ignore. He doesn’t have children, but he had. Past tense. Ring a father, another role he failed at filling. He ain’t never been a good father to Isaac. He wasn’t there when it mattered. Wasn’t there when they killed him for a meager 10$.

“Nah.”

“Did you go to school?”

Arthur scoffs a laugh at that, imagining himself young and wild sitting in a classroom with a bunch of other rowdy kids.

“No. Never. I was taught how to write and read by my family. Like you.”

“See, I told you we ain’t so different.”

Her smile, it sends another shiver through him. Not uncomfortable but oh so scary. She doesn’t know the kind of person he is. The one he really is. A bad person. The goddamn villain of the story.

Everything in him screams at him to go. To leave her alone. To not get in any deeper. But for one day, just this one time, he wants to allow himself to relish in a what-if. So he stays and they relax in the shade as the sun fills the valleys with rays of gold.

They stay there for so long, that Arthur is sure the sun has turned his skin a shade of red. When they get back on their horses, he notices the crown of white daisies sitting on top of Mouse’s head. A crown matching the one adoring May’s. The white flowers shine atop her flowing red locks like little stars when the setting sun is coloring the sky a blood-red but the stars have come out to play already.

Her hair is down for the first time since he’s met her and she looks beautiful. Like the wilderness and the calm all at once.

“Thanks for listening to my dreams, Arthur Morgan.”

“Thanks for sharing them, May Everly.”

Her name sounds sweet on his tongue.

“Now don’t look so blue. We'll meet again, I know it. I was right last time, wasn’t I?”

“You were.”

And as she rides away, red hair flowing in the wind like the wings of a Phoenix, Arthur hopes she’s right again this time. He ain’t ready to let go of the way she makes him see the world and her and himself. Not yet.

#arthur morgan x oc #arthur morgan imagine #arthur morgan imagines #arthur morgan fanfic #arthur morgan fanfiction #red dead redemption fanfic #red dead redemption fanfiction #red dead redemption imagine #red dead redemption imagines #rdr2 fanfic #rdr2 fanfiction #rdr2 imagine #rdr2 imagines

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radramblog · 4 years ago

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Dice, ranked

Players of tabletop games, among other things, tend to get to hoard-like levels when it comes to amassing collections of the tools of the trade- dice. As a result, people tend to get pretty obsessive about their favourites- ones they’ve paid excessive amounts for and therefore are extremely fancy, ones associated with a particularly memorable moment from one game or another, ones they send to jail for rolling too many ones.

I’ve never really understood this (except for dice jail, they know what they did). I got two sets of dice (lost the d6 from one of them, replaced it) and they work fine for just about everything. So I’m probably not the guy to turn to for this sort of topic.

What I haven’t seen is someone discussing on a meta level the ups and downs of each dice, and therefore, ranking them into an opinionated list. And since opinions are fun and I thought this would be as well, I’m going to spend some time writing about and ranking dice.

#7- d4

I feel like the d4 being the worst dice is not a controversial opinion. They’re incredibly awkward to actually roll, requiring a bit of extra effort to clear the first edge on the table, and considering the piddly numbers that come up it never feels worth it. They are also incredibly replaceable, being easily substitutable by a d6, d8, or even a d10/12 in a pinch.

This is of course avoiding the most important point, which is that it’s not hard for dice to end up on the floor, and stepping on one of these fuckers is worse than any lego piece. I know someone who has a metal set of dice, and its d4 is sharp enough to draw blood. Yikes.

#6- d10

The d10 has always bugged me design-wise. Like, I’m sure there probably wasn’t that much of a better way to design this dice- the odds one side/evens another strikes me as strange, as is it theoretically being substantially more likely to roll from an odd to an odd than an odd to an even, or vice versa, based on the way it’s laid out. Of course, I’m no expert.

Much like the d4, you could probably replace this with a d20, but it’s less cumbersome, so I imagine few bother. It’s also got bigger numbers on it, which is nice, but I swear every time I look at a game’s rules I forget whether the 0 is supposed to be 0 or 10, especially since it differs between systems and in some cases lower is actually better. Should I be happy about rolling a fat nothing? We just don’t know.

#5- d6

As tempted as I was to put this at #6 for shits and giggles, I really can’t justify doing that based on my reasons for keeping the classic dice this low. And in fact, that’s entirely why this is so low, out of spite. So many fucking board games use d6s, to the point that other dice are seen by the vast majority of people as an oddity.

And the “standard die” is so boring. It’s a cube. The most perfectly generic object in three-dimensional space. They don’t even put numbers on it, where’s the fun in that? Bleh.

#4- d12

Right in the middle, we have the d12, which may be an odd choice. The reason I’ve put the d12 in the dead centre is that it’s the one I have the least opinions about. It’s the forgotten dice, to me. I can’t remember the last time I’ve played a game where I needed it, even though I’m sure it hasn’t been that long. Whenever I’m gathering all my dice back up, I always count that I’m missing one, and it’s just about always the d12 I’ve forgotten.

It is the most forgettable die. And for that, it gets the forgettable slot.

#3- Percentile die

Unlike it’s perennial counterpart, the d10, the percentile dice is interesting. It’s got really big numbers on it, giving it a completely different look, and 00 is not nearly as confusing as 0.

But what makes the percentile die the most fun is that rolling d100, which is what you’re typically doing with it, is so fun. Because if you’re rolling that, typically there’s a huge variety of different effects that could happen, and both you and the DM are rubbing your hands with glee at how things are going to land. Because it’s likely something they’ve spent a lot of time working on, and can’t wait to see play out- and in my experience, a happy DM is a happy player. Unless it’s a kill-happy DM, but honestly, if there’s a d100 involved at least my character is getting horrifically mutilated in a fun and unique manner.

Of course, there are some games in which the d100 is a standard stat check. And in those games, the percentile is likely less interesting, which is fair. But I haven’t played many of those games.

#2- d20

The wizened among you will realise what #1 is now, and hold your horses, we’ll get there, but first is the runner up. The d20 is iconic to role-playing games, to a point where there’s multiple games, softwares, and media (podcasts etc) that use it as part of their branding. It’s standard for D&D, the most popular tabletop RPG out there, and is commonly used by both its imitators and completely separate games for a huge number of rolls and checks and the like. Save for percentile, it’s the only one of these where searching just “d20″ only gave dice-related results on google images.

The d20 gets a lot of points for the joy of rolling a nat 20. It also loses a lot of points for the terror of rolling a nat 1.

D20s are not without flaw. The small faces make them extremely easy to over-roll into and off of things, if you’re a clown like me without a dice tray- though that can be a strength, with the extended roll time being that little bit more suspenseful. As mentioned earlier, they can be extremely polarising, with the gap between a successful and unsuccessful roll being potentially huge.

But I think mostly I’m just kind of biased because they’re a huge pain in the ass to use to track your life in MtG, even though you start at 20, unless you use a spindown d20, but those are often not considered acceptable in other tabletop settings. And I have so, so many spindowns at this point.

#1: d8

I guess I have to justify my choices, huh.

Look, there’s something about the octahedral die that I find incredibly satisfying. They’re a great shape, they roll easy, and 8 is a really nice number to do maths with. I’m actually shocked that board games ended up with d6 as the default when the maths of a d8 is probably so much easier to balance around. I blame the d6 monopoly on Monopoly.

Ironically I think the d6’s omnipresence makes me like the d8 more, as it feels like a little bonus.

They have the same odd/even divide as a d10, but the shape of each face is equilateral so it doesn’t feel as biased. It’s a fun dice that I get to use often. It’s not as polarising as a d20, nor as awkward as a d4. I just really like these. Humble and unassuming, I cannot possibly justify this beyond that.

I should go collect more.

#ramble #dice #tabletop #i should try and get a d100 #they seem fun

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theirrationalzone · 5 years ago

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My Top Ten Games of 2020

Let’s just address the giant elephant in the room from the offset: 2020 has been one giant mess of a year. Every event, every major moment this year just felt like the worst case scenario every time.

For a lot of us though, there was one saving grace: video games.

2020 has been a damn fine year for video games. From the return of certain classic franchises to some amazing new entries and experiences. Gaming really managed to thrive in a year where other entertainment mediums such as films and television struggled.

Let’s dive in and take a look at some of the games that made this year a lot more bearable:

10: Watch Dogs Legion

I’ve had a soft spot for Ubisoft’s hack ‘em up franchise for quite a while. I didn’t think the original was as disappointing as it was made out to be and I thought the second one was an underrated gem. When Legion was first announced, I liked a lot of what the game was setting out to do but I wasn’t ready to pull the trigger on getting it. I decided to give the game a chance in the end and I’m glad I did.

Legion might suffer from the same pitfalls that have plagued other Ubisoft enterprises, but the recruitment mechanic is one of the coolest systems I have seen in any game ever. The fact that you can recruit any NPC that you see on the streets of London and use their unique talents to complete your objectives is just an awesome thing in and of itself. Its depiction of London is also incredibly fun to explore and cause mayhem in. While I found the writing to be pretty subpar, the game quite buggy and the whole PS5 upgrade fiasco a farce, I still found Legion to be a fun open world experience overall.

9: Resident Evil 3

Resident Evil has been on a real hot streak as of late, hasn’t it? Ever since Capcom made a promise to its fans that the Resident Evil series would go back to what made it so popular in the first place, the series has gone from strength to strength. Last year saw the release of the RE2 Remake which was absolutely excellent in that it kept the spirit of the original while also taking a few liberties of its own. It was only a matter of time before RE3 got the same treatment and well... it did.

I’m just going to spit this out. It’s not as good as the RE2 Remake. It didn’t need to be though. I still think this is a good game that provides a satisfying and fun survival horror experience. It carries over a lot of the elements that made the RE2 Remake such an excellent game and in certain areas (especially the writing) it makes a few improvements. Plus the game looks absolutely stunning thanks to the RE Engine. It is quite short. It is missing quite a bit of content from the original game. It definitely isn’t as replayable as the RE2 Remake. I still had a blast with it though overall. If this really is a blip for the Resident Evil series, then it must be in a really good place right now.

8: Tell Me Why

Dontnod Entertainment have fast become one of my favourite developers in the industry right now. When I first played Life is Strange back in 2015, it felt like a revelation. It weaved a fantastic story with characters you genuinely cared for and took you to a place you never wanted to leave. I’ve enjoyed all of their other ventures since then such as the underrated (if quite janky) Vampyr and Life is Strange 2.

Tell Me Why is another venture that fits the Dontnod MO: A grounded emotional story with slight supernatural elements, a degree of player choice and a setting that makes your jaw drop. The major difference here is the game’s attempt to portray a transgender character. That’s nothing new in and of itself. It’s more the fact that it attempts to accurately portray a transgender male character which is a bit of a rarity in all forms of media. Transgender portrayals (from what I’ve seen) tend to focus on male to female rather than female to male.

I’m in no position to comment on whether the portrayal is accurate or not, but I got the impression that Dontnod really went out of their way to get this right. Their FAQ explains that they worked with GLAAD and the voice actor to get it as right as they could. That alone deserves huge praise, but I also loved the Ronan Twins’ story as they dealt with their harsh past and the uncertain future. The game was a delight from beginning to end and it just looks absolutely gorgeous to boot. Dontnod have done it again.

7: Bugsnax

One of the early delights of the last generation was a little ditty known as Octodad: Dadliest Catch. It was a fun little physics based affair which cast you as a octopus masquerading as a human. The game had a terrific sense of humour and it was just bloody fun to play. Young Horses (the developer of the game) kinda went dark after that. They only really resurfaced to release two bonus levels for that game and then they just disappeared again. Now we know why that was the case...

Bugsnax retains some of the qualities that made Octodad such as a memorable game. A great sense of humour and a unique gameplay hook. You play as a reporter sent to the mysterious Snaktooth Island to interview an explorer called Elizabert Megafig who has discovered these unusual creatures known as Bugsnax. After crash landing onto the island, you discover that Elizabert and her significant other have gone missing. It’s up to you to find out what happened while also documenting and capturing Bugsnax for yourself. Capturing the Bugsnax is a big part of what makes this game such a delight to play. As you unlock more tools to play around with, you can come up with different strategies and methods to capture these weird snack based creatures. It’s pretty awesome. Throw in a lovable set of characters to interact with and a beautiful environment to explore, and you’ve got one of the most lovable games released this year.

6: Mafia: Definitive Edition

The last few years haven’t been too kind to the Mafia franchise in my eyes. I really wanted to like Mafia III when it came out back in 2016. It was a sequel I waited years for and it did have some good qualities such as an excellent story that dealt with some pretty heavy topics, solid gameplay mechanics and an amazing licensed soundtrack. Unfortunately the game had one of the most tedious and boring gameplay loops I think I’ve ever seen in an open world game. It just got so dull after the first couple of hours.

This year saw the announcement of the Mafia Trilogy which was to be a celebration of the entire franchise with a remake of the first game, a remaster of the second and a re-release of the third. Half of this was botched with the remaster of II being poorly put together and the re-release of III receiving a broken patch. Things were looking grim for the remake...

As you can see by it being in this list, we were proven wrong. Mafia: DE is a fantastic remake that pays good lip service to the original while also expanding on certain elements. The story which follows the rise and fall of cab driver turned wiseguy Tommy Angelo is more fleshed out with new sequences and character moments that weren’t in the original. Gameplay still retains the solid shooting and cover mechanics of Mafia III and the driving feels absolutely excellent especially when you put it in simulation mode. Lost Heaven is just gorgeous to behold as well with its bustling neighbourhoods and beautiful countryside. I hope this is the beginning of a redemption arc for Hangar 13 and the Mafia franchise. There is a lot of promise to build upon from here.

5: Deadly Premonition 2: A Blessing in Disguise

Anyone who knows me personally or has followed me on social media for a while knows that I’m a big fan of Deadly Premonition. The 2010 cult survival horror hit pretty much encapsulates why I love video games with its lovable hero, an eccentric cast of characters and surprisingly solid mechanics considering the budget it was made for. It was definitely more than the sum of its parts.

When I found out that a sequel was being made exclusively for the Nintendo Switch, my jaw hit the floor pretty hard. I thought any hopes for a sequel were dashed when SWERY left Access Games (the original dev), and yet here we are. A Blessing in Disguise is a brilliant sequel to the zany original. It captures everything that I loved about the original game to a T while also improving in certain aspects. The story is more ambitious this time with it being both prequel and sequel. A lot of the gameplay elements have been improved. The combat benefits from better aiming controls and an upgrade system for both York and his weapon. Getting from A to B is less wonky (and more fun) thanks to the addition of a skateboard rather than a car.

While I do still think the original is better due to the more creative side quests, the more challenging difficulty and the fact that it functions better from a technical perspective, I’m still a big fan of DP2 and it deserves your attention. Here’s hoping that it makes its way to other platforms in the future.

4: Ghost of Tsushima

This last generation has been good for Sony and its Worldwide Studios. In the last five years, they’ve managed to produce hit after hit after hit. A definite far cry from the first year of the PS4 where they produced some dire exclusives. Infamous Second Son was one of these. Sucker Punch’s first effort on the console was very pretty and a good technical showpiece for the console, but as a game, it was boring and dull. I couldn’t even muster the strength to finish it. The standalone expansion First Light was a huge improvement in my eyes. It cut out a lot of the fluff from Second Son. I knew then that Sucker Punch would eventually give us something amazing. They certainly did in the end...

Ghost of Tsushima is honestly one of the best exclusives that Sony has ever produced. Giving us a brutal tale in the vein of a Kurosawa flick where samurai Jin Sakai is forced to betray his code in order to drive out the Mongol force that has enslaved his homeland; we have a story that is genuinely gripping from beginning to end with an incredibly powerful final duel to boot. The combat is incredibly fun with a brilliant combat system that is easy to pick up but challenging to master. Duels especially show the combat system at its finest. Upgrading your abilities genuinely makes you feel incredibly powerful as you begin to decimate enemies left, right and center. Stealth is solid giving you plenty of tools at your disposal and certainly changes up the gameplay a fair bit. Did I mention that Tsushima Island is one of the most aesthetically pleasing locales in any game to date? Well I’m saying it now. It is one of the most beautiful locales in any game to date.

I’m very excited to see where this new IP goes in the future because this first entry is just incredible. A must buy if you own or plan on owning a PlayStation 4 or 5 in the near future.

3: Astro’s Playroom

Memorable pack-in exclusives are a bit of a rarity nowadays. The last one that sticks in my mind is Wii Sports, and that was a long time ago.

Astro’s Playroom serves as the pack-in title for the PlayStation 5 as it is pre-installed on all units. It’s also my favourite exclusive for the console so far. The main reason for this is that Astro’s Playroom evolves past being just a tech demo for the console and its fancy new controller. It actually is a fun little platformer in its own right. It offers something different with every level. In one level you can transform into a giant ball and attempt to navigate some pretty tight platforms, and in the next, you take control of a rocket ship and navigate through corridors while also avoiding bombs. There is great variety here and to be fair, it shows off the potential of the new DualSense controller fantastically.

Plus the game is just one giant love letter to the PlayStation brand and the games that made it what it is today. You’ll see references to obscure PlayStation paraphernalia such as the Multitap and UMD discs, and also games like Final Fantasy VII and Silent Hill. The final boss of the game in particular is one giant callback to something you might remember if you got a PlayStation 1 back in the day. I won’t say any more, but it made me yelp in joy when I saw it. If you plan on getting a PlayStation 5 in the future, make this the first game you play. You won’t regret it.

2: Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1+2

Activision have been on a roll in the last few years with the revitalisation of some of their classic franchises. Crash Bandicoot and Spyro the Dragon for example have enjoyed newfound success thanks to the excellent N Sane Trilogy and Reignited Trilogy. When it was revealed earlier this year that Vicarious Visions and Beenox would be resurrecting the Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater franchise with a remake of Pro Skater 1 and 2, my heart skipped a good few beats.

The Pro Skater franchise means a lot to me personally as I have very fond memories of putting hours into 1 and 2 when I was a kid. Going through the Career mode with each skater, learning the gaps and getting used to doing manuals when they were introduced in 2, it’s all ingrained into me. I’m happy to say that this is probably the best remake I have ever played. It perfectly captures what made those first two entries so special. Each level is beautifully recreated with a ton of new details that serve to enhance these levels. The soundtrack includes all of your old favourites like Goldfinger’s Superman and Rage Against the Machine’s Guerilla Radio along with some fantastic new tracks like Less Than Jake’s Bomb Drop.

The gameplay definitely taps more into Pro Skater 3 and 4 territory with Reverts and Flatland tricks included. These tricks don’t feel out of place and the game does give you the option to play it legacy style if you want. It feels magnificent overall though. The physics are pitch perfect. Creating lines and large combos is still as addicting and rewarding as ever. Online leaderboards certainly tempt you to reach for the stars if you’ve got the ability. Career mode isn’t particularly long, but the pretty robust Create-a-Park editor and solid multiplayer suite should keep you coming back for more. I’ve already put dozens of hours into this and I have no intention of stopping anytime soon.

If my number 1 entry on this list didn’t exist, this would be my Game of the Year. As it stands though, this is a very close second.

1: Doom Eternal

How do you follow up one of the best first person shooters in recent memory? Basically turn everything up to eleven and then some. Doom (2016) was such an eye opener when it launched. It gave everything we could have ever wanted from a new Doom game: a whole planet full of demons to kill and some big guns to help them back to where they belong. It was awesome and an easy choice for my GOTY back in 2016.

I anticipated Doom Eternal with bated breath. The excitement was building but the nerves were building with it. How could it live up to the previous one? What if it makes the same mistakes as Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus? Thankfully my worries were unfounded as soon as I loaded up the game and was thrown straight into the fold with a Combat Shotgun and some entry level demons to destroy with it.

Doom Eternal is the FPS genre at its absolute finest. The levels are much bigger with more secrets to find and loads of demons to kill. Said demons are much more plentiful in their ranks and they move faster too. Fortunately enough, you have a huge arsenal to deal death to these demonic denizens from the depths of Hell such as the starter Combat Shotgun, the Plasma Rifle, the Ballista and even a giant sword known as the Crucible. Enemies now have weak points to exploit as well which can turn the tide of battle and it rewards accuracy. Before you know it, you’ll be entangled in a ballet of bullets, beams, blood and guts (HUGE guts mind you.) This game makes you feel like a hero at the end of every fight. It’s so satisfying.

Toss in a soundtrack that will get your blood pumping and your goosebumps raising along with environments that will make your TV or monitor look like a window to a scorched earth, and you have my Game of the Year for 2020. Well deserved for sure. I really need to get on that DLC.

To those of you who actually took the time to read all that, you have my heartfelt thanks. I really appreciate you reading this and I hope my choices made sense.

To those of you who just glanced at each entry and skimmed through the text, I don’t blame you for doing that. I still appreciate you taking a look anyway.

All that’s left for me to say is that I hope each and every one of you has a safe holiday season and I hope that the New Year will be better for all of us.

I’ll see you all in 2021. Stay safe and well, folks.

#goty 2020 #ps5 #ps4 #switch

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ranger-report · 5 years ago

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Review: THE WITCHER 2: ASSASSINS OF KINGS (2011)

With the first Witcher game under my belt, I decided to plunge straightaway into the second game in the series: The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings. Expecting little beyond improvements in graphics and controls, I was very curious to see how the game delivered on the cliffhanger ending of the first game, in which Geralt of Rivia defended King Foltest of Temeria from a would-be assassin, only to reveal that the killer was also a witcher. I’d had a decent time with The Witcher: Enhanced Edition, particularly in the storytelling aspects and the choose- your-own-adventure narrative, but had found myself frustrated by dated game design and graphics and lackluster combat. Still, it was, by the end, an arresting experience that had captured my intrigue enough to make me want to go back and replay it to see what paths I could have chosen. Choice is truly the number one aspect of The Witcher, in that Geralt generally chooses not to choose sides, but is often found forced into doing so. Choice is also the highlight of The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings, so much so that by the end of the game I was nearly horrified with how all of my decisions, ambient though some of them were, had stacked into a neat pile of awful fuckery. If you want to feel good about what you’ve done by the end of a game, The Witcher series might not be for you. But if moral ambiguity and robust, branching paths are what you seek, then read on dear reader, because things are about to get immediately messy in what is some ways a vastly superior sequel to the first game, but in other ways falls short of the narrative potential established by its predecessor.

From the start, Witcher 2 is once again a big game of Choose Your Own Adventure. Opening with a prologue establishing Geralt’s involvement in a political assassination, the player is continually given agency over where Geralt is going, what he wants to do, and how he is going to do it. This is at once the game’s biggest strength. Just as in the first game, Geralt’s choices have domino effects that tumble down the slippery slope of lesser evil decision making, affecting what characters do and whether or not they might appear elsewhere in the game. And, furthering the CYOA aspects, certain portions of the grander story are hidden from sight should Geralt choose to go down a different path. Maybe some characters will have happier endings than we see them get if Geralt decides to help them instead of quest elsewhere -- maybe not. Perhaps the biggest departure from the previous game’s style is that the entire second chapter of Witcher 2 is different depending on which side of a conflict you choose to enable. This, of course, is also all based on whom you’ve sided with previously, with deft moments of quick situational judgements, some of them timed. Give the elven rebel his sword so he can defend himself, or push him to the side so you can leap into the fray yourself? Not every decision is placed in front of the player as a monumental choice; some of them are as simple and clean as whether or not you pick up an object in front of you, knowingly saving someone’s life. This makes the world -- and the story -- feel surprisingly alive, vibrant, always on edge as though the lightest touch in any direction will spell consequences for some and reward for others. This does, however, create a shorter gameplay experience overall. Where my full playthrough of the first game was close to fifty hours, I clocked in just over thirty hours here, but this is partially because the full content of the game cannot be seen in only one playthrough. There’s a massive amount of game to be held, but the unfortunate reality is that it can only be seen piecemeal. It’s like getting to the end of an actual Choose Your Own Adventure novel, only to realize there’s a vast amount of pages left unread because you didn’t take the roads less traveled...or simply traveled differently. For better or for worse, the first time through this game will leave the player with the sensation that there is a lot that they didn’t get to see, despite the freedom of branching paths being thrilling and adventurous. And the story itself isn’t nearly as investing as the previous game. Geralt’s adventure in clearing his name of wrongdoing and tracking down his memories are at the forefront of his story, but in the background is a complex, political plot that simultaneously is and isn’t important to follow. Decisions made by Geralt heavily affect what’s going on, even as Geralt himself is constantly growling about how he wants to track the kingslayer and a missing friend. But the game and the characters populating it continually drag him back to the fray because they need him, dammit, and if he wants the means to his ends then he’ll have to endure everyone else’s shit. Perhaps that’s the point: Geralt’s actions continually change the entire world around him, whether he wants to be a part of it or not. That said, the straightforward narrative is defiantly strong here, partly because the branching system demands it need be. This is a Story with a Purpose, the Purpose being to establish a series of unfortunate events happening around Geralt, if not to Geralt. But when it’s as bland as it is -- save for the bits where Geralt is trying to clear his name -- it can be difficult at times to maintain a steady pace. And the entire third act takes place in a ruined elven city which is a chore to navigate, nearly ruining the momentum and the whole of the game’s experience; there’s two disasterously difficult combat engagements to wade through as well as a grating boss battle with a large beast, not to mention a magical puzzle which demands navigating the labyrinthine ruins if you want to discover what it is. And yet, by the end, the house of cards comes tumbling down into the awful realization that everything behind the scenes has been doing its utmost to raise the stakes high enough to win the whole pot, and depending on Geralt’s actions, it does so to varying degrees. I sincerely doubt there is anything close to a happy ending in one of the alleged 16 conclusions the game contains; if anything, it can only go from shitfucked to fucked-with-hope-on-the-horizon. And, despite the sometimes slog, that’s effective.

Gameplay has seen a heavy upgrade. Gone are the original title’s point and click controls, replaced with a more intuitive interface that relies heavily on action and exploration. Similar to Arkham Asylum’s Detective Vision, Geralt can use his medallion to scan the world around him for interactive elements or objects to search through. Neat in concept, but oftentimes the execution is lacking; it can be incredibly difficult to find objects on the ground left by corpses without always using the medallion, as they can get lost in the surrounding scenery. Upgraded, too, is the combat, which is thankfully no long a boring fucking exercise in clicking at the right time to string together combos. Geralt rolls, swings, magics at the click of a button, using the WASD and mouse camera to keep an eye on the action. The triple division of combat styles -- fast, strong, and group -- are replaced with a fast and strong attack bound to the two mouse keys, and upgrades can make it so Geralt’s attacks can hit multiple people. Blocking is integral, but Geralt needs vitality for a block to be effective, or it will chip away his health. I both enjoyed and did not enjoy the new combat system. It’s functional, but I couldn’t help but feel out of control in tense moments, attempting to roll or dodge or block or use signs between sword strikes. Geralt only swings at whoever he is targeting, not simply in front of him, so if you accidentally turn the camera to the wrong angle while trying to attack he will swiftly turn and swing at someone else entirely, leaving him open to devastating counterattacks from behind. Frustration can mount quickly, as it seems that Geralt is a whole hell of a lot squishier this time around than in the first game. Sure, the first Witcher had plenty of moments where getting overwhelmed could happen in the blink of an eye and Geralt would turn into fresh meat, but Witcher 2 makes every sword fight feel like an exercise in dodging just to stay alive. Maybe I wasn’t playing with enough patience, but it felt like I spent more time rolling and running to regain health than I did connecting with satisfying blows. Sometimes, quicktime events pop up during major boss encounters, which are devastatingly difficult in needless ways. Just like in the first game, Witcher 2 will absolutely dial up the volume on the difficulty knob without warning and around an unseen corner, to an extent where I found myself pained by exhaustion and anger at yet another GAME OVER scene. This is compounded by the strenuous camera, which is awkward at best in outdoors environments, frustratingly awful in close quarters hallways. Making things even worse is the game’s departure from the previous healing methods in The Witcher: where potions could be downed on the fly, and food eaten to regain mild portions of health, now the only way to heal is potions while meditating, or simply by meditating. Without the ability to heal in the middle of combat the thoroughly aggressive enemies will stymie even seasoned players as they watch their health bar helpless disappear with no respite.

Graphically speaking, this is leaps and bounds better than the original. High-detail, crisp textures, far draw distances, I very rarely had any stuttering or framerate issues. At worst, there was minor pop-in and fade in, some seams showing where textures were laid out, and jittery models here and there. Also, motion blur and bloom were turned on by default. Never fun. It was an absolute job to take in the world on hand, with the variety of monsters and humanoid characters to encounter, lovingly rendered with tons of color and flair. Outside of the story, this is where the game truly shines. Before there had been low-res models being reused left and right, but here nearly every character model (outside of factory-line soldiers) feels unique enough to recognize in and out of combat. It’s really a fucking wonder to behold. It felt the same as the graphical leap between Uncharted and Uncharted 2, with nearly an overwhelming amount of detail in the world to take in, dizzingly put together in a way that is breathing and living.

That said, is the game actually an improvement over the first title? Well, yes and no. Graphically, interactively, yes, to an extent. The branching narrative is bold, but feels like there is so much you’re missing out on once you’ve chosen a particular path. For example, there’s a dragon that exists in the game, and its origins are shrouded in mystery. I only discovered them based on a trophy I got at the end of the game, which felt like a huge cheat to learn that way. If the game had told me something about the dragon’s nature, even down the path I took which actively led me away from the dragon, then I wouldn’t have felt disappointed, but it didn’t. I learned the answer through a trophy. And in many ways, while this game does things better than the first game, it’s only to slight degrees, and while I do want to go back and play this again, it’s difficult to do so after a somewhat disappointing first run. Geralt’s story was excellent, and kept me on the edge of my seat whenever it came around, but everything else that happened felt largely disconnected from what was driving Geralt this time around, and ultimately only served as setup for the third game in the series. Again, perhaps that’s the point: perhaps Geralt will have to face the weight of his decisions, that which defines the world at large whilst he maintains a selfish lean towards his personal goals. Geralt of Rivia both is and is not the most important person in this story -- he is but one man who is forging a path towards his wants and needs, but maybe he’s crumbling kingdoms along the way, intentionally or no. While I’ve heard nothing but Game Of The Year praise for The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, I’m keeping my expectations tempered based on this sequel, which is fun and daunting and clever, but the drawbacks are hefty, saved only by the draw of the lead character and the living story itself.

Final Score: 7.5/10

#the witcher #the witcher 2 #assassins of kings #cd projekt red #andrzej sapkowski #geralt of rivia #triss merigold #yennefer of vengerberg #dandelion #zoltan chivay #ck burch #review #rubyranger #steam #enhanced edition #long post #ranger report

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rob3rtruth3er4ordblog · 5 years ago

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Video Game Review: The Last of Us Part II

Creating a sequel to one of the best games of its generation was never going to be an easy feat. But if there is any developer capable of living up to such a task, it is developer, Naughty Dog. And while the gritty tone, satisfying gameplay, vibrant environments, deep characters, and well-crafted themes remain, with some enhancements, one of the biggest praises of the original Last of Us, its storytelling, this time around is its biggest downfall.

The last of Us Part II picks up five years after the original in Jackson, Wyoming. There, we are reintroduced to main characters Joel, Ellie, and Tommy. For the most part, life is good and prevailing, except for Joel and Ellie’s relationship. We later find out why that is. But not soon after our introduction, a catastrophic event takes place that sets the main story in motion; A tale of revenge.

Just like its predecessor, The Last of Us Part II is a beautiful game. It is one of the first things players will notice before even controlling a character. Just as the Last of Us pushed the PlayStation 3 to its limits, The Last of Us part II shows what the PlayStation 4 can do when a game is built for it from the ground up. Whether players are experiencing the snowy, cold, and windy environments of Jackson, Wyoming, the beautiful, bright, sun, or the gray, rainy, and dreary locations of Seattle, Washington, The Last of Us Part II captures the beauty, dread, and terror in glorious fashion. The environments perfectly capture the tone of what players are about to encounter. Whether it is riding a horse and getting a break from the chaos for however long that may last, sneaking through high grass in terrible weather, or dropping into an abandoned, dark and quiet building not knowing who or what is lurking around any corner. And while the environments are great, character animations are also improved, and it also adds another depth to its storytelling. Being able to see the hurt, agony, sadness, and even happiness (during the few moments it occurs) is phenomenal. It is another subtle but effective way to tell a story.

Along with its presentation, the gameplay also sees welcomed enhancements. Like its predecessor, the combat is solid. Shooting, punching, and using the variety of weapons available has weight to it. You can feel the weight of every gun when it fires, every bullet or arrow when it hits its mark, and the breakage of body parts when using melee items.

Crafting is also back and is as simple as it was to use previously. Like its predecessor, items are scattered throughout locations and are used to crafts different items like health kits, Molotov cocktails, arrows, bombs, and melee upgrades. Players will find supplements around as well to upgrade different skill trees that range from improving health, crafting speed, improving listening mode range, and stealth improvements. Just like items used for crafting, there are only so many supplements players will find, so picking a skill tree, or different skills from multiple skill trees that seem more suitable to a particular place style is crucial.

New to the game, which adds more depth to the combat, is workstations. Here, players will use tools found to upgrade weaponry. And just like other materials for crafting, players must make choices on what expect of an item to upgrade, and what guns to do it for as most players won’t find enough tools to upgrade every expect of every gun before reaching the end. The scarcity of crafting materials, skill tree supplementation, and weapon tool upgrades makes for an intense and satisfying gaming experience as players will need to utilize every tool in their arsenal as the game reaches its later stages.

Exploring is also much bigger this time around. The enhanced movement accommodates this by allowing players to now jump, climb, and go prone to explore a variety of locations while also being used to evade enemies. Players are not given a mini-map while exploring, which adds more depth because the game does not inform whether an area is clear. Because I had to decide if I wanted to take what resources I had left to explore and possibly find more stuff or end up in a bad or worse situation made for intense decision making. I enjoyed making those decisions, but since there is no way to determine if an area is clear or not by using a mini-map as is present in other titles, could be a negative for the completionists out there.

As illustrated, The Last of Us Part II does so many things well. However, where the game falters is its storytelling. The game suffers from pacing issues and a gameplay choice that feels like it’s trying to justify a decision made by developers early in the game. The Last of Us Part II suffers from the same thing I felt Red Dead Redemption II suffered from, straying away too often from feeling like a video game. There are many times throughout the game where the pace slows down dramatically, which is welcome after a highly intense scene or gameplay scenario. But instead of a cut scene or maybe just a brief gameplay walk-through, there are several moments throughout the game where players are directed to just point and click at objects. Gameplay segments that could have had the same story beats happen in a more condensed fashion ended up being stretched out for no reason and ruined the pace of the game at times. There were many times throughout my play through, where I found myself flat out bored, which feels weird to say about a title such as this.

But the biggest issue with The Last of Us Part II is a gameplay choice that will surely be controversial. Some players will welcome the choice, some may be indifferent about it, while others will hate it. I found myself on the side of hating it. My reason is not the change itself; it is the possible reason behind it. The change does not feel as though it was needed. Among many things, one of the biggest praises of the original Last of Us was its storytelling. Naughty Dog portrayed complicated characters by magnificently drawing the line between what makes someone good or bad in a Last of Us type of world. And while there were good guys and bad guys based on the game’s portrayal, the line between them was never so far apart from each other. That is what made the characters so rich, and the ending to The Last of Us so impactful. It gave players multiple ways to view a character we spent so many hours protecting, learning, bonding with, and trusting—a person who, for the most part, was a clear good guy. But by the end, anyone could have their interpretation, and everyone could be right. But with The Last of Us part II, the gameplay choice the developers made feels more like it’s trying to justify a story choice earlier in the narrative by forcing players to bond with a character we don’t know. Instead of making the hard option as done previously, the developers tried to make players humanize and sympathize with a character to justify their narrative. It felt forceful and unnecessary, and the gameplay choice also added to the games pacing issues by adding even more walk and click moments, that added time to the game that was not needed.

Sequels are never easy, especially a sequel to a highly anticipated title or franchise. Change too much and risk moving too far away from what made the original great. But keep too much the same and risk not being inventive enough. Fortunately, and unfortunately, The Last of Us Part II hits both of those notes. It’s solid gameplay returns with impactful combat, an easy to use crafting and skill tree system, amazing environments, voice acting, and character design. But a gameplay choice, while having some amazing and memorable moments of its own, for the most part, feels unnecessary and as though it is trying to justify a controversial choice. And while overall The last of Us part II is a good game, Naughty Dog made a sequel that had the potential to be better than its predecessor but falls short for one of the main reasons that made its predecessor so great; Its storytelling.

Score: 8/10

#video games #review #the last of us part ii #ps4 #naughty dog #journalism

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shinysheeppizza · 5 years ago

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[DevLog] Ka-Boom #1

I haven’t posted anything in a while, but this one will be a long one.

I’ve recently talked about an online multiplayer first-person shooter game that I wanted to make, like a couple weeks ago.

Well now, I’m actually working on it! It’s been 3 days now and I thought I’d share my progress with you all!

I picked Unity as a game engine because it seemed easier to develop in and so far it looks like I’m right, but I’m pretty sure things will get complicated along the way. But still, Unity is a good engine to develop a game like this but it’s quite bulky, I guess that’s fine.

I would’ve picked GoDot Engine as it’s lighter but I’m pretty inexperienced in it, so it will be so difficult to make a game like this with it.

Day 1: (Setup / Player / Map)

June 9th, 2020

I opened up Unity and created a new 3D project under the name I came up with quite a while ago. Ka-Boom!

Since this is a first-person game, and we have player movement. We need something to walk on, and we can’t walk on air (unless?). So I made a small plane for the player to walk on. Unity has this as a built-in game object, so it was pretty easy.

I later added in some props, well more like a couple of boxes of different sizes and rotations scattered around the map so that its easier to tell if the player is moving.

I also made proper folders and empty game objects (categories) to better organize things. No one likes messy code and assets that are all over the place, right.

I then made this capsule to be the temporary player model until my friend could actually send me the player model he created ages ago. (He still didn’t send it to me :/).

Why capsule? You might ask. Because why not? Capsules are n o i c e. It’s a placeholder anyway, we have awesome player models on the way!

Let’s call him Joe. Joe the bean. Nice name huh? Also never ask me who Joe is.

I gave Joe some texture and sunglasses so that he could look cool. Actually it’s so that I can tell where he’s looking but eh he looks cool with it.

He’s looking pretty neat.

Day 2: (Movement / Looking Around / Gun)

June 10th, 2020

The game was looking promising (even though there was literally nothing in it but then again everything looks promising to me bleh) but it was very lacking, and what was it lacking? That’s right, the most important part of the game. The movement and mouse look.

This was pretty easy as I already had some experience making this in a game I made long time ago (the game didn’t go so well but atleast I learnt something).

Even though it was easy, it still took a decent chunk of time to get right (almost the entirety of the day) because let’s just say Unity physics isn’t the best and it’s not my fault or anything. 😛

I then made a basic gun model within Unity itself just to test. I’ll replace it with better weapons later when I add the player model.

I’m not the best 3D modeller out there, so this is what I came up with.

and of course, some texture. Just two solid colors because I’m not the best at texturing either. But it’s looking pretty neat still.

Day 3: (Bug Fixes & Polish / Animations / Weapon)

June 11th, 2020

The movement system was not very satisfying so I did a lot of tweaking to get it right. It finally was smooth enough. I also added sprinting as well as sneaking both with their own custom camera field-of-view adjustments and weapon bobbing to look realistic.

I added a weapon equip system that’s very modular, allowing me to add all kinds of weapons quickly and easily later on.

I then took a loong time getting the gun to look right. (I did have to look up tutorials because I got stuck and frustrated here).

But I can say it was worth the effort, I mean just look at how cool Joe is looking with a Pistal (that’s not a typo, that’s what I call this test gun, nice huh).

“Give me all your money!”

I finally got the gun to move properly with the player. Added in a weapon sway animation as the player moves the weapon, and also an idle weapon bob effect to give a sense of realism like the player is breathing.

And finally, I added a proper aiming-down-sights system for better accuracy when the player is shooting and also because it looks cool. Yes, looking cool is a reason for me to add anything into the game.

There’s no shooting yet, so I’ll have to add that in the coming days.

Here’s a video showing all of the features I’ve added so far. They’re all still very far from what I would call complete so it’ll take a lot of tweaking and getting right.

Joe is alone, and no one should be alone. So I gave Joe a friend called Ross. She currently just sits in the corner and does nothing but I’ll add some AI to it later on.

youtube

I’ll be posting every 3 days that I’m making progress to the game.

Thanks for making it this far, hope you’re having a great day!

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dysphoric-affect · 6 years ago

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Actually, The Sequel Was Better

Often times, not just in gaming but with entertainment in any medium, there can be a tendency to look upon the first in a series as the definitive, superior entry, with all others to follow damned to never be able to measure up. The original titles gain an almost religious reverence and deference shown to them, with them continuing to be pointed to as the standard bearer for later titles to attempt to measure up to. Sometimes the original may indeed be the superior entry, but often it seems to me this consideration being shown to it truly stems from its place chronologically in the series rather than any objective consideration of its merits compared to the sequels, with the reasons for why being manufactured after the opinion is formed, rather than serving as the basis for it.

I dispute this whole notion. The original games in a series tend to excite because it is our first time being exposed to its various elements: the characters, big picture story of those characters’ world, the core gameplay mechanics, the set of weapons and abilities available, and so on. However, while these elements may be good, often the excitement that’s felt for them has more to do with the sensation of freshness from not having seen these things before compounding on their solid quality, rather than being as purely based on their quality as such “original is the best” devotees would lead you to believe. Essentially, when an original game in a series is good, we all will tend to enjoy a sort of “honeymoon” phase with it where we’re caught up by all its good qualities. Some simply remain in that phase, hence the loyalty to the original.

The problem with such unquestioning loyalty to the originals is that it misses the shortcomings they can and do often have, encouraging a stagnation that never fixes them. The thing about the first iteration of game series is that the ideas are just being tested out for the first time in the wild as it were, and things that overly complicate and slow down character progression, make the pacing of the narrative feel off, don’t satisfy in their depth on customization and so on can be missed during a studios internal testing and never discovered until the trial by fire that is being opened up to gamers to explore. Some of these mistakes could go to misjudgments arising from the studio, whether general bad calls or simply learning the nature of their new IP and what does and doesn’t work in how they should handle it. Other things aren’t mistakes at all in the short term necessarily, but with time giving greater perspective, namely from sequels coming around and improving on the formula, come to feel like mistakes, or it at least feeling like certain elements feel dated because of the various quality-of-life improvements and greater refinement those elements have been able to be shown with time.

On this other end, besides sequels being able to cut those bad or unnecessary elements and refine those solid but imperfect elements, they are also able to benefit from hindsight in having what new elements are introduced to excite players being based off that understanding and more likely to be more consistently well-executed, satisfying and exciting than the new elements in the original, which are inescapably a mix.

Undoubtedly some examples would make this whole case better than exposition, so let’s get into it.

Rock Band 2 is one of the simpler examples of the case I’ve been making. The original felt perfectly fine for its time, but RB2 expanded the base song list in the game natively as well as providing much greater support for expanding on that content with regular new DLC song packs to download, smartly making these available to buy in smaller doses rather than forcing you to buy an entire album or album’s worth of material, undoubtedly making them greater sales from fans more willing to part with a little spare cash for a song they love regularly while also satisfying fans with that formatting so they never felt obligated to have to spend money on unwanted content. This was a clever encouragement for replay value as well: checking back to see what new songs were added, seeing a handful you really enjoyed and getting excited about whacking out the drumbeats of one of these new options or watching your friend and “bandmate” attempt to do its vocals knowing he’d fail hilariously got you excited to play all over again. Speaking of your bandmates, the greatly improved customization system for the look of your characters and your instruments while performing and being able to use that in collaboration with your friends to come up with a look and feel for the in-game band you created together that you all loved was a really simply but greatly satisfying improvement.

Now, Rock Band isn’t a series that I do see the original being revered over the sequels with, but I wanted to bring it up to illustrate the point I was making more clearly about how sequels can benefit from the understanding of how the basics of a game concept have been received.

Now we can turn to a couple case that do more fully deal with the issue I’m talking about. One would be Pokémon. The Red and Blue Versions and the first generation roster of Pokémon are often held up as highlights of the series, not just by fans, but even in practice by those making the newer games, with new pre-evolutions or evolutions or forms for that generation’s Pokémon being implemented in the sequels that have occurred since in far greater numbers and with far greater regularity than any other generation. Yet...those games and that roster actually represent some of the weakest the series has had to offer. With the games more generally, the region design wasn’t particularly interesting in retrospect, there wasn’t much of a story to speak of, the battle mechanics - while not bad for their time - have been greatly outclassed by the later changes made to it, the representation of types was poorly handled in some cases - the one Ghost type line seeming weak to the Psychic types they were on paper supposed to be strong against or Dragon types seeming weaker to Ice than they were because of their only lines final form being extra weak to it, for example, and an extremely limited post-game involving one small new area to explore and one new Legendary Pokémon to catch. The biggest problem with that roster I already mentioned in the mishandling of the type distribution across the different lines in the games, but beyond that is just the simpler facts that subsequent generations have had more interesting designs, better typings and more interesting evolutions methods to attain them.

With almost every single specific element of those original games, putting aside the new features not introduced until later, we can find a sequel generation in that series which did it better: every generation except the fourth has had better region design, third and fifth had excellent world stories while the new eighth generation tells an excellent Gym Challenge-related story, second through fourth - with arguments to be made for others - made needed improvements on the core battle mechanics, basically every subsequent generation has had better type distributions across the new roster, and the second and third generations especially had excellent postgame content with revisiting Kanto for the former and the Battle Frontier for the latter greatly expanding the time you wanted to play beyond the Championship.

All of this, understand, isn’t to say the first generation of games or their roster of new Pokémon were bad, just that in comparison to what has come since, they are far from the pinnacle of what the series stands to offer you and certainly not deserving the infallible status some ascribe to them.

Now, let’s turn from Nintendo’s flagship franchise to Microsoft’s. With Halo it is considered considerably more contentious than with Pokémon to challenge the original’s superiority. To be fair, Combat Evolved stands the test of time better than Red and Blue versions do for Pokémon. The story’s tone of desperation juxtaposed with Master Chief’s badass capabilities and heroism is a great dynamic, which along with the sense of awe looking around the environments and the sense of exploration and decision on which objectives to approach and how all serve to be strong benchmarks for the series to make it a point to reach, either directly or in some equivalent sense. However, the reuse of multiple levels along with the general monotony of the Library level’s design, overly frail allies with questionable decision making hurting their survivability, often confused multiplayer map design that can complicate efforts to strategize with a team, and the overly centralizing Pistol and Scorpion making use of most other weapons and vehicles moot are all rough points to it.

Much was made of Halo 2′s more linear level design and cliffhanger ending, and to some extent not having more time to play as the Chief (though this has died for the most part over time) and it has some of its own unique problems, but what we do have makes it my overall favorite in the series: characters in general are more developed, new characters are interesting, the development of the backstory to your enemies is fantastic and remains relatively unique among all games I’ve played, the level variety is great and your objectives often feel more epic and important. The music within the Campaign is some of the best in the series, arguably its overall best, which does matter given its ties for setting the tone to accompany the narrative. With gameplay, the change to destructible vehicles and the ability to board them both looks cool and provides needed balance to their power while boost added onto Covenant vehicles helps differentiate the feel of them from the human vehicles better. Of course, there was also the addition of dual-wielding to note as well. As I’m a more competitive player, this isn’t something I made much use of personally, but it was aesthetically a really cool thing to be able to do and for my less competitive friends who enjoy the series is something they really loved and have missed since it was cut as a staple element from the series’ gameplay, so it certainly secured its place as a beloved element, too. Last, but certainly not least, is easily the best multiplayer map design the series has ever had. Taken together, this made for Halo 2 to be more satisfying overall - and certainly more satisfying long-term - than its predecessor. Other games in the series have also done various elements better than it, or even better than Halo 2 in some cases as well.

Ditto again on this kind of case when it comes to Sony’s flagship franchise in God of War as well, which notably goes out of its way more than any of the other series I’ve mentioned to not be beholden to the original as anything sacred and a baseline off which to model itself. The results here are telling: with greater character development and a more emotionally-driven story than anyone ever would have expected, a simultaneously more complex and more refined combat system, a satisfying upgrade system, revamped mission structure and much more, it has all the perfect ingredients to not just make it an excellent entry in that series, but the best yet, in spite of being the fifth. If a mentality of “the original is the best” had been held and it had been developed from that perspective, fans of the series and those the newest just drew in all would be devoid of this gem as it is, however.

There are of course other series - many more - to which illustrate my case, but I’ll consider these flagship franchises by the Big Three sufficient to make my case as is. Undoubtedly, you can think of other examples yourself. What all of these go to show is in actuality a relatively simple truth: sequels are often, if we are objective about their qualities, better than the originals and deserve to be respected as such. Being the first doesn’t inherently make something the best; that is only a status we’ve arbitrarily applied to how we approach thinking of games, or perhaps entertainment more broadly. Failing to take an honest look at how well sequels do on these different elements and the impact that has on their overall quality not only negatively impacts the individual gamer, who is preventing themselves from enjoying their games more, but also negatively impacts gaming culture, as it sends the message to developers that stagnation in the further work they do is not only acceptable, but to be encouraged.

When they aren’t encouraged to try bold new ideas they think could improve the formula for what a series stands to offer and instead play it safe, we are denied who knows how many exciting gaming moments we could have otherwise enjoyed, instead left with something akin to the original, but feeling more like a cheap imitation than a true sequel. In this way, that “original is best’ mentality becomes self-fulfilling prophesy, as we inadvertently encourage the very kind of lackluster experiences with sequels that can make the original seem like the best an IP can give us. I think we have a duty as gamers to take a step back more and instead of just being critical of games, also consider being critical of our thought process for how we approach looking at them for this kind of behavior and to rectify that when we find it within ourselves, for the sake of our own happiness and that of the gaming community.

So, the next time you find yourself thinking “the original is best,” look deeper. Maybe it really is. But maybe, just maybe, you’ll be surprised what you find.

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Thanks for reading! If you enjoy my content, please consider liking, commenting, following and especially reblogging so it can reach more people. Any support you show is greatly appreciated.

#video games #gaming #online gaming #nintendo #microsoft #sony #pokemon #pokemon red #pokemon blue #pokemon sword #pokemon shield #God of War #rock band #rock band 2 #critique #sequels

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aspoonofsugar · 6 years ago

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Hello! About HxH. Do heavens arena and hunter exam (including Zoldyck family) have their own themes like yorknew, greed island, chimera ants and election? Or do they serve just as a build up? Also, from what I understand ca has most complex themes (in quantity and exploration) but I am not sure. How does it compare to yorknew in that regard? Are themes of greed island complex (in number and exploration) too?

Hello anon!

Sorry, for the late reply.

I would say that the CAA is different from the arcs before in the sense that it is as if it tells its own story and it even has its own protagonist (Meruem). Because of this, it also has its own specific themes which are easy to find. In this, I think it is similar to the current arc and partially to the Election arc.

When it comes to the arcs before, I think they can mostly be considered as a long introduction since the characters and the power system are introduced and explained.

Among these arcs, I would say YS is kind of an exception since it focuses on a different character (Kurapika is the protagonist of that arc). Because of this, that arc has themes which are linked to Kurapika and different from the ones present in all the other arcs.

I have talked about YS here and here if you are interested.

Kurapika is a character linked to the concepts of grief and vengeance and so the arcs centered around him deal with these ideas. What is more, they also delve in the importance of information and are more intellectual than other arcs. Finally, YS also deals with the concept of destiny thanks to the importance Neon’s power had in that arc.

When it comes to arcs like the Hunter Exam arc, the HA arc and GI (so the arcs where Gon is the protagonist) they are all centered on the idea of growing up because this is what Gon’s character is about. His story is a coming of age one and these arcs seem to deconstruct some aspects of typical coming of ages/shonen stories.

I will try to discuss more of it under the cut, but I would say in advance that this analysis will concentrate on what each one of these arcs specifically offers on the theme of growing up which I think is the theme shared by them all. However, one should not forget that arcs are not the only elements of a story which have themes. Characters have those too and I will not address all of them here.

If you are interested in themes linked to characters other than general themes of the series, I will think this post by @hamliet will be useful. She also offers there an alternative reading of the arcs’ themes.

The hunter exam arc introduces the characters and their objectives. What is interesting is that each character’s objective needs the hunter license in order to be reached. This is interesting because it introduces the idea that the exam is not really an end, but a mean to something. This is also why the exam is not given a clean conclusion:

Gon passes the exam, but he is not satisfied with himself, the same goes for Leorio and what happens between Killua and his brother leaves a bitter aftertaste in all the participants. This is why after the tournament we are shown a discussion among the new hunters where they get on each other’s nerves. It is because, all in all, many of them are not happy despite having officially become hunters. This anticlimatic conclusion is used to convey the fact that passing an exam is not something which can be used as proof of one’s value. Gon passes the exam because Hisoka kills his pursuer and later he is not able to win against Hanzo. Leorio passes thanks to his friends’ help and Pokkle passes out of sheer luck. However, the way they pass is not important. What is important is what they will do with the new chances they are given and with what they have learnt. This is true for Killua as well, even if he did not pass. He is still given permission to travel with his friends because of him taking the hunter exam. What a person learns and what a person gains by an obstacle vary, but what is important is that they can use it to face future challenges. The idea that life and growth are never over is something which lies at the root of the series:

The exam is just the first representation of such an idea.

At the same time, the different trials test different attributes a person must have to become a hunter aka to grow up.

1) The first test is a test of endurance both physical and psychological. Only strong people can become hunters, so this test verifies a person’s strength.

2) The second test is made to verify that the partecipants are both intelligent and curious.

Strength, intelligence, determination and curiousity are 4 attributes which keep coming out again and again throughout the series and they are tested at the very beginning of the exam.

3) The third test had the characters work together. They had to make every choice by voting in what is basically a form of democracy. Thanks to this, the limit of such a process of decision-making is highlighted:

At the same time, it is interesting that in a test which is so focused on the relationships among individuals, the characters are given individual fights where they can shine. In a sense it may be a way of reflecting the contradictions of society where one has to live together with others and to partially conform to what others want, but at the same time they are asked to develop skills for themselves, so that they can shine.

This contradiction is perfectly shown by the last choice the characters are asked to make:

They have been asked to work together, but in the end they are told they have to fight each other to go on. This can very well be seen as a synthesis of how society works. As a matter of fact society exists because of people cooperating, but at the same time people are not equal and are not granted identical chances. However, the answer Gon gives is one which bends the rules and uses a loophole to overcome the obstacle.

4) The fourth test could be partially seen as the opposite of the third one since the characters are asked to work alone in order to catch a target. The nature of the exam makes so that finding allies might be dangerous since one can’t be sure not to be another’s target. What is more, this test is seen by some characters (like Gon for example) as a chance to shine individually and to face a complex problem alone.

However, throughout the test many alliances are born and Gon being too concentrated on his own individual pursue makes him fall into the trap of his hunter.

In short, even in a situation where individuals should test their own abilities others keep being important and entities one can not ignore.

5) Finally, the last test is meant to test one’s character. As Gon’s extreme case shows, who wins in the tournament is not the strongest, but who never gives up. This is also used to underline the key difference between Killua and Gon’s approaches to things which will keep coming back as the story goes on.

I would like to highlight that HA and GI are two similar arcs and deal with becoming individually strong and with working with others (similarly to test 3 and to test 4 in the hunter exam).

Both arcs are basically training arcs which are used to give more details about nen before two complex arcs (YS and CAA) full of characters very expert at using this power.

In both arcs, Killua and Gon want to reach an objective, but are too weak, so they meet a master and start training. The fact that Biscuit used to be Wing’s master is nothing more than a way to show that GI is the continuation of HA since Gon and Killua will develop there their hatsus. There is also the fact that both in HA and in GI a hunter exam is completed. Gon passes his unofficial exam in HA and Killua obtains his license in GI. Basically, with these two arcs both characters can be considered true hunters just in time to take part in their first big operation in the CAA. It is also interesting that Gon and Killua end up in the HA and in GI because of respectively Silva and Ging. Silva is the one who sent Killua there in the past and Ging is the one who prepared GI as an obstacle Gon has to overcome to find him. What is more, Silva tried to hide nen from Killua for unknown reasons, while nen is necessary to enter the game and so Gon has to know nen to become a player.

That said, HA and GI explore slightly different things.

HA gives a lot of importance to individuality:

This is underlined also by the fact that the rules of the arena make so that the fights are between two opponents and not between groups of people.

What is more, the whole arena is nothing more than a metaphor for a person climbing higher and reaching one’s full potential. The arc explores the difficulty of doing so.

Growing up is complicated. One could do like Kastro did and choose to invest their talent and time into something which doesn’t suit them. One can also do like the minor antagonists of this arc did. The three opponents they face are people who reached the 200th before they were ready and as a result they lost a part of their bodies. This resulted in the fact that their nen powers end up becoming something which, instead of enriching them, are mostly there to compensate for what they lost. This is very interesing because nen in the hxh world is often a metaphor of a person’s personality and interiority. In other words, the protagonists developing their powers is symbolic of them developing their interiority and we can easily understand many things of a character by looking at their nen power. Because of this, Sadaso, Gido and Riehlvelt are basically people whose growth has been damaged because of them being in a hurry to reach their objectives. This is shown also by their behaviour. All in all they don’t really care about becoming better anymore and simply wish to be floor masters by targeting people weaker than them even if they don’t know about nen. In this way, they are ready to make others experience what was done to them.

In short, it is like Wing says:

One should not become obsessed with a single objective and not lose sight of the bigger picture. Growing takes time and effort. This is also why Gon and Killua do not choose a hatsu right away, but are given time to think properly about it.

At the same time, the arc also shows Gon and Killua’s opposite behaviours:

Gon wants to grow up too fast, whereas Killua wants to take things slowly.

This difference will come up again. For example, the CAA shows how dangerous it is for Gon to be willing to become an adult before the right time, whereas in the Election arc Killua is basically asked to grow up a little, so that he can care about Alluka.

Finally, this arc also show the different challenges Gon and Killua are faced with. Gon is mostly given focus when it comes to physical fights. He fights more than Killua and in the climax of the arc he faces Hisoka in an epic battle. Killua is given instead only a major fight against Riehlvelt. However, it is not that he is not given focus in the arc, but the chapters centered around him are not ones where he has to fight, but ones where he has to find an equilibrium between behaving as a good boy and not letting others trample over him and his friends. In the beginning, he would like to settle the conflict with the three men in a way which would benefit them and by being overly generous. However, this attempt fails, so he uses a more malicious approach, but still avoids killing them.

GI is a training arc with a more complex and flexible battlefield than the HA. Moreover, it is made in a way that it is more advantagious and even necessary for people to work together.

In short, GI explores the equilibrium one must find between working with others and being independent.

This is shown starting with the preliminary test:

It is explained that one should face this test sticking to one’s own convinctions without worrying about others.

However, once they enter the game, the players realize how difficult it is working alone and that it would make sense for them to join a bigger group in order to succeed. The strategy proposed by Nickes’s group is to basically find strength in numbers. This seems an optimal solution on paper, but it is soon revealed that trying to compensate for one’s absence of strength by simply sticking with others is not enough:

Weak players came together hoping to win against the stong ones, but in the end they were tricked by a stronger opponent and could not do anything against him despite their numerical advantage. This is because, in the end, none of them was self sufficient.

However, even if one is exceptionally strong, they can not succeed in GI if they are alone and the proof is the fact that in order to obtain Plot of Beach there must be 15 people willing to work together. At the same time, Goreinu states this:

As a matter of fact, even if a group of people must work together only a small number of copies can be made of the card wanted. This is similar to what happened in the third test of the Hunter exam when people are asked to unite forces just to fight in the end.

In short, the battle against Razor underlines the nuance of having multiple people working together. The players come together because it is useful and all of them are determined to take care of their own interests. For example, the main trio is quick to discard their first group because made of people too weak to win. However, this doesn’t mean genuine bonds are not born since in the end all the players who took part in the game (with the exception of Hisoka) ended up growing close as a result of their battle.

Razor’s fighting style is interesting too when it comes to this:

He is at the centre of a challenge which requires multiple players, but he himself fights alone. This is also why he loses:

However, he too is there because of another person:

He was able to change his life only because Gin connected with him and did not care about his past as a criminal.

In short, GI is an arc which explores group relationships much more than HA.

This is also shown by Genthru who is both a character able to fight alone and a person who works well wiht his comrades (as a matter of fact they seem to share some powers).

The way Gon fights him is also indicative of how the boy is trying to reconcile a strong wish of individual strength and the necessity to work together:

As a matter of fact Gon has been given by Killua a plan to follow and if he did, he would not have any problems in defeating Genthru. However, Gon is not completely satisfied because he wants to use the battle to test himself. So in the end he chooses to follow the plan only after he managed to injure his opponent on his own.

This solution is a good synthesis of Gon and Killua’s struggle to grow up together, but also in an independent way, so that the can keep being friends, but also become proper individuals. This is something which will be explored also in the CAA with their friendship being partly deconstructed after GI spent much time showing its importance and positive effects.

In short, I would say HA and GI are nothing more than two sides of the same coin and are compementary. They explore what it means to grow up using the structure of a classical training arc to do so. In HA the focus is on individuality. For example Win helps his mentee to find what they are good in and discourages them from pursuing technique in areas which aren’t theirs. When it comes to GI, the focus is widers since a person to grow has also to interact with others and to learn from them. Because of this there is a focus on teamplay and how to integrate it with personal goals and with the necessity to remain true to one-self. About this, let’s underline that Biscuit makes so that Gon and Killua starts practicing in abilities different from their own, so that they can become more flexible. This is because in order to grow healthily a person must both realize what they are good at and go out from their comfort zone, so that they can improve. In the end it is about finding a happy medium between these two things.

Finally, there are the Zoldyck family arc and the Election arc. These two arcs are centered around Killua and so they have similarities.

As a matter of fact Killus is a character linked to specific themes and these themes are explored in arcs focused on him.

Most of all, it is interesting to show that both the Zoldyck family arc and the election arc are arcs where it seems some major conflict are gonna explode. The Zoldyck family arc is presented as an arc which will culminate in Killua’s friends meeting his family and having to fight or at least to convince them to let Killua free. However, this does not happen and Gon, Kurapika and Leorio do not even see the family house and barely meet some family members. The situation which seemed perfect to explore a major conflict is settled in a pretty common way with simply a father and a son having a chat.

Similarly, the Election arc sets up a potentially dangerous situation with Alluka and her powers only to reveal in the end that if people treat Nanika normally and love her, she uses her powers without making cruel requests.

All in all, the Zoldyck family is used to explore extremely common family dynamics and the fact that they are presented as so over the top makes so that them settling their problems as any normal family could do highlights the importance of communication and connection even more.

The Election arc is also used to convey specific themes about general politics. For example, Leorio and Pariston can be easily seen as two different declinations of what a popolar leader is, whereas the Zodiacs can be see as an elite who has knowledge and abilities, but is unable to connect with the majority of people.

The fact that also this part of the arc ends with an anti-climax is interesting especially because the conclusion of the Election is framed as far more comical than the conclusion of Killua’s conflict with his family.

All in all it is interesting that while the majority of the hunters is concentrated on an election whose results have basically been rigged since the beginning, the true and more serious battle seems to be the one between a boy and his family. Moreover, this personal struggle goes unnoticed by the majority of people who are too concentrated on a large public even and ignores that a small chilod could potentially destroy the world if she is not helped and loved.

This is a very reduced discussion of each arc. Many points are probably unclear or not elaborated enough, but I hope you would still find them interesting enough.

I will also tag this meta where I discussed other general themes of the series.

All in all, I would say YS, CAA, Election arc and the current arc are the richest ones thematically, while the other three are usually used as introduction to something and introduce ideas which are fully explored in other arcs.

Thank you for th ask!

#hxh #hxh meta #asksfullofsugar #anonymous

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vrylium · 6 years ago

Text

Sig’s Anthem Review

Verdict

BioWare’s Anthem is a genuinely fun and engaging experience that sabotages itself with myriad design, balance, and technical oversights and issues. It is a delicious cake that has been prematurely removed from the developmental oven - full of potential but unfit for general consumption in this wobbly state. Anthem is not a messianic addition to the limited pantheon of looter shooters because it has somehow failed to learn from the well-publicized mistakes of its predecessors.

Am I having fun playing Anthem? Absolutely. Does it deserve the industry’s lukewarm scores? Absolutely. But this is something of a special case. The live service model giveth and taketh away; we receive flexibility in exchange for certainty. Is Anthem going to be the same game six months from now? Its core DNA will always be the same, but we’ve already begun to see swift improvements that bode well for the future.

Will my opinion matter to you? It depends. When I first got into looter shooters I was shocked at how much the genre clicked with me. They are a wonderful playground for theory crafters, min/maxers, and mathletes like myself who find incomparable joy in optimizing builds both conventional and experimental by pushing the limits of obtainable resources ad infinitum. The end game grind is long and at times challenging as you make the jump to Grandmaster 1+ difficulty in search of top-tier loot to perfect your build. This is what looter shooters are all about.

If you don’t like the sound of that, you’ll probably drop Anthem right after finishing its campaign. But if you do like the sound of that, you might find yourself playing this game for years.

TL;DR: This game is serious fun, but is also in need of some serious Game & UI Design 101.

I wrote a lot more about individual aspects of the game beneath the read more, if you’re interested. I’ve decided not to give the game a score, I’m just here to discuss it after playing through the campaign and spending a few days grinding elder game activities. There are no spoilers here.

Gameplay

The Javelins are delightful. I’ve played all four of them extensively and despite identifying as a Colossus main I cannot definitively attach myself to one class of Javelin because they’re all so uniquely fun to play and master. Best of all, they’re miraculously balanced. I’ve been able to hold my own with every Javelin in Grandmaster 1+. Of course, some Javelins are harder to get the hang of than others. Storms don’t face the steep learning curve Interceptors do, but placed in the hands of someone who knows what they’re doing, both are equally as destructive on the battlefield.

I love the combo system. It is viscerally satisfying to trigger a combo, hearing that sound effect ring, and seeing your enemy’s health bar melt. Gunplay finally gets fun and interesting when you start obtaining Masterworks, and from there, it’s like playing a whole new game.

Mission objectives are fairly bland and repetitive, but the gameplay is so fun I don’t even mind. Collect this, find that, go here, whatever. I get to fly around and blow up enemies while doing it, and that’s what matters. Objectives could be better, certainly. Interesting objectives are vital in game design because they disguise the core repetitive gameplay loop as something fresh, but the loop on its own stays fresh long enough to break even, I feel.

The best part is build flexibility. Want to be a sniper build cutting boss health bars in half with one shot? I’ve seen it. Want to be a near-immortal Colossus wrecking ball who heals every time you mow down an enemy? You can. There are so many possibilities here. Every day I come across a new crazy idea someone’s come up with. This is an excellent game for build crafters.

But... why in the world are there so few cosmetic choices? A single armor set for each Javelin outside the Vanity store? A core component of looter shooters has always been endgame fashion, and on this front, BioWare barely delivers and only evades the worst criticism by providing quality Javelin customization in the way of coloring, materials, and keeping power level and aesthetics divorced. We’re being drip-fed through the Vanity store, and while I like the Vanity store’s model, there should have been more things permanently available for purchase through the Forge. Everyone looks the same out there! Where’s the variety?

Story, Characters, World

Anyone expecting a looter shooter like Anthem to feature a Mass Effect or Dragon Age -sized epic is out of their mind, but that doesn’t mean we have to judge the storytelling in a vacuum. This is BioWare after all. Even a campaign that flows more like a short story - as is the case with Anthem - should aspire to the quality of previous games from the studio. Unfortunately, it does not, but it comes close by merit of narrative ambience: the characters, the world’s lore, and their execution.

(For a long time I’ve had a theory that world building is what made the original Mass Effect great, not its critical storyline, which was basically a Star Trek movie at best. Fans fell in love because there were interesting people to talk to, complicated politics to grasp, and moral decisions to make along the way.)

While the main storyline of Anthem is lackluster and makes one roll their eyes at certain moments or bad lines, the world is immediately intriguing. Within Fort Tarsis, sophisticated technology is readily available while society simultaneously feels antiquated, echoing a temporal purgatory consistent with the Anthem’s ability to alter space-time. Outside the fort, massive pieces of ancient machinery are embedded within dense jungles in a way that suggests the mechanical predates nature itself. The theme of sound is everywhere. Silencing relics, cyphers hearing the Anthem, delivering echoes to giant subwoofers… It’s a fun world, it really is.

As for the characters… they might be some of the best from BioWare. They feel like real people. Rarely are they caricatures of one defining trait, but people with complex motives and emotions. Some conversations were boring, but the vast majority of the time I found myself racing off to talk to NPCs as soon as I saw yellow speech bubbles on the map after a mission. And don’t even get me started on the performances. They are golden.

The biggest issue with the story is that it’s not well integrated with missions. At times it feels like you’re playing two separate games: Fort Tarsis Walking/Talking Simulator and Anthem Looter Shooter. And the sole threads keeping these halves stitched together during missions - radio chatter - takes a back seat if you’re playing with randoms who rush ahead and cause dialogue to skip, or with friends who won’t shut the hell up so you can listen or read subtitles without distraction. I found it ironic that I soloed most of the critical story missions in a game that heavily encourages team play.

Technical Aspects: UI & Design

This is where Anthem has some major problems. God, this category alone is probably what gained the ire of most reviewers. The UI is terrible and confusing. There are extra menu tabs where they aren’t needed. The placement of Settings is for some inane reason not located under the Options button (PS4). Excuse me? It’s so difficult to navigate and find what you’re looking for. It’s ridiculously unintuitive.

Weapon inscriptions (stat bonuses) are vague and I’ve even seen double negatives once or twice. They come off as though no one bothered to proofread or edit anything for clarity. Just a bad job here all around. And to make matters worse, there is no character stat sheet to help us demystify any of the bizarre stat descriptions. We are currently using goddamn spreadsheets like animals. Just awful.

The list goes on. No waypoints in Freeplay. Countless crashes, rubber banding, audio cutouts, player characters being invisible in vital cutscenes, tethering warnings completely obscuring the flight overheat meter… Fucking yikes. Wading through this swamp of bugs and poor design has been grueling to say the least.

And now for the loot issues. Dead inscriptions on gear; and by dead I mean dead, as in “this pistol does +25% shotgun damage” dead (this has been recently patched but I still cannot believe this sort of thing made it to release). The entire concept of the Luck stat (chance to drop higher quality loot) resulting in Luck builds who drop like flies in combat and become a burden for the rest of the team. Diminishing returns in Grandmaster 2 and 3; it takes so long to clear missions on these difficulties without significant loot improvement, making GM2 and GM3 pointless when you could be grinding GM1 missions twice as fast.

At level 30, any loot quality below Epic is literal trash. Delete Commons, Uncommons, and most Rares as soon as you get them because they’re virtually useless. I have hundreds of Common and Uncommon embers and nothing to do with them. Why can’t we convert 5 embers into 1 of the next higher tier? Other looters have already done things like this to make progression omnipresent. You don’t have to reinvent the wheel here, BioWare. It’s already been done for you.

When you get a good roll on loot, the satisfaction is immense. But when you don’t, and you won’t 95% of the time, you’ll feel like you’ve wasted hours with nothing to show for it. We shouldn’t be spending so much time hunting for useful things, we should be trying to perfect what’s already useful.

It’s just baffling to think that Anthem had the luxury of watching the messy release of several other looter shooters during Anthem’s development, yet proceed to make the same mistakes, and some even worse.

Nothing needs to be said about visuals. They are stunning, even from my perspective on a base PS4.

Sound design is the only other redeeming subcategory here. Sound design is amazing, like the OST. Traditional instrumentals meet alien synth seamlessly. Sarah Schachner is a seriously talented composer.

I’m just relieved to see the development team hauling ass to make adjustments. They’ve really been on top of it - the speed and transparency of fixes has been top-notch. They’re even working on free DLC already! A new region, more performances from the actors... I’m excited and hopeful for the future.

#siganthem

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zeldauniverse · 6 years ago

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Diablo is a series that needs very little introduction, but, despite being one of the most famous video game series for PC, it has never been available on a Nintendo platform until now. Diablo III was recently released for Nintendo Switch, and even though I have played many other Blizzard games, I had never played Diablo for more than a few minutes, at least until now. I quickly learned that I had been missing out on something quite fun.

Full disclosure Activision-Blizzard graciously provided a review copy for the Switch.

A typical RPG setup

Diablo III is an action RPG dungeon crawler. When you begin, you create a character and choose a character class. I like playing long-range magic-casting types, so I primarily played as a wizard. Other classes include barbarian, monk, necromancer, and others.

You unlock new skills and modifications for those skills as you level up.

In typical RPG fashion, you will gain levels and learn new abilities as you progress. Diablo keeps the gameplay fresh by regularly giving you new abilities and only allowing you to keep a handful selected as a time. When you reach higher levels, you also unlock the ability to add secondary effects to abilities you already know. A simple example, the wizard’s force-push spell can be augmented to reflect enemy projectiles.

Your character is further improved with new equipment and passive skills that you unlock as you increase your level.

All of this is pretty standard fare for an action RPG. Diablo III provides a great amount of variety to keep the gameplay interesting. There is nothing extraordinary about the game systems, but they are well-made.

Fast-paced and customizable

Diablo III‘s campaign is separated into five acts; the first four acts tell the main story and the fifth act is the expansion pack, Reaper of Souls, that continues shortly after the end of the main story. Each act tells a portion of the story and generally has a single theme. Act One is mostly graveyards and crypts while Act Three is mostly desert and desert caves and so on. The acts are a decent length, but they end before you get too tired of seeing the same kinds of areas.

The enemy visuals are similarly varied, and I always seemed to be encountering something new. Even so, I generally felt overpowered for a good part of the game. It was hard to appreciate the visuals when the enemies were just constantly exploding in waves. Diablo III sends a lot of enemies at you, and it was always satisfying when I won.

The action is fast paced with very little downtime in the middle of an act. I was generally happy with this approach, but it did mean that the story objectives remained very simple. More often than not, your objective is just to travel from point A to point B and kill whatever you find at the end. Occasionally I was tasked with defending something from waves of enemies. However, the gameplay is fun enough and the story doesn’t last long enough for it to feel repetitive. Furthermore, you always have the option to change your skills or play a different character class to add more variety to the gameplay.

You are frequently surrounded by enemies. These battles are fast-paced, chaotic, and absolutely the most fun you will have while playing.

The variety and customization available are what makes Diablo III stand out for me. The amount of customization available means that your character can be made your own. You can select your class, spells, augment those spells, select secondary abilities, and select the gear that best fits your play style. It’s unlikely that someone else would have the same character as you, and that gives the game a less cookie-cutter feel than some other games. I’m sure there’s a “best way” to play that gives the best results if you really want to look it up, but, for a casual player just looking to have fun, I found that I was able to make whatever changes I wanted without ruining the experience.

An endless adventure

Playing through the story is almost always my favorite part of a video game, and the same is true of Diablo III. However, once the campaign is over, you can still play “Adventure Mode” and experience an endless number of procedurally-generated levels called “rifts.” You can create new characters to try all the different classes, adjust your skills repeatedly, and continue battling to acquire new equipment for each character. It’s a style of gameplay that I find enjoyable, but it’s not for everyone. If you do enjoy a loot-grind, there’s tons of content to explore.

Diablo III adds additional replay value by including both local and online multiplayer modes, so you can experience the same rifts with a team.

When you look at all of the content combined, Diablo III has the potential to provide a nearly endless amount of play time. I tend to move on from one game to the next fairly quickly, so I have not taken a deep dive into everything the game has to offer, but I enjoyed my time with the game and fully expect to revisit it in the future.

About those special Zelda items…

I really enjoyed playing Diablo III; The entire experience was just a lot of fun throughout. However, there was one Switch exclusive feature that definitely did not live up to my expectations: the exclusive Legend of Zelda crossover items. On one hand, all of Zelda crossover items are given to you near the very beginning of the game for free, and that is very nice. On the other hand, anyone who, like me, is dreaming of playing through the entire game dressed as Ganondorf will be severely disappointed.

The major Zelda item is the Ganondorf outfit, and it is very cool. The outfit is a “transmog” set. Transmogrification is a game mechanic that lets you change the visual appearance of a piece of equipment to look like another piece of equipment. The appearance is tied to a specific piece of equipment, so when you replace your pants with a better pair, you have to speak to an NPC in town again to reapply the appearance. Diablo throws new gear at your left and right, so this would get annoying pretty quick on its own if you just want to look like Ganondorf all the time. Unfortunately, there is a bigger problem that prevents the Ganondorf dream from happening at all: applying appearances to gear costs in-game gold. It’s not cheap either: 20,000 gold per piece. You need well over 100,000 gold to look like Ganondorf one time.

Blizzard never promised that I would be able to look like Ganondorf all the time, and the other armor sets are nice enough. It was just a bummer at the beginning when I realized that I couldn’t really be the King of Evil for the entire game.

The other Zelda inspired pieces are less impressive. There are a set of wings, which are purely cosmetic. They look cool and are supposedly Majora’s Mask themed, but I have no idea what makes them Zelda-related. They’re just some nifty looking wings. Next is a Cucco companion who follows you around. It doesn’t do anything; it just follows you around. It’s cute, I guess. Last, there’s a Triforce-themed character portrait border.

These are all nice-to-have exclusive additions to the Nintendo Switch version of the game, but if you’re a Zelda fan who is only interested in Diablo III because of the Zelda items, you will be disappointed.

A great starting point

Diablo III is a fantastic game; it is one of the best I have played in the last year. The Nintendo Switch version is a port that has little to offer that wasn’t already available on PC, and that can make it difficult to recommend to anyone who played it before. The new features are the Zelda-inspired items, local multiplayer, and the portability that comes with being a Switch game.

But if you haven’t played Diablo III before, the Switch release is a great opportunity to finally give it a shot. This was my first real experience with Diablo, and when the campaign was over I immediately joined the fans waiting for Diablo IV and an HD remake of Diablo II. The Switch has a growing library of excellent games, both new and old, that are constantly shifting our attention te whatever is new this week, but Diablo III deserves more time in the spotlight.

Score Similarity to other Zeldas 8.5/10 Tri Force Heroes – ▲▲▲△△ Four Swords – ▲▲△△△ Breath of the Wild – ▲▲△△△

Score: 8.5

Similarity to Zelda:

Four Swords: 2/5

Breath of the Wild 2/5

Tri Force Heroes 3/5

Review: Diablo III is a great RPG dungeon grinder, but the Zelda extras aren’t worth it Diablo is a series that needs very little introduction, but, despite being one of the most famous video game series for PC, it has never been available on a Nintendo platform until now.

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